Honor: 0 [ Give / Take ]
3 entries this month
Sebasti For the Holidays (Part 2) Near Thanksgiving
12:37 Jul 09 2009
Times Read: 683
Two months were nearly gone, and no one could find a trace of Sebasti. Danny watched Elaina with the planning manager discretely. Those two had been spending a great deal of time together since Louanne disappeared.
Danny sighed throwing his cold coffee in the sink in utter disgust. The decorations and smiles were grating on his worn nerves already. Danny missed Lou with all of his soul, and wasn’t good at hiding it. The happiness had gone out of his job the second he had lost her. Maybe it was the guilt, he thought to himself. It wouldn’t be the first time guilt ruined a man. He should have been there with her, and he knew it.
Leaning over the sink, Danny felt weary in a way he shouldn’t. It was too early to feel this bleak in his soul. Someone touched him on the shoulder gently. “Any sign of her at all, Danny?” He glanced back in question. He shook his head at Kurt, who had taken up the slack caused by Lou being gone.
Danny looked across the room and his eyes turned a little hard as they met Elaina’s questioning gaze across the room. Kurt saw the look and didn’t like it. “Maybe you should take a week off, man. Go home…Spend the holidays with your wife.”
Danny suddenly snorted in disbelief. “My wife,” he hissed. “Is that some kind of joke, Kurt, ‘cause it sounds like it from where I am standing?” He pushed off of the sink and threw the empty cup away angrily.
“You married her, boss,” the man bravely pointed out in his usual soft tone.
Danny sighed again. Yes, he had. Debra was scared, alone, and knocked up. How could he let her go home when she was sixteen and her dad wouldn’t believe it was her older, step-brother’s child she was carrying? The idiot wouldn’t do anything to stop the boy, or help her through the pregnancy until she could let the adoption agency take the kid. She had begged him. Being as soft-hearted as he naturally was inside, he had offered to help, but he had never touched her.
Debra had a room in his house, clothes to wear, food to eat, a car and a credit card at her disposal. All that and a husband offering to pay the bills while she needed it and divorce her as soon as she was legally able to stand on her own two feet.
Lou had teased him about being too kind to be a man. She had said he was like a wonderful lady buried in the body of a great, big bear of man. Danny had naturally taken offense at the idea. Lou had smiled sadly and softly replied in her quiet way, ‘I meant it as a compliment, Danny’.
It hadn’t taken long to realize that Louanne and Elaina were more than close friends. It had appalled him at first. Lou had carefully apologized for insulting him and he realized what she thought about his avoidance of her.
It took a little effort on his part to be friendly with her that first week, but he genuinely liked her. She made it easy to be sweet. Eventually, it had come naturally to him again. He had realized that it made very little difference. Louanne had always been unique to his way of thinking. It explained a lot of those differences, but not all.
Louanne was a mysterious puzzle that he had been slowly putting together. Each piece gave him a clearer picture but he still didn’t know what that picture would be when finished. He missed her. He missed her smile, and the sound of her slow sarcasm, or her laughter. How could Elaina sit there and not fret over her childhood friend being gone…her lover? It wasn’t right.
Thaddeus Hall scowled at him darkly when he caught him glaring at Elaina for the thousandth time. Danny excused himself, leaving the room before he could come over and act like a fool to tell him to chill out or something equally stupid. Kurt followed on his heels like a good lap dog, but it did little to dissuade Mr. Hall from following them.
The guy looked like a scrawny, rich accountant. Kurt noticed the matching frowns and decided to remove himself in case Danny wanted to beat the hell out of the twerp without a witness. They went into the staff’s security room where Danny was surrounded by the familiar grid of monitors showing Miss Du’ Tres’ grounds to him and recording everyone’s secrets.
“You won’t be able to find him unless he wants to be found, you know…”
The oddity of the comment and the certainty in the man’s smooth face bothered Danny on so many levels. He turned angrily. “What do you know about it?”
Thaddeus Hall studied him for a tense moment. “He will never hurt her,” he said.
“What? Are you an FBI profiler all of the sudden? How the fuck could you know what he is doing to her? It has been months! If she could come back, she would! If she could call us to say she was okay, it would have been that first fucking day!” Danny turned around to look at the screens moodily. “Look, I have seen this guy. He could have any girl he wants and he goes and kidnaps one that has been running from him for years. That doesn’t sound very friendly to me…”
Danny sounded sad enough that it broke his own heart to hear it. Obviously, it didn’t have the same effect on the little bastard across the room, though, he thought as he heard the next comment. “I know that she is not yours,” Thaddeus stated softly as Danny turned back to him in narrow-eyed fury. The security chief’s face flushed when the bookish freak practically dared him to dispute what he was saying.
“You have no idea what I think…She is my friend,” Danny snapped. “I am worried and sick with it! How dare you waltz in here talking all this trash like you have all of the answers? Who the fuck do you think you are? You don’t know me, you don’t know Louanne, and you damn sure shouldn’t know Elaina, but that isn’t my business.” Danny pushed past the man to walk swiftly down the hall.
“Mr. Tilden,” the planning manager called after him frustrated by his attempt to end the conversation. “Mr. Tilden, do not make me chase you,” the little man snapped.
Danny heard the shorter guy walking briskly behind him and smiled at the pleasure it gave him. A soft, yet solid, hand curled lazily along his wrist to stop him. He kept walking. Danny was shocked when his entire body was suddenly jerked backwards by a hand that should have fallen away limply when he tore past it. He turned expecting to see some huge bouncer bodyguard, but only Thaddeus Hall stood in the hallway smiling at him like a contented little cat. “How the hell did you do that?”
“Ah, I have your attention now, I see,” the little shit preened arrogantly. “Mr. Tilden, I am only trying to help you. You are driving yourself into the ground over this. You cannot find her, so stop looking. You cannot have her, so stop dreaming. The man who took her will not hurt her. He loves her.”
Danny snarled in irritation at his snotty attitude. “How do you know? You can’t tell me, because you don’t, do you?” Danny fervently wished he could be certain the psycho wasn’t torturing and raping her, but no one knew…he might be doing just that.
“Danny, please…Listen to me. She is safe,” Thaddeus said firmly not giving up on his defense no matter what Danny said against it. It made the security chief wonder if he knew something the police didn’t.
Danny looked upset and he knew it, so he channeled the sadness and grief into anger. Mr. Hall frowned. “I saw Sebasti the night they came home from their little excursion, Danny. You have been looking for the mysterious cab driver who found them…It was me. I saw him…Okay. I know far more about this than you think I do. Please, trust me.”
“Get your ugly face out of my sight, you spying sack of shit! I don’t care what Masterson hired you to do. I am in charge of keeping the girls safe; I failed them! I will do whatever it takes to correct that mistake. Don’t stand in my way,” Danny warned him furiously.
Thaddeus purposely moved to block his path to the door. “Why not,” he asked softly still calm despite Danny’s growing anger. “It is a futile attempt…a waste of your time…and your life if you continue to pursue it.”
“Get the hell out of my way,” Danny snarled at him.
“Not until you tell me where you are going,” Mr. Hall stated sadly. “Elaina is worried about you, Danny.”
The nerve of him, Danny thought in disbelief. “Elaina is a fucking whore!”
A flash of light in Mr. Hall’s commonplace eyes startled him just before he smashed into a wall hard enough he had to look for the semi that had hit him. He slid down it slowly as the planning manager walked closer to him.
“You are upset and you do not understand,” Thaddeus said with a soft frown, “but say that again and I will kill you, Mr. Tilden.” He knelt as Danny hit the floor to look him sternly in the eyes.
“You and what army,” Danny growled breathlessly feeling like a rib was sticking him in the lung sharply.
Thaddeus grinned at him. “Do I really need an army, Mr. Tilden? I like your fire. You remind me of myself. Now, I think you need to go see a doctor. Shall we?”
Danny reached up to take his hand, but passed out before he could stand up. He felt a strong grip catch him and was surprised as the world fell away.
Danny woke up just where he had expected to be the next morning, minus the all night drinking hangover and a policeman waiting at his door. His ribs were bandaged tightly. It hurt to breathe.
Danny got out of the bed gingerly to find his clothing muttering, “I’ll be damned if I am standing here in this stupid gown when someone comes in here if I can help it!” He had everything on except his shirt when the door opened and he smelled Italian food.
“Oh, good, you are awake.” Thaddeus Hall came breezing into the room loaded down with a sack and two large drinks. “Do you want me to help you with that?” The food hit the nearest table and the bookish fellow was instantly at his side taking the shirt away from him as easily as if he were a small child. “Put your arms down and slightly back,” he advised. Sighing, Danny stood there and let him slide the shirt over his arms to rest upon his shoulders. “There you are…”
Danny started buttoning it watching him warily. “This is my apology,” the guy stated sheepishly as he held out a drink. “Do you want to eat in here, or can I carry you home?” Danny just glared at him. “Mr. Tilden, I am sorry I hurt you.”
“Yeah, right,” Danny muttered as he took the beverage. It was his favorite. That fact only irritated him even more, but he had to admit it would have been worse if it had been something horrible that he couldn’t drink. “Get me out of here. I hate hospitals.”
“It would be my pleasure,” Thaddeus sighed as he gathered up the bag of food. “I have already signed your release papers, and paid the bill.” Danny ignored him. When they were outside, he paused to wait for him. “My car is right over there,” he stated as he pointed to a little, black Mercedes.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Danny grumbled staring at the thing.
“What,” Thaddeus asked sounding amused. Danny just shook his head in disbelief. “You really do not like me, do you, Danny? I am curious…do you have a reason for it, or is it simply because I stepped into a spot you believe belonged to your friend?”
“Maybe I just don’t like your face,” Danny grumbled being an asshole.
Thaddeus blinked in surprise. “I would say I cannot change that, but I can…Get in the car.” It took Danny a minute to ease into the low-slung vehicle. “Sorry, I guess I should have bought something normal.” Danny gave him an odd look trying to discern if he was being sarcastic, or not. “I’ll drive slowly, I promise…”
Danny grinned nervously. “I would really appreciate that right about now.”
“Ah, can I ask a favor? Could we possibly keep it to ourselves that I broke your rib?”
“Like I want to admit a little dweeb like you can pick me up and throw me,” Danny stated with an incredulous look on his face.
“Dweeb…Is that how I look to you?” Thaddeus started the car with a testy frown that bothered Danny, but he kept his promise to drive easy.
“How do you know for certain that Lou is safe?” Thaddeus glanced at him and his frown grew more worrisome. “You sound so bloody sure. If you know something I don’t, please, tell me!”
“I can’t…I am sorry, Danny. You wouldn’t believe me if I could.” Thaddeus picked up the phone. “One of Antonie’s representatives will be fine for this, I think,” he stated into the receiver. “Yeah, I need help, but I can’t talk about it over the phone,” he stated softly glancing at Danny. “If you think that is necessary,” he agreed. “Sure…I will be right there.”
Thaddeus hung up the phone. “Detour…hang on,” he explained. Danny kept his mouth shut. He had asked for answers, and he was afraid he might just get them. “Hang back when we get there. I don’t know if you are allowed to even see the person I am going to meet, so try not to antagonize anyone.”
Thaddeus swung into a driveway in the richest countryside in the entire state. He stopped the car at the gate and said his name into the security box. “Appointment…one guest…civilian…”
“I will inform him, sir…Drive around,” the crisp voice stated dryly.
Danny guessed he wasn’t a welcome addition. “Where the hell are we?”
“Just keep quiet, Danny,” Thaddeus Hall snapped irritably. “The less you say here, the better it would be for you right now. I can get into serious trouble over this, but I can’t sit and watch you let this eat you up day in, day out like a cancerous mold!”
A man in an expensive, pale gray suit came out of the house and down the long, front steps at a brisk pace to meet the car as it circled the drive. Danny snorted at the pretentiousness of the house and man, but Thaddeus stiffened in horror. The planning manager’s widened eyes told Danny there was something about the man that he wasn’t seeing. Thaddeus put the car in park a little too fast and hopped out to meet him.
“Thaddeus, welcome to my home. Please, relax…I have guests, so can we go out back? Bring your friend with you,” the guy stated politely as he turned slightly waiting to lead them away from the car.
Thaddeus looked back at him worriedly as Danny climbed out of the low-slung car. It was a painful experience that he seriously didn’t want to do again, but he wouldn’t miss this for anything. The guy stopped, looking at him patiently. Once he was free of the contraption, Danny studied the guy more closely. The man smiled slowly turning back to face him allowing his in-depth perusal.
The guy was around six feet tall and had the chest of a professional football player with the tapered waist and slim hips of an athletic swimmer. His chocolate eyes were slightly yellow and darkly framed with lashes so thick it looked like he was wearing eyeliner. His long, black hair held a tint of brown and flowed in bouncy, curly waves like a pricy female model in a shampoo commercial. While Danny was studying his face, he tucked back his hair behind one ear to allow him to see the black diamond stud he wore in it shaped like a skull. The guy’s pale skin only made the jewel stand out more clearly.
Then, he was offering Danny his hand to shake. Danny nearly drew back at the highly polished, manicured nails and black diamond watch he wore. The guy’s lips turned up in amusement as he asked, “Am I pretty enough to please you?”
Danny backed up a step and simply gaped at him in horror until the man laughed. “I am DeSago…Sebasti’s brother, and you must be Danny Tilden. Thaddeus has told me all about you. Shake, Mr. Tilden, you do not want to offend.” Even though the warning was light and amused, the look in those hard, brown eyes said he was not joking. Danny shook his head trying to process what he had just said.
DeSago turned back to Thaddeus. “I assume you are here to inquire about my brother again. I haven’t heard from him,” DeSago said bluntly. Danny finally shook his hand and once he let it go, he turned again to lead them into the back gardens. “Will you and Elaina be coming over for Christmas this year?”
When Thaddeus murmured, “I haven’t asked her yet,” DeSago chuckled.
“The joys of being mated, hmm…I see she is giving you problems, too. I told Sebasti that was not a set I would like to try to tackle. They are absolutely nothing like my lady.” A little boy playing with what looked like a full grown fox laughed and came running over to them. DeSago caught him up into his arms whispering softly into the six or eight year old's ear playfully. The boy stared at them, but DeSago did not introduce him to anyone. “I told you if I did not hear from him by New Year’s Eve…I’d look.”
“I need you to go now,” Thaddeus pleaded. “Elaina will never accept me believing that Lou could be hurt somewhere.”
DeSago looked at Danny when he answered him. “My brother may be impetuous and impatient, but he would never harm her. You know that.” The softness of his very voice sounded like a threat to Danny.
Obviously, it sounded like one to Thaddeus, also. He was careful when he lowered his eyes and stated, “I have never disputed you, but others do not believe me.”
DeSago looked at the boy. “Fine,” he said a little sadly. “I will check into the situation and get back to you about it. Go home.” DeSago walked further into the garden dismissing them rudely as he played with the boy forgetting they were even there behind him. Thaddeus began to relax as they fled back to the car.
Danny narrowed his eyes at Thaddeus once they were alone again. “You knew where she was all along, you fucking prick!” He snarled so viciously, Thaddeus turned back to face him with a censoring scowl on his face. “Why didn’t that fag just go out and get her to begin with?”
“Danny,” Thaddeus hissed in fear. He heard the man scream his name again beneath his own scream as he was jerked off of his feet flying backwards into the air towards the gardens once more.
Danny groaned when he landed lightly on the ground several hundred yards away. It still hurt with his broken ribs. He could still hear Thaddeus calling his name from what seemed like miles away now.
Suddenly, DeSago stood over him looking much larger now that they were alone together and quite angry by the look on his face. “Oh, shit…What the hell are you?” DeSago lifted him one-handedly with a cold smile on his face. He saw his brown eyes slowly turning red from the inside out…
Danny woke up sore all over and trying to remember how he got into his bed at the mansion estates. He got up to see Thaddeus sitting in his room. “Danny, what happened wasn’t my fault. I told you to keep your mouth shut while we were there! Why can’t you silly creatures listen to a thing I say?” Thaddeus stood up. “Can I help you in any way,” he asked in a far more civil and polite voice.
“How exactly do you intend to do that?” Danny held up one hand shakily. “Look, no offense, but I don’t know what you are and I don’t want you to come any closer right this second,” he stated firmly. Thaddeus frowned at him. “Aspirin, okay…Aspirin would be great, right now, unless you have something stronger.”
“I’ll go get it. I have your prescription in my suite downstairs. It will only take as long as the elevator moves. I am sorry; I forgot to bring it up. Are you okay? You were unconscious when I got to you…” Thaddeus waited looking more than a little concerned.
“I am going to take a bath,” Danny snapped at him. “Just bring the damn medicine, but otherwise leave me the hell alone!”
Thaddeus sighed in resignation. “Of course, Mr. Tilden…I will come back in a few minutes with what you ask of me.”
Danny walked into the bathroom. When he took off his shirt, he could see where someone had removed the bandage on his ribs. It looked like a red welt where something had almost sliced his skin open. “That would explain why my ribs are complaining so damn bad,” he whispered to himself. There was also a bruise on his left rib from where he had hit the wall.
Danny looked down seeing a tear on his pant’s waistband that should not have been there. The button had been ripped off and the waistline looked ragged. “Oh, no…I don’t even want to look,” he complained suddenly feeling unexplainable aches in places that should have no reason to hurt.
Pulling the pants off carefully, Danny swore when he saw the reddened abrasions on both of his legs and some even over and around his privates that ached like the dickens and itched like the devil. “What the hell did that prick do to me?”
It took him a while to run the bath and even longer, though he did it while the water was running, to get down into it. “Oh, shit,” he breathed sitting there for a minute while he waited for some of the pain to die down. Unfortunately, when it did his ass was as sore as his ribs and it didn’t take a genius to reason out the why of it. Danny leaned his head back and groaned trying to recall how long the bastard had toyed with him.
Try as he might, the only thing he remembered at the moment was looking into those red eyes screaming while he heard Thaddeus calling his name to the second he woke up in his bed hurting like he had been hit by a second truck. It couldn’t have been that long, but reaching down a hand presented him with undeniable proof that he had had the time to violate him thoroughly.
“Don’t call the bastard a fag again,” Danny hissed in anger.
“What did you say?” Danny looked back at the door startled. Thaddeus stood there with a glass of water in one hand and a pill in the other.
“No way did you have time to get that already,” Danny snarled. Thad didn’t even raise an eyebrow at his unfriendly tone.
“Gee, Danny…You look like you have been roughed up a bit,” Thaddeus stated casually as he came into the room a little more. “You really do have a way with pissing off powerful people.”
Thaddeus leaned over him holding out the medicine like a peace offering. Danny took it from him without the water. “That isn’t good for your digestive system,” he lectured him in a tone that would have done Danny’s strict Irish mum proud with stern disapproval. He further held out the glass shaking it suggestively. Danny snatched it and rolled his eyes as he drank it hurriedly.
Thaddeus looked down at the torn pants and the redness beneath the water in concern. “Are you certain you are okay, Danny? You never did answer me before.”
“Well, I don’t know. Give me a while to figure it out,” Danny stated sarcastically. “Right now, I am just wishing I hadn’t called him a fag, honestly.” Thaddeus’ face went completely blank as Danny spoke.
“I’ll sit in the other room. Call me if you start to feel dizzy, or tired.” Thaddeus left the door open. Danny was unsettled that he would actually try to be discreet.
2007, (Jenna Karro). All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.
Sebasti For the Holidays (Part 3) Thanksgiving to Christmas
12:36 Jul 09 2009
Times Read: 684
Danny lay there just slowly feeling the medicine disperse into his body. He kept seeing those deep red eyes in his mind. “Thaddeus,” he called out eventually.
The slim, bookish fellow hurried up to the door. “Yeah, what do you need?”
“Help me out of here. I think I am about to pass out, or something equally stupid.” Thaddeus laughed.
“I didn’t think you liked having a guy in here and you want me to manhandle you now. Gee, Danny…I didn’t think you cared for me,” Thaddeus teased. Danny rolled his eyes. “How hurt are you?”
“Hurt enough that I can’t climb out of here without help drugged up the way I am, and I don’t want to drown.”
“Okay,” Thaddeus sighed grabbing him at the hips uncertainly. “If I pull at your shoulders, it will hurt your ribs. Just hang on to me,” he advised as he tightened his grip to pull. Danny lifted his arms soaking Thaddeus’ hair and shirt as he caught hold of him. “You know you aren’t bad looking for such a young child,” Thaddeus teased.
It made Danny laugh and then he groaned. “Oh, shit, that hurts…you bastard,” he complained. Thaddeus lifted him up and wiped the grin off of his face. When Danny was on his feet again, he glared at Thaddeus nastily.
“I really am sorry I hurt you,” Thad stated looking as sorry as he said he was. “I mean, you are what…forty? I feel like a child molester.”
“Okay, that is twice. I don’t want to know,” Danny sighed, “but how old are you?”
Thaddeus shrugged pretending to be casual about it. “Only a few thousand,” he stated softly. “DeSago is about two hundred and fifty thousand, so he makes me a little nervous.”
Danny just gaped at him for several minutes until a slight smile touched Thaddeus’ lips. “Okay, I am going to ignore that.” Thaddeus handed him a towel which he wrapped around his waist. “What the hell are you and don’t avoid the question?” Thad took another towel and began to carefully dry Danny off with it. “What are you doing?”
“For once in your life, shut up…” Thaddeus was taking a quick inventory of all of the marks on Danny’s back as he worked. “Do you need to put any antiseptic crème on these?”
“What there are more?” Danny didn’t bother trying to see them. His ribs were on fire from all of the movement already. “Right now, all I want to do is go to bed and pass out,” Danny muttered wearily.
Thad traced a bruise on Danny’s right hip. “Don’t get undressed in front of anyone for a while,” he told him thoughtfully. The bruise looked far too much like a hand print, too large and square shaped to be a female.
When Danny frowned and looked back at him with a joking, “Why? See something damning,” Thad glanced up at him uncertainly. “I take that as a ‘yes’. Is he always such an asshole, or does he just not like it when people confront him with the truth?”
“I don’t know. If I had known calling him a fag would get me fucked, I would have done it centuries ago,” Thaddeus teased.
“That isn’t funny! My ass itches and I don’t want to remember why…”
“I’d say wipe it better, but you just had a bath,” Thaddeus joked wryly. “You’d look good with long hair,” he added casually.
“Shut the hell up,” Danny snapped. “My Gods, are you even the same guy that has been hanging out with Elaina the last few weeks?” Thaddeus just laughed and ruffled his hair. Danny ducked away from him too hurt to try shoving him away. “Pervert…”
“We all are…You just got lucky enough to stumble into it,” Thaddeus drawled in amusement. “Get your cute ass into bed. Elaina is already starting to wonder where you are. Hey, didn’t I hear Kurt say you had a wife? Where is she?”
“Probably hiding somewhere,” Danny sighed. “She is really scared of people, especially strangers.” Danny went back into the bedroom and eased down on the bed. Thaddeus stayed safely on the other side of the room.
“Get some sleep. We will see you in the morning, Danny.” Thaddeus left pausing to place the prescription medication on the desk as he passed it.
Danny wrapped his ribs back up to keep from damaging them anymore and pulled on a pair of boxers in case Debbie was around. His head was hurting from fighting the drugs as he lay down wondering why he could not remember what had happened when he was assaulted by that creature DeSago. Had he knocked him out beforehand? It was highly possible. Thaddeus had said he was unconscious when he found him. Danny shivered remembering the anger in those cold red eyes.
Thaddeus’ attempt to ease his mind had backfired on him. If DeSago thought his little brother Sebasti was impatient and immature compared to him, Louanne was in serious trouble! There had to be a way to find her…
Danny picked up the phone and dialed the private line of a powerful person he knew in security for the government. He stayed on the phone until the last of his strength was sapped away by the meds. After he hung up and lay there quietly, he heard the door move and felt Debra crawl into bed beside him. She only slept with him when she was especially scared of something, but he was too tired to ask her what it was. Danny hoped it was only his being hurt and all of the strangers associated with it. He drifted asleep vaguely comforted by her presence.
By the middle of the next day, Danny was closeted in the security room when several high ranking agents came in to the building to take Mr. Thaddeus Hall in for questioning. Danny was recording the surprise on the fellow’s face as he was politely handcuffed and led from the building between a pair of armed guards. Thankfully, Elaina was still in bed having had a late night of sound-bite recording the day before. Kurt dealt with the situation beautifully running around clueless letting the agents have him. Danny knew he’d have to train him on the right way to handle the situation later, but for now his inexperience was a lovely sight.
Once they were gone, he went to the break room for a cup of coffee. Kurt found him there looking strangely at both his absence and his oddly satisfied smile. He didn’t feel the least bit guilty. If they were legit, they would be out in a few hours. If they had something to hide, good…Either way, they got what they deserved and paybacks were a bitch. Danny fully expected them to retaliate, but this way his conscious was clean. Several hours passed quietly, Elaina was wandering around with a puzzled look in her eyes when she couldn’t find Thad. Danny approved of Kurt’s confused silence. Then, Thaddeus returned looking grim-faced.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Thad whispered where everyone in the room could hear not caring as he stared at Danny angrily. Danny pretended to be curious, but didn’t say anything to him in return. Elaina got up and went to him in concern, but he shrugged her off. She appeared stunned by it. Danny perked up. “Have you any idea what he will do when he gets out?”
“Unless he kills me, I think he has already humiliated me about as much as humanly possible, don’t you think,” Danny drawled softly.
“That is just it, Danny…” Thaddeus stared at him for a moment to impress his next words on him. “When you say ‘humanly possible’, it implies limitations we do not possess.” Thaddeus turned his back on him and went to the phone. Danny tensed recognizing the number he dialed. “One of his reps is fine…No, no…no emergency. Thank you.” Thaddeus sighed heavily as he waited to be connected looking over at Danny in bemused irritation. “I have trouble believing one man could cause so much trouble,” he muttered. A sound of someone’s voice came over the line softly and Thad hung up the phone without saying a word to them.
“Well, I know it wasn’t him you called, so who the hell was that? It is the same number you dialed last time! I demand an answer, Mr. Hall,” Danny snapped furiously.
“It isn’t anyone you need to concern yourself with,” Thaddeus snapped back. “I am leaving! I don’t need to be here when he comes to get you and quite frankly...I am in enough trouble already! I tried to help you and will likely get punished for my concern. I’ll be back, Elaina, but when he gets out of jail…You had best hide Danny!”
Elaina tried to stop him tugging on his arm pleadingly and he kept moving almost dragging her to the door before he growled, “The stupid sot can kill himself for all I care!” Stunned, she let him go. Thaddeus stormed out of the building.
Kurt’s snicker turned all eyes his way. “I thought nerdy types had more control than that,” he mumbled when Elaina glared at him.
“They do, but I do not believe our Mr. Hall is what he pretends to be…” Danny sighed as he spoke. Elaina looked guilty, so she must know what he was. Kurt looked thoughtfully alarmed. The rest of the staff left quietly.
“He is agitated and scared,” Elaina hissed when the room was empty except the three of them. “What have you done, Danny?”
Danny sat up letting his chair legs fall forward with a snap. “I was trying to find Louanne!” He calmed down when he saw her flush at his sharp tone. “You have no idea who Thaddeus Hall really is, do you, Elaina?” She shook her head ‘no’ nervously. “The stuff in his files is not accurate. I don’t know who he works for…but it isn’t us.”
“Danny,” she whispered numbly. “It isn’t what you think.”
“How would you know,” Danny asked calmly even though his insides churned.
“Thaddeus is here for me!” Her words started an argument with Kurt, so Danny went to the security room to watch the tapes and ponder the fact that Thaddeus had gotten out of jail so quickly. If he was clean, who was he? What connection did he have to DeSago and Sebasti? It really bothered him to not know…
Danny was preoccupied the next day expecting DeSago to show up and didn’t notice that he hadn’t seen or heard from Deb until he got home late that night. He had gotten into several arguments with the staff about this year’s company Christmas party where he had finally snapped that it would ‘freeze in hell before he organized it this year!’ No one else had braved his temper after that, but he had gotten some pretty ticked off glares during the day.
“Debbie, hon…are you home?” When she didn’t answer, he dialed up the cell phone number he had given her. There was only the buzz of the phone ringing and he didn’t hear it in the house anywhere. “Where the hell are you?” His nerves kicked up a notch hoping she was safe.
Danny knew better than not checking up on her more often, especially when she was already acting scared. He penned a quick note on the counter in case she came back while he was lying down. He wanted to go out to look for her, but his ribs were aching and it left him short of breathe. As he finished it, something wrapped tightly around his crushed ribs painfully. It didn’t take long for him to pass out.
Kurt was upset as he let the officers into Danny’s apartment. Several people had called in noises sounding like screams and the cops had come to Kurt when they hadn’t gotten an answer on his phone or his door. The first thing they saw was the notepad and pen lying in the floor. It screamed something was wrong, since Danny was too neat to leave it lying there for long. Then, they ignored it and looked closer. The prescription bottle said Danny was vulnerable and it sped up their search.
Kurt knew Danny had an odd connection to the local cops, but not one he understood. Still, the policemen looked worried about his boss as they quickly worked through the apartment to determine that no one was inside of it. One called Kurt into the bathroom to show him bloody hand prints on the wall and tub. There were scuff marks on the door’s locking mechanism like someone had broken into the room.
They all hurried back to the kitchen. The senior cop waved him over and Kurt looked at it. “It is Danny’s handwriting,” he acknowledged quickly taking the time to read it. ‘Deb…The house may be unsafe for a bit. I am going out. Call me if you get in…I need to know you are safe. We need to talk…soon.’
“Well, he isn’t lying down,” one of the policemen states obviously, “and little Deb didn’t report finding him missing. I am going to go out on a limb here and say they are both in some deep shit. I have known Danny for some years. We were partners once. He is in trouble; I can feel it.” Kurt agreed with him.
“I am putting out an unofficial APB for him,” the other cop stated worriedly walking away from them as he keyed up the radio. He came back looking even more concerned. “The dispatcher said she just got a call from County. Danny’s wife is in the trauma center having surgery…” Swearing, Kurt beat the cop out the door and to his car, but they beat him to the hospital. Danny wasn’t there. The cops went from talking to the doctor to getting a warrant issued for Debra’s family. Kurt stayed to keep updated on her condition. Elaina joined him there later on.
Danny woke with a sudden jolt of pain. He swore barely able to breathe for the pain stabbing into his lung. His cursing startled something in the darkness nearby.
Danny held still trying to hear anything that would give him a clue to who or where it was. It was silently coming closer to him. Even as hurt as he was, he felt himself slipping into combat mode. No way would that bastard take him again without a fight, he swore to himself.
Then, he froze as a whisper of sound reached his straining ears. “Danny,” Louanne called softly and he felt the sudden sting of tears in his eyes as relief swept through him in a wave that swelled his throat. His voice was too choked up with emotions to answer her. Danny realized when she touched him that he had honestly believed she was dead. Danny wrapped her up too tight in his strong arms completely oblivious to the strain it placed on his broken ribs. He wanted to laugh in happiness, but he knew the tears were wetting his face instead.
“Danny…Danny, are you okay?” He tried to nod to answer her concerned question, but a sob slipped out and she probably realized why he wasn’t saying anything. She laughed just a little before adding, “God, I missed you, too…” Her soft words choked him up even worse, but it was the sound of her soft laughter that eased most of his fears. “You are the most protective guy I know, Danny. A real sweetheart…I am sorry I didn’t wait for you. I know how bad you would take it if something happened to me.”
“Careless witch,” Danny rasped out still hugging her tightly to him afraid she wouldn’t be real if he let her go. “You worried me half crazy! Do you have any idea what people are saying about me? About us…”
“That you love me,” Louanne teased. “Is that so bad? I highly suspect you do, and you know I love you back, teddy bear.” Danny raised his head up to grin at her.
“If you love me so much, why won’t you sleep with me,” Danny teased back embarrassed but not as much as he would if she were anyone else. Which only deepened his understanding of how much he counted on her being around, he realized. “Don’t ever leave me, Lou,” he stated far too seriously. “I have had a glimpse of my life without you in it and I didn’t like it.”
“Oh, Danny…You are the sweetest man,” she stated hesitantly.
“Lou, I know about you and Elaina…I have always known,” he admitted with a tight smile. “You should know she has been dating the new planning director since you came up gone. And the guy is pretty serious about her, Lou. As serious about winning her as Sebasti is on winning you…”
“Sebasti,” Louanne hissed softly. “What has he got to do with me? He wants ‘Lainie!”
“I thought…Didn’t Sebasti kidnap you?” Danny wished there was far more lighting to the room so he could see her face better. Several expressions crossed it swiftly…the last was anger, but he couldn’t say what had been there beforehand. “Louanne…are you alright, honey?”
“You look hurt.” Louanne’s voice had gone low in her anger. It was a voice he recognized very well. “Who did this to you? Your lip is bloody…your nose…your eye is swelling,” and he could tell she wanted to put bullets into who ever had hurt him. “Did Sebasti do this?” The fury in her face was aimed solely at his injuries and looking for a face to put the blame on. He could lie and let her hurt the man who wished to woo her.
“No…not Sebasti,” Danny stated with a heavy sigh. He couldn’t lie to her. “I haven’t seen him. Have you, Lou?”
“I don’t know. Someone comes here. I didn’t ever know who, but now that you have mentioned it might be Sebasti…I think it has been him all along! I thought he wanted Elaina! What the hell is going on, Danny?”
“So did I, but his last letter…Do you remember it?”
“Of course,” Louanne snorted. She remembered everything if it involved Sebasti. “All Hollow’s Eve…He planned to take her on Halloween.”
“Lou, baby…He stole you on Halloween! It has always been you he was after! We just assumed he wanted ‘Lainie!”
Louanne shook her head denying the truth in his words, but there was a thoughtfully puzzled look on her face. “No way,” she whispered. “He has always been so focused on Elaina. That can’t be right, Danny.”
“Lou…honey, DeSago told me Sebasti had you!” Danny glanced around suddenly wondering where the prick had been keeping her. “Where the heck are we?”
Danny was rubbing his hand casually over her cheek too relieved by her presence to really care where they were or how much trouble they could be in. Lou smiled at his distracted tone and the casualness in it when he was usually so focused on any situation, but it was really the look in his eyes as he stared at her that melted her heart. She smiled at him and didn’t care that it was the kind of fond look you give to the person you are dating.
“I am sorry, Lou,” Danny whispered to her softly looking a little vulnerable, “but you have to have seen how much I love you by now. You really scared me to death disappearing like that. It broke my heart, baby,” he growled roughly throat closing up.
“That is a hard thing to do,” she whispered knowing how caring he was, but also realistic and protective of his emotions. “I always did tell you; you are the best guy I know. I mean it too, Danny, you are…”
“Too bad you don’t like guys,” Danny teased with a gentle, fond smile that eased her worries that it bothered him. She looked at him concerned, but there wasn’t any betrayal, hurt or disapproval in him. “Hey, quit checkin’ me out! I am just happy I am at the top of the list; even if, it doesn’t do me any good to be there,” he joked merrily.
Danny leaned in to kiss her cheek lingering just a little longer than he usually did with his eyes closed and a happy, yet heavy ache in his chest. “I am just glad to see you safe and unhurt, Lou.” His lips must have tickled moving against her skin when he spoke because he felt her shiver in reaction to it. She leaned even closer hugging him up and he felt his eyes sting again. His face had finally dried and he didn’t want to squall like a baby again; Lou might take it wrong.
“Like a big surly bear,” Louanne teased him. “Who said it doesn’t do you any good?” Danny’s brow wrinkled as he turned looking to the side at her barely moving away to see her face in question. Just as he started to ask her what she meant, her lips closed over his and she turned the tables on his as his body shivered in pleasure and surprise. His heart clenched in shocked hope that he quickly squelched and he hesitated to kiss her back never taking any more than she was offering. It was Lou that deepened the kiss until his senses reeled and he had to draw away.
“Lou…” He protested, but it did little good. She licked and nibbled down his throat. It was wonderful, but he couldn’t believe she was doing it and fully expected her to stop. When her hands moved over his muscled abs pushing at his shirt as they explored him in a way he had barely dared to dream about, he sat back away from her. She used his leaning position to push him back down onto the earthen floor as she knelt over him doing her damned best to cover his entire chest, arms and neck with her body. “Lou, this feels…wonderful, but…what…”
“Shut up, Danny,” Louanne whispered kissing him so deeply he bucked up beneath her and had to restrain himself from taking over the kiss. His arms held her to him lightly when all he wanted to do was roll her over and tear her open beneath his feverish thrusts. He was a patient man, he reminded himself doubtfully, but Lou didn’t like men! He would never dream of hurting her, but her bare skin was hot against the skin she had uncovered of his own.
Danny elected to take a small chance while he had it running his hands over her delicate curves to feel the skin he had long dreamed of having pressed up to him. She was perfect, fitting into his every curve the way a woman should. She lay down on him and he closed his eyes biting back a possessive growl as her soft tummy slid over his taunt erection straining inside of his jeans.
“How far are you going with this, Lou,” he gasped. Danny opened his eyes to see her blink in surprise. His voice was low and gruff the way it was when his entire form switched into sex mode, and he could tell the sound of it was something she hadn’t expected from him further causing him to think she was just playing.
“Is this the way you normally seduce a woman,” Louanne asked him with a grin.
“Am I supposed to be seducing you, baby?” Danny drew his enormous hand along her oh, so tiny jaw and felt such tenderness swell up inside of him. “Is that what you want, Lou?” He was afraid to touch her now that she was really allowing it. He felt so big up against her, but he knew she was no lightweight. She could take down all of his men in battle, but never him. No, Danny had never lost to her. He had always pinned her in seconds to her laughing amusement. “What about Sebasti, love? Do you want to piss him off that bad? Is that why you are doing this?”
Lou looked confused as she sat up and he could have kicked himself for asking, but the second it left his mouth, he found he wanted to know the answer. “Would it upset you if I told you that was it? To piss off him and ‘Lainie…”
Danny tensed up a little and frowned. “Maybe,” he admitted. “Look, Lou…I would love to. I have never made that a secret between us, but…” Would he really turn her away, he thought in amazement. Hell no, but it would hurt. If he never got to touch her again, it would fester like a wound and ruin their friendship to know she had only done it in revenge. Was it worth losing her? No. “Yeah, I think it would, Lou…I think it would upset you too.”
“Danny, I…I have found myself wondering…occasionally…about you…”
“No way,” Danny joked laughing with a huge teasing grin. “Really,” he asked in surprise. When she nodded, he shook his head at her playfully. “Why didn’t you ever say so? I would have been more than happy to appease your curiosity,” he purred at her nibbling her throat until she swallowed making a little sound that he was determined to hear again…soon.
Danny rolled her beneath him and Louanne laughed. “God, you are nothing like Elaina! You are so powerfully…big,” she stated giggling. He paused uncertainly, thoughtfully nibbling down her throat to the bend of her collarbone.
“I am, Lou…very,” Danny stated firmly with a stern look on his face, “very…big.” He glanced up at her before taking a perky nipple nub into his teeth to roll around lazily. Danny decided the hungry sound that was ripped from her throat was lovely thing and caused several others to follow it.
Before he knew what she was about, Lou’s hands were wrapped around his hot, aching dick and slipping beneath his balls to take in his measurements. Danny bit her skin in warning of the dangerous game she was playing. He teased her as she handled him, but when he felt close to losing his control he slipped lower to nip at her tummy letting her hands trail away. Danny took hold of her muscled rump in one hand and lifted her up to his waiting lips. She grabbed his hair before running her fingers into it more gently.
Two sets of eyes watched from across the room magically concealed and silenced. DeSago stepped forward with red eyes to stop Danny Tilden from touching his brother’s mate. A stern hand held him back as Sebasti stepped between his brother and the couple nearby. “Do you intend to watch that petty piece of human filth have her?”
Sebasti stared at him for a tense moment. “If I have to…”
“You can’t be serious,” DeSago snapped. “He is a jerk!”
“She likes him,” Sebasti mumbled. “You have no idea how vital that is…”
“She is your mate, Basti! Can you stomach to stand there while he is touching her?”
Sebasti glared at him. “She doesn’t want me touching her…Damn it! I would give anything if he could convince her that men are not the Anti-Christ! I don’t want to rape her and she…won’t…have me.”
“Wear her down; she has to give in eventually,” DeSago stated bewildered.
“Like you did, Des? No, I won’t do that to her,” Sebasti snarled. “I want her as wild and spirited as she is now! If I can’t have her like that, then I do not want her at all! Maybe the human can do something I cannot…”
DeSago stepped into him threateningly. “No,” he snapped advancing on him with a deadly look in his eyes. “I won’t let you be this stupid. It is embarrassing!”
Sebasti held his ground eyes glowing wildly. “Back away, Des! That is my woman, and you will…not…touch her!” DeSago stilled stunned by his younger brother’s rebuke. “Let her have what she wants. If you get in the way of that…”
“You will what,” he growled dangerously in a satisfyingly soft tone that made Basti flinch. “You are too young to challenge me, brother.”
“Seven hundred years younger, but I bet I could hurt you before you beat the hell out of me,” Sebasti stated bluntly. “Leave them alone…”
“You are not staying to watch, then,” DeSago taunted rudely.
“I…” Sebasti’s eyes and face fell unhappily. “I can’t…” He swallowed glancing at them uncertainly. “It is all I can do to shut her out and not interfere.”
“Then why are you doing it?”
“She has fled from me for a quarter of a century, Des. She has loved a woman and has never once given me a chance. I hold no place in her heart. She bans me from all but the smallest contact in her mind. There is no room for a man in her…”
“Give it a few…and I will show you that you are wrong,” Des snapped insensitively. His voice softened when he saw Basti flinch. “If you care so much, why are you letting him seduce her? It is wrong!”
“Perhaps I dream if she can love him, she may someday grow to love me too…” His brother’s saddened whisper stilled DeSago’s anger at him, but it caused his hatred of Danny Tilden to grow. Des firmed his jaw to keep his thoughts to himself.
“Someone has to stay...to make sure she is safe and unforced if she backs out,” DeSago gritted through his teeth furiously. Sebasti turned to regard his wife and her chosen lover critically. He walked over to kneel beside her and placed a light-as-air, feathery kiss upon her lips before looking back at his brother.
“You are a voyeur. You will probably enjoy the show.”
Sebasti fell away into seemingly nothingness as his soul moved into the soil below her before traveling away decidedly. Louanne jerked touching her face in confused surprise and again wiggling as the soil beneath her body caressed her from her neck to Danny’s hand tenderly.
Danny raised his head coming up to kiss her as he slipped a finger into her wet channel to widen it. It momentarily hid the tears behind her eyes. She could feel the hurt in the creature that had touched her so gently. Yet a part of her refused to believe that the thing could be patient, determined Sebasti…much less that he wanted her. Lou also felt him leave. If it was Sebasti, he was giving up the chase that she had so enjoyed for so long as Danny created a tempestuous swirl of new emotions within her. The tears were puzzling, but if it really had been Sebasti…If he really did want her and not Elaina…she would miss him, but she couldn’t get over the fear of the creature that had detained her here, or the fury in Sebasti’s eyes as she escaped him again and again.
Danny noticed her distraction and figured it was safe to speed up his seduction. By the time he was ready to try for more, the thoughtful frown on her face was long gone and she was wet and fondling him eagerly. He slicked his wet hand over himself before guiding it to her entrance carefully. She rotated her hips around him when he pushed the head into her widened opening and he slipped thrusting up against her in an instinctive reaction to the movement. He felt the barrier break across him and hesitated. She cried out and he thrust to the hilt determined to cause her as little pain as he could manage.
“Oh, my Gods…you are huge!” Danny held still letting her adjust to it, but she didn’t. Lou rotated her hips again driving him crazy at all of the sensations she was inflicting. A shiver of fear traveled up his spine and he looked over his back into the gloom behind them certain that he felt the hatred in a pair of red eyes watching him.
The ground of the cavern shook unnaturally rolling beneath them in ominous warning. It quickly settled but Danny felt a chill of terror. Lou dispersed it as she urged him to move and he forgot everything except the feel of her wrapped tightly around him…
It was Christmas, Danny thought in silence as he took a moment unnoticed up against a far wall watching everyone in bemusement. Kurt held Debra’s infant in his arms smiling down at her like a man firmly wrapped around her little fingers. Little Alisha had an admirer already.
Judging by the look in Kurt’s eyes as he glanced at Debbie in cautious worry over her health, Danny would need to divorce her soon. Kurt would make a far better husband for the girl. It was only a matter of time before Deb would notice it too. It would take a while, but she was already starting to trust him. That was good. He didn’t want to let her go too soon. The police had locked up her family for assault and battery and statutory rape. She had nearly died and lost Alisha. Kurt had stayed by her side every second until she was safe.
Elaina, on the other hand, had taken one look into Louanne’s face and known she had lost her. She wasn’t the least bit sore over it. ‘Lainie had grinned at him in approval, and accepted Thaddeus’ suggestion of a date. They were both hugging up as Thad maneuvered her beneath the mistletoe for a stolen kiss that turned into several. They were giggling happily.
And last, but certainly never the least…was Louanne, Danny observed still unable to believe she was his. They had woken up in the middle of a bright field of flowers dressed and alone. Lou had given him some serious looks that day. He had been determined to just be the same friends they had always been, letting her have her job back the moment they returned. She had surprised him slipping into his bed several nights a week since that day.
At this moment, Louanne was sorting the presents, camped out in front of the tree like a kid in a candy store with a free pass to anything she wanted. She was different…in some strange way that he couldn’t quite name. Lou looked older, more knowledgeable…there was something dark in her eyes. Danny also noticed a distracted frown on her face when no one else was looking, but it wasn’t a very big change. It was nothing he couldn’t live with, or forgive her for. After her kidnapping, he had expected to see her again as only a cold, cold corpse.
Louanne frowned holding a small gift in her hand, swiftly looking up for him. Years of protecting Debbie told him without words that the look meant trouble or fear. Danny hurried over to her side trying to do it casually so he wouldn’t alarm anyone else. “What is it, love,” he whispered kneeling down to hug her as he spoke nuzzling her ear to hide the seriousness in his voice from anyone glancing at them.
“This one is to me, but it isn’t marked. Is it from you?” Danny looked at the expensive jeweler’s box in shining red and golden ribbons cautiously. It was the size of a personal letter, or Christmas card, but thick enough for a watch. “It isn’t, is it?”
“No,” he sighed knowing who the likely culprit was. “Open it.”
“Are you sure?” Danny nodded with a tight smile to encourage her.
Inside of the box was a card in an envelope, and a letter peeking out from the edge. It was Sebasti’s style of writing, he could see. There was also a huge heart of gold in the box on a chain thick enough that little could break it. When she pulled it out, it was an inch by an inch and a half long locket around a quarter of an inch thick.
Lou opened it and gasped holding her hand up to her lips to hide her dismay. Slowly, she tilted it to where Danny could see. Engraved on the inside left was a decorative ‘S.’ in Sebasti’s signature, but what had startled her was the locket’s true contents. It was a cleverly crafted timepiece. In his oddly unique fashion, Sebasti had not only given her his heart, but was allowing her time, as well…
“You don’t have to keep it,” Danny whispered to her gently.
“Would it upset you if I did?” Danny considered it. He was grateful for every moment of her time he could have. It had never been his dream to actually get her.
Glancing around, he caught sight of the happiness between Thaddeus and Elaina. The creature looked up and saw him. Danny remembered his words ‘I know you want something that is not yours…’
Realizing from his words that neither Elaina nor Louanne were entirely human, Danny was thankful knowing someone would be there to protect and love her after he was long gone from old age. These creatures would not grow old as he would. They would have thousands of years to be together. Hopefully, he could just have a couple dozen.
“No, love…I hope you do keep it. I don’t think he means any harm by it…No harm at all,” Danny whispered lovingly kissing her fears all away. He personally saw to it that the locket was snapped securely around her delicate throat.
2007, (Jenna Karro). All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.
Sebasti For the Holidays (Part 4) Unhappy Valentine's Day
12:33 Jul 09 2009
Times Read: 686
“Lou,” Danny whispered sitting at the edge of the bed gazing upon the stillness of his wife. “Lou, what is it? Wake up, baby. Talk to me…” Still, she didn’t move. It made him afraid for her. Not once in their long relationship had Louanne gotten sick, so what could make her lie there so still and pale when yesterday she was vibrant and full of life?
With a shaky step, Danny headed into the living room to grab his cell phone call a number he knew far better than his own.
“Hello, Danny…What do you need,” a softly amused voice answered. Danny usually laughed about the caller ID telling him who he was, but today it wasn’t the least bit funny.
Danny didn’t gasp or make a sound as a sharp pain stabbed him in the ribs hotter than a speeding bullet. He pressed his hand to it tightly waiting for the pain to subside, but he wasn’t fast enough, because the voice on the line instantly grew more alert. “Danny, Danny…Are you there? What is it? Answer me, Danny!”
“I don’t know,” Danny hissed turning it into a frustrated sigh before he could hear the pain behind the sound of his voice. “I tried to wake Lou up and she won’t budge. She’s all pale and sweat-soaked…I don’t know what to do. Do you think I should I call a doctor? Is that even possible with people like you?”
“No, Danny, it is possible, but not advisable. Is she bleeding anywhere? If she is injured, I have a number I can call to get a doctor for her, but don’t take her to anyone else. I can’t think of a reason she’d be unwell…We were just over there,” there was a pause as he was probably looking at his alarm clock. “My Gods, Danny…It has only been a few hours ago! We haven’t even been to bed yet. She was okay when we left there. Has something happened to cause it?”
Danny mumbled something about just going to bed and now she wouldn’t wake up. He should have expected the next comment, but it caught him by surprise in his agitated state. “Are you sure she isn’t just tired and ignoring you?” The teasing in his voice irritated Danny’s already frayed nerves even if he could hear the tension in the voice through the phone line.
“God damn you to hell, Thaddeus…It isn’t alright now! She isn’t ignoring me! Something is really wrong with her! You are the idiot in charge of this kind of thing, so get over here and figure it out! She won’t wake up! I have tried everything and if she wasn’t sweating and breathing I would think she was dead! Now, you get your ass over here and tell me what to do,” Danny snarled nearly breathless when he paused to catch more air into his aging lungs.
A sharp gasp broke off more angry retorts as his side throbbed again in pain. It was getting worse, and it worried him. However, Louanne wasn’t supposed to ever be sick and that worried him far worse than his own problems.
“Calm down, Danny. I am just trying to get you to relax a little while ‘Lainie gets dressed. I told you we hadn’t gone to bed yet,” Thaddeus stated softly. Meaning they had been humping like rabbits when he had interrupted them, Danny thought with vicious pleasure. “It is probably nothing serious. We can live through almost anything.”
“I want to know what is wrong, Thaddeus!”
“Maybe it is Sebasti that is hurt and she is helping him heal,” Thad suggested. “It is common among us, Danny, so stay calm. The last thing we need is to have to rush you to the hospital. We need you to relax. Go lie down beside her and ‘Lainie will be there in a second with me right by her side. I promise you we will handle this and she’ll be fine…”
Danny nodded forgetting he couldn’t see him as he hung up the phone. It didn’t take him long to get back to her side and he did as the little prick suggested lying down to curl into her side whispering all of the little things he had forgotten to tell her while they were awake that day. His voice trailed off little by little as he began to run out of things to tell her and worry overcame him again.
“You are going to be okay, baby. You can’t sleep through Valentine’s Day. It is your favorite. I know you; you won’t miss it for anything. Thaddeus and ‘Lainie are coming. They will take care of you. He promised me you would be fine. Don’t worry…I love you, Lou. I love you so much. You don’t need to tell me you love me back, so don’t sweat it. I know just how much you love me too.”
Danny picked up his cell phone that he had grabbed unconsciously on his way into the bedroom and dialed another good friend’s number. “Hey, it’s me…Yeah, can you come over.” It didn’t take any more than that. He hung up and closed his eyes to try to relax as he waited for someone to show up.
Thaddeus knocked on the door, but he knew Danny was in the bedroom and his hearing was bad. “Damn, I don’t have the spare key!” Elaina smiled at him nervously and patted his arm.
“It won’t do for us to panic,” she reminded him softly. “Lou is fine. It is Danny I am worried about. He hasn’t been in great shape this last month and the man is over sixty years old.” A puzzled frown graced her face before she came to the last of the sentence and Thaddeus glanced at what she was looking at swearing as he recognized the car pulling up behind their own.
“I am breaking the door in,” Thaddeus snapped as he kicked out swiftly to the sound of a giant thud.
“Oh, stop that!” The surly old voice behind him barely broke through the jarring his body received. The door didn’t even dent. “I have a key. You are going to hurt yourself doing that, you old fool. Do you really think Danny would have a door you could kick in so easily?”
Thaddeus didn’t mention that he was a lot stronger than the old fellow he looked like these days. His white hairs were all illusionary. The liver spots and wrinkles non-existent. “Can you open the door, then,” Thaddeus asked impatiently. “He said Lou wouldn’t wake up!”
There was a patient sigh from the old man facing him. “I can, but I don’t expect to like what I find when I do,” he mumbled as he put the key in the lock. Thaddeus glanced at ‘Lainie puzzled by him.
“What is that supposed to mean, Mr. Cooper?” Elaina was far calmer and more diplomatic, so Thad was glad she had asked the question instead of him. “Did Danny tell you something he didn’t tell us?”
“Well,” the old man drawled with a long suffering, sad smile, “you could say that.”
“Open that God damn door! Danny!” Thaddeus pushed past the old guy worried and too afraid to be polite by now. His worry about Lou had pushed out his knowledge of Danny’s age and health.
In the bedroom doorway, he stopped too afraid to even breathe as he looked at the two on the bed. They appeared to be sleeping soundly. He prayed desperately that it was that simple, but doubt filled his heart. “Elaina,” Thaddeus called wanting her to go check instead of him.
She moved past him going to Lou and touching her. The smile on her face showed relief, but quickly dissolved the moment she reached out to wake Danny. “No,” Thaddeus hissed leaving the room. Mr. Cooper nodded from his spot near the living room couch.
“I expected as much,” the old man stated softly. “Danny came to me a few weeks ago and gave me that key. He said I was to come over when he called, no questions asked. He left this…” A sealed envelope appeared in the old man’s hands even as Thaddeus shook his head denying what he was hearing and seeing. “He said you might not take it…said I was to give it to her if you didn’t.”
Before Mr. Cooper could walk past him, Thaddeus snatched the envelope out of his hands. “Are you telling me Danny knew he was going die,” Thaddeus snapped angrily. “Why? How would he know?”
“Just read that letter, Mr. Hall,” Mr. Cooper stated firmly. “It should explain everything. Now, if you will let me into that room…I will see to him myself. It was what he wanted.”
“What are you going to do?”
Mr. Cooper glanced at Thaddeus as if he was a silly child. “I am a coroner, Mr. Hall. I am going to do what people in my profession usually do around a dead body. Now, get out of my way…unless you want to go into that room before I get started,” he suggested.
Thaddeus shook his head. The old man nodded once as if he had expected his answer. “You might want to take his wife to the hospital. I am going to have to call in a few people in a little while and I don’t think she should be in there when they get here.”
‘L
ainie was holding Lou’s hand beside the bed at their house when Louanne opened her eyes feeling exhausted and so weak she couldn’t bear to try to move. “There you are,” Elaina said softly with a welcoming grin as she noticed.
“Was I out long,” Louanne asked sheepishly. “I must have passed out. I am so tired all of a sudden.”
“It is okay. We expect it is something to do with Sebasti,” Elaina explained. “Thad said it was common. Have you heard from him lately? Can you try to think about it really hard and see where he is right now? He could be injured. That is what Thaddeus thinks…”
Elaina’s words put a scared look in Louanne’s eyes. She had gotten used to Sebasti’s odd moments of mental communion over multiple decades. “I hope not. No, I haven’t heard from him for about a month, or more. He said he was going somewhere else and it would be a while before he could check in with me because of a time difference, or something.”
Louanne concentrated and felt nothing. “I don’t think I can reach him. He must be too far away. Where is Thaddeus? I need to talk to him. What did he mean when he said he could be hurt?”
Elaina looked concerned. “I don’t know if he is up to talking. The last time I saw him, he was about to pass out from drunkenness. I’ll go check on him. You wait here, okay?”
“I am too wiped out to go after you,” Lou sighed sleepily. Elaina looked even more worried as she left.
Louanne woke again still tired and starting to get hungry. She climbed out of bed nearly dragging on the way to the bedroom door. The sight that met her there caused her to look around and see where she was. “Hey, guys…What is this?”
Elaina popped up off of the couch where Thaddeus was looking about as ragged as he ever had looked and smelled of every liquor known. “Lou, honey…You are awake! How are you feeling today? Is there anything we can do?”
“Yeah, I am hungry. I guess I could eat something and then call Danny. He must be worried sick if he has the two of you taking care of me while he is out,” Louanne teased sounding as tired as she was feeling.
“How are you,” Thaddeus asked softly. “Is there any way you can remember what happened? It might be important to know if you don’t wake up for a while. I might be able to figure out what is causing it,” he offered not sounding too worried or interested in the least.
“I don’t know what happened. One minute I was alright…I was sound asleep and woke up with a chest pain of some kind. I think I made a noise or something. It probably woke Danny up. Did he call you?”
“Yeah, honey, he did,” Elaina fretted. “I have some food in the fridge from when we ate. I can warm it up for you if you think you can manage to eat it.”
“I am not sick, ‘Lainie…just tired,” Lou protested sitting in a one soft chair to curl up across from Thaddeus who was looking at her strangely. “What is wrong with you?”
“Too much to mention, actually,” he mused thoughtfully with a heavy sigh. “We need to know what is causing you to be tired, Lou. Can you remember anything about when you got the sharp pain? The dream you were having when you woke…anything that might give us a clue as to how to stop it?”
“Stop what, Thaddeus,” Louanne asked testily. “Haven’t you ever been tired before?”
“Enough to sleep for two weeks without waking up,” Thaddeus snapped just as irritably. “Not lately, no. Humor me!”
“Thad,” Elaina cautioned severely. “If you can’t talk nice to her, you come in here and heat up this food. I'll try.”
“Two weeks,” Louanne repeated in a softly startled and confused voice. “I couldn’t have slept for two whole weeks.” Her sleepy expression cleared all of the sudden as she put together what they were saying and why she had woke up here instead of home. “Two weeks…Oh my Gods, Danny must be…”
“Danny is dead, Lou,” Thaddeus whispered looking away as he said it.
“Thaddeus,” Elaina hissed sharply. “Get in this damn kitchen right now!”
He got off of the couch and gave Louanne a red-eyed look of such misery she wondered why she hadn’t noticed how attached the two men had become. “They said it was a heart attack. He had medication he was taking for it,” Thaddeus told her with a searching look in his eyes. “Did you know he was having heart problems, Lou, or did he hide it from you too?”
“Heart problems,” Lou said considering it. “No, he doesn’t have heart problems. He has been a little short of breath lately, but he is…” Was, she silently corrected taking a deep breath before continuing in a softer voice.
“Danny was old. We all expected him to be old. We have all been changing in little ways to accommodate his age. We knew he was getting very old, but I thought he was still okay. He still went to work. How could he work if he wasn’t healthy,” Lou asked.
“I checked,” Thaddeus whispered. His voice grew more firm as he spoke. “He was placed in a supervisory position some time back that involved nearly all brain work and little to no physical activity. Several months ago, he was placed on permanent light duty. They knew, Lou. They knew and we didn’t.” Louanne knew who he meant…Kurt and Debbie.
“I am sure Danny just didn’t want us to worry,” Elaina interjected. “Are you still hungry, Lou? I can put all of this back in the fridge.”
“No, I need to eat,” Louanne protested. “I am starving, ‘Lainie. I know I shouldn’t be, but I am. I am so tired and hungry…” She drifted off vaguely looking disoriented and Thaddeus knew something was severely wrong.
“Lou, try to think about what happened…Were you dreaming when you woke up with the pain? Where was the pain? Can you describe it to me,” Thaddeus pushed suddenly beginning to grow more alert and concerned as he spoke.
“Lou,” he pressed when she seemed to just sit there looking dazed. Elaina started to snap at him angrily again and he waved her off so that she turned around angrily without a word to return to the kitchen. “Lou…”
“This is really important, Lou. Think about it and try to answer me before you go back to bed. I need to know,” Thaddeus pressed with a frown.
“Okay, I will try, Thaddeus, but…Danny,” Lou whispered. Her face twisted and she almost cried, but caught it just before any tears could fall. “I know he wouldn’t want me to dwell on it. He would say, ‘hey, look how long you had me for, baby. Did you expect it to last forever? We always knew this was a temporary deal, didn’t we?’”
Lou laughed and it even made dour Thaddeus crack a smile as the image took root in his mind. “It doesn’t feel temporary, Thaddeus. It felt real to me. Look how long I had him,” she pointed out. “How can anyone call that a temporary deal? It was a lifetime!”
“He knew we wouldn’t age the same way, Lou. I think he had a clearer image of it than you do,” Thaddeus sighed. “Danny was a rare kind of guy. He knew you belonged elsewhere and was thankful to borrow you even if it didn’t feel the same way to us. He was thankful for every day he had us because he knew it was never supposed to happen. Only it did, and we loved him,” Thaddeus added. Neither had noticed Elaina was missing until she crept back into the room with an agreeing smile.
“Danny was wonderful. Hard to believe, but he turned out to be a real gem, didn’t he, Lou,” Elaina mused. “I never have thought of him as competition back then. Do you remember? We were always running from that handsome shark of a man, but I never paid Danny any mind. I guess I should have. You saw him…”
“Oh, ‘Lainie…You had Thad. I didn’t think you would mind,” Lou stated giving Elaina a look that Thaddeus stepped between with an angry frown of disapproval. Louanne grinned at him impishly. “Thaddeus, you look like an old fart. You must not be taking care of her.”
“I take care of her quite well,” Thaddeus protested. “Is it my fault she is a total nymphomaniac?”
Louanne laughed at his pained expression. It was a completely male look of pleasure and pain and confusion all mixed up into a chaos of masculinity that she doubted she would ever interpret. “I don’t mind you being with her, Louanne; don’t take this wrong, but I went to a lot of trouble getting my wife to pay attention to me. I don’t want you to fuck that up for me.”
“That sounded distinctly like a back off,” Louanne stated thoughtfully looking at ‘Lainie with hidden amusement.
“It did, didn't it,” Elaina stated with an arch look of arrogance about her face. “He must be getting as old and grumpy as he looks.”
Thaddeus snorted something for ‘Lainie only to hear that changed her teasing eyes to a darker more thoughtful coloring that even after all of these years Lou recognized. “Speaking of old and grumpy,” Thaddeus sighed. “How are we going to go about our deaths? It is getting near the time people will wonder why we never go to a doctor, or get tired.” The strained look in the women’s eyes told him clearly they were not ready to accept what he was saying to them. “It can wait, but it needs to done in the next ten to twenty years. The later we do it, the more we have to hide. Without Danny…there isn’t much reason to pretend I am old.”
“I don’t know, Thaddeus…What about Debbie and the kids,” Elaina whispered. “You want us to just walk away and never come back? I thought you liked Kurt.”
“I do, but Kurt has his own people. He doesn’t need us and he never did. I will miss the kids, but we can always come back and see them, just not as us. We could return here as young couples and start all over again making friends with the younger folks we have always seen hanging around the fringes of the geriatric society.”
Elaina frowned at him in disapproval. “Thaddeus, this isn’t the time to be thinking about such things. It can wait.”
“Don’t you want to get to know them? I know you do. I have seen the looks in your eyes,” Thad pointed out.
“That isn’t what I am saying, honey…”
“You don’t like pretending to be old anymore than I do, ‘Lainie. We did it for Danny, and he has been gone for two weeks. Personally, the old town isn’t the same without him. I don’t like it.”
Both women sighed and he threw up his hands. “I don’t know why I bother to add my opinion to anything. I get out voted every time I think something is a good idea,” he grumbled. “Regardless, I want to know every detail you can remember about that night before you go to bed, Lou. I am not taking a ‘wait until later’ on that one!”
“Thaddeus, you are being a jerk,” ‘Lainie growled.
“Am I?” Thaddeus stared at her hard and Lou saw the look in Elaina’s eyes change as Thaddeus told her something in her mind that she couldn’t hear. “Tell me it isn’t important, ‘Lainie. I will leave her alone if you do.”
“No,” Elaina whispered. “No, you are right. Lou, can you remember?”
“What are the two of you not telling me this time?” Elaina looked at Lou’s hand that was holding and rubbing the pendant she always wore fretfully.
It took Louanne several minutes to realize why that would be important. It was the heart locket that Sebasti had given her for Christmas so long ago she had forgotten where it had come from. “Oh, yeah…I guess that would be important,” she whispered distracted again as she wondered where he was after so long of not hearing from him.
“I’ll get the food and give you a second to think about it, honey,” Elaina said leaving to go into the kitchen.
Lou rubbed her face and Thaddeus came over to kneel down beside her chair dropping the old man illusion that hid how very handsome the man truly was. He reached up and Lou fell into his arms for a warm hug. Sensing without words that she was falling apart and just plain needed it, he didn’t speak. She was grateful for it.
“You are taking this better than I did,” Thaddeus finally pointed out with a little laugh.
“I am too tired to get hysterical. I just feel…numb, Thad. I feel numb. I have since I woke up the first time.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Nothing,” Lou protested. “I was asleep and I started hurting and woke up startled.”
“Think, Lou…What did you dream? Was a flash of anything just before you woke?”
“No…Yes,” Lou changed looking confused. “I saw the flash of a knife and felt a pain.”
“In your chest you said. Was it in your heart, Lou? This is important. Please, try to get it right.”
“Yes, I think it was. Why? What does it mean?” Thaddeus backed up and had a very worried look on his face.
Elaina set the tray down watching him with a horrified expression. “He thinks someone killed Sebasti!” Her hiss of dismay startled Thaddeus into looking up at her.
“It isn’t as bad as you are both thinking,” he protested. “He is more than likely still alive, but if the knife is still stuck into his chest he can’t wake up. He will be almost completely helpless until it is removed. If he is on most planets, they will bury him. That would help him heal, but if he has been taken captive by someone that knows what he is…It can be a very, very bad thing,” he finished softly.
2007, (Jenna Karro). All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without express permission of the author.
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