Daemona

Posted on January 13, 2020 by

37 Comments

She was just an egg in the deep green sea, one amongst a thousand. Her soft shell was orange-pink and kept her safe for a little while. She poked a claw out one moonlit night and pushed her way free, turned and swallowed that now-dull orange casement in three bites. It was to be the beginning of her outrageous appetite.

She was a disgusting sight to behold, her and her siblings. A face covered in horns, a thick armor of heavy scales even down her long thin tail, sharp teeth that shredded flesh with ease. They fought and scrabbled, her brothers and sisters, devouring the weak among each another without a second thought or care. It was in their nature.

Within a month there remained just her and four others who had survived and by then she was strong enough, certainly, to survive the deep blue and so her father named her Daemona and her sharp teeth glistened when she smiled, for she adored her name.

Indeed she WAS a sea dragon, swift and sleek, always hungry, dagger claws shredding flesh from any who succumbed to her hunter’s prowess. She was fearsome and unholy and she roved the waves, deep and shallow, searching for something to satiate her.

One evening she came across and subsequently ate, the flesh of a drowned fisherman, a rope wrapped around his ankle, lost at sea. He was bloated and stiff and the sea scavengers had already found him but even so she found him to be delicious upon her forked tongue.

After that, Daemona attempted to catch the men she saw safe within their wooden boats, yet she was just too unwieldy when she attempted to lift herself from the salty waves. How she longed for the flesh of men. Her only hope lay in bumping the prows, spilling an unsuspecting victim, and so she followed their lanes, picking off those whom she could.

One grey morning arrived when she was filled with an overwhelming desire, a lust, to crawl across a sandy beach, something she’d never done before and couldn’t quite explain. But she felt the urge nonetheless and so she swam for weeks until she came to an island where she felt safe to leave her world of wet.

She beached her thick heavy scaly body upon the sand and ooohhh it felt marvelous even as she felt so heavy. Too heavy. But she rolled and scratched her scales along the grit. Clawing her scales until they had dried and then flaked off. She kept at it, for each scale was heavy and weighted and she felt lighter and lighter with each one which dropped to the shore.

She scratched her face and her horns fell off, dried and desiccated. She rubbed and rubbed her torso and soon it was soft pale pink flesh, nearly like a human’s flesh. Her breasts were full and soft and when she massaged them (for scratching them was painful, she found) sweet milk leaked out.

Beneath the heavy thick scales of her tail she found sleek, shimmery scales more like that of a tuna than of a dragon. The mud caked and dried and fell from her head and beneath were long thin strands of a softer skin, like the hair on the humans she had eaten not so long ago.

It felt strange to be dry. She felt so light and sleek and …. sexy… (what was that?) She didn’t really know, but somehow she knew. Making her way back into the water as the sun lifted above the horizon, Daemona slipped with ease beneath those now seductive waves.

She laughed and it sounded musical. A thought arose within her revitalized mind. Yes. Yes, this could work wonderfully. Swiftly she swam towards human habitation and human fishing grounds.

Not many days passed and sure enough there she came upon a small boat with three men on it. Her belly rumbled. She hadn’t eaten in a week. She lifted herself above the water and her voice sang out. She sang of love and lust and loneliness. She sang of longing and desire. She sang of need.

The men quickly abandoned their net and rowed toward her with all haste. Each of them vying to pull this beautiful maid within their arms. The first one, she pulled into the water with her, a laugh bubbling forth as she did; the second jumped in willingly, kicking swiftly to close the space between them; the third, she called out to, begging him to save her and as he reached for her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her mouth, revealing her still very sharp, glistening fangs.

The third man’s screams were silenced straightaway. The second attempted to swim away but she easily bit off an arm. As he flailed in his own frothy red blood, she turned to the first and grabbing him by the ankle, pulling him beneath the surface.

Daemona always ate well from that day forward and swiftly built her reputation amongst both the sea and land dwellers near there. There were tales of beautiful women and fearsome dragons alike. For Daemona was both.

tara caribou | ©2020

Category: Flash FictionTags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

37 Comments on “Daemona”

      • this came into my feed again based on a new comment way down there somewhere, and interestingly i read it again and not surprisingly it sounded strangely familiar and i had this reaction which was to comment ‘disturbingly good’ an then i saw my previous comment which seemed equally appropriate for want of a better arbitrary description … it has been a big month for me so far and re-reading this was a welcome sidestep into an alternative story that is gorgeously disturbingly good … again … 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  2. In your About section, you say you enjoy comments, but I’ve just discovered you appear to have your blog set to forbid them after a period of just a few hours or days from when you post. Was that intentional?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Paul, thanks for reading my blog. You should be allowed to comment on most posts. There are some posts in which I have comments turned off. Perhaps that was one you came across.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Wow. What a wonderful story. I love how you told about Daemona starting out as a disgusting sight to behold. But then growing and evolving into someone so beautiful and fearless and fierce. Gobbling up all the fishermen and making a meal of them all as she did. Hooray! I love this story, Tara Caribou. You’re a wonderful story teller.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. I love this story particularly. But then again, I love a lot of your wonderful work particularly Tara of my heart.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. This was a brilliantly vivid story – you really convey the sense of a living ocean pulsing with magic and myth. Great parallels with Siren / Mermaid legends too, with your own unique fantasy twist on it!

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Part allegory, part metaphor, and completely wonderful. This is a great tale, Tara – I shall think twice before taking to the water!
    Hope you are well.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Pingback: Hold Your Breath – Molten Poetry

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