A spike swiftly extruded from where her spinnerets were and she curled her body, raising on four back legs as the four front lifted around him as she tackled.
The spike stabbed into his side, and he felt the cold rush of a liquid enter his body.
Despite her intentions, she placed herself around him where Orpheus was able to open his mouth and place it where her spider segment met the human-like part. He bit, his fangs slicing deeply, while thrashing beneath her to rip his claws into any part of flesh he could.
He cared not for his own pain she attempted to inflict.
She screeched, running her own claws down his chest, before he managed to grab her neck with one hand as his pawed feet pressed against her spider behind. He started pulling, gnawing his teeth at the same time.
“It hurts!” she screamed. “Stop! It hurts!”
Foul-tasting, rich blood entered his mouth, but he refused to stop. He refused to stop until he’d chomped his way enough through the tough section between human and spider, until he was able to push her lower half away while pulling her upper body.
The wet sound of skin and muscles tearing filled his ears as he tore her in half and severed her body.
He threw the pieces away from him, huffing deeply as he got back to his hands and paws.
The eight legs twitched in the air as her spider half lay on its side, wriggling and contorting. The human-like half used its hands to crawl around as she cried and gargled, life slowly fading from her. Heaving with terrible sounding wheezes, purple blood stained the nest as she moved around.
Then the top half slumped forward, bleeding out from her ripped torso as blood dribbled from her teeth.
A maelstrom of emotions swirled like a cyclone inside Orpheus. He shuddered and shook, as pain from his injuries flared through him at almost the same intensity.
And Reia was gone.
Red flared deeper in his vision, and he leapt in the direction she’d gone. Chasing her. Hunting her scent.
Mine! She was his human! His offering! His to touch, his to see, his to eat.
He was inhuman. He could never be human. So why would a human ever want him? But I want her. Every kind of hunger inside him wanted her. His desire, his loneliness, his need for flesh and blood.
He was a monster. They’d all called him one. He was a nightmare to them.
Her scent grew stronger as he got closer and the sound of leaves crunching under quick, but light, footsteps told him she was running.
Orpheus gave a bellowing roar with parted fangs, the chase sending an electric thrill and excitement through him.
Those hands squeezed his brain, and he panted. His vision dazing as it pulsated in and out.
He was so close he could hear her gasp at his roar, knowing he must be coming upon her. He was her death, her doom.
Then he saw her. Reia stopped and turned to him just in time for him to lunge at her.
She knocked against the ground, but her halt had stopped his claws from ripping into her, instead they found air around her back. His jaw clanked and clicked as he widened it swiftly, his head backing up to make room as he hovered above her.
Just as he dived his head forward to sink his fangs around her head for a quick strike, she ducked it forward at the same time, causing him to miss her. A crackling, wet snarl was loud even to his own hears.
“Orpheus!” she cried, wrapping her arms around his neck to bury her face against his monstrous, fur-covered chest.
He froze. His name and her tight hug burst through the fog that clouded his mind from the chase.
“I’m sorry!” She began to sob, the salt of her tears filling his sense of smell as she heaved her chest against him. Her nails dug through the long fur around his shoulders as they embedded into his flesh. “T-thank you so much for saving me.”
He didn’t know what to do. His emotions were still too chaotic, his thoughts still uncontrolled. He could still attack her. He could still hurt her.
I almost ate her. A part of him still wanted to.
“Reia,” he warned as he placed his hand around her shoulder to pull her away from him. He needed space to calm down. He was still in a highly agitated state.
She shook her head while squeezing him tighter.
“I’m so sorry. I was so stupid. I sh-shouldn’t have left.”
His head shot to the side when he heard the snap of a thin branch on the ground.
We need to leave. Demons would fall upon this area soon at the smell of the arachnid Demon’s blood – and he currently had a human in its vicinity.
“We have to leave,” he told her, trying to get to his hands and paws to get her to let go. Then he stood, able to stand on his pawed feet alone even though that bent his body so that his arms hung forward.
She continued to cling to him until she was dangling in the air, before slipping her legs around his waist to stay attached.
He heard more rustling and knew they were running out of time. Orpheus wrapped one arm around her securely and began to run, occasionally dipping forward to balance himself with his free hand.
His eyes were a diluted red, fear for her safety making it appear whiter than normal. She isn’t wearing the amulet.
He raced for their home, needing to get her within the protective salt circle there. He needed her safe.
