Page 90 of Black Mamba

I take my time claiming her fully, and thoroughly, leaving no spot of her untouched, unkissed, unloved.

Later, I watch with satiation as she washes my seed off in the brook.

“You are mine, Elena,” I remind her.

She steps from the water and smiles at me. Loving her lips upturned, I pull her close, needing to feel her body against mine.

I see dust particles floating through the light and I stiffen.

We have lingered long enough.

“What do you think about it?” Elena tugs from my embrace to peer at the same particles.

I curl my tail around her. “I do not know. So long as it does not cause us any harm… I am glad I no longer smell it. But I do not know…”

She nods. “Maybe Greg is right, and it’s just the powercell’s coating. Maybe it’s something to do with the Lurkers.”

“Besides what of them resides inside of me, and other nagas, they are gone. Like you once were.”

She steps out of my coil and reaches for her clothes. “Let’s hope it stays that way.”

Yes.

I agree.

FORTY

LINGERING SILENCE

Lukys

The next day, I carry Elena over the first river by late afternoon. With the forest at our back and the mountains ahead of us, familiar noises fill my ears. It is quieter, more peaceful. Our pace is faster without the two human males with us. I do not have to help them cross the water.

Elena is unusually reserved as we discover the end of the shimmering veil. But then again, so am I. We stop a short distance before it.

“Do you think it’s okay to touch it?”

“I will test it later. It will soon be night. We will deal with the veil tomorrow.”

We make camp beside the river, away from the veil’s edge, leaving its dusty, transparent wall behind. It touches the water before it curves toward the mountains. I lose sight of it within the landscape on either side.

I clear out a small space within the ferns next to the river and dig a pit for a fire. Elena stomps down the inner ferns, pulling the leaves off of the outer ones to pillow the ground. She neither glances or looks at me as she collects twigs to add to the pit.

I add a couple of larger sticks and she pulls the firestarter out of her pack.

My fingers brush her hand as I take it from her. Her skin is warm and soft as she pulls her hand back with a soft frown. It is gone before she looks away.

I flick on the firestarter and light the kindling. Soon, flames lick the air. Elena feeds more branches into them before sitting on the trampled ferns.

I coil my tail under me and regard her. “You are quiet.”

Her eyes snap to mine and she winces. There is an aura of sadness around her that I have not been able to understand.

I frown. Her hair is tousled and knotted around her face, hanging in loose waves over her shoulders. My fingers twitch, itching to touch her, to pet her, to taste her once again, but I refrain.

“Issss it because we did not find your sister?” I lower to the ground and slide my tailtip toward her foot, stopping before I touch her.

She rubs her face. “I have a lot on my mind. My sister… is just one of many things.”