Dante’s Inferno
By
Annmarie Ortega
Dedication
This is dedicated to Wendi.
I promise not to laugh…
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Dante Inferno by Annmarie Ortega
Red Rose Publishing
Copyright© 2007 Annmarie Ortega
ISBN: 978-1-60435-136-1
ISBN: 1-60435-136-5
Cover Artist: Red Rose Publishing
Editor: Jean Paq
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews. Due to copyright laws you cannot trade, sell or give any ebooks away.
Red Rose Publishing
www.redrosepublishing.com
Forestport, NY 13338
Dante’s Inferno
By
Annmarie Ortega
Prologue
Millie was lost again. Even though she had gotten driving directions online, she still somehow ended up in the middle of a neighborhood she didn't know.
Trying to find her way back to the expressway but not having much luck, she was driving slowly looking for a street sign so she could figure out exactly where she was. An antique shop caught her eye. Millie always loved antique jewelry and since this was a store she had never seen before, she had to stop.
When Millie entered the shop, there was the twinkle of chimes as the door opened. The shop smelled musty and of old books. Millie could see dust dancing in the air from what light worked its way through the dingy front windows.
At the back of the store, sat an old woman with snow-white hair behind a glass display case. Millie worked her way to the display case, wanting to see what kind of jewelry she had. As Millie looked down in the case at the various pieces of costume jewelry, an item caught her eye--a gold watch on a long, gold chain. Millie leaned over to get a better look. It was beautiful. The old lady noticed Millie admire it through the glass.
“Let me show you the watch, dear,” the old lady said
Millie nodded as the woman took it from the case, handing it to her. She turned the watch over to see the backside. There were intricate designs etched in gold with the words “Love is timeless” written in calligraphy. Millie instantly loved it. She knew she had to own it.
“How much is this?” Millie asked the woman, hoping the price would be reasonable.
“Fifty dollars and you can have it, dear, but if I sell it to you, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
Millie thought the woman was a little eccentric, but didn’t mind answering whatever she wanted to ask. “Sure, I don’t mind,” she replied. It had to be lonely sitting in the deserted shop all day.
“Do you like to travel?” the woman asked with a smile.
“Sure,” Millie answered, “but I really haven’t had a chance to lately. My sister and I were taking care of our mom. She passed away a few months ago,” Millie explained. It had been hard on her and her sister, Dayna, taking turns staying with their mom, but they wanted her to be able to stay at home at the end of her illness. Millie felt like she was still just getting her own life back.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the woman told her with a sympathetic voice. “Well maybe now you’ll be able to travel, go somewhere romantic, meet a nice man…” the woman trailed off.
Millie smiled at the old woman’s words. Meet a nice man. She hadn't gone on a date for over a year. Her love life and sex life was non-existent. She looked down at the watch.
“Do you have any idea about the inscription on this?” Millie asked as she ran her fingertip over the words.
“Oh, ‘Love is timeless?’ you mean? Well I think it means exactly what it says. Love does not know weeks, days, or hours like we do. It simply exists. Love is timeless.”
Millie liked the woman’s explanation. The idea of love never-ending, going forever was a romantic idea. She opened her purse to take out fifty dollars for the watch. Handing the woman the money she watched her put it in a box behind the counter.
“Thank you,” Millie said as she turned to leave the store. As she walked to the door, she put the watch on, pulling the chain over her head. Millie was about to push open the door when the woman called back to her.
“Dear?”
Millie turned around to the old lady. “Yes?”
“All sales are final, dear.”
Millie nodded her head. “Ok, thanks,” she told her as she exited the store. She looked down at the watch that lay at her breastbone. Why would someone want to return such a beautiful watch? she thought.
Chapter One
Millie fell from the sky landing on the grass with a thud. She landed so hard she literally had the wind knocked out of her. No matter how many times she time jumped, she never knew how she was going to arrive. Today was with a fall, flat on her face, that hurt like a son of a bitch.
As she sat up on her knees to look around, she tugged on the chain around her neck, pulling out the gold watch she always wore. The hands were slowly spinning backwards, suddenly stopping before her eyes. She had arrived…she just didn’t know where or when.
Millie sighed, then stood up to get a better view of the landscape around her, trying to figure out where the hell she was. The grass was green and lush, the sky bright blue with occasional wisps of white. It was a beautiful day wherever she was. There were hills in the distance, beyond which Millie could see some mountains. She didn't really see anything though that told her where she was. She hated not knowing.
When Millie stood, she noticed what she was wearing, a long flowing white type of gown that connected at one shoulder like a toga. There were grass stains on it from when she had hit the ground. On her feet were sandals.
“I look like a mess and I just got here,” she mumbled to herself staring at the grass stains on her dress. She took the watch, tucking it back under her dress so no one would see it. The watch was what made her move through time. When the hands started spinning backwards, she knew she was going to be time jumping soon. That was what she called her traveling through time--time jumping.
The first time she had time traveled, she was terrified. Millie had only owned the watch for a few days when she noticed the hands starting to spin backwards.
Holding the watch in her hand she tried shaking it, but the hands continued to move backwards. The next thing she knew she was in a different time and a different country. When she finally ended up back in her own time, she hightailed it back to the antique store to return the watch. It scared the hell out of her. She did not want it anymore.
When she got to where the store had been, there was a vacant lot overgrown with weeds. It scared her even more because she was absolutely sure she was on the correct street. There was no sign a store had ever been there. The store had just disappeared.
A nervous wreck, Millie drove home with shaking hands. Once back in her apartment, she went to her bedroom, put the watch in her sock drawer, burying it under her gym socks. When she woke up the next morning, the watch was back around her neck. Millie screamed in fear as she pulled it off. She held it in her hand, astonished at what had happened.
She got out of bed and walked outside to her apartment building's dumpster in the alley, She didn't care that she was going outside still dressed in her pajamas . If she couldn't get rid of the watch by returning it, she was going to throw it away. She tossed it in the large garbage can, then walked back inside.
The next mor
ning when Millie awoke, the watch was back around her neck, so she took a more drastic action. She dressed and drove herself to downtown Chicago, stopping at Randolph and Canal streets.
Millie parked her car, then walked the half block to the bridge that was over the Chicago River. She dangled the watch over the side of the bridge, the gold shining in the sunlight. When she let it go, it dropped straight down barely making a splash as it sunk into the river.
Various attempts at getting rid of the watch showed Millie that it was no use. No matter where she put it, when she woke up, it was back around her neck. After a few weeks, she gave up and just wore it.
Millie put her hands on her hips as she moved in a slow circle taking another look around.
“Hmmm…” she said as she noticed a road leading to what looked like a city in the distance surrounded by a great wall. There were some people riding on carts while others traveled by foot on the road. It was the only sign of civilization she had seen so far. Considering she didn't have any other options, she started walking towards the road to the city.
As Millie followed the road, she tried to mingle in with the other people walking. Looking at the people around her, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to blend in easily. Everyone she saw was much darker than her, their skin, hair and eyes. Millie had pale, fair skin with golden blonde hair and blue eyes. Millie felt extremely self-conscious and out of place.
From the type of clothing everyone wore, she decided she must be in Roman times. What she needed to do was talk to someone to find out what year it was plus the name of the city she was slowly approaching. It was strange the way time jumping worked. Even if she didn't know where she was or what year she was in, when she spoke to people, they always understood her. In her ears she spoke and heard the English she used everyday even though she knew this could not be possible.
She often wished that the watch had come with an instruction manual. Everything Millie knew about the watch was from trial and error or personal experience. She wished she knew when the watch was going to send her into the past but, as of yet, there was no pattern that she could determine. She never knew when the hands would start to move backwards.
Moreover, most of the time when the time jumped, she would only be in that time for two or three days. She had learned to just go with the flow and try to blend in with the people around her until she was returned back to her own time.
Millie was not watching where she was walking when she suddenly tripped, falling to her knees.
“What the hell?” she said to herself as she hit the ground for the second time in less than an hour. She shifted to sit down on the road pulling up her now even dirtier skirt. The strap on her sandal had broken. Great, she thought sarcastically to herself as she took off her sandal to see if there was anything she could do to fix it. Determining there was nothing she could do, she decided the sandal was worthless.
“Can I help you?” said a man’s voice from beside her. She hadn’t noticed anyone approach her.
Millie looked up to see an incredibly handsome man looking down at her. He was what she would describe as drop-dead gorgeous. He had short dark hair with dark tanned skin. His brown eyes had a mischievous twinkle in them. He wore a blue toga type dress that displayed muscular arms and legs. If he lived in her time, he would have been an actor or model with his ruggedly handsome good looks, Millie thought.
“My sandal is broken,” she explained as she feebly held up the sandal for him to see. She felt like a complete idiot with the broken sandal and dirty dress. So much for a dazzling first impression she thought.
“Ahh…that explains why I saw you fall the way you did,” he said with a chuckle.
Millie felt herself turn red at the thought of this guy watching her go down like a sack of potatoes. She felt utterly humiliated. This was one of the times she wished she was as graceful as her sister, Dayna. Her sister would never find herself sitting in the dirt babbling like an idiot. Of course, her sister would never find herself with some sort of crazy watch that sent her back through time either.
“Would you like to ride with me into the city?” he asked as he pointed to the cart behind him on the side of the road. His question brought Millie back to reality.
“No, that’s ok. I can walk,” Millie told him. She didn't have any money with her to pay this man. She didn’t like the idea of owing someone she happened not to know.
“You’re going to walk all the way to the city with only one shoe? This road is rocky. Why don’t you let me give you a ride?” he asked again. He didn’t seem to understand her wanting to walk.
Millie looked towards the gates of the city. It was quite a distance; it would certainly make more sense to take the ride.
He smiled down at her. “Don’t worry about paying me back. I’ve been traveling by myself for a few days, so some company will be a nice change,” he explained.
Millie weighed her options.
“A ride would be great then,” Millie told him as she started to get up. The man offered his hand and she took it as he helped her to her feet.
“My name is Dante,” he told her as they started walking back to his cart.
“I’m Millie,” she said with a smile. The ride to the city was going to be interesting, she thought. Dante was a real hottie.
When they reached the cart, Dante climbed on first, and then offered his hand to Millie helping her to climb up next to him.
“Thanks again for the ride. This is great of you,” she said as she sat there trying to smooth her dirty clothes. It was a hopeless attempt.
“Like I said, I can use the company. I've been gone from the city for a few weeks. I have been traveling back alone for days, anxious to get back home. I’m a baker so I’m sure they need me at work,” he explained.
“Well I’m sure your wife will be glad to see you again,” Millie said, waiting to see what his reaction would be to her not so subtle comment.
Dante snapped the reins, urging the donkeys forward.
“Oh, I’m not married,” Dante said with a sideways look to Millie. She could tell from the grin on his face he knew he had said the answer she wanted to hear. “Are you…married?” he asked back at her.
“No, no I’m not,” Millie replied. She liked that he had asked her the question back. It made her heart race a little. They both looked at each other, and then quickly turned back to the road. There was an awkward silence between them for a few moments.
“So where are you going in the city?” Dante asked Millie.
“I’m just going to visit some friends,” she replied vaguely. It was the standard stock answer she used whenever she was asked where she was heading: she was going to see friends. It usually worked in any time period she found herself.
“Well if you tell me where your friends live, I’ll take you to their home,” Dante offered her. “I’m very familiar with the city.”
Millie sat quiet for a moment. This was the part of time jumping she hated. The part where she had to start lying to people she met because she just could not tell them the truth. She could imagine what his reaction would be if she told him the truth. If she told him there were no friends and she was actually from the future, he would think she was insane.
“That’s ok. You don’t have to. Taking me to the city is good enough,” she told him. She really wished she could ask him what the name of the city was, but there was no way she could without sounding like a complete idiot.
“If you change your mind, just let me know,” he told her letting her know his offer still stood if she changed her mind.
“Ok, thanks,” she agreed with him, but she already knew she was not going to be changing her mind.
Millie absently put her hand down on the seat next to her, feeling her hand rest on top of Dante’s. Immediately, she pulled her hand away, folding her hands on her lap. She hadn’t noticed that he held the reins now with only one hand. When she had touched him, it felt like she had touched a live wire. A jolt of electricity had s
hot through her body.
“Sorry,” she apologized as her face reddened with embarrassment.
“It’s alright,” he said laughing at her. He could see she was embarrassed by placing her hand on top of his.
There was silence that was even more awkward between them. Millie tried to think of something to say to Dante, but her mind kept coming up blank. Finally, Dante broke the deafening silence between them.
“We’re lucky the weather is so beautiful today,” he said.
“Yeah,” Millie agreed and nodded. She thought of how pathetic she was. Here she was sitting beside this amazing man with absolutely nothing. Looking over at him again, Millie thought of how she had touched his hand. She started to imagine his hands on her body. She looked at his face just when he was licking his lips. She started imagining his mouth on her neck and her breasts, his tongue circling her erect nipples before he started to suckle them.
Dante looked at her right at that moment. Something flashed in his eyes. It was as if he knew what she was thinking or that he had been thinking the same thoughts about her. Millie swallowed, finding her throat so dry it was difficult.
Finally, they reached the city gates, entering with the throngs of other people. Dante steered the cart down the city streets stopping in front of a building that had a sign reading “Bakery” on it. Millie inhaled the delicious smell of baking bread, her stomach rumbled. She thought this must be the bakery where Dante worked.
Dante jumped off the cart, and then turned around to help Millie down. A man came out from the bakery. Dante indicated to him to take the cart. Dante and Millie stood facing each other, neither one speaking. The street they stood on was filled with people. Someone walking past Millie bumped into her from behind and she fell forward into Dante. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her. Their bodies were pressed against each other, chest to chest. Millie looked up at Dante whose face was just inches from her own. She thought he was even better looking up close.
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