Page 56 of How to Seduce a Slender

His rough laugh against her ear was music to her brattish ears. How she loved hearing his evil chuckle, she wanted more of it. “Melody, I am a thing of nightmares, and you’d be surprised how often unfiltered desire and pure terror mix. The depths of my urges are a cavern you’ve only begun to delve into. Don’t get yourself in deeper than you’re ready to be in.”

And yet, even that threat didn’t feel…ominous. Maybe she was mad. Maybe she was bonkers. But that threat felt inviting.Dig into me,it beckoned. Melody couldn’t wait to find out what Smith liked.

“So, then, we take it slow?” she breathed, grinning from ear to ear.

“We take it slow,” he exhaled in her ear. “And, after you’ve recovered enough for me to have you…then maybe one night, when you run from me in the endless wood, you’ll wake up just as I catch you to find me buried inside you?”

“I can’t wait.”

It didn’t take long for her to drift. Exhaustion had already claimed her. But as his vibrations took over and the calming lull of his touch sank into her veins, Melody disappeared into a world of hazy grey.

Melodyopenedhereyesto see an endless forest in front of her. The same maze of trees that were just far enough apart to weave through, but nothing far enough to show a path. A fog crept along the ground. Her bare feet padded through moss and tiny patches of baby’s breath. Her nightgown fluttered around her as a breeze brushed through the trees. Melody was in full control of her body, and unlike the last time, she could feel everything. She was attached to her body, despite the tingling sensation at the ends of her fingertips.

Right, dream realm.

Melody shifted as if to look over her shoulder but stopped.

I’m always just behind you.

She stiffened before looking forward. “Should I go somewhere? Or sit here?”

“What would you like to do?” His disembodied voice floated around her head. Melody took a deep breath in. Fresh rainfall and damp soil filled her nostrils. Melody stepped forward. There was a crunch behind her, turning all her internal alarms to high alert.It’s just Smith.She reigned in the panic with that simple mantra. It was just Smith.

Nothing like having a Slender bodyguard.

Melody trudged through the woods, head high and shoulders back. The chill of the woods eventually dulled to a numb tingling in her toes. The further she crept, the more things she heard moving. Long, steady steps of something that thudded. Short, sharp skittering of something on claws. Branches shifted over her head.Eyes forward.She kept her attention on the endless expanse before her. Left then right then left, over dead trees and across patches of mixed grass. She stopped when a fairy circle appeared before her. A hand wrapped around her elbow, tugging her softly around the circle.

“Pfft, you don’t have to warn me on this one!” She laughed, pointing at it. “I know a fae trap when I see one.”

“But these fae aren’t like the ones that serve tea or work the boutique counter of King’s Fall.” His voice tickled her ears. “These are Old Fae. The kind that eat toes and spit out bones.”

“Whoa, really?” Melody finally glanced up to the Slender looming over her side.

“The Old Fae have traps all over the place. Unlike my good self, the fae aren’t choosey who they feed on.” He booped her on the nose before directing her back in front of him. “Keep moving, sweet girl.”

Melody flashed him a grin over her shoulder before obeying him. A palm quickly swatted her backside. She yelped, flying forward a few steps. Melody had to restrain herself from whipping around to face him.Eyes forward.She’d have to get him back for that cheeky swat when they were awake.

They passed through a clump of heavy underbrush, climbed around discarded chunks of vehicles, and the haunting hull of a ship. “Wow, they really do hunt anything here.”

“My mentors lured an entire town into the woods, picked them off one by one over the course of a month. I watched an entire village flee for their lives from a flock of mothmen. The devil that lives in these woods is responsible for an entire army…that ship, however, I’m not sure who lured a ship here.” Smith slapped a palm against the creaking wood. Melody could hear the ropes swinging in the breeze. The mast was stuck on tree branches, whining while being unable to break free of them.

Melody slowed to a stop as a cabin appeared to her northeast. It was rotting. Broken in windows, feathers and glittering ash covering the front of it.

“Who did that?” She nodded at it.

“Oi! No hunting in my lodge!”

Melody stumbled backward, her back ramming into the knees of Smith.

A man…no…a beast…a moth crept out from the side door of the cabin. Wings like ship sails spread out beside a tall, inky body. Bowed legs attached to talon-like feet, almost a scaley texture running up to his bent knees, then it was like he was covered in fur. He was bulky in an unnatural way, while his arms and legs were skinny as a pole. Two large, ruby eyes flashed in her direction.

“Oh! Oh, you’re not them, sorry, Servonix, I thought she was that lanky witch.” The mothman put both clawed hands onto what were probably his hips and cocked his head all the way to the side like it might snap off. Melody gagged. The stranger didn’t seem bothered as he continued. “Fae fuck, my Slender man, it’s been ages I think since I last saw you in the woods. What are you doing? I heard whispers you’d been spotted the other night, is this the snack?”

Melody huffed, “This snack has a name, thank you.”

“Do you now?” The mothman grinned a mouth of pearly teeth that glinted despite the hazy gray around them.

“Touch her and you’ll find out exactly what that hellbringer found out last night,” Smith huffed, wrapping an arm around Melody, and tugging her body tighter against his.

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