Katelyn.
"Should we… Try again?"
"With whose arrows? I'm already down three of the things that I probably won't ever get back at this point!"
"Could be that we were wrong about the whole mimic thing…" Cole tried, earning himself a pointed look from the tall girl who appeared to want nothing more to do with the whole situation.
"I mean, listen, there's at least two treasure chests just sitting there, probably filled with enough coin to pay for a halfway decent meal and bed, presumably for an entire week! If you're saying we should just—shove on and ignore it, then…" His words trailed, and the shortest of their group let out an interrupting sigh, Cole looking his way as the other boy cleared his throat.
"Fuck it… I vote no as well…"
"Seriously?" His golden-haired friend demanded. "Just like that, you're giving up?"
"Feel free to investigate yourself then." Ryan intoned, stepping away from the chamber and starting to wander out of sight. "Or, were you going to have the rogue do it for you?"
"Finally, some common sense!"
Behind him, Rayla departed as well, chatting amiably with her short ally while Cole was left staring at them in utter disbelief. He worried at his lip for a few moments, looking to earnestly consider trying his luck, the odds in his favor as they were.
Yet, ultimately, he let out an unintelligible mumble as he turned, following the pair while grumbling all the way.
As it happened, keeping herself still while they departed was notably harder than when the arrow had struck her.
The intoxicating smell of the air nearly made her insensate with desire… She was practically frothing at the mouth as she began to twitch irritably like her new body was utterly infuriated by the situation as well.
Still, she shuddered to think about what might have happened should they have approached. Ignoring the whole—dying bit, the prospect of eating someone while, at this juncture—delightfully tantalizing… was… morally wrong?
Or, that's what she knew should be the case, yet her hunger was making it hard to focus on that bit… Not that doing the right thing had ever truly stood in the way of her desires before...
In fact, she felt a strange urge to try and follow along… Tempted to see what would happen, even if it meant a fight. Maybe she could manage a hand or a few fingers before she scared them off… anything to help curb the thought-numbing cravings she was dealing with...
"Meditation…" She whispered to herself, enduring the encroaching madness of starvation that was drowning her… "Breathe in, breathe out… breathe in, breathe out… breathe in…"
Hours passed as Katelyn regulated herself to a narrow fixation, her every shred of willpower forcing her to think of nothing but the inexistent, soothing words that repeated in her mind like a mantra.
And though the act of speaking was somewhat unavailable, her mind still managed a trance.
Eventually, her soul all but shaking from the raw intensity of her desires, though she couldn't imagine the span of time involved, familiar voices returned as Katelyn caught their figures wandering by. Each glanced towards her room without pause as they moved, the mood jovial and cheery.
"It wasn't a bad haul…" She heard Cole say, his—delectable lips so, mmmmhmm... full and plump, the man chuckling as he disappeared. "We're not going to be kings after this, but… a hot meal isn't too ba…"
Then, her comprehension thinned, the voices trailing as they grew too far away to focus on. Her head felt like it might split open as their delicate scents graced her; Katelyn was near on the verge of tears as she wondered what she had exactly done to deserve such a fate as this!
She was ravenous… immobile and desperate. Forced to starve or die, fodder for what sounded like beginners delving into a dungeon meant to whet their blades with easy experience.
She hated it here… hated whatever purgatory this was… wondered when her mind might finally—crack from the strain…
Then, another voice!
Shouting, calling out, growing louder as it echoed against the stone walls…
"—ont be long, just taking a shit!"
Again, Katelyn found herself fixated on the smell… Her entire body tensed with anticipation as a figure returned in the doorway.
Ryan.
The short youth was now wearing a cloak that shrouded what lay beneath, his countenance hurried, expression filled with the dark green light of wondrous greed!
He silently slunk into the chamber he'd previously abandoned, dry lips wettened as his tongue slid across them. Reaching down, he lifted a pebble from the floor, flinging it once more at Katelyn's lid. She felt it bounce off of her, the rattle it made sounding like thunder in the silence around them.
Clearly hesitant, the young man considered the chests before him for another brief few heartbeats before he cautiously began to approach. A hand slipped to his belt to unsheath gleaming steel before he plunged it into her plank hide! Jumping back even as he did so as if in anticipation of immediate reprisal.
And, perhaps there might have been, were she normal.
However, Katelyn was doing her utmost to remain perfectly still. She'd have one chance to get this right, given her prey's skittish nature. One chance for a clean... well, kill she supposed…
Momentarily, a parting of the clouds that were her own thoughts allowed the young woman to—reflect upon the very concept she was envisioning, horrified by the premise of it, that she'd been so committed, so immersed…
Yet that observation quickly abated as, with a chuckle, the thief wiggled his dagger free. Popping the lid of her box with a self-deprecating smile as though wondering why he'd ever been so foolish.
If he expected gold to be waiting within, his expression didn't show it. Instead, he stared down at the emptiness, confused for those brief heartbeats, doubtlessly feeling cheated…
"Son of a bitch…"
That was all he said. Head swiveling as though he could see his comrades through the stone itself, wondering which of the two had beaten him to the prize right before Katelyn's tongue shot out like an arrow!
The bulbous appendage struck with frightening alacrity, and with hardly but the faintest release of control on the young woman's behalf, the salivating tip smashed against the side of his head and elicited a shocked grunt, which was followed by a gruesome crunch.
Retracting like a toad, her tongue doggedly stuck to the side of his face with all the tack of industrial glue, yanking the young man wholly towards her gaping maw, teeth springing forth and shredding flesh and fabric alike as her lid snapped closed with all the biting power of an alligator's jaws!
Katelyn felt a definitive crack of bone as she bit down, snarling and shaking like a pitbull… furious, hungry, seeing naught but red as she ripped, tore, and chewed! His delicious juices spraying wildly within her maw! Whetting her mouth in such luxurious flavour as she squeezed and chewed, drinking his fluids with all the desperation of the starved!
Then, there was silence.
The person in her jaws didn't even tremble as she felt a near rapturous flavor douse her tongue and—interior…
It was addicting, spicy, and voluminous, with complicated subtleties that only grew in delectability the longer she paid attention. Even as, upon its own volition, her body began snapping back the unmoving figure that was partially stuck on her teeth, slowly dragging him inch by inch, first to his shoulders, then his torso.
The hips followed, as did the thighs and finally the entire legs as they twisted and cracked in her maw! Kate losing herself in the mind-numbing nirvana of satiation until there was nothing left behind.
She belched, the sound utterly improper for a young woman in public as herself! Yet, she didn't give a shit!
Her thoughts were floaty, almost giddy as she began to mentally laugh, staring down at the streams of blood that seemed to slowly absorb into her flesh like a pleasant after-meal snack.
Before long, no evidence save for the slight droplets on the ground around her was present to be seen! It had been—well, all a lot less disgusting than she'd sort of built it up to be…
In fact, though part of her knew how it sounded… She'd loved the thrill of it all… not to forget how scrumptious the young man had actually been.
She was simultaneously sickened by the vileness of her own actions while at the same time pleasantly content and bathing in the afterglow, not too indifferently from a little impromptu masturbation.
Though, Katelyn still found herself at odds.
On one hand, it had been culinary perfection; regardless of what it was, her new body made it difficult to really call what she'd eaten—gross by any standard she could bring to bear. And Katelyn had been eating Michelin star meals all her life! More, to say that this feast had all but taken the cake was, earnestly, kind of accurate...
On the other hand, Katelyn had just done a murder…
Though, as to whether a monster could have such a claim attributed to it, that was doubtless a question for the scholars.
Still, the whole—situation did leave her in a kind of pickle. Doubly so due to the familiar flashing insistence at the corner of her consciousness.
However, she was not without her wits.
Not so much a fool as her monstrous, now-lazing instincts might have otherwise so desired to be!
Quickly, Katelyn shifted herself, rocking and pulling with her prehensile tongue, more energized than if she'd shotgunned a case of Red Bull!
Kate situated herself in the trio's center while pushing the chest that had lain in its place to her previous location. For good measure, she wrapped her tongue around the arrow in its lid and yanked it free. Swallowing the thing whole for lack of a better place to store it.
Minutes passed as she waited, silent as the grave, the digits doubling toward a possible quarter-hour before more voices called through the gloom.
"Oi, dumbass, you get yourself suck?"
Naturally, there was no reply, which, after a few more minutes, earned Katelyn yet another glimpse into the situation.
"Ryan?" She heard Rayla call, voice uncertain but, with an annoyed edge. "Seriously, if you're planning on having a laugh and jumping out at us, I will put an arrow through your family jewels!"
There was another pause, a quiet that was allowed to manifest and settle. The air growing pungent with implication and concern. "See? Like I said, not answering… You think he… I don't know, croaked while pushing too hard?"
"Don't be gross…" Rayla murmured with a sigh.
"Listen, I'm just saying that it could happen… You know how—impatient he can be at times, so maybe…"
"Please, Cole, stop talking… Look, if he is hiding and planning something stupid, then we can kick his ass together. But, if he's in actual trouble…"
"From what? We practically swept this entire region! There's nothing left but the boss and…"
The boy's words faded as the glowing light at the chamber's mouth intensified, glaring flames shining into the space she waited as two familiar people returned to her.
There was a gasp from the tall woman as she quickly grabbed at her friend's shoulder, pulling him back a fraction as her voice hissed with a whisper.
"I smell blood…"
"As do I…" Cole nodded, raising his flames higher, his gaze narrowing on the splatters to Katelyn's side. "Fuck…"
"He's dead, isn't he?"
"I—don't know—maybe…"
"He came back on his own because he thought I was wrong." Ray continued, horrified as much as she was exhausted.
Both of them eyed the chest that Kate had switched with herself, their gazes filled with accusation and dismay, Katelyn finding that she was practically preening with smug satisfaction as they completely ignored her real body.
She was a genius!
"Idiot."
"Don't be like that, he was our—"
"Friend?" The girl laughed, bitterness filling her words. "He was my cousin and not one I particularly ever liked. He was a greasy and cowardly little asshole who couldn't ever keep his eyes off of me. And it's very clear he intended to fuck us! Well, guess what? He chose wrong, and now we can split the treasure fifty, fifty."
"H-hold on, wait just a moment!" Cole laughed, grabbing firmly at the taller girl's arm as he tried to wrestle her back. "Why don't we just—forget this whole treasure business? I mean, the trap's already gotten one of us…"
"Hmm? And what happened to your cavalier attitude this morning?"
"Listen, Rayla, you're in shock." The young man tried, fighting with the girl as she attempted to march up to the other chests. "It happens when something truly terrible transpires, and you're not thinking straight! Just—fucking gods, Listen!"
His final words barked as he pulled her bodily from the room, tone losing some of its joviality, lowering to an intimidating growl. "You might not have liked him, but he was my friend, regardless of what I thought of him when we first started, and he was not incompetent.
We need to report his demise. Let your uncle know what happened to him and not risk our damned lives on some clear aberration!" He paused, breathing as the woman in his hands gaped like a fish, tears threatening her eyes as she stared at him wildly. "There's a mimic in there, Ray... It doesn't matter how we feel, it's in there, and it's already eaten, Ryan.
What's more, it's not reacting to us, which means the dungeon made it a high level. For all we know, that thing in there has fucking legs Ray, legs! What happens if it jumps on us when we're trying for the other chests, and it has arms as well?"
"We should kill it." Ryala breathed, glowering at the darkness with clear hate.
"Ryan had the fireball scroll. If it doesn't care about getting hit by your arrows, then what do you propose we do to harm it?"
It was her own logic, yet the girl still ground her teeth for several moments before she eventually took a deep and shuddering breath, nodding slightly to the man still restraining her and allowing herself to be led away further down the chamber.
Katelyn was—dispirited that the duo hadn't tried their hand at a little gambling… but she was happy with herself all the same.
She was alive, fed and overall quite pleased with the situation considering what it was. And, after she counted another quarter hour pass by, she finally let her guard down for a well-deserved rest.