<home>
Love you like a Tree
(this story is a vague continuation of another story, Shorts .  It's
quite summery in Australia right now, as it is in this story.  The
tree comes later, and Karen returns first, but there is a slow bit in
the middle...)

© 2002 lostboy

Please, no reposting without permission

---

Jiri found it difficult to adapt to life in Adelaide.  In fact, after
his experience with Karen on that train journey, Jiri was finding it
difficult to adapt to life. He felt hollowed out, empty, as if
something was missing in his life; actually, as if everything was
missing.

During the day, he performed perfectly adequately in his job.  The
people he worked with were pleasant and efficient, but he did not
develop any rapport with them.  Time passed, he churned out reports,
each day was much like any other.

The nights were worse: the nights were empty.  He felt no motivation
to do anything.  He forced himself to eat and exercise, although he
did not really know why, and spent long hours lying on his bed,
staring at the ceiling.  He felt no urges, he felt no pain, he just
stared, and waited for something, anything, to happen.

Although unfeeling, he had a lot of time for thinking about the
meeting that had changed him so.  Had Karen taken some of himself,
taken his soul, in total, or in part?  Would he be broken forever, or
would Karen someday return to finish off any part of him that she had
missed?  How would she find him?

His memories of love for Karen, although unfulfilled, and seemingly
unfulfillable, still seemed fresh.  Perhaps nothing else mattered in
his life now, and he was simply waiting for her return?

This thought was all that sustained him, and he relived her seduction,
domination, and that sweet devouring, again, and again, and waited, and
hoped.

---

It was four weeks after leaving her that Karen rang Jiri at work.

"Jiri, hi!  It's Karen here.  I've missed you; would you like to meet
for lunch?"

The sunny sound of her voice hit Jiri like a thunderbolt.  He was
thrown into confusion by her social pleasantry, while all the dark
mystery of her consuming love poured back into his consciousness with
full force.

His heart was beating wildly, and he tried to compose himself as they
made arrangements to meet.  Jiri worked quite close to the river, and
they arranged to meet in a secluded part of the riverbank precinct.
As he put the phone down, he was in a cold sweat.  The morning passed
in a horrible whirl of impatience in which he did not accomplish
anything, and he left the office as soon as practicable.

He found the park bench near the water's edge, as they had arranged,
and he seated himself to wait.

Warm hands suddenly covered his eyes, and he could not see.  Jiri
panicked, and would have jumped up to flee if they had not held him
strongly.  He felt the strength in those hands, and felt her hunger,
and felt like nothing more than prey.

"Shhh, Jiri!  It's me, Karen.  Sorry I haven't called, but I've had a
lot on my plate.  Please forgive me."

Stroking his head, she came around to sit beside him. Today she was
dressed to kill: black shoes, black stockings, black pleated skirt,
black top, white skin, red lips, as if she were a young lover meeting
her boyfriend for some young fun.  Well, I suppose she was.

The bench was hidden in the shade of some large trees, not really
visible to the rest of the park.  When Jiri first sat down, he felt
that it would be nice for privacy and talking; he now realized that
she had him all to herself, and was both worried and excited by the
possibilities.

Jiri was soon at ease.  Karen entangled her fingers with his, and the
next hour was taken up with conversation, as she listened to him pour
out his life to her.  It seemed strange to turn his life into words
for someone who had experienced him so directly, indeed taken so much
of himself, but it was also comforting.  He tried to ask Karen about
herself, and she always answered his questions pleasantly, but also
without revealing much information that he could later recall.

He did discover that she had two sisters just outside Brisbane, and
the three of them usually lived together in a lovely old Queenslander
up in the mountains.  Like Jiri, Karen was staying in Adelaide for
business, and only for a short time; she would be returning home in a
few weeks.

As they conversed, her answering voice was gentle, almost caressing.
He fell into a kind of daze, and his field of view narrowed, until her
eyes and mouth became his whole world.  Jiri was almost hypnotized
when he felt her fingers on his fly, gently drawing down the zip.  Her
eyes did not leave his own as she deftly freed him to the air and drew
down his trousers somewhat, and climbed onto his lap.

Jiri groaned with pleasure and closed his eyes as he felt her wet
warmth against him, and he surrounded her generous hips to pull her
into him.  She surrounded him with her arms, and leaned close to his
ear in order to speak to him, softly.

"Jiri, I love you, I want you."

She began to gently squirm against him, and Jiri held her tight.  Soon
he felt the warmth and the strength of her lower tongue as that wet
muscle began to emerge to lap against him.

"But Jiri, you know my love.  You know my love is consuming, is
all-consuming."

The tongue gave his penis a gentle squeeze and began to work lower,
caressing his balls as she began to cover him.  Soon her wet labia
began to cover his head, and her passage moved down to slowly surround
him.

"I cannot love you if there are any questions, if there are any
complications.  You must disappear Jiri, you must lose yourself."

Each point was emphasized by a slight thrust as she impaled herself on
him deeper and deeper.  As he found himself fully ensheathed, that
tongue sidled past and slipped lower, and began to wriggle between his
cheeks.  She covered his mouth with hers, and for a time, they kissed.

"Nobody must come looking for you Jiri, nobody must care.  Nobody must
know, and only then will I take you, Jiri.  I will cherish you and
love you, Jiri, and my sisters will love you too.  You will want for
nothing, Jiri, it is a paradise on Earth.  Give yourself to me, Jiri,
promise yourself to me, seal me to yourself"

With her talking finished, she lifted her head and held Jiri against
herself.  With everything happening down below, Jiri could only burrow
his head into her warmth as she stroked his hair with her hands and
gently cooed.  The lower tongue caressed him underneath his balls,
warmth spreading through him with each delicious stroke.  Jiri slumped
in the seat a little to give it more space, more skin.

The tongue gently positioned itself against his entrance.  Karen
ceased all movement and gazed at him.  They were two young lovers
gazing adoringly into each others eyes.

Jiri exploded within her as the wet strength began to split him, to
expose his soul, to penetrate the core of his being.  Even as his
fluids were exhausted, the sticky sweet ecstasy of Karen's surrounding
him, and the terror of that penetration, kept him coming, kept him
pulsing, on and on.  But even the release of that orgasm was only a
prelude, a preparation, for Karen's true hunger.

She simply held him as the tongue penetrated deeper, and Jiri was limp
as once again he prepared to let himself be devoured.  He reveled in
it; the excitement was palpable as he realized that he was to feed his
love once more, that she would take his offerings, his self, his soul.
All that was needed was his consent, his love, and these he gave, he
gave for the blinding pleasure he knew would be his reward.

Then the drawing began again.  The tongue pricked him deeply, freeing
a flood of feelings and memories, and Karen sweetly drew them into
herself, tasting them with reverence, but then pressing forward,
hungrily, for more.

For a long time, Jiri was trapped in a moment.  He was totally focused
on the ecstasy of giving, and his penetration of Karen was forgotten
as she filled him and fed from him.

He learned to find feelings, from deep inside himself, and offer them
up to the greedy blind worm, that snaked inside him, slowly drawing,
slowly sucking, slowly penetrating deeper and pushing up, he knew,
towards his heart.

This time, Jiri felt himself begin to empty.  With each drawing, he
was finding it harder and harder to offer himself, to find himself, as
his self was slowly slipping away.

When the tongue began to withdraw, Jiri was exhausted.  It left a
coolness behind it as it began to uncoil and return to Karen's body,
like a cool breeze blowing against the wetness of his vital organs.
His penis began to stir as the tongue's friction caressed him in
passing, and the warmth of Karen's cunt comforted him as he began to
regret his loss.

"Don't worry, Jiri.  This is but the first part of your
transformation.  I want every part of you, your mind, your body, your
soul.  But now you must lose yourself, disappear.  Then we can be
together, Jiri, then my sisters and I can take you, take care of you,
hold you forever.  Come and find me in Brisbane when you're ready,
Jiri, it's time for you to settle down."

Karen gently disengaged, kissed him, zipped him up again, and was
gone.

---

Travel was Jiri's route to oblivion.

Selling all his possessions, he made himself quite a tidy sum,
obviously very attractive to the scum of the earth who were to be
responsible for his "demise".

Obtaining a selection of false papers, he contrived to leave a trail
of false clues pointing towards a fatal business venture in Thailand
involving trading in artificial sapphires, before leaving that country
as someone else.

His family and friends would of course search for him, and would find
a tale of corruption, sadness and hopelessness that touched him with
its pathos.  His ruined reputation, the likely repugnance of his
associates, did not concern him; indeed, the more odious he appeared
the better, as far as becoming a nobody was concerned.

As he traveled around the world, adopting several identities as he went,
the feeling of emptiness from his last encounter with Karen  slowly
disappeared.  Jiri had even begun to enjoy himself again.  It was as
if his soul had been pruned, leaving space in his existence for it to
grow again in different directions, and he began to take a renewed
interest in the world.  By the time he returned to Australia, he was
invigorated, and his love for his succubus was undiminished.

When he finally found himself in Brisbane, he began to wonder about
his reunion with Karen.  He had never hesitated in doing all that she
asked of him, and never regretted throwing away his old life for her
love.  On the contrary: in the months it had taken him to "disappear",
he had found a new sense of freedom and purpose in his life.

But he did wonder about his future.  He knew that unchecked, her
hunger could lead him to death within a few days of him giving himself
over to her.

All the experience he had gathered in his travels he would gladly give
up to her in a single orgy of sacrifice, if that was what she wanted;
but he also rather hoped that she would keep him for a while, and he
would come to understand her mysteries a little better.

Although this prospect did not hold any fear for him, her attention to
him seemed to presage something more important; otherwise, why would
she not have left him desiccated and anonymous in that train
carriage, or in that park?  There seemed to be genuine affection on
her part, and he suspected that her stringent requirements for his
disappearance would lead to some deeper, long-term relationship.

There was also the question of her sisters; what interest would they
have in him?  He knew that there would not be enough of himself to
share around, although the experience of being consumed by three
succubi simultaneously would certainly bear thinking about as a quick,
but somewhat pleasant, route to the afterlife.

---

Jiri spent a lot of time in bookshops in the West End of Brisbane.  He
was searching for old books on the occult, in the hope of finding some
information to help explain his predicament.  Unfortunately, being
such a new colony, Australia was a terrible place for old
leather-bound books.

He felt a touch at his elbow.  He knew that touch immediately.

"Jiri, so nice to bump into you here.  So you've returned from your
travels at last?"

Karen was again dressed for comfort; tee-shirt and shorts.  Jiri also
noticed her companion.  She was somewhat taller than Karen, and seemed
undefinably older, but otherwise they could have been two peas in a
pod, with the same pale complexion, dark, lustrous hair, and red lips.

"Jiri, this is my sister, Gina.  I have told her such a lot about
you."

My fate was upon me, and Karen was again playing pleasant social
games.  I could never get used to our meetings.

"N..Nice to meet you!" I stammered, as pleasantly as I could, and
managed to take her hand in a handshake.  She took this opportunity to
draw me closer for a kiss on the lips.

Karen was soon inviting me into her family.

"Well, Jiri, we've sort of been expecting you.  Our sister, Helen, is
very keen to meet you. Would you like to come and join us for dinner?"

My months spent traveling had given me a feeling of independence.  I
knew that I loved Karen with all my heart, but I also knew that I
would likely be throwing my life away if I wanted to fulfill it.  In a
burst of rebellion, I decided that I would delay my reunion, and keep
my life of relative normalcy a short time longer.  At the time I
thought it was courage, or masculine independence; I now realize it
was cowardice.

"Ah, no thanks, I have a prior engagement".  The three of us knew that
this was a lie, of course, but it suited me fine.  I would turn
around, walk out of the bookshop, and escape, for now, to freedom.

Jiri had neglected that touch at his elbow.  Karen's grip tightened.
Gina stepped forward, and slid her hand around the other elbow.  With
such simple gestures, Jiri was immobilized.

Gina stepped forward, and, conspiratorially, whispered into an ear,

"Come on, Jiri, it will be fun."

His will crumpled.  He had missed Karen so much, and knew that he
would give his soul for her.  His sister seemed pleasant enough, and
after months of lonely traveling, their family life, however dark and
mysterious, was beginning to seem appealing.  By their demeanour, a
cooked dinner and a bed seemed not too unreasonable an expectation,
and an immense weariness descended upon him.

"Ok, of course I'll come."  His rebellious little fib was forgotten,
and the three of them were soon in Gina's car, traveling to their
house in the mountains.

---

The journey took an hour or so, and Gina was fascinated by Jiri's
tales of deception, disappearance and delivery.  She seemed to know
all about Jiri and Karen, and Jiri's elaborate disappearance was an
interesting topic of conversation, but, somehow, otherwise
unremarkable, as if it was only to be expected of him.

Karen was silent during the journey; Jiri and Gina were in the front,
with Karen seated behind Jiri.  Soon after Gina and Jiri's
conversation started, Karen reached forward and gently pulled his hand
back, out of sight from Gina.  The ensuing game of "handies", with
rubbing and gentle stroking, seemed somehow childish, but it brought
all his physical yearnings for Karen back to him with full force.

The hour passed more quickly than Jiri expected, and they were soon
driving up the driveway and through the gate; it was a substantial
block of land.

The house was beautiful.  It was a classic Queenslander, built of
wide, painted wooden planks, a high pitched corrugated iron roof, and
the verandah was ten feet wide and extended around the whole house.
The house was mounted high above the ground.

It provided coolness in the summer and protection from the torrential
rains.

Wooden palings hid the underneath; Jiri imagined all the rusty engines
and gardening implements, perhaps an old FJ Holden, that might be
stashed there, forgotten.

Memories returned of lazy school holidays spent at his Grandmother's
old house, and Jiri immediately felt at home.

"I'll take him for a tour around the gardens; you catch up with Helen"
Gina suggested to Karen.  Jiri was a little surprised, and perhaps a
little disappointed; he had wanted some time alone with Karen to get
reacquainted.  Karen accepted Gina's suggestion without demur, and
Gina linked Jiri's arm.

Jiri really began to feel welcome, and began to believe that the three
sisters were planning on sharing.  Gina was quite intimate in her
manner, and would often lean in close when talking.  Jiri often felt
her body press against him whilst the two were walking, and the linked
arm was soon around his waist.

The gardens were impeccably maintained, and very old-fashioned.  A
high wooden fence surrounded the property, and flower beds followed
the fence around and enclosed a wide grassy area.  Gina walked Jiri
around the perimeter, pointing out her favourite flowers and inviting
him to smell the delicious Daphne.

The centrepiece of the garden was a single tree, and Gina walked them
to it last.

It was magnificent.  It was broad and tall, and had fat, fleshy leaves
bigger than your hand.  It was in full bloom, with bright red blossoms
everywhere visible in the foliage.  Jiri had never seen anything like
it.  The blossoms had the complexity of an orchid, being a very
unusual shape.  When Jiri looked straight at them, he saw a rather
strange but beautiful flower.  Out of the corner of his eye, however,
the shapes seemed to become like faces, curious, staring at him.  He
was somewhat disconcerted.

Some of the blossoms held fruit, which resembled large mangoes, but
dark red, almost black.  Where the fruit had dried and fallen away,
large seed pods remained in the branches.  Even with Jiri's limited
knowledge of botany, he knew it was unusual to have foliage, blossoms
fruit and nuts on the same tree.

"Unusual, isn't it?" asked Gina, as if she could read Jiri's mind.
"You know, I don't know what we would do without the tree.  It's a
bountiful provider.  There aren't many about in the tablelands, but
we're hoping to propagate it.  Like us, it's been here for hundreds of
years, it's always been a part of my family.

"You can eat the leaves for salad, and the flowers are full of nectar,
enough to feed a household if we wanted.  The fruit is a bit of an
acquired taste, but we've come to like it.  The nuts are great, too;
easy to hull, and make a great loaf.  Here, you can help me pick
some provisions for dinner."

From behind the tree she produced a basket.  There was plenty to pick
that was low-hanging, and Jiri and Gina were soon making their way
back to the house.

Karen was setting the table, and she stopped briefly to hold him and
give him a kiss.  Jiri was surprised to see two women in the kitchen.
One was short, and round, but by her features Jiri could tell that she
must be Helen.  The other was tall, and slim, and beautiful in a
willowy kind of a way.

Gina made the introductions: "Helen, Rachel, this is Jiri, Karen's new
boyfriend from Adelaide.  Jiri, I'm sure that Karen's told you about
Helen.  Rachel's a new addition to our family, like yourself.  Helen
brought her home a few weeks ago, and I think they make a lovely
couple."

Rachel smiled shyly, as if she were surprised that her relationship
with Helen was being brought out so casually.  Once again, everyone
kissed lightly, and with Gina's supervision, everyone was kept busy
until dinner time.

While carrying dishes around and about, Jiri admired the interior.  As
with the garden, the house was very old and impeccably maintained.  A
comforting smell of the gas oven, furniture polish and spring flowers
filled the house, and he was again reminded of his Grandmother.

Dinner was an unusual affair, being vegetarian; in fact, every dish
was based on some part of the tree.  Gina was quite right, the tree
was a bountiful provider.  Jiri greatly enjoyed all of it, especially
the nectar from the flowers: it was the basis of a subtle, sweetly
perfumed drink.  Jiri thought it might have been fermented, it seemed
somewhat alcoholic.  Certainly everyone became more relaxed and silly
as dinner progressed!

Gina, Helen and Karen sliced up pieces of the fruit and ate them
greedily; Jiri asked if he could try some, but, as Gina had intimated,
he didn't like it very much. It seemed more like flesh than fruit,
probably very sustaining, but too red and raw for his liking.

After dinner, they all cleared away and settled down to a game of
cards.  Again, Jiri was struck by a sense of unreality.  After all
that had passed between himself and Karen, after he had gone to the
ends of the earth to demolish everything of his own life for her, here
he was, playing cards with her sisters and her sister's lover.  Like a
teenager, Karen had found his foot under the table and was rubbing
herself against him.

But Jiri reveled in it; he realized that he really liked these
people, he was having such a lot of fun.  He felt like a teenager
again himself, as Karen's unsubtle caresses awakened some unsubtle
hormones inside himself that he had all but forgotten.

He noticed that Helen and Rachel kept exchanging meaningful glances
(unfortunately, the meaning was lost to him).  Gina seemed somehow
above it all, and stuck to the cards.  She kept the scoring and the
enforcement of the rules rigidly correct, but with such an air of
camaraderie that you knew that she was only playing games after all.

For a while, Gina left to do some work elsewhere in the house, and
left the four of them playing together.  Gina's cut of the cards
had Helen partnering with Karen, and Jiri with Rachel.

Jiri and Rachel played well together, and almost beat the sisters, who
had obviously worked out their bidding systems a long time before.
Drinking more nectar, and snacking on the nuts, Jiri began to feel a
little in love with Rachel, too.  She was laughing along with his
stupid jokes, and Karen, although she never ceased her hidden
caresses, almost seemed to encourage their familiarity.

When it became time for bed, Jiri was almost disappointed.  He felt
safe and coddled with this group of people, and knew that he would not
be devoured tonight.  It was a time for getting to know family, and
befriending.  Jiri and Rachel, as outsiders, had begun to establish a
bit of rapport.  Jiri started to suspect that Rachel's liaison with
Helen went somewhat against the grain.  They obviously loved each
other, loved each other very much, but Rachel did not seem to be
steeped in the "culture" that seemed so much a part of homosexuality,
established perforce by a minority under the gaze of a majority of
often fearful, and sometimes hateful, heterosexuals.

Still, Rachel seemed quite happy as Helen dragged her away, and
they closed the door behind themselves with what Jiri thought was
unseemly haste.

Jiri and Karen's room was next door to Rachel and Helen's, and Jiri
was quite happy to be dragged inside by Karen.

Karen was full of questions.  He was gratified by her interest, but
could not help wondering if she was also trying to establish the
extent of his "disappearance".  So sunny and outgoing was she in their
first time alone together after Adelaide, however, that Jiri could not
believe that this was her only objective.

They undressed, brushed and tumbled into bed.  In that unseemly tangle
of limbs and skin, Jiri felt completed.  He had found his other half,
and he loved her family.  The feel of her skin was magical.  Jiri rose
to the occasion, but for a while they just held each other.  Jiri felt
the touch of her tongue, but its gentle lappings were affectionate
rather than predatory.  Karen soon eased Jiri inside of herself, and
they spoke to each other of eternity as they made gentle love that
renewed and touched his spirit.

Karen spoke to Jiri again, softly, gently.

"Jiri, you are so special.  You have thrown away everything for me,
and I will never let you forget it.  It requires a special sort of
strength to throw away everything for the possibility of love, and
this you have done.  Sometimes, you will find it hard living here with
me, but with your strength, I know you will be saved.  Trust us, Jiri,
always trust us, and I will keep you until the end of time"

A dark look of sadness crossed Karen's face, and a tear rolled down
her cheek.  It was dark, and Jiri's head was nestled between her
breasts, so he did not see.

---

Time passed for Jiri like a holiday with beloved friends.  He came to
know Karen as a woman, and the desperate physical hunger of their
initial meetings did not seem to be a presence here.  It instead
mellowed into a more comfortable, and nonetheless deeper, love.

The house and the garden had a rhythm of their very own, and Jiri
settled easily into the daily routine of gardening, cleaning, eating
the lovely food, talking and playing games with his companions, and
nights spent falling more and more deeply in love with Karen, as they
made love and promised each other the world.

This was not to the exclusion of the others; the relaxed lifestyle and
isolation from the outside world seemed to be breaking down Jiri's
accustomed reserve.

The three sisters were alike enough that he could not love Karen
without beginning to love Gina and Helen a little also.  Rachel spent
much of her time with Helen, but it was often fun for Jiri and Rachel
to make alliances against the bloc of the three sisters.

One or more of the sisters would often be busy doing something in
other parts of the house, so Rachel and Jiri often found themselves
working or talking together.  With their own relationships securely
established, and with no-one else to talk to, they became quite open
with each other.  Jiri had always been a good listener, and Rachel was
pleased to have a harmless man to talk to.

Rachel was from Scotland, and had met Helen whilst backpacking in
Sydney.  Unlike Jiri's meeting with Karen, Rachel's with Helen was
very gentle.  Helen had started talking to Rachel in a bookstore, and
they had clicked immediately.  Rachel became a constant visitor in
Helen's share house in Glebe, which was small, and with a lesbian
couple upstairs to share the rent, very cheap.  Rachel was open minded
enough not to object, but for a few weeks she viewed Helen only as a
well-found friend, and soon moved into a poky room at the back of the
house.

It was very convenient for her; being a waitress at a nearby cafe, she
kept late hours and liked having accommodation so close to her work.
Helen would always be awake when she came home, and they would often
talk into the small hours.  Rachel had had several disastrous
relationships in Scotland, and began to think that she was too shy and
vulnerable to find a nice man.

Rachel always began to clam up a bit at this point in her description
of their relationship, but Jiri could imagine the effect of Helen's
seduction on her.  What sweet liberties had Helen taken with Rachel
that found her, like Jiri, throwing away her whole life for love?

As with Jiri, Helen had required that she disappear before she could
continue her relationship.  Being a backpacker, it was relatively easy
for Rachel to cover her tracks.  She did feel a bit guilty about leaving
her grieving family behind her, but Helen, and now her new family,
were becoming more comfortable and felt more permanent every day.

---

Jiri, Rachel and the sisters had several months of idyllic days and
loving nights, when the cohesion of the group suddenly began to fall
away.  Rachel began to spend more and more time alone with Helen in
their room, and on some days Jiri did not see her at all.  She seemed
somehow distracted, or tired, and their usual familiarity seemed
strained; sometimes he felt he should give up trying to talk to her.
She ate nothing at dinner times, and, unusually, Gina did not
complain.

The three sisters began to move around at nights.  Jiri would often
wake in the small hours and find Karen no longer at his side.  He
would sneak around the house to try and find them, but they were
nowhere to be found.  There was a locked door in the center of the
house which Jiri suspected might contain some answers, but, knowing
the layout of the house, Jiri worked out that there wasn't enough
space for another room there.  But if there was no room, why place a
door there?

The terror and horror of his first meeting with Karen returned to him
when he finally saw what Helen was doing to Rachel.

It was morning, and he was walking, alone again, down to breakfast.
Passing Helen and Rachel's room, he heard a yelp, as if Rachel was in
pain.  Without thinking, he pushed their door open; it was already
ajar.  Helen caught his eye immediately, and held it, and the
intensity of that look compelled him to silence.

Helen was seated, naked, on the edge of the bed.  Rachel was kneeling
in front of Helen, arms around her, with her face buried in Helen's
crotch.  Holding her by the hair, Helen was slowly thrusting her hips
and forcing herself into Rachel's mouth.

Helen held his gaze as she took supreme pleasure in taking.  Rachel
whimpered softly.

Placing himself in Rachel's position, his arousal began to stir.  Like
a long-denied addiction, he again felt the ecstasy of Karen's feeding
from his own soul, and saw the same promise of ecstasy in Helen's eyes
as she held his gaze, raising an eyebrow in invitation.

Helen continued to thrust into Rachel, whose head began to bob as if
to force more of Helen inside herself.  Helen reached underneath
Rachel and slid a finger inside her, as if to show Jiri the extent of
Rachel's slick arousal, or perhaps her surrender.

Helen and Rachel became totally focussed within themselves as the pace
of Helen's thrusting increased.  Both of them obtained a shuddering
release, whereupon Helen regained her composure, gently raising the
half-comatose Rachel to lie beside her on the bed and across her lap.
Pulling her head up to her breast, Helen placed Rachel's head over one
of her engorged nipples.  Rachel began to suck strongly.

"Shhh, baby, it's not long now.  You'll be with Mama soon, she'll have
you soon."

As Rachel fed, Helen began to croon, and Jiri was captivated.  While
continuing to feed Rachel, she opened her legs, giving a show of quiet
sensuality.  The tongue danced for him, caressed the milky whiteness of
Helen's thighs, and left wet, slick trails on her flesh as it crawled.

As Rachel quietened into sleep, Helen gently laid her on the bed, and
turned all her attention to Jiri.  She reached out two hands towards
him, and gestured for him to come closer, to come in to her embrace.
The tongue also began to rise, like a cobra, and stretched out towards
him.

Her gentle croon became an unearthly song of hunger, and of pleasure,
and of sweetest oblivion.

Where was Karen?  Jiri felt so alone.  Karen was gone and her sister
was preparing to take him.  This was not love; it was naked desire.
Helen was using all the means at her disposal to draw him to her.  He
fought against the demand of that entrancing song, but he was soon on
his knees. As that tongue stretched towards him and touched his lips,
he parted his own lips, and suckled on it for a time.

Helen reached behind him, entangling a hand in his hair and drawing
him gently in to her center.  There was no sense of love, only hunger,
and a terrible, fierce, beauty, as that tongue thrust itself forward
and Helen held him tight.

There was stillness in the room as her tongue wriggled and squirmed
deeper.  Again Jiri was paralyzed, and all he could hear was Helen's
breathing from the exertion of pushing inside him deeper and deeper,
and the pounding of blood in his ears as his body reacted to the
assault.

Helen's first drawing made him gurgle with its intensity, and he was
engulfed in a fire of ecstasy.  Helen began to thrust inside him, as
if to take him quickly, and Jiri realized that with the violence of
this assault he would not last long.

But just as quickly as Helen began to feed, she suddenly stopped, and
released him, letting him collapse and slide free, to lie, crumpled,
at her feet.

Helen talked to him softly:

"We are gods, Jiri, and gods need souls, and worship.  Karen loves
you, Jiri, as I love Rachel.  You will never escape from us now, Jiri,
even as you find our secrets.  We will have you safely inside us,
soon, Jiri, but it is Rachel's turn first.  She'll be going away
tonight.  Don't worry, it's only for a few weeks.  You will both be
reunited, but we need to prepare you for the joining."

Helen tenderly laid the sleeping Rachel straight out in bed, and
covered her.  Kissing her on the forehead, Helen put on a robe, and
left Jiri kneeling on the floor, dazed, weak and confused.

---

Jiri soon managed to collect himself enough to struggle down to
breakfast with Helen, a silent affair.  He could not meet her gaze,
but she rumpled his hair affectionately when she got up after
finishing.

Karen and Gina appeared later in the morning, and did not give any
indication of knowing what was happening.  Rachel slept all day and
reappeared at dinner time.  Everyone seemed tired and subdued, as if
waiting for bedtime.  Rachel was trying to be her usual self again,
and Helen tried to make a show of normalcy.

It was pleasant enough, but everyone seemed preoccupied.  The three
sisters were being very solicitous of Rachel, as if she were sick, or
she had heard some bad news.  Rachel tried to catch Jiri alone several
times, as if to speak to him, but Helen was always nearby, and would
always come between them on some pretext or other.

Everyone sloped off to bed early, and Karen enveloped him within
herself at once.  He had grown accustomed to her wanting him
frequently, and their lovemaking had lost none of its mystery, its
majesty, its luster.

"I can taste Helen inside you," Karen whispered, as she kissed him,
and gave a kind smile.

"She can be harsh sometimes, Jiri.  But she is what Rachel needs, and
is the only one of us who can keep her safe, and whole.  You must
forgive her, you must forgive us all for what we are, none of us wear
our power lightly"

She rocked herself against him, swallowing him with her love, as any
lover would do.  They soon reached their gentle climaxes, and
snuggling together, he closed his eyes as if asleep.

But Helen's attack had rent him, and he could not sleep.

Karen soon slipped out of bed.  Jiri had been expecting something of
the sort, and followed her out a short time later.  The house was
quiet.

He was almost at the door to Helen's room when he heard it opening.
Slipping into the shadows, he saw Rachel emerge, with Helen behind her
and guiding her.

The two made slow progress; Rachel did not appear to be conscious,
although her eyes were open.

The locked door that had previously stymied Jiri was now ajar.  He
could see now that the door opened on some wooden stairs leading down
below the house.  Jiri was surprised to recall that he had not thought
of this part of the house since his arrival.

After a short pause to let Helen and Rachel move downwards, Jiri
peered down the stairs.  It was not as he had pictured it at all.

The floor was not earth, as he expected, but a fibrous mat of white
roots.  By the size of some of the roots, Jiri surmised they were part
of that tree.

The ground was not even, either, with the roots covering many lumps
spread around the floor.  There was a raised mound in the center of
the room, containing several depressions, big enough for a person to
lie inside.  Karen was lying in one of them, face down, and she was
not moving.

Helen brought Rachel into the center of the room, and gently sat her
down, like a rag doll, with her unseeing eyes staring at the mound.
Helen now walked over to the mound, and, shifting some of the roots
aside, she also laid herself in a hollow.  Jiri fancied that he could
see something moving in that depression, but Helen covered it with her
face before he could be sure.

Hearing someone, it must have been Gina, from above, Jiri crept down
the stairs and hid behind in the shadows.  There was no light burning
here, but there was enough light to see; Jiri took a long time to
realize that it was the roots themselves that were glowing, casting a
soft phosphorescence eerily lighting everyone from below.

Gina did not join Karen and Helen in a space at the mound; she just
stood to one side and observed proceedings.

For a time, nothing seemed to be happening.  But soon Jiri realized
that there was movement around Rachel.  Those white rootlets had begun
to move, and were beginning to feel their way across her legs.  Rachel
hardly stirred, even as a white fluid began to emerge from their tips,
and they began to strike in to her skin.

Jiri realized that this process must have been occurring for some time.
It was now apparent that thousands of the tiny white rootlets were now
embedded in the underside of her legs, and more were beginning to join
them, crawling up her thighs, and Jiri could see the cotton of her
nighty ripple as they began to crawl across her back.

The roots pulsated gently as they began to expel more of that white
fluid, covering Rachel with a slick sheen, and Jiri could see that
some of it was being pumped into her from those roots that were
already embedded.

This fluid from the roots began to affect her, with her eyes rolling
back into her head, and she soon toppled onto her back.  The questing
roots were soon moving up her torso and her head.
 
At her head, they began to snake over her face and, slowly, but
methodically, began to enter her nose, mouth and ears.

There was stillness for a time, before she began to make little
mewling noises, as I had heard her make with Helen in their bedroom in
less complicated times, and although the roots held her immobile, I
could see her frame move slightly as her muscles flexed and she
attempted to buck her hips.  Her constriction seemed to be increasing
her ardour rather than preventing it.

She continued to make little noises as the roots crept over her skin,
until only part of her face was visible.  For a time, all was quiet,
but the rootlets soon began to pulse again.  This time, instead of
expelling that milky venom, a red stain crept across them as they
began to draw sustenance from Rachel.  Her movements slowed, and after
a very visible release, she became still, and did not move again.

Jiri had not noticed Gina move, but she was now standing slightly
behind him, looking from Rachel, to himself.

"Jiri, it is too soon for you.  Rachel has been preparing for weeks.
She is going to be fine.  But now you have discovered what is to
become of you."

"We must take you tonight, Jiri, but it will be harder for you.  You
are not ready, but we will do the best we can.  Come and let me empty
you."

Jiri panicked.  Karen had been his love, but Gina had been the one he
trusted.  She had cooked and coddled everyone, and had remained aloof
from all the petty slights that family members inflict upon each
other.  She had always been fair and just, and, when it mattered,
Helen and Karen had always deferred to her judgment.

The sight of this strong woman, naked, with a tongue beginning to
emerge from between her legs, beckoning, was too horrific.  He had
internalized the horror of Karen and Helen, and the ecstasy of their
feeding, but realized that he had come to rely on Gina as a safe
haven, a mother, to whom he could perhaps turn when the absurd reality
of his situation began to catch up with him.

All his hopes seemed about to be dashed to oblivion by this succubus,
to feed her, and her sisters, and the hunger of this carnivorous tree.

Where Karen had been seducing, and Helen physically compelling, Gina
began to talk of completion, of finality, of fulfillment.  Jiri could
not discern any words, but could feel what he was being offered, and
could feel the strength of Gina's presence.

She smiled as the tongue beckoned to him, and Jiri was again stricken
as he realized that he was to battle against this strange and
destructive temptation, and, again, would surrender.

Desperately, he searched around the room for any form of salvation,
but as he took it in, a sense of hopelessness pervaded him.  Rachel
was motionless, and the red stain had left the roots.  Even her lips
seemed blue, now, although, thank goodness, her chest (or rather, the
fibrous mound over her chest) was still rising slightly; she was still
alive.

Jiri again saw all the other mounds spread around the floor.  Each, he
thought, would be big enough to cover a person.  He could not count
them all, but there must have been at least thirty.

Rachel and himself were not the first victims to come here, and he
knew would not be the last.

He began to feel tiny stings, as if from mosquitoes, on his feet and
ankles.  The rootlets had started to surround his feet, and were
crawling up his ankles.  As he pulled his feet away, the roots broke
quite easily, but wherever he moved, they began to crawl around him
again.

His situation was hopeless.  As Gina spoke to him of completion, of
fulfillment, of finality, a black mood of despair came across him.

The creeping horror that Karen had shown him in that train carriage
had finally overtaken him, and he was near the end.

He knew that this feeling of dark despair would not last.  It would be
so sweet to submit, to give himself to Gina, whom he still adored and
somehow trusted.  If he managed to run away from this abomination, his
life would be empty, meaningless.  His friends, his family, all the
joys in his life, were here.  Nothing was left of his previous life.
It would be better to die in ecstasy than to live his life with nothing.
He felt too exhausted to contemplate rebuilding himself.

"Lie on your back, Jiri"

He complied, and Gina crept over to cover him.  She spread his legs,
and, holding his arms, positioned herself at his entrance.

Jiri hardly felt the tongue as it nestled against him.  As Gina began
to make little pushes, she offered a breast to him.  He suckled as he
felt himself penetrated, and Gina managed to keep her breast to him as
her tongue lengthened and she pushed deeper.

Her warm milk trickled down his throat, and freed his first memories,
memories of childhood, memories of his own mother and father.  Gina
was emptying him, teasing him, suckling him, preparing him for a final
release.

Jiri found himself moaning his pleasure as Gina began to deepen her
slow thrusts, and voiced his frustration as with each stroke she
withdrew.  Where Karen and Helen had been fire, Gina was iron.  Her
tongue did not seduce, it was an instrument of strength, it simply
skewered his soul each time it entered, releasing another flood of his
existence, and absorbed everything as she gave that unique, consuming
pleasure.

With each slow penetration, Gina lengthened her reach, until Jiri
could feel it close to his heart.  Gina stopped for a time, and
quietly asked Jiri for his consent.

"Trust me, Jiri, let me take you.  Give yourself to me, it is the only
way.  It is not an end, Jiri, it is the beginning of your new life.  Let
yourself go."

Jiri did not reply, but relaxed, and, wrapping his legs around Gina's hips, he
slowly pulled her into him, pulled her final thrust into his heart.

Jiri released his whole being, and let Gina tenderly draw it out of
him.

---

Jiri could do nothing as he felt the white rootlets again begin to
sting him with their paralysis, and crawled over his limbs.

They were soon in his mouth, in his ears, in his nostrils.  There
were only brief pricks of pain as their sting dulled his sensation,
but he could feel their progress as they pressed deep inside, and
he felt them under his skin as they began to penetrate his skull.
What was a skull to a tree that could turn granite into topsoil,
and crack concrete like eggshells?

His mind clouded over, and soon he could not see.  For a time he
floated in blackness, with no sensation: he was neither hot nor cold,
he could not feel the spongy mass underneath him, he could not feel
the weight of Gina above him.  Just blackness, and emptiness, and a
sense of melancholy, for he knew that his previous life had ended.

He was surprised to feel Karen's familiar arms surround his middle,
and felt her mouth close over his member.  His relief was palpable: He
could no longer feel the roots.  He could have been in his bed.  This
may have been some terrible dream, some terrible nightmare.

After the assault on his body, his penis was quite flaccid.  The
sensation of her warm mouth was wonderful, but he doubted if she
would be able to make him rise.

But she skillfully bobbed up and down on him, and he did feel the
blood begin to fill his organ, and his heart began to beat strongly to
make it rise quicker.

As she caressed and tongued him, Jiri began to relax.  He had not
realized until now that, with all he had witnessed, every muscle in
his body was painfully tight.  The warm slickness of her mouth was
so sweet, and he felt that tension draining out of him, and he lay
back and let her take control.

His penis in Karen's mouth was a lifeline to draw him back to
sensation again, but he did not want to come yet.  He wanted to lie
still and let that feeling renew him, make him feel normal again, to
hug her, to talk to her.

But Karen did not give him any respite, as her mouth tried hungrily to
draw him to a physical completion.  He tried to shift his hips from
side to side to delay the inevitable, but found that he was still
paralyzed.  The thought of that numbing drug in his system, and the
invasion of his body by those roots, fueled a perverse desire inside
of him that boiled and curdled in his loins even as she held him
tighter, and drew him in deeper.  Jiri saw stars as he felt his orgasm
blossoming from his spine and shooting down his thighs, pumping his
come into her ravening mouth.  But it did not subside; as he kept
spurting, she drew him in still deeper, and the warmth of his coming
spread through his body, and still he was giving her more.  The
spurting gave way to a constant stream, as if he was bleeding his
lifeblood into her, but the sexual pleasure was a constant.  He began
to feel thirsty, and his head began to hurt, but her mouth kept
sucking, and drew him deeper still, and still she wanted more.

---

When Jiri awoke next morning, he felt a changed man.  The terror and
despondency of the last few days had vanished, and, fortunately, the
terrible nightmares last night had not left him with any sense of
tiredness.

Everyone was there at breakfast, and life began to return to normal.
Karen was more radiant than ever, and he began to see her as a lover,
not a demoness.

Helen and Rachel had lost their reclusiveness, and Jiri felt part of
the family again.  Rachel even seemed to be getting quite
affectionate; she was always ready with hugs for everyone, and as the
long, perfect days extended into the future, Jiri began to think of
ways to get her into his bed with Karen.

Gina was as strong as always, and Jiri still could not reconcile her
in his terrible dream with the the reality of his life.  The great
tree continued to provide for them all, and he found that they were
not alone.  There were gates hidden in the fence, and he occasionally
tried them, and they lead to other houses, other gardens, almost
identical to his own, each with its own a mighty tree.  Each house
contained a young couple, and Karen, Helen and Gina were often found
there visiting them; Jiri supposed that this explained their previous
absences, which had become much rarer now.

A whole world of new friends awaited Jiri and Rachel.  But first they
had each other to explore.

Rachel finally managed to pour out her worries when they managed
to find some time alone together.

"Jiri, I'm really worried.  Helen has been telling me some strange
things.  She says that I am to be joined soon, and that she and I will
be united for eternity when she does it.  Gina and Karen aren't any
help; they just pat me on the head and tell me that I'm a good girl.

"Helen finally ... emptied me ... on the night it was supposed to
happen.  I felt that I had given my soul to her, my life.  But here I
am now, feeling better than I have ever felt before, speaking with
you, and Helen and I are like young lovers again.

"How did I escape, Jiri?  How did you escape?  Our terrible fates seem
to have deserted us and left us stranded in heaven"

Jiri did not tell her of his terrible dream.  He had discounted it for
a nightmare immediately.  It was not possible, anyway, because Rachel
was right: here they were, as they had always been, happy and secure.
When you are living in paradise, you do not want to question it, or it
might blow away like the mist.

He held her for a long time, and she cried a little.  When she turned
her face to his for a kiss, they melted into each other's arms, and let
nature take its course.  They did not see the sisters for a week, and
did not really miss them.

---

There was only a single blemish in Jiri's idyllic existence: he had a
nightmare, always the same, that kept returning when he least expected
it, when he was living life to the fullest.

In this dream, he would awake to find his eyes, ears, and mouth were
blocked with some fibrous material.  He could hardly breathe, and his
limbs felt wasted and weak.  One of the sisters was always there
to comfort him, as if to get him back to sleep.  It must have been a
dream; they never seemed to notice the horror of his circumstance, but
just stroked his eyelids, and talked to him, as if he were a sick
child.

"Let go, Jiri, give up this world.  Let yourself go, give yourself to
us, give yourself to Rachel.  The Tree will care for you and all of
our companions.  We will love you, we will protect you.  Just let go,
Jiri, let yourself go".

He would now dream of those roots striking deeper into his skin, with
their prickings and their crawling soon forgotten as his senses were
dulled by their paralyzing dew, leaving him adrift, unfeeling, in
blackness.

But soon he would feel that hungry mouth fasten itself around him,
drawing him in, deeper and deeper.  He no longer knew who was taking
him in, only that she was skillful as she bobbed, and pulled, and
sucked, and drew.  In this dream he could no longer distinguish
between his penis and his body, and could not tell if his whole body
was not inside her mouth, or perhaps it was her vagina, the sweetness
and the horror fueling his ecstasy.  There was no orgasm, there was
just the consuming ecstasy of release as he leaked his life's fluid
into her hunger, it could have been semen, it could have been blood,
he no longer knew the difference, drawing him to the brink of death,
then the ecstasy rising with a roar in his head until he felt his body
could not contain it. Then oblivion.

But they were only dreams, harmless nightmares.  Life is sweet.

Fin
November 2002

---

© 2002 lostboy
please, no re-posting without permission.

I'd like to hear from people who read my stories, please write.
sadlittlelostboy@hotmail.com

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