Love You Like a Tree

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.