I started stalking Petra. Andrea told her, "Make her chase you."
"Shut up," I told her. "Consider this my letter of resignation."
I gripped the sword with both hands and felt my wound tear open. I didn't care. I came within striking distance of Petra and took a swing at her. She disappeared.
I stared at where she'd been standing then look around the room. "You fucking coward!" I yelled.
I looked around again. Andrea was still there. "Tell me, boss, am I insane? Seeing things? Cause I could have sworn there was a total bitch here a minute ago, but now she's gone."
"No, Felicia," she said. "You're not going insane. She's waiting for you."
"Where?"
"Your tower, I presume."
I started swearing a blue streak. She let me go on for a while.
"You've been back and forth enough times," she said. "You're ready."
"I don't have a clue how to get there," I told her. "And you both know it."
"When this day is over," she said. "Remember. We both love you and we'll forgive the things you say today."
Petra reappeared, took two steps up to me, and slapped the back of my head. I turned to slash at her with the wooden sword, but she disappeared again.
"You bitch!" I screamed.
"She can't hear you," Andrea said. "But the people in the hall probably can."
Petra appeared, slapped my head, and disappeared again.
"Envision the tower," Andrea said. "Think about what it looks like, what it smells like, what it feels like to be there."
Petra appeared. I slashed at her, but she ducked and kicked my leg. I absorbed it and rolled away, slashing with the sword again, but she disappeared.
"Shit!" I said.
"You want to kick her ass," Andrea said. "You're going to have to catch her."
"We both know, even if I learn how to teleport, or whatever it is you expect me to do, she'll be faster than I am."
"She wants you to catch her."
Petra appeared, blocked my strike, then slapped my wounded arm before disappearing.
I hissed.
"Imagine the tower," she said again.
I turned to her and began stalking her.
"If you chase me out, you'll be stuck figuring it out alone. I can disappear as easily as she can, but where I go, you can't follow. You catch her, then you come back here, and I'll be waiting."
Petra appeared, kicked my leg, and disappeared.
I hissed, this time in frustration.
"She's going to keep doing that until you follow her," she said. "She is at least as stubborn as you are and she loves you deeply."
"Sure looks like it," I said.
"What the hell do you think the last two months have been about?" Andrea asked.
I stared at her. Petra appeared and hit me again, and I ignored her. She disappeared.
"I don't know," I finally told Andrea. "I don't know anything anymore."
"Think of the tower," Andrea said. "The feel of the floor. The quality of the light."
Petra appeared, but I was already swinging before she could hit me. She barely blocked it, and I began slicing at her with the sword as fast as I could. She backed away, blocking, until she disappeared. I followed her.
To the tower.
I stared around me. She was several feet away watching me.
"You did it," she said. "Felicia, you did it!"
I turned to her and began stalking her with the sword.
"Oh shit," she said. "Dojo!"
And she disappeared. I followed her, back to the dojo.
She bounced back to the tower, then to the dojo, always a few steps ahead of me. But I realized something. She continually appeared in the tower in the same place, facing the same way. I however, did not.
The next time she left the dojo, I left at the same time, and I was already swinging the sword before I appeared in the tower immediately behind her. I scored a slicing blow with the wooden sword from her arm, across her back, and down her buttocks.
She fell and screamed.
"Oh shit! Petra!" I dropped the sword and rushed to her. Even with the dull wood, I'd slashed her arm open something fierce.
She looked up at me. "Get Andrea. I can't heal it. Get Andrea. I love you. Go."
Tears started pouring from my eyes. I'd hurt her! But I thought of the dojo and was immediately there.
"Oh god, Andrea, I hurt her. She's in my tower."
"Go back," she said. "Meet me at the bottom. I can't get in; you have to let me in. Can you do that?"
I nodded.
She disappeared. I went back to the tower.
Petra was trying to clutch her arm, which was bleeding badly. I ran for the wall and opened the door, then ran downstairs and opened the other one. Andrea was waiting for me. She ran up the stairs and straight to Petra.
"Just the arm?" she asked?
Petra nodded.
Andrea clamped her hands on the torn muscle. Petra screamed. Andrea's hands started to glow.
"I'm so sorry," I said, "So sorry, so sorry."
"She'll be fine," Andrea said.
Petra stopped struggling and became calmer and calmer.
"Is she dying?" I asked.
"No," Petra said. "It doesn't hurt anymore."
Andrea pulled her hands away and looked at Petra's arm. There was blood on her arm and on Andrea's hands. "All better," she said.
I walked over to Petra. "I'm so sorry," I told her.
She pulled me into her arms and hugged me. Then she kissed me. I kissed her back, somewhat tentatively.
"Your turn," Andrea said. "Let me see.
"I have to take my shirt off," I told her. She stared me down, and I unbuttoned the shirt and let her help me take it off. Then she peeled off the bandage, wrapped her hands around the wound, and her hands began to glow. The arm stopped hurting almost immediately.
"Shouldn't you have worried about infection?" I asked.
She smiled. "I did. No infection." She paused. "Still want to kick my ass?"
"No," I said meekly.
"Still resigning?"
"As if you still want me."
"You had every right to be angry," she said. "Are you still angry?"
"No."
The three of us looked at each other. "We're a mess," I said.
"There are showers at the dojo," Petra said. "May I suggest we go use them?"
Discipline
We showered and got dressed. "I sort of made a pretty public scene."
"It wasn't that bad," Petra said.
"You didn't hear the things I said, rather loudly, every time you disappeared."
"You weren't very eloquent," Andrea said. "You need to work on that."
"You're making jokes while I'm asking whether you have to fire me?" I asked her. "I'm sure half the office stood outside the door listening and heard everything I yelled. At the very worst they're all upstairs in their dojo clothes, wondering what this was all about."
"No one stood outside," Andrea said. "I told Karen to get them all off the floor. The office will gossip but accept the explanation that there was a personal disagreement that has been handled. Karen will need to know more than that."
"Do you want me to fire you?" Petra asked.
I looked at the floor. "Not anymore." I looked up. "I've never enjoyed a job like I enjoy this one."
"Might I suggest," said Andrea, "that the three of us go somewhere quiet for lunch? Then the two of you should take the afternoon off."
"Excellent suggestion," said Petra. The two of them looked at me.
I walked over and stood in front of Petra. "I want to know something."
"Yes?"
"You said you couldn't kiss me until I learned to travel back and forth on my own."
She nodded.
I lifted my chin and closed my eyes. Then I waited.
But only for a moment before I felt her hands touching me gently. One hand on my cheek, the other at the back of my neck. She lifte
d my face further towards hers, and when our lips touched, my knees grew week. I put my arms around her neck, and when her tongue sought entrance, I parted for her.
It was a long, thorough kiss, full of promises and forgiveness. When she finally pulled away, I hung from her for a moment, my head resting on her shoulder.
"Mine," she said.
"Yours," I agreed.
Andrea cleared her throat.
"No one is making you watch," I said.
She laughed. "We should let people come back in and change. And frankly, I'm starving."
We left the dojo together and climbed two flights of stairs to our offices. I studiously avoided looking at anyone. Petra said something to Karen. Petra and Andrea both collected their purses and locked their office doors, and we headed downstairs. Andrea led us on a short walk to a restaurant nearby. She talked to the hostess and we got a table that was well isolated from any prying ears.
I set next to Petra and the moment we were seated, grabbed her hand and held it under the table.
I was too dazed to even look at the menu. Petra ordered for me. The waitress brought us our soft drinks and then we sat there staring at each other for a moment.
Finally I looked up at Petra. "Are we dating now?"
She smiled. "I certainly hope so."
"Openly?"
She thought about it. "I would prefer we maintain a certain level of professionalism at the office."
"Does that mean we're hiding? I am not interested in sneaking around."
"No, but at the office, we're professional," she said.
"Is there a company policy?"
"Yes," she said. "It's more lax than other companies. Personal relationships between employees require approval from Renea herself. She's approved this one."
"Am I going to get angry if you tell me when?"
Andrea snickered. "Probably. Your personality definitely matches the stereotype of someone with that color hair."
"I like the color of my hair," I told her. "And I'm perfectly satisfied with my personality."
She smiled. "Me too."
I looked at Petra again. "So if I put my head on your shoulder right here in public, and half the office were to walk in, you're not going to pull away?"
"No, Felicia," she said. "I'm not going to pull away."
So I leaned against her and put my head on her shoulder, then pulled our hands out from under the table so anyone walking past could see we were holding hands.
The breadsticks came. Petra put one on my plate for me. Using my free hand, I pulled pieces off and ate them.
"Now what?" I asked.
"Siriena is real," Andrea said. "As you are now aware."
"The rules are different, though," Petra said. "Technology doesn't work. Wind up watches work, nothing with batteries does."
"I had my cell phone in my pocket," I said.
"It's not destroyed," Petra said. "But it has shut itself off as if the power disconnected."
"Oh," I said. I fished it from my pocket and checked it. It was off. I turned it back on and was relieved when it powered up. I snuggled back against Petra.
Our food arrived. We ate quietly for a few minutes. Andrea eventually said, "We're going to give you some basics." I nodded. "Rule number one. If Petra tells you to do something, you do it. Period."
I glanced up at Petra.
"You are mine," she said. "That's not a casual statement."
"And I don't know what I'm doing there."
"That too," said Andrea. "And for that reason, if I tell you to do something, you will do it. But even after you know what's going on, if she tells you to do something, you do it. Period. And that is a permanent rule."
I pulled away from Petra. "I'm not your slave."
She turned and stared into my eyes, not saying a word. I glared at her. I turned and looked at Andrea, then back at Petra, then turned to Andrea and said, "You two are serious."
She nodded. "This isn't negotiable, Felicia. You will do it. You may enjoy it more if you take a little ownership in agreeing to it."
I looked back at Petra, who hadn't said a word. Andrea asked me, "Do you want a relationship with her?"
"Yes," I said.
"What would you do for it? For her?"
I turned back to Andrea and sighed. "Anything. And anything."
"Well then," she said. "What's the problem?"
I turned to Petra and looked her in the eye. "If you tell me to do something, I'll do it. Period."
She smiled and took my hand, pulling me against her.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
I leaned against her again.
"There are a few more things to know," Andrea said. "In Seriena, we're immortal."
"What?"
"We don't age," said Petra. "We remain the age and appearance as when we were first brought over. And our appearance is based on how the person who brought us saw us. I look different because Renea's eyes were getting old, and that's how she saw me."
"I look a little different than I do here, but that's largely because memory isn't perfect," Andrea said. "You, however, look very much like you do here. Your hair there is a little brighter and perhaps slightly longer. Your body here is becoming toned, but your body there is amazing. Other than that, you look the same."
"I used photos of you," Petra said. "I worked hard to have the right image in mind."
I glanced up at her but didn't say anything.
Andrea went on. "You can be killed there, and dead is dead. But we don't age."
"Your body here ages, even when you're gone. If you were there for a year, you would come back here and look a year older."
I thought about all that.
"Renea appears forty-five in Siriena," Andra said. "But if she ever comes to Earth again, she'll probably die immediately. She hasn't been back in five years, and she's into her nineties."
"Seriously?"
"She's forever forty-five," Petra said. "I am forever thirty-one. You are forever twenty-eight."
"I am thirty-three," said Andrea. "The age I was when Renea first brought me over, seventeen years ago."
We finished eating and stared at each other. The check came and I reached past Petra to try to take it, but she growled at me.
"Seriously?" I asked her, pulling my hand back.
She opened her purse and pulled out bills to cover the check.
"Felicia," Andrea said. "I really need you back at work tomorrow."
"I'll be there," I said.
She grinned. "You two have a nice day now." She slipped out of the booth and walked out of the restaurant.
I pressed myself more tightly against Petra's side. "I'm sorry, I can't stop touching you. Are you going to take me home now?"
"Oh yes," she said.
"When we get there, are you going to take me?"
She grinned. "Oh yes."
"Do you need change for the bill?"
In response she pulled me from the booth and dragged me out of the restaurant. I started giggling. We got to the street and I grabbed her arm. She led the way back to our office building and down to the parking garage. When we got to her car, she shoved me against it and pressed her body against mine. I lifted my face to hers and accepted a kiss. Her tongue demanded entrance and I opened for her. She had one hand on the back of my head, pulling me to her while her other hand was running up and down my side. She slipped it under my shirt and caressed the bare skin of my side.
I moaned into her mouth and clutched at her.
She broke the kiss and pulled away only a few inches, her eyes searching my face. Then she opened the car door and shoved me into the car. I barely was safely inside before she closed the door.
She climbed in the other side. I was already rotated in my seat to face her.
"Buckle up," she told me.
I sat back in my seat and buckled in but immediately rotated in the seat to face her.
She turned to face me. "Felicia, I want to play with you, too. But when y
ou are in my car, you will buckle in without being told and you will sit properly. And keep your hands to yourself."
I'd been reaching for her but snatched my hands back then grumped and plopped into the seat, channeling my inner teenager in the process. I saw a ghost of a smile, then she backed out of her spot and soon had us on the road heading home.
We didn't talk on the way. I had too many questions and didn't want to start on that. I just wanted her clothes off of her and my hands searching everywhere on her that her hands had been on me.
We pulled into the garage under the apartment. She brought us to a stop and shut the car off.
"Felicia," she said. "I am not an exhibitionist. We will not be putting on a show for the security cameras."
I didn't say anything. We both got out of the car. I kept several feet between us as we walked to the elevator. She stepped closer and grabbed my hand.
"I thought you didn't want to put a show on," I told her.
"I could see in your eyes you weren't planning on waiting to reach my floor before you threw yourself at me," she said. "But this is nice."
I stepped closer and clutched her arm. "This is nicer," I told her.
She laughed. "Yes, it is."
I tried to entice a kiss from her during the elevator ride. "Behave," she told me. "Act your age."
"Young and horny?" I asked. "I thought I was."
She laughed.
She pulled me from the elevator, led me to her door, and opened the door. She shoved me inside and followed after me, stalking me. The instant the door clicked shut, I reversed direction and threw myself at her. Her back slammed against the closed door and I was instantly on her, pulling her mouth down to mine for a kiss.
My tongue asked for admittance, but she pulled away, spun us both around, and shoved me against the door. She pinned me there with her arms and hips. She was both larger than I was and, frustratingly, stronger. I struggled, trying to pull her closer, but she held me pinned, looking down at me with a predatory smile.
"Who is in control, Felicia?" she asked me.
I struggled some more, ignoring her question.
She pulled me away from the door, then banged me back into it. "Who is in control, Felicia?" she asked me again.
I stopped struggling and stared into her eyes. "You are," I told her.
"Are you sure?" she asked me.
Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) Page 14