Spawn of Man Read Online Free PDF

shape of something that had deviated from true human form. The torso was wide and powerful, a glistening barrel chest protruding below heavy, rounded shoulders. Its arms were long, lean, bony attachments with four slender talons that dripped the same thick slime that covered the rest of the body, wet and slithering. The legs resembled human limbs down to the knees, the thighs bulky and solid, but then the angle reversed into the contour of an ungulate, like skinned goat legs.
    The thing’s head turned to survey its new surroundings and its eyes glowed hot and red, tainted with a fury that was not born of this world. Its mouth opened and stretched wide, as if exercised for the first time, and the bottom jaw dislocated and jutted outwards. The rows of small, pointed teeth glinted in the dimness and from the wide, flaring, flat nostrils came short, deep snorts. Daniel’s hand trembled as he raised it and through the fog of his failing eyesight it looked as if it belonged to someone else. His fingers made contact with the taut, damp flesh of the being, touching its arm as the thing regarded Daniel’s hand. Then Daniel’s hand began to fall limp again, threads of a silvery substance still connecting his fingers to the thing’s arm, hanging like a ghostly grey web, glittering with early morning dew.
    The being lifted its glistening skull and tilted it to one side, more of the rheumy matter dripping to the floor like a clump of jellyfish. Its red eyes considered the slumped figure of Daniel and the lip-less mouth spread into the semblance of a cruel, wicked smile that showed vicious teeth like an open wound on its face. A scratchy, dry noise fell from the mouth, like the sound of dead leaves crushed between palms.
    And then the thing found its voice for the first time in centuries on the physical plane, ‘You flesh walkers will have hell on Earth, and we will have your life.’
    Daniel tried to move but he was dying from his legs up and all he could manage was an approximation of motion, as his head fell to his chest. He groaned and the sound was mournful and came from his soul. The elastic strands attaching the entity to the opening were beginning to shred as it forced itself forward and its arm snapped forward to grab Daniel. Daniel was lifted high into the air, until his face was inches from the thing and its foul breath filled his senses to the point of retching. But he did not possess the strength to empty his stomach and he lolled in the monster’s grip, his legs dangling like a puppet below him as blood still flowed from his neck in a steady stream.
    The thing’s tongue unfurled from its gash mouth. It was long and seemed to have a life of its own as it squirmed and darted over the files of blade-edged teeth. The texture was leathery and it forked into a snake-like tip, quivering, as it tasted the blood smeared across Daniel’s throat. Slowly, as if he was lifting a great weight, Daniel’s hand rose to the side of his neck, to where the shard of glass jutted out like a bony protrusion. The thing’s head turned slowly to watch as Daniel grasped the fragment and wrenched it from his neck.
    At first the removal of the object resulted in no perceptible change and the monster disregarded Daniel for a moment to look to its rear at the tentacles of slime disconnecting in its wake. Blood swelled at the open wound in Daniel’s neck, like water pushing at a dam, and then surged from the deep hole. It spilled over the entity’s hand where it still gripped Daniel and the thing howled in rage. The sinewy fibers holding the thing to the suspended opening grew taut and began to retract, pulling it and Daniel through the aperture.
    Standing at the door to the small room and watching, Mary now moved towards the light, captivated by its beauty. She probed it with her fingers and the play of light became malleable under the pressure of her touch as she wriggled her fingers. She was mesmerized by the way the substance of the rift