Craving

I watched as the candles across the table flickered. Their glow held my eyes, the smallest of beauties.

My fingers sat laced under my chin as my elbows lead me to rest my head as my belly said it thanks for the dinner it had received and then I thought how wonderful dinner really was. I looked to my side where the plate and discarded bone sat.

A small smile flinched across my lips, I was proud of the meal I'd cooked and the lady I had shared the fine dining experience with. Yes, she was a true lady, right down to the very last morsels of flesh on her succulent fingers.

I knew her very well and I loved her to no ends. She was the one who rose my sun and set my night alight with fire. Every waking moment without her by my side left my heart in utter agony. Though it wasn't only my heart to feel the ache she left behind, I could feel it shuddering my flesh as the hands on the clock ticked away, counting down the seconds till I would lay eyes upon her again.

Her face was one of beauty and grace. Her fine golden yellow eyes swept holes through me at a glance and her perfect velveteen skin felt like pure bliss over my own. I can smell the scent of her hair now, even as her remains are left to bake at the bottom of the oven. She had lips the color of blood and hair the shock of a Ravens feather.

To me, she was total and complete perfection, the Gods couldn't have done better.

But something began to grow inside me, an insatiable lust I found hard to keep control over. Like a rabid beast it clawed and tore away at me and my mind begged me to give in. I felt it driving me mad and the only cure I could find was her.

And as the months wore on it manifested, grew, folding itself in upon itself, exploding into a fiery ball, charring me from the inside. I felt it burn behind my eyes and my senses craved for something, like a hunger I was unable to explain.

I found it odd, peculiar that my mouth would water whenever she was near, not just water for her but for a taste, just a nibble of her fried flesh, or maybe a lend of a deviled kidney. Horrified I was at myself, I pushed her back. This wasn't right, I wasn't right. She had to stay far, far away from me.

The first months without her were the most painful, the most horrid. I found myself waking through the night in a cold sweat, my own fingers bleeding in my mouth, I'd been dreaming about her again and what unspeakable dreams they were.

How the dreams haunted me. Her face above mine and her lips caressing my own. I could practically smell her perfume engulfing me in a heavenly like trance. Then, like a rabid animal, her face was mine. Ruby red blood speckled my face and the blanket I was under. Her fleshless face would be screaming back at me as my own teeth gnawed at her skin, like a child with a cookie.

I could taste every spec of her, she had such a wild flavor.

Sweat drenched I awoke, eyes roaming the darkened room wildly, this wouldn't do. No, this could not suffice. I needed it, but not from her, never from her. Tears fled my wild eyes, down my cheeks and hitting the blanket. I looked down, my hand splayed out before me, I felt as if I were going mad, completely insane. But I'd found the answer, all the while it had been staring me in the face, just as clear as a summer morning, and it was only then I noticed it. Stupid. Idiot.

God, I was so hungry.

Cold winters night air wafted through the light pooled streets. I could literally smell electricity in the air. Buildings pumped out all kinds of music in their war to drown each other out. Young women walked past, arms linked and heels clicking, I caught their scent and my stomach rumbled. Men strode across the roads, priding off everything they had to show, like fine stock being exhibited to the butcher. A small smile crept over my lips, for the first time in how long, I wasn't sure. These were the creatures that ruled the night, and they'd soon be mine.

Enjoying the smell of sweat, my fingers ran the rim of a tumbled I'd never set lips to. I roamed the dance floor, watching as young bodies writhed and ground against each other, it wasn't unlike what our generation had done back in our own hay days. Strangers sat in dark corners, tongues pleasuring tongues and flesh feasting on flesh. These observations made my being surge with a hungry violence. I couldn't wait a moment more, this was the time.

Moving across the floor, I spotted a young Auburn haired woman, barely of age. Her knees sat inward as her fingers clasped a tumbler much like the one my own fingers clasped to. I could taste her nerves jittering over the air, it excited every fiber of me and the closer I was the more I could taste and a perverse lust rose in the depths of my stomach, replacing my wild hunger with an urge, unlike one I knew. Lights flashed off my skin, I was but a mere step from her when she looked up.

I was taken back by the baby blue of her eyes and the cream of her skin, something inside me growled, this was one I had to have and would have by any means possible. Delicious were her plump lips as they moved to form words, words I never heard.

I was surprised at how easy this little angel was. She melted under my hands, like putty I believe. Our tongues danced back and forth and I could feel the lust in her soft hands. A groan of pleasure escaped me at the taste of her fingers lacing over my lips and her scent drove me insane. Unable to stand anymore I made a quick suggestion, whipping her back to my place of rest.

Though, I shouldn't have been so surprised she'd so willingly come back with me, clubs were just cesspools of hormones and horniness.

And next it was but a few simple moves till I was cracking open her pretty face, cream skin just peeling away like a hot knife through butter. I was amazed at the relief that spread through me while my hands worked in a frenzy. Gouging under her flesh and using all my strength to rip it back, I was only vaguely aware of her screaming.

The woman kept well in my freezer once I'd dismembered her limbs into more manageable pieces. Some I roasted, her fingers, toes, arse. Others I boiled in a broth and made the most delicious root vegetable and hide soup. Her kidneys I fried in garlic and butter, so silky over the palette. Oh yes, that one lasted me quiet a while. And I felt content, I felt happy. Happier then I'd felt in a long while, since I'd pushed her far from the beast that had raged inside of me.

But now, everything was different.

I rang her from a pay phone down the road from my very front door and it felt like heaven to hear her voice again. She sounded so worried when she picked up, but soon we were chatting, agreeing to have coffee that afternoon.

It was almost of a bubble of relief, some remnants of my life with her had settled around me as she sat before me outside the cafe. She was still just as beautiful and still smelled just as alluring.

It was back at my home that a funny little sensation began to grow in my toes, tingling its dreadful way up my legs and past my knees into my gut and twisting its fingers tight around my thoughts. I recognized this feeling. The feeling I'd fought for long only to give into and here it was again at the brink of my one love, and I wasn't fighting it.

Her remarkably smooth features smiled up at me, her naked flesh calling to me from under my bed covers. The blood rushing through her veins, god I needed her.

It was like looking through someone else's eyes when my hand clamped tight around hers, dragging her screaming body through to the bathroom, a much easier place to clean, after last times mess, I learned.

I don't think she understood, I loved her and wanted to be with her always. I wanted to be apart of her as much as I wanted her to be apart of me.

The crack of bone to tile riveted through the air. Blood, glistening thick and crimson, soaked the back of her hair. Looking deep into her eyes, I saw all her fear, it drove me insane. Finding the sharp tools set up upon the bathrooms sink bench, I fastened my greedy fingers around one hammer, brand new and shiny. She never screamed as the dull blows to her skull thudded out through the room.

And then she was dead, at least I think she was, but there was no time to fuss around such trivial matters, she wasn't moving and that's all I needed.

Dragging down a small cheese knife and saw I began dismembering my love into manageable portions, small enough for the freezer and oven. The thought of her cheeks roasting away covered in spices made my stomach rumble and mouth water. All the years of skin care was sure to make her soft and tender.

I dropped her fingers and toes into a small freezer bag first before wrapping her hands and feet up. I skinned her legs and arms from the bone, dropping the left over bones into a stock pot with root vegetables. Now came the head. This was probably the most tedious part of the dismemberment, all that hair and holes useless to me. With all my strength, every bit I could muster, I took my best shot at cracking open her skull with the hammer. To my surprise it gave easy.

The brains lasted quiet a while in the freezer wrapped separately from her other internal organs, they would do well fried up with some snake beans, maybe a light soy dressing.

Wiping my hands from the deed, I began storing her away, leaving out those perfect arse cheeks and fingers for my dinner to sup upon.

I found myself content again, her cheeks covered in mint jelly and pan fried garlic carrot strips, this was a fine meal, indeed it was. And now she was mine, all to myself and no one else's to have and to hold.

But still I don't think she understood it. That doesn't matter though, the main thing is she will always be with me.

It is funny though, after all that, I still beg for human flesh.