by R T Green
And then, she could take the stillness no more.
Trembling hands looped around the back of my head, thrust me hard between her legs. I sank my tongue into her wetness, wrapped my hands around her butt and pulled her tighter into me.
She cried out, suddenly all moving parts. She lifted her arms, hands flattening into the wall above her head. She arched her back, again and again, thrusting into me, crushing my head between her crotch and the wall in a blissful vice.
Her whole body was shaking as I took her higher, her screams mingling with the splashes of the shower water as it cascaded around us both. I couldn’t breathe, didn’t want to breathe. She was eating me as I ate her. I closed my eyes, the feel of her sex all I needed.
I heard her cry out, ‘Oh Madeline…’, felt her clit swell in the swirl of my tongue, slowed my movements as her thrusting lessened and her body tensed around me…
She exploded, crying tears of joy and relief that mingled with the shower water falling over me, her body overpowered by the sheer intensity of her come. Still flat against the wall above me, her sobs racked her body as a million pent-up emotions took their toll, and an army of demons seared out of her, flew angrily around the shower enclosure, and then faded away to nothing.
I lifted my hands to her waist, eased her limp body downwards until she was sitting on my thighs. Still she was sobbing uncontrollably, wrapping trembling arms tight around my shoulder, clinging to me like her life depended on it.
‘I’m sorry, Madeline. I’m so sorry…’
I eased her head away from my shoulder, forced her sad eyes to open. ‘I’m sorry too, for everything I put you through. But I’ve just watched your demons fly away, and they took mine too. So now it’s just the two of us, ok?’
‘But I’m a hateful person.’
That made me laugh. And that made her scowl. ‘You laughing at me?’
I caressed her damp cheek. ‘Yes. Because you could even think that you’re hateful.’
‘I am.’
I kissed her, her still-trembling lips so delicious against mine. ‘You’re discovering human emotions, Zana. Finding out what it’s like to own a heart and then have it battered and bruised almost to death. And I should know.’
She held me tight against her. ‘Because of me,’ she whispered.
‘Yes. And for you, because of me.’
‘So we love each other and bring each other pain.’
‘Fact of life. But maybe we stop the pain right now, concentrate on the love bit?’
She gazed into my eyes, our faces inches apart, didn’t speak for a moment. Then a saw a smile, creasing her face in the most beautiful of ways. ‘I can live with that. I love you, Madeline deWinter.’
‘And I love you too. More than I could ever believe possible.’
‘That’s the most wonderful thing anyone’s ever said to me.’ She kissed me again, a fleeting second of pure love before she pulled away.
And suddenly the sadness in her eyes was gone, replaced with a cheeky glint. And a sexy pout.
‘But… is there any of that pasta left? I’m starving!’
Chapter 158
The phone on the coffee table jangled to life. Jangled my nerves to life too. But at least I had a new determination, now I wasn’t alone anymore.
‘Hey Coop.’
‘Oh… you sound… positive.’
‘I am. Scared out of my wits though.’
‘That’s understandable. In the car park, kid.’
‘Two minutes.’
I put the phone down, looked at Zana. The fear was back in her eyes, but this time it was a simple, stand-alone one. Like me, she was fearing for me. She reached out, squeezed my hand… a simple action that meant the world.
We stood up, she looked me over. ‘Guess you look suitably slutty,’ she said.
I kind of felt it too. The dark red skirt I’d pulled out of the mothballs in the wardrobe reached almost halfway down my thighs, matching knee-high boots covering most of the rest of my legs.
Up to the waist, I looked like Supergirl.
After that, apart from the blonde locks, the similarity ended. I’d found a button-up top that showed a fair bit of what cleavage I had, enhanced to its max by a push-up bra. Zana had suggested I ditch the bra, allow the sub-zero temperatures to naturally enhance my assets, but I couldn’t face that.
Hitting the streets was bad enough, but flaunting the bits that only belonged to one person was a step too far.
She pulled me into her, held me tight. ‘I wish there was another way,’ she whispered.
‘Yeah, me too.’
‘Got all your 007 bits?’
I tapped my bag, nodded. Everything was checked and double-checked, the cheek implants back in place, the blondeness lovingly brushed. We slipped on our coats, swapping outerwear on Zana’s thoughtful suggestion. She said the hood of her cape had not only kept her head warm, but given her a sense of being cocooned when things got tough.
I sure needed that, standing on a dark street on a freezing winter’s night, waiting to get kidnapped.
So I threw on the cape, Zana wore my fleece. I slipped the earpiece into my ear as we headed to the door, and then wished I hadn’t.
‘Testing, testing!’
‘Oww, Miles! A perforated eardrum won’t help.’
‘Sorry. Adjusting the volume.’
He grinned as we joined him in the back of the van. Not at my lack of hearing, but at our appearance. ‘Getting harder to tell which one of you is which,’ he laughed.
I glanced around at the array of technology in the van. ‘Wow, Coop, I can see where my income tax goes now.’
He glanced back from the driver’s seat. ‘Sure, Maddie. Like you actually pay any!’
I couldn’t argue with that. He knew what I earned from my work in a previous life was always paid in cash. Any other way, and it could be traced to the government department that paid me.
I saw the smile break across his face. Maybe deliberately, Zana had just wrapped her gloved hand around mine, and his eagle eyes had seen it.
He fired up the engine, floored the throttle, and made us all smile.
‘The anti-Tiri-ist squad is back in business!’
Chapter 159
Coop turned off the engine, and as the silence filled my ears the fear kicked in. Zana must have seen it in my eyes, squeezed my hand tighter and locked a stare into me.
‘You sure you want to do this?’
There was a tremor in her voice; she was just as scared as I was. ‘No. It’s the last thing I want to do. But I have to.’
Coop joined us in the back of the van. ‘Chances are it’s not going to happen right out of the box, Maddie. We might have to do this two or three times to hook the prey.’
‘Cheer me up, why don’t you?’ I tried to smile, don’t think I managed it. ‘But it’s got to happen quick, or it might be too late.’
Miles nodded. ‘We’re just going to have to hope for the best. Go do your thing Madeline, we’ve got your back.’
‘It’s not my back I’m worried about.’
Zana grabbed me, pulled us tight together, like she was holding on for dear life. But wonderful as it was to feel her love flooding into me, I had to ease her away.
Before I changed my mind.
Coop pulled the hood up around my blondeness. ‘No heroics, ok? If they come, just go with the flow. We’ll be right behind you.’
I nodded, unwilling to speak, in case my voice gave away the fact every fibre in my body was telling me to stay right where I was.
The bitter cold hit me as I climbed out of the rear door. And so did the harsh reality of life on the streets. As the door slammed shut behind me, a wave of sheer loneliness blasted through me.
It didn’t help that Mother Nature had decided to be a bitch. A freezing mist has descended over London, and as I looked around and exhaled hesitantly, my faltering breath looked like smoke as it curled upwards to mingle with my foggy surroundings.
I took a few steps, glanced back to the van, fighting the urge to wimp out and run back to safety.
Stop being a pussycat. You’re better than this.
I think.
I walked towards the building on the corner of the quiet street, my boots clunking on the frost-covered paving, the only sound I could hear. Coop had parked around the corner from the street where the girls normally gathered, slipping the van up against the closed-up gates of a small industrial park.
He’d chosen it because at night it was all but deserted, but it was the bleakest of drop-off points for a hooker brand new to the game, and terrified out of her wits. The few streetlamps were old-fashioned, their dim pools of light made spookier by the mist, and the old brick buildings lining the pavement seemed to have a thousand dark doorways, any one of which could contain someone intent on doing me harm.
As I walked I focused on the corner, knowing that once I rounded that the street would be better lit, and I sure wouldn’t be alone.
That wasn’t quite the case. For sure it was brighter and a bit more welcoming.
But I was still alone.
‘Guys, there’s no one here. You sure this is the place?’
‘Guess the word’s got around, kid. Even the hookers are too scared to be on the streets. Maybe a good thing in one way… if they come looking you won’t have any competition!’
‘You really are a bundle of joy, aren’t you Coop?’
‘Sorry, Maddie.
He said it deliberately, knowing I’d retort and find a scrap of comfort in familiarity. ‘And don’t call me Maddie!’
I walked a little further down the street. Four hundred yards in front there was more light; a couple of shops and a tiny pub. It looked more welcoming, a lighthouse in my stormy sea of fear, but I couldn’t go any further. The girls didn’t hang around there, knowing they’d get move on or carted away.
I’d gone as far as I could. Now I just had to wait it out.
I decided on my personal spotlight, leant against the cold wall underneath one of the streetlamps, pulled the pack of cigarettes from my bag and lit up. Since I’d fled to Tobago I’d not found the need to smoke – getting pissed out of my skull took away the pain far more effectively – but standing there in the line of fire, a brazen fake hooker waiting to head into an unknown danger… well, lighting up was an essential.
I leant my head back against the grey bricks, closed my eyes. Another memory suddenly switched itself on in full HD, filling the inside of my eyelids with one more video replay. I was watching myself on that fateful night, hiding in the dark alley waiting for Zana to return home, ordered to kill her, and chain-smoking to give my shaking hands something to do.
The recall was suddenly ripped away. A voice right next to me shocked me back to the present.
‘Can I skank one of them?’
She’d appeared from nowhere, although to be fair I had closed my eyes. Maybe not the wisest thing to do, given my vulnerable situation. She looked in her late forties, but was doing her best to appear younger. A dark green parker was unbuttoned, revealing an almost non-existent skinny top, boobs like melons on display for all to see.
Her face gave away the life she’d led, but I noticed the shoulder-length fake-blonde hair was soft and shiny, and there was still a sparkle to be seen in her intelligent blue eyes. Around her neck was a silver necklace, a small cylinder-shaped pendant dangling between her ampleness.
She saw me looking, grinned. ‘Pepper spray, dearie. When you’s been on the game as long as me, you need more than one kind of protection, if you get me. You got anything?’
I handed her a cigarette, felt her cold hands around mine as she lit up. ‘Got a couple of things in my bag,’ I answered truthfully.
She frowned, blew out a cloud of smoke that went nowhere in the dead still air. ‘Take it from me, hun… keep your weapons on you.’
‘Thanks. I’ll remember that.’
She looked concerned. ‘You new to this? Ain’t seen you around here before.’
There was no point lying. ‘First time.’
She shook her head. ‘Jesus Christ. What the fack made a pretty thing like you want to get into this shit?’
‘Need the money.’
‘Fack.’ She shook her head, and then held out a hand. ‘I’m Shirl. Can’t say I’m pleased to see you here, but it’s your choice, gal.’
I shook the hand. ‘I’m… Delores.’
A voice in my ear. ‘Geez, Delores… just how many names you got, kid?’
I ignored that. ‘I thought there’d be more girls here, Shirl.’
She looked at me wide-eyed. ‘You ain’t in the loop, are you Del? Street gals going missing right left and centre… and you decided now’s the right time to get hooking?’
‘You’re here, Shirl.’
‘Rent’s due,’ she said flatly.
‘Not so much competition though, huh?’
‘Why d’you think I came out, freezing my tits off?’
I was starting to like my new friend. Maybe it was good to meet someone who told it like it was. For sure it was wonderful to have the company. And somehow it gave me a good feeling that given what I knew, and Shirl’s age, she would at least be safe from alien predators.
Miles made a good point in my ear. ‘This must be Shirl’s patch, Madeline. Ask if she’s seen anything suspicious.’
I gave her another cigarette. ‘I guess some shit happened here Shirl, seeing as it’s just you and me?’
He face clouded over, she took a couple of draws before answering. ‘One of the girls has gone missing, a few days ago. No sign of her.’
‘She could have just moved on though.’
‘Nah. Lily lives in my block, just over there…’ she indicated a three-storey building a few hundred yards away. ‘We was friends; I got a key so if she pulled herself an all-nighter I could go feed her cat. Three days she was gone, all her clothes and the cat still there, not a word. So I called the cops.’
‘You did?’
‘Sure. Got me a good relationship with the local bobbies, if you see what I mean?’
‘You see anything suspicious before she disappeared?’
‘Not really. Did see the same car cruising around a couple of nights before, but that ain’t nothing unusual.’
‘What kind of car?’
‘Blue Mazda.’ She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. ‘You an undercover cop or something?’
I laughed, tried to make it sound convincing. ‘Me? You kidding? Just trying to learn from you, Shirl. Maybe if a blue Mazda pulls up I’ll run like hell.’
She shook her head again, her eyes misting over. ‘Wish Lily had. I try to look out for them, you know… doing this crappy shit ain’t good for a body.’
I had to give her a hug. This streetwise gal had a heart of gold. She looked up to me, almost pleading. ‘Why don’t you get yourself gone, Del? Ain’t no place for a gal like you… and you’ll be safer tucked up in bed. No punters tonight either.’
‘I can look after myself, Shirl. Just another half-hour maybe…’
I didn’t get any further. The sound of a car slowing down filled my ears. Two foggy beams of light pierced the darkness, heading for the kerb. A white Mercedes pulled up, and a fair-haired head leaned out as the window slid open. He looked a decent kind of guy, well dressed.
I glanced to Shirl, she nodded. ‘This one’s yours, gal. Just be careful…’
The guy smiled warmly as I walked over to him. ‘Wow… Little Red Riding Hood! Loving the look!’
‘You man enough to be my wolf?’ I smiled back, leaning into the car and stretching out my left arm to loop it around his neck as close to him as I could.
He looked grateful for the instant flirting. ‘Oh, I’m liking you already,’ he grinned.
I pulled back, shook my head. ‘Sorry pal, not interested.’
He looked shocked, and so did Shirl. ‘What you doing, gal? He’s ok… take it from me.’
‘Maybe… but not tonight. He�
��s all yours, if you want him.’
She still looked puzzled, but somewhat grateful too, headed to the car. She glanced back just before dropping into the passenger seat. ‘Get yourself home, Del. Don’t want you out here alone, ok?’
I nodded, watched the car drive away into the fog, and suddenly felt alone. Coop’s voice made sure I didn’t feel that way for long. ‘No flashing red lights on the watch, huh?’
‘Not even a glimmer. He was as human as you, Coop. Just a few shades lighter.’
We agreed to give it another thirty minutes. I lit up another cigarette, and leant back against the wall. Shirl’s words didn’t fill me with much positivity. Her friend Lily had actually gone missing three days before she’d reported it. Four days since they’d picked her up… plenty enough time for our alien friends to have moved on to a new patch of London.
And that made me realize something. Without a lucky break we’d always be a few days behind them. The sad and unpredictable life of a hooker meant that if any of them went missing, their disappearance wouldn’t be reported until a few days later. If at all.
Jane the detective was right about one thing. There could be a lot more girls going through Calanduran hell than we realized.
I threw the butt dejectedly to the ground, cast defeated eyes around my stark unfriendly surroundings, and decided enough was enough.
‘Calling it a night, guys. Coming in.’
Chapter 160
Zana clung to me like a limpet the whole way back to the apartment, the entire thirty seconds we were in the elevator, and for a full minute once we’d walked through the door. Gently I pried us apart.
‘Can we take our coats off now, please?’
‘Oh… yes, sorry.’
She looked like a little girl lost. ‘You ok?’
‘No. Please take your cheek implants out.’
I did as she asked, wondering why they were bothering her so much. Almost before they’d left my face she was kissing me, long and ferociously, and yet somehow still soft and gentle. It seemed to last forever, but again I had to ease her away, to take a breath. I gazed into her eyes, so full of love and fear, and realized just how much both of those things were controlling her.