Echo in the Hall

by Cricket Starr

  Oh, but she’d noticed him. Even after she lost the ability to speak more than the last few words of any sentence spoken to her, she’d tried to communicate with him. Unfortunately it hadn’t worked out as she’d planned.

  She remembered it so clearly.

  He’d stood by that still pool, staring into the water, entranced by his own reflection, the result of a wicked curse. He’d said, “I love you,” into the water.

  From behind a tree, she’d repeated the words. It was the only time she’d be able to tell him how she felt.

  But he hadn’t noticed it was her voice he’d heard. Narcissus had thought his reflected image had told him of its love, and so he fallen deeper into the spell. She’d watched him starve himself by that pond and die his mortal death. When he died she tried to follow him.

  But death didn’t come easily to a nymph and instead she’d become a shadow of herself, her body fading away leaving nothing but a spirit that wandered the lonely spaces in the world, her voice the only thing left of her.

  The Goddess Aphrodite had found a skilled sculptor and convinced him to make a statue in her image, tying Echo’s spirit to the mortal world again and giving her a home. She was even allowed the solidity to walk the earth at times, but only if no one knew about it.

  Now someone knew, and that someone had spoken to her, words she could repeat back. What had they been again? Oh, yes. “Hello Echo. Having fun?”

  She stared at him. “Fun?”

  His smile grew bigger and he stepped closer. Echo had to crane her neck to look into his face. Great goddess, but he was a big man, even bigger than Narcissus, who hadn’t been considered small in his day. Whoever this human was, he had to be over six feet tall.

  “Yeah, you know, fun.”

  “Fun,” she said dubiously.

  “Sure,” the big man said confidently. “Fun, as in watching other people get off.”

  “Get off?” What did he mean by that? As always, Echo felt a surge of frustration. Once she’d been a great conversationalist and now she was reduced to repeating people’s words. It was terrible not being able to say what you want.

  “Get off. Like the Rockmans were doing. You know, having sex.”

  “Having sex?” she repeated in disbelief, her jaw dropping open. “Having sex!”

  The only way he’d know that she’d watched Narcissus and Violet was if he’d seen her watch them…and if he’d seen that, he’d seen…

  Horror filled her. This stranger had seen her with her fingers in her woman’s secret place, trying to pleasure herself. She thought nothing could be worse than being caught solid, but this was far more humiliating. Face aflame, she backed away from him.

  Immediately his hand went out to rest on the wall next to her keeping her from moving further. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m cool. My name is Alex Milton.”

  “Alex Milton,” Echo repeated carefully.

  “That’s right. Alex. I’m a photography student at the local college. A graduate student.”

  She had no idea what a photography student did, but it didn’t sound threatening. She knew the college was where Narcissus worked and it was a place of higher education. How bad could a student be?

  He moved in closer, and she could actually smell him, a man scent mixed with lime and cinnamon. Not a bad smell, just unusual. It made her feel warm and she found herself leaning forward to catch a little more of his aroma.

  Alex caught her hand in his and raised it to his face. So awkward…it had been centuries since a man had touched her and she didn’t know what to do. His grip was firm, his fingers rough against her skin.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m not going to hurt you, nothing like that. You seemed like you could use some attention, that’s all, and you got mine.” He kissed her fingers, sliding them across his lips and licking them. She realized they were the ones she’d used in her secret place. He was tasting her musk off her fingertips and he didn’t seem to mind at all.

  He wrapped his tongue around one of the digits, and for a moment she wondered how it would feel to have him doing that in a more intimate spot.

  When she’d watched Nick and Violet, she’d felt a deep stirring inside, a need for…something. Touching herself had relieved some of the tension, but not enough of it. Alex’s sucking on her finger brought it all back again, and then some. She moaned as he pulled her finger out of his mouth.

  “Oh, babe, you looked so hot touching yourself.”

  “Hot?” She was certainly feeling hot at the moment, both from her inner core and the warmth radiating off the man in front of her. His gaze seared through her. He glanced down at her breasts. She followed his gaze and saw her nipples rise through the fabric of her gown, pointing at him. Alex licked his lips, his eyes riveted at those slender points.

  “Oh, yeah, hot. Let me show you what I mean.”

  He leaned forward to capture her mouth, kissing her. Lips soft and demanding covered hers, taking her breath away. Echo leaned heavily against the wall, her knees weak after he pulled away from her.

  “Listen, I think you have a need for satisfaction, and so do I.”

  “Satisfaction?”

  “Yeah, satisfaction. You know, sex. I want you, I want to have sex with you; I want to make you scream the way she did.”

  This she understood. He wanted to make her feel like Violet had felt. Echo nodded. “Scream.”

  “Yeah, babe, scream your lungs out. Why don’t we find a place a little more private and I’ll give you what you need?”

  Her secret spot throbbed into awareness and Echo couldn’t resist its wishes any longer. “Need…you,” she whispered.

  Alex’s grin split his face. “Oh, babe, my pleasure. Come with me.”

  His strong arm around her waist felt wonderful as he directed her to a small room off the main floor. Metal cabinets lined the walls, and along one side was a couch with a large black box on a stand nearby. This is where he led her to sit before leaving to bolt the door.

  Alex noticed her looking around the room. “This is the security hangout. There’s a TV for the quiet times. I guess the couch is the most comfortable place for doing what we have in mind.” He stared at her, almost worshipful. “I can hardly believe you’re here.”

  Echo nodded. She was having a little trouble believing it herself. One minute she’d been on her way back to her statue, and now she was with a man who’d promised to satisfy her. She probably should have refused him, but after watching Narcissus and his lady she wanted to feel what they felt.

  Aphrodite might get upset that she’d become solid in front of others, and but as long as the goddess didn’t find out…what was the harm?

  Alex was still on the other side of the room. If he was going to have sex with her he couldn’t do it from there. In his last sentence he’d said, “I can’t believe you’re here.” Oh good, a word she could use. She patted the couch next to her. “Here.”

  He grinned and took the seat she’d suggested. “You are so beautiful. I wish I had my camera. I’d sure like to take your picture.”

  Echo let her hand slide against his cheek, sampling the rough texture of his face. “Picture?”

  “Yeah, picture. I told you I’m a photography student. Doing the security thing here at the museum is just to make some money while I’m in school. When I get out, I want to shoot pictures professionally. I just need to get together a portfolio, something that will grab the editor’s eye.”

  Smiling, she drew a circle around his eye with her finger. “Grab eye.”

  “Right, babe. I’m told I’ve got a great eye, can see stuff through a viewfinder that no one else can, capture it and get it on film. I’m good.”

  Her finger slid down his nose and came to rest next to his mouth. “Good,” she murmured, then leaned over to touch his lips with hers.

  He breathed out heavily. “Oh, babe.” That was the last intelligible thing he said for a while, but Echo soon realized words weren’t necessary. Low moans and soft groans g
ot the message across.

  Alex’s lips weren’t soft. They were full, and strong, and after his surprise wore off at her kissing him first, they became demanding. His strong arms pulled her into his chest, and he pressed her into the back of the couch. His mouth took possession of hers, at one moment devouring, the next teasing. His tongue swept the inside of her mouth and engaged hers in a sensual battle that left her gasping for breath.

  This big man was an expert kisser, and she’d kissed some experts in her time. It had been close to three thousand years, but she remembered some pleasant idle moments spent with various mythical figures. She’d even traded kisses with Eros once, long before he’d found his Psyche, the woman who personified his soul.

  Now Eros had been an expert kisser!

  Not that she’d ever confess that to Aphrodite. The goddess had trouble enough with her son having a wife, much less previous lovers. Sometimes a mother didn’t want to see her adult children as capable of adult behaviors.

  Maybe Alex wasn’t quite the kisser that Eros was, but he wasn’t bad at all. What other sensual skills did this big man have? Echo pressed closer to him and felt the hard shaft of his erection through his ugly brown pants. That was definitely promising.

  He responded by taking hold of her shoulder, fumbling with the fastenings that held her gown up. In an instant the clasps parted and the top fell, baring her to the waist. Her already raised nipples grew harder as the cool air hit them, bringing them to almost painful points.

  His face showing a near-worshipful expression, Alex dipped his head to gently suckle first one and then the other of her breasts. Electricity seemed to flow into her belly, then downward into her secret place. Echo leaned back lifting her breasts higher, giving him better access. She gave herself up to his touch, his worshiping mouth, and let the experience chase away her three thousand years without physical senses.

  He was really good at this. Suppose he used that mouth of his elsewhere…

  But she was getting ahead of things. If she wanted his mouth on her, she would need to put hers on him. She started unbuttoning his shirt the way she’d watched Narcissus’s woman do. It was harder than it looked…she wasn’t familiar with the fastenings in this day and age. Slowly she managed to open one, then another.

  With an impatient grunt, Alex took over from her, speeding through the rest of his buttons and throwing his shirt on the floor. Grabbing her hands, he placed them on his chest, over the flat brown nipples. Fine golden hair that matched the blond of his scalp glistened in the dim light of the room. Echo fondled his nipples then leaned in to lick them, earning Alex’s guttural approval.

  If only he’d speak, say something. She wanted to tell him what she felt, but could say nothing without the words he needed to speak first. Frustration filled her at the silence she was bound to.

  He lifted her and removed the rest of her gown, then laid her back on the couch. Pushing her legs apart, he stared at her secret place. For an instant she was embarrassed to be so exposed, but then she read the frank admiration and desire in his eyes. He licked his lips, and she remembered how he’d licked her fingers and tasted the womanly juices lingering there. Anticipation rose as he slowly lowered himself to the juncture of her legs.

  The first touch of his tongue on that tiny sensitive spot between her legs nearly sent her off the couch, but then he grabbed her hips and held her in place. The second time he licked her forced a sharp cry out of her lips, the third touch set her limbs trembling and left her toes a tingle.

  Then Alex got serious, and nibbled, licked, and sucked at her as she writhed beneath him. Sometimes he pulled back to blow on her, cool air that sharpened the sensitized nerves. He slid a finger into her sheath, then added a second, testing her readiness.

  She could have told him she was ready. If he’d thought she was hot before, now she felt like she was fire. Heat blazed outward from where his mouth touched her, traveling through her legs to her feet, and her toes that clutched the couch. She raked her fingertips against his bare back, wanting to communicate her fire to him, make him as hot as she felt.

  She needed him.

  He pulled back from her and reached for the fastening of his pants, undoing the metal on his belt. She heard a snicking sound of metal sliding against metal, and then his pants joined her gown and his shirt on the floor. Echo gazed raptly at the long thick length of his man’s part, now beckoning to her as if begging for attention.

  Slowly she leaned forward to take him into her mouth, first licking the purpled head. It was different from the ones she’d known before, simpler in shape—there was less flesh on it, she realized. It looked…nice.

  It tasted nice too. A little salty, like his mouth, a little earthy like his nipples had been. A little bit like his smell, lime and cinnamon. A man’s taste and she reveled in it having been denied its flavor for so long.

  Some time ago Aphrodite had pointed out to her that three thousand years of mourning Narcissus was quite enough and that Echo might think about continuing her life. Echo wondered now if the goddess might not have a point. Not that she intended to do anything but go back to her statue when they were done here.

  But this was very nice, sucking on this strange man’s flesh. His appreciative groans gave her a feeling of power. Each stroke of her tongue made him harder, thicker. Soft whispers came from him, encouragement she thought, but she barely understood their meaning.

  Well, she might not understand the words, but the hand on the back of her head, pushing his shaft further into her mouth she understood well enough. She took him deeper, and he groaned, shifted his hips to stroke past her lips, filling her mouth with his hardness and salt-earth taste.

  He stopped suddenly and put his hands on her shoulders, stilling her movements, and when she would have taken more of him, he pulled out of her mouth, shaking his head.

  “I want you, babe, and I’m ready, but I want to come inside you. That okay with you?”

  “That okay,” she replied haltingly.

  He pushed her shoulders to lay her down, then placed himself between her thighs, the broad tip of his shaft just at her entrance. He pushed forward, stretching her…it had been so long, and he was so large. She tightened against him. He pushed harder, and there was pain. She cried out.

  Alex glanced down at her in shock. “You’re not a virgin are you?” She shook her head and was surprised to see the relief in his face. Didn’t men value virginity here?

  “Thank goodness. I didn’t think I’d be the first, but you’re a lot tighter than I expected.”

  He pulled out of her and returned to suckling her nipples, using his dampened fingers to ease her opening wider, giving her more pleasure than she’d experienced even when she’d been a carefree nymph. Gradually the muscles of her sheath relaxed, while other tensions rose.

  With an impatient hand she grabbed his fingers, pulling them from her body. She took them into her mouth, tasting herself, and spread her legs wider beneath him.

  Alex grinned at her, a sensual grin of knowing amusement. “You think you’re ready for me, huh?”

  His fingers, talented as they were, just were not big enough. She needed something much bigger, longer, and fatter. “Ready,” she told him. “Ready.”

  Again Alex placed himself and pushed, and this time did it harder. When she tightened, he fingered her sensitive place. The sensation drove her into climax and when she returned to herself he was embedded deep within her.

  He was breathing heavily. “Babe, you’ve got the tightest pussy I’ve ever felt.”

  “Pussy?” Not a word she knew.

  “Yeah, pussy, slit, cunt, although that’s not a nice enough word for yours. Yours is a pussy, sweet, hot, and tight. Feels good.” He moved a little.

  Echo gasped at the sensation. Hot and sweet, indeed. “Feels good,” she moaned.

  Alex braced himself on his arms, staring down at her. “Hang on, babe. It’s going to get serious now.” He pulled back and pushed forward, sliding deeper ins
ide her, then repeated the stroke. His hips set up a rhythm Echo found herself matching, push for pull, stoke for stroke. Their movement caught fire, and the small climaxes she’d experienced before repeated themselves, but in succession, each building on top of the other.

  Inside her she felt a strangeness, as if a thread stretched tight, nearly to a breaking point. Echo caught her breath, and gazed up at Alex, his eyes glazed and face intense. A low growl came from him, guttural and almost animalistic, and then he gave a harsh cry. He sped up.

  The thread inside her snapped as Echo slipped off into her own climax, her scream muffled by Alex’s chest.

  Above her head he roared into the cushions and within her she felt his shaft pulsing, sending his seed deep into her womb.

  Chapter Three

  For a while neither of them could speak. Alex had collapsed on top of her, and now lay very still, breathing heavily in her ear.

  A warm, happy glow filled Echo. She stroked the man’s cheek lying next to hers. Never before had she felt this kind of peace when having sex. What could be the reason? Still shaking from the intensity of her orgasm, she labored for air, each breath harsh in her throat. The air felt different somehow, heavier. When she was solid it always seemed odd to breathe but this was worse than usual. Now she could barely catch her breath.

  Some of her warm glow faded, leaving her feeling strange. Very strange, that was for certain, strange and oddly out of sorts.

  “Wow, babe…that was fantastic.”

  “Fantastic,” she repeated. Well, it had been the most intense sex she’d had in three thousand years, but the terrific feeling she had was fading fast. Something was definitely wrong.

  Alex laughed. “Yeah, fantastic. I can’t believe it was so easy.”