I stroked her hair and let my hands follow their course, over her shoulders, down her sides to her waist. I felt her tremble at my touch. Putting a hand around her waist, I pulled her roughly toward me. She leaned her head back, exposing her long, white neck to me. A small vein throbbed wildly as her heart raced, and I felt her crazed pulse against my lips as they hungrily explored her neck.
I gripped her shirt and started to undo the buttons one by one, kissing her all the while, feeling her hot breath in my hair as she gasped with pleasure. The little voice of caution tried one last time to knock some sense in to me, telling me I should stop. As if she could sense the presence of doubt, she suddenly gripped my hair and pulled me in for a hungry, lingering kiss while I roughly tore away at the rest of our clothes.
Her moist lips brushed against my neck and my chest as her hands tried to feel every line in my body. I did not even realize how we ended up in the bedroom. She pulled back and looked deep into my eyes, her fingers tracing the outline of my face and my lips. She brought her lips close to my ear, and her hoarse voice sent shivers of delight through my body.
“I want you,” she whispered. “I have wanted you from the first time I saw you. That day at the Sanctuary, when I looked at you, even though I had never seen you before, even though I did not know who you were … I dreamt of you that night.”
Gasping with desire, I gripped her by the shoulders, turned her around, and pushed her on the bed, falling beside her. My hands explored the curves of a body whose naked form I had admired a few hours ago, and which was now burning with desire. In the dimness of the light shining down the corridor, I stroked the few speckles of blood that still stained her skin after the sacrifice of the ram in her honor. There was no fear in her eyes now, only a thirsty flame lit by our touch.
I felt my heart was about to explode when she turned over and, in one swift movement, hovered above me. She teasingly brushed her lips against mine, before sliding all the way down my torso. She straddled me, just high enough to avoid touching me, close enough that I could feel the tantalizing heat of her body.
I grabbed her hands and pulled her down to me, wildly kissing her lips, unable to bear it any longer. She sat on my stomach, tortuously delaying what we both yearned for. I raised my body, forcing her to slide further down, until our two worlds finally met.
She raised her hips and allowed me to enter her slowly. In the darkness behind my eyelids, I felt her vocalizing everything I felt. Her groans came from deep inside her, like the sounds of a wild animal struggling to be free, but unable or unwilling to do so.
My breath came fast, ragged, swept away as I was by the intense currents of pleasure jolting through my body with her every move. I gripped her waist and we both swayed in a sensuous dance, guided by the rhythm of our moans of pleasure.
I sat up on the bed, and we faced each other. She stopped moving for a few seconds, touching my face as if trying to lock it inside her memory forever. I pressed the small of her back with one hand, and mirrored her movements with the other. She still wore her ceremonial ring, which scratched a thin line on my skin as she moved her hand from my lips, to my neck, to my chest.
I pushed against her, harder and harder. The ring dug into my back as she trembled, her moans getting louder, her lips locked on mine … I felt her quake in my arms as waves of ecstasy shook my body.
With not an inch between us, we became one body, one breath, as the flames of desire became a raging fire that consumed us. The light of early dawn crept through the window, projecting the shadow of the branches swaying in the same rhythm. Lost in endless pleasure, whenever I opened my eyes, the shadows took on the shape of terrifying, mythical creatures for a second, before turning back into leafy shadows.
I was woken up by the sound of birdsong as the early morning sun poured in through the open window. I turned toward Iro and, to my surprise, I saw her lying on her side, looking at me.
“You are already awake,” I said, shuffling closer to her.
“I opened my eyes a few minutes ago. You were talking in your sleep.”
I smiled. The only dream I could remember was the one I had shared with her a couple of hours ago. “What was I saying?”
“Just random words …”
I don’t know why, but I didn’t believe her. Once again, I got the feeling she was hiding something. I pushed myself up and walked to the window, hoping to find my beloved dog waiting outside.
“I’ll come looking for her with you,” Iro said. She sprang up and started looking for her clothes.
I walked up to her and touched her shoulder as gently as I could. “Iro, I don’t think we should keep seeing each other. Maybe it is best our roads part right here. You are getting married soon. This was too good to be true …”
Her face darkened, and she turned away. “I don’t know what I’m going to do next, but I understand if you want to carry on with your life and return to the woman you love.”
“I don’t understand.”
She pointed to my tattoo, and everything clicked. I had not told her anything about Eva. I pulled the bandage away, revealing all the words. “Six month ago, the woman I loved died. Just before she passed away, knowing the end was near, we both got the same tattoo on our right hand, so we would never forget what we had shared.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, I did not know.”
I touched her cheek. “It’s not your fault.”
We both stood awkwardly facing one another, and I hoped she would not make a move. I knew I would be unable to resist her. Thankfully, she turned around and began to get dressed.
“I won’t join you since you don’t want me to, but I will go looking for Destine anyway.”
Unable to control myself, I walked up to her and hugged her from behind. “Don’t you understand we can’t be together?”
She gave me a long look over her shoulder. I pressed my palm on her lips, hoping to keep her away. She gently pulled my hand down and turned to face me. “Andreas, my life changed last night. I will not stay on the island. I am leaving tomorrow at the latest. I don’t think I will ever come back.”
I was dumbstruck. “What about your engagement? Your father?”
“All I know with any certainty is that I want to get away from everyone and everything.”
“Then why did you come to me?”
She froze, as if she did not know how to reply. She turned to the bed and began to pull the sheets off. I noticed they were muddy, and some of the blood on her skin had rubbed off on them. “We should change the sheets. And then, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take a shower. I’m sorry; I washed in a hurry before I came here …”
I grabbed the sheets from her hands and flung them on the bed. “Why did you come here? Will you finally tell me the truth?”
“To protect you,” she shouted.
Her strength suddenly abandoning her, she sagged on the mattress. I sat beside her and took her hand. “Protect me from whom? Your family?”
“We should be able to leave it all behind; carry on with our lives free from the past,” she mused.
“What’s stopping us?” I whispered.
“The past itself …” She sighed. “I don’t know how much you know about what happened in the past. Last night, I found out some things I think you should know. It won’t change what happened, but you should be careful.”
Ever since I set foot on Samothrace and started to hear various stories, a sense of foreboding had been growing inside me. As it did now.
A loud knock on the front door made us both jump. We exchanged a scared look, as if we had been expecting this. I made to move toward the door, but Iro grabbed my arm. She soundlessly formed the words, “Be careful,” then let me go.
“Hide,” I whispered, but she shook her head and walked to the door with me.
The knocks grew louder as I gripped the door handle. I heard Vasilis’s voice call out my name, and felt my shoulders relax. I opened the door, and almost laughed at the
shock on his face when he saw Iro.
“What’s the matter, Vasilis?” I asked.
Like a fish, he opened and closed his mouth without a sound. I waved my hand in front of his eyes, and only then did he snap out of it, exhaling deeply.
“They found Destine. Someone called me and said he saw her on the Varvis estate, close to the Sanctuary. She was limping …”
I almost kissed him with delight. I ran inside and grabbed my phone. I saw the red signal had come back on. Iro watched as I threw on some clothes and explained the tracking device to her.
I grabbed my car keys and hurried out the door. Vasilis could not stop staring at Iro, as if she were a ghost. Before we got in the car, he turned to her and solemnly said, “She is on your land.”
Iro did not reply, but climbed into the back seat, letting him ride shotgun.
I almost flew down the road, following Vasilis’s directions and the GPS signal. The sun had just risen but, in the distance, toward Alexandroupolis, dark clouds raced over the sea, sailing toward us. The signal showed Destine at a fixed location, quite a distance away from the Temple of the Great Gods.
We entered the Sanctuary and drove on, pulling up further down where Vasilis assured me there was a hole in the fence separating the site from the Varvis lands. Indeed, behind a thick bush, a small gap in the fence allowed us to enter the estate, which stretched to the foothills. The ground here was smoother, and we walked easily, heading in the direction indicated by the tracking signal.
Vasilis was silent. He leaned heavily on his stick as he walked, casting sideways glances at Iro. Farther up the hill, the tower’s ramparts were visible above the orchard that stretched around it. The distant sound of rumbling thunder told of the approaching storm.
We finally reached the small hill behind which Destine appeared to be lying. The dot had not moved at all in all this time. Fear gripped my heart that we might not get to her in time. I would know soon enough.
Vasilis fell behind as I half-walked, half-ran to the peak of the small hill. No longer caring about pretenses, he walked once again without the aid of his walking stick. Iro caught up with me and held my hand as we climbed.
The first thing I saw over the hill was Destine, lying on the ground among a group of large stones that rose like a temple around her. Cold fear gripped my heart. Iro squeezed my hand. A bolt of lightning tore through the sky and touched the peak of Mt. Saos.
I ran to Destine. She was lying on her side in a hole she appeared to have dug. I knelt beside her and felt for a heartbeat. Her hind leg was caked with blood. Iro crouched low on the ground and placed her ear against Destine’s belly. Her face lit up, and she pried Destine’s mouth open with her hands. Vasilis knelt beside us anxiously.
“She is alive,” Iro said, “but her pulse is weak.” She seemed to be thinking of what to do next. “Help me get her out of here,” she said decisively, pushing her hands under Destine’s body. I did the same, and we lifted the injured dog out of the hole.
I tried to place Destine on her side to prevent her injury touching the soil, and turned to see what was keeping Iro. Still as a statue, she stared wide-eyed at the hole, and at what Destine’s body had kept hidden.
I kept looking at Iro, trying to understand what had happened. In the end, I got up and walked toward her. She was staring at the ground, at what looked like a short, thick stick.
“What’s the matter, Iro?”
She bent down and tugged at the stick. It wasn’t a stick at all, but rather, a rusty steel sword. She wiped the soil off with the hem of her shirt. She looked closely at the handle, and then dropped it to the ground as if she had been stung.
Iro knelt beside the hole and began to dig, scooping up the soil with her hands. Vasilis picked up the sword and squinted closely at its handle. “Axieros,” he whispered.
I could not understand what had come over them. I walked back to Destine and picked her up in my arms, ready to go find a vet. I had only taken a couple of steps when I heard Iro’s cry. She sat back from the hole, one hand covering her mouth in shock. Vasilis looked ashen as he stared at the hole.
The first heavy drops of rain fell on my head, and the rumble of thunder shook the ground. Staggering under Destine’s weight, I walked to the edge of the hole. I stared at the top of the human skull, dumbfounded. Iro hugged herself, rocking back and forth.
“What is going on? Who is this?” I asked, feeling Destine’s heart beat weakly against my fingertips.
“I’m not sure … but … but …” Iro stifled a sob.
“Take the dog to the vet and call the police,” Vasilis said, with an authoritative tone I had never heard before. “Don’t stand there looking at me,” he barked when he saw us hesitate. “Save the dog! I’ll stay here and wait for you to come back.”
Iro stood up and looked at the tower in the distance, as if expecting someone to appear. “Let’s go,” she said, tugging at my sleeve.
“Don’t touch anything else,” I told Vasilis. “There could be evidence. Leave everything as it is until the police get here.”
Vasilis nodded and waved us off.
We reached the car drenched to the bone. My arms burned with the effort of carrying Destine. Iro sat beside the dog in the back seat, and I set off for the port, where the vet was.
“Whose skeleton is it? You know, don’t you?” I whispered, looking at her through the rearview mirror.
Iro stroked Destine, whispering something that sounded like a prayer. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
It was raining hard, but Vasilis had not moved an inch from where they had left him. He eschewed the shelter of nearby trees and knelt on the ground, his palms resting in the mud, water dripping from his hair and clothes, part-mourner, part-sentry beside the shallow grave. Indifferent to the flashes of lightning that split the sky, to the loud crack of thunder.
Vasilis only heard the horse neighing behind him when it was but a couple of feet way. When he saw who the rider was, he shifted slightly, covering the small sword with his legs.
Astride his tall horse, Varvis stared down at Vasilis, his eyes filled with hatred. Spooked by the storm, the horse was jittery. Alexandros dismounted with difficulty, landing hard on the soft earth. He held the sword that had pierced Destine in one hand. He walked up to the pit and cast a casual glance at the bones. As if nothing was amiss, he sat down beside Vasilis, rain streaming down his face. He poked the ground with the point of his sword. Vasilis looked straight ahead, waiting for the newcomer to make the first move.
“It’s a terrible feeling to be betrayed by your own child,” Alexandros said. “You will not drink that bitter cup as you never had children, right?”
Vasilis did not rise to the bait.
“Do you know who is buried here?” Alexandros asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
“If it is who I think it is, I even know who dumped him here,” Vasilis replied, looking Alexandros straight in the eye.
A clap of thunder startled the horse. It reared on its hind legs and galloped away. Vasilis turned to look at it, but Alexandros calmly said, “Don’t worry about him, he’ll find his way home.” He touched Vasilis’s hand with the point of his sword. Vasilis did not pull away.
“Who do you think dumped him here, then?” Vasilis asked.
“Your father and that scum, Simon,” Varvis replied, pulling the sword away sharply. Then he laughed, and waved the blade under Vasilis’s nose. “Yes. What you don’t know is who finished him off. Who plunged a sword just like this one into his heart and sent him to Hades.”
Vasilis froze. He had always assumed something terrible had happened to Andreas, but he’d never imagined a small child killing a man.
Sensing his discomfort, Varvis goaded him on. “I still remember the smile on my face as I plunged my blade into his chest. Happiest moment of my life …”
“Why are you telling me this?” Vasilis demanded.
“So you understand that our breed always clears away the rubbish
life throws in its path. My father did the same; got rid of anyone who stood in his way. It’s in our blood.” He laughed.
“I don’t know what was in Nicholas’s blood, but it’s certainly not in yours,” Vasilis said with a smirk.
Alexandros looked like he had just been slapped. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the hilt of his sword. “What do you mean?” he hissed.
“All these years you thought you were the chosen one who would carry on the family name. Ha! Ancient ancestors; what a joke.”
Varvis gripped him by the collar and violently shook him. “What are you saying? Speak up, if you don’t want to join your friend in the pit …”
Vasilis pushed away his hands, and pulled out the sword hiding under his legs in one swift movement. Before Varvis could react, he thrust it forward with all his strength. Varvis’s eyes bulged, and his face twisted with pain. He tried to return the blow, but his sword slipped from his grasp. All he could do was grasp the handle of the sword embedded in his flesh, staining his shirt red around his heart.
“You were Simon’s spawn, you pitiful man … A bastard,” Vasilis said, propping him up by the shoulders. “Say hello to Andreas and Zoe for me until I come meet you all …”
Varvis opened his mouth to say something, but blood poured down his jaw, gurgling in his throat. With a last spasm, he stopped moving, his body leaning against Vasilis’s palms. Vasilis pulled his hands away, and Varvis’s body toppled into the shallow grave. The old man burst into tears, burying his face in his bloodstained hands.
We had just dropped Destine off at the vet. The nurse did not seem too optimistic about her chances. She called the vet, who was attending a donkey in a nearby village. He would be back within the hour and, if Destine held on, he would tend to her. It was hard to leave Destine. At the same time, after everything Iro had just told me, I knew we had to return to Vasilis. There was nothing I could do here. My stomach was in knots.
Dominion of the Moon Page 28