by Jane West
After he puffed again on his cig and withdrew smoke, I managed to jump in. “Sorry to hear your troubles but dude, I need to find Aidan and fast!” I rushed my words.
Jeffery eyed me critically. “You gonna go see him lookin' like a fright. Gurrrlfriend don’t you wanna keep the man?”
Okay, this skinny man is about to get a taste of mud if he didn’t cut it out. “Jeffro,” I said sternly. “My clothes are the least of my troubles. Where is Aidan?”
“Well if your sweet little self must know, he’s having one of those secret meetings. They have ‘em every Halloween. Some superstitious shit about appeasing the dead. I never got that, but whatever floats their fuckin' ”
“Jeffery!” I interrupted abruptly. “Shut up and go find Aidan. We’re in danger.”
Taken aback, his mouth popped open and then closed. “You ain’t playin'.” he studied my face for a second.
“No, I’m not. Can you get him for me, please?”
He drew on his cigarette as the cherry deepened to a fiery red. He dropped the cig and stomped it out with his foot. “I guess I best go get him.” He went to reach for the door, but I halted him.
“Wait! I almost forgot.” I called to him sharply.
Jeffery stopped and turned to face me. His brows dipped down full of piss and vinegar. “What now?” he snapped.
I stepped up to him and leaned closer, in case someone was listening. I pulled out the key and handed it to him. “Take this key and as soon as you alert Aidan, I want you and Dom to get out of here as fast as you can. Aidan gave this key to me.”
Jeffery’s eyes went bug-eyed. “I know exactly where this key comes from. I was with him when he opened up the account. Do you have any idea how much money is in this safety box?”
“Right now, I don’t care. I'm more worried about yours and Dom’s welfare. You took a risk in helping me escape, and Dom has been nothing but kind to me. Both of you have been good to me, and now, I’m returning the favor. Promise me the two of you will get the hell outta dodge.”
“Are you sure you want to give this to Dom and me?” Jeffery’s blues glossed over with shock.
“Yes! Please go find Aidan.” A tear escaped and ran down my cheek.
“Aw, honey, don’t cry.” Jeffery started to hug me but halted. “I’d hug you, but I ain’t gettin' Armani dirty.” Instead, he patted me on the shoulder like I was contagious of a disease.
I laughed as I wiped the fallen tear with Jeffery’s towel.
“Listen here!” he caught my gaze. “Go past the pool and hide in the guesthouse. The key is under a pot plant by the door. I’ll have Mister Aidan meet you there.” Jeffery hesitated. “Don’t go and get yourself killed.” He warned. “We got some serious shopping to do when all these mofos leave. Gurrrlfriend, you’re in desperate need of a do-over.” Jeffery scrunched up his nose at my awful mess.
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever!”
Lilies of Decay
Just as Jeffery said, the key was under the plant. As soon as I unlocked the door, I dove inside, shutting the door quickly behind. I leaned against it, trying not to freak out. My chest heaved, screaming for oxygen. The air felt stifled in this little cottage.
The problem wasn’t the room. I was beginning to question myself. Doubt pained my mind as if I’d jumped from a plane without a parachute. Yeah! I felt that crazy.
What the hell was I thinking? After this night, where would Bane and I go? Did I really believe that he’d sweep me into the embrace of his strong arms, and we’d ride off into the sunset happily ever after? I should be more inclined to believe that the blonde in Bane’s arms earlier tonight would be the one riding off into the sunset with him. Clearly, he hadn’t been entirely honest with me. Then the comment he made to that creature, she belongs to me, did I want to become his possession?
Mistrust began to spread like venom. I wrapped my fingers around the doorknob. Maybe I’d been too hasty? Leaving with Dom and Jeffery or even with Sam sounded more logical. Did I really want to give myself to someone who loved another?
“Forget this, I’m outta here!” I turned the knob, but something stopped me. I heard a shuffle in the shadows. My breath stalled. I wasn't alone.
When my eyes lifted, all my fears waned. “Aidan!” he stepped from the dark into the moonlight, beautiful and tall as ever. I ran into his arms and melted. Tears streamed from relief that I’d found him. I didn't know what the future held for us, although my gut told me that things were looking up. A silver lining to an ominous sky. “Hey!” I pulled from his embrace. “I’d been standing here for several minutes. Why didn’t you say something?” I knew my eyes must’ve danced with incertitude.
He flashed that lopsided smile that always stole my breath away. “You were so beautiful standing there in the moonlight, I found myself lost.”
I studied his face for a moment. Charming but strange, his comeback. Then again, his whole world was weird. “I’ve been thinking.” I bit my bottom lip. “Can you pop us somewhere safe? We need to talk.”
“Sure! Where to?” he smiled down at me.
“I don’t know. You usually decide.” That was odd. Bane always took the lead.
“All righty then. Hang on, got just the place.”
All righty? Has Bane changed his speech pattern or could this be his true self? “I’m hanging.”
Bane pressed me against his chest a little too hard, and I gasped. “Lock your hands around my neck.” His voice swirled of sensuality. “I wouldn’t want to drop you.”
I followed his advice and locked my fingers around his neck. With my eyes shut tight, in the next half second, we were off, not twirling like in a world wind but floating in some kind of draft. It was so different from the other times. Not near as extraordinary.
We stopped abruptly. I opened my eyes, and we were standing in a field of lilies. As far as my eyes stretched, I saw stark white with dark emerald green underneath. The sun was setting, and the sky took on different shades of hue.
“Are we in a different dimension?”
“Dimension?” Bane’s eyes appeared baffled.
“Hello, wake up!” I air knocked on his forehead. “You were the one who told me about altered realities.” I stared at him, wondering if he'd wiped his brain with angel dust.
As if a light bulb went off in his head, he responded, “Oh, yeah! I remember. Sorry. Had a lot on my mind lately.”
“I see.” It was evident Bane wasn’t going to mention the secret meeting and the hidden chamber or that hideous creature. His holding back pissed me off. After all, I was willing to give up my virginity to him. I never was one for holding my tongue, and I reckon no point in changing that little idiocy now. So I plunged into it feet first. “Aidan why are you acting like this?”
He jumped back as if I’d stabbed his big toe. “Excuse me?”
“I found your secret dungeon, and I watched that vile creature come out of the fire. I heard you arguing with your uncle over me.”
Bane stood there gawking, mouth opened.
I slugged him in his arm. “Why are you playing stupid? I saw you with my own eyes!” I bellowed with frustration.
“I don’t remember what the dickens you’re talkin' about but don’t hit me again.” He gravely warned.
Funny, I didn’t recall Bane having a Southern drawl. Then he did just threaten me. “Or what?” I challenged.
“Or, I’ll knock you off your fuckin’ feet.”
“Tell me the truth or I’m leaving!” I crossed my arms, determined not to budge.
“Where would you like for me to start, sugar?” he snarled. “How about we start with you taking off your clothes and spread ‘em wide for papa!”
“Ugh! Don’t speak to me like I’m one of your whores!” I might’ve made an error in judgment, and now the piper demanded payment.
“I’ll talk to you, bitch, anyway I choose.”
Had I been blind to his true nature?
I scoffed. “This conversation is over!” I s
pun on my heels heading god-knows-where.
As I brushed over the field, a startling realization hit me square in the jaw. The sun hadn’t moved. It was stagnant, just setting on the horizon. The atmosphere was void of air, no wind tousling my hair or the treetops. It was as if everything had frozen in time.
Then the silence, no birds chirping, no crickets singing. And the scent hovering smelled of decay. A nagging pain in my gut told me we weren’t even on earth.
My eyes widened as I cut a hard look back at Bane. “Where are we?”
An acerbic grin painted his face. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Actually, no, take me back, now!” I demanded.
Bane slowly encircled me, hostile and menacing.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I eyed his every calculated step.
“Aidan, why are you behaving like this?” I shook my head, staring into the face of someone I didn’t recognize.
“I’m giving you what you want.” He spread his arm out in indignation.
Taken aback, I was about to be eaten by the big bad wolf! I had to do some fast-talking.
“Yes, you have been very generous to me. But can we take this down a notch? You’re scaring me.”
Bane tilted his head backward and released a deep belly laugh. Chills dawdled down my spine. “I like scaring you!”
“I’m sorry Aidan!” my voice choked with tears. “Just let me go! I’ll leave town, whatever you want, I'll do.” I held out my palms. “Please, don’t hurt me!”
“Do you think leaving will right this apocalyptic doom you have created?” Cords in his neck jutted out.
“This arrangement isn’t my fault.” Now I was pissed. “I didn’t ask to be born, and I didn’t ask to be bound to you either!” I shouted back with as much courage as I possessed.
“Shut the fuck up! Undress or else I’ll tear your clothes off your body myself, and when I’m finished ripping your insides apart, I’ll leave you for dead!” he flashed his pointy teeth.
Whoa! I didn’t recall Bane’s teeth jagged and sharp like a feline.
I jumped back losing my balance and falling to the cushion of flowers. Only I landed on something sharp. Strange, I’d never known flowers to be jagged as glass. I drew my hand back and saw blood. My blood. “What the hell kinda place did you bring me to?”
He leaned down over me, looming so close I smelled his whiskey breath. “I’m only going to say this one more time. Take. Your. Fuckin’. Clothes. Off!” his blues churned with obsidian, cold and evil.
I rose to my feet, meeting his perilous gaze. “Screw you!” I turned my back to him, and that was when I’d made my worst mistake.
Before I knew what hit me, I was on my back and Bane throttling me. Violently he began ripping my clothes off. I did the only thing I knew to do, and that was to fight back, arms swinging, fingernails digging, feet kicking as hard as I could against his incredible strength. I screamed for mercy at the top of my lungs. Back in the haze of my mind, I recalled Sam's warning, and I wished desperately that I'd listened.
In return for my pleas, he wrung his fingers around my neck, squeezing the life out of me, shutting off my oxygen. I pounded at his arms fiercely to free from his steel clenches, but he was far more powerful.
Deprived of air, the burning in my throat and lungs morphed into a scorching fire. I felt my life slipping away as he bared down his hold, the light grew dimmer by the second. And my will to fight weakened as my body grew numb. I vaguely felt his release of my throat.
By now, he’d forced my clothing off my body. The shredded cloth laid in a pile next to me. Exposed under his violent prison, as if I was in a tunnel, I watched as he unfastened his belt and unzipped his pants. A sick coldness enshrouded my body as I sunk into unconsciousness. Fading to the point of oblivion.
Then suddenly I was jarred back to my harsh reality, and only the burning agony in my gut kept my senses alive. In a last ditch effort, I began thrashing. I reached up and drove my thumbs into his eye sockets.
For a quick breath, he loosened his grip as he clinched his face, howling. Right on cue, I kneed him dead center in the groin. He doubled over groaning, “You stupid bitch!” his face knotted, drool dropped from his scowl, doubling over, clenching his crotch. That was my moment to flee.
I rushed to my feet, darting for the safety of the trees. But before I could gain momentum, he toppled me to the ground. Sharp stabbing pain shot through me. I struck my head on something sharp. Warm wetness quickly pooled around the nap of my head. Blood! He’d cracked my head open.
Every cell in my body screamed with sear misery as I wrapped my fingers around my neck, gasping for air. So much pain, blinding pain.
“Whore, I’ll teach you not to run from me!” That’s when he reared back with his iron fist and crushed my jaw with such force that it seemed inhumanly possible.
For a second, I blacked. When my senses returned, I begged for the sweet release of death. “Kill me why don’t you?” Racked with anguish, I couldn’t take much more.
Swiftly, Bane threw me down on my back, jarring me back to the incubus present, forcing my legs apart. My mind spiraling as my death became more imminent. He outweighed me better than a hundred pounds and much stronger. Rape filled his face and hatred diseased his heart. Under my racing mind of all things to wonder, it didn’t make sense for Bane to take my life.
All at once, I heard a loud crack, and an unbearable stab quickly followed. I tried to scream, but my throat burned too much. My arm, oh dear god, I couldn’t move my arm. I think it was broken. Oh, god, just kill me! I shouted in my head. I couldn’t stand the misery. The excruciating torture seized my breath. When I opened my eyes, the lilies were gone and in its place came decay, skulls, and bones everywhere. Now I understood the stench. The field was an illusion.
“It’s your fault that I’m in this mess in the first place. If you’d not moved here, everything would’ve been fine.” Bane rambled, madly. “I hated you from the moment I laid eyes on you, Chickadee!”
Chickadee? Wait! “What the fuck!” I gasped. “You’re not Aidan! You’re Sam! How did you…”
Suddenly, it was Sam’s voice piercing the atmosphere. “That’s right! You fell into my hands so easily. It almost seems unfair.” His dark eyes churned with malice.
I lifted my gaze, blinking, fighting the haze of shock. All this time it was Sam. A rush of relief washed over me that it wasn’t Bane, but only a minute.
Reality set, and with no uncertainty, I’d reached the end of the line. At this point, I welcomed death. I never imagined my ending would be so vile and violent. Death compared to this seemed easy.
I wondered if I’d see my dad. Would he be there at the gates of heaven welcoming me? I smiled to myself. That would be wonderful. No more worries, no more disappointments, all sadness melted into nothing. Death was tranquil, serene.
Thrust back to the present, Sam rose up over me grinding his pelvis against me. Somehow, he’d dropped his pants to his knees, and he didn’t shy away from his manhood as he groped his erection. Bane shot a wicked smile. “You like what you see?” he moaned full of lust, bending over me and trying to force a kiss upon me.
I took his lip between my teeth and bit down hard. I tasted blood in my mouth, and I spat it back in his face. He jolted back, touching his lip and drawing back blood. “You fuckin' cunt!” he railed as he slapped me. It hurt like hell, but I wouldn’t give him any more satisfaction.
I coughed out, past the burn, “Aidan will hunt you down. I know what he’s capable of doing, and you’re just as dead as me!”
“Oh, really! My cousin has my father to worry about. Besides, I want him to find me.” he boasted. “I plan to leave your remains on his doorstep.” He gnarled. “I’m going to steal your essence, whore! Ain’t that as sweet as a tall glass of lemonade?” his smiled, darkly.
My eyes widened. “You’re Aidan’s cousin? Who is your father?”
“My father is his uncle, Chickadee! The very one w
ho wishes your death.” he sneered.
“Get off me!” I hissed.
“Why would I do that? We’re having such fun. Besides, you’re gonna be dead in a few!” he flashed his jagged teeth, sharp and unnaturally shiny.
I closed my eyes as Sam rose to thrust himself inside me. I braced myself for the worst and prayed for a speedy death.
Abruptly, something snapped within me, like a tight lever releasing its grip. A dark flash shot past me and a roaring sound assaulted my ears.
Out of nowhere, a shadowed figure sent Sam spiraling into the air and crashing to the ground in a bloody heap. Losing consciousness, I forced my eyes open and saw Bane crouched in a war stance in front of me.
He snarled with savagery as he rose tall and fearless, ready to defend my honor to the death. I attempted to ease up on my elbows, but I’d lost too much blood, and I had only one good arm. My head felt heavy and it was even harder to hold a thought. Death promised. I laid there surrendering to its sweet beckon call.
We Belong
Slipping in and out, I couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or if it was real. The lilies returned, and a bed of soft flowers comforted my broken body.
Two male voices pierced the atmosphere as I drifted in and out of a dream state, listening.
“Sam, I warned you not to go near her.” Bane roared as he charged Sam, launching him several feet away with one powerful Druid-blast of white lightning.
Sam tumbled backward, slamming into the ground. He jolted to a sitting position, shaking off the sting, blood dripped from his mouth. “Come on cous!” he staggered to his feet, taking the back of his hand and wiping the blood from his lips. His breath sounded short winded. “I was just having a little fun with her is all?”
“You’ve done enough harm. I’m ending this now!” Bane’s voice spurred from blind rage.