Revolution #9

Black Reality

"You taste so good."

With the click of the opening door, the bird woman, huddled in the back of the birdcage, holding her knees tightly against her chest, her wings covering her whole body in a ball of feathers, lifted her head. The mishapen form of the toad creature that had captured her earlier had just stepped into the cage, his sticky, green tongue darting from its mouth. Her heart seemed to skip a beat and she stood up to her full height.

The creature just smirked wickedly in anticipation, licking its lips, as it stepped forward.

Her wings unfolded and spread, exposing her body, her arms extended and her hands as claws, showing her talons. With a flap of her wings, she tried to fly out of the creature's reach only to have a sharp pain shoot from the back of her neck and coil around her spine, clenching its fists around every nerve of her body, forcing her down on all fours, with her forehead almost touching the concrete floor.

"You can't fight back, can you?" laughed the toad creature. "All your fighting capacity is directly linked to your mutation." The creature laughed out loud. This was going to be fun! "You can't even fight back as a human would! The sub-gov kicks in!" Its laugh was a bark and it couldn't keep its tongue still. It darted forward and wrapped itself around the bird woman's neck, lifting her up and pinning her against the bars. Instinctively, she curled her hands into claws. The punishment was instantaneous and she strained her head back against the pain jolt. She opened her hands, trying not to think ahead. Keeping the woman immobile with his long tongue, the creature quickly spread her arms and cuffed her wrists to the cage bars. It stepped back to appreciate the view. Her skin was the color of milk chocolate and her hair was dark, short and curly. Not too tall, but muscular, with the narrow waist and large hips characteristic of mulatto women. Her hands and feet were strange, but for the creature's tastes, very appealing.

Donna felt the bitter bile of deep revulsion fill her mouth. Even asleep as she was, her heart was pounding and cold sweat moistened the T-shirt she used as a nightgown. She tried to shut her eyes tight and open them again as her grandmother had taught her, but it was no good. This nightmare wouldn't let her go, no matter what.

Its tongue unwrapped from her neck and slowly dribbled through her chest to her waist. The creature slurped it up and smacked its lips. That chick sure tasted great, sweet. It got closer, grabbing the bars and rubbing his hips against hers, glueing her against the back of the cage. She turned her head to the right, shutting her eyes and clenching her teeth. The toad held her chin in its left hand and forced her mouth open, it's tongue shooting out and invading hers in a repulsive kiss, while his right hand explored her body, ripping her leggins.

Emma woke with a start and leapt out of the bed. The fear, loathing and revulsion pouring out of Angela's room were almost overwhelming, yet Emma knew the bird woman wasn't awake, but held in a terrifying nightmare, re-experiencing the most horrific night of her life. Emma left her room in a hurry, still in her nightgown and ran to Angela, clicking emergency on her comring.

The red alert blinked on the computer's screen with the letters EDL. The little red dot moved down the corridor and entered a room, stopping there. Adam hit the hallway running.

The acidic tongue left her mouth raw and burnt. It licked her neck, her throat and wrapped itself around her bra, yanking it off.

The scream sounded through the hallway as Adam entered Angela's room. The bird woman was arched backwards, her head turned away from the door. Emma tried to hold her thrashing arms, but she wasn't strong enough. Adam leapt over the bed and held Angela's arms above her head, shouting for Makenna, for anyone within earshot. The psionic held the bird woman's head in her hands and concentrated, fighting to penetrate her mind and wake her up from the limbo that held her, but she was herself sucked into the dreamscape. Emma's eyes saw, but she was like a ghost, impalpable, without substance. She could watch and report, but she could not interfere.

The creature's body rubbed lecherously against hers, and its tongue danced madly on her skin, leaving angry welts wherever it touched. Its hands eased their way down her back, grabbing her thighs. With inhuman strength, the toad forced her legs open.

The lampshade crashed to the floor, waking Blair up suddenly, as Donna rolled around on the bed, held fast in the claws of the unyielding nightmare. The sheets were soaking wet and she was shaking and seemed to breath in gulps. Blair tried to hold her down, but a fist hit him on the chest and he fell off the bed. He ran to the door, opened it and yelled for help.

Sanctuary was in an uproar. Brennan and Cat came running. They entered Donna's room together with Mac and Jim Ellison. The four of them had a hard time holding Donna's body down on the bed as it threw the coverings and punched the mattress. Shalimar and Jax shot into Angela's room and fell on her kicking legs, trying to pin them down. Makenna Coniglario came in a hurry carrying two syringes full of a greenish liquid and prepared to inject the bird woman's vein, as Emma screamed, "No! Don't put them under! It has to play to the end!"

&&&

The falcon flew high, gently held in the beak of a fabulous mythic beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Even though the bird knew it was supposed to be devoured, it felt no fear, only relief that it had been snatched away from the clutches of its jailer. Reaching the higher spheres, where its eagle eyes could see the curve of the earth, the beast of legend opened its beak and let the bird roll free. Spreading its wings, the falcon soared and circled the beast three times, studying it, gazing at its magnificence. The eagle-lion shot its head back and roared. The falcon screeched back and shot northwards. A few miles away, the bird turned back and screeched again, inviting the dream beast to follow it. They flew together until a golden mountain surrounded by brilliant sea loomed ahead. Circling the top, the falcon screeched once more and spiraled down, perching on a dead tree trunk that jutted up against the blue sky. The mystic beast alighted and walked over to sit on its hind legs under the falcon's perch. The falcon studied the strange legendary creature with its round yellow eyes. Suddenly, the winged lion leapt up, unfurling its wings and flew above the mountain, roaring an invitation. The falcon opened its wings and took off after the beast, and they danced together in an airborne ballet. They soared, circled, dove and spiraled for a long time. The setting sun shimmered on their wings and played tricks with their bodies, sometimes showing them as beast and bird, sometimes showing them as flying women, touching talon to paw, hand to hand, mind to mind, knowledge to knowledge until they were one with the wind, the sky and the horizon. The falcon drank deeply in the openness and sheer size of the blue canopy, beating its wings and searching for heat columns that pushed it higher and higher till the firmament almost darkened and the earth bellow showed the form of the continents. The half moon shone in the late afternoon sky as beast and bird swam the air until it was time to return to their true selves. For the bird it might have been the last time, for the gryphon, it was but the first.

&&&

Their real bodies relaxed and they fell flat on their backs, as they breathed deep and opened their eyes. They'd returned to the waking world.

Donna looked around to see four people holding her to the bed. Blair was the first to let go of her wrist and pull her to his chest with a sigh. They held each other for minutes, until Donna's heart pulled her away from her lover and out of the room. Barefoot, her straight dark hair streaming down her back, wearing only a crumpled T-shirt, she ran down the hallway and stormed into another room, where a winged woman sat curled up at the head of the bed, hugging her knees tight up to her chest, her open milky eyes unseeing but aware of her arrival. With a sad and tired little smile, Angela welcomed her, "GryphonLady, greetings," as Donna sat on the bed and embraced her. One by one, all the others left the room, very quietly, leaving them holding each other until the bird woman could face her new world painted in black where she'd never again fly high or low, and where there would be no peace to be sought.

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