The Darkest Secret

Logical. Damn it. He increased his pace. So did she. A few minutes ticked by in silence. Sometimes he felt as if he was walking in circles, the cave widening, then narrowing, then widening again, leading up, then down, but never actually taking him anywhere. But there was no other direction to take. This was it.

They snaked a corner, and still Haidee remained silent. Tension bloomed as he considered everything she could ask him. Details about his last lover. His plans for her, the future.

You have yet to point me in the right direction, Haidee.

«I’m thinking.» Speaking must have distracted her because she tripped, stumbling right into him, her breasts pressing into his back. She huffed. «See? Saved from a face-plant.»

The stinging arousal that next consumed him made a mockery of the twitching that had come before. He wanted her to reach around and wrap her fingers around his erection. Stroke him up and down. Perhaps step in front of him, drop to her knees and suck him deep.

Of course, she straightened, ending the contact but not the fantasy.

A moan nearly escaped him. Don’t think like that, he commanded himself.

«Like what?» she asked, confused.

Gods, he had to be more careful. Sorry. The command was for myself.

«Why? What were you thinking about?»

No way he’d tell her. No damn way. What secret would you like from me?

A moment passed before she said, «That. I want to know what you were thinking about.»

Should have expected that. He could have refused her, but he didn’t. She had requested, he had agreed, and he would do as promised. Still. He couldn’t speak about what he’d been imagining without begging her to truly do it. I’ll have to show you. If he could.

«Okay.»

When he had lived in the heavens, a minor goddess had performed the act on him, once, only once, and he had loved every moment of it. Sadly, no one had ever done it since. Maybe because he’d never been able to ask for it, and when he’d tried to angle his few lovers into that position, they had resisted. He was big, so he’d understood their reservations and hadn’t pressed.

So, before Haidee, the time with the goddess had been the best sexual experience of his life. Just thinking about Haidee sucking his shaft, however, was even better than that.

«I’m waiting,» Haidee sang.

And she had called him stubborn. Very well, sweetheart. Just remember, you asked for this. He pushed the vision out of his mind and into hers, praying it worked.

It worked. She gave another sharp intake of breath, this one shaky around the edges. «Amun,» she said on a moan.

A moan of need?

Even as they continued to march forward, her hands slid up his back, then around his sides…playing with his nipples… Her breasts once again smashed into him, but this time her fingers traced a path down…down… Holy hell. She would do it, he thought, awed and guilty and so aroused his hunger and need were probably seeping from his skin. She would give him what he wanted, without any hesitation. Right here, right now.

He would have to stop her, couldn’t let her — she rubbed his cock through his pants, and his lips parted on a silent groan. He couldn’t stop her, would let her—

«I’ve thought about this, too,» she said huskily.

He licked his lips. You have?

«Oh, yes. You are a beautiful man, and just looking at you arouses me. You’re all I think about anymore. All I crave.»

Oh, gods. He was going to spill. She’d done nothing but stroke him, and he was going to spill. Haidee, I—

One moment they were surrounded by the rocky walls of the cave, hearing the drip, drip of water, the harsh rasp of their breathing, and the next they were encompassed by absolute darkness and utter silence, by sensory deprivation.

«Amun?» Her voice was shaky and soft, but there. Thank the gods, he could still hear her voice. «What just happened?»

They’d entered the Realm of Shadows, he realized, dread joining ranks with his lingering desire. Finally. Progress. Damn the timing, though.

Amun stopped abruptly. Haidee stumbled into him, but his body absorbed the impact. So good, even then. More than hearing her, he could feel her. They weren’t so deprived, after all. He reached back to steady her, careful not to let his blade touch her.

«What’s going on?» she whispered.

He moved his grip to her wrist and drew her hand to his mouth, pressing a quick kiss into the wild flutter of her pulse. Do you remember what the scroll said?

The scroll from the backpack. She’d asked for instructions on how to successfully navigate the next realm, and the backpack had provided them. Only, the instructions had been convoluted and asinine.

~You must see~

See through the shadows? Sure. His pleasure. He’d taken the scroll from her as he’d wondered how. A flashlight? Shockingly, the moment the question had formed in his mind, ink had begun dripping over the paper, new words forming.

~All of you~

Another convoluted answer. Still. He’d demanded the backpack provide him with a light source that would push through the darkness, but nothing had filled the pack. Which had to mean a flashlight wouldn’t work. Which also had to mean the pack could not provide «all of you.» And that had to mean he already had «all of you,» whatever it was, because the pack was here to help them and wouldn’t leave them in the lurch.

He’d then returned his attention to the scroll and demanded to know what awaited them in the shadows if they failed to find the mysterious, all of you light. Once again, ink had dripped down the tattered, yellow page.

~Death~

Then he’d demanded to know what «all of you» meant.

~All of you~

Funny. All of him — his body, perhaps?

«We must see. We must use all of you, or us,» Haidee said, words trembling from her and bringing him back to the present. «I still don’t know what that means.»

Him either, but he didn’t tell her that. Keep your fingers hooked on my belt loop. Whatever happens, we can’t be separated.

«All — all right.»

When she complied, removing her free hand from his still burning erection, he released her other one and gingerly started forward. He kept his arms outstretched, hoping to feel his way.

Soon he noticed that as quickly as the darkness had arrived, it was dissipating in spots, leaving little pockets of light. Would have been wonderful, except shadows danced around the light — and those shadows had fangs.

Something sharp sliced into his arm, and he mentally cursed. He shoved Haidee into one of those golden beams, but the beam moved several inches away, returning her to the dark. Something else sliced into his arm. The fangs, he was sure. They must have gotten Haidee, too, because she stiffened, moaned.

Damn this!

What should I do? he demanded of his demon, abandoning thoughts about «all of you.» They’d gotten him nowhere. As Strider would say, the backpack and scroll could suck it.

At first, Secrets remained silent, still. Sleeping? Now? Or was Amun’s other half still beaten to the back of his mind with the others? But the demon must have been searching for answers because suddenly Amun knew to follow the light. The shadows weren’t allowed to touch — or bite — anything in the center of those glowing pools.