Sebasti for the Holidays (Part 1) Halloween
04:37 Oct 15 2007
Times Read: 661
It had become mostly a game to us as we diligently tried to outwit our endless pursuer. He was a strange monster that fancied my best friend as his mate. It would never happen. I could have saved him the trouble simply by telling him the girl was in love with me. He would not have listened. In his mind, she belonged to him as much as the long, black cloak he continually wore while prowling the dark streets in search of our presence.
Elaina swore the thing had to be a vampire with his strange ways of always creeping upon us in the dead of night when little was stirring about. We had become restless sleepers always assuming he was just around the corner waiting for his chance to snatch her away from the only person who had never…would never betray her.
I was laughing recklessly as I burst out of the back door of a popular, gay nightclub. I know the clientele would hassle the lovely male following us in an attempt to get him to stay.
Honestly, he was handsome enough to make me feel utterly plain. I was a homely excuse for a lover, but Elaina refused him for me. I was far more grateful to her than I would ever admit. Elaina Du’ Tres was a perfect, model-petite, strawberry blonde with ample body mass in all of the right locations to make men stare. Her stunning, gray-blue eyes and trim waistline caused women to hate her with envy and she was shy. It was a compelling mix of a sultry siren and an innocent virgin that had made many men weep when she could not be tamed by them. She was mine…For now, all I cared about was she was mine.
Behind her back, I caught a flash of red in Sebasti’s handsome, brown eyes as he was detained by a group of amorous males on the prowl. He met my eyes with a barely contained fury as he turned a dazzling smile on the college boys that won him every set of eyes in the club.
His hair fell to just past the waistline of his expensively tailored suit hidden under the foreboding duster. There was a flash of diamonds on the face of his watch as he turned his shapely wrist to keep the men distracted from his escaping prey.
Elaina passed me with a hint of fear and relief in her eyes that dispelled the guilt I felt for ditching him in this place to fend for himself. The slam of the heavy door behind us was a satisfying sound as we ran down Howitzer to Aspen to hail a cab that would take us miles away from here before he could get loose. Sebasti’s honor kept him from catching us. I had realized that over twenty-five years ago. He wanted Elaina, but not damaged, or scared of him.
I kept a careful watch behind us as Elaina ran ahead to flag a cab. The college boys had definitely done the trick. Sebasti was too polite to ignore the youths, or make them feel as if they were beneath such an obviously rich prospect.
I slid into the waiting vehicle suddenly exhausted of our games. Sebasti had garnered nothing within Elaina except desperation. Unfortunately, he had finally gained a grudgingly given dose of respect from me. I couldn’t help feeling the guilt grow every time he saw beauty slip away from his well laid traps. “That was a close one, Lou…”
“He is getting better at this,” I admitted trying to hide my own frustration from her eyes. Could she tell I was slipping because I wanted him to come closer? I could not lose Elaina to him, yet…I feel a need to reward his efforts by letting him see her, hear her, smell her close by. He was growing angry and all of that rage was aimed at me. Could he not see that I was following her wishes to keep her free of his affections? “Wipe that worried look off of your face. He is not getting good enough to get past me,” I assured her.
“Lou…I do not like him,” Elaina grumbled. “That one really scared me. He got too close! I need more bodyguards. Ones that carry really big artillery,” she specified ruefully. “I want him gone!”
I was about to protest that her idea was too much when she reached up and pulled me down for a lengthy kiss. The cabbie made a sound too akin to desire to ignore. Loving a public display as much as Elaina, it had the proper effect goading me into deepening the kiss and using my tongue and lips to fully explore every heated fold of her mouth. A helpless sound of longing escaped me. She pulled her hands around my own and slid them up under her silky top brazenly.
I sent a glance at the cab driver. He looked young and shocked, but too damn turned on to do more than watch the show.
The silky sheath covering Elaina’s sexy body was damp from the mist tonight. She wore nothing beneath it and her perky breasts just begged to be noticed coloring beneath the clear material. I could see it. A little more moisture and the young boy driving the cab would too. Elaina was never shy about exposing her body, just her mind.
I caught each nipple in my mouth letting my tongue finish off the thin bits of white covering them. When I drew back to admire the view, I heard a pained groan from the front seat. It made me smile.
“Just drop us off at a high priced hotel as far from here as you can get us, please…”
The cab driver met my eyes thoughtfully before he nodded in agreement. Elaina pulled the shirt off while I was distracted by the emotionless, blank face on the ardent, little male. The look on his face bothered me, but I couldn’t place why when Elaina was tugging my crisp white linen shirt out of my suit pants like a paid whore.
“Stop talking, Lou…I am sure he doesn’t want to hear it,” Elaina complained. I still harbored a small slice of guilt for stealing her away from Sebasti. The man really believed she was his soul mate. “Make me feel better, Lou,” she whispered in my ear, “Make him go away. Get him out of our heads, Lou. Please, help me banish him.”
Elaina ran her hands and those long sharp nails up and down my sensitive back until I closed my eyes and nearly purred for her. She knew how to persuade me. I would do anything to feel her nails stroking over the smooth skin of my body. I exhaled in desperation trembling to return the pleasures she knew she was inflicting in me. I forgot the cabbie immediately, not smart…She moved her hands, one into my scalp and the other into my suit pants to scratch over the cheeks of my ass in sheer temptation. It was enough…Lords above, it was more than enough.
Her pants came open as my hand sought to find the delicious wetness I knew I would find awaiting me. She gasped and laid back across the seats of the cab raising her legs around me invitingly as I plunged a finger into her depths to work her into a feverish passion. Every stroke was followed with a curving upstroke that ran a knuckle over the bundle of nerves at the center of those petal soft folds I held clutched between the two fingers bordering the one she had soaked so thoroughly. My lips wrestled firmly with the hardened buds of her breasts until she pulled, begged, and arched further into me wantonly.
I lifted to see her glazed eyes in that drugged face. Raising my hand, I sucked my middle finger up into my mouth tasting her cleverly in a way that never failed to tighten her body erotically for me.
“Oh, Gods…Lou…”
“As sweet as rain,” I whispered over her lips as I went back to edging her body skillfully up a long torturous ascent of tight muscles, quivering skin, goose bumps, ragged breathing, and heat.
I forgot the cab driver long before her I drug her pants lower and leaned down to lick the sweet scents of her. She was pure as snow, clean as rain, as soft of flowers and as wet as the morning dew. I glanced up and saw love in her eyes. It never failed to stun me when I saw such a perfect, famous soul…in love with a nobody like me. I am plain. I am drab. I am nothing to rival the woman lying beneath me. She deserved someone who could stop a room with glory…like Sebasti.
My thoughts drove me to push her limits unnecessarily. I widened the area I was running my finger into pushing against the resistance she offered me to hear her cries and strangled moans against my lips. I used my kisses to steal the very air from her lungs causing her to grow light-headed as she moved under the weight of my much heavier body.
She shattered in a release they probably heard in our flat in Hollywood. She yelled at every gasp until I deemed she had enough and released her. Elaina lay limply like a petal drunk on the sunlight. She only opened her eyes to watch me clean the dewy juice off of my hand with a curling tongue. The sight made her shiver and her eyes grew hot again.
“I am so glad you are the only bodyguard I need to keep me happy,” Elaina stated in that odd, husky tone she gets after a really good orgasm.
When I glanced out the window, I instantly knew we had been betrayed. The cab driver was pulling up to the hotel where we had spent last night. There were already two limos and a media van out front.
“Oh, no…party’s over, lover,” I warned in an angry tone as I looked up at the young face of the cabbie. “You go on up. I want to talk to our little friend a second.” Elaina got out surrounded in seconds by bodyguards and media hounds. “Alright, who are you?” His face had looked too young to pay much attention, but he must have been old enough to put on the payroll as a flunky spy.
“I am nobody you need to worry about just yet,” the guy stated in a friendly voice that sounded older than he looked. It was the smirk that made me not like him.
“Try to stay that way, will you,” I warned before following the super hot model into the firing squad.
“Miss Du’ Tres went out to a club for a couple of drinks. I am sure all of you have done worse in your lives. There were no men involved except one overly exuberant fan who recognized us. We ditched him at another club and returned here. Are there any more questions I can answer?” Of course there were, I thought behind my fake smile as I diverted everyone’s attention away from Elaina’s attempt to run away from the pressures of fame, fortune, media, and her now infamous stalker. The topic was swiftly forgotten when Danny mentioned needing to get to a photo shoot in Florida on time this weekend. I had completely forgotten it. There weren’t any arrangements made for transportation. Hopefully, Miss Du’ Tres’ excellent staff had foreseen the oversight and corrected the issue by now, I thought frantically.
Danny helped me gently muscle the camera and mike men out of our way as we headed for the lobby and a bank of safe looking elevators.
When I entered the first one to slide open, I looked back and saw our managing producer’s assistant lean down to speak to the cab driver. “Danny, who was driving our cab,” I asked him.
He looked back startled by my question, but the doors had already snapped closed. “I didn’t see the driver. Why? Did you not ask to be brought back here?”
“Hell no, I told him to take us to the hotel farthest from where we were and handed him a bunch of cash to get us miles away,” I muttered in frustration.
“It could be a coincidence. Perhaps this was the farthest,” he suggested. “I will look into it. Any one of a thousand cameras had to have caught his face. You did say it was a guy, didn’t you?”
I nodded already distracted by the millions of details Elaina and I needed to keep in mind at any given moment. Danny saw the look and knew it was a waste of his breath to continue the conversation.
I thought of something else to say, but noticed a silly smile at the corner of one side of his lips. “What is it?” Startled, he glanced at me and flushed like a school boy caught at a prank by a teacher.
“Oh, nothing…” He stammered a couple of more odd fragments flustered and lying to cover whatever had caused that strange smile.
“Did anyone plan the transportation to the photo shoot? I haven’t…”
“Yes, ma’am…Masterson said he had a guy on it. He said he had to hire someone to take care of all of the ‘little things’ you are forgetting. I told him you needed the help. He should have hired you an assistant several years ago. You can’t be the head of planning, Elaina’s best friend and her best bodyguard without needing a little help sometimes. He said ‘Good…Then, this guy can just be the planning manager and she can just be the bodyguard from now on’.” Danny mimicked Masterson very well. I could hear the fury in the managing producer’s voice as he repeated it to me.
“Did I just get demoted?” Danny winced and nodded. “I did! I just got demoted…that creep,” I hissed.
“Consider it a promotion,” Danny advised. “You were hired for planning, became a bodyguard by circumstances and now you are just the bodyguard. Better pay, less work load,” he pointed out with a little wriggle of his eyebrows. “Lucky broad,” he teased. It made me laugh.
“Yeah, you are right, Danny. That evil little twerp actually did me a favor. I can’t wait to tell him how much I appreciate the help he has provided.” We were both laughing when the elevator opened on the top floor. I could hear Masterson’s whiney voice yelling in a side area. Elaina flashed me a frown as we passed by catching a short bit of dialog.
“I can’t believe you walked away from a half of a million dollar photo shoot! What were you going to do this weekend? I bet you were not planning to be in Florida…Do you have any idea how damaging it would be to your career to blow off two sessions in a row?” I sighed as we passed out of the range of his voice.
“So…Who is the new planning director if it is no longer me,” I asked softly.
“I don’t really know. An astute young lad from around Maryland by the name of Thaddeus Hall,” he stated dryly. “I have no idea how Masterson found him. Someone said he just walked in off of the street dripping wet from the pouring rain while he was ranting about your latest escapades.”
“And Masterson just hired him on the spot,” I squealed angrily.
“That would be the way of it,” Danny drawled with a wry grin. “His credentials haven’t even come back from the check I am running on him yet.” A sizzle of alarm stopped me in my tracks.
“Get me his profile, Danny! I don’t want him near Elaina until I know who he is,” I snapped.
“Masterson isn’t stupid. He told the guy he couldn’t have access to his starlet until it came back clean.” Danny led me into Elaina’s room as we checked to make certain it was entirely empty.
“Alright, you lucky broad,” he stated with a grin. “Elaina should be here in a minute. Looks like you get the first shower. Is there any way we could trade places and you would let me be the one to wake up curled into Miss Du’ Tres’ hair?”
Danny took one look at my face and backed away laughing. “Just a joke, but you being the only female guard on staff kind of guarantees you a job here. Elaina wouldn’t put up with a guard in her room any other way!”
“What Elaina does in her room at night is no one’s business, Danny,” I warned softly. He blinked at me strangely and I realized I was being too hard on him. He didn’t know…and I was being an ass. No one knew about us. “I am sorry. Masterson hiring someone without clearing him first has put my nerves on edge,” I stated with a weak little wave. “Plus that stupid cab driver is bugging me!”
“Look, I will go get Elaina myself and bring her to you. Get undressed and hop into a hot shower. If I am really lucky, I will get a glimpse of you getting out through that crack in the door you like to leave so you can hear what is going on in the other room,” he teased playfully with a little push towards the bathroom door.
“Hey,” I rounded on him in surprise. “How did you know about that?” He escorted me to the bathroom door and wiggled his eyebrows happily. I stopped the door from closing between us. “Danny…”
“What? I had to open the door to give Elaina her day planner one day! It was an accident, I swear. I was wondering where you were and caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. Damn, you are hot, too…” I shoved him out the door and slammed it as my face flushed in embarrassment. I heard his fingers drum against the wood before he turned away.
“Prick,” I swore. He was such a playful flirt. All of his teasing normally went over my head, but he had seen me naked. “Oh, shit…” Danny could recall every detail of a person who showed up at an insignificant party many years ago. Then, still tell you every name on the guest list and who showed up uninvited.
I started undressing with the door firmly shut, despite not liking the vulnerability of it. I could not hear what was happening outside of the door. Not that Danny couldn’t bring up a clear picture of what he had seen any time he wanted to remember it. He had a nearly perfect photographic memory, which was why he was the head of security and so good at his job.
Before I stepped into the shower, I opened the door. There wasn’t any point of hiding it now; the damage had been done. The outer door opened just as I was stepping into the tub. I glanced back and sure enough…Danny’s eyes were memorizing every inch of my skin hungrily. His lips parted and he ducked his head to exit the room quietly.
Elaina noticed where I was standing and gave a low whistle. “What was that about,” she asked coming up to the door.
“Why didn’t you tell me Danny had come into the room while I was in the shower? Hell, Elaina…He has already seen me! You know that man never forgets a detail.” She laughed softly at my indignation, leaning against the door jamb provocatively. “It is not funny!”
“It is actually,” she purred seductively biting her lower lip playfully. “I keep telling you that you are a sexy little thing all undressed and sopping wet. You might believe it now.”
“He said I was hot,” I whispered face flaming as she burst out laughing.
“Oh, but baby…I tell you that all of the time,” she purred taking her own clothes off to join me in the bath. Needless to say, we shut the damn door.
Danny stuck his head in the door before the rays of dawn could fully cover the bed. He gave a low wolf whistle. “Damn, if that isn’t a view. Rise and shine, ladies, we have a plane to catch. Out of the jammies and into your swim suits and shorts! I’ll be happy to get out of this chill air.”
Elaina pushed the sheet off of her head mumbling as she glanced at her clock, “It is seventy-five degrees in here.”
“Exactly,” Danny agreed pretending to shiver. “Brr…Give me weather hot enough to make a gal’s clothes come off and I am a happy man,” he teased. I threw a pillow at him. “Can I help you get dressed?” Elaina threw a pillow. It missed by a mile. “Careful or I will have to drag your lazy butts out of there,” he warned.
“Coffee,” I snapped throwing the sheet away to glare at him. His eyes bugged out and fell from my eyes appreciatively.
“Strike that, you are not in your jammies,” he stated in a much lower, less teasing tone. My face heated, but I hoped it wasn’t noticeable. I didn’t clutch the sheet back up but it was an effort pretending I didn’t care that he looked. He sucked in a deep breath and drug his eyes back up to mine grudgingly. “Coffee,” he whispered to himself, “coffee I can do.” He backed up and shut the door without another word. Elaina snickered.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I complained in appalled horror.
“Gees, when you decide to tease a guy, you go all out, sweetheart,” she drawled giving me a quick kiss.
Everything went normal until we were heading out for the plane doing all of our little last minute checks. Danny met up with me just at the bottom of the ramp. “New guy is on board. His papers came in last night and I approved him,” he warned, “so don’t flip out if you see a stranger on the plane.” He glanced up to smile at the flight attendant checking off names as we passed.
“You are the last two on the list, sir. Everyone is on board,” she chirped happily preening for his attention. Danny nodded in full work mode looking distracted. I nearly smiled knowing how little he was looking forward to getting in the air.
“Load ‘em up then before we are late taking off,” he rumbled as he escorted me to the only two empty seats near the doors that the attendants were latching closed.
Gracefully, he allowed me to sit on the window side to avoid anyone that had to stumble back to the bathroom later in the flight. “Just don’t open it, I will end up in the restroom throwing my guts into the little blue stuff those toilets are filled with,” he warned uneasily.
“You remind me every time we fly. I don’t think I am going to forget.”
“Sorry, I know you know,” he said sheepishly, “but if I ever get out of the habit of saying it is the one time I will be with some jerk that forgets, or never knew it to begin with.”
He sat down buckling up with his wide shoulders brushing mine comfortably. “Shit,” he swore glancing at me strangely.
“What did I do now,” I teased.
“I keep getting a picture of you that pops up at the wrong moments,” he grumbled. “I might have to sleep with you or fire you over it….” I grinned at him knowing he wasn’t serious for even one second. “You are ruining me, woman!”
“Danny, it is your own fault you saw me. You shouldn’t have slipped into the room so silently; I would have heard you and stayed behind the curtain.”
“It is a habit,” he complained. “I am a security chief. I am supposed to sneak up on people.” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek like I have done a hundred times before.
He closed his eyes and mumbled. When I gave him a questioning glance, he took my hand while looking around to make sure no one was looking and pulled it into his lap where it pressed it down beneath his own. My eyes grew round.
“Exactly,” he whispered with a smirk.
“Gees, Danny, maybe you should take that trip to the bathroom now.”
“I can’t…we are taking off,” he stated through clenched teeth.
He pulled a magazine over our hands and casually rubbed himself between his leg and our entwined fingers. Out of sheer stupidity, I didn’t try to pull away. As old as I was, I had never had the feel of a fully aroused male in my hand and all I had to do was not pull away to enjoy it. The decision was an easy one.
Danny leaned his head back with his eyes closed pretending to ignore the world as he usually did during a taxi and take off into the vast height of the skies. He really hated flying, but this once he barely seemed to notice what would normally have his fearless body tense with anxiety.
When it was safe to unbuckle and move around, he took the magazine and fled to the bathroom. I was grateful we had the back seats so he wouldn’t have to pass anyone on the way. I hid a grin knowing what he was doing in there.
When he came back, he ruffled my hair like I was a kid and sat down to do a crossword puzzle while I finished reading the book I was on. He was sleeping before I closed it, and once more I was struck by how cute he looked while he was asleep.
I curled up and drifted off staring at his face. He is my closest friend when Elaina isn’t around to pay attention to. As I slept, I wondered for the very first time what it would be like to touch him as a lover. Would his hard muscle repel me as I had once believed, or would it just be a different kind of love? I knew everything there was to know about Danny, and other than Elaina…he knew me.
I mumbled grumpily as the intercom buzzed. A soft brush against my temple settled the irritation. “I will get it, Lou…Go ahead and sleep.” I felt the feathery brush of his lips over my cheek before he went to see what the pilots wanted from us. The fact that he had kissed me was almost enough to wake me up in discomfort, but not quite. I was too happy to drift back into slumber to worry over it. I knew Danny was fond of me. Why should it bother me? He was all of the time flirting. It didn’t mean anything.
“Louanne, wake up.” I pushed at him, but didn’t immediately hear his laugh of bemusement. Something was wrong…Elaina! My eyes popped open and cleared.
“What is wrong? Where is Elaina?”
“Damn, that is the fastest I have ever seen you wake up, Lou.” Danny slid into his seat, talking low. I knew no one was in immediate danger. Danny couldn’t keep still enough to sit when he was upset about something. He buckled in.
“The landing strip is closed due to an unexpected ground shake that settled spots of the runway too low to use. They have rerouted us to a tiny country strip out in the orange fields. It isn’t far away, and they have visually checked it for settling, but they haven’t had time to run any heavy vehicles over it yet. We are landing right now…”
“So it could rupture while we are taxiing over it…”
“That is the idea I had, too,” he groused in apparent frustration.
“It isn’t an option. We can circle around until they check it. I won’t put Elaina in any danger!” I tried to get up, but Danny stopped me.
“It is too late, Louanne! I have already tried to reason with them. Can’t you feel the dip? We are already descending to the field!”
I could feel it. I panicked. I shot a hand to the window and Danny hissed as it flew up to show the ground below coming up at us fast.
“Oh, God…” Danny turned pale as a ghost eyes widening in terror. “I am going to be sick, Lou!” I closed it up as quickly as I could while his ashy face grew flushed. Seconds later the aisle stank of vomit. He hadn’t had time to get the little bag the attendants made certain he kept as close as he could without it bothering him. I felt bad, but at least he had turned away from me to do it.
The wheels struck the ground and both of us tensed up in alarm. “If I ever get off of this plane, I am going to be too damn scared to get back on one again,” I squeaked in fright. He gripped my hand, closed his eyes and sweated until the plane slowed down. I knew he would be pissed at me when it stopped, but for now he clung like a panicked child hyperventilating and near to passing out.
The flight attendants all swarmed Danny the second the plane began to turn for its final stop. He looked so tense, pale and shaky and it was all my fault. I had never before seen him so scared. His wild eyes popped open accusing me angrily as they washed his face, cooled his forehead and neck, and made soothing sounds enjoying the chance to pet and coddle the gorgeous man. I couldn’t take the guilt trip he was laying on me, so I shuffled out of my seat almost causing one of the cooing women to step in the mess as I left the plane, heading for the pilots who were just walking down the stairs.
“You could have gotten us killed,” I growled at them. “How could you commit to a decision to land when you didn’t even know if it was safe? Are you fucking suicidal? Elaina Du’ Tres could have been killed! How would you explain that if the plane had crashed? She could have been maimed, or burned, or something awful!”
“Ma’am, we were just doing our jobs,” the older one stated firmly. “Your planning manager vetoed waiting. He said we didn’t have time and needed to be on the ground the second the limos showed up.” He pointed. A line of dust marked the progress of a set of cars arriving.
“Personally, I wasn’t too thrilled with the decision either. It is never a pretty sight when the senior pilot is sweating as he lands the damn plane. I am not afraid to say, I about threw up myself on this one.” The pilot continued off of the plane to check for any damage to the landing gear while the other went to scope out the runway for depressions. They still had to take off again.
I thought I saw a flash of metal in a near tree line. It broke my attention from cursing out the planning director. I glanced behind me, but knew Danny wasn’t feeling up to checking it out this soon. Elaina would be coming out of the plane shortly and the sight wasn’t secured. I couldn’t take the chance that some egotistical maniac with a gun or a camera was lying in wait for her. I headed for the trees at a quick clip being very careful to check the trees, the ground, and the surrounding area while never losing sight of the target area ahead.
I heard Elaina call my name and sped up. If she could see me, she was a sitting duck at the top of those steps. I saw a shadow dart into the trees. He was dressed as a hunter and held a rifle. Probably just a local out hunting, but I couldn’t take that chance. I had to challenge it. He ran. A jolt of adrenaline shot through me and I shouted for backup. Before I could get into the trees, the ground beneath me shifted opening up a gaping hole. All I could hear was the scream and I wondered if it were my own, or Elaina.
When I woke up, I thought I had been buried alive. I could smell the freshly turned earth. The grass roots trailing in my face let me know I wasn’t deep into the ground.
Then, I remembered falling. Where was everyone? Why was I still in a hole? Perhaps I had only passed out for a second, I thought. I could still get out on my own and Elaina wouldn’t have to worry long. I started calmly searching for a way up to the surface from the long trench I was lying in. All I found was a coffin-sized hole that I was trapped inside. Had the hole I fell through fallen in and closed behind me?
I felt a hand run down my side and screamed. Then, I felt silly. “I am in here!” They must be digging me out, but why couldn’t I hear anything? It was as silent as a tomb. Only the sound of dirt moving around as I shifted or thumping the ground as it fell around me broke the silence.
“Help me, guys…” I struggled to listen more carefully. Someone was close by. I started clawing at the dirt above me determined to help them uncover me, but the dirt began to collapse and I couldn’t breathe.
I had to stop and hold my breath until it settled.
I felt hands caressing me and squealed again, “Help…Help!” A whisper of sound traveled by my ear causing me to stiffen in alarm checking all around again only to find the dirt walls, but someone was in here with me. I could hear him breathing. “Danny,” screamed in terror wishing he were here right now.
“Shh…” I stilled too afraid to move. I got over it and searched frantically for a small hard shape. I was looking for a radio, a microphone, a cell phone, anything that would explain the deep rumble of the male voice and breathing near my ear. The earth below my body felt like a hard chest, but when I dug my fingers into it I came up with a handful of loose soil. It scared me worse than the plane landing.
“Danny! Help me, Danny! Elaina…” I pounded at the soil above me and it all came loose falling in to trap and smother me as I screamed. I felt like I was falling suddenly and I could feel someone holding me tightly as the ground around us shifted about turbulently. I knew we were falling even deeper and it scared me to think I would not be able to dig my way out.
We fell out into empty air below us. I screamed and it echoed. The person holding me twisted to take the weight of the fall, but when I grabbed at him, I came up with another handful of dirt and the utter silence of the cavern I had landed in. I screamed and screamed, but it did little good.
The cavern had now widened out into a ten by ten perimeter that was too tall to touch the ceiling. It was pitch black and my eyes hurt trying to see anything in it. The first thing I noticed was the lack of roots. There were not even tree roots now. I was deep within the earth and not likely to ever see the light of day again. The coolness was the second. Despite knowing it was a doomed attempt, I tried to climb up the side of the walls.
Instantly, someone was there pulling me back to the ground below, touching me, comforting me, attempting to calm me as he kept my feet firmly planted on the ground. I lashed out grateful to have something to fight, but the body I struck crumbled into nothing. I could hear the dirt pelt the ground and searched it to find nothing but loose soil in a pile at my feet.
Panic didn’t even begin to cover my reaction to it. I went crazy trying to escape, trying to beat up the person who kept trying to keep me there and calm me, and freaking out worse slapping at the dirt that fell around me when he dissolved into no more than a pile of soil again and again.
Finally, the shape pinned me to the wall holding me there firmly and carefully. I stilled…I just breathed frantically letting the muscled form seep into my brain so I knew I wasn’t as crazy as I felt. He was there.
Soft hands brushed up from my waist and my shirt fell away like dirt that had been clinging to my skin and suddenly broke up. I struggled. The guy disappeared as I looked for the shirt frantically. There was nothing in the room. It was just simply as gone as the guy who had been holding me. I was crying by the time he caught me again. How could I fight whatever this was? He had all of the advantages and I had nothing.
He soothed my nerves as he gently touched my skin. I could feel a firm jaw rub over my shoulder as he sighed against my skin, hugging me…He was trying to calm me, not scare me, but why did he have to undress me for that? I did not want to know the answer. I could feel his bare chest behind me now that the fabric was no longer between us. He didn’t rush; he was endlessly patient, soothing me as my clothing disappeared piece-by-piece. I would struggle at ever spot where I was able, but it was wearing me out.
Only when I grew tired did he begin to seduce me turning the comforting caresses into something more. Still, he fell to dust every time I struggled with him only to come back the second I calmed down again patiently. I knew I would have to submit or pass out before he would have me. He was playing by his own odd set of rules. He wanted me to give in to him. He would wait for that to happen.
Danny sat worriedly on the makeshift camp chair too tired from searching and pacing to move as he listened to a fireman and a cop try to tell him there wasn’t a hole, or a body to be found. It was nearing dark. The hunter had been locked up swearing his innocence and even the dogs were starting to look bored. They wanted to call off the search.
Elaina had long ago had to be sedated and drug away to sleep. The photo shoot had been postponed. Danny rubbed the back of his neck trying to figure out what had happened. Only he and Elaina had seen Louanne fall into the ground chasing the gunman. Now, she was gone like she had never been here. How was that even possible?
People stared at him waiting for him to make the call. It was too dark. The dogs couldn’t find any clues, and he knew the humans couldn’t do any better. “Alright, go home. Maybe tomorrow we can find some trace of her,” Danny conceded reluctant to let her go. She wasn’t just an employee to him. She was a close friend. Maybe the police chief saw the agony in his eyes as he told them to go, because he gave him a sympathetic smile.
“Happy Halloween,” he stated softly as he turned away. Danny stiffened in shock.
“What did you say?” His ragged voice rang hollow in the sudden silence around them.
“Happy Halloween,” the chief said confused. “It is All Hallow's Night, though I suppose it does sound spooky right at this second saying it,” he admitted. He apologized as he cleared everyone out.
“Kurt!” A man came running up to his side. “Where is that box of loony letters we keep on Miss Du’ Tres’ fan mail?” The chief paused as he listened to the conversation with a curious frown. Kurt’s brow wrinkled as he thought about it.
“It is back at the office, but I can have Milton send you something if you think it is relevant. Have you thought of something? What are we missing, boss? Do you know who took her,” Kurt asked hopefully.
“Halloween…I know there was one that said something about Halloween! Find it for me. Fax it to the hotel,” Danny growled anxiously getting up to pace over the air field one last time while Kurt spoke on the phone. Two remaining policemen watched him looking sad.
Finally, he got in the car and drove like a man possessed to get to the hotel.
The fax was there waiting for them at the front desk. It was a copy of a fan letter they had received weeks ago and nearly forgotten. The neat precise handwriting on the paper had a feminine flair to it, but rereading it now left a bad taste in his mouth.
“I thought he meant Elaina…Gees, I thought he was after Elaina!” Danny swore and felt sick leaning over and breathing rapidly to ease the discomfort.
Kurt snatched the paper out of his hand and read it, swearing at every line he read out loud. Listening to it wasn’t much better, but Danny closed his eyes imagining a certain face behind the hand that wrote the words:
‘My patience is at an end, my sweet. All of our games will mean nothing if I cannot have you. The longer this goes on, the more frustrated I grow…
I will have you. Make no doubt of that. Please, try to forgive my impatience on this matter and try not to be afraid. I would never harm you, my love. You are a part of my soul. May this soon be as clear to you as it is for me...
You must say good-bye to all those that you love. I will understand this and give you time to do so…
Do not ignore this. Only I will be there to wish you a merry night on Halloween.
Until then…my love…let the games play out as you like, but come Halloween you will begin to play a game of my choosing as I have so patiently played this game of yours as you chose it.
I will dream of Sam’hain and the night you will become mine for the rest of eternity….
S.’
“Sebasti,” Kurt growled angrily. “Damn it to hell! Sebasti has her!”
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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