Forever Here

by Harold Wall

  town shopping center, a gaudy race car brought a rush of wind towards her. The equally gaudy driver flashed her a smile.

  "There's my little ice queen. How bout a ride?" Dorian Goldtooth stopped the gawking of the boys with one quelling glance. She found his little pet name more than annoying. It

  sounded like a two year old trying to say "ice cream" but not developing his R's.

  "I'm not anybody's ice queen," she said as she tossed the bags in the back and settled in the passenger seat. "Should I drive?" she asked calmly when he didn't stop smiling at her.

  She was, as usual, irritated in his presence. Ever since the eighth grade she'd known him to be a perfect being; two rows of pearly white teeth, blonde hair that was amazing no matter how tousled it was, and then his angelic face. Perfection was always irksome to those less than so. Then he would say something and that reminded Mari that he was not

  intellectually pleasing.

  "You will be. Someday…"his eyes flicked over her with some vulgarity, "someday. I feel like traveling today. Feel like going to the country side?" Mari frowned at the proposition,

  seeing as everywhere was the country side.

  "Another session of women's defensive fighting? I'm sorry, but an hour's training dismissed by your hopeful "Next time?" isn't quite that tempting. Just take me home."

  "Aw, come on it will be fun." Mari noticed he lost his devil may care charm, but didn't worry. No doubt he was just pouting or the wind blowing between his ears was causing some

  discomfort. Although she refused, they were now riding through one of the many fields that surrounded the small town of Blossom Springs.

  "Dorian, turn around. We could go out another time," she said lightly. Her voice strained oddly at the last word. She coughed violently. How long was it since she last drunk

  something? Her throat was parched; as if she was swallowing sand.

  "Here, your voice sounds pretty bad." She took the drink he handed, not caring what it was. It went down like liquid fire, making Mari cough more.

  "Mari are you okay?" The words, concerned or not, were barely registered in Mari's mind. She'd expect for him to be worried about vomiting on the leather interior. The last thing

  she remembered was a Dorian's perfect eyes.

  "You could be a little bit more considerate." Really, one of her friends just got knocked out. Instead of being concerned, the team leader simply cleared the surrounding crowd and

  then ranted about the mission.

  "She'll be fine. Nissa get up and stop trying to get out of this." Trent was about to protest again until he felt the supposedly unconscious girl stir in his arms, muttering something

  unpleasant about Keller.

  She stood up and cleared her throat. "We all know that whoever was on the bad guy's side has one hell of a psychic."

  Trent took the opportunity to speak up. "I questioned the guys who were standing out here and then wiped them out. They said that she was picked up by a blond boyfriend in a

  black convertible. They headed west."

  Keller asked, "What's west?"

  Nissa answered for him. "Fields and that's about it. The road goes on to the highway. No buildings at all. Nobody's there during the day, but at night it's where the 'serious' couples

  go."

  "So…what do we do now?" Warren asked nervously.

  "Tell the boss we failed. They got her." The three kept silent, knowing to Keller failing was one of the seven deadly sins.

  "Dammit," Keller said softly.

  Dammit. Thierry closed his eyes as the voice on the other line waited for a command. "Find her. I don't care how, kill sparingly, and make sure she comes back in one piece." They

  were all stupid orders, but he felt he had to say something. He hung up the phone when he heard a dial tone. Hannah was standing in the doorway when he turned. Neither knew

  what to say for a few minutes.

  "They got her and then they'll kill her." There was a bleak confidence in his voice. Hannah shook her head, a small smile on her lips to comfort him.

  "What if they don't? If they're still trying to get a wild power on their side, there's still a chance." After a pause she continued, "Isn't it odd?"

  "What is?" he asked as they sat on the couch.

  "She is a she. There's Jez, Iliana, and then Delos. You'd think fate would be fair and have another male so it would be even. But destiny, fate, whatever it is can surprise you

  sometimes."

  Thierry twirled a lock of Hannah's golden hair and said quietly, "Fate also says that she will be 'one with the dark' Now what do you suppose that means?"

  "That we're screwed." Both looked up to find Jez leaning against the door frame. "Has any one ever seen her use her powers? She could just be another one of those false cases."

  "Because Grandma Harman and the Maiden had vague visions about her before… and then some other minor psychics did as well. If it isn't her she's got to have a twin." Jez

  narrowed her eyes at his attempt of a joke. He changed the subject. "Listen, two weeks from now others will be coming. Did Nilsson tell you that you would have to clear your stuff

  out of some of the guest rooms?"

  "Yes dad," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

  "Where's Morgead?"

  Her grim face softened slightly by the mention of her soul mate. "He's around. How are we going to live after New Year's if we don't get her?"

  Hannah thought for a minute then answered softly. "Whatever happens, was meant to happen. If we die, then we were supposed to die." She laughed. "Sounds cliché, doesn't it?"

  Jez stood for a minute, digesting the heavy words. With a grimace, the girl left for her room.

  Thierry smiled down at his soul mate. "That's the first time I've seen her speechless."

  June 8, 1999

  Mari had once read a book where a girl was awake but didn't open her eyes to find out more information from her kidnappers. It wasn't helping her now. She heard absolutely

  nothing, save the constant humming of the world outside, which she guessed she was speeding past. There was leather under her, now sticking to her cheek. Cautiously she opened

  her eyes, expecting to find herself in Dorian's back seat. With one movement she was sitting up, looking into the rear view mirror where the driver's pale green eyes were.

  "Hello," she said shortly. Mari didn't believe in shooting accusations until she knew what exactly the situation was. And she had always planned to die with dignity, and if this was

  the day she wasn't going to botch those plans by screaming hysterically. Panic attacks tended to be somewhat detrimental to one's dignity.

  "Hello." He had a surprisingly deep voice for a man of his appearance. He didn't look older than twenty five.

  "These ropes on my wrists are a bit bothersome. Anything you could do about that?" After three years of living with her aunt and her servants, Mari had become accustomed to

  having that superior voice towards the help. She saw the driver smile.

  "If you promise not to stab me or anything."

  "I doubt that would help you considering I never keep any promises." Mari slipped out the last of the rope coils and, like a cat out of water, jumped forward to wrap the rope around

  his neck.

  "This is a very interesting rope, sir. Thinner than most, yet it took some time for me to slip out of it. And it makes you seem uncomfortable, if you don't mind me saying so." She

  pulled tighter as he tried to swerve, and the ropes dug into his neck, leaving angry welts. Her feet were bundled up as well, but she didn't have time to loosen those.

  "There's no use you know." It made Mari smile, inwardly of course, that the deep soothing voice was now strained. He continued, "There are others behind us. Where ever you go,

  they go." She sighed mentally and reluctantly removed the rope, gave his cheek a little pinch and settled back in her seat. To stay preoccupied, she began to unwind the cords


  around her numb ankles.

  "That ruins everything, doesn't it?" He glowered. "Come now, let's not turn sour. Is this a casual kidnap and ransom deal or is it far more interesting?" She spoke in her usual voice,

  not in the least affected by the situation. Over the years she made herself believe that the events of the course of her life would prove unimportant when she was dying. So this

  was nothing when it all came down to the end, when she finally reached the opportunity to tell God just what she thought of him and all his stupid plans. Mortal pain was

  small itch compared to holy wrath. Or so she theorized, any way.

  "More interesting than you could imagine." He cut her off before she spoke. "But you doubt that would help considering you don't imagine." She gave a brittle smile.

  "You read my mind," she murmured then noted her surroundings. "Tinted windows, sunroof, extra space, and little wine bottles. Could this be a limousine?" Although she never

  really changed her tone, sarcasm was heavy in her words.

  "I see the beauty is also accompanied with brains. And we are here." Mari was about to say it was a short ride when she realized she had been unconscious for who knew how long.

  Ever since…

  "Where is my…friend? Dorian where is he?"

  "Who?"

  The ridiculous tranquillity she had before was swiftly fleeing her. This could be the woods, where she could be raped or tortured or both… or worse. She pushed all thoughts,

  rational and crazy, aside and took the offered hand as she stepped out of the limo. What she saw was bitterly disappointing. A castle? She thought. Well, isn't that just thrilling.

  her left another car pulled up. "What day is it?" she asked as she noted each of the passengers that stepped out.

  "Wednesday." Really, she thought. Four and a half days all in one nap.

  There were eight males in all. The driver cleared his throat and motioned her to follow them as they headed toward the massive estate. Mari momentarily stood where she was to

  show that she was not some prize cattle to be herded about. And the fact that the men a few feet away from her eyed her as she was Bessie on a slaughterhouse field trip was

  another reason to stay put. Two began to move towards her.

  "Okay, okay, I'm coming. Just don't touch me." She sounded like one of the snobby peroxide blondes on the cheerleading squad more than she formerly thought possible. Not to mention bitchy, she thought with dreary amusement.

  In retrospect, what she had done was truly out of character and, frankly put, stupid. But it was surprising that she would turn into one of those desperate fools, who were

  reactionary at any window of opportunity. The eight men, eight killing, obviously dangerous, devious, callous—and so forth—murderers could have had driven Satan himself to run

  away whimpering, if it was not Satan himself who created them.

  Taking a deep breath, Mari stepped forward to the men and…turned a heel and ran the other direction. At the moment she didn't give damn if the direction led to a women's

  penitentiary, as long as she didn't have to face the hunters. Mari hadn't actually thought how fast they would be; she only thought of how fast she had to be. Speed was natural to

  her, at least in this moment, when faced with a handful of potential murderers and possibly a Blair Witch behind her. She yelped when an ungentle hand clamped down on her arm.

  A tall boy with white silvery hair had little smile on his full lips.

  What the hell?! Mari could have sworn she ran a good half a mile ahead of them and the last time she looked back there was no one following her.

  "Where are you going?" He asked as if they were old roommates, sitting down to breakfast. Mari fought the urge to respond with "Nut 'n honey." She was struggling, trying to stop

  the tears of physical pain in her eyes. Even without effort, the boy applied so much pressure that Mari was sure the bone was being bruised. He repeated the question in chiding

  tones.

  "Bird watching. I heard they have those funny, flying things in the forest. Would you like to join me?" Mari gave a false smile. When strength, speed, and logic failed her she could

  always count on her sarcasm. "Or would you believe I saw a dollar on the ground? Apparently, a dollar can get me good long distance rates."

  He laughed in dark rich chuckles. "All right, midget, we have no time for games right now. Right now we have to get you into that castle. Okay?" He began to walk towards the

  group she had left in long effortless strides, forcing Mari to jog to keep up with him. Back to the snake pit, she thought and then felt belated umbrage for the midget comment.

  It disturbed Mari to the point of violence when she saw all of the fastandfury men were all amused at her failed attempt at flight. They were wearing noticeable smiles, in their

  eyes or on their lips, when they escorted her to the door. Mari could have told them it wasn't necessary, that she wouldn't run away again, but then again she didn't really know if

  she'd have another lapse of insanity.

  Her eyes moved to the men surrounding her. She hadn't really noticed it before, perhaps due to the soberness of her situation, but they were all extremely handsome. Those

  stunning looks only found once in every other high school were owned by all eight surrounding men. Mari knew that if she was a normal, boy crazy girl she'd be swooning by now.

  But even if she were, just the way they were would stop that. Mari felt like an innocent little newborn baby at the hands of little red men with tails and pitch forks.

  No. No, of course not. She refused to believe that. She was Mari, the ice princess extroidanaire, the pinnacle of apathy, and the only girl in school who could challenge anybody

  from the football captain to Castro and win. She was not, nor ever going, to show that she was vulnerable. They had expressions as if carrying a conversation, one even laughed,

  and, although he made it seem as if he hadn't meant to, the little smile he kept told Mari it was also meant to frighten her more. They weren't talking and yet…they were

  communicating, somehow.

  They reached the door in a matter of minutes, which opened the instant they reached the top step of the mountain of stairs. Mari thought the young woman who opened it was

  unnaturally yet naturally breathtaking. It was at this point when she began to ponder the possibility that she was dreaming of simply beautiful people who plainly didn't like her. As

  she thought this, the woman who eyed her distastefully was leading her up a flight of stairs. Comparatively, she was a great improvement from the men who had escorted her here,

  where ever here was. In her thoughts, Mari had not heard one of the men call "Hope to see you again Maria." after her. Maybe some small little part of her mind had heard it and

  shuddered at the intimate timbre in his chilling voice, but her only weapon now was to show no fear and ignore the distractions.

  Another part of her mind was also wondering why? Why was she being taken away, why was she brought to a castle, why did they want her if not for money. It was one of the few moments in the past years when she actually felt fear. No, she didn't like that word…terror. She had worn the mask of stolidity for so long it had frozen on her face, like so many mothers told their gullible daughters.

  She was told to sit in a well furnished sitting room, silk cushioned throne chairs, tables and rugs embedded with jewels and lined with gold. There was already a man sitting in one

  of the huge seats, sipped some wine, and then stood as she came in. He indicated the chair in front him, settled back in the chair, and slowly finished his glass, his eyes never

  leaving hers.

  Mari sat, wishing she could do something, wishing she did something before, but something was always keeping her. She was also wishing she was bigger, stronger so that she

  could have ran faster or fought or at least have her feet touch the floor when she
sat back in the chair. She settled for leaning forward and feet planted firmly on the floor, so as

  not to show her size.

  He had an air of authority, yet was laid back and calm. He had sleek black hair that was fading into a gleaming silver in some places, green eyes that were uncannily clear, and

  pale skin. Any middle aged woman would have fallen in love with him in less than a second.

  "I suppose you're wondering why you have been brought here." He sounded like an aged Casanova, except with a British accent.

  Maria slouched slightly with disappointment. With his appearance, plus the creepy castle, and all the antiquity of everything… She had fully expected the new stranger to say with

  outreaching hands, "I vant to suck vour blood!"

  "Well, it was just a nagging little thought for the past few days. Let me think…hell yes," she answered.

  He nodded as if remembering a fond memory and pointed out smoothly, "Granted you been napping for the past few days. Nobody will miss you for a while. We sent a note to your

  aunt, explaining that you'll be off to Las Vegas. Place to be for summer vacation. You don't have any friends that will ask, conveniently enough."

  "And what about Dorian?" Again her terror had heightened, and she felt that the mysterious man before had caught it. This playitcool thing is definitely not working, she thought,

  and tried to even harder to emulate James Dean. But the narrowing of eyes only hindered her vision and there were no brick walls to lean against.

  But if Dorian was still alive, then he could do something, call the police, tell her aunt where she really was… storm the castle on a white steed for all she cared; she just wanted

  out.

  He shook his head and shut his eyes. Oh, he looks sad, Mari thought with childish simplicity. Why would he be sad? The man then said, "I'm sorry, Maria. They killed him. They

  killed him before we got there."

  Oh…no.

  No.

  Dorian died. Because of her. She caused another death. Dorian was so charming and…charming. What else was there? Before she could fully mourn her loss he spoke again.

  "Maria… do you mind if I call you that?"

  "Mari," she corrected gloomily.