"Devourer of Nightmares" by Catriona Mowat

Devourer of Nightmares

by Catriona Mowat

Teeth glinted in the dying light, foaming spittle flying from the drawn fangs in a snarl The creature lunged. She felt the sharp claws pierce her skin, felt its scales scrape over her. Then the crushing pressure of those long fangs as they drove into her flesh.

Blood and darkness. 

Michiko awoke with a start, sweat pooling down her back. The dream hung over her, a weight on her chest. The same nightmare that had plagued her since she was a little girl, the same monster who first made her cry in the dark. The creature beneath her bed. 

Darkness surrounded her as her eyes darted around the room, looking for any sign that she wasn’t alone. None came. He wasn’t there.

“Baku-san, come eat my dream.” Her voice was low, a soft whisper that cracked in her throat. A wish she had uttered her whole life, a saviour for every nightmare. Where she had been lonely, her cries unanswered by human hands, he had raised her from the abyss.

He would come. 

Baku. Devourer of nightmares. A creature to fear and love, living in darkness and shadow. She had never seen him, but she felt his presence when the dark dreams came to her, a lingering warmth that lightened her heart and brought colour to her cheeks. 

She fought the sleep that clouded her vision but felt herself succumbing once again.

“Come Baku.”

From the shadows in the corner of the room, black eyes twinkled.

***

He watched as her gentle eyes closed once more. She never saw him, but he was always there. Watching, waiting for the moment that she would call to him.

A ravenous need filled him, and he felt his fingers stretch, claws lengthening and scratching against his fur. He must have her. 

Her gentle breathing soothed him as she approached her. The black void of a nightmare roiled above her, a choking cloud that sat heavy on her chest. Breathing deeply, he willed it towards him, sucking the darkness into himself.

It filled him with a warmth and a desire that he had not felt in some time. The taste of fear, bitter and yet sweet with the sounds of screams coated his tongue.

More.

More.

Pulling the rest into his throat, the nightmare was gone, replaced by a golden shimmer in the air that floated and danced above Michiko. He longed to taste this.

The taste of summer, of flowers baked in the sun, crisp and sweet. The taste of blood and salt, of life.  

Michiko’s hopes and dreams. This was her soul. 

He couldn’t devour her. He musn’t. He loves her.

But the taste. It haunted him as he watched her. 

He drank deeply.

Beneath him she gasped, her eyes fluttering. Releasing her, he moved slowly to the shadows where he began to disappear into the nothingness. His mind span with desire and hunger.  

From the bed, Michiko’s eyes opened. A patchwork creature of matted fur and sharp claws appeared in the corner of her eye. The flash of a long nose set between two large tusks, like an elephant, the muscular body of a bear, the sharp claws of a tiger. A monster that had surely come from another world. The smell of death and decay trailing behind it. As she watched the creature, her body frozen in anticipation, it began to fade from the world.   

“Baku? Is that you”

Black eyes stared back at her, glittering with a vast emptiness. 

***

As days passed Michiko felt an emptiness deep within her. Known for her sparkling nature and joy, she had become muted. A sullen pout replaced her charming smile, and her brown eyes hardened with derision. 

She found her eyes drawn to dim corners, finding comfort in the dark, whispering when she was alone.

“Baku? Are you here? What are you?”

He was there. He was always there. Licking his lips at the thought of her, her unseen visitor. 

She slept deeply, untroubled. Surrounded by the glow that he longed for, each night he drank of her soul, his fangs growing closer and closer to her succulent flesh, the smell of the blood in her veins intoxicating.

 A droplet of blood on the skin, quickly lapped up by his lizard-like tongue, he gave in to his desire to have her. In soul and in body. Hot blood spurted into his mouth and over his pale tusks as he bit into her flesh, the texture of a ripe peach. 

There was a flash, and a blinding pain. He howled, an inhuman cry which echoed in every corner of the world. 

Michiko’s eyes opened, the hilt of the knife in her hand pushing the blade deep into the fur of his throat. He growled and snarled as she scrambled from beneath him, coming to stand before him, watching as he struggled for breath. He looked at her, his eyes pleading for help.

She clasped a hand to her shoulder as blood welled beneath her hand.

“You have taken everything from me,” she spat. “Why can’t I feel anything anymore?” I thought you helped me, saved me. But you are the face of my nightmare. You always have been. You never saved me, you condemned me!” 

He reached out a paw, claws drawn.

“Now I see that even nightmare gods can bleed.” Michiko moved to his side, kneeling beside him. As his vision began to blur, he felt a pressure on his throat as she rested her head on him. He felt her tongue scraping against his fur as she lapped at the blood pumping from his wounds. The devourer of nightmares, now the prey. 

As he faded from life and the world, Michiko smiled.

His blood tasted of summer. Of love.

As the fur began to sprout from her skin, she knew she needed more.