The time for discussion, at least on my end, was over because thin was coming right up now. I just had time, while my back shielded me from both officers, to push the pistol and holster down my pants. At any other time the cold hard metal pressing against my most intimate of areas might have, would have, been an arousing experience. Right at this moment arousal was far from my mind. The knives were small enough that if he was as thorough as he was last time thin would never find them. But short of taking the whole gun inside me, which Selene might be anatomically capable and willing to do but I wasn't on either count, there was no way to hide it from him. Even a none molesting officer would check for a weapon down the front of my jeans, and this wanker would be paying much more attention to that particular region than most.
Same as the last time he started with a cursory check all over my body. Then he started with the slow run of his hand up the inside of my legs. His touch reached my inner thigh. It seemed he was trying to be at least a little more subtle. Since it was still only mid-afternoon they were probably worried about taking it too far where witnesses could stumble across us at any moment.
Thin stepped around behind me bringing his hand around my thigh. He brought his other hand up and gripped my buttocks tightly. I clenched involuntarily and the pistol was forced harder into me.
Thin was bringing his hands up to fondle my breasts from behind, when Thick said; "Okay, that's enough."
Thin stepped away without complaint and I thought it was over. Until Thick continued; "Now it's my turn."
Without wasting any time he took thin's place behind me. He grabbed at my breasts, squeezing them roughly but missing the knife. He seemed to be in a hurry, not wanting to cut his fun short. He pressed his front up to my back in a way that would be most unsafe if I was actually a suspect in some crime. I could tell by the way certain parts of his anatomy pressed hard against my backside that he was really enjoying this. That feeling made me want to throw up.
His hands came down off my breasts and over my stomach. He was breathing hot air at the back of my head. He pushed my long hair to the side so that he could smell my neck and blast his furnace breath onto bare skin. With one hand he pulled the T-shirt away from my body while the other slipped underneath.
My stomach churned at the touch of his hand on the exposed skin of my stomach. It only got worse when he dragged that hand over my bare flesh and started to push his fingers inside my jeans.
"If you want to stop this you need to act, now!"
I did want to stop it, and not because he was soon going to discover the pistol in my pants. So I did as Selene said, I let myself react on instinct to stop this. Of its own accord my hand dropped behind me. I took a half a step forwards to create some space for my hand, and took a tight grip on the corresponding part of Thick's body to where he had been going to grab me.
I had never touched that part of a man before, even through clothes, but I was too focused on what I had to do to really notice much about it. I certainly still wasn't aroused by it.
Thick let his breath out all in a sudden gasp and I squeezed and twisted.
"Just like that. Not enough to cause permanent damage but enough to let him know you could." Selene had obviously had more experience at this sort of thing than me.
"I think you need to end these games before you loose your reason for playing them."
Just then an elderly couple rounded the corner about twenty or thirty metres away and started coming towards us. Thick and thin backed off to their patrol car.
"The games just got a whole lot more serious for you, bitch," Thick said.
"Bring it on," Selene said
"Bring it on," I said at the same time.
By the time the old couple reached where we had been standing the police officers had driven away and I was across the street.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I got into my apartment and I didn't know whether I wanted to laugh or cry. I know it sounds clichéd but it's true.
Selene wasn't at all confused about how she felt. "We showed them that you aren't just going to let them get away with whatever they want."
I'll admit that giving them a taste of their own medicine felt good, even if I knew it shouldn't. At the same time I was worried about Thick's parting shot. Had I really done the right thing? It had felt very good to embarrass them. But would I be able to handle them next time?
I tossed my shopping into the kitchen. I wasn't hungry anymore.
I had to unbutton my jeans fully to be able to get the pistol out. I threw the weapon into the bottom of the wardrobe with the other weapons I had brought from Selene's office. I stepped out of my trainers and removed the jeans completely. My socks and the knife around my ankle went next.
I headed for the bathroom while removing my T-shirt. The bra and the final blade was removed while I ran some water in the sink. The hot water felt glorious as I washed it over my face.
I regarded myself in a slightly fogged mirror, naked but for my panties.
"Are you developing a narcissistic streak, or is this for my pleasure?"
"Hey!"
"What? I can only look if you do."
She was right. I had never been concerned by Selene seeing me naked before, at least not until I realised she was attracted to me, and that I might be getting similar feelings to her. I didn't know if it should feel more or less weird now that she was dead.
''Well, that's enough for now," I told her. There was a robe hanging from the back of the bathroom door and I slipped into it.
I was pulling the belt of the robe tight around my waist as I stepped back into the living room.
"So, you aren't going to just sit back and leave this to the proper authorities, are you?"
"We should," I said. "But Stern's too ready to believe that this could be the work of a rogue zombie. If we can think this through we should be able to work out who is behind this."
"That's my girl," Selene said enthusiastically. "Now I must have been getting close."
I remembered what she had been on to that night at the Zone.
"You were talking to people about trafficking out of the Zone without obtaining licences. But now we know it was zombies and not some rogue non-human?"
"But I was getting close to something," Selene said. "I wasn't killed simply for the fun of it. And some of the guards at the Zone would have to be involved to smuggle non-humans out of the Zone."
"So we need to take another trip to the Zone."
"And you need a way in that doesn't have you being seen by the guards or registering on any power scanners."
I seemed to be asking her this a lot; "Any suggestions."
Her answer came as a single name. "Fluvius."
"You spoke to him that night?"
"The horny little gremlin has his pointed ears to the ground in the Zone."
"So how do I reach him, last I heard Chandra had thrown him out?"
Selene gave a half laugh. "That was days ago, it'll have blown over by now."
I wasn't so sure, one of these days Chandra was going to kick him out for good.
I tried his home number anyway.
"Yes?"
I couldn't blame Chandra for her reluctant tone on the phone. Her number would be listed as a non-human residence so they probably got as many harassing phone calls as I did.
"Chandra, it's Faith Jones." I hesitated. "Is Fluvius there?"
"No, but he should be back in a couple of hours."
So she had taken him back.
"Will you please tell him I need to see him as soon as he gets back. He knows where to find me."
"Of course."
I thanked her and hung up.
"I wonder how many other women she gets calling her up asking for Fluvius to call around."
"She knows me. She knows there would never be anything between Fluvius and myself."
"Never say never."
I raised an eyebrow. "So you two . . ?"
"A lady never tells."
"And you were never a lady," I shot back.
"So what do we do until Fluvius comes by?" Selene was all back to business.
"Tonight's going to be a long night so I'm going to catch a quick nap while I can. And you can head back to wherever it is you go when you aren’t hassling me."
Selene chuckled. "You don’t want me to share you’re bed? Sweet dreams."
I couldn't think of anything to say back to her that wouldn't make me feel uncomfortable, so I said nothing.
I wasn't really feeling all that tired, but tonight was going to be intense. If I wasn't on the top of my game I could end up deader than Selene. So, it was better to try and rest now rather than risk it later.
I didn't bother changing into my night clothes. I just removed the gown and slipped under the sheets in my underwear.
I lay there for a while, just staring at the ceiling. I had never been particularly good at relaxing by doing nothing. I rolled over and closed my eyes, trying not to think about . . . well anything.
But it's always the way, when you try not to think about something you just can't help it. If I wasn't worrying about what was going to happen tonight I was thinking about Selene. And Thyme. And Frost.
This wasn't working. I rolled over again, kicked the sheets to re-adjust them, and leaned out to pick a supernatural journal up from the floor. I flicked through it but realised the futility when my mind kept wandering and I started the same article five times and never got to the fourth paragraph.
For some reason it wasn't the prospect of facing the deviant mind behind the zombie killings that kept distracting me. Rather it was thoughts of my suitors that stole my attention, and not just the ones who were still alive. It had rarely happened before, but at least when fantasising about Thyme and Frost there was the possibility that something could actually happen between us. When I thought about Selene it was always in the back of my mind that we had missed our chance. In the past I would have felt incredibly guilty about having these thoughts, much less enjoying them. I only ended up feeling guilty when all four of us started to feature in my dirty little daydreams. I don't know if the guilt stemmed from what I was imagining them all doing together, as well as with me, and if they would object to any of it, or if I just thought I was being greedy.
I dropped the journal back on the floor. I had a sudden idea of something else that I could do that would keep my hands busy.
I was near enough naked already so as soon as I got my hands under the sheets I could touch them to bare flesh. I took in a breath. Held it. I had never done anything remotely like what I was about to attempt, but I was ready to learn the way most people did, by practicing. As Selene would say I was going to 'go with the flow'.
First I touched just on my stomach. Not too low and not too high. Just there, not really near anything intimate, but the knowledge of what I was about to do made it intimate. The anticipation made everything I did erotic. I was suddenly acutely aware of how my breathing caused my chest to rise and fall. Of how this motion caused the sheet on top to rub ever so slightly on my breasts. Of how my body was reacting to this stimulus and my own arousal. I hadn't even moved my hand yet.
I was eager to know what all of the fuss was about but I forced myself to go slow. I hadn't done anything yet and the expectation was making this so intense. I wanted to make sure I dragged this out for as long as I could take it. Get all of the pleasure out of this that I could.
To start with I left my hand basically where it was but lifted it so that just the tips of my fingers met the flat skin of my stomach with a feathered touch. I ran light circles on my abdomen. Going around with my bellybutton as the hub of my motion. This touch sent tingles through my body to places I hadn't realised were so connected.
I gasped in a breath and had to stop my hand moving or I was going to go too far too fast. My whole body was blushing. I brought my left hand up and rubbed the top of my chest and my neck. My right hand came up almost of it's own accord and played with the meat of one breast and then the other. When my fingers touched upon my achingly sensitive nipples I squeezed my neck tightly in the grip of my other hand.
I rolled my proud nipples between my fingers having to be careful not to provide too much stimulation. I could feel something building already and I didn't want to prematurely open my floodgates.
My left hand remained rubbing my neck and, more leisurely this time, I let my right continue playing with my breasts. Looking down the length of my body with the sheet covering most of me stirred more things in my body than I thought even seeing exactly what I was doing would cause.
The toes of one foot came up and played with the calf on my other leg. I bent the leg enough so that my big toe could touch the hollow behind my knee. The movement spread my legs wide and the sheet sank down to fill the gap. I felt it touch me there and I simply had to clench my legs together. The sheet was trapped between my thighs, a slight bunch at the tops of my legs pressed against me just so.
I continued letting my hands play on my upper body and used my legs to rub the sheet between them. With just the right movement that little bunch of material pressed and rubbed just so . . .
It was getting to a point where I would have to take it to the next level or I was going to explode, when; "Sorry to interrupt, but you wanted to see me."
I was out of the mood as quickly as that. I snapped upright in the bed clutching the sheet up to keep me covered. After what I had just been doing it might have seemed like attempting to retain some modesty was a pointless exercise but I had to try.
"Fluvius!"
I wasn't yelling in anger but embarrassment. I bunched the top of the sheet up under my chin and stared at it intently on my body. I so could not meet his eyes right then. Right then I didn't know if I would ever be able to meet his eyes ever again. I could almost see the sheets tinged pink by the red glow that had to be burning off my cheeks.
"There's no need to be embarrassed lassie. Everybody does it," the Scottish gremlin said. "If I had known I would have made some noise before I popped in."
I tilted my head forwards so that my long white-blond hair could hide some of my shame. "I've never done anything like than before."
"Well if you want to loose the sheet and continue I can give you the benefits of my long years of experience pleasuring women."
Fluvius was so at ease with this sort of stuff that it made me realise I was lucky that he had been the one to catch me. It didn't mean I was going to take him up on his offer though. I could hardly imagine what Halberd's reaction would have been had it been him who stopped by. I don't think an angel has ever had a heart attack before but I think I might have given him one.
I wrapped myself tightly in the sheet and managed to look at Fluvius. I was looking through a curtain of my own hair but at least I was looking at him.
"Another time perhaps," I managed to say.
He smiled through the curtain of hair back at me. "So what was so urgent you needed to have Chandra make me rush over here."
"This is going to take some explaining," I said. "And I can't really do it on my own. Just don't ever mention what you just saw again, even to me."
He gave me an odd look.
"You'll understand in a moment," I told him.
I called for Selene.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Fluvius didn't take as much convincing as I had expected, and he managed to keep his mouth shut about what he had popped in on. I have no idea whether Selene and I were linked together closely enough for her to feel my body. If we were she would have known what I had been doing, especially given her own self-professed experience with such things. I wasn't ready to settle the issue by bringing it up with her.
"Sure, I can get you, both of you, into the Zone," Fluvius said. "But I hope you girls know what you're doing."
"So do I."
"It'll be a piece of piss. We just need to carry on where I left off and see what crawls out to confront us."
"Selene is confident," I voic
ed for Fluvius' benefit.
"Yeah, well I bet you were pretty confident the last time you were in the Zone, and look what that got you," Fluvius said talking to Selene. "I don't want what happened to you to be repeated with Faith."
"Neither do I, little man," Selene said. "For a few different reasons."
"It's touching that the two of you are so concerned but we need to move quickly."
"Aye, we don't want there to be another killing while we stand here talking."
I shook my head. "Not that. If we wait too long my nerve will go and I won't be able to face what we have to do tonight."
Fluvius got us into the Zone so easily that I started to understand how so many non-humans managed to get out into the population without the proper credentials. It also made me wonder why more didn't take the opportunity. Of course without the proper licences you couldn't claim any of the benefits, what there were, or get a proper job. The only employment open to them would be as virtual slave labour for criminal employers who were willing to use illegal labour.
"Thanks Fluvius, now get back to Chandra and the kids."
"You think you can get rid of me just like that?"
"He could prove to be useful."
I shook my head against both of them. "These are dangerous, ruthless people we are dealing with. They've already killed you, Selene. I don't want to have to go and explain your death to Chandra, Fluvius."
"I can be pretty tough to kill," Fluvius said.
"Tougher than Selene?"
Fluvius reluctantly shook his head. "No, I guess not."
I waved him back the way we had come. Fluvius looked back and then up at me.
"I don't like the idea of leaving you alone."
I raised my right hand to flash the ring on my finger. "I won't exactly be alone."
"Another pair of eyes could still be valuable."
"No, Fluvius goes home. I'm not moving on this."
So Fluvius said his goodbyes and left the way we had come.
"Where to first?"
"I had been advised that if I was interested in obtaining a fake licence for use outside the Zone, I should enquire at a club down by the animal pens. I didn't get the chance to pay them a visit because I was killed first."
Heaven can Wait Page 25