Substitution
By
Seeguy

	Lyle looked around the bar. He wondered what was taking his drink so long, and where all the humans the ad promised were. There were two other monsters as well. A slinky violet scaled  and eyed naga had her tail curled around a stool up bar from him. Since the curvaceous naga spotted Lyle coming in, she had been throwing sideways glances his way. Off in one corner, at a table built for one of her build, stood a chestnut furred centaur filly, with long hair, also chestnut. Lyle noticed her eyes drifting to him as well. Any other night, Lyle thought, he would have been bullish to bring either of these fine monster femmes back to the barn, so to speak. Maybe both, if they proved into that. He drove the image of delightfully entangled hooves, horns, and coils from his mind. The rumbling in his stomach pulled him back to earth. 
	The bartender, a light green skinned ogress with warts and fangs in all the right places, set a tall glass of brown liquor and ice in front of him. She gave him a little wink. A slice of lemon perched  on the rim.
	“Always had a bit of a thing for minotaurs, y’know?”
	“Is that so?” Lyle asked, knowing from experience where this would lead.
	“Uh-huh,” she replied, and fluttered eyelashes, “There’s something about them horns. Is it true what they say?”
	“It’s not.”
	Her lips and eyelids were made up bright violet. Along with her green skin, they made her look like a beautiful sickly neon sign. She half-smiled revealing jagged yellowing fangs. “That’s alright, hon.”
	“I’m a little disappointed,” Lyle said, “The ads made it sound like it’s all humans all the time here. I haven’t even seen one, since I got here.” He sighed and sipped his drink. That set his stomach rumbling again. The bartender looked at him with understanding. All monster felt the hunger some time. A keen rumble in the belly and loins that would only be satisfied after a wriggling, living human sliding down one’s throat. 
	“Oh, they come in. You just came in on the wrong night. Mondays we sell humans drinks at half-price. ‘Hu-Mondays’ get it?”
	Lyle looked at her, said nothing.
	“Anyway, that, plus keeping a bit of a rein on predation keeps them coming back. Caught myself a tasty young man just the other night.” She tilted her head slightly, in sympathy with Lyle’s plight. “Don’t you worry, there’s always one or two of ‘em get the nights mixed up.”
	“That’s fine.” Said Lyle.
	She left him alone after that. Pretty as she was by monster standards , she had said ’Hu=Mondays’ in all earnestness. Up until then, maybe. After, not a chance. He gazed down into his drink. 
	If Lyle had to, he could grab someone the next day. A meal was a meal, but he had been looking forward to conducting a seduction, as much as the resulting full belly. As he pondered the cruelty of such a turn, he barely noticed her edge up beside him.
	“Hey Charlene,” a strong, soft voice called from his side.
	“Hi, Rach,” the bartender called back.
	Lyle turned to get a look at the newcomer.
	“You want the usual, hon?” the bartender asked.
	“You know it.”
	She was human. Lyle picked that much up from scent, before he even looked at her. She wore a rich red dress, with matching plump pouting lips. The red contrasted smooth skin the shade of a dark chocolate mousse. Her fingernails were painted vibrant crimson, matching her dress and lips, as were her toenails, which peaked out from equally red open toe shoes. Lyle struggled not to drool openly. He had never tsted one of the dark skinned humans before. He wondered if their flavor might differ from those the pale daughters of Europa or the golden fleshed women of the eastern lands. Lyle had consumed many of both and had never noticed a clear difference. He started to speak, but she did first.
	“Hi there,” As she spoke, she arranged her posture in a way as to flatter her wide hips and luscious bosom.
	“Hello,” Lyle said.
	“You look a little lonely sitting here at the bar. Do you mind some company?”
	“Not a bit, I’m Lyle by the way.” He extended an open hand rather larger than most humans’. As the woman did likewise, her rather more dainty appendage was engulfed by his warm soft palm. He was gentle as they shook once and released. 
	“Rachel,” She hopped up on the stool next to his.
	“Are you a regular here?” Lyle asked. Stupid, he thought, the bartender already asked if she wanted her “usual.”
	“Oh, I don’t know, I pop in every now and again.”
	“The bartender knows your drinks without asking. At that point I’d consider myself a regular.”
	Rachel half smirked, “I went to school with Shee’lae,” she gestured towards the ogress, “She’s known my drinks since freshman year at college.”
	“You went to a co-ed school?” Lyle’s eyes widened.
	“Yup, I assure you it’s not quite the bacchanalia of monster-human sexiness it’s made out to be.” 
	“I know, it’s just that, well, for a human as attractive as you, I’m just little surprised… that, you know…”
	“I haven’t been eaten yet?”
	“Well, yeah.”
	“That would be a surprise. Just luck of the draw that I’m still around, I guess. Anyway, thank you for the compliment, even if it was wrapped up in whole bunch of nonsense.” 
	“Hmm, I have to say I haven’t met too many darker skinned humans before.”
	“Not surprising. Most of us stayed back east during the migration of 1846. There a few enclaves up and down the west coast.”
	“Yeah, I was just wondering, I mean, umm… how to put this?”
	“Do dark skinned humans taste different?” She said.
	Lyle looked away down into his drink.
	“It’s okay to ask. Lots of monsters do. From what I hear humans all taste more or less the same regardless of ethnicity or geographic origin. I have heard that diet can effect flavor. Look, let’s get down to it. Are you planning to eat me?”
	“Uh, well…” he looked bake in to her dark face with it’s broad nose and plush bright red lips. “Yeah, I plan on eating you.”
	“I figured. Can I at least get my drink first?”
	“Sure, I’m in no hurry, now that I’ve got you here. You seem pretty nonchalant about the whole thing.”
	“Well, it’s a monster’s world. Most humans end up getting eaten. This time it’s going to be me. No sense fighting it especially if I get to spend my night with a big handsome minotaur man, like yourself.” She sinked up at him.
	“Well, thanks,” Lyle ran his inhumanly thick pointer and forefinger along his right horn, as if smoothing it out.
	Rachel’s drink arrived. The bartender placed a martini glass filled with ice and bright red fluid before the young woman.
	“Thanks, Shee’lae. I believe Lyle here will cover me tonight.”
	“I will?” Lyle said.
	“He will. You’re going to eat me later. Seems like the least you could do is buy your dinner her last drink.”
	“Fine, it’s on me.”
	Shee’lae sniffed, “Did I hear right, Rach? Is this fella intendin’ to eat ya up?”
	“That’s right.”
	“Sad to lose ya after all these years, but that’s nature.” She sniffed one more time, then went to attend other customers.
	Rachel sipped. “They have a rule against doing it in here, we’ll have to go somewhere else.”
	“I can take you back to my place.”
	“Do you like to ‘play’ with your food, so to speak?”
	“Usually.”
	“Good, I wouldn’t mind a little fun with you before the main course.”
	They finished there drinks in silence.
	“Are you good to drive?” Rachel asked.
	“Yeah, that wasn’t much for me.”
	“Good, I’d hate to die in a car wreck on my way to get devoured.”
	*******
	Lyle led Rachel through the apartment complex.  After numerous twists and turns, they were at his door. Without speaking, Lyle unlooked the door and and led Rachel into the dark. The flick of a switch revealed a simply furnished interior. Everything was scaled up to fit an eight foot tall minotaur. Rachel looked like a child in comparison. She found a seat on a soft leather couch she could have used as a comfortable bed. Lyle watched her settle herself in, trying to get comfortable. Her rich smooth skin was darker by a few shades, like milk chocolate laying atop a square of caramel. 
	“Would you like something to drink?”
	“What do you have?”
	“A little red wine.”
	“Just water, please.”
	Lyle went to his slightly cramped kitchen, returning shortly with a tumbler of water.
	Rachel thanked him, and took a long drink.
	“I’m still surprised you’re treating this so casually.” Lyle said.
	“What?”
	“Well, here you are in a hungry monster’s lair. He plans on devouring you before the night is done. Most humans would have tried to escape, or at least panicked a little.”
	“I’m not afraid of being eaten.”
	“Why not?” Lyle asked, exasperation coming through in his voice. “Have you got some sort of… disease, or something?”
	Rachel couldn’t suppress a laugh at that. “No Lyle, no diseases here.”
	“Well then, do you know about the mind world thing? That some monsters store their preys’ souls within their bodies, where they live in little mentally constructed communities?”
	“I know about that stuff, even though humans aren’t supposed to, but that’s not it either.”
	“Good, because I don’t have one of those. When I eat someone, I don’t really want to see them again.”
	“That’s fine.”
	“You’re fine with dying in my belly. Knowing that there’s no chance of escape, no where to go, but whatever comes after life?”
	Rachel stood up from the couch and smirked, her ruby lips standing out against her lush darkness. “Yep.”
	“But why? Debt, life insurance, trouble with the mob, are you fed up with this world?”
	“It’s my secret,” Rachel backed up and sprawled on the end of the couch. She patted the spot next to her. Lyle took the invitation. He loosened his tie and sunk down into a couch specially constructed to endure a large monster’s weight.  
	“Isn’t it weird to sit on something made of cow skin?”
	“Minotaur’s consider themselves as close to cattle as they are to humans, which is to say, not very.”
	Rachel scooted over, snuggling up to Lyle. She slid a hand over his chest and undid his top shirt button. 
	“Do you want to move this to the bedroom?” Lyle asked.
	“Not just yet.” Rachel hoisted her self up onto his lap. Astride one of his thick well developed thighs, Rachel braced herself on his broad shoulders and planted her crimson lips on a spot between his wide set nostrils. When he exhaled she felt twin jets of warm air caress their way down her body. She ran her hand over his long bullish cheek, then backed off. 
	Lyle’s nostrils filled with her scent, his belly rumbled.
	“Keep that up,” he said, ”and I wont be able to pace myself.”
	“Oh,” she replied, “I’d hate to rush this.”
	Rachel dismounted his leg and dropped herself to the floor. She slid her feet from her shoes and kicked them out of the way. 
	“Now it’s your turn to take something off.” She said.
	Lyle removed his tie and put it down on the couch. “Your turn.”
	Rachel slipped a metal bracelet from her wrist, let it dangle a little from her fingers, and finally dropped it.
	Lyle unbuttoned his shirt. He stood up, letting the shirt stay behind on the couch. His torso rippled with taut muscle constrained only by his red brown lightly furred skin. 
	“My,” Rachel put a hand to her mouth in a mix of ironic and real awe. “Mmm, don’t think I’ll mind becoming part of that.”
	Lyle smiled and cocked his head slightly, “I think it’s your turn.”
	“Of course.” Rachel pulled off her dress, revealing more of her voluptuous and dark flesh. Everything was the same rich chocolate mouse color. Except for her palms and the soles of her feet which were somewhat lighter in color. The contrast struck Lyle as rather beautiful. Her body was as well formed as her dress had hinted. Generous hips and a well proportioned bosom that gave Lyle no doubt that she would feel wonderful sliding down his gullet. He licked his lips without thinking. His mouth was at the point of drooling.
	“Back to you, baby.” Rachel brought his attention back to the task at hand.
	“Right.”
	Down went the pants revealing thighs and calves as well muscled as Lyle’s chest and arms. He kicked off his shoes as well. All that were left, were a pair of tight white briefs sporting a prominent bulge in front.
	“We’ll do the last part together, alright.” Rachel suggested.
	Lyle slid down his briefs as Rachel removed her bra and slid out of her panties. His veined partially erect member uncoiled. Her nipples stood out colored even darker than the chocolaty skin around them.
	“Well,” She said, “Here we are.”
	He lay his thick warm hands upon her shoulders.
	“I’m ready.” She closed her eyes and set her mouth.
	“Are you sure you don’t want to ‘play’ a bit first?”
	“I thought about it. I just want to get it over with. If you don’t object.”
	Lyle took a long sniff. He began drooling slightly. He opened his mouth as if to speak. Instead, his mouth opened wide as he thrust is maw down over Rachel’s head. It was completely inside his mouth. Her thick tightly curled hair tickled his throat. He found it pleasant, in a way. He lolled his tongue around tasting Rachel’s face. He moaned around his full mouth. Gulping hard, Lyle brought Rachel’s shoulders in and moved herd head to his throat. The feel of warm struggling prey in his bulging brought Lyle’s cock to full attention. The pressure made him wish they had fucked a little before. Another gulp and Rachel’s upper torso replaced her head in Lyle’s throat. Her erect nipples scrapped along his esophagus. He loved it when that happened. Lyle’s hands now gripped Rachel at her hips. He brought one hand around to stroke her labia. He caressed the dark fleshy wings, finding them quite engorged already. They moist as well. He rubbed her with one broad finger as she groaned and wriggled within him. Lyle wondered where athe woman who enjoyed being eaten this much had been all his life. Usually there was a bit of a struggle, even from people who claimed they wanted to be eaten. He wondered if Rachel’s acceptance of the situation was why she tasted much better than most other humans he had eaten, and they tasted great. Lyle worked his finger into Rachel’s vagina as he thought about all this. Lyle gulped and she was now in down to her bellybutton. He gulped and gulped. Rachel’s light skinned soles protruded from Lyle’s lips. Then they were gone too. Lyle patted his full stomach.
	“Thank you, Rachel.” He said. ”Digestion is supposed to be pretty uncomfortable, but they say it goes smoother if you sort of relax into it. Anyway, you were a nice meal. Goodbye.” He flicked off the lights.
	Lyle went to his bedroom, rubbing his belly bulge as he went. His cock still throbbed and strained. After taking care of it, Lyle drifted off to sleep. He was as thoroughly satisfied as he could remember being. He wondered if either the Naga or Centauress might be back at the bar if he went back. He drifted off thinking about coils entangled with horns entangled with hooves.
*******
	The gurgle eventually dragged him out of sleep. The gurgle became a rumble. The rumble lay in Lyle’s belly, but spread through his body. It felt like he was tuning fork struck against something. It didn’t hurt, but everything indicated to him that vomiting was imminent. Lyle threw off his sheets and raced for the bathroom. Halfway there he doubled over. It still didn’t hurt, it was just incredibly uncomfortable. He now felt full. He felt as full as if he still had a full grown human inside him. The fullness worked it’s way up his body, through his neck, and forced his jaws apart. Lyle retched, retched, and retched again. Something passed out through his mouth. His body began to feel normal. He looked down at what he had brought up. It turned out to be a ‘who,’ instead. Rachel lay on his hallway floor, breathing heavily. 
	“What’s going on?” Lyle said. 
	“I finally wormed my way out.” Rachel coughed, “It just took a little more effort than I’m used to, because you’re so strong.”
	“I ate you!”
	Rachel got to her feet.
	“I know. It was pretty good. Your stomach acids are nice and strong.”
	“What are you talking about ‘pretty good,’ ‘nice and strong.’ You’re supposed to be nutrient paste in my stomach at this point.” 
	Rachel turned to leave the hallway. “I’ll explain while I get dressed.”
	Lyle followed her into his front room. She turned the lights on.
	“I’m not like other humans , Lyle.” She pulled her panties on. “I’m not sure you monsters have a word for us, but we call ourselves ‘prey people.’”
	“Prey people?” Lyle said, ”I thought they were an urban legend.”
	Rachel refastened her bra. “Well, here I am. Undigested, despite a few hours in your very effective stomach acids. Do I look like an urban legend.”
	“But…but how?”
	“I don’t really know my self. All I know is my family, and others like us, can survive being eaten. We actually experience great pleasure being swallowed and digested.” She found her dress and slipped back into it.
	“I could eat you again.”
	“I’d just make you throw me back up again. If you kept on eating me, I’d just transfer my consciousness into your poop and get out through your toilet, but that would be inconvenient for both of us. Besides are you really still hungry after eating me?”
	Lyle evaluated his appetite. His body felt energized and nourished as it always did after he had eaten a human.
	“I feel satiated, but how? You’re out here.”
	By this time Rachel had slipped back into her shoes and put her bracelet back on. “That’s because you digested my body. Then when it was nothing but dissolved meat my consciousness remained. I willed a tiny number of my remaining cells to rebuild my body. After that I just had to stimulate you to let me out using chemicals my kind naturally secrete upon resurrection. The rest of my old body stays with you.”
	“Why’d you want me to eat you?”
	“Like I said, to me being eaten feels wonderful, like a kind of sex. Also if you hadn’t eaten make you probably would have eaten some other human woman. Probably one who wouldn’t survive it. Anyway, I hope I was an acceptable substitute.”
	“People who being eaten.” Lyle pondered, “If the government knew…”
	“Oh, they know.” Rachel supplied, ”They just don’t want you to know. Imagine if my kind keep having kids with normal humans. Eventually you’ll have a large population of the indigestible.”
	Lyle couldn’t think of a reply, as his mind was more or less blown.
	“Can I call a cab?”
	“Yeah.”
*******
	When the cab got there, Rachel got her purse. She went to Lyle, who sat on the couch. “Maybe you’ll catch me again some night, Lyle. I had a good time in your tummy, and my exit doesn’t always have to be so unpleasant.” 
	She pecked the side of his long face, and left.
	Lyle went to the small kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine. He looked it up and down, then put it back. He thought about a day when almost no human would die from being eaten. He opened a cabinet and looked for a bottle of whiskey he thought he had stashed. Wine wouldn’t be strong enough.