Eternal Ch 02 1

These chapters will be

far

darker than the first one, to the extent that they may turn off the casual reader. But this story does require the original "Eternal," even if "Eternal" doesn't require it. If I've written it properly, the ending it will reach will still fit with the spirit of that work, and be more powerful for it. (If I've botched it up, of course, feel free to tell me so--I would greatly appreciate comments and criticism.)

-- -- -- --

Asleep beside a man who thought he loved her, Ghost dreamt, and remembered.

She stood atop a sand dune, looking at the mountains that rose in the distance, and for a moment, she thought herself in an Earthly desert. But she knew of no desert so bitterly cold, eating into her very bones as she stood naked to the wind. No sun or stars shone in the pitch-black sky--the deep red light that surrounded her seemed to come from the air itself.

Am I dead,

Ghost thought,

or just dreaming? I fell headfirst . . .

Experimentally, she lifted one foot and set it down again in the sand, creating a footprint. "It didn't pass through," she said aloud, "so I'm not a ghost."

"A ghost isn't so far from what you are," a voice behind her said. "A demon would be closer still, but a ghost . . . The thought intrigues me. In fact, I think that's what I'll call you. Ghost."

Ghost nearly jumped a foot in the air, but she'd regained her composure by the time she'd turned around. "My name's Leila--"

The woman behind her was beautiful, so beautiful that Ghost was caught off guard. Her hair was long, glowing golden even in this strange red light, and her eyes shone with an unnerving but powerful gleam. She was neither thin nor fat, but she was far taller than Ghost, and her strong frame supported large, motherly breasts, only partially concealed under a heavy robe. Only the arrogant smirk that adorned her face prevented her from resembling a painting of an angel.

"Leila Travers, yes," the angelic figure told her. "A selfish, lustful girl who was not content with the man she claimed to love. Oh, don't bother responding to that--" Ghost's body moved on its own, her mouth shut and her legs spread. "You died knowing in your heart that you sinned, and it's because of your guilt that I can bind you to my Contract. I've summoned you alone, to teach you what you are before I introduce you to your fellow servants."

"Who--" Ghost spat out, her mouth closing again on her second word.

"My name's Judith," the woman said, "and you're Ghost, soon to be another of the tempters in my command. But let's review what you're the ghost of." Ghost watched in quiet terror as Judith ascended the dune, then knelt with her face to Ghost's cunt. "Neil did this, didn't he?" Judith asked, running her fingers across a sensitive place. "He touched and licked here, and you loved it."

She went silent as she tongued Ghost's clit, and Ghost herself would have screamed if she could. Leila had never even tried this with another girl, but the feeling between Ghost's legs astonished her. She approached the brink of orgasm within seconds, never quite passing over it--even as the feeling slowly dimmed--

"Such a lovely, sensitive little clit," Judith told her, gazing up at her face. "But it's gone now. Nothing's left to mark where it was."

She reached her hands upwards, grasping at Ghost's nipples. "Neil liked to play with these too . . ." Again, Ghost approached orgasm, but this time, she was able to lower her head and watch as the tips of her breasts smoothed. Her nipples shrank away, and skin and flesh covered her areolae, leaving her as bare as a doll.

"Pert little breasts," Judith told her, "just decoration now. But I'll make it up to you." She cupped her hands over Ghost's lower chest, and Ghost stared in horror as flesh expanded to fill them. "I don't do this for every tempter I create, but you're special. You're a symbol."

Judith caressed Ghost's new pair of breasts in a mockery of gentleness, the touch exciting a faint response even without any nipples. "I haven't taken away everything you can feel," Judith told her. "In fact, the sensation will be far greater than before when something is put inside you--and the longer and thicker it is, the greater the pleasure. Allow me to demonstrate--" But from the time that Judith lifted a long metal bar from the sands, Ghost's memories were a jumble she couldn't have pieced together if she'd wanted to. All that came back to her in this nightmare was the one question she'd managed to ask through clenched teeth (before her teeth fell out of her mouth), and the one response Judith gave her.

"Why are you doing this?" she'd asked.

"I'm doing this because it's what we all deserve," Judith had told her. "But it's for Neil's sake that I'm enjoying it."

-- -- -- --

Ghost awoke in a panic, and when she had calmed, she wondered whether she'd have to apologize to Harry for soaking the bed with sweat. It took her a moment to remember that she, unlike the real Leila, had never sweated since she'd come to exist.

She looked out through the backyard window, and she saw that the sun had long since risen. It was apparent that both she and Harry had overslept--presumably, the power had gone out again, and the alarm clock with it.

A chaste kiss was impossible with a mouth like hers, but she licked Harry's cheek until he stirred. "Whuzzat?" he asked, lost in a dream of his own. "Oh. Good morning, Leila. Thanks for waking me."

Ghost kept a notepad and pencil on the nightstand by the bed, and she scrawled a message to show him.

Had nightmare. Bad one. Memory.

Harry sighed. "I'm sorry there's so little I can do to help. I can talk with you about it, at least, or if you want, I can just hold you."

Notepad's useless. Hard to say things.

She paused to think.

Trust me?

"I love you, Leila. We've been over that already."

He was right, of course, and she knew it full well--to a creature like herself, his love was vital nourishment. But she wanted to hear him say it in his own words, before she asked her next question.

Enough to make Contract w/me?

-- -- -- --

On that ominous note, let us leave them, and rewind time a few nights. In the desert that Ghost had dreamed of, two greater demons discussed their options . . .