I was high, desperate to have her tongue back inside me. I lifted the big round silver pendant away from her neck, grabbed the back of her head and forced her back into me. Her hand still grasped my wrist, pushing more of my hand inside her. I could feel her flex, gripping my fingers as I stretched her.
Her nipples were like rocks, so erect they cast shadows across her breasts in the moonlight as she lay sideways to me. Her eyes never left mine as she broke away again, cried out the words. ‘Everything was so uncomplicated…’
I was losing control, conflicting emotions fighting inside me like their life depended on it. As I thrust my hand hard inside her, I wanted to hurt her for what she was doing... what she was doing to me. I wanted to soothe away her pain, hold her tight and never let go. I wanted to punish her, love her, heal her, all in the same moment.
‘Why Madeline…?’
I could feel her body tense as she cried out, her hand grasping mine, thrusting it ever deeper. So high now, almost painful, I had to come... Then suddenly she was motionless, and eyes that still shed tears of pain bore into mine with a desperate angst, asking me an unspoken question.
‘Fuck you, Madeline…’
Our lips met, tongues intertwining as she tightened her grip around my butt. I could feel her pulsing around my hand as we kissed, knew she was high too. Slowly she took her lips from mine, breathing heavily, her eyes locked into me. She kissed my neck, my nipples, then my stomach as her head lowered tantalising slowly to where I so needed it to be.
And then her tongue was inside me again, I screamed aloud as her body arched from the table and she tightened around my hand, so unbelievably tight, almost painful.
It was all too much; I had to come... but then she went still, broke away a moment. Her mouth was wide open, her eyes blazing with a passion she could no longer control as she gazed into me. ‘Oh Madeline, I can't…’
She exploded, her whole body convulsing so violently I could hardly hold onto her. She screamed, fingernails piercing into the skin on my butt as she lost control. Again and again she throbbed around me, then her eyes were boring into me once more.
Still coming, she cried out, ‘Share with me, Madeline.’
Her climax had taken me to the brink without her touching me. As her frantic tongue found my clit, we came together, a passion so intense I didn't think my legs would support me; feelings so incredible it brought the tears back to my eyes.
A moment so mind-blowing I knew I would never be the same again.
Exhausted, Zana broke away from me, lay flat on the table gasping for breath. My left hand shakily caressed her hair as I came back down, trying to force eyes that didn’t want to work to look at her. She smiled, a beautiful contented smile that made me throb again.
‘Fuck you,’ she said, just a tiny whisper.
Chapter 28
We sat on two pine chairs with a metre of space between them. Five minutes had gone by and neither of us had moved, not a word had been spoken.
I stared blankly through the glass doors at the moonlight sparkling off a crisp white frost that now looked like snow. It was minus three outside; I hadn’t got dressed, and neither had Zana.
Neither of us felt the cold.
I noticed a small movement out of the corner of my eye. She’d slowly lifted her arm out from the side of the chair, a hand calling to me for another hand to hold. I took it, felt the rush of emotion just that one simple act sent through my whole body.
I shut my eyes, unable to comprehend the feeling that overcame me, yet wanting to experience it without sight or sound to cloud its impact. But then it became too painful, so I opened my eyes again and tried to speak.
It was a hoarse whisper. ‘You're quiet.’
She didn't turn her head, but I felt my hand squeezed a little tighter as she spoke softly. ‘Do I need to say words?’
‘Guess not.’
Silence again. I looked across to her, sitting motionless on the hard wooden chair, her eyes fixed blankly onto nothing. She didn't blink. The light from the moon bathed her perfect body in a ghostly white light, made her look surreal. She was taking quick, small breaths and I realised a slight smile had spread across my face as I watched the gentle rise and fall of her breasts as she took in the air.
It wasn't sexual, just… somehow beautiful.
She must have felt my eyes on her, turned to look at me and saw the smile. It was like a switch had been flicked... in a moment the warmth of her skin was back against mine as she straddled me, her gentle arms wrapped around my shoulders.
I enveloped her in my arms, the feel of her body against mine making the blood rush through my veins. I began to feel… what did I feel? I didn't want to make love, didn't need sexual gratification right then.
I just needed to hold her and never let go.
I knew she didn't want anything more either; for an age she held me close, her head resting on my shoulder and her warm breath caressing my neck. She was making tiny movements, her crotch hard against mine, flexing involuntarily and sending incredible sensations through my whole body.
But this time it was nothing to do with sex; everything to do with something I'd never known before.
Zana seemed to understand, aware that neither of us needed the intense passion of love-making. I could feel my own flex too, softly matching hers as we both allowed pure emotion to cocoon us.
I felt her shiver slightly, noticed her skin begin to texture up as the cold finally kicked in. She lifted her head from my shoulder, her eyes locking into mine for a moment before she spoke.
‘Will you take me home please, Madeline?’
Suddenly a speck of harsh reality kicked in. I answered her nervously. ‘How did you get here?’
‘Worked late, got a lift with a work colleague to the tube, then cabbed it the rest of the way.’
I breathed easier again; that meant it would be very unlikely she'd been followed.
I watched her as we dressed in silence, a strange kind of regret in my mind as she covered up her flawless beauty. Something inside me didn't want unnecessary clothes to come between us and the feelings I didn't want to lose. But it was cold, and we couldn't stay there forever. Reality had a nasty habit of not going away for good.
She pulled out her phone and called to cancel the cab she'd asked to pick her up before she knew she would have company in the café. We stepped out into the crisp night air, and I pressed the padlock closed… fully this time.
Zana slipped an arm around my waist, wouldn't let go as we headed back into the trees and then out onto the little street where the silver BMW sat waiting, its sleek body looking like it had been sprayed with an ice glaze.
The drive back was made in silence; somehow words seemed unnecessary. The warmth of the car's heater brought out the tingles as the heat kicked in, made me realise just how cold my body had actually become without me even knowing.
Without me even caring.
I pulled into Zana's driveway, brought the car to a stop. She looked at me with eyes that gave away the intensity that had shaken her to her core, leaned over and kissed me. Softly, beautifully.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered, and was gone.
Stretching out on the sofa back at the apartment, yet again I fought to understand the emotions that were rocking my world, and once more decided that as the early-morning light filtered through the windows, hitting the bed was a bit pointless.
But trying to make sense of anything wasn't happening. My mind was numb, any sense of reason impossible to find. And as sleep overcame me, I began to wonder if the voice of cold hard reason would bother speaking to me ever again.
Chapter 29
‘Bye-bye, Maddie!’
Ryland Cooper's voice, shouting. Wide awake in a second, bright sunlight hurt my sleep-filled eyes.
‘Coop?’ I mumbled hoarsely.
‘I said you were a fucking moron, Maddie!’
I couldn't see the big man clearly, his head was above me, against the sun. Way above m
e. Another shape blocked out a little more of the light.
‘You betrayed us, deWinter.’
I shuddered; the eerie voice was even more menacing when I couldn't see Duncan Scott's face clearly. I moved my arms, felt cold hard ground. I was still lying on my back, but not on the sofa.
‘Your trouble old girl, is that you can't keep your clit in your knickers!’
A third shape above me… Miles Courtney's shrill gloating voice.
‘Miles… what the hell is going on?’
The three men cackled; manic laughter that filled my brain with panic. Frantically my eyes flicked around. Earth. Brown soil for walls, so close I could touch all four. Where was I?
Duncan Scott's sinister voice above me reverberated around the small space. ‘I think hell is a good word to describe your situation, deWinter. Look in your pocket.’
I raised my hands in disbelief but couldn't find my voice. I was wearing the black jacket; I fumbled in the pockets. A piece of thin card, white and orange. I pulled it out, forced bleary eyes to focus.
A rail ticket. Finally managing to focus, I gasped in horror. The start point was London, Euston Station. The destination was listed as 'HELL'.
And underneath, in bold-type letters, ‘Single - No Return'.
Something hit my legs. I lifted my head to see what it was. More soil.
A woman's laugh, above me. ‘Zana?’ I managed to croak.
‘See Maddie?’ she cried, ‘you're my mushroom aren't you? The one that poisons me. But you're too late, your evil can't hurt me now.’
I tried to see her, the sun behind her head making it impossible to make out her features. I wanted desperately to see her. ‘Please…’ I tried to shout but had no voice, the word just as a whimper.
More earth, falling onto my chest. ‘You've got it all wrong…’ I could only whisper. Zana stood no chance of hearing me. I tried to stand, something unseen was pinning me down.
She laughed again, a sound like a crazy witch that stabbed me through the heart. ‘You're a fungus, Maddie… not what you seem…’
Spadefuls of soil rained down, the four grave-diggers above me cackling hysterically as they shovelled the earth faster and faster. As my body grew heavier with the weight of the soil I tried to cry out again. My voice was gone, no words would come.
‘You were warned, Maddie.’ Ryland Cooper's voice.
‘Now you know what we do to agents who betray us…’ Duncan Scott's breathless, evil words.
A spadeful of earth splattered into my face, I shook my head to clear it away, tried to spit out the soil in my mouth. Half-covered now, I watched in horror as huge red worms slithered out of the soil and began to head for my face.
The sunlight was fading, fogged by the torrent of earth that rained down on me. It seemed like only seconds until my body was encased. I lifted my head as much as possible, gulped in a breath of air, but closed my mouth quickly as the massive worms reached my face.
They had round piggy eyes, and wore gold-rimmed spectacles.
I was helpless, at the mercy of people I knew, who had turned on me. This was it, endgame. I closed my eyes to stop the tears that tried to come. And as the earth finally covered my head and consciousness slipped away, I heard Zana cry out.
‘Now you'll never be able to lie to me again, Miss deWinter!’
Chapter 30
Light streamed through the apartment windows, a bright November sun beginning to burn off the thick frost sparkling a magical white contrast to the cloudless blue sky. The early winter air was dead still, and not a breath of wind disturbed the few leaves that still clung to their parent trees.
In the stillness, the jumbled noise of a London morning seemed amplified. The temperature had not yet climbed above freezing point, and the cold air added an unearthly tone to the sounds of Soho.
I wasn't hearing or seeing any of it. Moments ago I'd screamed in terror and woken myself up, my sweat-soaked body shaking uncontrollably and tears streamed down my face.
I sat on the edge of the sofa, elbows on my knees and my face buried in hands that wouldn't stop trembling. The beating of my heart was thunder in my ears, the brutal reality of getting buried alive just the worst nightmare I could ever have.
I stumbled to the kitchen, gulped a pint glass of cold water but that didn't help much. Clothes that were so sodden they were clinging to my body disappeared in seconds, as I ran to the shower and turned the valve to the coldest setting.
As the water hit my overheated body I cried out in shock, gasped for breath but didn't pull away. I let the freezing torrent cascade around me, stood motionless for five minutes as my mind wrenched itself back to reality.
Reality? The nightmare from hell had felt real.
So real it was scaring the hell out of me.
I grabbed the gel, turned the water temperature up a little. Now I was shivering, but couldn't tell if it was the shower or mind-numbing fright. Fifteen minutes after the water first hit me I left the shower enclosure, wrapped up in the biggest towel I could find, and brewed the strongest cup of coffee the world had ever known.
The sofa was still damp from my sweat so I sat in one of the armchairs, slowly sipping the mega-brew. The shakes had gone now, but the memory of the dream wouldn't leave me alone. The DIAL guy's glee as they shovelled the earth over me; Duncan Scott's spooky voice that sounded scarier than ever; the feel of slowly getting buried and being unable to even move to try and save myself…
Those things felt real. I got the feeling they would for a long while. But the horror of all that was nowhere near as devastating as the one thing that was now bringing the shakes back.
Zana sounded like she hated me, despising the fact I'd betrayed her and lied through my teeth.
I couldn’t blame her for that.
And because it felt so real, that was enough for me to know that if she ever did hate me for real, I wouldn't be able to live with myself.
The phone jumping around on the glass-topped coffee table dragged me away from the depressing thoughts.
‘So what did you two get up to last night?’
For a second my brain froze. That question, and the fact it was the first time I'd heard Ryland Cooper's voice since he'd buried me alive, made me hesitate. ‘Morning, Coop,’ I said, trying to gain a few seconds thinking time.
‘You gotta stop losing your tail Maddie; it's partly there for your own good but most importantly you's giving Scott the jitters.’
‘Fuck him. And I told you Coop, I'm not having your monkeys watch me twenty-four-seven. So stick that up your arse big man, and see how it feels!’
‘Whoa, you get out of bed the wrong side this morning, Maddie? Believe it or not I'm on your side, even if you are a moron.’
‘Sorry, it fucks me right off when I'm not trusted.’
‘You's using fuck more than I am today.’
‘Yeah? Well here's another one - stop fucking calling me Maddie!’
For a few seconds the phone was silent. ‘Ok deWinter, getting the impression I'm not your best mate right now. But I didn't call to have a go. Got a bit of news.’
‘Go on.’
‘Nothing spectacular, just that the techies picked up a transmission from one of the others last night. First time any of them apart from Zana have transmitted since we've been listening in.’
‘Which one was it?’
‘Arik. The guy with the long black hair who works at the same research unit as Red Mist.’
‘Don't suppose it was decipherable.’
‘Nah. But now there's a second mark transmitting Scott reckons things are ramping up. So that’s giving him the jitters from two directions… and that ain't good for me if you get the point?’
I managed a laugh, somehow. ‘You have my heartfelt sympathy. You a tiger or a pussycat?’
‘Find your own lines, Maddie.’
‘I take it you've got a message for me then?’
‘Is it that obvious? Scott says if they're ramping up then so do we.’
‘Which right now means me.’
‘Pinning all our hopes on you, pretty girl. You gotta up the anti with Zana.’
‘Thinking of taking her away for the weekend, if she'll go for that.’ I shook my head, didn't have a clue where that thought had come from, it was like someone else was making the decisions. But as I quickly churned it over it made good sense. ‘If I can get her out of London for a couple of days you'll know nothing is about to kick off; it's not going to happen without her. And maybe away from everything with a little wine and good company, she'll relax and drop her guard.’
‘You ain't just a pretty face are you, girl? God help anyone you set your sights on.’
‘Zana isn't just anyone though, Coop.’
‘You make sure you mean that in a work-related way and not a personal one. And make this weekend happen, Maddie.’
The phone clicked off. I sat back, a slight smile on my face. I wasn't sure why it was there; a half hour ago it was all I could do to keep myself in one piece. And I hadn't a clue where the weekend-away idea had come from, but now I'd got my brain around it, I realised it would serve two purposes.
Neither of which I'd mentioned to Coop.
For one thing, it would keep Zana and the suitcase apart a little longer. If she agreed to leave London with me tonight, I would know she wasn't so desperate to get back to Dawson's Hill.
But purpose number two was now filling me with enough dread to easily put the nightmare to bed. The one I'd already had anyway.
The very near future could well bring me a far more horrific dream-come-true.
The time had come. If Zana agreed to come away with me, I was going to use the weekend to bite the bullet, and tell her why we'd met in the first place.
Chapter 31
I picked up my own phone, pulled up Zana's number. She answered after three seconds.
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