by Rye Hart
"Mhmm," Eva sighed as he kissed a trail back down to her breasts.
Bhradain lifted himself up in order to continue the removal of Eva's gown. He tugged at the dress where it snagged on Eva's full hips. "I want to see all of ye," he said in a deep, seductive tone.
Eva didn't argue; she liked how she felt when he gazed upon her. She had already seen every inch of him, she might as well return the favor. She shimmied her hips to allow the dress to slide more smoothly past them.
Her movements caused Bhradain to groan with unquenched lust.
"I need to taste ye," he purred.
Eva wasn't about to turn down the offer of a highland god's wish to be between her thighs. She was too caught up in the moment to think of a coherent answer, so she simply nodded her agreement.
Bhradain continued his trail of kisses down her torso until he reached the juncture at her thighs and the small patch of hair that guarded it.
When he pushed his tongue inside of her, Eva gasped and clutched at the bed sheets. The sensation when he nipped, licked, and flicked his hot tongue against her most sensitive core caused her toes to curl and whole body to shiver in ecstasy.
"Don't stop," she gasped as he continued to bestow sensual attention on her womanhood and slowly tease out Eva's release.
Eva could feel her body start to ride the wave of anticipation, while toeing the edge of carnal release. Each flick of Bhradain's tongue sent her spiraling closer and closer to the tipping point. All rational thought left her mind as a more primitive nature took over and guided her along the sensual experience.
When Eva thought that she could take no more, she felt her body let go of the tension and allow the pleasure to overwhelm and consume her. She cried out as her body shivered, then relaxed as she came back down from ecstasy.
When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Bhradain standing between her thighs: tall, powerful, and sensually dangerous.
"I'll leave ye to rest now," he said softly, but his eyes continued to flash with the reminder of their erotic encounter.
Once Bhradain had left, Eva felt a something lighting up inside of her. She felt herself transforming and something inside told her she was changing, and life as she knew it would be completely different.
It didn't take long for Eva to drift off into a long and sweep slumber that night.
"M’lady," Gussie interrupted Eva's sleep. "T’is time to wake, ye slept the whole day away."
Eva opened her eyes groggily; she couldn't believe that she was still here. She thought surely it had all been a strange hallucination. As she started to come awake, Eva blushed as she thought of what had happened in that bed only hours earlier.
"I brought yer garments," Gussie offered her the pair of jeans and the top Eva had been wearing when she arrived. "Peculiar garments," Gussie muttered as she set the washed and folding clothes at the foot of Eva's bed.
Eva was excited to see her clothes back. No matter how out-of-place they made her look in this world, she yearned for a reminder of her life back home.
"Thank you," Eva said.
"Do ye need help to dress?" Gussie offered. "The Lady Drummond would like to see ye before the supper," she added quickly.
"I think I got it," Eva laughed. She peeled back the covers and quickly pulled the t-shirt over her head and yanked the tight jeans up her legs. "I'm ready," she announced to the girl after a few seconds.
Gussie nodded. "Follow me m’lady."
Eva followed Gussie down the long, darkened halls. Although Gussie carried a candle to light their way, Eva wasn't accustomed to the lack of electricity.
Lady Drummond was waiting for them in front of large double doors.
Gussie curtsied the moment Lady Drummond came into view. Eva was unsure of how to act when one entered the presence of a lady, so she just copied whatever Gussie did.
"Gussie, ye are dismissed," Lady Drummond waved her hand at the young maid.
"Yes m’lady." Gussie curtsied a second time before departing.
Eva felt a bit nervous being alone with the intimidating Lady Drummond, who was currently giving her a rather sharp look.
"Do ye ken why I brought ye here?" Lady Drummond asked Eva with commanding force.
"No ma'am," Eva answered timidly.
Lady Drummond raised an eyebrow at Eva before continuing. "The high druids seek yer counsel," she stated calmly.
Eva released her breath. She was afraid Lady Drummond might have known about the interactions Eva had with her son and was relieved that was not the topic of discussion.
Suddenly, Eva was feeling appalled since the high druids just accused her of witchcraft in front of the entire clan and now they had the audacity to seek her counsel. Who do they think they are?
She wasn't sure if she could take a repeat of that incident. "Does Laird Drummond know about this?" she asked cautiously, instinctively knowing that he was her protector now.
Lady Drummond didn't flinch at her question, but neither did she acknowledge it. "Before we can accept ye, the druids of our clan need to see if ye be true."
Eva could feel her heart racing; she knew that this was a bad idea. However, she didn't know how she was going to get out of it, short of running away from here as fast as possible. Somehow, she knew that wasn’t a feasible answer. Where would she go?
"I guess?" Eva said hesitantly.
"Excellent," the Lady smiled at her. She opened the door and motioned for Eva to lead the way.
Eva's nostrils were assailed by the heavy smell of incense as smoke wafted out of the room. Lady Drummond did not appear the least bit bothered by the smoke, but nevertheless proceeded to wait by the door while looking at Eva expectantly.
"Am I —" Eva began, "do you —" she pointed at the room. Does she expect me to go in there? It is so thick with smoke how would one be able to see anything, let alone breathe?
Lady Drummond simply nodded.
Eva took a cautious step into the room, her mind racing with the absurdity of the moment.
Once she stepped inside, Lady Drummond shut the door behind Eva.
"Wait!" Eva called out, she tried to open the door, but it was already firmly secured. Her heart raced with the cold realization that she was trapped inside with two people that made it clear they weren’t very fond of her and by the looks on their faces their opinion did not change.
Cautiously, Eva turned back around. "Hello?" she called out into the heavy smoke. Her nostrils burned with the sweet smell of incense; her head began to grow heavy and her mind started to fog. "Hello?" she said again, her voice beginning the slur.
The only reply was the distant sound of chanting. Eva took a shaky step toward the hypnotic song, and out of the cloud of smoke emerged a shadowy figure.
Eva recognized the figure as one of the druids from her "ceremony." In this room, the cloaked figure seemed even more inhuman amongst the thick smoke, than he had outside in the courtyard. Eva shook her head to try and clear it, but her idea of reality had been thrown into turmoil the moment she had stepped through the door back at the house.
"So ye claim to be capable of breaking the curse that afflicts our laird?" the shadowy figure asked in a hushed male voice.
"I don't claim to be anything," Eva blurted out.
While Eva was still trying to process this new information, the figure continued. "So ye say," he said in his hypnotic voice. The chanting in the background continued, creating a thoroughly chilling atmosphere.
Eva was just about to reach her limit. "Look here mister," she advanced closer to the hooded figure. "I don't know what is going on, but someone better start explaining things to me!" she demanded coolly. Eva was shocked by her own forwardness, but a girl could only take so many surprises.
The figure regarded her from under the hood, and took his time before he replied.
"There is only one way to tell if ye be the one," he said in a tone barely above a whisper.
"Enough already," Eva interrupted. "I am not your witch or chosen one
or whatever else you think I am!" She threw her hands up in the air in a sign of defeat.
The figure chuckled from beneath his hood and the sound sent a chill down Eva's spine.
"Aye, she be her," said an even more chilling voice. The second hooded figure appeared next to the first, her face concealed just like the other.
Alarm bells rang in Eva's brain; she needed to get out of here.
"We have our orders," the first one told the second in a hushed voice.
Eva continued to back away, her anxiety slowly rising as the room took on a more sinister air. When her back hit the door behind her, she stopped. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this situation; she could barely see four feet in front of her. Not to mention, even if she could escape the room, she had no idea where she would go.
Eva noticed something shimmer in the man's hand. A knife perhaps? Eva froze.
"Look, I promise you, I am not who you think I am!" she said desperately, but already she knew that whatever she said would only be used against her.
The two figures continued to advance forward, closing the distance between them and her.
"Please," Eva pleaded. This whole thing had turned into a horrific nightmare. How could a simple game of manhunt have gone so wrong? She thought of her cousins, her aunt and uncle, the few friends she had back home, her job, her life. Will I ever see them again? she wondered.
The man extended his hand as he came closer, a thin bony appendage that appeared more skeletal than human.
Make it stop, Eva thought. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting, anticipating the chilling touch and the sharp blade of death.
Chapter Six
The next thing Eva heard was Jamie’s voice. "Cousin Eva, what are you doing on the floor?"
Eva's eyes shot open. She shielded her vision from the blinding light coming from Jamie's flashlight. After spending the past few hours with nothing but moonlight and candles guiding her, the artificial light was overwhelming. She sat up, still disoriented, her heart racing from the near death experience.
Jamie's face came into focus. He was standing in the doorway, an expression of utter confusion clouding his cherub face.
"I, um —" Eva looked around at the room. It was a simple storage room, nothing out of the ordinary. No smoking incense, no dangerous druids, no enticing highlanders. "Nothing," Eva said in a rush. She wasn't about to explain what had just happened to her to her six-year-old cousin.
"You never found us!" Jamie whined. "We waited and waited for fifteen minutes and you never came!"
"Only fifteen?" Eva asked. She felt like she had been away for hours.
The little boy nodded. "Maggie gave up, but I said we must find you."
"Thank you," she said kindly.
The little boy beamed. "I'm glad you are alright," he said.
Eva wasn't sure she would say she was alright. She still felt a bit shaken by her experience in the druid's lair. Furthermore, she wasn't exactly sure if what she had experienced was real or not. It had all felt so vivid in the moment, but now that she was back at the house, she felt like it would be ridiculous to believe that anything that had transpired in the highlander's world was anything more than a weird dream.
"I think I am done for the night," she told her cousin. "I promise I will play Manhunt tomorrow," she offered.
He gave her a huge grin. "Ok!" he said enthusiastically.
Eva got up and made her way toward the door with little Jamie acting as her guide. As they left the room, Eva closed the door behind her. They both walked down the stairs, while Jamie started telling Eva about the pirate story his father had promised to tell him at bedtime. Eva nodded as he spoke, but her mind was still reeling with the thoughts of her strange experience. Although her rational mind tried to tell her that it was all just a dream, which perhaps she'd slipped and hit her head, her heart ached with a very different memory.
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Jamie turned to bound off in search of his father. However, as Jamie moved away, he called back to Eva over his shoulder. "You need a bath Eva, you stink," he said with unabashed honesty.
Bewildered, Eva looked down at her clothes. Only after Jamie had pointed it out did the sickly sweet smell hit her. She lifted the hem of her shirt sniff the fabric; she smelled heavily of incense.
"Eva, if you are going to continue to click your pen incessantly?" Eva's boss said to her with an angered look.
"Sorry," Eva said sheepishly. She quickly stopped the nervous clicking and set her pen down. She refocused her attention back on the room, and away from the events of the night before that continued to play like a reel in her thoughts. She felt a blush creep up her neck and mottle her already embarrassingly red cheeks as she noted the stares of her coworkers.
"While we’re at it – what is the status of that book I asked you to edit and review?"
Shit! Eva thought. It was a miracle that she made her way into the office! She had completely forgotten about the book that her boss had asked her to take on as a project. She had been too busy trying to figure out the events from the previous night; like how she had been pulled into a different world by the call of a cursed highlander and then narrowly escaped being murdered by crazed druids! A book review was the last possible thing on her mind when she was too busy questioning her whole reality.
"I, um, I’ll have to request an extension please on account of unexpected personal circumstances" Eva stuttered.
"We are already passed the deadline Eva. You could have told me that you wouldn’t be able to complete it so I could assign another team member," he stated. "I think we need to discuss your ability to carry on with the responsibilities of your role”.
Eva could feel the heat return to her cheeks, while her eyes started to sting. She refused to cry in front of her boss and coworkers.
"Perhaps you should go home and think about that," he sneered. "And I’ll be expecting the finished assignment at my desk tomorrow at 9am sharp!" he said harshly.
Eva was shocked by the severity of his words. She knew her boss had never quite liked her, but she didn't think he would go so far as to mock her in front of her coworkers. She looked around at their faces, but no one dared to make eye contact with her.
Eva rose, and it took everything in her to hold back the sob that welled up in her throat.
But just as she was about to leave the meeting room, something within her snapped. With a calm strength that she had not known she possessed, she turned to face her boss. "You are right," she stated coolly. "I am not meant to work here," she held her head up higher, bringing her steady gaze directly on her boss before she continued. "I'm too good for a place like this, and it is not worth the level of crap I am forced to put up with from you." She felt the edges of her mouth turn up in a triumphant smirk. She was done with being talked down to, chastised, overworked, and underappreciated. No amount of money could justify the way he treated her, or any of his employees. "Good bye," she said with an air of finality. And with that, she turned on her heels and left.
Eva didn't stop even once on her way out of the building. She didn't care about the trinkets that she had decorated her desk with in an attempt to liven up a dreary workspace. All she could think of was getting herself out of this place as soon as possible. She felt dizzy with the adrenaline from telling her now ex-boss exactly what she felt; she shook with the aftershock of standing up for herself.
Yet, even as Eva exited the door, her mind began to drift away from the exhilarating moment of quitting her job. Instead, she began to focus on a thought that had plagued her since the moment she realized she was back at her house — how to get back? Something within her had awakened the moment the highlander had touched her. There was an intense pull between them that transcended all reason, and she needed to feel it again.
"What are you doing?" Jamie asked curiously.
Eva stopped what was probably her seventh time opening and closing the storage room door — her half haphazard attempt to recreate
last night's events. "Umm, nothing," she said. "Don't you have some homework or something to do?" she asked him.
Jamie gave her a blank expression. "I don't have homework, I'm four."
Eva couldn't help but giggle at his deadpan response. "I see," she smiled down at her precocious cousin.
"You said you would play manhunt with me!" Jamie reminded Eva.
"Oh, that's right," Eva snapped her fingers and she remembered her promise. "Okay, how about right now?" she asked. "Do you want to wait for Maggie?" she asked.
Jamie shook his head. "Now, I want to play now! Please?" he pleaded.
"Oh alright," she gave in. "You are it," she tagged him and then quickly bounded down the stairs.
"I'll get you!" Jamie called after her.
Eva slowed down in order to give Jamie a fighting chance. They played a few rounds, alternating between who was "It" before finally collapsing in the living room, thoroughly exhausted from running through the house.
Eva was so tired — not just from the game of Manhunt, but from the events of the day.
"What have you two been up to?" she asked.
"We played Manhunt and I won three games out of five!" Jamie announced proudly.
"That's wonderful sweetie," her aunt told Jamie encouragingly. "Would a champion like yourself come and help your father and I make dinner?" she asked.
Jamie jumped off the couch. "I can do anything!" he announced to the room before bounding off to the kitchen.
Once she was alone, Eva finally began to process the oddity of the past twenty-four hours. However, her mind still felt overloaded with information and she could feel her eyelids grow heavy with exhaustion. She figured she wouldn’t get any answers while her mind wasn't firing on all cylinders.