Below is a blurb and two excerpts from my novella temporarily titled The Ruins. I’d love to know what you think.
Jenova is clearly going insane.
She’s at the end of a divorce that has made her an active member of the Bitter Club, she’s talking over the internet to a guy who is thirteen years her junior, and to put the ‘able’ in certifiable—she let him talk her into a vacation in the mysterious jungle. Despite her reservations, what could possibly go wrong? Only a near-death experience with a boomslang, a brief possession through a sacrificial altar, and her subsequent abduction by an indigenous tribe that’s been dead for a thousand years. Will the paranormal experiences be just what she needs to jolt her body and mind back into the joys of life, or will she lose her grip on the remaining shreds of her sanity?
Excerpt #1: The Ruins
“Jen…Jen, it’s all right. He didn’t get you right?”
Davit climbed onto the altar and knelt between her legs. He forced one to bend so he could look at the ankle more closely and sighed with relief that there was only a pink mark and small scratch. The Bushmaster had folding fangs and luckily it didn’t get a grip on her, she would suffer no ill effects.
He felt his shoulders sag with relief as he reached for her hands and dragged her upright. His arms wrapped around her shoulders as he held her trembling body against his. Fuck…that had been too close.
He had prided himself on being able to protect her but maybe he had been wrong to bring her out here. If something would have happened he would have never been able to forgive himself.
“F-found it.” Her voice was shaky as though she were still suffering from shock but the fact that she was joking made him smile.
“Good work. That was your plan all along right?” He pulled back a little, smoothing her dark auburn locks away from her face. “Jen?”
“What uh…what is it’s binomial name?” She looked from him towards the slithering linen bag on the ground and he followed her gaze to it.
“Lachesis muta muta.”
“Oh. Do I really have to say muta twice? Or did you just slip an extra muta in there? I just want to sound impressive when I tell my grandkids about this near death experience when I’m 80 years old.”
Davit laughed again, pulling her in closer as he rocked her back and forth.
He had been so scared. What if he hadn’t been quick enough? Oh god.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
The chant was so strong in his head he swore he could hear it. He inhaled her scent through his nose and was dizzy with the sensation. He wasn’t sure what it was but suddenly the need to tell her everything, to claim her right here, was overwhelming. There was a humming in his ears and the world seemed to slow. It was as if he were stepping outside of himself, or perhaps setting his true self free.
It had been that feeling that had gnawed at him years ago when he had interned with professor and found himself here. Back then he had ignored the sensation and chalked it up to a slight jungle fever or some such. But this was a fever of a different kind. This was obsession.
Again he leaned her head backwards to look down into her bluish-gray eyes. She stared back at him with a silent understanding he decided to interpret as a welcome and before he could rationalize his actions his lips lowered to her mouth and kissed her.
It was soft at first, a simple press of lips. Home. This is where he belonged. In the jungle, with his Jen.
He felt euphoric and liberated. All that he wanted was within his grasp. Take her, a voice inside him taunted. Yes…yes he had to.
Excerpt #2: The Ruins
“I’m going to fuck you, Jenova.” His words were deep, reaching into the core of her and bending her to his will.
“Yes.”
“You belong to me now.” His eyes narrowed slightly, daring her to refute his claim.
She couldn’t confirm or deny his statement. There was just too much pain when you gave yourself completely to someone especially when they decided they didn’t want it. Her brow furrowed. What if he took her and then no longer wanted her?
She felt his hand lightly slap her thigh. “Don’t think.” He grabbed her hand and pulled it towards his abdomen before releasing her. “Touch me.”
Trembling fingertips worked at the buttons on his pants, fumbling a little as she reached inside his boxers and found his hard shaft. “Uhh Davit.”
The way his cock felt encircled by her fingers, the power behind it, both aroused and shocked her. She ran her hand up and down, mesmerized by the feel of every angle, the rim of his cockhead, the ridges of his veins, it was all designed to give her ecstasy. The gods, he would kill her with his virility alone.
Swallowing she looked up into his dark visage as he reached down and grabbed her hips.
“These shorts…need to come off.” His voice brooked no defiance, but she had no intention of denying him anything. With a nod she unfastened her shorts.
