by Riley Moreno
Chapter 4
At the end of the school day, the kids from the north of the city, those who lived by or in the woods themselves lingered. Since the mauling, parents from that part of the town had decided on taking the precaution of escorting their kids from school back home. This was going to continue till the whole debacle of the wild animal was over. The front area of the school was alive with new faces, most of them somber, ready to take their children home. Those whose parents could not make it had arranged for their kids to hook up with other groups. Patrick Dillon fell into this category, and was huddled with another group that numbered seven. Most of these people had hardly ever been seen at the school premises, and looked uncomfortable standing there in the middle of the yard. The whole debacle seemed a bit too much, and caused giggles among the other kids who did not live up north, to the obvious embarrassment of the older kids from that area. It was clear that the parents and escorts took the activity serious, however, and were stoic in the performance of their duties. Without further ado, they split up into the different groups, and headed out to their various modes of transport.
The route from the school passed through the busy town square, which contained all the necessary accessories that made a town, before swerving out from the fracas to go down to the south. The route became lonely after that, the pavement cutting through the forest, so that tall trees rose up like giant cohorts on guard as the vehicles containing the children rode past.
Lucius stood hidden up in the trees, and he watched the procession go past. He was about fifty feet high, standing on one of the sturdy branches of one of these trees. In the dark gloom that pervaded the lower branches of the forest canopy that overcast day, his eyes shone bright-the glass eyes of the cat, staring ahead and not missing anything.
He was aware the precautions being taken by the largely bear community had a lot to do with him. Rather, it had everything to do with him. He could understand why they would go to such lengths. One could never be sure. However he did not attack that man in the forest that day. How could he? It had occurred a day before he showed up. That meant the question remained: who did? Was there another tiger in the community-his community? If so, how had he slipped past the bears for so long? The last thing Lucius wanted was a full blown war erupting in the town square, and he had long made up his mind to get to the bottom of the mystery.
When the procession of cars had gone past, he got down on all fours, still on the branch, and bounded to the next. In the semi-darkness up among the trees, he barely made a sound as he bounded from branch to branch, and from tree to tree in the direction of the town square. It was late in the afternoon now, and a good time to check on his old friends still living in the area. Most of them were in the seventies, and eighties-there were a few nonagenarians too. Most still lived at their old houses, a few had moved to the old people’s home. He had hoped that apart from catching up with decades past since he had last been here, they could help him trace exactly who was new in town or at least behaving strangely. It did not help that most of them were well in to the stages of senility. Seeing his old friends had been refreshing, especially Jacob Jansen, whom Lucius had been particularly fond of. Thoughts of Old Man Jansen invariably brought up thoughts of his granddaughter. Lucius purred softly as her light-skinned face, voluptuous curves filled his thoughts. He stopped just a few trees short of the clearing that lay after the forest in that direction. Jacob had called her Yuri.
Lucius licked his lips unconsciously; a tiger had seen the perfect prey. Yuri Jansen set his appetite on edge as had not happened in decades. Her seductive, questioning eyes, like liquid pools of caramel set his teeth on edge. Her full lips, brown and round thrilled him to the point of ecstasy. She reminded him of the trill he used to experience before setting after his prey, back in the old days, when Tiger-shifters used to hunt flesh. He would have her, and he would keep her. He thought so with the same self-assured confidence with which he bounded down the 60 meter tree. He first let himself fall, then midway through the air, he turned, took one agile step along the tree, and landed on the ground the next second-on his four feet.
There was no breeze, at the level of the road, and the dark, slightly greenish overcoat that he wore in a bid to hide better in the trees, lay still on his back as he walked back into town.
By the next week, everyone at school with an old person at home had a story to tell about how Lucius had visited their home. Yuri found it strange that Lucius was so interested in the senior community. She did not find it amusing in the least like others did. Above all she was jealous. She could not explain why, and she felt absolutely childish being so, but she could not help it. He had come into her house that first day and set her body on fire. She would have loved to feel that in some way she had impacted his mind, imprinted herself-or that they had shared a moment. Alas, she had not heard as much as a pip from him. She carried this burden on her mind, throughout the first two days of the week, and by the end of Wednesday she was livid. She was going to his place to give him a piece of her mind.
Old man Jacob had already told her that traditionally people hardly ever went up to the old house on the hill, and when they usually did it was on invitation. She had smiled politely as he said this, having already made up her mind to go there at the first opportunity.
Chapter 5
It was already gathering dusk on the Wednesday after school when she set her face hard as flint in the direction of the mansion upon the hill. The road, as opposed to the road that led to the Northern woodlands, swerved to the right from the town square, winding aimlessly through two suburbs before setting itself on a straight course that ran between two areas of scattered trees that stretched for about three hundred meters, before climbing steadily, and winding steadily for about a half mile before opening up to a plateau that led to the house fifty meters away. The house stood on a hill that over looked the entire city, like a beacon. It was certainly not a house that could be walked up to easily, and people suspected that defense was the raison d’etre for the location.
Yuri parked on the final bend before coming up on the fifty meter plateau before the house. She had not been invited, and the utter loneliness of the place, seemed a reproach to her for trespassing. The house stared at her sternly. She approached the door carefully, wondering if she should knock. The door was old, but sturdy; a product of a bygone era. It even had a knocker on, in the middle.
The day was getting chilly at that point, but she could not be sure whether it was the weather or the absolute violation she had embarked upon that made her hands shiver slightly. She shoved any qualms aside, and moved to bang the door.
Somebody grabbed her firmly from behind. Firm but not harsh, and spun her round. She stared into the forever eyes of Lucius the landlord, and her scream died in her throat.
His arms were stronger than she would have ever thought. His face was stern, but not unkind. He gripped her shoulders, and held her against the door. Yuri thought she could stay there forever, but that was not her aim of coming.
“Let go of me, sir,” she began pushing him away.
“Lucius” he said. He let her go, and took a step back to give her room.
“Lucius, yes. I don’t know how they do things where you are from, but it is rude to just waltz in and waltz out of people’s houses and lives like you do,” She began all self-righteously, while also aware that she was making absolutely no sense. “I would have thought that you would have come more often seeing as grandpa gets lonely most of the time and he is your friend, and-“
She stopped, breathless, still not quite sure why she had come. He stood away from her, but still managed to look like an impenetrable doorway. He had a tank top that exposed his surprisingly muscular arms. Yuri could not read the expression on his face. It occurred to her for the first time that this man might be dangerous-and she was stuck on a hill more than two miles from anybody with him!
“How is Jacob?” He asked. The dying sun reflecting on his hair made it look eve
n more alive, and orange.
“You should visit him, and find out yourself,” she replied petulantly. She hoped she was succeeding in hiding her fear.
“He is a strong old man, stronger than you think! I have a lot of friends to catch up with as well.”
“All of them old apparently.” She shot back. He seemed closer now or maybe it was her mad desire, amplified by the fear that wanted him closer. She wanted to run, but she wanted more to stay. Besides she was not sure that she could escape him now even if she wanted to.
Lucius laughed at her remark: a cruel growl more like, resonating deep within his chest. He moved closer to her. There was something irritatingly sexy about Yuri at the moment. His hunting instincts told him she was cowering with fear, but also defiant, resistant to ultimate surrender. The perfect prey, she was impossible to resist. He was upon her in one graceful step. Her liquid, questioning eyes looked up into his greenish gold jewels in askance: goading and foreboding all at once. She wanted him to own her, all of her. She could have followed him anywhere. She gasped, her breath cut short when he took hold of her chin. His touch warm against the cold, surrounding gloom on the top of the lonely hill. His kiss was warm, tender, but hungry. She could feel blocks of muscles she had only read of in text books rippling beneath his tank top as he held her tight. His arms like a locked cage, and she his helpless victim. She almost melted at his touch, waves of excitement rippling through her body like bolts of lightning, activating all her nerve endings, reaching nooks and corners within her long forgotten, and never before discovered.
Lucius growled, grabbing her at her waist, and hoisting her up with unbelievable ease to set her against the sturdy door. Formerly he had towered above her, coming down to bestow hungry, lustful kisses on her but now her head lay level with his, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, freeing his hands to explore her exquisite body. Yuri gasped, and then moaned as she climbed the ladders of pure excitement as his hands explored her defenseless body. His hands were adept at unfolding folds, and knots that scoured her body and Yuri wondered dreamily at the sheer strength, and skill of the man.
Lucius, was aware of the primal nature of the attraction he shared with this woman. Her rapid heartbeat beating within his hyperactive ears, created a savage backdrop to all the feral instincts bursting to be released and appeased. He forced the door open with his free hand, and carried her in to the darkness of the reception room inside. He set her down to the floor and switched on the lights, then carried her off to the nearest sofa, which lay across a huge arch, in one of several sitting rooms within the mansion.
For a mansion that had the look of having been abandoned for decades from outside, the house was surprisingly warm. Lucius pulled her clothes off slowly, but with the same confidence, and determination of a conqueror which Yuri found so enticing, and intoxicating. She gasped in naked, silent wonder, beside her herself in anticipation as she watched the tank top fall off to reveal the most amazingly sculpted set of muscles she had ever had the privilege of beholding. Yuri still harbored fear, and felt a rush of excitement as Lucius looked upon her with a hunger that she never thought possible. She felt enveloped in his desire, yielded to it as he descended on her left nipple. She grew hot, and shivered with desire in tandem with the deep, feral growls that emanated from his chest.
Her moans echoed across the empty house as he caressed the inside of her rounded thighs, gently spreading them apart. She lay now on the couch, while he knelt on the area of the carpeted floor between her legs. Her manicured fingers were wrapped around his orange head which worked away at her nipples. His free hands explored the narrow crevices where her torso transformed to the most exquisite hips, as well as the inside of her warm, moist thighs.
He was teasing her, building her up to a climax. Each moan that escaped her parted lips, amplified by his ears, drove him mad with desire. He kissed her belly slowly, but hungrily, he was a bundle of comparisons and contrasts. His head was soon between her thighs, exploring the warm, moist folds that lay hidden therein like treasure oases in a light-skinned dessert.
Yuri thought she would erupt with pleasure; she thought she would lose her mind just as she had lost her body, but her mind hung tantalizingly on the edge of sanity. She was never going to be the same after this. She lay spread-eagled before him, completely at his mercy; her hands squeezing the decorative wooden frame at the top of the sofa.
She let out a savage scream of her own as he penetrated her, his hardness breaking any resistance that it encountered down to nothing. He lay over her like a benevolent conqueror, giving pleasure as he took and conquered all that lay before him. His movement, even at this moment was graceful and rhythmic, and belied the feral nature of the attraction that pulsed and throbbed between them.
Their eyes met in one eternal instant as she reached a high, farther than she had ever managed to reach in her entire life. His eyes seemed to reflect the light that existed in hers at that moment or was it the light of the room? All she could muster was one final gasp as he relinquished his hold on her.
She still thought he was a mass of comparisons and contradictions, as at that moment lying beside her; he seemed so distant almost ethereal, but his grabbing her, and pulling her close suggested otherwise. It suggested to her that their union had been for him as intimate at least as intimate as it had been for her.
Despite her forebodings, she snuggled into his sculpted chest.
Chapter 6
They continued to see each other over the weeks, the attraction, and the bond between them growing stronger all the time. Lucius kept up his investigation with the senior citizens, but he stopped by Old man Jacob’s house more often, and would sometimes sit with his old friend on the porch, gazing into the dying day.
Yuri still could not understand the bond between Lucius and the elderly community, but she thought his association with them was very good naturedly, and it resonated well with her. She did not see him every day, but it was always with bated breath that she awaited their next meeting. Her heart would do back flips for joy whenever she saw him with her grandfather on the porch, knowing that the walk to see him off a while later would be as always, emotionally satisfying.
She also found it amusing that despite their weeks-old liaison, she still knew very little about him. He was still a mass of comparisons and contradictions. For example, his garage was always closed. Closed off by the modern addition of a retractable rail which could be pulled up to be opened, and pulled down to be closed. She could have sworn she saw tires as she drove off down the hill, on the one day it was just a little bit open. However, Lucius always walked. It was even stranger still when you took into consideration that he lived quite far away. She had no idea what he did for a living before he came back to Peri Heights, nor what he did now, but he always seemed dapper, his immense family home suggested huge wealth in the family hands, but what about him? He seemed to her the last person who would rest on another person’s achievements. There were so many things that she did not understand about him. Ordinarily, she would be bothered by these things, but she felt what they shared was anything but ordinary, and merited breaking some of the rules. She was not a teenage girl anymore, but she giggled with girlish delight as she admitted that the unknown aspects about Lucius added a certain girlish fantasy to the whole drama. She suspected her grandfather or one of the senior could help fill in some of the gaps. They had to have learned something in all their time chatting together, plus people reported an odd familial feeling existing between Lucius and these seniors whenever they met.
Yuri mulled over these things, while taking a walk, one weekend. It was a Saturday, too warm to be comfortable, and she decided a walk to the town square was what she needed to ease all the knots accumulated during the school week. It was evening already when she set out. The wind outside was a little cooler than the one inside, but still blew warm against her face, into and out of the loose gown, that ended just above her knees, which she had favored that evening. Old man Jac
ob’s house was not too far from the town square, and was located about two hundred meters away from a bend that started a four-hundred meter stretch to the beginnings of the heart of the city. At a leisurely pace, Yuri made the journey in just less than thirty minutes.
The feel and sounds of night life were just awakening, and several people were already milling about when she arrived. She nodded at a few familiar faces, as she milled about aimlessly. Hoping to spend an hour tops before going back. She wished Lucius was around. His presence could lighten up any scene; she thought-even a scene as boring as this town where nothing ever happened.
But something did happen that night, as she milled about hopping from one store to the next, nodding and smiling at a few familiar faces, somebody grabbed her from behind!
Somebody big and strong, maybe more than one person she thought as she was pulled into an alleyway. Yuri struggled, and tried to scream, but was silenced by a slap across the face before a cloth bag was thrown over her head, and darkness descended. She whimpered in fear, thrashed about as she felt herself tossed unto a shoulder. The hands gripping her felt unnaturally strong and difficult to fight against. She thought of biting, but the rough feel of the cloth bag against her flushed cheeks persuaded her otherwise. She could feel her left jaw swell even as it burned like ice to bare skin. She thought she felt the moisture of blood, but it was just her skin that had broken into a sweat caused by panic. She screamed again, but her scream was broken by the feeling of being roughly shoved into a car. Another set of hands, or maybe the same ones, she could not tell, but equally strong grabbed her hands behind her and bound them together with rough feeling rope. It was all rough, yet frightfully efficient, and Yuri broke tears as she broke into panic. She hung uncomfortably in the back, in the space between two sets of legs and the front seats. She did not fully understand what was happening, and much less why, but she knew she was in trouble and could see no way out. She could see nothing at all really with the bag over her head, and this only added to the feeling of blind terror that permeated every fiber of her being.