His Domain

Chapter 21

Mark had left to take care of the tasks that he had been assigned from Pennywise. Leila was a bit worried about this. Mostly because she knew how Mark was and he didn't like taking orders from anyone. Though she had faith in the idea that maybe he was interested in partnering with an apex predator at the same time, Mark had always been the kind of guy who wanted to be the apex predator. He kind of was until Pennywise came alone and she had to deal with that. She knew all of his stories, she knew about all of his kills. She knew everything there was to know about him even if he hadn't told her. This was mostly due to her job and the fact that she had been suspected for a long while of being an accomplice herself. It allowed her access to evidence that she'd never have seen otherwise.

Pennywise had been scarce as well, over the past few days. It only concerned her because she feared if Mark made one wrong step then he'd be eaten alive. That and the whole thing about being a mother. Pennywise wants to breed her. Had that happened? Had he meant that? Was she pregnant? Or was he just preparing her to become pregnant? It was hard to tell. It was tempting to take a pregnancy test to figure it out but at the same time, she kind of didn't want to know if she was carrying the baby of a monster, or egg, or however, that was supposed to work when it came to his species and her own. All of this, plus having to go to work and keep up appearances, had left her exhausted. So much so, that after dinner one night she ended up dozing off on the couch while trying to watch a documentary on the mating habits of tarantulas.

What woke her next was a loud crash and shattering of glass in her kitchen. She yelped as she jolted upright then immediately noticed something was kind of off. It was named that her stomach was swollen like she was eight or nine months pregnant. She screamed and struggled to get to her feet which weren't easy in that condition. She turned to look into her kitchen to see Pennywise standing there on the counter, it looked like he had kicked a bunch of dishes onto the floor for no reason other than he wanted to. He looked very pleased with himself, in any case. She glared at him and headed in his direction.

"What did you do to me? I told you I didn't want children." She insisted, "Especially because you'd probably only eat them."

"I would not consume my offspring...pet." He told her and hopped down from the counter in an oddly graceful way despite his size. She took a few steps back, but he was faster. He grabbed her and put his hand on her swollen belly. This seemed to wake up whatever was inside of her and she felt something start to squirm. It disgusted her more than it made her feel happy. She had never even wanted a human child so this was something that she desired even less than that. "Can't you feel it.... feel it, pet?"

"Yes and I don't...I don't like this get it out of me!" She snapped at him. He laughed maniacally and picked her up in his arms. She considered screaming or struggling, but she was aware that there was no actual point in doing that. If he wanted to take her somewhere, he'd take her somewhere, and that would be the end of it. "Where's Mark?"

"Busy...busy busy little worker bee..." Pennywise sang happily, heading for the stairs, "He is doing a good job that one, yes, made a good choice. Your mate selection is admirable given the disadvantage of having to choose from...other humans."

"Thank...you?" She asked not sure how to respond to that. It seemed like he was attempting to compliment Mark while insulting him at the same time. They made it to her bedroom where she was tossed onto the bed as easily as if she were just a toy. He scrambled on top of her quickly and she gasped, only managing to scramble back a bit before he had her pinned. His hands were back on her belly, rubbing it, squeezing it in a way that was oddly soothing and almost sensual.

"I do like this look on you, yes...very much...my little breeder." He purred.

"I don't...this isn't even possible." She muttered closing her eyes. This had to be a trick. It couldn't have happened in the blink of an eye, right? That's not how human biology worked, was it? The problem was that she knew due to all of the repairs he had been making she was at least partially him now, or something. He seemed to imply that they had merged in some way and maybe she wasn't entirely human. She knew she had powers, probably, but he didn't want to seem to explain those either. It was only in small glimpses had she seen her ability to do anything. Most of it was to change perception, especially in Mark, so that he had been able to see Pennywise. She'd protected him somehow. It was something she knew she should be putting more consideration into, practicing, but she hadn't. She made a mental note to stop ignoring that and try to get to the bottom of it.