No you didn’t. What you visited was an imagination within an imagination.
“But this, oh this is soooo much better. Soooo much more...delicious. A fella like me, well, I got mah desires. I ain’t never thought it was gonna turn out like this. All good things come to those who wait. How wise. How goddamn fuckin genius. You’ll make a great fuckin demon, Crystal. Think of the power.” And then his tone changed into a deadly threat: “But I’m tired-a waitin. Now get that fuckin cunt here and put your mouth around my beastly cock—and start sucking.”
CRACK!
My eyes managed to focus on Shira again, nailed to the cross, bleeding so badly, so terribly badly.
I managed to get up on my hands and knees, tasted copper in my mouth, noticed that the tips of my hair had been singed by the lightning I’d been hit with.
I looked up at Jack. His cock was out, his boxers pushed under his balls. The fucker even had the thing completely shaved. He was hard and thin. This whole thing had given him a kick. His hand caressed his shaft up and down slowly while he puffed on his Marlboro with the other hand, Stetson pushed back slightly.
“Let—let her go first,” I mumbled.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to negotiate, my dear.” He stroked himself.
“Let her go,” I said. “Let her go and I’ll...” Even the thought of it brought bile up to my mouth. “Let her go and I’ll...do...it.”
He chuckled sadistically. “Do...it? Tell me, baby. Tell me what it is. I want to see the words drop from your mouth like the remnants of my come.”
More bile to my mouth.
“I’ll...” I looked up at Shira, focused close on her face. She was battered, bruised, blue. Her lips swollen. And trembling. She’s here, I thought. She’s here, to some degree.
I did two things at once. I reached out to her, reached out to her mind within a newly-created channel, reached farther than I’d ever reached to talk to anyone; and on the outside I also spoke the words that Jack wanted to hear. “I’ll...suck...”—FUCK!—“your...”—I can’t do this, can’t—“cock.”
He erupted into a paroxysm of mirth. His hands went up into the air and he howled with joy and pleasure.
And meanwhile, I stretched my mind to her—far, far, across states, across oceans, across the sea and planets and black space...
Shira. Shira. Find me. I’m here. Listen to me. I’m here. I’m here. Reach me. Shira. Shira, please. Shira.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Did you hear that, Karolyna, you fuckin wench? This wench is gonna suck—say it again, Crystal. Say it the fuck again.”
Shira—
“Say it again!”
“I’ll suck your cock for you.” It was easier to say now. My mind was in a black chasm. The room, the warehouse, was becoming less real. My thoughts were fading. I had to keep touch with both worlds so as not to let my captors in on what I was attempting to do.
“SAY IT AGAIN. OH, GODDAMN, SAY IT WITH...LOOOOOOVE! My...incredible cock. My...stately cock. My...shaft of all shafters!”
Shira. I’m here. I’m here. I’ll get you out. Shira. Over mountains and moons and—
“I’ll suck your majestic cock. Good enough?”
—stars and galaxies and—
“I’ll suck it for a lifetime. I’ll suck it until I’m blue in the face.”
—farther and farther. Shira. Shira. Please, help me find you. Give me something. Anything!—
“I’ll suck it for a lifetime in this world and lick your balls.”
“Oh, dear Pluto and Hades and Mors,” Jack sputtered, his hand ever going faster and faster on his hard-on. “Oh, dear devils. Oh, yes, you dirty, dirty fuckin skank!”
—I went down into the oceans, traversed the galaxies—
An imagination in an imagination, a false memory... “Do you feel me licking it, Jacky, baby? Do you?” I was still on my knees. “Do you?”
“Oh, yes, darlin. Oh, yes.”
“Jack!” Karolyna screamed. “She’s not doing it. She’s not. She’s playing that trick with you!”
“OH, SHUT THE FUCK UP WHILE THIS BITCH IS PUTTING HER LIPS ON ME!”
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
My imagination was ripped to shreds.
The lashes hadn’t hit Shira this time.
They had hit me.
“YOU KNOCK OFF YOUR MIND GAMES. PUT YOUR MOUTH OVER HIS COCK,” Karolyna screamed.
Three tongues of flame ripped across the flesh of my back. I fell prone on the ground. The tears came out of my eyes unannounced. They made a puddle on the concrete floor without my control. My arms shook, my back burned.
“What the...?” Jack cried. My illusion had been shattered. The lie I had been attempting, was dead.
“YOU GODDAMN WHORE,” he cried.
“I told you. I told you! They play these games they—”
Jack’s chair went slamming against the wall. He moved toward me, holding his pants up with both hands. “You think you can trick me, huh?” I felt his mind on my skin like hard hands. And I knew. I knew what he was going to do to me. I could feel it even before it was happening. His thoughts were so strong right now that I could see them all. And I am weak now, so weakened by him and Karolyna combined. He wanted to hurt me. His illusion of the eternal blowjob had been smashed to pieces, just as my attempt at a channel to Shira had been shattered like glass.
He was going to rape me.
And he was going to make sure it hurt exquisitely.
I was too dazed to realize Jack had picked me up like a sack of potatoes and slammed me against the wall. The three long welts on my back from the whip threatened to send me into unconsciousness. But I won’t go unconscious, you pig. I’ll fight you. I’ll fight you to the end so you get no pleasure out of this at all.
“Yes, that’s the way, Jackie honey,” Karolyna screamed. CRACK! I don’t know if that lash hit anyone.
Jack’s left hand slammed against my neck and choked me against the cold wall. And I’m dizzy, still dizzy, passing out... NO. Stay awake!
“Fuck you,” I sputtered. “Is this the only way you can get it, huh? Too fuckin ugly and stupid to actually have a girl give it to you willingly?” My words were violent, but actually I had no strength left, no strength at all.
Karolyna cackled, giggled. I think she was about to start jumping up and down in a dance.
“Oh, this is gonna hurt, darlin. This is gonna hurt so bad.” His breath stank of tobacco and stale air.
I fought. I screamed. I howled.
But I had no strength left.
I fought right to the end, until he had my legs spread apart, my jeans off, and my panties on the floor.
I writhed, argued, kicked.
Karolyna laughed.
His cock moved closer.
He kept strangling me but I still grappled against him. I was sure I would die if I fought more. And I don’t care. He’ll get no pleasure out of this. None. Let him fuck a corpse if he has to.
“Hotdamn, you’re a feisty one. Karolyna, I need me some help here.”
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The three lashes had hit my leg.
The pain was a hazy delirium.
I wept without wanting to.
Blood ran down my left thigh in a bucket. It was enough of a sudden shock for me to lose my guard sufficiently for Jack to get my legs open wide enough for—
I heard Shira’s voice in my mind.
Oh, mmmm, oh, mmmm, oh—
Crystal. I’m...oh, mmmm, oh, mmmm... Oh, Crystal. Crystal. Crystal! Oh, thank the gods you found me. Thank the gods. Where are you? Where— Oh, mothers of mercy! Oh, gods, no. That won’t happen. Nooooooooooooo!
Hell hath no fury...
~ Luke ~
-25-
...but the axe never lands.
I was defenseless. Dania would have taken my head off. I had not been prepared. And a terrible sense of duty held me back from reaching for my sword.
Dania’s blue eyes go wide.
She drops the axe to the ground with a clang.
A battlehorn signals outside. PA-PAHHHHHM! PA-PAHHHHHM! PA-PAHHHHHHM!
Shira.
A warehouse.
Crystal?
Dania looks to the leader with shock in her eyes. “It has begun,” the blonde says.
Aasiyah stands abruptly. I hear the stamping of feet and the gathering of weapons outside. “Where?” she asks.
Dania looks confused, unsure, shakes her head.
Aasiyah runs to the tent door, opens it. The army stands around, Lorian and Harkan in front, waiting, no one moving. “WHERE?” Aasiyah screams.
The men and women fidget, waiting for orders. A howl of wind gusts past.
“This is unheard of,” she whispers. And then, louder, “A hundred hunters called at once and not one of you knows where to go?”
“More than a hundred,” Dania says. “I sense...all the hunters are being called. Even those without access to the gatherings. It feels like...thousands.”
“But where!” Aasiyah screams again.
No one answers.
Aasiyah turns to me, points a finger at my face. “You. This is because of you! Dania, kill him and be done with it.”
Dania picks up her axe and swings again—
“A warehouse!” I spit out.
“STOP!” Aasiyah’s hands are out in desperation. “STOP, WOMAN!”
Dania’s blade stops a half an inch from my neck. Fuck!
“What did you say?” Aasiyah asks.
A bead of sweat falls down my left temple. “A warehouse. She’s—the battle—is at a warehouse.”
“She,” Aasiyah says. “She.”
I don’t comment.
“And where is this warehouse?” she asks.
“Far...far...away. Many worlds down. Maybe...a hundred or more.”
“A hundred worlds down?” Aasiyah is shocked. “It has begun,” she says. “The war has begun.”
She looks over at Dania, the axe still hanging by my neck.
“This isn’t over, Lucien,” Aasiyah says. “Come. You’re leading this party whether you like it or not.”
The tall woman storms out into the desert like a tornado.
Just before I leave, I feel a soft hand holding mine.
I turn, see Dania covering her breasts demurely with one arm, her other hand holding my fingers. The axe is on the ground. There’s sadness in her eyes. Her lip trembles, and she looks down. “I’m...sorry,” she says. “I was...commanded, unthinking. I couldn’t resist. It was only my duty.”
I nod in acknowledgement, squeeze her hand tightly to let her know it’s OK. I understand the call of duty.
“But if you are interested,” she says shyly, “I’d be with you...gladly, regardless of duty.” She looks away, blushes forcefully. “I’d be with you...by choice.”
She really is beautiful, stunning in her innocence.
But she’s not the girl for me.
-26-
The place we land in might have been a city once, but it is an abomination now. A man holding his guts on a wheelchair screams, “Help me. Help me. Help me!”
But we are not here to help the man.
Aasiyah stands up front. Dania on her left. Me on the leader’s right. A legion of hunters behind us, every hunter that exists, amateurs and veterans alike. Lorian and Harkan command a half each.
Aasiyah allows only a moment to take in the massiveness of the sight. “Where?” she asks.
I sense Crystal’s presence powerfully here. “There,” I say, pointing down the damaged street.
A large black prostitute stands on a street corner, huge afro and a golden tank top. Something about her bothers me.
We run down the road, dodging bullets and burning bottles being thrown from the stores.
The prostitute begins to run as we approach. Without thinking, I cry out, “Someone get her!”
A hunter breaks from the pack and chases her down the road.
“Are you in charge now?” Aasiyah asks with a grin.
“My apologies.”
She shakes her head, but I get the distinct feeling she doesn’t want to kill me anymore.
The alley we find only allows one person in at a time. She’s here, I realize.
“In there?” Aasiyah asks.
I nod.
I start forward when Dania’s hand cuts across my chest. “Me first,” she says. “I owe you.”
“Oh, gods,” Aasiyah cries out. “All this fuckin sentimentality is going to kill us all.”
Dania ignores the leader and runs into the cramped space, the other hunters behind us in single file.
The alleyway is vile and smelly. Dead rats, maggots.
I hear screams of hunters behind me, the clash of swords and axes and shields. The whoosh of flying creatures. “There’s more of them,” I say.
Aasiyah, behind me: “You thought several thousand hunters got called out to fight only one?”
We get to a door with posters on it and a solitary white light shining down on it.
And that’s when I hear Crystal’s screams.
I start slamming the door with my foot, fighting to get it open but there seems to be some magic barrier preventing it from budging even against Dania’s axe.
The tight space doesn’t allow us to get a decent swing either.
More cries from hunters at the end of the row. “We must get inside,” I say.
“An ambush,” Aasiyah whispers. “Dania, Lucien—you take this door.” Then, to the hunters behind her: “THE REST OF YOU KEEP THIS ALLEY FREE!”
Winged demons, a kind I have never seen before, descend down on us like a swarm of pterodactyls. A hunter is snatched from somewhere in the back and ripped in two midair by the creature’s mighty talons.
And then the others swarm down as well, hunter heads being ripped apart, legs, arms.
Screams of panic break out.
“OUT OUT OUT OF THIS ALLEY!” Aasiyah screams. “FIGHT THE DEMONS! FIGHT THE UNDERWORLD SCUM!”
“An ambush,” Dania echoes.
“Looks like it.”
Dania keeps slamming away at the door, trying to bust it in. Nothing.
Just before Aasiyah disappears around the corner, she screams at me, “If you are a witch now, Lucien—time to dig deep and find some magic inside you and bust the fucking door down.”
A winged demon descends on her and she disappears around the corner, slashing away with her longsword.
It takes me a moment to realize she was being serious.
Dania looks at me with deep blue eyes, hopeful, counting on me.
I look at the door.
How the fuck does magic work anyway?
~ Crystal ~
-27-
Here’s a wild thought: Have you ever wondered if the world we live in, the “real” world, is nothing but a world within a world within a world of someone else’s mind? And who would that someone be—a god?
I understood for the first time what it must be like to “hear the voice of a god.” Only, in this world—Shira’s world of a shattered warehouse and her body up on a cross—it was a goddess. And she was it.
I had been wrong about whose world it was. A parasite needs a host. Jack might have created the warehouse, but the world was hers, completely hers.
The scream from her is heard by every cell in my body, and every cell reacts.
But it is not merely a scream, it is an energy flowing through the abandoned warehouse like toxic gas. And it isn’t emanating from her mouth, it’s coming from inside her.
Jack stops abruptly. His black eyes turn blacker, actual orbs of thick basalt, growing. His face begins to swell. His body starts trembling. I get a glimpse of his cock and it’s shivering for the wrong reasons, bouncing up and down as his frame breaks into jagged convulsions.
Her scream continues, a siren of death that whirls and twirls and spins up and down, radiating anger and betrayal.
And hatred.
It’s so loud that I
almost don’t hear the banging. But eventually I realize it is there.
Hunters. Outside.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
My magic is weak. I can’t open the door just as I couldn’t force Jack off me. He found my weakness.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Jack’s convulsions become violent, terrible, epileptic. Thick creamy gunk starts falling from his nose and mouth as his head shoots back and a low moan of suffering gurgles out of him.
And then two things happen at once.
The door explodes off its hinges and flies to the back wall of the warehouse like a jet plane, barely missing the crucified woman.
And Jack himself—also explodes.
He explodes from within. No fire, no lightning, just...BOOM. Gray matter and bone shards and organs splatter against me in a shock of motion.
I hear Luke’s voice, the voice of sweet bells: “My fuck. Did I just fucking do that?”
A woman rushes in, blond and curvy, her face hidden behind an ornate mask, a battleaxe in her hand. Hunters.
Only now do I realize I’m trembling, my legs still spread apart, my clothes torn off. And I feel weak, so weak...
I drop to the ground—
—but strong arms cushion my fall. “Crystal, stay with me.” Luke, his eyes a majestic blue, the blue of oceans and skies and bluebells.
His voice begins to fade, disappear...
He wipes the spray of blood from my face, Jack’s blood, and gives a soft smile.
“Uhm, Luke, romance can come later!” the huntress calls out.
Luke turns his head just in time to see Karolyna. And she has her hands stretched out.
Her fingers are sparkling.
~ Luke ~
-28-
The light-show that follows is magnificent. Lightning shoots across the room in an arc, only to be met by an equal force being fired by Crystal’s own hands.
She’s lying with her shoulders in my arms, but her hands are out and a massive glow of sparks is bursting to form a protective wall against the opposing force, protecting me.
But I notice her strength fading, her eyes rolling back, her mouth starting to droop.
Her Mind Games: A Dark and Erotic Paranormal Romance Page 12