Once It Gets Dark Ch 20

Thank you

all for being so patient with me! And thank you also--from the bottom of my heart--for all your wonderful comments and messages!

I once more changed the chapter division in the new plan

there will be 22 chapters in total

(maybe 23 if the last chapter turns out longer than expected as well) so this is

not

the last one.

There is a list with German and Veril vocabulary on my profile.

Special thanks go to Dave14__ (please check out his wonderful story An Offering for the Champion!) Dave, this sentence is for you (everybody else please ignore it!): "Her slick folds squelched wetly every time he plunged in and glode out again."

TW

: war

Chapter 20--Shadow Realm

I woke up as if from a long fever. Dizzy and nauseated, it took me a confused moment until my mind connected with my senses again. The air smelled like warmth and summer--a strangely familiar scent yet utterly unlike the hot months in Berlin or Heidelberg. It was more intense, more real, just like summer had smelled when I was still a child playing naked in the lake. It was the fragrance of warm earth and drying hay, of flowers and trees full of sap, brimming with life and exhaling the aroma of organic growth and decay.

And for a second the memories took me back to those years, and I was floating, rocking gently back and forth. There was the splashing sound of water, and warm sunlight painted orange-red specks on my closed lids.

Sunlight?

I opened my eyes wide and looked directly up into Vo'ren's face, though I was not able to see much of him, veiled as he was by his scarf and tactical goggles. He held me in his arms, carrying me as if we were newlyweds and I his bride. My entire core filled with warmth and a deep, painful longing for what exactly I didn't know.

"Vo'ren?"

He stopped walking, and I heard his smile in his voice. "Anna."

The word sent a sweet ache directly into my heart. I was just about to pull his face cover up and kiss him when I caught myself, remembering the additional pain the bright sun would cause him.

"Let me down,

kuchun

?"

I half expected him to ignore my demand, as per usual, but to my surprise he slowly lowered me to the ground.

I immediately regretted my decision. There was no

ground,

just dark water reaching up to my ankles. Unlike Vo'ren's tactical boots that had likely been made impermeable by some kind of Veril spell or technology, my cheap FMD tennis shoes were instantly soaked.

"Ugh."

Even before the sound of disgust had left my lips, Vo'ren grabbed me, placing his hand on my ass and pulling me so forcefully against him, it hurt. Sparks of desire instantly exploded in my core as he pressed his hard body against mine. He was wearing an improvised long-sleeved tunic, strapped to his torso by the leather armor and backpack he wore above it. The dark gray material felt slightly rough and woolly as I dug my fingers into it, trying to draw him even closer.

With an impatient motion he lifted his headscarf just enough and crushed my mouth with his. I instantly melted into the taste of his breath on my tongue, the softness of his lips, and that deep sense of belonging every time we were close. He was rough; his pointy teeth clashed against mine, cutting my lips until they bled. I savored the sweetness of the pain, of finally feeling him again, of being marked as his possession. It was a desperate kiss, mirroring my own longing, my own desire to hold on to him, to this moment, and delay the inevitable decisions that lay ahead of us.

Careful,

said the voice of reason, making one of its rare appearances in the back of my head. And remembering the promise I had made to myself, I laid my palm flat against his leather chest plate and pushed him away. He allowed me, but his annoyed hiss when our lips disconnected made all the hairs on my neck stand up.

For a moment we just looked at each other, breathless, wordless. He was still holding me tightly against his uniform-clad body, and I saw my own flushed and dirty face reflected in his goggles. Even though we stood in the half-shade of some structure, little beads of sweat started forming all over my skin. The summer heat rose from the lukewarm water, mixing with the scent of algae. My stomach churned, and I pressed my eyes shut for a moment.

"Are you unwell?" There was a hint of annoyance in his voice, whether it was aimed at me rejecting him, at the fact that I was feeling bad, or at our whole messed-up situation, I couldn't tell.

I swallowed and exhaled. "No, it's nothing. I just guess that traveling through an interdimensional portal doesn't really help with morning sickness."

It took him a second to understand my meaning, probably due to the expression

morning sickness

, but then he lowered his face. I couldn't see his eyes, but I knew he was examining my belly.

He looked up again, and there was a strange silkiness in his voice when he spoke. "I believe I might be able to help with that."

Before I had time to ponder, he dug his hand into my hair, preventing me from pulling away, and

licked

my lower lip. When he adjusted his face cover again, I caught a glimpse of the smug smile playing around the corners of his mouth. He was

very

pleased with himself. It took me a second to understand, but then I felt the burn of his venom in the fresh cuts his teeth had left just a moment before.

"

What the fuck

did you do that for?" I shoved him, but he was as unmovable as a pillar.

I shivered. The dose hadn't been very strong, and it was not going to make me lose my mind. But a familiar heat already began to run through my body, making him look even more irresistible than before.

He shrugged, and I simply knew that his black veil was hiding a smirk. "Sergeant Chuntek used my venom for your potion, but since he is not here, the duty falls on me to dispense it directly, as any caring husband and father would."

Vo'ren leaned down so that his masked face was directly in front of mine. He took my chin between his thumb and index finger, and his voice dropped an octave, gaining an almost menacing tone. It made every fiber of my intoxicated being burn with yearning.

"And if it makes you want to fuck me, that is just a very welcome side effect."

I bared my teeth at him. "Well, joke's on you,

Shenik Tsul

. I

always

want to fuck you."

He chuckled, his voice still low and deep as he dropped his hand to the small of my back. "Is that so,

Annatz'in

?"

He looked so dangerous in his tactical gear, and I could feel the wetness spreading between my legs, coating my thighs in anticipation. What if he threw all his promises overboard and took what he knew we both wanted? A very stupid and currently very loud part of myself was kind of hoping for it.

I shook my head and balled my fist, which had become trapped between our bodies. "Yes, but not in the middle of some pond."

With one of the maneuvers that Ichel had shown me, I turned, pulling myself free of his hold. I half expected him to pull me back, but Vo'ren only gave a mildly surprised laugh and let me go.

I looked over my shoulder and gasped. We were standing on a ford-like underwater bridge that cut right through the center of a lake. The wind painted a tiny crisscross pattern of ripples across the surface, occasionally catching sparkling gems of sunlight, but the waters underneath remained a deep inky black. Strange golden-colored plants drifted all around us. Their round leaves reminded me of water lilies, but at the center, where the blossom should have been, they sprouted thin stalks with round buds. They floated in the air like a field of pearl necklaces--reaching for the sky and swaying faintly in the warm breeze.

And then, with a tingling sense of foreboding, I saw the forest. Swaying like a fluid wall of green, it rose behind the ochre-colored reeds that framed the lake. The trees were so tall and their foliage so dense that the trunks stood in perpetual twilight, darkening the deeper I looked. A whisper seemed to come from it as if the wilderness were a living organism, warning anyone foolish enough to step under its branches.

"Are those the Shadow Woods?" I instinctively lowered my voice.

"They are--

Rushruntutvir

." Vo'ren inclined his head towards the trees.

I turned to him and gritted my teeth. His venom in my blood instantly told me to wrap my bare thighs around the dark-uniformed warrior and not let go until... I gave him an exasperated glare but managed to ignore my primal instincts otherwise--

what an asshole he was!

"So that's where you're from, right?" Unable to resist the urge to touch him, I entangled my fingers in the sleeve of his improvised tunic.

"You have become astoundingly well informed in my absence." His smug chuckle made me yearn to see his beautiful face and want to kick him at the same time. "I am. Though not precisely from

here

. The Shadow Woods are vast. We are currently at the Midnight Temple. It is the heart of this region as well as an important nexus between your world and mine."

He turned with a sweeping gesture, allowing me an unobstructed view of what lay behind him. Until now, his massive frame had blocked my sight, but still I wondered how I could not have noticed it before: at the very center of the perfectly round lake, on an elevated white terrace, stood the most impressive building I had ever seen.

I let my eyes travel up its form. The temple was built entirely from gleaming black stone, as if its many tiers had been carved from a massive piece of onyx. The rock had been hewn so intricately into shapes, figures, plants, and patterns that it appeared almost organic.

The rectangular entrance was located at the lowest level, directly atop the white platform. It was doorless, leading into a cave-like opening shrouded in darkness. Above it rose a six-tiered roof, each level slightly smaller than the one below, giving the monument a pyramid-like shape.

And then the darkness in my veins trembled. Atop it all, at the very culmination of the entire structure, towered a statue. She blocked out the evening sun so that its rays formed a glowing halo around her. I didn't have to ask Vo'ren who she was. I knew her--had always known her--since the hour of my birth:

Mother Night

.

Beautiful and terrifying, the goddess stood in a fighting stance: knees bent, body leaning forward. Her pointed teeth were bared, and her eyes glowed with golden bonfires that gave the statue an eerily lifelike quality. In her twelve arms she held an array of weapons. Among them, a scimitar, a crossbow, a sickle, and a spear. She radiated a cold power: deep, silent, and deadly like the emptiness between the stars.

Dread and reverence gripped my soul. I pressed three fingers to my forehead and sank to my knees, bowing my head to her. When I dared to look up again, I saw that Vo'ren had followed my example--kneeling, eyes closed, heedless of how his daylight uniform's black fabric soaked in the dark waters of the lake.

After a moment of silence, he rose in one fluid motion and leaned down, offering me his hand.

"Come."

Reluctantly, I turned my back to the goddess and let him lead me across the stone bridge, through the thicket of reeds, and towards the dark woods. My skirt clung in wet tatters to my thighs, and my shoes, heavy with water, squelched with each step. Throughout our entire passage over the night-dark lake, I felt her blazing gaze behind me, pressing into the back of my skull.

When we reached the shore, I leaned down clumsily and peeled the shoes and sopping socks off my feet, exhaling in relief as my toes touched the soft bluish grass on the sun-warmed ground. I had to give it to Vo'ren--my nausea was indeed gone. Unfortunately, my pregnant body held a whole repertoire of unpleasant urges and sensations, and the light splashing and gurgling of the water against the ground made me uncomfortably aware of my full bladder.

"Vo'ren?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Ishktz'in?"

He squeezed my hand.

"I'll be right back; I have to use the bathroom." I pressed my eyes shut, hoping that he wouldn't insist on escorting me, and quickly added in a firmer tone,

"Alone."

His grip on me tightened, and I saw the sun-framed temple reflecting in his goggles as he examined me. I glared back, once more aware of how helpless I was before him, of how normal it had become for me to ask his permission for the most basic things. Angry with myself, I was about to pull my hand free, but Vo'ren had already let me go. He inclined his head, reached into the gray military backpack, and handed me a jagged-edged knife made out of dark, gleaming metal.

"Five minutes. You will stay out of the forest, and if I feel you moving more than forty-eight steps away, I will fetch you."

Ignoring the distracting effect his domineering tone had on my venom-laden body, I gave him a mockingly bad salute.

"Thanks, your majesty."

And before he could change his mind, I slipped away, my long hair swishing over my back as I walked along the thin line of grassy shore between the reeds and the woods. I didn't need to be told to stay clear of the trees; their strange presence was almost suffocating now that I felt their shadows on my skin.

When I returned to our former spot, Vo'ren was gone. Puzzled, I looked at the soppy pile of wet shoes and socks in the grass in front of me--the confirmation that I was indeed at the correct place. Panic began to constrict my heart, and once more the carousel of anxious thoughts started racing.

What if he had fainted again? What if some beast had taken him? What if he had somehow fallen prey to the wilderness itself?

My stomach tightened even more when I remembered the monster back in Volkspark Friedrichshain.

At the edges of my vision I caught an almost imperceptible movement under the branches. Without thinking, I ducked and whirled around, knife outstretched, and shadows swirled around me. But before I could do anything else, a strong hand grabbed my arm, and another one closed over my lips, muffling my scream as I was pulled backwards. My shoulders hit leather armor, and I exhaled in relief.

"Sumik, ishktz'in."

Vo'ren whispered in my ear as he let go of my mouth. He took the knife from my hand and fastened it to his own weapon belt. "Despite your human heritage, you might yet become a passable fighter if we keep training you."

For a second I relaxed into him. The position and his undertone in the word

training

evoked unwelcome images of him bending me over, pulling up my dress, and... I balled my hands into fists--this called for revenge! I leaned against him, moving my butt in a slow, sensual figure eight, delighting when I heard his sharp inhale. I stood up on the tips of my toes, rubbing my curves on his body, and tilted my head back.

My mouth was brushing against the fabric covering his cheek, and since I knew how much he liked it when I spoke Veril, I whispered with my softest, most seductive voice,

"Kuchun chmin kuvtersh, Shenik Tsul." --Please train me, General Tsul.

His hold on my arm tightened, and I couldn't help my smug satisfaction as I felt his growing hardness press insistently into my back. He let his other hand run up, trailing over my waist and higher. His big hand cupped my breast worshipfully, the flimsy fabric of my dress doing little to shield my sensitive skin from his touch. With a feathery brush, he grazed my pert nipple, making a thousand sparks ignite in my center. But he did not linger, to my disappointment, wandering further up until he closed his long fingers gently around my neck.

Holding my head in place against him, he breathed into my ear, "Oh, you have no idea how much I will enjoy training you,

keltz'in

."

He tightened his grasp just so slightly, and his whisper took on a silky tone. "And I shall start by teaching you to follow your superior's orders. I have found your obedience severely lacking today."

I knew he was talking about the incident with the rebels down in the tunnels--or how I had insisted on bringing Tim along, or when I refused to run and attacked the beast in the park, or... I chuckled, which earned me a just so slight tightening of his fingers around my throat.

He released my arm and dropped his hand to my waist, pulling me possessively against him. It made a shiver of molten anticipation run down my spine. If this was a game, I was losing. His fingers descended even further, and he dug them appreciatively into my ample butt.

"But I am going to take my due time with your training, young recruit; therefore, I need to get you off the ground first," he growled into my ear and gave me a soft shove away from him.

I turned around, glaring, but he placed his index finger over the fabric covering his mouth.

Stay silent.

I looked around uneasily, apprehension slightly dimming the fluttering need between my legs. The wind hissed ominously in the leaves, like the sound of a wave approaching from the dark forest. Vo'ren pointed his chin at my shoes and socks on the ground. With a frown, I crouched down, tied the laces together, and slung them over my shoulders. A drop of cold lake water fell on my skin and dripped down between my shoulder blades. I shivered.

Vo'ren closed his fingers around my wrist and gestured for me to follow him. I entered the woods, careful to stay close to his side. The scent of plants, humidity, and damp soil intensified, and there was also another strangely familiar aroma, heavy, metallic, and dangerous--the smell of magic. I moved even closer to Vo'ren, my arm brushing against his uniform.

He noticed and gently let his finger run over my wrist. "Nothing will happen to you,

ishktz'in,

if you follow my lead."

We had not gone in deep, only up to the second row of trees, but were already shrouded in twilight. The soil covered in moss and dry silvery leaves had turned cool and damp underneath my naked soles. Vo'ren paused. He let my arm go, took off his goggles and face cover, and stored them inside the backpack. It was then that I understood why the Shadow Woods were the most important region of the Veril realm: just like our cities flooded with electric lights, the dark trees gave its inhabitants independence from the inevitable rhythm of day and night. The eternal darkness allowed their civilization to thrive.

Were we close to a town or settlement? I strained my night vision, looking deeper between the trees to see if I might make out the shape of houses. Vo'ren caught my gaze, and as if he had read my thoughts, he slowly looked upwards, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth. I followed his eyes and paused as I spotted a shimmering silver net spun in between the crowns of four trees. That was definitely not a settlement. And after another moment, I recognized the net--it was the one from the backpack Vo'ren now carried slung over his shoulder.

"Did you just put that up while I was away?" I asked, quickly lowering my voice to a whisper as I heard my voice cutting unnaturally loud through the sounds of the forest.

He gave me a smirk that made him look heartwarmingly adorable, but my eyes caught on the fresh cut across his face and the dark organic pattern on his skin. A knot formed in my throat--for a while I had almost managed to forget the damage the Peruvian had done to us.

"You're really fast, even without your magic." I gently traced one of the lines from his cheek all the way down his neck until my finger stopped at the collar of his uniform. "Is this permanent?"

He considered my question before replying in a low, soft voice, "As far as our science knows, time is the only remedy against sunlight damage." I opened my mouth, but he added quickly, "Yes, I am aware of the irony. Though I must say that I have felt much better ever since you gave me that strange potion."