I Am Tentacle

A Love Story

INTRODUCTION

A staple of Japanese hentai art is the 'tentacle monster.' In classic shunga art of the 19th century it may be in the form of an entangling octopus; in modern hentai it may be a menacing sci-fi alien or exotic robot that attacks nubile young women and men.

I don't pretend to understand the psychology behind the Japanese fascination with tentacle rape; nor do I understand hentai artists' reasoning that other species would have a hunger to molest humans. Japanese graphic art is full of outrageous plot devices and tentacle monsters are but one of stranger propositions. I've had fun with this story though, placing myself into the alien mind of a tentacle creature and letting you see things from its point of view.

Though I don't aspire to his level of writing, I give a nod to John Gardner, whose novel 'Grendal' showed that even the worst of monsters has feelings too. Dean Koontz's novel 'Demon Seed' must also be acknowledged, with its terrifying tentacle robot. Like the Japanese ideal, Koontz's robot also has highly inappropriate feelings for its victim.

CHAPTER ONE

I first sensed her with my far, outer tendrils, when she was still minutes away from my grasp. She was a person, a human. Humans aren't unknown in this place, but less common than the other animals coming through the jungle. I like humans. I know other creatures find them strange and their thoughts can be odd and confusing. But I've learned to understand them, mostly, and I find them...stimulating. I think that they may be my favorite creature. You never quite know what to expect from one, what they are thinking.

When a horned bear comes into your embrace, there's little question of what the bear will be thinking, feeling, wanting. When a dale deer becomes your prey, one deer is like another.

Not so with a human. With them you must take extra precautions and still you may be surprised.

This person was coming from the direction of the sunrise, though it is so dark here that few know the way of the sun. She had moved well off the path that most travelers take, bulling her way through my home with a recklessness that was either fearless or fearful. I threw one of my tendrils across her path, a vinelike arm that hung in great obstructing loops across the trail. Sure enough, she pushed one of the loops aside with her bare hand and in a moment I knew much about her.

I was right; she was filled with fear, fleeing in a near panic from some great danger close on her trail. I quickly checked my network of feelers and tendrils but found nothing; she appeared to have succeeded in escaping her pursuer. I sensed that she wished to disappear completely into the jungle; I would oblige her.

I arranged my middle tendrils in imposing tangles to tempt her onto the clear path that would bring her into my maw. My powerful inner tendrils were laid across the jungle floor like tree roots, colored much the same and with a thick growth of moss along them. She stepped over one of these, and in a heartbeat I struck.

The largest of my tendrils rose up between her legs and flipped her up in the air. As her arms flailed for balance, one of my middle tendrils coiled itself around her wrist. A breath later the other arm was trapped also.

I pulled in my tendrils, splaying her arms wide. A quick, clever twist of pressure I had learned and her weapon fell from her hand. With her rendered helpless I could concentrate on my other appendages and sent two around her ankles. They spread and lifted her until she was dangling from her feet. I sensed her struggling to reach one leg, straining for something there. I sent a tendril up the length of her leg and sure enough, there was a weapon strapped there. Another twist and the knife fell away, disappearing into the undergrowth.

Some creatures of my kind may find it hard to control five or six appendages at once. But I am old and wily and I can do much more than that. Now my sensitive outer tendrils came into play, sliding up and along her body, beginning to strip her clothing away. As she felt them passing across her skin she made her first word since I struck: a long, strangled "Nnnooooooo!"

Yeeessssss. A middle tendril moved across her stomach and up between her breasts, then flexed, showering buttons to the ground. Through the tendril I could feel her heart beating in terrible frantic fear. Not for much longer. Working my appendages cleverly, I removed all her outer shell, leaving only her bare, vulnerable skin. Why? Because I wanted it. Because I needed it. And because I needed to show her that in my grasp she was helpless. The quicker she knew that she was defenseless before me, the sooner her torment would end. Dizzy from hanging upside down, overpowered by all that was happening to her, she moaned and hung lifeless. Now I could begin.

My outer tendrils travelled along the middle ones and began to slide along her arms and legs; slow, relentless, teasing. She moaned again, her head hanging low.

The tendrils reached her armpits, crossed her torso and coiled themselves around her soft breasts. The gentle ends of the tendrils passed ticklingly around the tips of her breasts, then fastened on and began to feed. Her moan became a groan, and she looked at one of the tendrils in bewilderment. Now I would make it clear to her; now I would show her what I intended. As my inner tendrils travelled up her thighs, I pulled her legs wide, wide open. She gasped in apprehension as my tendrils circled the edges of her genitals, then closed in on the lips of her opening.

Why? Why was I doing this? Like any creature, from the simplest flower to the roving hunbeast, I have needs. I am sustained by a certain energy in creatures. I don't rend their flesh or take their lives, but I do need this energy from them. Over the long years, I have learned that the fastest, best way to get this energy is through their most powerful base instincts. Of these, sexual is the most powerful and fulfilling, and its energy has a delicious taint to it. Also, it does have its rewards for the victim as well.

My tendrils brushed along the edges of her opening, caressing and sensing. Then they delicately pulled the lips aside and searched within. With each movement, each reaction I knew more about this human and what she would respond to. Now I had two, three, four tendrils at play in her sex. Her moaning was almost continuous now and my tendrils at her breasts rose and fell with her gasps.

When I sensed she was ready, the most useful of my tendrils came into play; a thick, muscular appendage that could bend and bulge itself into a delicious variety of shapes. Just behind the blunt thrusting head lay the delicate sense organs that let my prey and I link in a delightful mating. The head traveled up and down over her genital lips, weighing her responses and nudging aside my lesser tendrils. When the time was right it thrust forward of its own accord and sank deep into her sex.

Her cry startled some nearby insects into flight, and then we were joined. The moment we linked I moved to soothe her fears, easing the feelings of terror and apprehension that tortured her. Immediately her heart slowed and her breathing deepened. She still didn't trust me, but she began to sense that her life might not be at an end.

To my surprise, she feared what pursued her even more than she feared me. I sent her feelings of comfort back to her, reassuring her that in this place she was trapped, restrained, naked, penetrated...and safe.

Now undistracted by fear, she began to focus on the sensations of what was happening to her. In response, my organ began to move within her, slowly at first and then with more urgency. At the same time, I fed feelings of stimulation and pleasure back to her. I sensed her surprise; she had never felt sexual excitement build so rapidly. Reading her responses, I adjusted her position, bringing her onto her back and letting her legs straighten. Caressing her back and rump, I rested her on a bed of tendrils.

My organ now began a teasing series of long, slow penetrations of her while the tendrils at her breasts became more insistent. With her sensations almost at the point of pain, I thrust deeply one last time and her pleasure exploded. Her voice rose in her loudest cry yet and her body convulsed. Her legs went rigid and then buckled, knees rising to her chest.

Oh, the taste of her energy was delightful! Her pleasure flowed into me and I felt young again, not the heavy centuries I bore. My head swam as her head swam and I slowed my movements to the gentlest caress. But even sooner than she realized, I sensed that her body was receptive again. I began to move in her, squeezing her breasts and resuming my teasing of her most sensitive spot. Her response came even faster and stronger than the first time and we shared her pleasure together.

She had tumbled until she rested face down, hips moving slightly. Something about her upraised rump spoke to me, hinting perhaps of some impulse buried deep down inside her. I raised a tendril and gently penetrated her rump. Her voice rose in a croak and she began driving her genitals onto my organ. So much energy flowed into me that my tendrils began dancing of their own accord and the jungle seemed alive with our pleasure! Oh, what a mating!

Nine times her pleasure consumed her before she was exhausted. I glowed in contemplation of the mystic significance of that number. Never had I had such a mating! What energy, what pleasure, what joining! She slept with me now, as trusting as a newborn, curled around one of my large inner tendrils.

While she rested I dressed her, repaired her torn clothing and restored her weapons. My clever tendrils even replaced the shorn buttons of her garment with material they found in the jungle. While she was still asleep and receptive, I went into her mind and told her all I knew of the jungle I lived in. When she left she would be as sure of her path as a creature born here. I do not consume my prey, but that is scarcely true of all the things dwelling here, and now she would be safe. My small gift for all that I had gotten from her.

When she awakened, she stirred and stretched as though she was in her own nest. With the knowledge of the jungle came some knowledge of me, who I was and how I lived. She knew now that I posed no threat to her; indeed, she knew my secrets and I knew she posed no danger to me. She opened her eyes and gazed up at the trees. "One of my stranger dreams," she mused. My arms placed her on the ground and steadied her as she stood. "A dream that continues."

Another of my appendages returned her

weapon to her; her other blade was already strapped to her thigh. She looked at me, considering. "You're really a sweet old monster, aren't you?" I waved the tip of a tendril in a little swirl that tried to convey an amused shrug. I do believe I succeeded because she laughed. I followed with what I hoped was a beckoning and she laughed again. "No, I really should be on my way and if I stay I will be too exhausted to go anywhere. Perhaps I will see you again, old monster."

My tendrils all bowed to her in farewell. With a jaunty wave, she turned and left on the safe trail I had shown her, correctly picking it from the two easier paths. I was pleased.

Moments later she came pelting back down the trail, crying "Oh, why not!" and threw herself into my arms. My head swirled with an emotion I had never felt before. I had never had a creature come to me willingly; come to me of her own desire and choice. I didn't have words for what I felt but I knew I would do anything for this human, anything and everything. All my arms rose up until the ground itself looked to have come into writhing life. In my dark lair I wrapped around her until she was cocooned from sight, and that night I not only took of her but gave her everything that was me.

The next morning, with faint sunlight filtering through the drifting mists, she took her leave of me again. I understood her need to go and indeed had helped prepare her; my clever tendrils had grown quite adept at taking her coverings on and off. "I have to say Old Friend..." she sighed, adjusting the pack harness on her back. "You dress me better than I can do it myself. More fun, too."

My heart swelled as she called me Old Friend, and I knew that whatever I name I had called myself over the centuries, this was my name now. My tendrils placed her on the ground as gently as a flower and steadied her as she rose on shaky legs.

"No, no, I'm fine to travel," she chuckled at my concerned gesture. "I'm justly tired, but I justly need to go. You know that." She pulled a tendril to her lips and kissed it. It rose and stroked her cheek. She stood that way for a moment, then turned and walked away.

My tendrils instantly swooped to bar her way; she was starting onto an unsafe path. "What? Is there something...oh, I see, I shouldn't be on that trail. No, Old Friend, I still remember the way that you showed me to go; it's just something with my eyes."

My tendril brushed her face and found moisture on it. I coiled around her arm in concern and she gently pulled it away. "No, it's nothing wrong; it's just something that happens when lovers separate."

Lovers. Love. That was the word I had been searching for, the word for the idea I had never thought about before. This was love that I felt, love for her that flooded me with feelings and flooded her eyes with moisture.

Long after she had passed beyond the reach of my senses I kept my tendrils stretched out to their fullest, seeking after her. Time passed and she hadn't returned. Another new concept I had learned: time. Before, if I had noticed time at all, it had been governed by the slow, sleepy cycle of nights and days and seasons. Long years would pass without my note or remark.

But now time was forever marked and measured by her. The past was now divided into The Time Before I Met Her, and The Time After. The present was marked by one question: Had She Returned Yet? Yes...no? No. No. No.

CHAPTER TWO

However, it was by having my tendrils so widespread that I sensed another human moving in the same place from which my friend had appeared. How interesting to see two humans at the same time, in this same part of the jungle where humans rarely went. I sent more tendrils that way to better judge what this human might be doing.

As it moved past my tendrils, I sensed that this human was a male; larger and older than the last one. He was bent and studying the ground, hands brushing across the undergrowth...and me. I got the sense that he was seeking...seeking...

Alarm surged through me, enough so that my larger tendrils jumped. He was tracking; he was tracking My Friend! He wasn't snuffling the ground as a boar might, but used his eyes to search for signs of passage. I wasn't worried about that as I had long since erased My Friend's trail. But if he didn't find his way to me then he may well stumble across her new path elsewhere in the jungle. But if he did find his way to me...yes, that was the answer.

I put my arms to work laying a false trail that would bring him into my grasp. One tendril gouged the dirt to shape a footfall; another crept behind a log near him and then scraped the moss atop the log. They then retreated from sight, laying other marks behind them.

It didn't take long before the human spotted the false trail and moved forward with a fresh eagerness. Meanwhile, I readied myself for his arrival. This human did not look very imposing, but My Friend feared him and I would act accordingly. I had no fear for myself; the bulk of me was safely buried underground. But if he damaged some of my appendages they could take an annoying amount of time to regrow. Accordingly, I set two of my largest members along his path and arranged my lesser ones in tangles nearby.

My trap worked perfectly. He went for his weapon much faster than My Friend had, but a blow from one of my tendrils knocked his sword out of reach, and while he focused on that threat my other arms bundled him up. Then I lapsed into consideration of what My Friend had known about the males of her species and what they responded to. Hmmm...in some ways different from the females, in some ways very similar, though they may never have realized it. Well, I felt I now knew enough to begin my dance; everything else I would learn in my usual way, from his reactions as I linked with him. I rotated him face up, raised and spread his legs and began.

I broke my connection with him in horror, almost dropping him in my haste to sever our link. Wrong! Wrong! Never had I encountered such a twisted person, human or non-human. Every sensation that other humans had felt as pleasure or fulfillment was buried in him under layers of pain, shame and hatred. Any normal way of relating to this creature would only yield negative feelings. I doubted that even his own species could communicate with him.

But what shocked me was what I found deep inside him; what thoughts and ideas did serve to bring him pleasure. What drove him at his core was a lust for death and destruction. No, not just death; death was clean and common in this jungle. Defilement was what drove him. His thoughts were so alien I had trouble understanding them, but it was clear that he sought the defilement and slow death of every other creature that existed.

How could he even conceive of that? How does one even exist with such a desire? How do you ever find fulfillment with such an unquenchable lust? I didn't know, but it was plain that he was starting by attempting to defile his own kind, in particular the female he was in pursuit of. My lover, My Friend.

Well! It was beyond me to understand such a twisted creature but I certainly knew what to do about his desire to kill My Friend. I am a gentle creature with no interest in killing even such a monster as I faced. But there were plenty of others in this jungle that would be more than happy to do the killing for me.

It was a simple matter to relink with the creature I held and complete our joining. Distasteful to me, true; and I don't think I ever enjoyed a mating less, but I was certainly willing to to that for My Friend. I took some comfort in knowing that his sick mind wouldn't enjoy our joining, either.

When we were done the monster had a complete knowledge of this part of the jungle and the safe path that would take him toward what he sought. Unfortunately for him, the knowledge was completely false and made it certain that he would be somebody's meal before the sun went down.

As an additional touch, I used images from his head to hint at a great prize or treasure hidden in the wilderness nearby. Actually, the prize was a dense nest of Lotha, an animal not unlike myself but with a great many teeth. I knew no one would ever see this human again.

As the monster disappeared up the path to his doom, I took time to consider what I had learned from him. Not how to wave their shaped pieces of metal to kill humans, nor how to wrap a rope or a tendril about their necks and easily separate their heads from their bodies. I had known that since long before the lifetime of this creature. If I did such things I would cease to be Tentacle and become something much, much less. No, what I learned was that there were many more monsters such as this one in the place where My Friend had come from.

All humans are different, I know that. But it seemed that some others felt as this one and shared his insane desires. How many? That was not clear, but enough to have some power, enough to be dangerous. Like fild crawlers, it is their numbers that make them a threat. A threat to who? Not to me; here in this jungle I was safe and untouchable. But as for my lover...she was in terrible danger, even more than she suspected.

Not just this monster knew of My Friend, but all of them, and all hunted her. I thought of the man bent over the trail, searching for sign of my lover. All my tendrils writhed in agitation. What to do? What could I do? Nothing from here. Nothing...from here. All my tendrils tossed, large and small, and denizens of the jungle fled in a panic. It was clear to me now; I was going to have to spawn...and to spawn, I was going to have to move.