Chapter 3 Paranoia Or A New Threat?

After the ceremony was over, and once Marcus had gotten everything off his chest, they had all parted ways, though Julianna was too concerned about Marcus to let him be alone. After some convincing that Joshua would be okay on his own, he had agreed to let her stay with him for the night.

It was now late October, the week leading up to Halloween, and so it had gotten really dark very quickly. Next week was when school started again and that was one thing that Marcus worried about. He hadn't been to school since finding out what he was, as it was the Halloween half term. He worried that he wouldn't be able to control himself, that he would expose his darkest secret.

Back at his Grandfather's house, he was quick to make sure that Julianna was settled in and that she ate and drank. By the time they were both settled down it was gone ten in the evening and despite the emotional day they had both had, Marcus wasn't even tired. He decided to change into bed clothes anyway.

"Uhh...could you have maybe warned me before stripping naked!" Julianna shrieked, entering the room after cleaning herself up in the bathroom.

"Okay one, there's this thing called knocking. Two, I'm not naked, I have underwear on, and three, you're also in your underwear." Marcus pointed out grinning.

"Damn it! You make a good point. Could you at least put a shirt on?" She asked, trying hard not gawk at the sight of his body. His shoulders broad and his muscles exposed were completely knocking words out of her.

"Why? Like what you see? Or am I just too hot to handle?" He joked as she walked further into the room, closing the door behind her. She swallowed the air hitched in her throat before stopping him as he was about to see to her request and put a t-shirt on.

"Wait!" She said, grabbing his hand and turning him to face her.

"I thought you wanted me to put a shirt on?" He quizzed, puzzled by her sudden change of heart.

"No...it's okay. You don't have to." She replied, her eyes running over every inch of his body from his face down to his waistline. Stepping closer to him she? placed one hand on his torso and leaned up to kiss him.

"Oh..okay. What made you change your mind?" He asked curiously.

"You." She answered, kissing him again, this time tracing her tongue along his bottom lip.

He quivered as she did so, his senses became heightened and soon took control. Deepening the kiss, he slid his hands down to her butt and lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Moving one hand to her upper back, he found his way to her bra strap and unclipped it. She let it slip down her arms and fall to the floor.Without breaking the kiss, he carried her over to the bed and laid her down gently, before climbing on top of her. His eyes burned with hunger as he lowered his head and planted kisses down her neck,? only stopping when he neared her chest.

He lifted his eyes to see if he could see her expression and he could. Right at that moment, she was open like a book. Her head was tilted back and her eyes closing at the feel of his kissing her. He gave a one sided smile before turning his attention back to her body. He had dreamed of this night a thousand times, once every night. Three times a night on his birthday each year. He never once thought that he would actually experience the events of the dream in real life. Yet here he was, for real, with the girl he had wanted so badly for six years now.

Her breathing got heavier as his mouth reached one of her breasts. At first he planted kisses, then he latched on to her nipple, sucking it gently. She reached up with her hand and ran her fingers through his hair. She didn't want to wait any longer, she wanted all of him, and she wanted him now.

"M...Marcus.." she whispered breathlessly.

"Yeah?" He quizzed, catching his breath also.

"I want all of you." She whispered.

He smiled again, knowing exactly what she had meant. Running his hands down her body towards her underwear, he grabbed them and slid them down. However, he didn't remove his just yet. He moved his head back up to her face and kissed her hard, pressing his body against hers, making sure his hardened male appendage was digging into her, he teased her for a few moments until she had had enough.

"I want you. Now!" She demanded.

"As you wish, my darling." He replied, finally slipping off his boxers. This was it. After this, there was no going back.

**************

Joshua sighed. Here he was again. Alone in the empty house for the thousandth time that week. It was incredibly lonely in the house. With Julianna all cosy with Marcus at his Grandfather's and Kayla always clubbing while his little brother was away at their Grandparents, he was the only one there.

Flicking through Netflix on the TV, all he could do was try to find something indulge in a great movie or TV show. Coming across Cobra Kai, he pressed play on it and soon settled into watching it.

Half way through the second episode of the first season, his focus was broken when he heard a crash come from upstairs. Pausing the TV, he got up from the sofa and ran quickly upstairs. He checked every room one end to the other. Just like he had done every night that week.

It had become a regular occurance since he was mostly alone in the house. Different things every night. The first night he had been in his room asleep when he had heard a crash from the kitchen. When he had gone to check, he found one of the drawers on the floor and sharp knives scattered everywhere. Every night since had been a different incident. At this point he couldn't work out whether it was just paranoia or if there was something messing with his head.

As he got to the bathroom, he froze in shock. It was dark in there, but he could faintly make out a figure in the mirror. Careful not to make any sound, he moved away from the bathroom. He planned to get out of the house and go to Marcus and Julianna to confide in them. Looking back towards the bathroom as he walked, he almost began to think it was all in his head, buy when he turned around he was confronted by someone. Or rather, something.

Taking in its appearance, he noticed it had seven tails just like him, but these tails were red with black tips. He looked up at its face. It's red furr almost illuminated in the darkness, made it easy to see the strange kistune's eyes. They weren't the usual red, instead they were pitch black.

He was about to scream, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the kitsune disappeared. Leaving behind a black mist. Joshua moved away from the mist, but it followed him. It began dancing around him, making it harder to make sense of what was happening. He became dizzy very quickly and that's when the mist made its attack. It flew into him entering through his mouth and consuming his whole body.

This did not kill him. However he now felt as though his body didn't belong completely to him. He began to feel as though he was sharing with whatever it was he had just seen. Then a voice in his head spoke to him. It wasn't his own subconscious though. This voice was menacing.

"Kill." It whispered through his mind. Leaving him with the sickest idea yet.