In the time it took for the last rivulet to slide cleanly off her body, the being known as Magadon had already taken into memory every last detail about her body.

Then, of course, there was the body itself. She was of average height, a bit taller than most students but nothing outstanding. Hers wasn't a unique body, he admitted, but it was how she carried herself that caught his usually flighty attention.

However, if one did catch his eye, that student would be most unlucky. With emphasis on the words 'most' and 'unlucky'.

Already, the gloom had formed itself into an impenetrable fence, barring all and any avenue of escape, as he strode towards her with a chilling singlemindedness. It appeared time stood still with each step he took.

For a moment, Lelita's breathing returned to normal and her ability to speak returned.

"Why"she asked,"why go to all this trouble? If you wanted sex, why not just say so? Why transform? Surely you must know your human form is attractive to females, that the students speculate, even fantasize about your prowess in bed. What purpose, what higher goal do you have for doing these things?"

Almost as soon as she finished speaking, she found it difficult to breathe again, as though invisible fingers had wrapped themselves around her throat once more.

Perhaps it was the anomaly that caused the abnormal brain functions that allowed her to speak; maybe through sheer will power, she forced her lungs to take in air and her lips to form the words that spilled forth from them. Whatever the case, her question had been asked, and she waited for the creature that stood before her to answer her.

He laughed.

The sound would have been joyous and mirthful, coming from a human throat.

Unfortunately, the only human capable of making such sounds was not in a laughing mood.

Instead, the sound was cold in its baritone. Cruel. Bemused at Lelita's line of questioning. A soulless entity taking sadistic joy at the fear of a lesser being.

Ah, my dear, you are a rare find.

The voice sounded thoughtful. It even put a hand to its chin as it considered her question. For a moment, the writhing gloom was held at bay.

Since you amuse me, I shall answer forthrightly. I could use this form to seduce students, but the enchantments I must weave to draw sustenance are a nuisance to cast every time.

The voice hardened. Icicles could have formed on the letters. The Savants were a race that allowed their words to convey what passed for emotion among them.

Point besides, I cannot stand to stay in that form a minute longer than necessary.

The eyeless sockets looked her over, unabashed even as she stood naked, both figuratively and literally, in front of some unknown and very threatening force. He drank in her naive inquisitiveness. The forthrightness was not so much annoying as it stayed his hand scarce moments.

And scarce they were. He could not afford to waste time but his natural curiosity would not be denied.

Lee's curiosity would not allow itself to go unsatisfied either, her body after a length of time had adjusted itself to the difficulty she was having breathing to allow her to make brief comments.

""Sustenance?... From casting enchantments?...I don't understand what you are saying?...Am I...some kind of...spell component?"
The young girl wheezed, haltingly, as she would frequently have to pause and breathe for a moment or two before continuing on with her line of questioning.

She didn't know what the creature who stood before was, only that her professor obviously wasn't human, and perhaps those ominous whispers around the campus weren't the mutterings of the mentally unstable students after all.

To add to the Savant's posture of incongruity, his shoulders began to rise up and down. That whole dark form trembled in what could have been mirth.

Ah-ha-ha-ha, aren't you the newborn lamb, his voice was convincingly wracked with laughter. But there you are wrong. Nothing as mundane as that.

Magadon straightened, dusting off his chest. See, my dear, I need your emotions to live.

Lee felt and heard the feral smile in the Nal'Senshi's voice. Now, would you be so kind as to give in?

He inserted a powerful inclination to do just that in the last two words as the gloom began to surge around them.

Lee wanted to give in, she really did but her mind, her thoughts would not rest as easily as she might, and they swirled around in her head like the gloom swirled around them.

The inclination woven into those words pierced first the students body, and then her mind, which finally came to be at peace.

"What would you have me do?"

Her words pierced the silence around them, like a dagger into the heart of a wounded animal.

I believe I already said hold still.

He spread his fingers towards Lelita, the many-jointed digits weaving and reweaving the delicate yet eternally-malevolent Void into a set of forms fitting for this moment.

The shadows around them bled into the stone, the substance almost slithering to a point between them. The substance reflected designs that resembled the constellations she'd marked down under Magadon's supervision.

He clapped sharply, the sound echoing weirdly, as if from underwater. The black rivers melded too quickly and began to spiral.

As this transpired, the wall of gloom around them took life. Coils from the inkiness slunk in out out of focus, caressing her sides or her thighs for the briefest of seconds before disappearing back.

Lee did as she was asked this time, and kept still, her mouth included this time. Glancing down she would see the shadows meld together, creating a mirror world to the night sky, images forming and twisting, spinning, spiraling together, it made her eyes hurt and her head spin to watch.

The dark gloominess that surrounded them solidified into a tangible substance, tendrils reaching out, briefly caressing her sides and then disappearing back to where they came from. It was strange and unnerving, and she squealed as they reached out to touch her naked body; feeling the urge to slink back away from them, but she didn't and kept her body completely still except for her breathing.

She took it literally.

Mentally, he was shaking his head. Several possibilities blossomed in his depthless mind to Lelita's reaction, but he was of no mind to plumb each one in detail.

While she was utterly unmoving, Magadon's tendrils were anything but. They were undulating against her furiously now, wrapping themselves around Lelita's lower body in tight, oddly geometric designs. Through it all, they still massaged, caressed, rubbed.

Like a lover in foreplay...

Lee moaned softly as the tendrils continued massaging her body. It felt nice, like a lover's caress, almost; except that no lover she had ever had was able to touch her in so many places at once.

"How...how much longer...will this...take?" The girl finally rasped after some time.

Soon.

The reply was low, insidious, coming from the depths of nightmares even she could not mention. The Nal slid forward, like a some low-bodied nightmarish wolf intent on the delicate, pale-skinned prey.

Closing the distance, the tendrils pulled Lelita closer to him, every detail, every rivulet of sweat visible in a silver line down her skin. A nail that didn't feel real traced each muscle on her abdomen, sliding upwards to trace around one of her nipples.

The muscles in his young charge's abdomen would quiver involuntarily as he traced around them, with what was presumably his fingernail, or the tip of a claw. She would gasp softly -- a sound much like the one a woman would make when being caressed by a lover -- when the claw moved up to trace around her nipple

"P-pro-professor...." she stammered, trying to gather her wits.

(Oops, 3 months! Sorry, my fault...)

Lelita?

More tendrils began to wrap around her form, seeming to stemming from the night itself. The Savant leaned in, what looked like drool at the mask's jaw seeming to form into a serpentine tongue that stretched to flick and caress her ear.

All the while, the tendrils refused to let up, wrapping around parts of her that never saw sunlight. Or moonlight.