Erotica Fantastica Read Online Free

evidence that
she soon learned to hide. But when she brushed the caked earth from
her skin it only made her want to walk barefoot through the forest
again, to feel the damp ground clinging to her once more.
    Tara didn't know or question why this
happened to her, for it seemed as if it had always happened. It was
part of her life, part of her essential nature.
    As she grew into young womanhood, so her
night voyages altered. She became more conscious during the
sleepwalking phase, and her awareness of sensation and travel
increased.
    She began to walk further, beyond the iron
railings, through the gates and into the graveyard itself. She
drifted spirit-like among the ancient graves, her torpid hands
trailing across their rough, weather-hewn surfaces, her fingers
connecting with the ancient moss that ornamented the
place.
    Often she would repose for some time across
a particular grave where, as she stared with unseeing eyes at the
moonlit sky, the shadow of its obelisk would lie across her, like a
spirit-lover. Her body would grow aroused and she would writhe and
twist, touching herself with trembling fingertips.
    Through her nightdress her nipples felt
hard, while between her legs she melted with desire. Cupping
herself with her palm, she pressed hard against the place that
ached to be touched and filled.
    "Oh, oh, please come," she whispered to her
spirit lover, and her body seemed almost to submerge itself into
the stone of the grave as she found her release.
    Sighing heavily, she rested there a while.
When she showed herself that way she felt at peace, as if she could
breathe more easily in that place when she revealed her sensual
nature.
    Tara felt no fear or concern when in these
trances, only a listless detachment. But, if the awakening came,
she lost that apathy and in its place experienced a heightened
awareness of her vulnerability. Terrified, for several infinite
moments she would be paralyzed, unable to react to the chill in her
mind and body. When the torpor finally released her body, she would
spring up from the grave and run, fast, as if she could escape the
terror by outpacing it. But she still carried the waking fear
within her, and as she ran between the dark shadows and gaunt
monuments, the graveyard would become a maze, for it was never
familiar when she fled from it in fear.
     
    * * *
     
    As time passed she found herself
journeying further, into a place beyond the graveyard. After she
wove her way through the great family mausoleums, she stepped
beneath a narrow archway of overgrown foliage and found herself in
the undergrowth and rock of a narrow subterranean ravine. It was a
dark, rugged place, but unless she kept to one side of the
narrowing passage, chinks of moonlight sometimes still fell upon
her. It felt warm and inviting, for the damp smell seduced her
senses, infusing her with the earthy scents of the fertile
underworld.
    Each night her journey lasted longer than
before and consequently the awakening brought with it a more
fearful journey in return. She had breached an unknown threshold
into another world—a dark, mysterious place and it both enraptured
and terrified her.
    Then, one night, around the time her body
had reached full maturity, that world finally made itself known to
Tara.
    She passed through the dark entry behind the
graves and beyond the place that marked the end of human life.
Neither asleep nor awake, she felt a deeply pleasurable detachment
that encouraged her to enjoy the sensual stimulations provided
along her path. The caress of long-forgotten leaves on her feet was
stimulating, her body magnetized by the occasional catch of dried
branch upon her nightdress or skin. She experienced these touches
with a new awareness, and for the first time truly understood the
cycle of nature.
    She trailed her hands across the damp walls,
and dense slime engulfed her fingers. She felt sacred, and
languidly spread the rich juices of the place upon her face and
eyelids, anointing herself with