Chapter 57

57.1

Bella's words were encouraging, but Ed had been with her for days and he now knew her well. She could be very optimistic. And now here she was—saying the best in the worst of circumstances. Ed honestly didn't share in her positive thoughts. While the hissing sounds, warm air, and soaked ground signaled they could be somewhere where life could go on for a little while, it was too farfetched to imagine the Mamazola had simply blown them to their destination. Could a creature that malevolent be this benevolent? That would be oxymoronic. The only reasonable view was that the Mamazola's wind had sucked them and then dumped them into a big, wet abyss, with the sole hope that they would eventually perish. How else could you explain the forbidding darkness that didn't allow you to see even a speck of anything. This place was desolate. Apart from the hissing sound and the murmur of liquid, there was no hint of anything else. No animal, bird, or insect sounds. This certainly couldn't be the SOURCE's location, because—according to Ramzi, the SOURCE was composed of living entities and there were none here. Absolutely nothing he could sense gave any hint of life, except maybe for the mossy smell of the moist ground they wallowed on. To a logical thinker it all added to vanishing prospects, but Ed wouldn't reveal his thoughts to Bella. It would be a tragedy to dash her hopes too soon.

Life hadn't ended, though, and even if the possibility of busting Qmalian magic was remote, they still could do a few things. They still were two people hotly in love and they could enjoy that. The air was breathable and temperatures good, so what could prevent it. In fact, after all the close encounters of tonight—with Weba, Fionn, the Mamazola and then the falling winds, didn't they deserve a little happiness.

The heat built up in Ed as he thought of it. Although he couldn't see her, Bella was so close. He wanted her right away.

"Bella can you feel me," he said, as a way of beginning.

"What do you mean?" Bella emitted a little laugh. Ed's heart melted; obviously the giggle must be accompanied by any one of Bella's thousand sweet smiles. Ed formed an image of her, Bella's sweet plump lips parting to expose milk-white teeth, all for him.

"Can I touch you?"

"You are such a jerk. Aren't we here to look for the SOURCE?"

"SOURCE or no SOURCE, this jerk loves you, and wants to kiss you."

"You said, before, that we were in a giant grave. Now how can dead people kiss?"

"This corpse wants to."

Ed's heart pumped hard in his chest as he again imagined how she looked. One of his hands fondled a breast; the other searched for her face. He found her mouth and kissed it. Jesus, this was going to be so good…

Chapter 58

Necromalia: A Qmalian limbo.

Necrol: A type of zombie living in Necromalia.

58.1

Deep down here in Necromalia, a world buried underground, Vigoose saw two bodies tumble down and land near a tunnel mouth. Oh Jove, what a travesty. It was so unnatural to see bodies just roll down like that. Who'd dumped them?

Vigoose crouched behind a jutting rock and observed further. This side of Necromalia was not the typical one for dead Qmalians to enter and then transform into full-fledged Necrols. How come it was, then, that those two were here?

His unblinking eyes focused at the odd sight. Curiously, nothing about the bodies looked traditionally Qmalian. For a start, the two weren't even dressed in the correct burial robes necessary for one to rise to a zombie existence. Vigoose couldn't properly see the bodies' faces, but the exposed legs and arms showed a skin color that was way off. What kind of creation had pale white skins? He searched his memory, and then remembered…ah, a certain race of humans! Vigoose nearly collapsed. Jove, this is more than a travesty, Human bodies! That could not be possible.

The dead old chief could swear that in Qmalo, when humans died, or were killed, their bodies were just burnt up, or dumped into an abyss. None were ever prepared for the zombie existence of Necromalia. And even if some mad Qmalian priest had tried to, the higher powers here would prevent their admission. This world was for Qmalians only.

As Vigoose observed the unnatural occurrence with greater consternation, several more things happened that caused the saliva to completely dry out of his mouth. The two bodies sat up and started talking to one another, very much in the way regular living people did. The eyes blinked, and the bodies breathed. What oh Jove! Were those two fully alive? No, that could not be real. Here in Necromalia, dead Qmalians only rose to a half-life, becoming zombies—of a specific type called the Necrol. And although Necrols could walk and talk, they did that in a sluggish way. Their eyes never blinked, and they didn't breathe.

Those two humans, however, exhibited all signs of complete life. Their hand and body movements were far too smooth for them to be half-dead. Their legs kicked out with the speed that only living blood could impart. Their skins should be warm, too, if touched, Vigoose was sure. Necromalia is up for invasion—by earthlings! That should not be permitted.

If the observation that the two were truly living had stunned Vigoose, what followed totally floored him. The humans came so close to one another. Then the man brought his lips to the woman's and started to perform an unspeakable and debauched act. His lips pressed hard on the woman's and he sucked or licked them. Vigoose's hearing was extra-acute, and the grunting and smacking sounds the humans made reached him. Jove, what was going on in Necromalia?

Now had the vile earthlings ended with that, perhaps Vigoose might have dismissed it as a single mistake, but no, the humans didn't. They continued doing what they were doing, and soon began to edge toward totally-forbidden territory. The man put his hand to the woman's chest and partly undressed her there. He touched and fondled her milks. The woman gasped with pleasure. The man made grunting sounds and fumbled hungrily. Vigoose had once lived, and knew where all this would go. Soon the woman lay down and let the man mount her…

Vigoose now had to stop this, but he didn't. Thoughts whirled in his head. These two sure deserved to be killed—for after all Necromalia was no world for the living, less so for humans—but perhaps he must exploit this. A quick kill might not serve his interests well. Maybe he should wait for the humans' sins to multiply and then he'd force-march them to the authorities. Parading two exotic sinners at court might bring him more prestige than merely reporting he had encountered two humans and slaughtered them. The only thing that worried him was that later someone might ask him why in Jove's name he allowed such a sinful act to continue, why he didn't prevent it by way of a preemptive slay—but he'd see about that. For now, he'd just observe what took place.

The man was now kissing the woman dizzily. The woman kept moaning softly, much like a kitten being tickled. These were sounds totally new to Vigoose. During his living days he only knew humans to cry in pain, fear, or suffering, but not in pleasure. The woman's moan had a delicious sweet pitch to it, and it echoed in a manner that drove the man crazier.

Propelled to unknown heights, the man pulled down the woman's skirt. In a moment his hands were all over her. He yanked off his shorts, with the woman helping. The woman had long honey-oozing legs, but Vigoose had no clear view of what lay there—where the two sweet limbs joined. Something fleshy and womanly perhaps, graced with only the slightest hint of stubble.

There was a small geyser nearby, and it made the air warm and the mossy ground slippery and soft. Oh Jove why did nature make things so cushy for these sinners to enjoy their act. The man searched for the woman's sex and looked like he could take it all in his mouth. He didn't do that right away, though; he fumbled some more. That was when Vigoose realized something interesting. Both man and woman had been struck blind and could not see one another, or for that matter any other thing. Perhaps that was why there hadn't been those eye to eye gazes.

'Jove, they are blind and in total darkness.' Now Vigoose could pounce more easily. He came out of his hiding place.

58.2

Orgasms in total darkness, while in a strange land, were even sweeter than those in good light. Images of an angelic Bella flooded Ed's brain as he emptied the last of himself. Oh God, how much she'd moaned as she reached the zenith herself.

Before he could completely come off her, something snapped.

Bella jerked. "Jesus, we are not alone." She wanted to scramble to find her skirt and put it back on but Ed held her. "Something is seeing, or hearing us, can't you hear?" her voice rose sharp with the jitters.

"I get it." Ed calmed her in a low voice. "but it might just be an animal."

"No, be serious; it could be… well, who knows…the Mamazola."

Now Ed himself jerked. Bella could be right. Dear God, how could they fight such a demon in total darkness, and while in the nude…