Phantoms of the Otherworld (In Spiritu Et Veritate)

by Reed, Zoe

  Camille and I sat there for a few minutes, staring at the various collections of rocks and the lack of anything else besides that. This was the start of our fourth day here. Anytime that monster wasn’t around it was so quiet, and if it weren’t for Greg’s occasional, half-crazy ramblings and a looming fear that the monster might come back, I’d be tempted to call it peaceful. We’d talked about what our options were. The first option we could see was waiting for someone back home to pull us out. The second was bringing the monster back and seeing if all three of us could get through the portal at the same time. If it was possible, we’d probably still have to fight the thing when we got wherever the gateway took us. Neither of those options sounded entirely appealing, but seeing as we’d promised that we were both going to get out of here alive, the first was slightly better.

  “Do you feel hungry?” Camille asked, but she didn’t wait for a response as she continued to think out loud. “I only feel hungry if I think about food. We’ve been here for four days. We should be starving… And really, really dehydrated.”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe we don’t need food or anything here. Greg’s never mentioned eating.” We sat there for another minute in dull silence, Camille still gently stroking my hand. “If it wasn’t so creepy, and that thing wasn’t trying to kill us, I wouldn’t mind too much staying here. Just me and you.”

  Camille exhaled a huff of breath in a smiled agreement, and I mentally added if it wasn’t so boring. More time passed as we just sat there, and starting to grow restless with lack of exercise, I stood. I paced in front of Camille and the wolf, back and forth with my hands in my pockets, kicking at pebbles on the ground. A nice, long, werewolf run sounded real nice right now. As I paced, stretching my legs with every stride, I noticed Camille’s head following my movements. In a teasing manner my hips gained a sporty sway, and out of the corner of my eye I saw her lips turn up in a coy smile.

  Without giving her a chance to glance away I shot her a look, raising an eyebrow curiously to let her know she’d been caught watching me. “Are you checking me out?”

  She gave the most innocent smile I’d ever seen and shrugged. “I’m bored, what else am I supposed to do?” Her eyes followed me while I moved closer, still playfully swinging my hips. “Besides, your just so-” Then her breath caught in her throat when I seductively lowered myself to sit back in her lap. “Beautiful.”

  I cupped her face in my hands, kissing her in a long, soft peck and then pulling away to give a flirtatious smile as her hands slid roughly up my thighs. “Do I even want to know what’s running through your head right now?” I could already see the thoughts in her eyes, and I could feel it in the unconscious grip she maintained over my jeans.

  “Depends.” She smirked, and straightened herself up to whisper suggestively in my ear, “Could you handle it?”

  The way the warmth of her breath felt against my skin, the way her lips skimmed my ear, it made me shudder, but she didn’t pull away to see my reaction after she whispered. Instead she kissed down from my ear, planting open-mouthed pecks along my neck and only stopping to suck on the muscle above my collarbone. The feel of those delicate lips and soft tongue against my skin caused me to flush with heat, and I wrapped my fingers through that long blonde hair, leaning in to the feel of her mouth so that I might get more. With my hands tangled in Camille’s hair I led her head away from my shoulder and down along the edge of my low cut tank top.

  She continued to caress my chest with her lips, every once in a while grazing the soft skin with her teeth, until it was too much for me. Call it unimaginable boredom, call it months of building tension, but whatever it was made every touch bewitching. She was beckoning me with each graceful kiss. So I pulled myself back just long enough for her to tilt her head up, and then I caught those stimulating lips with my own. I threw myself into it, and lost myself completely while her hands slid further up my thighs to my hips, then under my shirt and up to my waist. There was something about the way her hands felt on my bare skin that made the plaguing fears and stresses of the last few days melt away, until all I was left with was the underlying desire that had been torturing me for far too long. It commanded me to leave Camille’s lips and kiss down her jaw line, and when I finally got to her neck I bit into the sensitive muscle, feeling the vibrations as she let out a satisfied moan.

  As I sucked on that same spot where I’d bitten I felt nails drag gently down my back, leaving goose bumps in their trail and causing me to deepen my mouth’s hold on Camille’s neck. She titled her head back to encourage it, and my unruly lips began to lead me back up to her ear so I could kiss and nibble at her earlobe. One of the hands she’d settled on the small of my back moved around to the front, carefully sliding up my stomach and between my breasts before moving back down. I smirked against the flesh of her jaw, amused by the innocence of the fumble when I felt her hand hesitate as it brushed against the button of my jeans, but slowly, timidly, her other hand followed, and they set to work undoing it.

  “I thought you didn’t want to get caught naked if the monster came back,” I teased, a tempting whisper in Camille’s ear. “And what about Greg?”

  “He won’t be back for hours.” Her hands never faltered again as they undid the button and moved to the zipper, but I could hear her give a quiet, amused chuckle. “And I’m not the one getting naked.”

  “That’s no fun.” I playfully pecked her on the cheek and rolled off, standing up to saunter tauntingly away. “You got to butter me up better than that.”

  I didn’t get far, because Camille stood instantly, catching my hand and pulling me back into a kiss. Once my lips touched hers again she turned us around, and pushed me back against the rock so I was comfortably sitting at the rounded edge. While she maneuvered a single thigh between my legs one of her hands worked its way around the back of my neck, and the other barely grazed the skin of my chest, falling slowly down to my stomach and then once more working its way under my shirt. In the back of my mind, through the haze of desire for the way Camille felt and tasted, I vaguely remembered that she’d never done this before, and that this wasn’t the time or the place. But I wasn’t positive we’d ever get out of here, so I stood there pressed between the rock and her toned body, telling myself it was here and now, now or never. It wasn’t hard to forget with the way she was kissing me. The way her finger was running delicately under my pant line. The way her thigh pressed even harder between my legs.

  She broke away from the kiss, and all I could do was lean into her as she brought her mouth to my ear. “Buttered up now?” While she spoke, the hand she’d been playing underneath my pant line with slipped all the in, caressing low on my bare hip.

  My only answer was to let out a needy whimper, and in response I could feel her hand move in the direction I wanted. But for every tiny bit it moved she stopped to suck at my neck, and the closer she got the more painfully aware I became of the aching desire. It got so strong, and Camille was going so agonizingly slow that I placed a hand on her elbow, willing her to close the distance.

  The more I tried to get what I needed, the more she seemed to enjoy teasing me. Eventually I grabbed hold of her ear in my teeth, biting desperately hard as I begged, “Please.”

  In reply her hand slipped down, and I was in the process of letting out a gasp of surprise, and relief, and pleasure when a vicious gag rocked me from the inside out.

  Shocked and frightened, Camille pulled back, looking at me worriedly as she tried in her playful way to make light of it. “Well, that wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for.”

  I waved a hand in the air, trying to reassure her through the sudden sickness in my stomach. “No, it wasn’t you. God, I want you so ba-” I was cut off by another dry heave, and I threw my hand over my mouth as if that would stop it from happening.

  “What’s wrong?” She took a concerned step forward but stopped, unsure of what to do.

  “I don’t know.” A choking sound from nearby caught ou
r attention, and we looked over to see the wolf suffering from the same sickness. It was standing on all fours with its head angled toward the ground, retching with nausea. “I don’t feel right.”

  That moment all the tiny particles of the portal began to vibrate frenziedly, and a pale glow shone through as if from the very heart of it. Both Camille and I stared at it curiously, wondering what could be causing the change in behavior. I’d just started to wonder if somebody else was coming through when I doubled over with another straining heave. I’d barely straightened up when, without warning, I felt myself violently ripped off the ground. I was pulled through the air and toward the portal at such an alarming force and speed I didn’t even have time to scream.

  In the split second it took for me to feel settled I still wasn’t over the shock, and I woke up in my wolf body, struggling to stand on my unexpected four limbs and falling over the side of a cot to the floor. The instant I hit the ground I sprang back up, looking around wide-eyed. I was back in the warehouse. Nobody was fighting anymore. In fact there was hardly anyone around at all. Abby was holding her hands out with the palms toward me, and she kept saying my name over and over again soothingly.

  “Kyla, it’s okay. We got you out. You’re safe,” she told me, and then reached down on the opposite side of the cot, pulling up a pair of clothes for me. “Here.”

  I Phased without thinking twice, and grabbed the clothes that Abby was handing me. “Are you getting Camille out?”

  Her face colored red at the sight of my naked body, and she turned away shyly to face her father, who’d also looked away. “My dad’s going to pull her out right now.”

  Mentally apologizing so I knew Abby could hear, I began to pull on the clothes. “What the hell?” I’d lifted my arm to put on the shirt only to experience a searing pain below my armpit. I craned my neck to search for the source – a rectangular shaped, severely blistered burn in my skin. At the sight of it I heaved again, and this time I had to run a few feet away as something actually came up.

  “Silver poisoning.” Abby’s father watched me carefully as I came back over, and gestured to the cot I’d fallen out of. “You should sit down.”

  “You opened the portal,” I told him as I sat, ignoring anything but what would help to get Camille out faster. “She’s probably got between five and fifteen minutes before the monster shows up.”

  Abby’s father nodded and instantly began to prepare. He picked up the glass orb that the streams of energy had broken out of and placed it on the cot under Camille’s chin. Then he picked up the silver bar that must have made the mark on my skin, and placed it in the same spot on Camille’s wolfish body. I eyed the dark brown wolf, still unconscious in the cot next to mine. In the four days we’d been stuck in that godforsaken wasteland, they’d had to pull me out just as we’d found a way to entertain ourselves. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Abby’s head shoot in my direction, and my cheeks colored as I remembered she could hear my thoughts.

  But something else from it had caught her attention. “What are you talking about four days?” she asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “You’ve only been unconscious for an hour.”

  Now her father’s head shot up, and his wide eyes stared at me thoughtfully. “Time rift.”

  “You mean an hour here, is four days there?” It took a minute to sink it, but when it did I started to panic. I stood, running my hands stressfully through my hair. “You have to get her out of there! Now! That thing is going to be looking for her, she might not even make it a day by herself!” When Abby’s father didn’t start moving as rapidly as I’d have liked I was about to yell again, but I felt suddenly weak.

  Maybe it was the fact that Camille was stuck in there, alone and in danger. Maybe it was the fact that I had silver poisoning. Either way, I lay down on the cot next to Camille’s and threw an arm over my eyes, shielding them from the bright light of the warehouse. I heard Abby’s father shuffling around hurriedly and knew he was going to get her out as fast as he could. I just hoped with everything in me that it was fast enough.

  A weight pressed the side of the cot as Abby sat down on the edge of it, and a moment later her hand landed gently on my stomach. “Hey, we’ll get her out, okay?” I nodded as I pulled my arm away from my face, the light making me queasy again. “Are you okay? You look pale.”

  “I’m going to puke.” I hastily pushed myself off the cot and ran to the same spot I’d relieved myself earlier to do it once more. Gripping my pained stomach I trudged back over, dropping myself onto the cot. “I hate silver.”

  Without saying anything Abby got up and walked off somewhere, but unwilling to pick up my head I couldn’t tell where to. As I lay there I heard the warlock start mumbling, and for that I forced myself to sit up and watch. He had one hand over the silver bar and the other on the wolf’s head. His own head was slumped over, and he was muttering too quietly and too rapidly for even me to hear.

  “He’s working as fast as he can,” Abby reassured me as she sat down at my side with a first aid kit in her hands. “I don’t know what will help with the queasiness, but there’s some ointment for the burn.”

  I nodded and lifted my arm, allowing her to push the side of my shirt up to the wound. I held the garment in place with my other hand while she pulled some burn ointment out of the first aid kit. It was just a small foil package, but when she ripped it open and poured it onto my skin I grimaced at how cold it was.

  “Sorry,” she laughed apologetically. I tried to force a smile to let her know it was okay, but I could hardly take my eyes off the wolf. “I know it’s tough, but tension only makes it harder for him to focus,” Abby said as she spread the cream with her fingers and then tugged my shirt back down, trying to get my mind off of how little we could do. I nodded again and took a deep breath to calm myself. Knowing my attempt had been futile Abby took a different approach. “Four days, huh?” Another nod. “Did you get to work things out with Camille?”

  “Yeah.” Now I looked her in the eyes to give a grateful smile. “You were right. Thanks for telling me.”

  “The dynamic duo is back together again,” she grinned, giving me a playful nudge.

  “Dynamic duo?” I repeated with a chuckle. “Are you sure you want to talk about this?”

  “Sure,” she shrugged, though she didn’t seem entirely positive. “It helped seeing both of you unconscious. I never really stood a chance.” I raised an eyebrow at that, not sure I understood what she meant. “You guys are so destined to be together that your souls are connected,” she explained. “How could I compete with that?” She stopped at hearing my thoughts, and spoke before I could express it. “Don’t say you’re sorry again. Forget about it. We can just be friends, okay?”

  Before I could respond a vicious snarl and kick sent Abby’s father flying backward, and the dark brown wolf sprung up, snapping its jaws wildly in every direction. My first thought was to get Abby out of the way so she wouldn’t get bit, so I shoved her as far as I could. Next my eyes scanned Abby’s father to make sure he wasn’t injured – he appeared fine. Then I caught a glimpse of the orb. It was filled with that energy again, but it was teetering on the edge of the cot, about to fall off and shatter against the cement floor. Camille was still snapping ferociously, panicked and disoriented, catching everything she could in her teeth and sending it flying. I dove for the now-falling orb anyway, and right as I hit the ground I felt the wolf’s teeth slash through the back of my shoulder.

  More worried about the glass than I was about myself, I curled up in the fetal position to protect it against damage, and as I did I saw Abby take a step forward to come to my aid. “Don’t move!” I warned her. Camille was still panicking, but when another tear against my skin never came I turned to look directly at her. “Camille! Calm down, it’s me!”

  The wolf snarled angrily at my shout and its ferocious gaze locked onto me. It took a few seconds before she seemed to recognize me, but when she did she hesitantly stopped growling. Her ey
es darted from me, to Abby, to Abby’s father, and then to the deep gash in my shoulder. She inched forward, nudged me apologetically with her nose and then buried her face against my neck. I ran my fingers tenderly through the fur up the wolf’s chest and ended with my hand behind its head, the best I could manage in the way of embrace with the animal.

  I let the wolf stay buried against me for a minute before gently pushing her away. “You’re safe now. We have some clothes for you.”

  I hoisted myself off the ground and carefully handed the orb to Abby’s father, who eyed the wolf suspiciously as if she’d attack again. Then I grabbed the extra pair of clothes off the floor and set them on the cot beside Camille so she could Phase and get dressed. By now the shock had worn off, and the gash on the back of my shoulder was beginning to sting dreadfully. I craned my neck to see behind me and get a look at it. The lacerations were deep, and blood had already soaked the side of my shirt.

  “I don’t suppose you have any spares?” I asked as I turned to show Abby my bloodstained top.

  She winced at the sight of it and shrugged. “I don’t know. David gave me the clothes. I can patch it up so it stops bleeding, and then you could ask him.”

  I nodded and pulled the shirt up my back and over my head, leaving it on my arms so I could cover my chest with it. Camille had Phased back now and was getting dressed, and I could see her eying us, especially Abby, suspiciously.