Once Betrayed Never Forgotten

Chapter 79: The B*tch Returns–1

“Well, isn’t this a lovely surprise?” Tatiana hisses sarcastically, her voice dripping with h venom as she scrutinizes me with a disapproving gare.

As always, Tatiana looks stunning. Her long, silvery–blonde hair is elegantly wound into a bun, and she’s dressed to the nines in a glamorous, sequined tulle gown adorned with embellishments. The rose gold and blush hues perfectly complement her pale ivory skin and piercing sky–blue eyes, making her shimmer from head to toe like a goddess of the dawn. The dress, with its sweeping column silhouette and elegant cape overlay, renders her breathtakingly beautiful–so much so that I immediately feel a pang of jealousy.

How can I possibly compete with such inhuman, supernatural beauty?

“I see you’ve survived your little excursion into the forest of horrors,” she remarks with a bored tone, clearly disappointed to find me alive.

It takes me a moment to catch on

Oh, yeah, that’s right. The last time I encountered Tatiana was when she aided my escape from the Castle of Endless Night. At that time, she had admitted to me that she basically wanted me dead, but was aware that Aleksandr would suspect foul play had she directly caused it. Instead, she helped me escape the castle, leaving me to face the perilous woods outside and the village of fanatical maniacs, hoping I’d seal my own fate.

Clearly, her plan fell through,

It with sar

“It’s nice to see you too,” I retort

Sarcasm

Seraphina, stepping forward to shield me, plants her feet firmly on the ground and bares her fangs at Tatiana, a protective hiss escaping her.

“Tatiana” Aleksandr interjects, his voice cold and sharp, edged with an almost tangible anger. “What are you doing here?

“Do you think I came to see you?” she replies, feigning surprise as she gestures towards the brightly lit fast–food restaurant behind us. From NôvelDrama.Org.

“I’m merely here to dine upon some delectable human cuisine–ground beef cakes in bread bumps, with a side of oily sliced potatoes and tomato paste, or whatever it is these human peasants consume, she states, her voice laced with boredom and a hint of sarcasm. A total coincidence.”

“Very funny,” Aleksandr snaps back, his tone growing even colder, each word a barbed warning. “What’s your real reason for being here?”

“Honestly? I caught the scent of your pet human and had to investigate,” she explains, her face contorting with disgust as she looks at me. “I was enjoying a post–film festival party with some A–list acquaintances in Beverly Hills, moments from sinking my fangs into the neck of a delectable young male model, when your pet’s foul stench reached me from the valley. I’d recognise that odour anywhere. I ditched the party, and here I am. What I hadn’t anticipated was finding you here as well”

She narrows her eyes at Aleksandr, her lips pursing in a pout.

“Why keep this pathetic human alive, Aleksandr?” She inquires, her tone turning almost childishly petulant. “Haven’t you grown tired of your little plaything? These humans spoil so quickly, like a slab of meat left out in the sun. In the blink of an eye she’ll be a mound of flesh in the ground crawling with maggots. Why do you waste your time like this?”

I’ll have t

“You are not entitled to any answers from me, Aleksandr responds gruffly. “Now, if you’re done, please make way and let us pass, or else I’ll force you to move, and you won’t like that. We have no time for your games.”

“Games?” Her voice chills further. “You think I’m playing. Aleksandr? Very well. If this is a game, then consider this… checkmate.”

As she declares ‘checkmate,” events spiral into chaos. She makes a quick gesture with her hands, her long elegant fingers moving with superhuman speed to make a fleeting series of symbols, signs in the air before her.

In one moment, I’m standing on the sidewalk outside a Burger King in Downtown LA, guarded by Aleksandr and Seraphina from Tatiana. The next, I feel strong arms pulling me backwards into a swirling red vortex of light. I don’t even have the chance to scream; the sound stifles in my throat as the vortex envelops us. Aleksandr and Seraphina turn, realizing too late what’s happening–they lunge towards the portal just as it contracts, vanishing into nothing. All around me is a blur of red light and distant, ominously glowing black stars, streaking past as we accelerate. The arms several sets of them, from the feel of it – crush me in a vice–like grip as we wheel backwards through space, Dizziness overwhelms me, and darkness claims my

consciousness.

Chapter 79 The Etch Retsema 1

Chapter Comments

oh damn. What is that thing?

Chapter 79: The B*tch Returns–2

1 awaken to oppressive darkness, my senses assaulted by an almighty ache in my head and a salty metallic taste in my mouth. The sharp pain in my tongue soon makes me realize I mast have bitten down hard enough to draw blood during my unconscious journey through the portal. The cause of my blackout must have been the intense velocity, something like whiplash, as I was hurtled through the otherworldly gateway.

Damn, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck

I groan as I shift, finding myself lying on a frigid, black stone floor that leeches the warmth from my body. The room is circular in shape, adorned with age–old tapestries hanging from the walls. The stone wall is punctuated by a single narrow, slit window, like an are slit in a medieval fortress: designed for archers during wartime, about two feet in length. However, this arrow slit has an unsettling feature: an additional shorter line intersects near the bottom, creating the form of an inverted cross. An upside down crucifix, a universal symbol of evil. Through the sliver in the stone, a sinister red light seeps into the room, casting an elongated, blood–like shadow across the dark curved wall

Shakily, I pull myself to my feet, drawn to the narrow slit window with a mix of trepidation and a desperate need to understand my surroundings.

Could it

it be? Is it possible that I’m back at The Castle of Endless Night? But why would Tatiana take me to Vasiliev’s home? That doesn’t make any

towards th

the wall and press my face up against the narrow slit in the stone, only several inches wide, and I gave out in

Gathering my courage, 1 step terrified awe at my surroundings.

What I see takes my breath away..

Impossible.

The sky outside burrs with an intense, blood red radiance, the color vibrant as a ruby, while unfamiliar constellations of black stars scatter shadows across the heavens. From this vantage point, 1 realize I must be imprisoned in a high tower, overlooking a bleak landscape of dark, jagged mountains and a turbulent, black ocean churning with tempestuous fury below. The air is filled with the distant echdes of screams, and a low, ominous roaring. Whether it’s the roar of the violently writhing maelstrom of ocean far below, or the bellowing of some hellish gargantuan beast, I can’t be sure.

As I peer out, trying to discern details in the hellish landscape, I notice dark, winged shapes slicing through the sky. At first, I mistake them for birds, then hats, but as my eyes adjust, I realize these creatures are far larger than any human. There’s something. humanoid about them. A pulse of fear shoots through me as the air around me grows suddenly icy cold, and a rush of frigid air shoots in from outside through the window, making the fine hair on the back of my neck stand up. One of these beings suddenly thunders against the slit window, its leathery wings flapping noisily, its grotesque face mere inches from mine, separated only by the narrow slit in the stone.

The creature before me is a nightmarish vision of hellish horror. Its skin is a dark, reddish–purple hue, like a fresh and painful bruise, stretched over snewy muscles and jagged bones. The face, eerily human–like in its structure, is crowned with long, black horns that curl menacingly from its head. Its small, cruel eyes are deep pools of unfathomable darkness, reflecting no light, hard as pebbles and exuding nothing but malice. When it grins, a chilling display of razor–sharp, ebony black pointed teeth unfolds, promising nothing but pain.

The stench of decay emanates from the creature like an aura of death, overwhelming me with the scent of rotting corpses, mixed with ammonia and something even more foul vomit and fances, the stink of human filth. The foul odor is so potent, it feels as though it’s seeping into my pores, biling my lungs as a silent scream hitches at the back of my throat.

chat on earth

this thing? Did I die and go to Hell? It looks like a demon, a devil.

The terature hisses my name with a singsong lih, and in that moment by blood nuns cold.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCER