He took it gently, keeping stride with her even though his back now ached fiercely. “Isn’t that how I won you to begin with? It certainly wasn’t my looks.”
“Certainly not,” she agreed, hiding her smile as best she could.
He raised a single bushy eyebrow at her, then chuckled softly.
She laughed too, squeezing herself a little closer.
Black Womb landed on the chimney of the Peterson home, sending soot and grime toppling over the side. It leaned forward as far as he could, its body standing at an angle almost impossible for bipeds, digging its claws into the red bricks for support. The early morning sun reflected off of its opaque, green eyes as it stared down at the old couple walking on the sidewalk. Its mouth was practically invisible while closed, its large catlike eyes following their every moment as emotionless as a statue.
Garfield winced as his right leg gave a little in mid-step, forcing him to limp.
The Womb’s head turned slightly at the sight of this, watching the way the impairment affected the man’s step. It leaned a little closer, then finally let go of the chimney and slammed chest first onto the roof, grabbing onto the rain gutter. It swung its legs underneath itself until it found balance, then continued to stare.
Usually the beast would be heading home about now, but for whatever reason, it didn’t. Its aqua eyes shone in the twilight, giving eerie images to those who passed. Daylight now loomed along the outskirts of mountains, creating a beautiful orange glow. Black Womb stared up at it, its eyes changing slightly, adjusting to the light. The creature looked at its hands. They were splattered with blood that was nearly impossible to see in the low light, appearing so black that it blended in with his skin. It licked them, then turned its vision back down towards the couple. Extending one claw to its fullest, he started tapping the rain gutter rhythmically.
-click-
-click-
-click-
“Do you hear that?” Garfield asked, those huge ears twitching with every sharp sound. He stopped in mid-step, craning his head up to look around. Nothing surrounded him but more shrubbery and the Peterson home. A car passed them quickly and was out of sight before he even really saw it.
Linda stopped, tilting her head to one side and straining her ears. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Oh, you’re deaf anyway,” he laughed, poking her arm playfully.
-click-
“There,” he said again, turning and taking a step back the way they’d come.
Even though it was almost impossible to tell one emotion apart from the next on the Womb’s face, the creature’s eyes sharpened and turned upwards in a way that could only ever be described as delight. Licking its lips, it glanced at the incoming sun again. Its head twitched painfully to one side and it let out a low growl, deep inside its throat. It could feel the other awakening... like being stuck half way between dreaming and alertness. Its jaw dislocated like a snakes, stretching down to its lower chest and revealing two rows of jagged teeth. Its fingers elongated into freakish claws. It squatted, preparing to pounce down at Linda Samson, who was now admiring tulips just beneath where it was perched.
“Arrgh!” the creature bellowed, clutching its gut as it exploded in pain. Desperate, it turned the talons on itself, slashing at the black scales that covered its abdomen. It brought its hands up to its face as the sun shone across Coral Beach, burning at its eyes until all it could see was white and all it could feel was pain.
Garfield and Linda both backed up a pace from the home, their eyes wide with fright. They stood paralyzed for a moment, then turned and ran back the way they had come, towards home. Half way there, Garfield felt something snap deep inside his side but kept going anyway. As bad as it hurt, he had the impression it was nothing compared to what would happen if whatever had made that sound caught him. Besides, they had coverage.
Shivering violently, the Black Womb watched them disappear around the corner with regret. Its pupils finally adjusted to the new light, making at least part of the pain stop. The rest only got worse, the cuts it had sliced on its stomach spreading and opening like hungry mouths, recessing to reveal pink flesh and red blood underneath.
Its eyes turned red for a moment, then black as the darkness seeped into the creature’s open mouth. The darkness that surrounded him seemed to lose its ability to maintain itself, flowing off of him and onto the Peterson’s roof, leaving only a thin layer of congealed blood behind.
Xander Drew fell to the shingles with a wet thud.
Groaning, he reached up and peeled the layer of blood off of his face. It resisted slightly, like plastic wrap trying to come free from a piece of meat.
He felt a breeze, then finally opened his eyes with a small click and looked around. “What the hell?” he whispered softly into the air. He looked down at his bleeding, naked body and almost fainted again, then steadied himself before tumbling off the roof. Pausing to make sure he was balanced, he tried to get some sense of where he was.
“Great,” he muttered, turning toward the Peterson’s back yard. There was a clothesline there filled with jeans and shirts. They were damp and cold, not to mention all meant to be worn by girls, but they were clothes and that trumped any other argument at this point. He shouldn’t get cold. He shouldn’t be able to feel cold. Yet still he felt... cold, somehow. Like it was coming from something other than the elements.
Pausing cautiously, he dropped into the yard and waited to hear a high-pitched scream. When one did not occur, he started grabbing clothes that looked like they would
