Chapter 4

Carmella took a seat next to Lilitha, who was busy devouring the liver. The room was filled with an eerie silence.

Lilitha felt the weight of their stares and shifted uncomfortably.

“Why is everyone so quiet? Can’t you guys talk or something?” she asked, trying to break the tension.

Silus was sitting with his elbows resting on his knees, hands cupped around his mouth. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at her.

Lilitha returned the smile, but a dull ache formed in her chest.

“If you leave, you won’t get to see your grandchild,” she told him. His smile faded instantly.

He dropped his hands and Lilitha saw a flicker of pain cross his face, making her regret her words.

Soon, the liver was gone and Lilitha picked up the arm with a sense of trepidation. Where was she supposed to start?

“Here, let me help,” Damon offered, taking the arm from her. He held it at both ends and snapped it in half as if it were a mere twig.

Lilitha stared at him, then at the arm and the jagged yellow ends of the bone. The torn flesh hung like streamers. She accepted the half he offered her.

“Just put your mouth around the end of it,” Carmella instructed. “And suck.”

Damon demonstrated for her. Lilitha followed their instructions, being careful not to cut her lip on the sharp bone.

It was surprisingly easy. And it was wonderful. Carmella was wrong. This was even better than the liver! She closed her eyes and sucked until there was nothing left.

“Here,” Damon said, handing her the other half. Lilitha finished it off. By the end, she was panting.

“Taste good?” Mateus asked with a laugh.

Lilitha wiped her mouth. “You can eat the bone. Straight up.”

Lilitha hesitated. She’d seen the others do it but had never really considered doing it herself. Why would she? It always looked painful.

She touched her jaw uncertainly.

“Stop thinking like a human,” Carmella chided.

“You can do it,” Silus encouraged. “Your jaw is more than strong enough.”

“Try it,” Mateus urged.

His eyes were shining as he came over and crouched beside her. Damon was sitting in front of her. Silus was watching over them all.

It felt wonderful being so close, knee to knee, touching each other. Carmella laid her hand on her thigh. Damon rested his hand on her shoulder. It gave her confidence. It made her feel safe.

Watching Mateus, she used the side of her mouth to bite down on one of the small pieces of bone sticking out. Lilitha’s eyebrows shot up.

It was easy! She moved the portion around her mouth with her tongue as she crunched it down into a pebbly paste and swallowed it.

“Good?” Mateus asked with a grin.

Lilitha touched her lips in surprise.

Next, she turned the arm around, grabbed the hand, and bit down through the forefinger, right near the knuckle.

She used her front teeth and discovered they were more than strong enough. Lilitha covered her mouth as she chewed. The crunching sounded so loud.

She couldn’t explain the sensation. It was like she was eating a rock but one that tasted sweet and salty and mushy all at once.

When she punctured through certain portions, flavor would flood her mouth. It made her cheeks tingle. She could feel the force of her jaw—and it made her feel strangely powerful.

If she could do this…

She bit off the next one and the next one and the next one until all five fingers were gone and she was staring at the jagged stumps of what had once been somebody’s hand.

A hand that worked hard. A hand that waved and gestured. A hand that had likely touched and stroked someone lovingly…

The sadness began to swell. The guilt was quickly following. Soon, she would feel the horror. Then she heard laughter, and she looked up.

It was Mateus, mouth wide, showing his pointed teeth. Damon leaned in to kiss her neck. Carmella turned her head to kiss her on the lips.

Lilitha dropped the arm as she kissed her back. And then there were hands upon her, from every direction, all over.

And suddenly, the sadness filled with light, the guilt scuttled away. The horror didn’t rear its ugly head.

Now Lilitha was laughing, screeching shrieks, snorting big ugly snorts as Damon lifted up her top to rub his face into her breasts.

As Carmella leaned in to dip her tongue into her bellybutton. As Mateus pulled down her pants to kiss up along her thighs.

Tears of happiness were streaming down her cheeks as they laughed and told her how much they loved her and tickled her until she screamed.

She squirmed and rolled over, flailing her limbs, choking on her own spit because she couldn’t stop laughing. But they rolled her back over and pinned down her arms and legs. And their lips were all over her again.

Carmella held down her head to kiss her on the mouth. Mateus and Damon had swapped positions.

Now, Mateus was sucking at her breasts, hands fastened upon her hips while Damon held open her thighs and licked her down below.

Everything was suddenly quiet, filled with panting breaths and bright hungry eyes, grunts and groans and wet smacking kisses that Lilitha felt all over her body.

Seized by so many sensations, she often had her eyes closed, touching and feeling and kissing indiscriminately. It didn’t matter who. She loved them all. And when she did open her eyes, it was all lips and eyes and body parts that didn’t make sense, that didn’t belong to any particular individual, but that which merely belonged to the clan.

She was on her side. She felt an arm around her waist, hands upon her breasts. Someone was sucking the nape of her neck.

Lilitha was kissing somebody else. There was a hand clawed into her hair. She gasped, spreading her thighs as someone pushed deep inside her, Damon by the feel of it, though she couldn’t be sure. She saw his face, but she saw Mateus too. Everything was such a blur.

More hands upon her hips. Someone pressed up against her back—Carmella. Lilitha could feel her breasts.

She slid her hand between Lilitha’s legs, lightly touching her as Damon thrust slowly into her. She was kissing her across the back. Then Mateus was there. Somehow. How there was room, she didn’t know. She grabbed onto his arms, his big strong hands. She kissed him as she moved her grip to something long and thick and realized it was his erection. Lilitha kissed it. Then kissed his balls, pressing her face into his groin. Then she was taking him in her mouth just as Damon finished up with a gasp and a gush of heat that seemed to burn all the way through her body.

Then he was gone, and fingers were there, stroking and caressing and tickling. Lilitha squirmed, chuckling around Mateus’s penis.

He drew back. The crowd around them shifted, faces morphing into new ones.

Lilitha found herself flipped over, someone behind her, on top of her, lifting her hips as they entered her once more. It was Mateus, she was certain.

Lilitha lifted her head with a low grunt. She opened her eyes, found Damon’s lips, and closed them again.

She pushed herself up to her knees, kissing him with a fervor that surprised even her.

Carmella was nipping at her shoulder, her hands busy with Lilitha’s breasts. Mateus was inside her, his movements slow and gentle, so deep she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.

Lilitha climaxed. Then someone’s hand was on her again, and she was swept up in another wave of pleasure.

It felt like it would never end. The night seemed to stretch on forever, yet it was over in the blink of an eye.

She wasn’t sure when they stopped, or if she had even managed to fall asleep.

She found herself staring over Mateus’s shoulder at the trees, feeling dazed and exhausted, so spent she couldn’t move.

The sun was rising, its red, yellow, and orange light filtering through the leaves and casting their little clearing in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Mateus was curled around her, his large body a comforting presence. Damon was behind her, his face buried in her hair.

Carmella was wedged between them, her arm draped over Lilitha’s thighs, her face pressed into Lilitha’s lower back.

Was she the only one awake?

Then Mateus’s eyes fluttered open and he smiled at her. He brushed his fingers against her cheek, then leaned in to kiss her, once, twice.

His movements stirred the others.

Carmella sat up with a groan. Damon rolled away, yawning and smacking his lips.

Lilitha tried to sit up, only to fall back down. She threw an arm over her face to shield her eyes from the light.

What had she gotten herself into last night?

“Need a hand?” Damon’s voice broke through her thoughts.

Lilitha moved her arm and saw Damon extending his hand to her. She took it and he helped her sit up.

Leaning over her lap, she clutched her head as Mateus rubbed her back.

“Is the sun rising or setting?” Lilitha asked.

“Rising.”

“God. I can’t even remember falling asleep.”

“You definitely slept,” Mateus said with a chuckle, wiping his chest. “You drooled all over me.”

Lilitha tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate. She fell back down.

“Why am I so sore?”

Damon laughed and helped her up again. Carmella was sprawled on the ground, her braids scattered like tiny serpents, her eyes closed.

Her skin glistened in the sunlight.

Lilitha hunched over, clutching her lower abdomen. She needed to pee.

“Where’s Silus?” she asked, noticing his absence.

They all turned to look at her.

“Oh,” she said, feeling a flush of embarrassment. Of course he had to leave.

A wave of sadness washed over her.