Lacing Shadows

by Tina Smith

  “You sure? I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  She stepped closer and slipped her arms around my neck. “You can’t offend me.”

  With that her lips found mine again. Her mouth was hungry, like it’d never be sated. I met her motions with my own lips, pushing my tongue into her mouth slightly until she reciprocated and met mine with hers. She tasted sweet, like strawberries and cream and I couldn’t get enough of her.

  She was amazing and every touch of her mouth…her fingers…her scent sent my mind reeling. I felt like I was floating, but I knew I was grounded and real. Even so, the only thing I felt was the primal need within me that wanted her more than anyone else I’d ever known. I needed her badly, and I’d waited so long to meet her.

  “Come here.” She whispered in my ear. Her breath tickled with tiny sparks I wanted to feel again and again. She took my hand and led me to the bed. There she reached out and tugged on my shirt, gathering it in her fingers. Slowly, she pulled it up until I had to relent and helped her pull it over my head.

  I stood there, without my tank top and let her take me all in. Her fingers traced my scars, sliding them down my chest and over my stomach muscles with an easy touch. The sensations her hands sent me felt like lightning crashing against my senses and I wanted more. I wanted more of that touch. It was nice, electric and powerful enough to keep me here where usually, I’d turn and leave. Not with this woman. There was something about her. Something that tied to me in a way I couldn’t say but it wasn’t what kept me here. I couldn’t leave if I tried. I was hers.

  I reached out and helped her out of her blouse, letting it flutter to the ground. Her bra had blue flowers against a white lace. She reached behind and unsnapped it, letting it fall to the ground, joining her shirt in a pile. I stood there, in awe of her beauty and entranced. Porcelain skin that cried out to me to touch, to kiss, caress and devour into me. So I did what I wanted to and pulled her closer so her breasts pressed onto my chest and I could let my hands explore, caress her skin, and follow them with my mouth.

  Her skin tasted even sweeter and I sucked on it, softly leading my way toward her breasts before I took one of her hardened, pink nipples into my mouth. She moaned and ran her fingers through my hair. I felt it get knotted up and mussed, but I didn’t care. I nipped and sucked harder, enough so it propelled her to continue the removal of her clothes. She shimmied off her jeans and kicked them to the side, along with her panties before she pulled away and crawled onto the bed.

  She motioned me to come to her as she laid back onto the pillows, looking seductive with her bedroom eyes and sly smile. I grinned back like a teenager and shed my jeans, along with the boxer briefs I’d been wearing.

  I’m already hard. Ready to spread her legs and feel her warmth all over me. I crawled to her and let my hungry gaze study her sexy body. I’d never seen such beauty, such perfection. I loved her immediately, though I couldn’t point out what moment I’d fallen for her. Maybe it was the moment she spoke to me in class, or maybe it was when she spilled her groceries across the hallway and cursed out words that don’t belong coming out of such a pretty mouth. Whenever it was, I knew I was hers forever.

  I slipped into her, slowly at first, and then faster. Her legs wrapped around my waist as she pulled me closer to kiss me again. Together, we felt pure, complete. I knew I’d never love another as much as I loved Ruby in this moment.

  Her moans got me harder and I straightened, pulling her legs against my chest and over my shoulders. The way she felt was like pure ecstasy, sending shots of pleasure up my stomach, and into my head, making the room feel like it disappeared. There’s only her, the warmth she was giving me and the pleasure between us.

  I moved to kiss her again, my hair flipping over and tickling her face. Her eyes sparkled and I wanted to remember them this way for always. Her hands reached out to me and traced my scars again. This time, the way she delicately slid her fingers over my skin sent me over the edge and I pound harder to the point she had to grip onto me for an anchor.

  Her eyes fluttered close and she arched her back and moaned as we both come at the same time. Our energies pulsated, encircling us and overheating the room. Moments passed as we relished the feel of our bodies. Finally, I moved to her side and pulled her toward me where we cuddled, softly kissing and letting the sweat dry on our skin in the cool evening air. She pulled the sheet up over us and she let me hold her in the sweetest silence of her room.

  *

  I snapped awake, feeling disoriented. The window was on the wrong side of the bed and the dim lamp in the corner was the wrong kind of lamp. The entire room was wrong. The panic didn’t subside until I realized there was a girl lying next to me.

  Crap.

  I shook my head, slowly recalling the afternoon with Ruby. As my mind returned, I calmed and breathed in and out slowly, feeling more like myself with every passing second.

  What had awoken me?

  I sat up and rubbed my face before turning to watch Ruby stir. The realization that I’d slept with her the first day I’d met her came crashing back into me. Frowning in disgust with myself, I hopped off the bed to search for my clothes at the foot of the bed.

  I should’ve never touched her. Never fall for a mortal again was my mantra. What was I doing? I couldn’t do this again. I just couldn’t.

  “Matthias?” Ruby was peering at me, realizing I wasn’t in bed anymore. I pulled my boxer briefs on and found my jeans wadded on the floor. Shaking them out, I slipped them on too, rushing to pull on my tank top. “What are you doing?”

  “I got to go. I…I’m so sorry.” I was stumbling back toward the door, fumbling, and causing her expression to morph into hurt and confusion. It was all I could manage to say before fumbling with her lock, finally unlocking the damn thing before flying out her door, and slamming it behind me.

  In the hall, I caught my breath, breathing hard from the emotions spiraling inside me. I had to get my head under control, the fear was threatening to take over. Moments later, I heard her wrestling with the door, about to come out, so I ran as fast as I could to my apartment at the other end of the hall. Shoving my key into the lock before I barreled inside, then slammed it behind me.

  Now, I felt foolish, like a spooked animal. How would I rectify this now? I leaned on the door and shut my eyes tight. This intense attraction for Ruby felt even worse than the one with my wife so many centuries before. Stronger and amplified. So much harder to fight than I’d ever thought it could be.

  Cassiopeia had also been beautiful, like Ruby, but yet, so unlike her. The woman had long blonde hair too, thick and wavy, like Ruby’s. She’d always smell like the meadow and wildflowers. We’d lived in the rural country of Ireland, where there’d been almost no people. I’d loved the land and let the years drain by without much thought to them. Loving Cass had been easy. She’d been sweet, always happy and never questioned me about my past, or my scars. It was like she’d never wanted to know because knowing would bring up her own dark past. We had a silent pact about that, keeping what was done in a void best left untouched. Only when she realized that I didn’t age and she was growing older with each sunset did this pact turn into the barrier between us.

  I’d watched her age, wither with the years and eventually, watched her draw her last breath. I never left, though she’d wanted me to. I stayed to the bitter, broken end. Even when she told me we’d never have children, something I wasn’t even sure I could have, I’d never wanted to leave. She was barren, scarred from a previous treachery done to her that she’d forever remain childless. It didn’t matter to me, and never had. But, when she died, she’d left a gaping hole where love had taken up residence and had left me empty without her.

  I never looked for love again. It would’ve been too painful to go through it again. The loss…the anguish…it was and would be unbearable.

  So here I was, fighting emotions which hadn’t stirred in decades. I’d never let another woman touch me since Cass. Sure there were so
me that had come close, but they never felt like this to me. No rush, no inexplicable force between us prior to Ruby. This woman was different and I wondered if she was in any way supernatural. Maybe she didn’t know. Maybe that was why her parents were dead. There were so many questions flooding my mind and it did nothing to stifle my nerves.

  I turned from the door and headed into the room, stopping mid-step as I realized I’d left my hoodie in Ruby’s apartment. I cursed, pulled off my tank and tossed it at the wall with a violent force. How would I ever face her again? I was an idiot and appeared more like a sexually confused idiot instead of a century old monster. I’d done the worst thing I could do to a girl. She’d never forgive me now.

  I felt defeated yet I’d been the ass. My reflection caught my eye and I stared hard at the slashes of scars across my chest. Not only were the surgical scars well healed, but so were the ones I’d obtained in so many battles against the supernaturals hunting me. My body was fit, well taken care of underneath the tangle of scars. Slender but strong, I wasn’t tall, but bigger than average. I often wondered how my creator did it, got this body to work right. It was a good body, stronger than a mortal’s with higher endurance and supernatural strength. Mortal wounds couldn’t kill me. But enough of them could leave me so damaged that recovery could be difficult if not aided. I’d been in a few battles with wounds that were close enough to where death would’ve been a godsend. But it never did come. And probably never would.

  I’d never die, never grow old, and never know what it was like to have a family or know what it was to have led a worthy life.

  I sank down onto my bed, lying back to stare at the old popcorn ceiling above. Others might have done better with immortality and done something worthy of it. But I? I’d done nothing noteworthy in all these years. Most of it had been spent in hiding, in a deep solace that would drive most men insane. Not me. I’d found comfort in the silence of the country, the never ending peace that came with living with the land. Here in the city, it was harder to find that solace within me. I’d avoided others for too long, keeping to myself and never letting anyone in. How could I break out and speak to Ruby? How would I let her know it wasn’t her, it was me? I was the damaged one. Damaged beyond repair, beyond any retribution that could ever come my way.

  Besides, the ones who were after me would never let me live in peace again. Not here, not in the city where mortals roam. To them, I was a forbidden thing, an anomaly that shouldn’t exist. Like they really had a say in that. The Others were nothing but supernaturals who killed anything that wasn’t natural or not of this world. I’d dealt with their kind from the beginning of my time, from the start of it all. They were more unnatural than I was, but who was I to tell them that?

  A knock on the door made me sit up and I wondered if it was Ruby. Excitement coursed through me as I got up, hoping it is her with all my heart. I had to ask her for forgiveness. I’d do anything for it. She had to know I’d never meant to insult her by leaving her like that. It was all so stupid in hindsight and I’d never felt more like running down the hall to tell her this wasn’t nothing. This was so much more than that.

  “Ruby?” I spoke at the door while reaching over to unlock it before I turned the knob.

  The door opened and an Other was there, staring at me. How foolish of me to not look through the peephole first.

  “What do you want?” I hissed, stepping back and pulling out the sword strapped to the back of my door in one swift movement. The Other responded by drawing their weapon and readying to slice me up.

  Most of my scars are from when I was created, but the newer ones were from fighting this very species until I almost died several times, but not before I finished off the warriors sent on me, like dogs to blood.

  “We finally meet, Creature. You shall reunite with your creator tonight.”

  I laughed and swung the sword, landing square on the Other’s blade as she blocked me. I smirked.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Her eyes narrowed while she chuckled under the veil covering her face. I knew it was a woman. They always were. I’d never seen a male Other.

  “We’ll see.”

  With that, she reached out with one of her hands and blew dust on me, blocking my vision. I backed away and tripped over a log before I managed to roll away. Next, the twang of the Other’s sword slamming into the bark of the wood next to my head sent a gust of air my way.

  I blinked away the tears in my eyes from the dust and found myself in the middle of the woods, far from the city, where no one could find us.

  “What the…?” I rolled away again as the Other jumped from the log after yanking her sword out of it to rush me. She missed again and I was on my feet, running toward where I’d fallen to find my sword lying still on the ground. Swiping it up, I turned just in time to block the blade she’d swung at me.

  She grunted with the force of her swing, meeting resistance from me. I shoved her back and then swiped at her feet with my foot, making her land hard on her backside.

  Scrambling to her feet, she yelled out obscenities in her language. One I didn’t even understand. Great.

  “I’ll kill you!” She screamed and jumped to her feet. She was fast, I had to admit. But I was all ready for her return attack. We slammed blades over and over again until my ears were ringing and my arms burned with the pressure. This one wasn’t weak. She was well trained and relentless. Still, she was already out of breath and weakening.

  “This isn’t going to end the way you want it to.” I grunted and chased her around a tree where she bunted me in the face, sending me to the ground.

  “We’ll see about that!”

  She swung her sword hard and shattered the tree trunk next to my head. Splinters went flying as I managed to pull her foot with my hand to send her flying backwards. We were both down, but I now had her pinned under me as I brought my sword back, readying to plunge it into her chest.

  “Enough!”

  The shout echoed behind me across the quiet forest. I didn’t notice it going so quiet beforehand, but I was sure we’d scared off the wildlife around here. The Other beneath me bucked and didn’t stop, so I wrangled the blade out of her hand and tossed it away before I rolled her over and yanked her to her feet. Pinning her arms behind her back, I finally got a look around for the owner of the voice.

  “Who’s there?”

  The Other stepped from behind a large tree and stood perfectly still, just a few yards away. Great. Another Other to kill. But…this one wasn’t armed and it struck me as odd. They never meant any good, so I was wary and mentally searched the forest for any other surprise attacks. I felt another being nearby, not an Other, but someone I knew…

  The Other lifted off his hood and held out a scroll to me. Shocked to find this was a male Other, I tried not to react.

  “Let her go.” His voice boomed across the clearing, but I didn’t see his lips move.

  “The hell I will. She’s trying to kill me!” I laughed and tightened my grip on the woman as she struggled with me again. Exhausted and weak, she finally stopped fighting and slumped.

  “Alila. Your orders are canceled. Cease the kill order and return home.” With that Alila swung her head back, knocking me in the face and causing me to let her go as stars splashed across my vision. She wasn’t loosed yet, but I stumbled back as she turned around to glare at me while her counterpart continued. “We are prepared to offer asylum to you, Creature. With conditions.”

  “My name is Matthias,” I rubbed my nose and wiped a trickle of blood away. “Not Creature.”

  He remained still as Alila laughed hysterically. I squeezed her arm harder, making her yelp. I looked up toward the Other, a black haired male with pale white skin standing a few inches shorter than me.

  “Very well, Matthias. Let her go and we will not attempt to kill you if you take this task.”

  At that, I dropped the fiendish Alila and the woman didn’t hesitate to run toward the other one of her kind, now holdin
g the scroll out. With that, she turned and threw me nasty glare as she spat on the ground. Next, she pulled out another handful of that transport dust and tossed it on herself before disappearing.

  I shook my head and stepped forward. Taking the scroll from this new Other. I didn’t let my eyes leave him.

  “What’s this about?”

  He motioned toward the scroll. “Read it. If you agree, you’ll take the task offered for the rest of your life. If not, we will resume the hunt on you.”

  His eyes were a pure oily black without any whites to be seen, which made his skin stark against their darkness. The only color shown came in blue tattoo swirls, marking their age along their necks and cheeks. This one had a lot of swirls, making him much older than Alila, who had a few, but not as many. The Others were made up of a matriarch society which ruled with an iron fist and had female warriors. I didn’t know anything of their male population, which I’d heard were kept under control and mainly used for reproduction and servitude.

  Apparently, there were a few males that made it higher than the reproductive ranks. I cringed at what it meant to be born a male in their society. Luckily they remained mostly in the rural forests, unless they were hunting a bounty anomaly. Like me.

  This curve ball I’d been thrown was intriguing and I intended to find out what this guy’s real intentions were.

  Chapter 6. Ruby

  I stared at the door moments after Matthias abruptly left my apartment. What the hell was that about? I felt the rejection oozing over my mind and felt like crying. The tears stung my eyes and I blinked rapidly to stave them off. No, I can’t let him hurt me. I can’t hurt like that, I won’t survive it if I let it bury me. He’s just a skittish guy.

  And a jerk. Why was I trying to fool myself? I shook it off and rolled my eyes.

  “Whatever,” I said out loud. I hastily pulled my clothes on and headed to the bathroom to clean up. Returning to the room when I was done, I clicked on the overhead lights and headed over to pull a textbook out for homework and flipped through the syllabus before I ended up giving up to stare at the TV for a while. I couldn’t get into the movie about time travel and a crazy professor. It was one of my favorites, but my mind kept drifting away, lost in the thoughts of Matthias.