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THE TASTE OF TERROR

Chapter 1: First Sight

"Hello, Alex."

The voice was low, gentle...and utterly terrifying. Alex's lungs ballooned with air as he tried to scream, his legs kicking wildly as he struggled to get up from the tree against which he had been resting, to run from this forest, to flee.

A claw, grip strong as iron, clamped around his muzzle, cutting off his scream of unadulterated terror.

"Sssh..." whispered the voice, right next to his ear: gentle, almost loving."...Don't worry, little one...you'll have plenty of time to scream later..." Alex's desperate struggles seemed to do nothing more than amuse it. He might as well have tried to shift a mountain. He almost blacked out with pure fear.

It was here.

The dreams had begun two or three weeks ago. Always the same, always stunningly, and petrifyingly realistic - right down to the fur on his ears. Him- a lone arctic fox, running through the woods, fleeing desperately, from a terrible creature, one he could not hope to evade, one that he knew was going to kill him. He never saw the thing itself until the end, as he tripped and sprawled in the dirt and a dark shape loomed over his vulnerable form, speaking but two words:

_"Hello, Alex."

_

Then he would wake: sweating and crying, clutching his tail close to him and making little meeping noises in his throat until the nightmare faded. By the time he had got up, his pulse was back to normal. By the time he'd finished in the shower, the images and emotions of the chase were all but forgotten. By the time he had breakfast, he'd convinced himself it was nothing more than a bad dream.

Then, the next night, the dreams would return. And the next, and the next...

And now they were here to be played out for real.

Another claw tenderly stroked his ears, tickling the snow white fur at the tips. "Beautiful. The fear you felt in those dreams... it was exquisite. I had no idea they'd be so effective.

"Mmph... mmph mmmphed mmph mmmph?"

"Yes, I planted those dreams, dear Alex. All my own handiwork. But...I digress. Let's have a proper conversation, shall we?"

The iron grip was released. Gasping for air, Alex scrambled away, escape consuming his every thought. He stumbled to his feet, not even able to scream through the wild surge of blind panic - and then, as he started to run, he found himself launching a single backwards glance at his hidden assailant.

His mad scrabblings slowed... and stopped... and he stared.

It hadn't moved. It didn't need to. Alex kept staring.

He'd heard the old myths, of course. "A creature with the hindquarters of a lion and the forelimbs and head of an eagle". That's what they were -just myths! Gryphons... did not... did not exist!

This one didn't seem to know that. It stood higher than him at the shoulder, far, far taller and stronger-looking than even the largest of horses. It's wings, furled for the moment as the horrific, impossible creature gazed calmly at him, stepping lazily out from behind the tree, looked like they'd clear sixty feet when unfolded. Every sleek feather, every hair of luxuriant, silky fur, every smooth scale of its claws was as black as midnight, and the eyes...

The eyes...

He felt a whimper escape his numb throat. The monster's ears flickered at the sound, but he couldn't look away from the gryphon's golden gaze. The eyes.

Alex had heard the phrase "eyes of a killer" before. He'd never understood how it worked. How could eyes simply tell you that this person was innocent; so was this one, but this one was in fact a mad psychopath? A murderer? A killer?

Now he knew how. The gryphon's eyes... burned. Burned with a terrible sentience, one totally alien and totally merciless. Flames of searing golden malevolence that almost seemed to glow from within, surrounding a total void of black pupil that looked at him like the eternal abyss of space. It seemed to be looking into his very soul.

The fox felt his dry throat spasm, and finally managed to speak: "Y-You...you..."

A single raised claw cut him off sharply, the talon that capped it - longer than his finger, darker than midnight, and so horrifically sharp and predatory - transfixing him into stunned silence as the creature spoke languidly, amused and tender. "Alex...This is going to be the last hour of your life. I suggest you don't waste it stuttering. I wouldn't bother trying to run either...not yet. Later, little one. When... when we're ready."

It spoke. He felt his ears trembling at the sound. It could speak. Of course it can, whispered his own mind, fear thrumming through his very skull. You'd heard it before. But now he could see that massive beak twist and curve around words, the voice that emerged from within deep and smooth, with an odd, purring undertone to it. It speaks. It thinks. It's impossible... and it's right there, RIGHT THERE, just run, for God's sake RUN -

Alex moved. The gryphon moved.

The air blurred.

A single second passed, containing a lot more movement. All the stunned vulpine felt was a sudden warmth, a silkiness that gripped him gently and twisted him round in a silent heart-stopping second of contact, and -

WHUMPH. They were lying on the leafy ground, Alex pinned below the monster's great chest, one arm gripped by an eagle claw while the gryphon's other lazily stroked his chestfur. It had moved so fast he hadn't even seen it. Now he could feel the soft feathers that covered it, crushing down on him with no hope of escape as he tried to summon a terrified plea, and it overruled his tongue again, it's voice so smooth and... so tenderly playful...

"First, Alex, we would introduce ourselves - courtesy, is after all, the most important of virtues. But I can assure you that I already know everything about you, your life, and your very existence." It smiled. "My name, however, is Damian."

He stared at the creature, feeling the sting of a first bewildered tear. This monstrosity, restraining him like a doll, impossible in every aspect... Dami-_NO! Alex gasped out loud, trembling, and the massive creature looked down at him with a smirk playing around the edges of its - no, _his - beak. He couldn't even say the name inside his head. Already, it sparked a sudden flood of impossible, traumatised terror."Please... I don't understand. You... y-you can't exist! What... What are..." He swallowed, trying to squirm out of the monster's iron grip, and gained less than an inch of movement - an inch that was lost almost immediately, the huge creature's sheer bulk pinning him easily to the hard, leafy ground with no hope of escaping. "Please... j-just let... let me go..."

The words were so desperately sweet on his tongue, and yet they were so, so unreachable. The answer didn't need to be spoken.

Chuckling softly, the gryphon hugged him, crushing him into the soft warmth of... of his dark, silky feathers, his horrendous claw starting now to trace idly across his torso, with a horrific tenderness that only served to hint at the strength that lay, steel-cable-like, behind them. "That's what so fascinating about you, Alex. You're so...innocent. It's just magnificent." Damian purred softly, dipping his great head down until his cruelly hooked beak was level with the terrified fox's head, speaking like a lover whispering sweet nothings into their beloved's ear.

"You see, Alex, I am going to kill you." The fox froze in his bewildered struggles, his eyes widening with horror, his muzzle trying to mouth a plea that could not find breath, but Damian did not falter. "I'm going to swallow you whole. Raw, alive, and-" his long tongue flicked out and lightly caressed Alex's ear, making him shudder "-squirming. You're going to die, screaming... begging... struggling and sobbing as you slide down my throat ,and I will savour every ecstatic moment of it." He purred quietly, ferally, one claw gently fondling Alex's head as his breath washed over his pinned captive - surprisingly pleasant, it was warm, musky and exotic, speaking of far off lands and forgotten worlds. Alex realised he was crying: soft, little sobs as his murderer crooned into his ear, talons running through his snowy fur. He had never in his entire life felt so petrified, so helpless.

"Yes..." the massive gryphon hissed with delight as the tears started to flow. "Cry all you want, little one. You are mine now. And your tears are so beautiful..." His thrumming growl, emanating from his barrel chest, seemed to shake the trapped vulpine's entire body with it's ravenous intensity. "Oh, Alex...you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day. How long I've hungered for you. You see... as of up until that glorious moment of reveal, just a few minutes ago... I have been watching you for a total of over seven years."

"I... I d-don't... wait. Seven_... seven years?" Alex was twenty two. Seven years ago, he'd been fifteen. He'd been changing from a child into an adult. He'd been starting his _life. And this horrific... creature had chosen for it all to end. Right then.

The fox blinked away a fresh tear, his mouth stumbling over half-formed whispers of words. "B-But... no, you can't... you can't be..." His mind reeled in shock, memories of his adolescence, his early adulthood, everything that had made him him simply crashing over him, all screaming their horrific epiphany: every second had just been leading up to this. Every second of his life. For this. "Oh... my god... no... please... That-that's just impossible..."

His captor shrugged. "Gryphons have long lifespans, little one, and a gryphon of my... unusual constitution can be functionally immortal. And creatures like me can be very, very obsessive... and you, Alex, are quite simply the most fascinating, most beautiful living creature I have ever seen in my entire existence. I can be patient, when I know what I want. It hurt to look and not touch for so long, as you grew and became more exquisite and more perfect than I could imagine... but oh..." He hugged his prey close, as Alex tried to push away and felt the horrific strength behind his dark, silky feathers, and growled again with pure twisted pleasure. "It was worth every second for this... ecstasy. Every last second."

"I-I don't... please..." Alex was crying freely now, his sobs making his entire body tremble with the shocked sobs. He'd heard that victims of sudden trauma were supposed to feel strangely numb. Not this time. He felt his hot tears start to pour steadily as he wept, feeling actually exhausted by the sheer force of terror that thrummed through every cell of his body, his mind impaled on every thought and horror-struck revelation: for seven years... going to kill you... little one... "No..." he sounded like a child, squeaking feebly as he closed his eyes and slumped in the massive creatures embrace, surrendering to the horror. "No, no, no..."

"But I digress." Damian's claws returned to their gentle stroking, their tenderness almost laughably absurd when Alex glimpsed the cruel, vicious talons that enfolded him, caressing his snowy fur and the slender contours of his body with a terribly focused intensity. "You see... I've seen your hopes, Alex, your fears... your dreams, and your regrets...I know you better than you do. I know exactly how beautiful a creature you are..." The monster hugged Alex close, claws running all over him. "And now... I'm going to destroy you utterly."He chuckled lightly. "It's almost... poetic, isn't it?"

"P...Please..."The fox whimpered, weakly trying to break free of the caressing, imprisoning claws. "I don't...I don't want to... please...I..."

The gryphon pressed his beak into his thick fluff of chestfur, nuzzling him. "No. Of course you don't want to. Where would the pleasure be if you wanted to? If your mind" - a single talon tapped the whimpering vulpine on his temple, and the beast laughed softly as his prey cringed away from it - "wasn't alight with all this terror... where would this beauty that is so, so inherent in you... where would it be?" He licked Alex's bare fur briefly, growling low in his throat at the taste. "Keep begging, though. It's so beautiful... Or, on second thoughts... shall we begin?"

Abruptly, the claws left him, gasping and stunned, on the ground. Damian sat back on his enormous haunches, black feathers sleek and unruffled, gazing at Alex: so intensely the white-furred fox felt as if he might burst into flame. Was it ravenous hunger in his blazing gaze? Depraved lust?

Love?

"Now then...run, little one."

"P-please, I don't ..." The vulpine got weakly to his feet, hugging his arms around him. "I...w-what-?"

RUN.

Damian's voice resonated in Alex's skull without bothering to come via his ears. For a tortuous moment, he felt the touch of the gryphon's mind on his own. It was vast. It was ancient. It could snuff his own tiny little mind out like a candle flame.

He ran, a yell of complete and absolute terror tearing from his throat.

With an avian roar of delight, the beast gave chase.

***

"Oh god, oh god, oh god please..."

Alex was beginning to tire. He had no idea where his pursuer was. He had no idea where he was. He wanted to just stop, to break down and sob, to accept the fate that he knew was inevitable... No! He could not stop. He kept running, gasping now with exertion and fear, so much blind panicked fear...

A dark shape loomed up ahead of him, and he screamed, frantically darting left. "NO! I won't -"

-or had it just been an old tree stump? He spotted two points of light through the blur of tears now streaming freely, and were they the burning, terrifying eyes of the gryphon? Alex howled again, and ducked frantically right, barely conscious of his surroundings any more, his mind consumed with the terror, his one thought to flee. Everywhere he saw claws, and dark wings, and silky feathers and black fur and those merciless, pitiless eyes and that hungry beak which lusted for his flesh, which he knew he would so soon inevitably vanish into. He kept running.

And tripped over a tree root.

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Some small part of Alex's mind laughed out loud: so, he had evaded a mythical, sadistic psychopath intent on the annihilation of his very being, only to be brought down by a piece of wood.

He hit the ground hard, sprawling, and all his exhausted muscles immediately handed in their notices, leaving him unable to do anything but slump, gasping for air.

"Not bad." Alex looked up, and saw the gryphon sitting calmly, barely twenty feet away, wings folded demurely around his sleek flanks. Damian looked as if he'd been there since the dawn of the world. For several moments, neither of them moved. The fox, panting, dishevelled and terrified, and his soon-to-be murderer, detachedly observing his prey's exhaustion, his massive, dark head cocked to one side as if mildly curious.

"P...Please..." He couldn't gasp another word, his lungs on fire, his heart hammering. The exhaustion was fading... but now there was terror, pure and suffocating, that made him begin to sob again, broken, weeping cries that echoed pathetically into the forest. No-one was around for miles.

If a fox dies in the forest with no-one to hear him... will he make a sound? The gryphon spoke inside his head again, and Alex felt himself freeze up, staring at the impossible creature, his tear-filled eyes wide with horror. Damian nodded slowly.

He stood up, padding towards the sobbing vulpine, who tried to scramble away, too weak with fear to move more than a few inches. The monster spoke quietly, his voice entirely devoid of any pity or kindness.

"Time to die, little one."

Strong claws clamped Alex's shoulders even as he struggled to rise. The gryphon stood over him, blotting out the sun, his dark form appearing ringed by a burning corona of incandescent fire - although it could not hope to outshine the blazing cruelty in Damian's golden eyes. For a long, heart-stopping moment, the great beast stood utterly frozen, contemplating his terrified prey. Then, tenderly, almost lovingly, his beak opened wide, the soft flesh glistening wetly, and enveloped the fox's head.

Alex gasped out loud at the sudden feeling of warm wetness all around his head. Damian's long tongue seemed to be everywhere at once, tasting and stroking, examining and caressing every inch it could find. He tried to struggle, but his arms were pinned. He tried to scream, but the sound was overwhelmed by the gryphon's growls of appreciation at his prey's taste.

For almost a full minute the tongue probed and licked him, drenching him in saliva and intensifying the beast's low growls of delight and terrifying hunger. Then, Alex's entire world convulsed - muscles around him clenching and his world turning upside down as Damian raised his head, swallowing once, and sending his squirming prey a few inches into his throat. The hot wet flesh stretched around his head and shoulders, seeming to enjoy him.

His arms were no longer in the iron grip of Damian's claws...but instead were now crushed between his body and the gryphon's beak. He kicked and flailed his legs frantically but the only result was to send Damian rearing up with a low roar of ecstasy as he swallowed again, his helpless prey's chest now inside his hungry gullet.

"No...Oh, god, please.... n-no..."

Yes...oh, yes.. little foxie...little one...

Damian's voice resounded inside his head, and every word felt like a death knell.

Alex... - even telepathically, Damian's voice seemed to be shaking with pleasure_-...I had no idea, Alex. I thought you were the most perfect little creature I could imagine..._Alex felt the gryphon's claw running over the rippling bulge his form made in his throat. _...But oh..._His world tilted again as another powerful gulp sent him down, deeper into the hungry predator's gullet.

I could never imagine this. The thrumming growls of pleasure emanating from all around seemed to peak in volume, in time with the powerful thump-thump beat of the gryphon's heart.

You are...perfect. Beyond perfect. Damian's legs almost buckled under the sensations - a shudder that shook the terrified vulpine like a ragdoll - and for a second, his mental connection with the arctic fox was thrown wide, wide open. Alex screamed out loud. He could feel himself inside his own throat. He could sense the gryphon's cruel ecstasy and the waves of pleasure emanating from his struggling form, stretching his, Alex's, Damian's, his hungry gullet wider than any natural creature ever could have survived. And he could remember... He saw himself running, late for class again, at the moment when the gryphon had chosen him to die. He saw his own life mapped out, through the eyes of his hidden stalker. He saw Damian prepare to murder him. He screamed again, and again, and again.

The torrent of searing emotions ended, leaving him stunned and gasping for the humid, musky air that filled the monster's throat, with nothing but his calves and feet outside the maw of his predator. He felt Damian's long, prehensile tongue entwine with his lashing tail, trapping it in a brutally invasive embrace. It was too much. The tears began to flow again, not just of terror now, but rage and hatred. He screamed again and again, flailing, driving his fists into the slick muscular flesh of the gryphon's throat, over and over again. Damian groaned, and Alex felt a surge of wild, desperate hope: He could hurt him! He could escape! He could escape... oh please, just let me go...

Please... Damian groaned again, and Alex realised it was in pleasure. S_quirm for me, little one. Squirm as you die._

"You...you motherfucking bastard!" Alex swore, again and again and again, writhing, kicking, clawing and howling in futile rage. Every attack simply brought another reverberating growl of pleasure. He felt the rest of him enter fully into the gryphon's maw, and collapsed, hopeless and defeated, mentally and physically exhausted. The fox slumped within the tight confines of his soon-to-be murderer's throat, shuddering weakly with great, wracking sobs of hopelessness and terror.

Alex was barely aware of his final journey down the last few feet of his killer's gullet: it might have lasted seconds or hours. All he knew was that he eventually fell into a pitch dark chamber that than stretched to accept him, almost gleefully rushing his form into a tight ball. Alex collapsed in it, vaguely aware that his ankle was twisted painfully, that the liquid seeping into his saliva-drenched fur was tingling ominously and that he was beginning to see spots before his eyes as the oxygen was depleted.

"W... Why?" he mumbled weakly, unable to say anything more. The single word carried all his pain, all his terror, all of his hopeless anger. It was, he knew, going to be the very last word of his entire life. Damian's only answer, spoken now his throat was clear, seemed to echo as the fox lost consciousness forever.

"Goodbye, little one."

Exquisitorio 21/01/2012