Death in the Black Wood by Oliver Davies (epub read online books .txt) 📕

holding the wrists together so he could pull the arms out and tie those down too, with the inside of the forearms exposed. “Good, very good.” He felt a first little wave of pleasure wash through him and smiled happily.

The pleasure built and built as he carved the carefully memorised odd markings into the creature’s chest. It made some muffled noises as he did that as if it could feel pain, which it most certainly couldn’t. Things like this one could turn nerve signals on and off at will once they’d properly established themselves in a new host body. He thought that it really might be afraid now, though. Once he’d finished his work, it wouldn’t be able to escape and jump to another person when its current stolen body died. It had probably realised by then that it was actually going to perish here tonight.

The Companion kept quiet as he worked, but he knew he was doing well because it just kept pouring more and more rewarding feelings of pleasure through every nerve in his body. The sensation was as wonderful as their punishments were terrible. His dick had hardened so rigidly that even the brush of his underwear against his skin as he moved was a delicious torment. He spasmed, moaning, as he struggled to focus on his task and finish the last marking.

The Companion just chuckled indulgently. He knew that it found the human reproductive system grotesque, but it did like to test that his still worked properly sometimes. They would want to breed him with some carefully selected, promising females after he’d proved himself sufficiently. The Companions had high hopes for the progeny he himself might produce. He wasn’t too sure how he felt about that, but it wasn’t as if he’d have any choice in the matter. Besides, his Companion would make sure that he enjoyed the experiences, whether the chosen candidates were attractive or not.

“Have the needles ready.” Another reminder. Yes, he’d forgotten, for a moment, that he’d need to be quick with those. They mustn’t let this thing get away to kill again. He fished the pouch out of his pocket and carefully unwrapped the two ebony sticks with their needle-sharp points. He put the blunt ends between his teeth to secure them and began to cut down the creature’s left forearm from elbow to wrist. After he’d done that a few times, the radial and ulnar arteries were thoroughly sliced open, and he started on the other arm. His reward, this time, was even greater than before, a sensation almost too intense to bear, and it just went on and on as he stood back to watch the black streams of blood pouring down and the light fading from those disconcertingly human-looking eyes. Almost, almost… now! He took a dart in each hand and rammed them as hard as he could into the eyeballs, blocking off the alien’s last means of escape as its stolen body expired.

“Perfect!” He had to steady himself by resting his gloves on the body’s shoulders as another series of orgasmic spasms shook him. The Companion was very, very pleased. That filthy black aura had ceased its agitated writhing and winked out the moment the final blow had been dealt. He’d done everything right! It had worked!

After that, the rest was easy. He poured diesel all over the body and emptied the rest of the can into a shallow wooden bowl at the foot of the tree. The length of rope he’d prepared by soaking it in olive oil and coating it with beeswax would buy him a good twenty minutes before the flame reached the bowl. By then, he’d be miles away. The fire wouldn’t burn for long anyway and might not even be noticed. Who would see it out here?

Still, he’d been told to be careful. The Companion wouldn’t be able to free him if he was captured by well-intentioned but ignorant human agents, and it would be very angry with him if he let that happen. There was so much work for them still to do! The area around Inverness had become infested with hostile aliens lately. That was because of all the new tech companies that had set up here in recent years, or so he’d been told. The further humans managed to advance, the higher the risk was of them discovering what was happening.

He packed the empty fuel can away before lighting his fuse. Only high winds or very heavy rain could extinguish the flame that began to burn along the rope, and there was no danger of either of those tonight.

Nobody would understand, he knew. It was sad that he had to work in secret like this and that the media would report nothing but horrible, ignorant lies about him. It would have been nice to be given the recognition and the gratitude he deserved. After all, he and only a handful of others like him were all the protection the Companions could offer this backward, isolated planet. He heard a low, amused laugh and smiled abashedly. The Companion was right. Most humans weren’t advanced enough to be ready for the truth. They weren’t like him.

“The enemy will be on their guard after this,” he was told as he made his way back to the van, “We’ll need to be even more careful next time.” The warning didn’t particularly worry him. All he had to do was keep following the instructions he was given, and everything would go as smoothly as this first mission had. He would have many more nights like this to look forward to. The thought was exhilarating.

Two

Caitlin and I were driving back up the A82 from Fort Augustus when McKinnon called me on that Thursday afternoon in mid-January. That call was the beginning of the case that would give us both occasional nightmares for years to come, although neither of us knew it then.

We’d driven down to Fort Augustus to check up on a possible lead on