Moth

Copyright of Nanna Marker 2010.

*

"Fine," snarled Kokata, and turned away from the butcher and the busybody Hinea.

Too much meat. Too early in the season for smoking more meat. Too early to dry meat. No use for more. Kokata gritted his teeth and walked away, carrying the treetop beetle-beast above him.

He finally got hold of a real treat and then he was told to put it back where he got it. Did they actually expect him to carry the thing all the way back to the treetops?

A ball bumped past, right in front of him. Kokata was tempted to cut it in half. A laughing little boy ran after the ball. Kokata bared his teeth at him and hissed menacingly.

"Hi, Black," voiced the boy merrily, right into Kokata's face. Not the least bit intimidated.

Kokata swung the colourful beetle-beast forward, till its back was right in front of his face and its constantly seeking legs were toward the boy. The boy made a satisfactorily loud squeal and ran off calling for his mom.

"Whimp," yelled Kokata after the boy, and swung the beetle-beast back up, it was almost as heavy as a full grown beetle-man, but after a spring of slaving for Lei he had no trouble carrying it around.

"That was mean," said a large beetle-girl, who looked like she was only a year or two from womanhood.

Kokata jumped to her and did the beetle-leg thing to her too. She squealed even better than the little boy had. Ran faster too. Kokata smiled, and let it evolve to an evil grin.

If his woman wanted him to be nice to the beetles, she could just tell him so face to face.

A pack of children were watching from a few bodylengths away. Kokata threw the harmless beetle-beast at them and they scattered with high-pitched whines. Kokata chuckled and re-caught the beast.

"What are you doing, Black?" It was Hinea's voice.

Kokata tapped the beetle-beast's armour and wondered how loud Hinea could whine. He glanced backward at her, then jumped backward, landed behind her, and pressed the beetle-beast's front against the beetle-woman's backplate.

Hinea, it turned out, was more a squealer than a whiner. Quite a runner too.

Kokata laughed, swung the beetle-beast to his back, and looked around for another victim.

"Hi, Black," called Baltin, his usual wide, friendly smile on his face. "What's that you got there?"

Kokata wondered how squeamish Baltin was and jumped to find out. Mid-air he saw Rebekka, who was also mid-air. He moved the beetle-beast to get it out of her reach, but her tail was just too bloody long.

Kokata landed at Baltin and shoved the stung beetle out for its last leg-wiggling show. The beetle-man was disappointingly unaffected.

"What kind of a beetle-beast is that?" asked Baltin.

"The tastiest kind," snarled Kokata, and turned toward Rebekka, who looked rather proud of her mid-air accomplishment.

"Want a taste?" he asked, holding it out to her and rattling it. Its legs no longer moved on their own. "Best blood you'll ever find."

The scorpid girl shook her head.

Whenever Kokata fed in front of her, she'd stare at him with hunger written all over her face. But, she still only ate where none could see.

"You're missing out," snarled Kokata.

He had spied on the girl and had seen her suck blood of a living beast with as much enthusiasm as he did.

"So, that beast has tasty blood?" asked Baltin.

"The best," snarled Kokata, and wiggled the man-sized beetle at Baltin. "Want a taste?"

"I guess there is no harm in trying," said Baltin, agreeably.

Kokata just stared at him.

"If you have enough to share, that is," said Baltin, wide smile still on his face.

"Sure," snarled Kokata and slammed the beast, back down, onto the ground. "I can spare some."

"So, how do I go about this?"

"You put your mouth to the bleed and drink," snarled Kokata, sharpened a leg tip, and punched a hole in the beast's abdomen.

Yellow blood spurted out of the wound.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kokata saw a pained, hungry, expression cross Rebekka's face.

"That's all?" asked Baltin.

"Yes," snarled Kokata. "But you have to do it before the beast bleeds out."

Delicious, yellow, treetop-beetle-beast blood was running down the side of the beast and was wasted on the ground.

"Right," said Baltin, walked around the beast, and knelt at it, with his back to the scorpid girl.

The man's smile was quivering. Then the beetle-man did the last thing Kokata had expected him to. He bent over and put his lips to the open wound.

The village leader looked to be feeding, but blood still streamed down the beasts side at the same rate. Kokata narrowed his eyes.

Baltin raised himself back to his knees. There was yellow blood on his lips and his nose, and for a moment he looked like he was about to puke. Couldn't push your face into a wound without getting at least some in your mouth.

"A bit salty for my liking," said Baltin, his expression slowly changing back to normal. Then he dipped a finger in the blood and turned around on his knees.

"What do you think, Rebekka?" he asked, holding the finger out to her, as if asking her to try cookie dough.

It was working. Rebekka approached and reached out a hand for Baltin's hand.

"He didn't drink," snarled Kokata, breaking the fragile moment. "He faked it."

The scorpid girl snapped back her hand and stared at Kokata.

"He faked it," repeated Kokata, "and nearly puked all over my prey in doing so."

"That's enough, Black," snapped Baltin, stern command in his voice, and rose. "That's quite enough."

"You're spoiling her," snarled Kokata. "If you take every blow life throws at her, she won't grow strong enough to carry herself."

"That's enough, Black," yelled Baltin.

"It is enough," snarled Kokata, and jumped out of the village.

"Batshit," exclaimed Baltin, angrily fisting both hands.

"Don't be angry at Black," pleaded Rebekka, her voice as tiny as it always was when she spoke to anyone who wasn't the spider.

"I'm the leader of this village." Baltin banged one of his fists against his chest. "Black has to listen to me if he wants to hang around here."

He let his hand drop. Maybe he could convince a child that his anger was a matter of leadership issues, but not himself. He had been so close to making Rebekka eat in public. So very close. And then Black had blown it.

"Don't be angry at Black," pleaded Rebekka again and grabbed hold of his hand. "He has had it hard."

Baltin melted. Rebekka always had that effect on him.

Submitted to literotica.com by the author.

"We can just pretend you drank," said Rebekka.

"I did drink some of it," insisted Baltin. "It got into my mouth."

"How did it taste?" Rebekka looked up at him with those white surrounded, green eyes that looked nothing like a beetle's.

"Like blood," said Baltin, and couldn't avoid making a grimace.

"It's allright," comforted Rebekka. "Moths like sweets, and beetles like cooked stuff."

"And what do scorpids like, sweetie?"

Rebekka's eyes went to the bleeding beast.

"Predators like blood," she quietly said.

"I just wanted you to know that it's allright for you to eat like Black does," said Baltin, sad that he had failed.

"Oh look at this mess," complained Hinea from somewhere close by. "That blood is going to soak into the soil and stink for weeks."

Baltin sighed.

"I don't suppose we can convince Black to dig up the wet soil and carry it away?" he said.

"That wouldn't be fair," objected Rebekka. "You are the one who let it spill."

Baltin groaned and went off toward the tool shack.

"I'll help you dig," promised Rebekka.

Kokata found himself a nice spot up in the branches. Up there he was in no risk of being disturbed by villagers. Lei could fly up and disturb him, but Lei wouldn't. She wouldn't even let him disturb her. Kokata let himself sink to the branch and let his legs flatten as if Rebekka's poison was in him.

His Lei didn't want him to see her face until it was healed. He hated that she didn't trust him not to care what she looked like. And he hated not being with her. Most of all, he hated that apparently his Lei could stand being without him for that long.

How much his was she anyway?

There was a clear imbalance between them: there was no doubt who was in charge. When Lei wanted something of him, she was better than him at asking nicely, but that was just form of address. When all the straws were counted, he asked and Lei demanded.

Just once, he'd like to see things the other way around. Just once, he'd like to sharply call her name and see her cower with fear of losing him.

Kokata sighed and got up. He'd make himself a spinning stick. If he was a slave he might as well be a good one. Besides, the task might calm him a bit.

While carving a spinning stick, Kokata fantasised of speeding down to the village and breaking up the healer's door. He'd step inside, glare right into Lei's lip-swollen face, and declare that once Her Almighty, Ugliness felt ready to be with him, she could find him back home. Then he'd spin around, and speed away for the hive they had built on the strength of his body.

Kokata sighed.

He wouldn't last the two days it'd take him to get home. He'd come crawling back, and scrape a legtip against the healer's door, and, through the door, beg for Lei to forgive him, and wow had that fantasy gone awry.

If he was going to fantasise about things that could never work out he might as well go all the way and fantasise about things he'd never do.

Like, once Lei was all healed up again, he'd crawl after her as his usual submissive self. But once they were alone...

Kokata spun a few of his favourite fantasy scenarios through his head, and picked one.

"Lei," he'd whisper, and creep closer for a kiss.

She'd kiss him back, as she always did, and he'd kiss more insistently and run his legtips over her.

She'd let him undress her, as she did when she wanted him, and he would touch her as he always did. Gently, and softly. Everywhere that wasn't forbidden him. And she'd touch him back as she always did.

He'd be sure to be drained up front not to get as sex-crazed as her, because the moment she'd say:

"I wan't you inside me, Black. I need you."

He'd grab hold of her arms and her legs and he'd push her to her back. But he wouldn't be a good slave and enter her. Not this time. This time he would slowly slide a legtip up her inner thigh. She'd know where it was going long before it got there.

She'd tell him, "No."

But, he'd keep going.

She'd get angry and say, "Let go of me, Black."

He'd just smile and push his legtip inside her.

She'd shriek with fury and try to wrestle free.

He wouldn't let her. Instead he would seek out that spot inside her where she had once said it felt good, and he'd hold her still and rub it.

He'd keep rubbing it till she squirmed, like he had spied beetle-man Kano's woman do under his hands, and then he'd keep rubbing till...

Kokata groaned. It was too hard to put Kano's woman's movements into Lei's body. Too difficult to put her sounds into Lei's mouth. And, as pretty as she was, he wasn't attracted to Kano's woman. He couldn't even get around to remembering her name.

Well, it was a good fantasy up to the point of trying to imagine how Lei would look while having an 'orgasm'.

In the last days, Kokata had had a lot of time on his hands, with nothing better to do than spying. The young people around here sure talked a lot about sex. The young men bragged to each other about their accomplishments in the bedding, and the young women, well they bragged to each other about their men's abilities in the bedding.

It was quite funny actually.

More importantly it was informative.

Like what an 'orgasm' was and how you could tell if she was having one. As far as Kokata could tell, Lei had never had an 'orgasm' with him. From all the time he had spent secretly spying on her, he was fairly sure that she didn't 'masturbate' either, she wasn't getting 'orgasms' on her lonesome.

Again Kokata wondered what Lei would look like if she had one.

It seemed no beetle-woman would invite a beetle-man to have sex with her, and then deny him to touch her 'dew-slit'. (Kokata hadn't heard any of the young adults call it 'privates' not even once.)

In fact, as far as Kokata had heard, beetle-women were prone to deny their men sex if they didn't spend enough time 'down there'. What was more, beetle-women would also deny their men sex if they refused to 'go down on' them.

Not that Kokata could get why any man would ever refuse to 'go down on' his woman. He'd love to get his head between Lei's legs.

Kokata shivered and fantasised of webbing her down and licking her dry. Except, of course, instead of drying out she got wetter.

---==(o)==---

"Are your eyes comfortable with this light, Lei?" asked Hevalla. The young woman had turned the bright-glow up a bit.

Lei nodded. The room had grown no brighter than mid sunset, she wouldn't get a headache from that.

"Your lips look much better today," said Bettina, she always said that when she came to visit.

Intellectual property of Nanna Marker.

"Much better," agreed Djinni, and she wasn't usually one to exaggerate.

Lei was glad to hear it and smiled. Pain reminded her not to do that and she reached for the lotion. The healer always said that if she had had to burn something, it was a good thing it was her mouth. The mouth, the healer always stated, healed faster than anything else. Especially the tongue was swift to regenerate.

No matter how many times the healer said it, Lei still didn't feel fortunate.

She was always hungry. All the healer gave her was soup and gels, and even that hurt to get down. The healer wouldn't let her have anything sweet, but, even if she did, Lei wouldn't be able to taste it. She couldn't taste anything.

The healer had promised her sense of taste would return, and had added that the diet she was on she was better of not having it for now anyhow.

"We hope you don't mind we came all together, Lei," said Hevalla.

"I om mine," said Lei, and regretted her attempt at speech. The healer was constantly cutting back on her painkillers, keeping her at the same 'tolerable as long as she behaved' level of discomfort.

"Don't try to speak, sweetie," scolded Djinni. "The healer says three more days before you should start exercising your mouth."

Lei glared at Djinni. She was perfectly aware what the healer said. The healer said the things she said several times of day, every single day.

"But we really are glad that you don't mind," added Bettina. "Since we all got officially mated we haven't had time to hang out the way we used to."

"It's nothing like I hoped it would be," sighed Hevalla, and padded her growing belly. "It's all work and no fun. And Lon doesn't even wanna have sex anymore."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Djinni. "Now that we're mated, and could be coupling all night long without having to worry to get caught, it's like they just lose interest in sex."

"I don't think Lon has lost interest in sex," stated Hevalla. "It's just me that has grown fat and ugly."

"You're not ugly." Bettina almost sounded angry that her friend would say such a thing. "You make pregnancy look good."

Lei just watched wide-eyed. It seemed her company had forgotten she was there. She'd never heard people talk about sex that way. Since she had become a woman, she had been alone with Black. It was somewhat a relief when the conversation naturally slid into a talk of pregnancy and babies.

The three young women hadn't been mated long. Hevalla was the first of them to get pregnant. During the talk, Lei realised that Hevalla had even gotten pregnant before her mating. Somehow, in that context, the conversation moved on to recollections of how the three young women each had fooled their elders to get time alone with their respective men.

Apparently the most difficult part of having unmated sex, was to escape Baltin. The village's leader not merely had a sixth sense for who was up to no good, he was also an excellent tracker.

"In the end," said Djinni, turning to Lei, and thus proving she wasn't forgotten, "we had to organise our meetings to take place simultaneously in three different directions. That way Baltin could only track down and stop one of us."

"Since I am his niece, he almost always went after me," complained Bettina.

"I was counting on that," said Djinni and leaned back laughing.

"I bet you were," commented Bettina and burst into laughter too.

"I wish I was Baltin's niece," said Hevalla with a long sigh, dejectedly eyeing her belly.

That just made Djinni and Bettina laugh louder.

Lei had a hard time struggling not to smile. But the humour was worth it. It was better to feel like laughing and not being able to, than not to feel like laughing at all.

"I'll never forget the first time Baltin tracked me and Kano down," said Bettina.

Now it was Hevalla's turn to break into loud laughter.

"You should tell Lei that story, Bettina," said Djinni, apparently having a hard time keeping her own laughter down long enough to talk.

"Oh, of course," said Bettina, turning her attention to Lei. "You wouldn't know about it." Bettina scurried forward on the couch she was sharing with Djinni. "It was the worst thing that ever happened to me."

Apparently it wasn't worse than that she had a hard time talking about it without breaking into hysterical laughter.

"Kano and I had snuck deep into the forest," began Bettina. "He was going down on me."

Djinni and Hevalla was holding their hands over their mouths, trying not to laugh louder than Bettina talked.

"I had made Kano promise that as soon as I got off, he would jump me and fuck me like a beast in heat."

Lei had a hard time understanding Bettina's narrative. When the young woman had said 'was going down on', Lei had thought she meant fallen asleep on her. 'As soon as I got off', made absolutely no sense, unless maybe, it meant that Bettina was on top. But...

Lei's attempts at mentally catching up were interrupted as Bettina continued her story:

"I really wanted to find out how it would feel. We had attempted it before, but we'd always fail because I can't lie still when I'm coming. This time Kano had promised he'd hold me down long enough to get inside."

Djinni and Hevalla practically howled with laughter, and Bettina had to pause till the other regained control of themselves.

"So there we were, me and Kano. He has this thing he does with his tongue where..." Bettina started making an incomprehensible signal with her fingers, but Djinni shoved her shoulder and told her to get back to the story.

"Allright, allright," said Bettina, batting at Djinni's hands, then returned her attention to Lei. "Anyway, there we were, happy as caterpillars on a leaf. Kano was doing his thing and I was loving it. But, then, all of a sudden, there was Baltin. He was just like twenty steps away and he was staring at us with that look he has when he is really angry. So, I shrieked with surprise."

Hevalla and Djinni were practically weeping with laughter. Bettina hushed them and went back to her story.

"Kano hadn't seen Baltin, so he thought I was coming."

Lei didn't quite get what Bettina was talking about, but she had a feeling the grand finish was approaching.

"So, Kano, moved forward and tried to push into me, like he had promised!"

Lei gasped at the image of Bettina's lover trying to enter her even as the village's leader was approaching to tear them apart.

"So, I shrieked louder and pushed at him to get him off. I was too embarrassed to even think of speaking. But, Kano thought I was just moving with my orgasm, and he kept holding me down to get inside."

Lei's eyes widened even further, she could guess where this was going.