It was always like that when he woke her in the middle of the night to make love. He was never rough or insistent, always quiet in his passion. She knew this feeling well, and it made her grow wet and slick between her thighs. Any minute now, Robert would begin to plant warm kisses on her neck and shoulders. And she would respond, willing and ready.

Kate’s eyes opened to the darkness in the room. The security light outside sent a faint shaft of light traveling across the covers. Robert lay on the other side of the bed, sleeping peacefully. But on top of the sheet that covered her, something black was crawling – more than one. It looked like dozens. Some of them seemed to be beneath the sheet as well. Kate froze. And then she screamed.

"Robert!" She didn’t dare move. "Robert, help me! They’re in here with us!

My God, Robert! They’re in bed with me!"

"Katie, what baby?" He reached for the lamp switch.

"Robert, please! Oh God, please, get them off me!"

Her husband leapt from the bed in shocked disbelief. The white sheet that covered his wife’s body was crawling with black widow spiders, nearly two dozen of them. She lay, shaking, covered with a sudden cold sweat and pale with terror.

"Katie, baby, don’t move, honey. Oh, God, Katie. Don’t move, baby."

"They’re in the bed with me, Robert. In the fucking bed with me!"

"I see that, baby. Just don’t move."

With trembling hands, he took a corner of the sheet, folding it back to enclose the bulbous bodies, the thin legs. They hardly moved as he rolled up the sheet. Kate lay in controlled panic, the bed visibly shaking as her body convulsed.

"Did you get them? Are they gone? Can I move yet? Oh, Robert, please, hurry!"

"Not yet, Katie. Please, please lie still." On her leg, the largest black widow of all sat poised, her ebony body as shiny as if it had been covered in shellac. Robert walked around the bed, making sure no spiders lay on the floor or near Kate’s body. He picked up a magazine from the nightstand. With a careful sweep, he flicked the spider from her leg, tossing it on the floor. Crushing it beneath the magazine, he reached for his wife’s hand.

"Get up, Kate. Slowly, baby. Let’s be sure there aren’t any more. Good, Kate." Trembling, she rose, shaking her nightgown. A spider dropped to the floor. She screamed, ripping the nightgown from her body and flinging it across the bedroom. With the magazine, Robert thrashed the intruder, crushing it into a black blob. Kate sank into the corner of the bedroom, naked, sobbing.

Carefully, he picked up the rolled sheet full of spiders. In the kitchen, he stuffed it into the trashcan and tied the trash bag securely. Kate’s sobs grew louder as he opened the garage door. He turned on the light and scanned the floor quickly with sleepy eyes. These days, they dared not walk barefoot into the garage. He wrapped the top of the garbage bag with duct tape and deposited it in the trash- can. Weary, he returned to the bedroom.

"Kate, let’s get your robe on." He reached into the bathroom to pull the robe from its hook; shaking it to be sure no spiders had crawled into the sleeves. Helping her slip on the robe, he walked her into the living room and inspected the sofa cushions.

"I’ll get you a glass of water," he said, patting her shoulder. He opened the cabinet door cautiously, as he put his hand inside and filled the glass. Kate sat with her head in her hands.

"We can’t stay here." Her tone was firm, resigned to the fact that their home did not belong to them. "We can’t live with the fear of being bitten. What if I had rolled onto one of those wicked things tonight?"

"Honey, another exterminator is coming tomorrow. I hope he’ll be able to find the source of the problem."

"If he doesn’t? Then what? They’re taking over. They’re coming in droves. Every day I see more. I can’t open a dresser drawer or pull a towel from the closet without checking for one of the little bitches."

Robert wanted to agree. But he couldn’t give up yet. His family had given him the land for their home, a ten-acre tract that had once been a farm. It had gone untended for years until he and Kate had enough money to build their home. Their dream home. Their half-million dollar home.

Robert’s grandfather had owned the farm. His father had been a building contractor. And Robert had become a successful architect. He had designed this house, planned every inch of it to please himself and Kate. Workmen had complained about the large number of black widows on the site, but that wasn’t terribly unusual when homes were built on long-deserted farmlands or fields.

Two weeks after they moved in, Kate had a scare. She reached inside a lower kitchen cabinet for the dishwasher detergent, screaming as she jerked her hand away. Robert ran into the kitchen immediately.

"A spider," she pointed out, trembling. "A black widow. She’s built a web under the sink." The spider sat on her web near a bulging egg sac, barely moving, just over the bottle of detergent. Robert reached for a long wooden spoon on the counter, twisting both spider and web around it, then dropping it to the floor, crushing the spider and egg sac.

"We need to get an exterminator out here, I guess," he said as he peered beneath the sink.

"I’m going to be careful just the same, sticking my hand into any dark place in these cabinets. Those things scare the living hell out of me."

"Maybe he can do something before they decide to move in and breed." Robert laughed. "I don’t want you getting any ideas from these evil ladies."

"Ideas? What do you mean?" Kate still trembled.

"They have sex with their mates and then wrap them up inside a web and feed on them. I don’t mind a little nibbling, but I’m not ready to be trapped and devoured completely!"

"Thought you liked being tied up once in a while." Playfully, she slapped his arm.

"Just don’t poison me, Kate," he smiled, pulling her close.

Just days later, she found two more black widows. One had set up residence in the back of a kitchen drawer, too close for comfort when she reached for the corkscrew. Another had spun a web in her laundry room, near the washer. Robert called an exterminator.

"All spiders are fairly hard to kill," the exterminator explained. "You can’t kill them by spraying unless you get the spray directly on them. And even then you wind up killing their natural predators, so the spiders have free reign. I do have some spider traps. It’s a new treatment. They crawl in and can’t get out, so you eventually trap them all. I’ll put a few in your crawlspace and we’ll see how that works."

The exterminator opened the door to the crawlspace while the couple waited in the living room. In a few minutes, he was back.

"I hate to tell you this," he began, "but your house is infested. There must be hundreds of those things under there. I’m surprised you’re not seeing them everywhere. I’ll spray under the house, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll get them all. I’m not going any farther in there than I have to."

The exterminator left traps in closets, near all the vents, and in the cabinets. Kate felt better but still shaken. She couldn’t relax knowing that hundreds of unwanted poisonous residents were separated from her by only a floor.

The traps caught dozens of spiders, but dozens more came. They sat waiting on the kitchen floor. They perched atop the stack of towels in the bathroom. They showed up in the shower. Kate began to read up on black widows. Poisonous, but not usually fatal. There might be worse problems with anti-venom than with the spider bite. They weren’t the only spiders whose females killed and ate their mates, but they were notorious for the act.

In spite of their dangerous bites, Kate found them beautiful. The scarlet hourglass on their bellies against the perfect blackness was somehow elegant. They reminded her of a lady wearing a black satin dress, ready to go out for the evening, yet looking for trouble. Kate sighed, then realized Robert was talking to her.

"Let’s sleep in one of the spare bedrooms. Or here on the couch, if you feel better here. We’ll do whatever you want. But let’s hang on until we get this problem solved. Okay?"

Looking into her husband’s face, she nodded in agreement. They walked to the guest bedroom, checked the sheets, and crawled into bed, exhausted. Kate dreamed she was getting ready for a party. She slipped on a black satin dress.

The exterminator arrived at eight the next morning and gave her the same news as the first guy – a complete infestation of black widows, in the crawlspace and possibly crawling into the insulation.

"Mrs. Bowman, what was here before the house was built?" he asked.

"There was a huge barn on this site," Kate explained. "Robert’s grandfather owned it, and it was torn down just before they built the house."

"Was there anything in the barn?"

"It was full of hay that had been there for a long time. They broke up the hay bales and spread them over the ground before they built the house. Why?"

"That explains a lot. There were probably hundreds of black widows living in those hay bales. I would guess they burrowed into the ground a little when they hay was scattered, but they didn’t go away. They’re still living and breeding right underneath your house."

"Does that mean we’ll never be rid of them?" Kate swallowed hard.

"It’s likely, ma’am. I’m sorry; I wish I had better news for you. We can put more traps under the house, and spray as much as we can, but we’ll have to do it often. And I don’t know how we’ll get into the back corners. We’ll just do the best we can."

The exterminator placed more spider traps in the crawlspace and at the same strategic points inside the house. He avoided Kate’s eyes when he left, and she knew there was no hope for being rid of all the spiders. Her dream home had become a house of fear. She called Robert with the news, too tired to panic. He told her to give it a few days and see if the traps and the spray helped.

Kate sat in the living room, thinking of their options. She was angry with Robert for putting their lives in jeopardy. Shouldn’t someone have known there was a problem when the house was being built? Could they leave this house sitting empty, and pay for it the rest of their lives without living in it? How could she ever open a cabinet door without wondering if one of the black beauties waited to inject her with its poison? It was nine a.m., but she wanted a drink.

She opened the liquor cabinet, pulling a bottle of bourbon from the shelf. Standing before the mirror at the wet bar, she looked at herself as she raised the glass to her lips. The tired, pale woman who looked back bore an expression of resignation. She sipped, staring at her reflection. The liquor burned a trail down her throat. Kate ran her hands along the smooth finish of the oak bar. Robert had designed it himself, a perfect place to entertain, to make merry, to celebrate. Now, all they entertained was a host of dangerous black widows. She poured another glass of bourbon, stood at the bar and sipped. Perhaps this was the way to go through life, numb to the fear and the fascination. As the first drink began to warm her body, she spied a long-legged, black spider creeping across the bar. Kate watched as it made its way to the mirror, standing before it, front legs raised as if admiring herself. Red hourglass clearly visible, she seemed to be preening, beckoning her to touch.

As she laid her hand on the bar, the spider turned. She downed the glass of bourbon, feeling its fire in her belly. The spider crawled onto her hand, perched on it like a pet. Kate barely breathed as it inched along her wrist, to her forearm. Her heart pounded within her throat. She flinched as tiny legs tickled the hairs on her arm.

It happened in an instant, like a pin prick. Sudden numbness followed the blazing pain that surrounded the bite. Kate stood transfixed as the spider crawled away. Raising her arm to her face, she looked at the tiny drop of blood that oozed from her arm. Her heart raced as she sat the glass down and pressed her fingers against the bite. It felt as if her arm had gone to sleep. Tightness in her throat alarmed her. She needed to get to the phone. She needed to call 911. The spider had returned to the mirror, gazing at its own reflection. And then Kate passed out.

She awoke in mid-afternoon, with the sun shining through the French doors. Her head ached, lying against the cool, hard tile surface. Had it been a dream, the encounter with the spider? She was alive, but stiff, as if her body refused to respond to the commands of her brain. Raising her head, she forced her body to follow. She blinked and sat up, rubbing her limbs. On her arm, a tiny drop of dried blood was evidence. She had been bitten, but other than a raised red numb spot on her arm, she seemed to be okay. Pulling herself up to the mirror, she was surprised at her reflection. The tired, pale look had disappeared. Kate looked beautiful, ravishing. She felt in control. On the bar, several dozen black widows sat before her, facing her in rows as if waiting for a command.

"Go home," she said. The spiders retreated, orderly, marching in line to crawl behind the mirror.

Her husband would be home soon, and she was eager to show him that she no longer feared their home. Not only had she been bitten and survived, it seemed to have rejuvenated her. She would make dinner and dress for him to prove that she could live in this house.

Robert walked into the house, long-faced. Kate emerged from the dining room, smiling, in her best black dress, heels and stockings.

"Katie! What’s this? Are we supposed to go out tonight?" His face brightened.

"No, lover. We’re staying home. Everything is going to be fine. I haven’t seen a spider all afternoon. I think the exterminator may have hit upon the right solution."

"Oh, baby, that’s wonderful. Wow, dinner smells great! Oh, Kate, I’m so glad. You look wonderful. You look beautiful."

"I’m not afraid anymore, Robert. I have a feeling we can get on with our lives."

After dinner, she led him to the bar to make him a drink. Opening the liquor cabinet, she saw a solitary black widow sitting on the shelf.

"Shoo," she said. "I have this handled."

"What did you say?"

"I said, ‘Shoot, I think the handle on the cabinet is loose."

"I’ll take a look at it."

"No, no, that’s okay. Just relax. Sit there, on the sofa. Get comfortable."

Kate brought his drink, taking her place beside him on the sofa. Watching as he drank, she stroked his shoulders, kissed his neck, and made small talk.

"You look so sexy tonight. I can’t believe the change in you. What happened?"

"I got tired of living scared. I’m not going to let a bunch of spiders take my house."

Taking the glass from his hand, she stood before him. She unbuttoned her dress, revealing a black bodysuit with red lace. Spreading her legs, slipping off her dress, she leaned to kiss her husband. Surprised by her passion, he responded by running his hands up her thighs. She bent to unbutton his shirt, helping him take it off. He unzipped his pants and raised his hips as she pulled them off with his boxers and flung them behind the sofa.

"Kate, you’re so hot when you take charge. I love this."

She kissed him again, biting his lower lip, then straddled him. Taking his hand, she shoved it between her legs, stroking herself furiously with his fingers. She was wet, deliciously wet. Unsnapping the bodysuit, she plunged his fingers into her pussy and withdrew them. Thin threads of sticky juice trailed from her body to his fingers. She pulled his hand to her mouth, sucking his fingers. She bit down.

"God, baby, that makes me so hot. Not too hard, Kate, ouch!"

"I’m sorry, darling. I got carried away." She pulled his cock to her pussy and sat down on it, squeezing it, riding it. Her teeth nibbled at his neck and shoulders, biting down hard, making him moan. As she came, violently, so did he. She affixed her teeth to his shoulder, clamping down. Robert yelled. Kate let go.

She moved away to look into his eyes. "Did I hurt you?"

"It’s okay," he smiled. "I kind of liked it." He was still holding her hips, pressing into her.

"I’m sorry, baby, it’s just that I feel so good with you tonight, I could almost eat you alive."

He laughed. "As good as you look tonight, I’d let you do whatever you wanted."

They checked for spiders before going to bed, and saw none. Relieved, they slept through the night, dreamless.

Kate continued to be more aggressive in bed. She met Robert at the door nightly, dressed in black satin, black velvet, black spandex, always trimmed in red. She dominated him, pushing him down and riding him. Her climaxes were violent, shuddering, and continuous. She bit him. She conquered him. She exhausted him. Robert didn’t complain. He’d almost forgotten about the spiders that no longer terrorized them, but Kate saw them. She talked to them. She commanded them to wait.

One night after dinner she led him to the bedroom and produced two black silk scarves from the drawer.

"Lie down, baby. I want you to experience me like you never have before." He obeyed. She tied the first scarf around his wrists, wrapping it around the bedpost, securing his arms above his head. The second, she wrapped around his ankles, fastening him to the post at the foot of the bed.

Standing above him, she stripped down to a black g-string and deep red bra. His cock jutted out, stiff and ready. She lowered herself and knelt before him, biting his thighs and running her tongue along his cock. She sucked hard and furiously, almost forcing him to come. Pulling the g-string aside, she rode him until she came, repeatedly, gasping for breath. As he exploded within her, she bent down and bit him on the chest, hard enough to break the skin. Blood rose to the bite.

"God, Kate, that’s enough! I like it when you play rough, but damn it, this is enough! Now untie me and calm down." He struggled against his bonds.

"Robert," she crooned, "I’m finished. I won’t bite you so hard again."

"Let me go. Damn, it burns where you bit me. What are you doing to me?"

"Just relax. It’ll stop in just a minute. I promise."

"Come on, Katie. Kate, please."

"Ssssh, just be quiet. Just rest. Go to sleep, Robert."

Drowsiness overtook him as he weakly pulled against the bonds that threatened to cut off his circulation.

"Kate…please."

Robert awoke hours later when Kate turned on the lamp. Still dressed in black, she grinned wickedly. Looking down at his body, he saw that he was wrapped in hundreds of silky threads. Atop his body and on the bed, black widows crawled and flexed their spindly legs.

"Kate?"

"It was their place first, Robert. We disturbed them. I didn’t want to stay, but you gave me no choice."

"Katie..." his voice trailed off. Kate climbed atop him, smiled, and bit down hard.

* * *

©2000 by Jill

All rights reserved. No reprints or retransmissions without my permission, please.
SugarMagnolia_10@excite.com