Pine Needles (Veil Realms Series) (6 page)

She laughs dryly
and answers, “Most of us do not, but the ones that belong to Sirius find viands here. Plants and other resources, of course I speak of only those that have not been converted.”  She dabs my lips with a cloth securing the golden flakes as I mumble, “Converted?”

“Yes...” H
er accent curtails a once heavy Cajun tone as she speaks, “Sirius and the others are Manannuki’s, another race from the red planet. The warlords have the power to convert humans into one of their own.” Moving next to my ear as she twines a gold headpiece through my hair she whispers, “The cell guards were once human, since some species can not live long they maintain us as slaves. They can smell it within each of us, whether our DNA can sustain the timeless transformation.”

Keeping my voice hushed
I inquire further, “Our city... it was lowly populated how do they continue to thrive once they deplete their main food source?”

I cringe for even asking such a heartless question. Snipping the stray threads from the fabric she replies, “It is said they can prolong the need for flesh for a decade maybe even longer.”
             

Sh
e appears dawdling, as she reclines back checking the doorway, seeing if anyone is watching us. She says, “Sirius has many that serve him...” picking up her innuendo I nod waiting for her to continue, “As well as the queen, but one that resides beside him may sway the command.”  Standing, she and the other women accumulate their belongings and rush out of the entrance. The amiable woman that has spoken to me so openly, slowly turns gripping the threshold, a dim smile glints as she informs me, “You can call me, Nevaeh.”

I ponder over the brief discussion
we had as I mindlessly twist a strand of my hair around my fingertips.
Manannuki
, another race,
Sirius
, people that
serve
… it makes no sense to me whatsoever and yet it’s the only logical explanation, but what does it all mean? 

A massive
overcast surfaces through the entrance to the chamber as Sirius’s dangerous form appears. “You will eat.” His thunderous voice affirms, while he holds a hand full of preternatural fruit to me. 

As I fumble with it I start to see it’s s
haped much like a pear and an apple combined, as if the two were mutated together. I examine it, holding it close to my nose I don’t smell anything.  It’s a colorless, odor-free fruit. I cautiously draw it to my yearning mouth. I’ve fasted before to cleanse my body of toxins that I have absorbed from time to time, but I can’t live solely on their water alone. Besides the water here smells stagnate, biting into the tender skin my taste buds are intimately assaulted with a nectarous flavor.

Overflowing with juices I cover my mouth sealing in the flavor, never intending an escape for my new found food. “Intolerable?” Sirius queries as I swallow the last bite
down.

I wipe
off the sweet texture from my lips and reply, “No, it’s good, really, really good.” My eyes lug up to his, meeting his golden stare. “What is it called?”

He plac
es another in my hand. “Quine, from the Quine tree which is only harvested in the dark, it must remain in the dark til shortly before it is eaten.”

Uneasines
s rides through me watching him. He quietly observes me while I eat the second piece of Quine. “If you become accustom to the foods I provide, I may take you aboveground.”   

I scorn
a hard look in his direction, but mindful not to glimpse into his eyes I retort, “I won’t eat the meat.” My voice prompts with a firm authority, but inside I’m already feeling coerced knowing it will only be a matter of time he will force me to consume whatever he desires. His barbican form is intimidating and his monitoring surreal eyes tell me he’s used to getting his way.

The touch of his fingers appraising my gol
den face stills my rigid nerves as he orders, “Stand.” As I rise to my feet he leans over with a compelling hand caressing the side of my neck until his thumb locates my animated pulse he asks, “Do you fear me now, Selene?”

I answer him before I take my next breath, “Yes.” The quivering tone endorses my one simple, yet truthful word.

His massive hand catches my chin tilting my downcast eyes to his own. “Do not, Selene.”

Is he a man or beast
, I begin to question as I fall into his exiling gaze, edging his mouth closer to mine I do something that shocks even myself.

Rising up to meet his
mouth, I part my lips foretasting his lips on mine. Instead his head redirects and begins nuzzling the crook of my neck, breathing deeply in my scent. He lingers next to my ear and whispers. “I will protect you.” His other hand snares my hips urging me to press myself against him.

Within the next heart pounding moment our
determined hands revere the other. Deliberately, our hands flow over each other’s body with the most sinister awareness of what is coming next. He unclasps the golden harness across my chest in the next beat of my fluttering heart and he kneels down before me. Sucking each harden nipple, roughly nipping with his teeth, sending a strike of pure pleasure laced with spurred inborn fear. 

Slowly
, I ease my head back and try not to make any sudden movement as I gently fist my fingers through his dark shoulder length hair. A beastly snarl rolls from him as his hand lowers, palming my thigh and explores between my legs. His emboldening fingers slide deeply inside me, stretching me, preparing me for his entrance.

The
extreme urge to watch him breaks my internal battle inside me. I willingly tip my head slightly forward and stare at him as I motion my hips to his arousing thrusting pressure, slipping in and out, faster and harder. His teeth graze over my sensitive nipple as his preying tongue flicks across making it peak and harden even more. Soon my sublimity of moans clash with his and in one stealthy movement from him the thin fabric rips away from my body.

He rumbles out his next command, “Move back.” My hands evenly embrace the limestone behind me and I recline, regarding him as he encases me with his full masculine form.
He removes the leather garments as my legs instinctively open more for him, swallowing hard as I steel myself for the pain.

A
long languid trace of his tongue deliberately samples the taste of my skin, coasting down my abdomen and my accumulating arousal, making my stomach quiver with each sensual touch. Rising above me I smell his essence of gold enriched and divine, seeking out for a deviation my lips sweep over his jaw. In return he leans down, tilting his head away and sinks himself deep inside me. I moan out as the burning intensity soon subsides and the pleasure consumes me.  Arching deeper into the stone slab I take in a quick breath as my eyes water. Seconds pass and I’m able to take in another breath as he embeds himself completely, a chain reaction happens once the erotic momentum fully begins between us.

Heightened with more
enthralling stimuli from his motions, I glide my legs along his hips and wrap my arms around him. Indulging ourselves in the ravishment with a slow, steady cadenced, he seems inconsistent, before he devoured his untamed sexual need rapidly. But now, I’m able to reach up and follow the mass of muscles along his body, darting my view upward to his gold thriving eyes watching me. I don’t see a beast, or a blood lusting warrior. I see a man in relish as I skim my fingers over his serene lips, “Sirius?” I whisper to him in the dark.

He answers by lowering his head closer to me.
I twine my fingers through his long, soft hair directing his mouth to mine. Once more he withdraws his face elsewhere, pushing his pulsating rhythm more vigorously. A desire of firing heat sears through me plunging my body into a climacteric need as his own pinnacle compels his body. With strength and purpose he collides both our physical utopias over the intense, mind-shattering edge. Eventually, leaving us lusting for air, in a breathless state and clinging to the each other’s sweaty and exhausted bodies. 

Chapter Six

Orchard

The
structured stone somewhat comforts my cold body, but soon through the shaft above a glorious moon appears and it filters down pouring an eerie bright color into the aphotic chamber. Weak and sore I attempt to push myself up. I accidentally bump over a small container crowded with Quine. The radiance that once shimmered along the outer edges of the fruit is fading.

As I quickly eat
, I find Sirius is no longer accompanying me. Stirring around I dig through a pile of leather, and come across a few fur pieces. Soft to the touch it reminds me of mink, but the tinge is matchless to anything I have ever seen. 

Burying myself in my own tiny bit of nirvana
, I settle back next to a column taking another taste of Quine. Strength seems to reveal itself in me and I notice Nevaeh stepping through the arched entrance. I kneel down to her as she gathers the strips of material that scatter about and the beads showering the floor. 

“We must hurry Selene. H
e has intentions of taking you aboveground.” Piling the things in a basket I shake my head in confusion. “Who plans to take me aboveground, Nevaeh?”

While she prepares me to go aboveground I observantly peer over as she baths my feet, two other women approach with new pearl-like fabric. Quickly, they remove themselves along with the
wooden basket Nevaeh hands them. “Sirius, he has orders for you to leave with him soon.”

Using a damp cloth I wipe my face, pausing for a moment
and ask, “Is this common?” I reach for another clean cloth to dry off with pausing with words hovering just at the tip of my lips as I reiterate my question, “I guess what I am trying to say is... should I be afraid?”

Nevaeh stands evenly and begins brushing my hair out, I note she keeps her voice lowered
as she replies, “No, he is not one to do this, perhaps he is more pleased with you than the rest.” 

“The rest? What does that mean?” Laying the drying cloth in my lap, I lift my
anxious face to find hers with the same expression. I want nothing more than to ask her a million questions, but her behavior tells me it would not be wise to discuss this matter any further here.

With a glance mindfully toward
the entrance she leans down and explains quietly, “Sirius has several that serve him as I have said before, but their race demands something more, and some are unable to appease this.”

“What sex, flesh, slaves... it's not enough for them? What more could they possibly need?” 
My voice rises acutely with each daring word.

An alarming thought splinters through my mind, before I can utter my
next complaint. Nevaeh covers my mouth with her hand. Shaking her head she quips, “No, I know what you are thinking, and they can not breed as humans do, they convert to propagate.” 

Draped in the golden garments given to me I follow her closely through the threshold in speculation as more questions form. “How long have I been in that chamber Nevaeh?” Our gait quickens as we pass numerous cell guards til we ascend to the upper level. Entering a limestone vestibule with an engraved double exedra, my sight instantly falls on almighty Sirius standing a short distance from us.

Nevaeh advisedly places a hand on mine before she leaves and returns below
, she rushes her words out, “There is no time here, it is not necessary to measure our existence. I believe that once you go above you will see this realm is quite rare. Stay close to Sirius, Selene.” I stand gaping at my strange new surroundings, the air seems lighter and the redden ground is bordered with odd sigils.

His obliging voice coaxes me, “Come, Selene.” We travel through a stone structure leading outside
. The narrow corridor displays a light. A sheen glow as I pass the mound’s entrance, the sky reminds me of a sweltering mid-summer night while the moon rises above the horizon. This side of the city I once knew is eclipsed by this new dimension, plants, trees, even the air is unorthodox.

Sirius waits patiently
, his visage is shadowed, but I sense he expects to hear my bafflement as I focus on the trees before us. An abundance of amethyst foliage highlight all above me, there are no streets, no broken-down buildings. Simply an ambrosial of the sweetest scent I could ever imagine. Each step I take I’m more enraptured, pivoting back to Sirius I ask, “How can this be? How is this even possible?”

He roams with conviction ahead of me, taking a glance around before his golden piercing eyes shine upon mine
he states, “Our world does not differ much from your own, Selene. The land forms and only grows to sustain what is needed. The Quine trees and the other plants supply basic nourishment.”

Reaching out to touch the soft texture of the tree I
scramble for the right words for a moment before I solicit another question. “…but I thought your kind eat…
humans
.” 

“We do, but it is not all we eat.
We eat what we find and find what we eat.” I scan over the tree, gliding my hand along the unusual slate-colored trunk when I note the Quine fruits dangling within the airless orchard, hundreds, no thousands of them, entirely translucent and yet the irregular shapes are still visible to the naked eye.