“Is she hurt?”
“She’s all right. I just need to get her inside.”
“Hurry,” he said, stepping aside. Before he closed the door, he cast a suspicious gaze outside in a quick search. He looked up when he heard a helicopter in the distance and quickly closed the door.
“Her room,” Judas said.
The man lifted the hatchet up toward the landing. “Through the west wing, the third door on the left.”
Judas hurried up the stairs, his gaze furtively sliding toward the man and his hatchet until Sugar was safe in her room. He had just laid her down when she began erratically moving her head and mumbling. Judas couldn’t understand what she said but heard the names of her sons mingled with her speech. When he moved to get up, she laid a hand on his arm. “Please don’t leave me.”
“You’re safe now,” he assured her.
“Where am I?”
“Home.”
“Thank God,” she said and seemed to wilt.
Judas felt a brush of something and recognized it immediately. It was the second time tonight that he’d felt the forbidden surge of desire so furtively touch him. But that wasn’t all. With it came kindness, tenderness…oh hell, all the signs of humanity.
Recognizing the danger, he pulled away and rose from the bed as if it were on fire, his thoughts taking gigantic leaps through his mind. He couldn’t let it happen again. He was used to a curtain of coldness and death that constantly surrounded him, not a blanket of warmth. It wasn’t fair to put him through this, to make him struggle with this war going on inside him. He’d never been around anyone like her, in a world where goodness and decency reigned. He detested this job his father had given him, and he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
A warning cloud darkened his features. “Nothing,” he muttered, and raked trembling fingers through his hair.
She gazed at him, the light revealing his scar. “How did that happen?”
“What?” he asked, puzzled.
“The scar, around your eye.”
“Oh…uh…” he began, quickly lifting a hand and touching his scar. “It’s nothing. A fight. That’s all.”
“I’m sorry you got hurt.”
“Sorry? For me?” he said, again feeling that blasted warmth coming over him. “No need to feel sorry for me. I gave as good as I got,” he lied.
“Well,” Sugar said, looking down at herself, “if you’ll excuse me, I need to…”
“Wait. I need to know a couple of things.” He sat down beside her on the bed, and his words came forth slowly and hesitantly. “Sugar, is there any way you can resist the rays of the moon?”
“Really, Judas, if you have to ask that question, then you don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you think, but from the other side.”
“There you go talking in riddles again. Like tonight, with that man. I don’t know what you’re saying half the time. Why don’t you tell me something I’ll understand? A curse is not something a mere human being can…” Her words stopped suddenly, and her eyes darted toward him full of curiosity. “But you’re not human, are you? I saw you pull a storm from out of the sky, for God’s sake. I mean, you…you can’t be from this world.” Suddenly her eyes narrowed on him. “Where are you from, Judas? And who are you? Why would you, a stranger—”
“I’m nobody,” he said, sorry he had aroused her curiosity again. “I just want to help. Why do you have such a hard time accepting that?”
“That’s another question you shouldn’t have to ask. Look at it from my point of view. I don’t know you from Adam, but you expect me not to ask questions and to blindly trust you? Well, I’m trying, but it’s hard.”
“Look, I don’t blame you for being confused. All I ask is that you keep the questions to a minimum. At this point it doesn’t matter who I am or why I’m doing this.”
“Not to you, maybe,” she said, her voice filled with tension. After a small hesitation, she relented. “All right, I won’t ask any questions…for now,” she emphasized.
“Good enough,” Judas said, then turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“You need to get some rest. I’ll…”
“I meant to ask, where will you be if I need you? I think, under the circumstances, it would be best if you stayed here. What do you think?”
“Here?” he said, looking around.
“The mansion is large. Even scary at times. It would be nice to have someone here besides me and the staff.”
“Speaking of the staff. The man downstairs. He wore an apron, had an ax—”
“You must mean Dirk. He’s been with me for several years. He showed up one day after his father died, and stayed.”
“Does he know…?”
Sugar hesitated. “Yes, he knows. Everyone here knows, but they’re loyal servants. I pay them very well for that loyalty. Where else could they go and get three times their normal pay for the jobs they do?” Her eyes filled with remembrance. “I learned that from my late husband.” Looking back at him, she continued. “They know enough not to stir much during the full moon, but still manage to tend to my needs well enough. Dirk is different. He doesn’t seem to be afraid. He will show you to your room. Just go down and tell him you have been hired.”
“No, not hired. I’m not part of the staff, I’m—”
“I know, but we have to tell him something. How would it look, my inviting a stranger to stay in the house?”
“Are you kidding? I’ll be in a different room, in a different bed. Aren’t you carrying this southern belle stuff a little too far? I happen to know you’re from the wicked state of California, where the girls are hot and loose.”
Her face reflected anger. “Now look here, Judas, or whatever the hell your name really is. In spite of what happened tonight, I’m not a whore, and I don’t bring strange men into my home.”
“No?” he asked a heavy dose of sarcasm in his voice. “What about these full moon liaisons? You have a studio here that has blood scattered from one end to the other. Don’t tell me you don’t sleep around.”
“That’s not me. That’s…someone else.”
“Oh, sure, blame it on the alter ego. Look, don’t try and con me, lady. I’ve got a dossier on you that would make the burning of Atlanta look like a Girl Scout campfire.”
“A dossier? What are you doing with a dossier on me?”
Judas knew he’d said too much. “Never mind, I lied.”
“You men are all alike. I was a child when I met my husband. When he died I went back home. When I inherited this miserable mansion I came back. That was seventeen years later after my sons had been ripped from my arms. Seventeen years of thinking my sons were dead, seventeen years of taking care of a man who thought motherhood was an inconvenience, so he told me my boys had died. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that. The only men in this lousy world that were any good were my two sons.”
“And you killed the youngest.”
Judas was sorry the moment he said it. He could see the pain on her face as she screamed out her torment. He could only imagine the bloody pictures that might be going through her mind of a dark basement and the well-known antique dagger covered with Cristo’s blood. As Judas watched her beat the bed with her small fists, he ran to her and grabbed her.
“I’m sorry, Sugar. I don’t know what made me say that.” They struggled with each other for several minutes until Judas realized that there was only one way he could stop her. Quickly grabbing her chin, he forcibly turned it toward him and covered her lips with his own. He felt her melt against him, her nails digging into his arms and her hands climbing slowly until they circled his neck. As their passion reached its peak, they began to sink down on the bed while wildly throwing their clothes aside.
With bated breath and frenzied movements, Judas buried his face in the fragrant softness of her breasts, drawing her soft flesh into his mouth. As his passion mo
unted, he turned her onto her back and lifted her beautiful ass. Her long nails scratched the bed while she moved her butt seductively, presenting herself to him. He then rose up on his knees, and as his cock became rock hard, he leaned forward to squeeze and kiss her thighs. When he couldn’t wait another minute, he opened her up and thrust himself in.
“Oh, Judas!” she cried out. “Oh, God!”
His thrusts began, hot and heavy, and in the midst of her moans and screams, Judas emptied himself inside her. He waited for her to climax, but when she didn’t, he leaned forward and turned her on her side. In the spoon position, his arms circled her body, his fingers delving deeply into her cunt from behind. With expert movements he played her clit, going ever deeper until he found her G-spot. She began to buck wildly and gasped at the ecstasy that burned through her. At last he brought her to a raging hot climax that had her holding on to him until her strength returned.
“God, Judas,” she said as she began to breathe easier, “I’ve never felt anything like it. My God, what do you do for an encore?”
“Anything you want,” he whispered seductively in her ear.
* * * *
Suddenly, she looked down at herself, at her nakedness, remembered her wanton behavior, and felt ashamed. She quickly pulled away, lifted the back of her hand, and wiped at her mouth. “You must think…you must think I’m cheap,” she whispered.
“No, Sugar, I don’t think you’re cheap at all.”
“Just for the record, I think we need to keep our mind on business. No more funny business. Don’t you agree?”
He grabbed her and pulled her close. “Tell me that the next time you need to be fucked, Sugar. Now you’re satisfied, with no hunger to cloud your decisions. But when your body begins to cry out for a cock, remember mine and how good it feels inside you.”
“How dare you speak to me like that!” she shouted and raised her hand to slap him, but he caught it in midair.
“Like what, Sugar? I told the truth. You blamed the situation at the club on me, but the truth is, I happened to be in the right place at the right time for you to have yourself a little fling. Lucky that I know how to handle a woman like you.”
She jerked her hand out of his. “Well, the fling is over.”
“Over, hell! It’s my job to protect you.”
“With your hands all over me? Please leave,” she whispered, with a look on her face that told Judas the minute he closed the door she would cry.
It tore his heart out, but he had to distance himself from her. “I’ll…uh…I’ll go now and talk to Dirk about a room.” His eyes met hers. “That is, if you still want me to stay.”
The cynicism of his remark grated on her. “Of course, I do. That hasn’t changed. I simply want you to do the job you were sent to do and leave my personal business to me.”
“I understand,” he whispered.
And left.
Chapter 12
Judas walked down the stairs through frigid shadows that hung and leaned. His cold soul reached out to them as though trying to grasp something it knew, something it understood, something it was familiar with. He welcomed the chill, allowed it to penetrate him as he neared the bottom where he was greeted by a conflicting warmth. The warmth reached out, touching his body, his face, but not his soul.
His black soul. His cold soul. His wicked soul.
He turned toward a wide arch and saw Dirk kneeling before the fireplace, stoking a fire. The moment he entered, Dirk rose from his crouch and turned around, again holding a working utensil that could be used as a weapon.
Judas could almost see him wielding it against him.
“I’ve been told to ask about a room. It seems I’ve been invited to stay.”
“You’ll find one already prepared in the East Wing.”
“The East Wing,” Judas murmured, then looked upward into a dark corridor. “No, I…you must understand that I can’t be that far away from the lady of the house. If you would give me a room closer…next to hers, perhaps?”
“That wing looks out on the beach. If you’re a light sleeper, you might want to reconsider and take the one in the East Wing. It’s a little quieter.”
“A light sleeper? Why—”
“Some people can’t sleep that close to the ocean. It can get noisy. Waves crashing, gulls squawking, that kind of thing.”
“I have no problem with waves and gulls.”
Dirk shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’ll find it all made up.” He hesitated, letting Judas turn and get a few feet away from him before he added, “The ghosts like fresh sheets.”
When Judas heard Dirk’s last few words, he stopped abruptly and looked over his shoulder. “Ghosts?”
“Sometimes.”
The word was loaded, but instead of taking issue with it, Judas let it rest. The hatchet-faced man was simply using this infantile trick to let Judas know that he was unwelcome here.
He turned to go upstairs.
The eyes that pierced his back were every bit as sharp as a dagger, but Judas was determined not to look back. He proceeded, making sure his pace was slow and deliberate, until he entered the corridor darkness. Once there, he stopped, turned, and looked back to see Dirk slowly return to the fire and continue stoking it.
What is Dirk’s problem? he wondered.
From the moment he’d first seen him, something told him he was trouble. Somehow he knew he’d be taking a chance every time he turned his back on him. Now he was almost tempted to feel his back for blood from Dirk’s piercing eyes.
What could he be afraid of? Another man in the house stealing his thunder? Maybe he had designs on Sugar and didn’t like the competition. While several possibilities whirled in his mind, he approached Sugar’s room, passed it, and walked to the next room.
The moment he opened the door, all remaining energy seemed to drain from his body, and he couldn’t wait to take his flying suit off and get into the shower. The streams in the woods were cold and refreshing, but they couldn’t take the place of a hot shower. He languished for long moments beneath the misty darts until he finally felt clean again. As soon as he stepped out, he noticed a bathrobe hanging on a hook and put it on while rifling through drawers and closets, looking for something to wear. He didn’t find anything, so he pulled the robe a little tighter around himself.
Since the shower relaxed him to the point of melting his bones, he longed for the bed, but heard the waves crashing against the shore and decided he would take a walk along the veranda. The moment he walked out, he was once again struck by the vastness of the ocean and couldn’t deny his admiration of the power that created it.
His journey to Earth had shown him many things that amazed him, but the ocean was without a doubt the most amazing. He loved the sea air, inhaling a gust of night air that could blow hot or cold, depending on some divine being’s decision.
Now, as it blew around his head, tangling his wet hair, his attention was taken by the golden splash of light coming from Sugar’s room. He knew he shouldn’t, but he simply couldn’t resist and walked very silently toward it. He slipped into a pocket of darkness where his view of the room was uninterrupted and gasped at what he saw.
Sugar wasn’t alone.
She was floating in the arms of a man Judas immediately recognized. He seemed to have an illusory quality. Real, but not real. His dark body as big as life, although Judas knew he was only Sugar’s memories of her husband, memories she brought to life by clinging to that nostalgic time as she would to a life preserver in a stormy sea.
She lay on the bed wrapped seductively in a sheet while the man hovered over her, stroking, rubbing, and kissing her. Moans of ecstasy rose from her throat as she writhed beneath his touch. Whispers of his name drifted on the night air while he ravaged her. All at once, Judas saw a shimmer of the moon, and he began to change before his eyes. In moments, she was surrounded by a hulking man-beast who was growling as he made wild, passionate love to her.
He was surprised to learn that s
he wasn’t frightened at this change, but it seemed to excite her. With her lovely, curvaceous body free of the sheet, she became wild, handling his cock and slipping it into her cunt for her pleasure. The two of them made a hellish silhouette against the rising moon, the man-beast growling, licking, and lifting Sugar in his arms as he continued to pleasure her while she, in turn, pleasured him.
In that moment, Judas felt a deep sorrow because he knew that Sugar would never forget a single detail of his face or body. Any man who came into her life would have to battle the memory of this charmer who held all her memories captive. And then, while Judas watched closely, the glittering vision of this man began to evaporate, once again sinking back into the dark stillness of her mind.
She woke to her own wild, echoing cry of delight.
The room became silent, with only the sound of the surf crashing over the shore and then bleeding away over and over again. It sounded like a giant fist pounding against his head. It kept pounding until he realized someone was knocking on his door. As quickly as he could, he grabbed his robe, hurried out on the veranda, and quickly stepped into his room.
“Come in,” he called out.
When the door opened, Dirk stood on the other side carrying a tray. “I thought you might be hungry, so I fixed you a tray.”
“Thanks,” Judas said, feeling as if his sin was etched on his forehead. He quickly reached up to smooth his hair.
Dirk set the tray down, then turned toward the door.
“By the way,” Judas said as he extended his hand, “I don’t think I introduced myself. My name is Judas. I’m here to be of service to…” Realizing that didn’t sound quite right, he tried again. “I mean, I’m here to…uh…help.”
“Strange name,” Dirk interrupted, his face scowling. “You know who Judas was, don’t you? He was…”
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