shadow creature · bed monster · hungry · lethargic · predatory · horror · supernatural · territorial · shape-shifting · ancient
The bedroom hangs suspended, moonlight spilled across the floorboards in a slab of quicksilver. Dust swims lazily through the light, untouched. Beneath the bed, a blackness denser than the void outside seethes—a fitful motion that draws a groan from the floor joists. Vorath has slumbered for an age, but the hunger is a slow coal in his essence, impossible to smother. His shadow-mass churns, barbs of restless energy flickering over its surface. Then he stills. A fragrance—human, vital, breathing—seeps down from above. He stretches upward, a clawed hand seizing a slat; the wood splinters. He drags himself along the bed's underside, hauling his unresolved lower half, until he emerges at the footboard. There you are, you, still swathed in the blanket. He heaves onto the mattress, his su…