The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy

by Jennifer Loren

  “Maybe so, but what can we do about it?”

  “We add devices that alert us no matter what … beings cross through the fences,” Elijah says, waving his hands in the air with frustration.

  “Do you know how many that will take?”

  “No, but it’s better to do something than nothing!”

  “Okay, but before we go building a steel box around the place, let’s go look around and see what can and can’t be done. You know, I still don’t understand how you and Nick became friends. You both are so controlling that you must have driven each other insane.”

  “Sometimes even the greatest of loves can’t work out their differences,” I chime in with a laugh.

  “I do love Nicky, but he was a rough lover. I don’t like to be manhandled. I much prefer a softer touch. Thank goodness Nicky found the perfect brute to marry,” Elijah says, winking at me.

  “Alright. Now let’s go stare at the fencing and argue for a while, like real men,” Ryan says sarcastically.

  “Have fun,” I laugh. As they leave, I look up and catch sight of the papers Ria left, and my blood begins to boil all over again. I stand up, pacing to try and calm myself.

  That bitch infuriates me. If my sons weren’t here, I would have beat the life out of her. The more I think about the situation, the angrier I get. The only thing I see now is red. I grab the nearest thing to me and grip it so tightly that my hand begins to bleed. I turn and throw it as hard as I can down the dark hallway, only it doesn’t hit anything. It stops in midair. Out of the darkness, he steps, like a dream. All dressed in his dark suit and possessing a concentration that I have never seen aimed at me. “Nick?”

  “How do you know me?” he asks, keeping his distance. “Why do you always call out to me like you know me?”

  “Because I do know you,” I say, not knowing whether to smile or scream for help.

  “I don’t know you,” he says with a low, potent voice.

  “You just don’t remember,” I say, taking a step forward, but I am instantly met with a growl.

  “My grandfather wants you dead. I should kill you now.”

  “Your grandfather only wants me dead to keep me from you.” Nick looks into my eyes, and I know he already realizes that to be true. “How did you find me?”

  “I influenced the information out of Ria. My grandfather asked Ria to kill you, but she obviously doesn’t have the ability since you are still standing and breathing. I had a feeling she would fail. She actually cornered me earlier telling me how brutal and fierce you were when you attacked her. She’s afraid you are going to come after her. I am not sure if she is more afraid of you or my grandfather,” He says, laughing about Ria’s failure. “She wants me to kill you for her.”

  “Of course she does. She wants you for herself, and I have a feeling your grandfather has promised her you if she helps him keep us apart,” I say, watching him closely.

  “I know what she wants, and I know what’s been promised to her. I am not interested in her though.” He circles towards me as if he is trying to lure me in. He has obviously decided to change his approach. “I asked my grandfather about you, but he said you want to kill me and that he is protecting me. Do you have some kind of power? You don’t seem to have any power? Although, you seem to have no problem deflecting my attempts to kill you or putting Ria down with ease,” he says, walking around me at a safe distant to verify my innocence. “I believe I could kill you in an instant if you let your defenses down for even a second.” I turn quickly, meeting his eyes dead on.

  “You could, but you don’t want to. Do you?”

  “Wrong. I want nothing more than to kill you and prove you are nothing to fear.”

  I step closer to him and allow his hand to take hold of my throat. “Kill me then. Put me out of this misery you have created.”

  “You want to die?” he asks in shock.

  “I want to stop the pain of loving you,” I say as he looks down on me with many more questions racing through his head. Is my Nick still within him somewhere? I have to know. “I love you, Nick. I miss you. Please come back to me,” I say honestly. He silently stares at me as his intense grip on my neck loosens, and then, I see it. It’s there, something within his eyes calls back to me. “Nick? Stay with me tonight. Stay, and be with me.” He tries to snarl and be angry, but something inside is fighting him. “Nick …” He suddenly grips me harder. I can’t breathe, and my heart rapidly begins beating out of control.

  Nick changes breath as Eey comes running towards us from upstairs, barking and snarling towards. Oh no Nicky! “Daddy!” Nicky yells and comes running at us. Nicky thinks nothing of running up to his father but quickly realizes that Nick is not himself. He pushes Nick away from me with an impressive force of his own. Nick instantly takes hold of him by one arm and lifts him up.

  “Don’t hurt Mommy!” Nicky yells, smacking Nick in the face. Nick drops him suddenly, and Nicky takes my hand, pulling me away. Nick steps back, eyeing him down and forming a stance to attack while Eey blocks him from coming anywhere near us.

  “Nicky, no, honey. Daddy is … not well right now,” I say as Nicky calms down and looks over his father, seeming to understand.

  “It’s okay, Daddy. I can help you get better if you let me,” Nicky says to him, reaching out his hand. Nick makes a hard groan and grabs Nicky’s hand with force. I expect him to hurt our son, so I try and stop him, but before I can, Nick’s knees buckle, and he has to break his fall with his arms. He tries to stand up again, but he is unable. He can do nothing more but lean back against the wall, writhing in pain.

  “What have you done to me?” Nick asks, trying to move his pained body further away from us.

  “Nothing. We only want to help you,” I say to him, not knowing if I should reach out to him or stay clear from any anger he may suddenly throw back at me.

  “No, I was fine before I came here,” Nick says, still struggling to get up.

  “We are not trying to kill you, Nick. If we were, wouldn’t we act now while you’re clearly vulnerable?”

  I move away from Nicky and towards his father, holding out my hand to him. “You can trust me. Take my hand, and we will help you feel better.”

  Backing away from me, Nick eyes my hand and cringes in pain. I step closer and gently touch his face, but I am immediately in his grip again. “What kind of sorcery are you trying to pull on me? What do you want from me?” I try to speak as I grab at his hands, trying to force breaths. The only thing I can do is reach out and touch his face once again and pass my love from inside me to him.

  “If you would only remember who you are and stop believing everything that he is telling you.” I sweep my hand through his hair and down his face as he calms more and more. His eyes stop swirling, and I begin to smile. I don’t want to hurt you. Nick, I only want to love you.” He takes a deep breath while looking me over. I believe he is being swayed when, suddenly, he pushes me away, sending me to the floor and causing a hard blow to my head.

  Nick rages back to his feet, only not at me. Elijah and Ryan come storming in at Nick. “What are you doing here, Nick?” Elijah asks before Nick slips past Ryan and runs out the door.

  “Daddy! Come back, Daddy! Come back!” Nicky runs after him until Ryan goes and brings him back. “I want my Daddy!” he screams, trying to break free from Ryan. I take him from his arms and let him cry against my shoulder.

  “Kayla, are you alright?” Elijah says, keeping a comforting hand on Nicky’s back.

  “I didn’t want him to leave. Why did you chase him away?” I yell at Ryan.

  “He was going to kill you!” Ryan says. “What was he doing here Kayla? Why would you risk us all and let him in here?”

  “I didn’t let him in. He got in on his own. I turned around after you left and there he was,” I say.

  Elijah looks over at Ryan. “I told you. Didn’t I tell you? There is nothing stopping him from coming in here, and there is no warning if he does.”

  The
y both continue to question me until I collapse into a chair and feel the weight of it all hit me. Nicky pats me gently and whispers to me, “It’s okay Mommy. I can help you get Daddy back.” I look into my sons eyes, wondering if he knows what he is talking about. “He won’t hurt you Mommy. He won’t. I know it, not now. Now, he is going to get better.”

  “What did you do Nicky? What did you do to Daddy?”

  “I helped him heal,” he says innocently.

  As Ryan and Elijah argue how best to keep Nick away from me, I realize that is the last thing I want to be done. I stand up abruptly. “Nick!” I say spontaneously. “Nick is fighting to get back to us. I know it.” They both look at each other rather than me, which means they think I’m nuts. “He is not completely gone. He needs me. He needs us to help him come back.”

  “Kayla, why don’t you go to bed and let us clean up.” I look down at Nicky who shrugs his shoulders as he continues to hold onto my hand. Sighing, I nod and take my son back to bed, kissing him and Eey. At least they support me and my crazy theories. The more I think about how close I was to him, how calm he was … he must have been remembering something. He must have been so close to coming back to me. I need to scream. I need to let out this frustration. I rush to my room and shut the door behind me before opening my window wide and leaning out far to scream, “Nick! I am not giving up! Nick!” I cry out into the stormy night. It feels so good that I yell, again and again, until he suddenly appears. His jet black hair, made even darker by the rain, would cause you to miss him in the dark night if not for the brightness of his eyes on me. Soaking wet, Nick stands at the base of the tree near my window and looks up at me with his devilish eyes swirling. I reach out with my hand, letting the rain drip down between my fingers. He climbs, surprisingly quick, up the tree and jumps through my window, but only once I step back. “You came back?” I say nervously.

  “Don’t scream. Don’t call for help or I will …”

  “I’m not, don’t worry.” We watch each other for what seems like an eternity when I have to break the silence. “Why did you come back?”

  “I don’t know,” he admits, suddenly tensing and looking down on me. “Do you want to please me?” I look at him strangely. “Prove you’re not some kind of demon. Prove you don’t have a power to control me?”

  “How can I possibly prove that to you? What more can I do? If I wanted you dead, you would be. If I wanted to hurt you in any way, I would scream and have you attacked by more than you can handle. What more can I do than that?”

  He stares hard at me, “Take your clothes off, and show me you have nothing to hide,” he says, backing off and waiting to see if I do as he asks.

  “You want to see me naked, Nick?” I laugh. “All you have to do is ask. You don’t have to make up some demon excuse.” His eyebrows scrunch, and I have to fight my smile back at him. “I will strip for you if that proves that I am not hiding anything from you.” He nods, so I begin taking my clothes off with a sway I know he likes. He watches every button unbutton, every tie untie, and every slow movement of fabric across my skin as I dance my way in and out of the flashing storm. “Is this what you wanted?” I ask as I step into the flashing light once again. I slowly bend to slide my panties down my legs and look up at him from over my shoulder. In the end, I stand in front of him, nude and vulnerable, but, for some reason, I feel even more powerful than ever. He walks around me, looking over every part of me. I glance over my shoulder as he breathes deeply. He reaches out, but just before his hand touches my skin, he pulls it back again. I turn, reaching out and taking hold of his coat. He pulls away.

  “What are you doing?” he asks, snarling at my approach.

  “I am just showing you my power, Nick.”

  “So you admit it?”

  “Of course, I admit it, but my power has nothing to do with killing you.” I reason until he lets me remove his coat and unbutton a few buttons on his shirt. I touch his heated skin, and he breathes hard. “It’s okay. As you can see, I obviously have no weapons.” I move his shirt back and find that blazing tattoo I love so much, and I press my lips to the edge of it on his shoulder. He jerks, but I am able to bring him back to me. A few gazes up into his eyes and some twists of my tongue up his neck, and he removes his own shirt. I move down his taut chest, his tattooed ribs, and as I reach the trail going down beneath his pants, I rub my hand between his legs, arousing his dick to the point of breaking through the zipper. I crouch down as he undoes his belt and removes his pants. I don’t hesitate grabbing his ass fully in my hands. I pull his hips towards me and follow the dark flaming edges down past his hip and towards his flawlessly erect cock. Touching my tongue and my lips all around it, I look up into his eyes, and he repositions himself, allowing me more access. I wrap my lips around the tip and pull away with a vibrating hum. I take it in even deeper and then again and again, all with a desiring moan.

  His erection grows and craves even more, but he suddenly jerks me up off the floor by my arm and holds me out in front of him. “See, you have no power over me.”

  “Are you trying to prove it to me … or yourself Nick? Because if you are trying to prove it to yourself, then I guess that means you are satisfied with where we are now. If you are trying to prove it to me, you failed. Your dick is still reaching out for me.” I smile wide.

  Nick looks me over once before turning me around, gripping my wrists, and pushing them down on the bed, forcing my ass in the air for him to enjoy. He begins feeling my body with heated hands, rubbing down my neck and my back, over my ass, and between my legs where he feels inside me as he roughly fondles my breasts. “I can have just as much power over you.” My eyes flutter as I become wetter and wetter with every motion of his fingers. He still knows how to touch me, how to find that place that sends me spiraling out of control and reaching and fisting the sheets before my release. With his lips edging against my ear he breathes, “My fingers are so wet from you that I can slide them in and out easily now. You must really like this, Kayla.” He smiles as I continue to moan and fight my pleasure from screaming out and alerting anyone. “Do you like the feeling of my fingers or did you like tasting my dick better?” Nick says with enjoyment in his voice. Nick takes a slight twist, and I have to grip his arm tight as I come. He pulls away and lets me fall into bed, gasping. I look back and watch him lick his fingers.

  “Who likes the taste of whom, Nick?” His scowl is pleasing and even more arousing to me, so I turn and crawl deeper into bed away from him, and he immediately climbs in after me with his cock leading the way. He goes in tight and hard, penetrating me with a low groan. He grips my neck with his lips barely grazing my skin. He pushes his face deep into my hair and slides his erection in me at his own pleasure, enjoying every part of me until he holds me up higher and sends us both into an ecstasy that forces me to scream out deep into a pillow. Reaching behind me, I fist his hair as he continues to thrust deep. Nick holds my breasts and groans into my neck with every motion. I can’t hold back my pleasure when he comes strong. I reach for a pillow and scream my orgasm into it, all the while fearing someone can hear us.

  He lets go of me, pulling out with a still desiring cock in his hand. He sits beside me, breathing heavily. I look him over and quickly jump on him, fully latching onto his lips. He jumps up, pushing me away with anger. “I don’t like that.”

  “Well, I don’t like getting fucked without it,” I demand.

  He grabs my face and looks down at me, “You do what I say.”

  “No! I do what I want, and if you don’t like it, then leave.”

  “I will leave when I want to,” he demands back.

  “No, if you are not going to remember your own wife and children and treat me like I deserve to be treated, then leave. I don’t want you here.” He stands back, looking at me in shock. “That’s right. That’s why your grandfather doesn’t want us together. He took that memory from you, and he wants to keep us from you so you never remember us. So you never remember who you r
eally are.”

  “Lie!” he seethes back at me.

  “No, he lies. Go back to him if that is what you want. I don’t want you here.” I stand up and shove him. “Go! You don’t deserve your family. I don’t want to see you ever again. I don’t want to even remember you exist.” I shove him again, “Go! You’re not the man I love. I love Nick Jayzon! Not you, not Nicholas Savage, an emotional drone who does only as his grandfather tells him.”

  Nick grabs my arms and looks down on me. “He looks out for me only, but I do as I want. I command as I choose. I am the leader of an army, and you are nothing but a woman.”

  His swirling eyes are already trying to control me again. I laugh, “You have tried that before, my husband, but it never works on me. I love you because I want to, not because you force me to. I loved you when you were your own man and not your grandfather’s minion.”

  “Stop saying that! I don’t know who you are. I don’t know these children you keep saying are mine. I don’t understand why you are trying to fool me with such lies. What do you want from me?”

  “What do you want from me, Nick? You’re the one that came to my bedroom. You are the one following me and seeking me out. What is it? Are you starting to doubt what your grandfather tells you? Or are you feeling something for me that you don’t understand?” He releases me and leans down to gather his clothes. I jump on him and force him to the floor, straddling him completely. Forcing my lips to his, I feel that twinge within my heart again. “A woman trying to kill you would never make you feel like you feel right now. I’m no ordinary woman, Nick, and you know it.” I remove my body from his and put on my robe. “You should probably go. Someone will be up here to check on me soon.”

  “You need people to check on you like you’re a child?” Nick smiles.

  “No, not like a child. The people who check on me are men who worry about a woman.” I move close to him, and now he stands near me, calm and wanting more of me. I graze his lips with mine, trailing my fingers down his manly body and waiting for him to take hold of me. The moment I feel his strong hands grab my waist and hold me to him, I move in again, pressing my lips against his and tasting them with a soft sweep of my tongue. He responds perfectly, and powerfully. He lays me back onto the bed, still fighting his desires. I sweep my hand through his hair as he tears my robe back and takes hold of my breasts with both hands. He sucks on every part of them, enjoying their fullness against his lips and feeling the edges of my nipples against his cheek. He moves in further, kissing up my neck while wrapping my legs around his waist. His penetration is tight but deep and full. His once swirling anger looks down on me again, but this time, it is muddled by a spark of something I haven’t seen since he was poisoned. He kisses every part of me, enjoying every touch and every whimper from my body. He comes, gripping my hands and with his lips pressed against my skin, whispering his pleasured emotions. He lies naked with me for a few moments before he begins to get nervous, and so do I.