It mattered little to her about dates and expirations because she was so hungry. Heather figured out that the grocery store threw out things with past dates on them every day at opening time. She was eating good until someone caught her.
Heather had been wounded when the man who owned the store shot at her. She kept running until her leg was so sore that she made her way into another unused building. By then her leg was sore to the touch, and she had nothing to clean it with. That was what got her caught this time.
The police officer, Raye, had come upon her when she’d been sobbing as quietly as she could. Her leg was really infected by now, and she was sure that someone was going to come up on her body someday and wonder who she was. Looking up when she heard a sound, Heather was sure that her parents had found her and fought hard not to be taken.
“I have you. Come on, honey, I have you. I’m not going to hurt you.” The kindness of her voice had her stopping her fight. Looking at the beautiful woman, she cried harder. “Come on now. I have you. We’ll stop by to see a friend of mine, then I’ll take you someplace safe. I’m betting that you’re Heather Groves, but we won’t tell anyone, all right? You’ll be safe with me.”
The kindness and the fact that her car was cooler than the building had been had Heather falling asleep. When she woke there was a strange man near her, but she couldn’t fight him. Someone had tied her to the gurney she was on. But it was his smile—huge, with the whitest teeth she’d ever seen—that calmed her again. With a pinch to her arm, Heather fell asleep again.
He’d stitched her up, Raye had told her. Nineteen of them, and he had cleaned the wound. But she was to go back to the jail so that the man, a Doctor Sheppard, wouldn’t be found with her. Her parents, it seemed, were out looking for their daughter, and they were not being nice about it.
And now, here she was in a jail cell with food and a blanket. Heather looked up when someone cleared their throat. The tall man had her moving back from where she was, trying once again to make herself into the smallest ball she could. Once he sat down, she saw something on the man that made her wipe her eyes several times. She could have sworn that the man had wings.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Heather. That is who you are, aren’t you?” She nodded at him, and a woman came in. She too had wings, but Heather didn’t believe that for a moment. “This is my wife, Lila, and I’m Benny. I wanted to talk to you for a little while, and then I have some friends that would like to take you home. It’s a man and wife, and they’re about the nicest people you could meet.”
“I don’t want to be hurt again.” Benny said that that would never happen with the Daniels. “Everyone says that, but they do it anyway. I don’t want to go back with my mom and dad either. They’re not nice people.”
“No, they are not. And we’re looking for them. Not for you, never that, but to arrest them. They’ve been killing long enough, don’t you think?” Heather said nothing but drank the rest of her milk. “As I was saying, Tholan and Parker, they’re coming in to see you. They’re good people, as I said, and they’re bringing you some shoes. Officer Raye said that she didn’t find any when she found you.”
“I don’t have any.” Benny nodded as if he knew that. “They said that you’d bring me cookies. I don’t want any, but if I could have them wrapped up, in case this don’t work out with those people, I could have myself some food.”
“I think it will surprise you how well this will work out with them.” Lily handed her a plastic container full of something. Opening it up, Heather looked at the woman again, and her smile brought one out on her own face. “I didn’t know what you’d like, so I had Judith make up a variety for you.”
Lily asked to look at her leg and Heather let her. It was still very sore, but not as bad as it had been. She couldn’t believe that it had only been this morning that the doctor had fixed it. Heather asked if she really had to go with these people. Benny laughed a little before he spoke.
“If you don’t like them, we can call someone else in to take you home. It’s only to give you a safe place and a shower to use. Food will be plentiful, and I think you’re going to love the house. It’s really nice.” Heather didn’t care about houses—she wanted a bath, a soft bed, and no one trying to find her. “Those will come to you as well.”
She stared at him and he smiled again. Fear made her stand up, and as she backed her way to the door, she bumped into someone. The arms that picked her up were warm, soft, and full of something that she’d never felt before. Heather had no name for it, but she looked into the eyes of the woman who held her, the man right behind her. They weren’t going to harm her. Heather didn’t know where that thought had come from, but she believed it. Reaching her fingers up, she ran them over the nose, then the cheeks of the woman.
“You’re very soft and clean.” She nodded at her, and Heather looked at the man. “Are you going to hurt me? I won’t let you if you think to do that.”
“Nay, I’d never harm anyone as beautiful and as precious as you are.” She believed him. And when he reached for her, she went to him willingly. “We’ve only just gotten the room done up for you. Well, it was my wife’s room when she’d been living in the house once before, but we did get you a new mattress. That was fun. Parker let me bounce on it. I’ve never done that before.”
He was odd but nice, and when Officer Benny said her name, she turned to look at him, tightening her grip on the shirt of the man. Lily handed her the cookies that she’d dropped and kissed her on the cheek. Heather put her hand over the kiss. Something as simple as having people treat her kindly seemed so foreign to her.
“This is Parker and Tholan Daniels. They’re the couple that I was telling you about.” Benny told them how she’d not wanted to go home with them. “But I think she has since changed her mind. If you guys can handle this, I’ll take care of things here, as well as paperwork. Let me know if you have any troubles. I don’t think you will, but you’ll call if you do.”
“We will.” She was taken out to a new car. It was one of those kinds that she’d seen in driveways, the kind of car that her father tried to steal all the time. “Once we get home, I’ll run a bath for you and see about getting a brush through your hair. It’s a pretty color, isn’t it?”
Heather didn’t know so said nothing. It was just hair as far as she was concerned. The drive to the house was quiet—they didn’t turn on the radio to drown her out. Not that she was saying anything, but when their car worked, her father would do that, telling her that if she did talk, he didn’t want to hear it.
By the time they pulled up in front of the biggest house she’d ever seen, Heather had worked herself up into fear again. She was in the car with strangers. They were taking her to their house to do whatever they wanted. When the door beside her was opened, it wasn’t the couple who had come to get her, but another man, one that she’d seen before.
“I know you.” He nodded and put out his hand. “I’m afraid that they’ll hurt me. I don’t want to go inside.”
“They would rather die than to harm you. It will hurt them badly because you have been so neglected. I told you that I was going to keep you safe, did I not?” She nodded. “Then you must believe me once again when I tell you that you will forever be safe here. This I promise you.”
“Yes, all right.”
She took his hand and like before felt the tingle of something run up her arm. Going into the house, the man was gone, but she knew that he was close to her. He’d been there for her every step of the way to the building she’d been hiding in. Heather stepped into the house and knew that everything that she’d known before had been a lie. This was what a home felt like.
~*~
Tholan sat on the floor outside the bathroom to hear his wife, and hopefully soon to be daughter, speaking. Mostly Parker was telling her how sorry she was about the tangles in her hair and hurting her, and Heather was telling her it was all right. The two of them, it seemed to him, were getting along better than he�
�d expected. Especially so soon after bringing Heather into their lives.
When the door opened finally, Tholan stood up. He almost didn’t recognize the child when she stepped through the doorway and into the hall. She was clean, yes, but it was more than that. He could see freckles on her nose, the slight pink to her cheeks, as well as her lips that were no longer cracked and peeling. Touching his fingers to her hair, he smiled at her.
He got down on his knees to be eye level with her. “I thought that the other little girl had been sucked down the drain and they left us with you. My goodness, you are a pretty little girl, are you not? And freckles. I love freckles on cheeks. Parker has them as well.” She hid slightly behind Parker, and he had a feeling that he was scaring her. Backing up, Tholan stood up and walked down the hall to the room that had been Parker’s. “As I said before, we got you a new mattress. Tomorrow we will go shopping and find you things that you like.”
Tholan hoped that she’d follow him. The pajamas that she had on were too big, so when she entered the room with him, with Parker right behind her, Heather kicked off the bottoms and got onto the big bed. Once she was there, she looked around the room, and neither he nor Parker moved.
“Why would you change it? I don’t know that I can stay that long. They said my mom and dad are looking for me.” Tholan sat in the chair by the desk and Parker on the bed. “This is a pretty room. You lived here?”
“I did. When I was just a little girl like you. My mom, she passed away when I was born. There was a car accident.” Heather nodded. “You’re going to be here forever if we can convince you to have us. We’re newly married and were talking about children when the call came that you were needing someone to take you. But, as Lily said, if you don’t like us or want to go elsewhere, we—”
“No. I mean no, I don’t want to go anyplace else. I like this room too.” Heather looked around, then back at them. “Don’t let them get me. I don’t...one time I had to wear the mask of my enemy. They killed this really nice couple that didn’t mean anybody any harm. Their blood got all over me. And my mom said that I wasn’t to wash it off on account of it being the blood of my enemies.”
“That’s horrible.” Heather nodded at him when he spoke. “That will never happen here. We don’t kill...why, I don’t believe we even have any enemies, do we, Parker?”
“None that matter.” He’d forgotten about the demon and her stepmother. But she was right. None of them mattered, and he’d make sure that she never had a terrible thing like that done to her again. “Now. As we were saying, we will take you tomorrow to get something to wear that fits. We also have an appointment with a doctor. Lily is a good friend of ours, and she’s going to give you the okay to register for school. But for now, we have some people, again that we trust, that are going to come here and give you a good education until your parents are found. All right?”
“I don’t know anything about school. I mean, I’ve never been.” Tholan wanted to gather Heather up in his arms and hold her until the world understood that this wasn’t a way to treat a child. “I know how to read and stuff. And I know most of my numbers to say them, but that’s about all I can do. You going to take me back to them?”
“No. Why would you think that? You’re ours, Heather. As soon as I saw you and you hugged me, I knew right then that you were our daughter. Isn’t that right, Tholan?” He nodded at Parker but watched Heather. “Now, you go to sleep and Tholan and I will be close if you need anything. Our bedroom is at the end of the hallway. I showed you when we came up here, remember?”
“Yes, I remember.” Heather laid down and snuggled under the blankets. “This is the softest bed I ever had in my whole life. And I don’t want to change the room. I like it just the way it is. Even the dolls.”
They left her then, walking hand and hand out into the hall, but stopped when she asked for the door to be left slightly open.
Parker was crying a little as they made their way to the stairs. Neither of them wanted to leave her, he knew that, but to sit and watch her all night would be unsettling to her. So, they sat on the top step and waited. For what, Tholan wasn’t sure, but they weren’t going to be far away if she needed them. It was then that Boss showed up.
“If I were to promise you that she will not stir the rest of the night, and that I have Riss watching over her this first night, will you relax and get some rest? She is in the best place possible for her, and for you. Go. Have some fun, and let her protector watch over her.”
Tholan knew that if anything were to happen, Riss would protect Heather. He also knew that he’d be close at hand if he needed help. Putting out his hand, Parker took it, but she looked at Boss.
“Will she be ours?” He nodded. “I won’t ask you to promise me that. I know that you’d never lie or kid me about something so important to us. Will her parents be dealt with? I don’t mean killed, but get what they deserve?”
“What would you think they’d need to be punished? I’m only asking because you said that you didn’t mean for them to be killed. What would you like to see happen to them, Parker?” She looked at him, and Tholan told her that he loved her. He, too, would like to see them pay, but he didn’t know that death was it. “Let me tell you that they have murdered seven people in the last few years, and all of them have been witnessed by your daughter.”
“She told us about the mask. How can people do that to their own flesh and blood?” Tholan knew that it happened all the time. And as protectors, there was little to nothing they could do about it. “I want them to face their crimes.”
“They will. I promise.” There was something there, something that Boss wasn’t saying. Just as he was to ask for clarification, Tholan understood what He wasn’t saying.
Yes, he figured, they’d face someone for their crimes. It might not be in a court of law. They might not spend time in a human jail, but they would be judged, and judged for it all. Tholan then remembered that he had to tell Parker about her stepmother.
Taking her hand when Boss left them, he told her everything that he knew about Angela and the demon Merlin.
“Can he kill her? This demon, can he kill Angela? I don’t wish her death either, but I also think that she is going to suffer enough without being brutalized every day.” Tholan told her that that Angela had free will. “So, sort of, it’s a ‘she’s made her bed now she has to lie in it’ sort of thing?”
“I know that one, and yes, that is what she has to do. She has agreed to have whatever happens to her happen. She might have been tricked in some way, I do not know, but she did make a deal with a demon, and she could not have expected it to be easy on her.”
“No. I suppose not.” They were in the living room when she smiled at him. “The hot tub, do you understand it now? I mean, I know that we only got to spend a little time in it before Benny called, but you understand now?”
“I do.” Tholan grinned. “I should like to see you in it again. That little thing you had on, the bathing suit, it was very pretty on your body. Tell me that you’ll wear it for me again sometime soon?”
“I will, big boy. How about right now?”
Tholan felt like his chin hit the floor when she pulled her shirt off her body. Then when her shorts dropped too, he could only stand there and stare.
As Parker walked by him, she closed his mouth and went out the door. Tholan wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but it was a feeling that he could get used to. Good heavens, his wife was much more beautiful than he’d thought. And even before, he’d thought her the most beautiful creature of all time.
Following her out to the hot tub, he nearly fell over when she slid into the steaming water and moaned. Tholan felt his cock ache again, his body harden for his wife. And slipping into the water with her, Tholan knew that whatever came next, he was going to be a very happy man.
She came to sit over him, her body lush and wet, dew dripping off the tip of her beautiful nipples. Taking one of the pink tips into his mouth, he nibbled a bit then suckled
hard on it. When Parker moaned, he felt his cock stretch even more. It was painfully hard. But after last night’s quickie, as Parker had called it, he knew that he’d get relief soon.
“I want to sit on your cock. Ride you.” This was new too. He’d been too long at a desk to know all the newest things when it came to sex, but he was willing to try anything with this woman. “Hold your cock, and I’ll be able to slide down and over you. That way, I can rock back and forth over you until you want to move again.”
“I want to move now.” She smiled at him, and when she raised up, he kissed her belly before moving to do as she asked. As soon as she came down over him, slowly—wanting to make him suffer, he knew—Tholan was sure that his head was going to explode with the pleasure of it. “This is riding? I do not believe I have ever seen a horse ridden this way. This is very nice.”
As soon as she rolled her hips, her body swaying over his, Tholan knew that he wasn’t going to last long. As she picked up speed, he pulled her breast into his mouth, taking as much as he could into it. When she lifted both of her breasts, pressing them together, he took them both. He needed more, had to have more.
Standing up, her legs wrapped around him, Tholan laid her on the side of the tub. It was all the encouragement that he needed. Tholan took everything that she offered him. He knew, someplace in the back of his mind, that this was too hard on her, but when she cried out that she was coming, he released all his pent-up need into her, pounding her harder to empty himself.
She laid there for several seconds, then rolled to her belly. Standing on the bench in the tub, she told him—nay, ordered him—to take her again. Tholan didn’t understand at first, but she cleared that up for him.
Never would he have thought that he could please her so soon; his body was spent. But as soon as she spread her legs for him, Tholan entered her with his hardening cock and nearly fell back when she came right away.
Leaning over her, taking her again and again, he reached down over her belly into her womanhood and pinched the small nubbin that seemed to call to him. As soon as she came again, Tholan bit down on her shoulder as he released again.
Tholan: Mystic Protectors: An Angelic Paranormal Erotica Page 10