You listen with your eyes shut tight, uncertain whether to be amazed or horrified.

He speaks for a long time.

Apparently you're not a monster or some mystical thing but part of an ancient species that's been around since the time of the dinosaurs.

'I guess you could say the same about humans,' the monster says, 'to a point, though they were much less like they are today than we were. While they were scurrying around under the earth like rats, we were already walking the land on our hind legs, using our hands to build structures and make tools.'

He goes on about how his kind slowly evolved over the millennia, surviving the destruction of the dinosaurs by hiding underground along with the rat-like humans.

'We call ourselves the Drona, and we learned to co-exist with humans for a long time. Exploiting them. Enslaving them. Eating them.'

You open your eyes and look up at him in horror.

'Don't judge so quickly,' he says, with a flash of his yellow-slitted eyes. 'They were but animals, and we treated them like animals.'

'That doesn't give you an excuse.'

'Is it any different to how humans treat animals?'

'That's-that's different.'

He raises his eyebrows. 'Is it?'

You furrow your brow. How can you think that? It's the reason why you're a vegetarian. 'But you don't eat them, do you?'

He holds your stare. 'Not lately.'

Swallowing, you glance up at his terrible horns. It looks like your assumptions about him weren't far off from the truth ... A pile of bones.

'In any case, it didn't last.' He bares his canines. You desperately want to pull away but the drug has you firmly in its grip. 'They evolved so quickly. They bred so quickly. Like the rats they once were. They slaughtered us, almost to the point of annihilation. Now there are only a few of us left, hiding desperately amid their enormous population.'

You frown. 'But why am I human?'

'You're not human.' He touches your head. 'You're only disguised as one, for your protection, until you can safely be awakened into your true form.'

Your frown deepens. 'It sounds ridiculous.'

He grunts, then snorts through his nose like a bull. He bares his teeth again. 'Believe me or don't, I don't care, but it is the truth. Soon, you will be like me. Soon, you'll have need of me.' He gives you a scathing smile. 'I mean, look at you now: where once you were terrified and disgusted of me, now you enjoy my closeness.'

'No, I don't!' you say too quickly.

He grins again, showing more of his teeth. His eyes soften as he looks down the length of your body and you can't help but recall the dream. The way he touched you. How gentle he was.

Panting, you don't stop him as he leans in close to brush his lips against yours, resting his hand against your cheek. He tastes nice and he's making you feel things you've never felt before. It's like a buzzing feeling, an electrifying feeling: in your stomach, in your hips, in your nipples; to your dismay you're already moistening between the legs. No other man has had such an effect on you before—and it terrifies you. Anxiety, fear, exhilaration, guilt—you feel it all. It makes you feel sick. It makes you feel wonderful.

It horrifies you.

But you don't eat them, do you?

Not lately.

He's using his tongue now, but, again, you don't stop him, parting your lips. His big hand drifts down over the arch of your breasts and hips before he smooths it around your arse and grips you there a little too hard. Then he rolls. Not onto you but onto his back, pulling you along with him so you're lying on top. You pull away, but he grabs onto your hips before you can consider escaping from the bed.

His yellow eyes look dark as he gazes up at you. His chest and face and neck are all flushed a deeper red. His lips are slightly enflamed. His eyes—they're locked onto you: onto your eyes, onto your neck, onto the swell that is your breasts hidden beneath the sheet.

You stare at him, fighting the strange urge to touch his horns, to smooth them between your hands like you would other parts of his body. Other parts of his body. You can feel it pressing up against your thigh as you straddle him.

You feel so small on top of him. To be in control of someone—of something—so terrifying and dangerous, even if it is only an illusion, makes you feel powerful in a way you've never experienced before.

He reaches up and grabs onto the top of your sheet. You don't stop him as he drags it down to beneath your breasts. He grunts and licks his lips. His adam's apple bobs up and down as he swallows. The muscles in his lower belly contract, and though you can't see, you know something is moving down there, between his legs, between your legs.

You lower yourself onto your elbows so your breasts are hanging over his face.

What are you doing? Stop! Stop!

He lifts his head to take one in his mouth but you pull back at the last moment.

But why stop? you wonder. You're not hurting anybody and it feels so good.

He grabs the backs of your thighs, urging you to keep going. You obey, lowering your left breast into his mouth. He closes his eyes as he sucks. You keep yours open, watching him, watching the lines of pleasure deepening around the corners of his mouth and eyes. It makes you wonder how old he is. It's hard to tell with the way he looks.

And then you suddenly wonder: Does he have a name? A family? How has he come to be in this castle?

So many questions yet to be answered.

Slowly, you remove your thoroughly sucked left breast and lower your other one. He sucks and you groan as pleasurable tingles run up and down the length of your body. With a second groan, you drag your lips up along his right horn. It smells a bit like old timber. It's slightly warm. You pause, a little uncertain as you reach the tip, but it's only a moment before you take it in your mouth.

The monster gasps, releasing your breast as he snaps open his eyes.

You jerk back with a start. 'Sorry!'

'No.' He grabs onto your hips. 'Do it-do it again.'

So you do, sucking his horn cautiously, then more vigorously as you gain more confidence. He groans. His body shudders. Then his hips give a hard buck.

Snapping open his eyes, he sits up with a snarl. You lurch back but he seizes your waist and throws you onto your back. Now it's him straddling you. You gaze up at him, partly thrilled, partly terrified as his eyes bore hungrily into yours.