Hookah Smoking Caterpillar

Hookah Smoking Caterpillar BEATRIX HOLLOW Copyright © 2023 by Beatrix Hollow All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover art by Kira Night. Created with Vellum Contents Preface Playlist 1. Alice 2. Alice 3. Alice 4. Shaheen 5. Alice 6. Alice 7. Shaheen 8. Alice 9. Cheshire 10. Alice 11. Alice 12. Cheshire 13. Alice 14. Alice 15. Alice 16. Shaheen 17. Alice 18. Cheshire 19. Alice Epilogue Also by Beatrix Hollow About the Author Preface A thorough list of the content can be found at my website here: http://beatrixhollow.com Blurb: I’m falling down the rabbit hole into Cheshire’s Den of Debauchery. I’m obsessed with my deviant desires and only one thing can bring me satisfaction—Caterpillar. Whether by luck or misfortune, he can be bought. I only need to make a deal with Cheshire...and his deals have the tendency to go sideways. They say curiosity killed the cat but I’m the one in trouble. I was the canary in his jaws the moment I stepped into his lair. And I just keep falling. Falling for them and falling to the bottom of Wonderland where the truth of my past lurks in the murky depths. Wonderland bites and I fear I’ve been infected. Author Note: This is a monster retelling of Alice in Wonderland and is an extended version of the short story by the same title in the Into the Woods Anthology published April 2022. Playlist Spotify Playlist Alice in Wonderland - Joanna Wang Funnel of Love - SQÜRL, Madeline Follin Mad Hatter - Melanie Martinez Because We Can (From “Moulin Rouge” Soundtrack) - Fatboy Slim Cake - Melanie Martinez High Enough - K. Flay Colors Pt. II - Halsey Like Lovers Do - Hey Violet Pity Party - Melanie Martinez Wonderland - Neoni Hypnotic - Zella Day Where is My Mind? - Tkay Maidza Hindi Sad Diamonds - Alka Yagnik, John Leguizamo, and Nicole Kidman Once Upon A Dream - Lana Del Ray All The Things She Said - Poppy The Contortionist - Melanie Martinez White Rabbit - Emiliana Torrini Fallen Down (Reprise) - Toby Fox Chapter 1 Alice Cheshire’s Den of Debauchery stood in front of me as I clutched my purse full of banknotes. I gazed eagerly at the dark building lurking in the murky depths of Wonderland. The door had a black and white spiral on it as if you were about to walk into an endless tunnel. Above the door was a likeness of the owner. A big mouth smiling from a devious cat face. The eyes on the doorway statue followed me as I approached and when I reached for the handle the smile grew almost grotesquely wide as if it were reacting to its own hilarious joke. It was as if it was sentient—Cheshire’s mute gargoyle doppelganger watching as you bid morals goodbye and stepped inside. I swallowed and started to reconsider. I could still turn around. I looked at the monstrous mushrooms behind me, glowing with green and blue bioluminescence and thrusting upward to staggering heights. The forest of Wonderland was unnaturally quiet. If I went home now, my mind would return to this spiral door and what lay behind it…him. The one person who could satisfy my desires. The man that had become my lust-fueled obsession. I was twenty-six and desperate for satisfaction. Desperate for him. I’d tried all other avenues to satiate this need inside me and all had failed. Being insatiable made me ravenous. I couldn’t live with this unmet demand inside me any longer. It was making me single-focused, every moment preoccupied with him. With Caterpillar. I barely brushed the door and it swung open invitingly, all too happy to accept me inside. Once again, I was falling down a hole in Wonderland. It was a small comfort that this hole was merely metaphorical. Stuffy warmth embraced me as I stepped into the den. The sounds of middle eastern music emanated from every corner—the twang of a lute being strummed, the fast-paced notes of a dulcimer’s strings being hammered with little mallets, a woman with a collection of hand drums. She tapped and smacked the surface of her current drum of choice, her body undulating rhythmically to the beat. A robust woman swathed in translucent red fabric danced languidly in front of the band—her hips fast and smooth as they swayed back and forth, her belly and feet on full display, her head flung back and eyes closed as the music moved her. One breast shifted free from the fabric and she made no move to hide herself. I found myself gawking at the pebbled nipple as it seemed to stare back, a lidless eye jiggling as the bangles on her wrists jangled. The round metal sewn into the fabric of her outfit clashed together like tiny tambourines. There was a light haze in the air, smoke rolling against the low ceiling. The sound of bubbling hookahs rumbled softly beneath the instruments as if it were part of the song. It was a very intimate place, smaller than I had imagined but there were hallways and doors that led to unknown rooms. A smell of incense and herbs, of dried flowers, and something subtly sinister persuasively purred within my nostrils. Immediately I tried to seek out Caterpillar, my eyes quickly scanning the bed-like booths of bodies moving against one another. My face heated but still, I looked for him, boldly peering at open displays of sex like I’d never seen. “Alice,” a smooth voice said. Cheshire always sounded entertained. “What brings you to my establishment?” On the bar counter to my left, glowing green eyes and a wide smile appeared before the rest of his cat body slowly came into view. “Is that sanitary, an animal atop the bar?” I asked.