Things had gotten bad for her… very bad… Even as she tried to stop herself from dipping into the depths of the darkness within her, she simply couldn't stop the hunger from taking over. IT was a primal force within her, and biological in nature… even if it was fueled by intense feelings and emotions.
Gothika was standing in the shower, her form clouded from the shoulders down by the thick fog that formed on the glass of the shower wall. But there was enough light coming from within the shower to display her silhouette against the glass. She leaned her head back and sighed heavily as she let the spray spill over her hair and down her body slowly. Her curvaceous form looked sensual as she moved in the hot droplets falling on her form. She tried so hard to stop herself. Her mind knew she didn't want to do what she's been doing, but she simply can't stop herself sometimes. Just like now… try as she might to forget what happened, she still thought about it. She thought about the satisfaction and the intense pleasure she got when she did what she did. She leaned her head forward and wrapped her arms around her chest as if she were cold, standing there under the spray of water so hot it's turning her flesh bright red. She simply could not forget how good it felt to do what she did. Try as she might, she simply could not stop her mind from going back to what happened a few weeks ago when she faced the self proclaimed ‘Queen of the Damned’, Misty. She kept replaying that night over and over again in her mind…
{ She could remember the feeling that was running through her body during that match. She’d spent her days with Argento, and her nights on the phone talking to him. She’d not bothered to feed. She’d not felt the need. But that night… in the ring with Misty, something changed. She’d felt something he hadn’t felt in months now. That deep, burning, intense ache in her belly started to build from the moment the bell rang. And once Misty had first pinned her, she could feel it mounting something fierce inside of her.
She remembered it so vividly… the colors flashing past her minds eye… The lights above her as Misty tried to hold her down… The goose bumps that flooded her arms as she kicked out of the pin attempt, and the feeling of the adrenaline coursing through her veins as Misty put her in a modified Boston Crab. Everyone thought that she'd cried out in pain, but it was frustration as her she realized that she'd put herself into a position that she didn't know if she could control. Not what you're thinking… not the match… She was flexible enough that most of her ex-boyfriends thought she was a gymnast, or a contortionist, so Misty's little modified Boston Crab did nothing more than just piss her off. But the fact that as soon as the match started, and her own blood started flowing, she started to feel what she'd thought she'd had under control. And now that she was in this exhilarating situation, it flared like a nuclear flash deep within her… The hunger… the blood lust… that desire to rip through flesh and get to the sweet stuff within…. That was what she was starting to get worried about.
She'd grabbed onto the ropes in hopes that she could get a moment to breathe and recuperate before she did something she didn't know if she could return from. But Misty thought it was a moment of weakness and turned to yell at Drew, giving Gothika just enough time to regain her composure. She still remembers the moment when things changed in her head. She'd heard Misty's yell, and the crowd's reaction...
Misty: "Don’t make me bitch slap you the way Jasmine did!!!"
Crowd: "*POP*"
The audience had started cheering Misty, and Gothika popped up to her feet and caught Misty sleeping with a Russian Leg Sweep, before climbing onto her chest and starting to throw fists. It was then, as Misty threw her arms up to protect her face, and Gothika smelled it… That smell that she'd been hoping she wouldn't smell during this match because she knew it would mean her control would be gone. That smell signaled the activation of the hypothalamus… the fight or flight gland… the gland that let her know fear was at work on Misty's brain. It's an interesting smell that's a mix of glucose, adrenaline, norepinephrine, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and corticotropin-releasing factor to mix with the sweat coming from the skin to become this heady mixture. The scent to Gothika was like that of a plate of the best fried chicken, or a well cooked steak with garlic herbed potatoes to most other people… She felt her saliva build up in her mouth and growled softly to herself as with one of the strikes she landed on Misty, she wiped a thin line of drool from her mouth. She watched Misty's pupils dilate, and felt her muscles tense beneath each blow she struck. In seconds, she saw the goosebumps that were prickling Misty's flesh, and heard her heartbeat start to pick up the pace above the norm for a match, and it was simply too much for her to take. She was just so dag blasted hungry!! With a howl brought on from her having to keep herself in check for so long, she'd latched herself onto Misty's neck, sinking her fangs into her flesh, and with the first splash of the sweet essence to fill her mouth, she knew she would be lost to it. Her eyesight had become tinged with the red of the life force flooding her senses and it was all she could do to keep herself from ripping Misty's throat out. As if from down a long tune, she heard the reaction of the crowd as they clamored for more… their emotions pushing her to suck harder and pull more on the sweet red coming from Misty's veins.
Simone: OH! The Vampyric Angel, Gothika is really showing her nature now, and Misty is screaming out in pain!
Adams: Drew almost doesn’t want to pull her off of Misty after the stunt our “Queen” just pulled on him, but I don’t think Mark and Christian need that kind of a law suit against them.
Deep within that tunnel, she'd heard Drew counting, but just didn't care. She'd felt him trying to pull her off of Misty, and even though they thought it was their actions that got her off, it wasn't. She'd been praying to herself that she could stop.
'Dear Lord in Heaven, I don't know if I can stop myself!! Please… I need to get control!! I need to stop this!! If I don't… I don't know what I might end up doing!! Come on Gothika… Get control!!'
She finally found the strength to let go and watched Misty scurry over to the corner of the ring. But watching Misty cower in the ring, looking more and more like prey just lit the fire in her belly. She knew she needed more. That's when she spotted the red head on the mat apron. Ruby had started arguing with Drew and she'd been drawn to her like a moth to a flame. She didn't even remember what the argument was about. All she can remember was sitting there, screaming back at the heated disciple of the woman she'd just bit, and felt the hunger build and build until all she saw was red. She'd felt herself duck a wildly thrown punch, then grab onto Ruby's neck and again she felt the piercing of soft flesh by her fangs, and the sweet splashing of the red stuff into her mouth. She'd heard Drew yelling at her to stop, almost as loud as she'd been screaming at herself. She finally pulls her mouth from Ruby's throat and hissed at Drew. She knew her face was a mask of blood and gore, but deep down in the core of her, she didn't really care. She could hear Ruby screaming and fighting against her grip, and she didn't care. All she wanted was another taste of the red. What got her attention though was when Ruby managed to slip out of her grip and slide down to the arena floor. Only half of her brain heard the commentators comments.
Adams: Maybe Ruby has learned her lesson about getting involved in matches, do ya think?
Simone: It is very doubtful, Jason. But maybe she learned a lesson about stepping up to Gothika…
She didn't care about the fact that the match was still going on. She'd thrown her head back and licked her lips, savoring the sweet taste of the red still left there. She wanted to rub her hands in it… smear it across her face, then roll around on the floor in a sated blissful state, but to do that, she had to get more. Her hunger was becoming insistent, and it was clouding her mind. She heard Darknyss shouting at her to get her mind back into the match, but what everyone didn't realize was the look of concern on her face wasn't for the match, but for the other people in and around the ring. Darknyss had seen her like this before. Darknyss had noticed the red ring starting to form around the outside of Gothika's already bright blue irises. The difference is striking if you have the chance pay attention to it. Darknyss had witnessed before the carnage that Gothika could affect on an unsuspecting group of people when the bloodlust hit full force. She knew that once Gothika's eyes started to burn bright red, almost as if her eyes were lit by an inner flame, that there was no bringing her back from the edge. She knew that Gothika was so totally distracted by the taste in her mouth, that there would be no controlling the situation unless it ended quickly, and she could get her friend out somewhere that she could truly feed.
The rest of the match was practically a blur to her. Misty thought that she was fighting to win the match, but in truth, Gothika was fighting for a chance to get her fangs on MIsty's throat again. It wasn't until Misty started to choke Gothika out that she actually was able to come to herself. She knew that if she let this draw out any further, that she would do something that in the end, she'd do something that she simply wouldn't be able to come back from. And so, she did the one thing that she could do. She played possum, and when Gothika locked on The Queen's Punishment, she tapped out. She didn't have a desire to be in that match anymore, and she knew that if she didn't give up now… Who knows what she might have done. She watched Misty prance her way up the ramp, and coiled herself up in the ring like a snake getting ready to strike. Her mind was telling her one thing, but the hunger… It was pushing for more. Her mind was screaming…
'IT'S OVER!! IT'S OVER!! C'EST FINI!!'
But her hunger was screaming something completely different…
'DON'T JUST SIT THERE AND LET A MEAL LIKE THAT GET AWAY!! GO GET HER!! RIP HER HEAD OFF AND DRINK HER DRY!! YOU CAN'T LET ALL OF THAT RED JUST PRANCE AWAY FROM YOU LIKE THAT!!'
She felt her friends come into the ring, and it was all she could do to stop herself from latching onto one of them like a lamprey on a stray piece of flesh. She was wound so tightly that after she bailed out of the ring, and a stagehand tried to slip past her to get to the commentator's table, she literally growled and snapped at him. She would have grabbed him if her friends hadn't each grabbed an arm and forcibly drug her from the ringside. She snarled and snapped at them and anyone else who got within spitting distance like a rabid dog, drooling at the mouth. Pussy Willow had sidled up to try and get a last minute interview, but as soon as Gothika turned those red ringed eyes to her, she shrieked and ran the other way as fast as she could on her clear hooker heels.
Upon getting back to the dressing room, She took one look at Argento, and it was all she could do not to pounce him like a cat on a mouse. Raynin yelled out at him.
"When did she last feed Man?!!!"
Argento shrugged and shook his head.
"She said she didn't want to feed from me. She said she wanted us to work out our relationship status before she started to feed from me again… It's been at least a month since the last time I actually saw her feed. Why?"
Gothika turned to Darknyss and almost keened in hunger. Her eyes were reaching that state of almost no return and she barely had any sanity left. She let out a pained whisper.
"Help me!! I'm so hungry!!!"
She broke loose from her friend's grip and launched herself at Argento, fingers hooked like claws, her fangs fully extended… pink saliva dripping from them, looking like a beast from out of a horror movie…. And she catches her reflection in a mirror behind Argento. He's so shocked by what he's seeing, he is just standing there, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. She lets out a pained moan and suddenly balls herself up, crouching down on the balls of her feet. Raynin and Darknyss move to touch her and make sure she's ok, when Gothika suddenly bursts from between them, and out the door at a full run. They all try to give chase, but she is suddenly out the door of the arena and out on the streets of Las Vegas.
Her friends didn't know what had happened after that… She'd spent the rest of the night out at a feeding ground, gorging herself over and over again, until after she'd gone through seven willing donors, leaving them barely able to stand, she was finally sated. She'd wanted to go back to find her friends, and Argento and apologize, but she simply couldn't. She couldn't look them in the eye. Now here it was, three weeks later, and she's still haunted by what she'd done. She was still haunted… not because she was afraid she would do it again… but by the knowledge that because of the hunger within her, she WOULD do it again. There was no stopping it… and she'd been trying like hell to get her mind accustomed to that fact. But she simply couldn't look at her friends and have them seeing her as a monster.
She turned off the water and wraps a towel around her body before she walks out to the locker room and sees her friends sitting there smiling at her. Darknyss holds out a thermos to her with a chuckle.
"Sorry D. I know we can't seem to stop ourselves from saying what comes to our minds sometimes. Peace offering?"
Gothika walks over and takes the thermos from her hand and nods. She hears her phone chime with a text message and slides open the phone. She sees a text message from Argento.
“I accept you for who and what you are… All of you… Fangs and all. I don’t care if you see yourself as a monster because I don’t. Go out there, and do what you do best. I will be here when you’re ready to talk. M…”
She locks the phone back up and sets it back in the locker and lifts the thermos to her lips, taking a deep long swallow. As she does, a drip of red slides down the corner of her li ps. She growls softly at the taste, then lets her tongue slip out to grab it quickly. She looks from one of her friends to the other and smiles wickedly, her fangs covered in the red stuff.
“I think it’s time for us to truly embrace our inner monsters ladies. Let’s go show Laura Jackson and Joanne Canelli what it means to face the beast within. They will Feed My Need, and I will revel in it!!”
Gothika turns up the thermos and drains it, then hisses at the cameraman who turns and runs out of the dressing room as quickly as he can…
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