Right behind him

Perhaps she just wasn’t home at the moment? But when he turned back around to leave, there she was, hanging upside down from a thread – this time in her nun form.

Same trick from before, huh? Audrey thought. He didn’t even flinch, despite the impressive lateral span of her legs. They were covered in a slick proteinaceous black chitin, which reflected light even in the dimly lit cave and ended in deadly-looking points resembling swords – they could have easily impaled a human being. Her abdomen was also completely black, or that is, her spider abdomen was black.

As for this nun’s actual body – the human part – there wasn’t much revealed because the habit was in the way, which, this looked a bit rather ridiculous considering the rest of her spider part wasn’t covered with anything. And somehow the uniform stuck to her body without flipping over her head. But from what Audrey could still see of her… well the skin wasn’t very bare – it looked like as if her hands were thinly coated in a layer of silvery wax. It gave them a very velvety and smooth appearance. It was nothing like a glove; that must have been the actual texture and natural look of her hands.

As for her face, it looked mostly human, but even then it seemed to glow a bright pale. From there, her long black hair hung downwards, perfectly, like a curtain. What was at last off putting however, was not any of those other things, but her eyes. There weren’t multiple, only two – and they weren’t positioned in any abnormal way either. However, instead of a distinct sclera, iris, and pupil, they were two completely filled orbs of pure blackness.

Audrey once again didn’t quite know what to feel. Her face was stunning and there was no doubt about that… but her eyes looked like she had been possessed by a demon, and those legs looked like they could easily carve holes into diamond or rip a man in half – he thought about that enormous rock blocking the exit from earlier.

Her expression in trying to frighten him again was neutral, but it quickly turned into a pout when she realized it didn’t work this time.

“Awww, you won’t even pretend to be scared?” She asked, in a whining voice.

“You got me the first time, but you won’t fool me twice.” He replied.

She wasn’t expecting Audrey to have caught on so soon; her face portrayed genuine surprise.

“Hmph. Impressive.” Her tone changed into a much more dignified one while she crossed her arms. “But what brings you to my lair?” She asked.

“I just wanted to make sure you actually were the same spider. More importantly, I came to see you carry out your duties.”

She smiled coyly, “Ah, I see. This is how you seduce the others? But of course you have to watch me, it’s your job after all.”

She was baiting him, and that was a good trap – but he simply reversed it onto her:

“Would you rather I not?” He retorted. Audrey even surprised himself; saying that felt kind of surreal compared to the awkwardness that was last night.

She raised an eyebrow in surprise and was no longer smiling. That was a sharp response. “All right, you’re smarter than I thought.” She still had one last test for him however.

Before she finished speaking, dozens of tiny spiders began to climb up Audrey’s body. He stood just as firmly and still as before however, and once again did not flinch.

The nun stroked her chin thoughtfully and nodded in approval – he’s genuine. She dismounted from the silk thread and stood upright now on those killer legs, well over Audrey. While the spiders were now climbing and crawling around Audrey’s face, she began chanting an incantation and threw a green orb of energy at one of the cave walls. It scattered upon impact, but the particles began to form into the shape of a giant rectangle. Slowly, Audrey could make out very faint details in this mysterious pane, and in about another minute the details became fully fleshed out and filled with color, and he saw… his hand!

Sure enough when he looked down there was a spider right on top of his left hand. And when he moved it, the moving image that was projected onto the cave wall moved alongside with it. Another one instantaneously popped up to replace the previous one – another angle of his body, but this time from his chest. He got a very good view of his chin.

“My sentinels. You won’t have to go anywhere, just sit back and relax.” These were her last words before she launched herself into a full sprint, and the spiders on Audrey flew off in perfect unison, following her.

They all scurried up the exit tunnel, when he heard a massive weight being shifted, before it was rolled back into place. He turned his attention to the display of the sentinels, and couldn’t really make out much – this is how fast they were moving. And he finally asked about these things: