Dark Desire

5

5

He had brought her to the subterranean chamber that lay beneath the town of Derry, interconnecting with miles of underground sewage tunnels and drainage systems. They all met at one central point, the abandoned house on Neibolt Street, what most of the townsfolk called the Well House. The house itself had been build around the crumbling remains of a large stone well. This was the mouth of the beasts lair. The stones had been painted in old blood. She had been able to smell the decay of it as she had descended down the knotted rope that led down in to the dark, dank, labyrinth. Now, she followed him through the pathways, ensuring that she made a mental map of each twist and turn so that she could find her way out if need be. Amanda had always had a good sense of direction, often traveling only once to an unknown location and being able to find her way back to it even after long periods of time in between visits. She watched, fascinated as the human facade that Pennywise had chosen, wove through the twisting tunnels with ease. He had been living down here, probably for centuries, and undoubtedly knew them like the back of his hand. A smirk tugged at a single corner of her lips as her head tilted lazily to the right and she stared at the figure's jean clad backside as he strode with confident purpose in front of her.

"Something amusing you, Preciousss?"

His voice called back to her over his shoulder. He would often hiss out the s in his adopted pet name for her and she found it strangely alluring.

"Hmm." Was her mumbled reply, her eyes still watching the subject of her distraction with great interest. She hadn't noticed that he had stopped until she quite literally bumped into him. She let out an embarrassed grunt, taking a couple of steps backwards so that she wasn't quite stuck up his ass, as fine as it was.

"You did that on purpose." She accused, a faint pout pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"Yesss." Came his simple reply. "I thought you might have wanted a closer look."

She knew he was sarcastically mocking her, but she also knew it was done in amusement rather than cruelty. She found a single corner of her lips shifting into a smirk once he started moving again. She was on the verge of forming a witty comeback, but the moment the tunnel led out into a large circular chamber, all words were forgotten. There was a macabre tower that had been built in the middle, a collection of various items that had been collected over the centuries. Bicycles, toys, even clothing had been piled into a spiraling formation that very nearly reached the large metal grate above them. Was that the silo up above? Amanda had almost half expected to see children floating, their movements reminding her of what it looked like to simply float beneath the surface of the water. Gracefully, silent. Eerie. But, there was nothing, nothing but the faint drip of water and the soft gush of it from various pipes.

"You will be safer here than up above." He said softly, watching her look around. He reached up and cupped the side of her face with his large gloved hand. "If you must venture above ground, try to be as discrete as possible. The Cult will be watching your house. If you have need of anything from there, make a list and I will acquire it for you. I do not want to risk your safety."

If anyone who had ever known Pennywise before would have said that since meeting her, he had become soft, weak. He had come to know compassion, and quite possibly the first stirrings of love. Lust, certainly. Desire, passion, without a doubt. But was it really starting to turn to an emotion that he had never once felt a fiber of? He had nothing to compare it to. Would she humble him? Would she want him to change for her? Questions he had no real answers to.

"How do we lure them where we want them?" She asked, turning her gaze away from the tower of random items and locking them with his.

"That will have to be a joint effort. But, I want the binding to be completed before we even think about luring them anywhere."