Disclaimer: World of Warcraft is copyright Blizzard Entertainment 2005. In fact, so is anything else that doesn’t look like it was invented by me. Gelles is my level 60 Paladin on Thorium Brotherhood. Gelki/Mnemosyne is my mage and Aoni is my other paladin. Please don’t sue me.

This story is rated R for swearing, violence and sexual references

Stand Alone

A World of Warcraft fanfic

By Kristin Renee Taylor

Part Seven - Inner Universe

Gelles awoke to total darkness.

She sat up slowly, wincing as her movements sent hot jabs of pain shooting up her spine into her head. Vertigo took her briefly, and she squeezed her eyes shut as the floor tilted sideways in an attempt to slide her back into oblivion.

"Well, well, well... look who's come crawlin' back."

Her eyes snapped open. "Farahl?"

A dark, scratchy laugh. "No, darlin'. It ain't Farahl."

She scrambled to her feet, suddenly colder than the stone she had lay upon. "You're dead," she whispered.

"Oh, I've been dead, darlin'. I've always been dead. That don't mean you can get rid of me." Cold, moist fingers brushed aside the hair at the nape of her neck. His breath was fetid on her cheek, rank and stinking like an open grave. "I'll always be here, in the darkness, waitin' for you."

She hadn't moved, was barely breathing, and her eyes didn't waver from a point directly before her as he slid to her left, into her field of view. He smiled, revealing a snake's mouth full of fangs. "You didn't think it was that easy, did you, darlin'?"

Her voice was ice. "To be honest, Thoundith, I had."

He laughed again, that horrible rasping laugh she remembered all to well. "Ah, darlin', I'm hurt." He leaned forward, breathing in her scent through his open mouth. "You sold me your soul, remember?"

She went for her sword.

He hit her. Not a slap to teach obedience, but a straight punch to her jaw that sent her spinning to the floor, half-conscious. The darkness flickered red and white behind her eyes.

He paced around her as she struggled to recover and rise. "Careful, darlin'. I wouldn't want to cause any permanent damage. At least not this early in the game."

She tasted blood, metallic copper. She spat. "Bastard."

"Is that any way to talk to your husband, darlin'?"

Sharp pain spiked up her left arm, originating from her ring finger. Her arm gave out and she dropped back to the floor, gasping and clutching her hand to her chest.

Thoundith laughed. "Oh, I know you didn't forget that part, did you? You, me, that night in Stranglethorn Vale?" He kicked her in the chest, hard enough to flip her onto her back. "When you said 'I do' right before I fucked your brains out?"

She glared balefully at him. "You never touched me."

Smirking, he straddled her waist and crouched over her. "Maybe not physically." He grabbed her hair, jerking her head up. One perfectly sculpted nail ran down her throat. "But by the end you were really getting into those dreams I was sending you. Weren't you, darlin'?"

He sighed. "It's a real shame, you know. How that whole mess wound up." His grin returned, brighter than before. "But that's the funny part, darlin'. All those little 'sessions' we had when I was in your head?" His fist closed on her throat as he dragged her closer until their faces were only inches apart. This close, she could see his eyes, bright green with vertical pupils. "Those were just practice runs. This is for real, darlin'.

"Scream for me, darlin'. It'll be just like old times."

End – Inner Universe