 
### Fires Of Passion Part 1

#### By Lily Green

#### Published by Publications Circulations LLC.

SmashWords Edition

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, companies and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

The following story is for entertainment purposes only. This book contains sexually graphic scenes depicting consenting adults above the age of 18 engaging in passionate sexual acts. This story is intended only for persons over the legal adult age. By downloading and opening this document, you are stating that you are of legal age to access and view this work of fiction. Mature readers only. Reader discretion is advised.

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### Out of Luck

One Wrong Step Part 1

### Chapter One

I COULD STILL feel the cold air rushing over my body when the freezing water suddenly hit me with full force. Struggling, I began to scream inside of my head, mumbling something underneath the cloth in my mouth, hoping that somebody was going to come to my rescue. Any minute now. Please?

The icy water was a black shroud surrounding me, smothering me on all sides, My life began to flash before my eyes until I could see my childhood, almost as if all of it had happened yesterday. I was back in my old neighborhood. My mother and father were standing on our porch, watching me as I learned how to ride my bicycle on my own, both of them beaming with pride.

This wasn't an uncommon occurrence and I learned early on that you couldn't count on anybody but yourself. That was the main reason why I was so independent and stuck in my ways. When I was growing up, nobody got to tell me what to do. My mother and father were psychologists who believed that a child should stand on her own. They never even tried to force me into after school activities, allowing me and nobody else to decide what was right for me.

I could feel my extremities getting numb: all feeling in my body was slowly shutting down. If I didn't have the damn chains wrapped around my body, I might've been able to find some way to pull myself out of this mess. This wasn't how my life was supposed to go, as I had a firm set plan and I was doing everything in my power to follow it to the letter. I had everything going for me: a good job and a career that was taking me to new heights. Now, everything was turned upside down. Getting married and having a few kids, a dream that was once easily within reach, now seemed so far away, as if I could barely reach out to touch it but just couldn't find the substance to make contact.

My vision could only detect the air bubbles coming out of my mouth and everything around me began to recede into darkness. There was a bright light and I thought for sure that it was time to meet my maker, not quite believing that my life was over at the ripe age of forty.

I think turning forty was definitely what caused all of this to happen, as I just decided one day to do something different from my normal routine.

I heard a splash, and then I saw a figure of a man coming down toward me. It surged through the water with sure, powerful strokes, a sea deity come to save me. I felt strong hands grab hold of my shoulders, then a sleek, muscular arm wrap tightly around my waist. I couldn't see very well, but I felt the heat of a strong body snug against my back as I was pulled higher, closer to the surface...

"Don't die on me... don't you fucking die on me." Something was pressing down on my chest, like an anvil. I opened my eyes and began to cough and sputter. I sat up and, half-coughing, half-heaving, and spit out the chlorine water that was still in my lungs. My rescuer had thankfully taken away my cloth gag when he gave me CPR. I heard my rescuer speak: "Just take deep breaths." I had no idea who this person was but he was an angel coming out of the blue -well, into the blue-to save my life.

I took my first real look at him now, at his dark hair, his eyes, the swimmer's V-shape of his waist, tapering down to his almost see-through tighty whities. I coughed when I felt myself staring at them a few seconds too long.

"You... shouldn't have... done that." Once they realize that I'm still alive and kicking, they will come back and make sure that they finish the job.

"Um, so sorry, the next time I see somebody drowning, I'll just turn away and allow it to happen. What kind of gratitude is that for someone that just saved your life? I put my own life on the line to get you out of there and now you tell me that I shouldn't have bothered."

Oh, you don't know the whole story. And if you did, I'm not sure if you would have intervened.

### Chapter Two

"I'M SORRY AND I am grateful for your assistance but I think you should get away from me as soon you can. You have no idea what you have just stepped into and before you get in any deeper, please go and forget you ever saw me." With each breath, I could feel that my lungs were slowly extinguishing the fire inside me but I knew that my death wasn't out of reach.

"Look, I don't know how you got into that pool or why somebody put those chains around you but I don't think anybody deserves to die like that." The chains were still attached and we were getting some unwanted attention from the crowd that was forming around us. If this somehow got back to them, I would be in more hot water than I could even imagine. "Let me find something to get those things off of you and I will be right back."

I felt like I was some sort of sideshow freak attraction and if I could get up and run in the other direction, I would have. That didn't seem very likely, considering the large pieces of chain over my entire body and I was lucky that I could even breathe with the chains so tight and unyielding.

"What happened to her?"

"Should we call the police?"

"Maybe she needs medical help?"

Turning over, I could see my reflection in the surface of the water and the person looking back at me wasn't the same person that I was two days ago. My once long blonde hair was now short with reddish tints and the glasses that I wore were now replaced with colored contact lenses. My clothes stuck to me like a second skin and I felt a cold shiver run down my spine, which made me tremble and shake before this congregation of people.

Looking around, I saw that several tenants of the apartments surrounding the pool had come out to see what all the fuss was about. Many of them took pictures with their cell phones, no doubt sending these to all of their friends and everybody that they had met on Facebook. It's not every day that you find a woman wrapped in metal chains drowning in a pool, and it was only a matter of time before the press stuck their noses into my business. If the police weren't on their way, I was going to be very surprised.

"Here, let me use these bolt cutters to get that chain off of you," my rescuer offered.

He didn't even know me from a hole in the wall and yet, he was going above and beyond to take care of me. I felt so guilty for everything that he was doing, because it was most likely going to be for nothing.

"Hold still, I don't want to cut you with these things." Seeing that I already escaped the clutches of death too many times to count, I wasn't all that concerned over a few cuts or slices from the bolt cutter.

He worked diligently and never gave up until those chains were lying at my feet. Standing up, I began to sway back and forth, holding my head and seeing the entire area around me spinning out of control. Reaching out, I grabbed onto the only thing that I could find, which turned out to be the very muscular bicep of the man who had saved my life.

"You almost drowned," he told me, "and you might need a few minutes to get back your equilibrium. Your brain must've been denied oxygen for least a minute and that sort of thing is going to take a toll on your body."

Guiding me with his hand, he helped set me down on one of the lounge chairs, and sat by my side, keeping me company. A young woman with long black hair came over with a glass of water, which I summarily dismissed, not even wanting to look at water anytime soon.

"I have to get out of here," I said. My eyes were closed and there was a drum going off in my head, so much so that also felt it echoing in my ears. He let me use his healthy young body to help me stand, wrapped my arm around his shoulder and escorted me to a door across from the pool.

I heard the jangling of keys and then the key going into the lock, before the door creaked open on its hinges. Looking over my shoulder, I could see that the crowd was getting bored and most of it had dispersed from the scene.

If I were lucky, I wouldn't have to answer questions from the authorities. The last thing I wanted to do was to be cooped up in some little room down at the police station, especially considering that time was of the essence and I didn't have a moment to spare.

"I'm Peter Chase and what, pray tell, do I call you?" He was looking at me like I was some sort of experiment or some kind of alien that had just landed on the planet and was asking to be taken to his leader. "I can't keep calling you 'lady.' My parents raised me better than that."

"You can call me Clara." That wasn't my real name, but it was as close as he was going to get to finding out. "I could really use an aspirin or even something stronger than that." My implication was clear and he left the room for a few seconds, only to come back with a large bottle of vodka. Snatching it from his hands, I downed half the bottle in one sitting, pulling it back after slugging the contents and wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Now, that hits the spot. Listen... Peter is it? I really don't think it's a good idea for me to stay here and if you can just give me a little bit of money for a taxi, I will be more than happy to get out of your hair."

"Perish the thought, and my house is your house for as long as you need it."

He was being so kind and compassionate that it made me begin to cry, until he came over and wrapped his arms around my waist. Looking up into his eyes, I was about to lean in and kiss him when I came to my senses and pushed him away with both hands.

"I can't do this to you. You don't deserve any of this and it was wrong for me to lean on you like this."

"You don't see me complaining" he replied. "And I think it was kismet that we met, considering I left work early to come home to change. If I hadn't done that, you would probably be doing the dead man's float as we speak. I'd say that I was in the right place at the right time, and you're fortunate to have me come to your rescue." What he was saying made sense but I knew better and this was just going to cause him more harm than good.

"This is very complicated and I wish I had the time to explain everything to you. Come to think of it, I think the less you know, the better."

He was looking at me and again, I felt like I was on display like some wild animal that the zoo had caught and put in a cage. "I just need a few bucks and then you won't have to see me ever again."

"I'm tired of going around in circles, Clara, so I'm just going to take a nice hot shower and try to warm up after diving into that freezing-cold pool. Where are my manners? You were the one that was in there the longest, so maybe you should take that hot shower instead of me."

### Chapter Three

ACTUALLY, A HOT shower sounded like exactly what the doctor ordered and not being the bashful type, I began to strip off my clothes in front of him without hesitation.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that he had his mouth wide open in shock but there was definitely a telltale excitement below his waist. Through the sheerness of his underwear, I could see the shape of his excitement coming to life and growing before my very eyes. That thing had a mind of its own and was unfurling at the sight of my naked body exposing itself.

"Take a picture," I said. "It will last longer." I was only teasing him and I was getting a giddy thrill out of making him feel uncomfortable in his own house. Walking away from him, I began to shake my ass, just so that he could watch me as I went into the bathroom.

I fiddled with the taps, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to work his shower properly. I was about to give up on it when I felt a presence behind me that made me lash out with my right hand. He caught it before it made contact with his face and held my wrist in his hand with the strength of a real man.

"Whoa, I just came in to help you with the shower, as it has the tendency to stick once in a while."

At least he had taken off his God-awful underwear, but he had replaced it with a towel that he had wrapped around his waist. There wasn't much to the material though, leaving very little to the imagination, and something else peeking out between the folds. I don't know why I did it but I reached out and took him around his base and stroked him, making all of his breath come out of his body at the same time.

"Man...I didn't come in here for that. But don't let me stop you."

Getting down onto my hands and knees, I was now face-to-face with his impressive equipment, and I peeled back that towel to see it in all its majestic glory. Putting my finger on his shaft, I traced the lines of his veins, until I saw this small droplet of pre-ejaculate on the tip. I let out my tongue and began to lick the tip in teasing, lazy circles. It tasted so good that I began to gently squeeze the entire thing, bringing out more of that delicious elixir.

"Oh my God, that is amazing! But if you keep that up, I am not going to be able to control myself."

My intention was to bring out the animal in him and it looked like I was on the right track to doing just that. All of the blood had rushed from his body and had now pooled in the long and demanding length that was about to slide into my hot, eager mouth. He wasn't trying to stop me and that wasn't that unusual, considering that he was male. Everyone knows they usually think about one thing.

His cock head moved across my tongue, letting me taste every single inch of him, before he touched the back of my mouth. This wasn't my first time giving a blowjob and I prided myself on the fact that I was very good at it. Pushing my face against his midsection, I watched as the last couple of inches disappeared within my oral cavity.

"Oh, yeah deep-throat it...I fucking love it."

I was loving it as well, and it was the perfect distraction from what I was going through. Taking a hold of his balls, I began to play with them to give him the extra stimulation to take him past the point of no return. Behind me, I could hear the water rushing into the tub but I wasn't paying any of that any mind.

"You have to stop... please stop."

I couldn't believe that he was of the mind to want to bring this to a stop but who was I to argue with the man who had saved me from certain death?

That cock came out of my mouth covered with my spit, leaving a small trail from the head to my lips. That trail broke and he put his hands on my shoulders, lifting me easily onto the bathroom counter. I let him gently spread my legs open for him. I was at his mercy. My breasts were heaving and my skin was flushed with anticipation and desire. The last couple of days had been more than I could take and I was going to take this time to lose myself in the moment.

"Yes, make me cum all over that handsome face."

### Chapter Four

HE PARTED MY lips with his fingers. His tongue stabbed into the very core of my being, until I was wrapping my legs around his head to keep him from going anywhere else.

I could hear him trying to say something, but my legs were kept him focused on pleasuring me with his tongue. It had been too long since I had felt this kind of joy and he was showing me that he was very adept at reading the signals of the female body.

I began to feel this huge wave of pleasure consume me and I screamed so loud that I thought for sure his whole neighborhood could hear me. I thought for sure that only dogs could hear me.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

My legs beat on the back of his shoulders, while my entire body unleashed a deluge of my womanly essence all over his face. He drank down everything from the source, not stopping until I was completely sated and exhausted from this oral delight.

Looking down through my hazy vision, I saw him smiling up at me. He began to use his tongue to lick a path up past my mound, and stopped at my navel. He began to dip his tongue there, exploring gently, hungrily. He continued licking upward, going through the valley of my cleavage and all the way to my neck. If there is one thing that I love more than anything in the world, it's the feel of a man licking and lightly biting my nape.

My entire body was on fire and only he had the hose to put out the blaze that burned most hotly, there, between my legs. His shaft was still as hard as granite and was now pressing up against my well-licked pussy lips. I could feel his large cock head preparing to penetrate me and I beat him to it by pushing him into me, essentially taking in half of his cock before he had a chance to do anything about it.

"Take me... give me what I need."

His eyes burned with lust for my body, for me, and then he pushed the rest of the way in, until he was balls deep inside of my tight and wanton sheath. Putting his hands on my shoulders, using them for leverage, he pushed in slowly, at first, increasing his speed and ferocity until we found our rhythm.

We kissed deeply, feeling that fire between us burning out of control and I could feel my pussy strangling the life out of his shaft on each stroke. His body was an addictive drug, and I was tracing every single muscle that he had with my eyes, my lips, and my tongue. Peter was some Greek god come to life for my pleasure. I goaded him: "Come on... you can do better than that."

Before long, our bodies were smashing against each other, most likely leaving very noticeable bruises that I would probably feel in the morning. At this point, we were totally going after each other with abandon and our eyes were looking into each other's very souls. His manhood was expanding and was beginning to jerk and tremble within my love nest. This only signified that he was ready to deposit his healthy load and I helped him along by reaching out and tweaking his nipples.

"Yesssssssss."

I came hard and fast, and he moaned into my cleavage, unloading the contents of his balls with four hard and deep thrusts that left us completely breathless and unable to move or speak for some time. This was not the kind of lovemaking that was neat and loving but was in fact more messy and uninhibited than anything else.

When he pulled away, I could see some of his manly love juice dripping down his shaft. It was also dripping out of me.

"I don't know what got into me, Clara, but I think I owe you an apology for getting carried away."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I wanted this just as much as you did, maybe even more so," I told him. "I think that I need to take that shower now and I would really appreciate some time to my own thoughts."

He stepped backwards towards the door, unable to get this new goofy little grin off his face. He closed the door behind him on his way out.

Standing under the hot spray, I began to come back to reality.

This wasn't really where I wanted to be. If I could have stayed in that moment with Peter forever, then I would have done that in a New York minute. My life had turned into a horror novel or some kind of suspense thriller that was going to leave the reader on the edge of his seat at the expense of the poor protagonist.

I finally had to relinquish the hot water, to get out and stand in front of the mirror to look at my reflection. Wiping my hand across the mirror's surface, I saw sunken cheeks and sallow eyes... sunken and sallow, at least, until I put back the colored contacts and put on the modicum of makeup needed to hide my pale features.

There was a knocking from outside, the door to Peter's place, maybe. I put my ear against the bathroom door to hear what was going on. I could hear Peter talking to somebody and I think I heard somebody say that he was an officer or something, but I just couldn't make out all the muffled voices in the other room.

I waited until everything was quiet before I exited the bathroom.

### Chapter Five

PETER STOOD THERE with his hands in front of him, saying, "I got a visit from the police. I told them that I saved your life but I had no idea where you went after that. They told me that some of my neighbors said that I was keeping you in here, but I informed them that you were here for a time, but then you slipped out through the bathroom window when I wasn't looking. Seeing that my father and two brothers were police officers, I invoked their names to make this officer see that I wasn't lying. Once he realized who I was, he said that he would be in touch and that they were going to look for you to ask you a few questions."

I didn't know why he was hiding me from the authorities and his goodness was starting to irk me. I didn't deserve this kind of treatment and there were people out there that wanted desperately to see me six feet under. If Peter had any inkling what all this was about, he would go running in the opposite direction... and you know what? I wouldn't blame him.

"What say we get out of here and go someplace that isn't swarming with police officers?"

Peter looked at me, probably trying to decide if I was crazy or just some kind of damsel in distress. He had saved me from a watery end, and I felt like I wanted to do something good for him in return. Of course, I had already given him my body, and feeling his naked skin against my own was something that I desperately needed. The fact that he had not only come to my rescue but also sent the police on a wild goose chase was gaining him favors with me by leaps and bounds, even as it irked me.

"I know this place but we are going to have to wait until the coast is clear, which probably will mean after the sun goes down." I liked the way that he thought, but time was a luxury for me, because each minute meant the difference between life and death. "It's not someplace I take many people," he continued, " but I figure it will be the perfect place for us to finally talk about what happened."

I knew that conversation was going to be coming sooner rather than later and I dreaded talking to him about this. I wasn't even sure if I was going to tell him the truth or maybe just a semblance of the truth, so that it wouldn't seem that I was lying outright.

After our impromptu sexual escapade, Peter had decided to go into the shower and finish washing up before he took me to this place of his.

While he was in there, I began to remember how everything had changed from twenty-four hours ago.

I remembered standing before the mirror in my apartment, thinking that maybe life was too short and that I should take a risk once in a while. Instead of the usual black and white ensemble that I usually wore to the office, I decided that I was going to mix things up a little bit and wear a bright red blouse and a short white skirt that went just below my waist. I had enough sense to wear some sensible underwear, so that if anybody was watching me bend over during the day, the only thing they would see was this black pair of panties and not the slick lips underneath.

Looking at myself in the mirror again, I wanted to shake myself, to tell myself that I didn't have to be this predictable all the time. The bus was going to be here any second, but I had no intention of actually getting on it this time. Seeing that it was a nice day, I wanted to spread my wings and actually smell the roses for the first time in my life.

If that meant that I was going to be a little late for work, then I wasn't really going to worry about it, as I really wanted to see the world in a different light.

"Clarice, you better make a run for it or you are going to miss your bus."

That was my neighbor Steve from across the hallway and I could picture him in nothing but his birthday suit. Undressing him with my eyes had become a daily activity, and one of these days, I was just going to reach over and pull him into my apartment for a night of sexual bliss that would curl his toes.

This was not that day, but it didn't mean that I couldn't fantasize about the prospect of getting together with him. He never made any move on me, making me think he was either gay or just not interested in what I had to offer.

"I'm not taking the bus, I've decided to walk to work instead,"

You would've thought that I had slapped him across the face with a glove, because he gave me a shocked, yet surprised look at what I was going to do.

"Don't look surprised. I know that I'm known for following a routine. I think it's about time that I shake things up a bit. It just feels like I'm going through the motions, with no real excitement to my day. I go to work, I come home, I go to sleep and then I wake up in the morning and start it all over again. I think it's time that I start living my life and stop letting life drag me along for the ride."

"I've never heard you talk like that before, but I think I like your new attitude," he said.

It was then that he gave me a surprise, as he leaned forward and kissed me on the lips, out of nowhere.

"Take that as a different start to your day and I hope that the rest of your day is just as unpredictable."

He walked back into his apartment. I stood there and put my finger up to my lips, still feeling his masculine nature against them. I should have just grabbed him and pushed him back into his apartment, but I wasn't quite ready to take that bull by the horns just yet.

You just wait, Steve. One of these days, you're going to push me past the point of caring about our friendship, and I will show you just what kind of woman I am...

### Chapter Six

SITTING ON THE bed, I could hear the shower being turned off. Peter, towel-clad, emerged, dripping wet and drying his hair with another towel. Something inside of me wanted to reach out and grab that towel but my sexual urges had already been sated and I could see that his had been as well.

"Just let me get dressed and then we'll blow this place and go see if we can find any excitement in the city," he said.

I had already seen my fair share of excitement in the city, and being chased was not my idea of fun. They were very persistent and were coming after me from every angle, making me feel trapped and alone, with no one to come to my rescue. When I escaped their clutches, I didn't make it very far before they caught up to me in the courtyard of this apartment complex.

Struggling with them, I soon found myself chained up and flying into the air. They watched as I was dragged under to drown in dark water. I heard loud popping sounds, saw contrails of air whizzing past my head, and I knew that they were firing their guns at me. It was lucky that none of those bullets made contact with my body. I was waiting for one of those pieces of hot lead to take my life.

I didn't know what stopped them from continuing their assault. I could only imagine that maybe it had something to do with causing a scene. It was possible that somebody had interrupted their attempted assassination, and they probably thought that they had already finished the job. When they find out that they didn't, I was sure that there would be no place on this earth for me to hide.

These people were everywhere, and I was somebody that they just couldn't afford to leave alive for very much longer. If I had any courage whatsoever, I would have ended my own life right here and now, but my instinct for survival was too strong. There had to be a way to get out of this...

So far, everything that I had thought of had turned out to be a dead-end.

"Okay, if you are ready to paint the town red, your chariot awaits."

We walked out into the courtyard and I glanced over at the pool. I couldn't believe that less than three hours ago, I was in there, struggling to get air into my lungs. He led me over to a large black Harley Davidson, tossing me a helmet that I put over my head.

I climbed on behind Peter. He started the engine and the vibration began to stimulate my body, so much so that I decided that if I got out of this in one piece, that I would buy one myself.

That was going a little too far, because that day seemed so far way and so out of reach that I couldn't imagine ever having the opportunity of buying a Harley Davidson for myself. My grip on his waist was tight, as the feel of that engine underneath me gave new meaning to "good vibrations."

My arousal was quite evident in how my panties were soaking wet and sticking to me like a second skin. All I could do was hold on for dear life, as we whizzed through traffic like it was standing still. At one point, I just couldn't help myself and began to laugh uncontrollably into the wind. I think it was hysterical laughter, the product of feeling danger at every corner of the road.

The moon was full and the stars gave me the impression that my life was an insignificant speck in the universe. If I died tomorrow, I wasn't even sure how many people would come to my funeral. Life would just go on for them, even though I wasn't there anymore. The very thought was scary, and I could now see what terminal hospital patients go through.

To have no hope of survival, and know that their lives were short at best, and still have the courage to smile through it all... this was something that I wanted to feel for myself.

Unfortunately, the only thing I could think of was how unfair my life suddenly was, and how all of this could've been prevented if I had just stuck to my routine.

Life was fleeting, and it could be taken away at the snap of a finger. Or in my case, a syringe shooting fluid into my veins.

As we moved through the streets, my fingers were gripping Peter's waist so hard that my fingernails were digging into his skin.

We finally came to a stop on top of a cliff on the outskirts of the city, where we could see all of the pretty lights down below. I felt like we were on the roof of the world, looking down at all the little people living their daily lives, oblivious to what true evil was there, lurking outside the circles of light cast by the city. If they only knew, they would lock their doors and keep their kids from going out into that big bad world.

I was had always been an optimist, but now, I was more cautious, more cynical. It reminded me of that old Robert Frost poem and about the road less traveled.

They say that every action has an equal and opposite reaction and that everything that happens will always lead you back to the path that you were supposed to be on. If that was true, then it didn't matter what I did, because I would've ended up where I was anyway. I just couldn't wrap my mind around that or the fact that my life was collateral damage and that I was going to fight tooth and nail against what could possibly be my own destiny.

Peter was standing behind me and I could feel his hot breath on my neck. I was acutely aware of my heart beating fast, and the fact that I couldn't breathe deeply without pain. This was only the beginning: before long, I wouldn't be able to move on my own. The worst was yet to come, and if I didn't find some way to rectify this situation within forty-eight hours, then I wasn't going to be the only one in the throes of a life-and-death dilemma.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Peter asked. I knew exactly what he was getting at and now, he was going to try and grill the information out of me.

"Keep your penny, Peter. You really don't want to know what's in my head."

If he knew what I was going through, I doubt that we would have made love like a couple of crazed bunnies.

Most likely, he would've turned me in for some sort of monetary reward.

### Chapter Seven

TO DISTRACT HIM from the truth, I kissed him until he was in the mood to put his hands under my shirt and tweak my nipples with his fingers. He lifted the shirt and kissed my nipples, then licked and bit them before lifting my skirt and feeling along the edges of my panties.

"I think I could get used to this, Clara." His voice was thick as he unzipped his pants and I dipped low to take his manhood into my mouth. I dipped further, and then I was bobbing up and down in his lap. His arousal was throbbing in my mouth and he pulled away to lead me over to the bike. Bending me forward over it, he took a hold of my hips and pulled me onto his ramrod. It penetrated deep and I turned so that we could kiss and feel each other's tongues working inside and around each other's mouths. The lust was unbidden and wouldn't last long at this rate, but I was only doing it to keep his mind off the questions that he was just about to ask. He slapped my ass and I groaned into his mouth, as he glided easily in and out of my soaked hole.

"Oh God, Peter, you are everything I've been looking for and couldn't find." I felt him slam into me from behind, and we began moving against one another, as I reached back and pulled my cheeks wide open. He moaned and his cock flexed and got even bigger within my folds. He buried himself all the way. He climaxed, and I let myself go with him. We stayed joined like that until we were once again able to breathe.

"Enough stalling, Clara. I really want to know what is going on with you. Why were you chained up in the pool?" Peter knew too much as it was, and his harboring me from them was only going to cause him to become part of something that was bigger than all of us. "I've been a part of a police family," he continued, "so whatever you tell me will not shock me, since I've heard everything before." He might have thought that was true, but this was by far one story that didn't need repeating. Besides, I wasn't so sure that anybody would have believed me in the first place. I was still trying to believe it myself.

"You have nothing to be afraid of with me, and if you are in trouble, I want to know about it." He was slowly breaking down my defenses, giving me the impression that maybe it was all right to burden him with my problems. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and spoke.

"All I can tell you, Peter, is that I am not safe anywhere and you are putting your life in danger by protecting mine."

He looked skeptical and I think that he thought I was blowing things out of proportion and making a mountain out of a molehill. "That's a little vague and I'm going to need a whole lot more than that to understand what is going on."

"If I tell you, then there is no un-telling you and trust me when I tell you that you don't want to know. I am trying to protect you as best as I can, but you are not making it easy for me. If you continue to press me for answers, then I will have no choice but to tell you everything. It's not something that you want to happen."

"Okay, I will leave it alone for now, but we are far from finished with this conversation. You intrigue me, Clara, and I can see that you are struggling with something. You're like an onion: with each layer that I peel back, I find something new and interesting about you."

I wished that he hadn't been so kind, as I really didn't deserve his admiration.

I guess we were so engrossed in our conversation that neither of us saw or heard that car pull up behind us, to disgorge two men in dark suits. Both had their firearms pointed at me.

"That's far enough," said one.

"Heh. This is the end of the road for you," the other declared smugly.

They had found me. They would kill me. They would kill Peter, too.

That was when the rage built up inside me, and I was on these two men, lightning dancing on a metal towers, without even thinking about my own safety.

Lashing out with my hands, I went after them with so much speed that they didn't have a chance to react before I had wrestled one of their guns away and turned it on them.

"Don't do anything stupid."

Those were the last words one of them said, as I leveled the muzzle of the gun and pulled the trigger over and over again, listening to the loud reports that followed.

### Chapter Eight

BOTH OUR WOULD-BE attackers flew backwards with bullet holes riddling their bodies. I kept pulling that trigger, even after all the bullets had been spent.

A hand-Peter's-came over mine and gently lowered the gun, loosening my grip until I dropped it onto the ground at my feet. The firearm clanged against the rock surface, and I could see this stream of smoke rising off the barrel.

I had no idea what had come over me. It was as if all reasoning had flown out the window. My knees buckled, and I would have fallen, but Peter eased me to the ground until I sat on my butt. Peter held me tightly. He was saying something but it was almost as if it was coming from the far end of a long tunnel.

We looked at the two men, and I could see that their suits were stained with their blood. A growing pool had begun to surround their bodies.

"Jesus Christ, Clara, you just killed them in cold blood. What the fuck are you anyway... some kind of assassin-for-hire or something?" Peter asked. I wished that I were an assassin-for-hire, because then all of this would make sense.

I didn't feel like I was doing it-killing them-of my own accord. Maybe, this was just one of those effects they had talked about. Whatever it was, it made me into a sadistic animal that just couldn't control her baser instincts.

"You have no idea how sorry I am for all of this, and I do wish that there was another way. They were going to kill me, and whether you believe that or not is beside the point. This is a battle for my own survival and it looks like I may be capable of practically anything." I wanted him to know that this killer wasn't who I was, or at least it wasn't until twenty-four hours earlier.

"I don't know what to make of this or how I'm supposed to react to all this," Peter said slowly. I couldn't blame him for his reaction and it looked to me like he was going to leave me here. This was exactly what I wanted all along, but now that that moment had arrived, I really didn't want to see him leave.

"Be patient with me. I've been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours and it looks like it's not going to get better any time soon. If you want to just go, I'll understand. I won't hold it against you." I was giving him the perfect avenue to get out of this while the getting was good.

Peter was pacing back and forth, both hands above his head and muttering something under his breath that I just couldn't make out. There didn't seem to be anything that I could do to assuage his fears and he was just going to have to work this out himself.

I would either be going this alone or I would have somebody that I trusted to walk this path with me. It was all going to depend on his next course of action.

"Damn, damn, damn, you just made me an accomplice after the fact, Clara. If I'm caught helping you, I could conceivably spend years in jail, and all because I got involved and pulled you out of the water."

There was really nothing I could say, because he was working this out on his own and all I could do was stand there and watch.

"I could call my policeman brother, Billy, but that would mean getting him involved as well. You have got me between a rock and a hard place, and I'm not sure which way to turn. It might help if you told me what this is all about, so at least I would have all the information to make a proper decision."

"I already told you that you really don't want to know. If you insist on knowing everything, then make sure that is what you really want. I am in the middle of something that makes most of the things that you and your family have considered dangerous pale in comparison. I really want you to think about this, because once I open that Pandora's Box, there will be no closing it." I was prepared to let him in on every sordid detail but only if he was really truly ready for everything that that entailed.

"It doesn't look like I have any other choice in the matter. You have made it virtually impossible for me to go on without knowing the whole story. This whole thing has forced my hand and even if I didn't want to know, it looks like I'll need to before we go any further.

"Start at the beginning, Clara. I won't interrupt you until you finish."

I started off by telling him everything I did that morning. By the time I finished my tale, he was sitting there on the ground, astonishment, amazement and shock playing themselves out on his face.

"This is a lot to comprehend," Peter said, "and if what you're telling me is true, you and I are in a lot more trouble than I ever imagined. What was your plan? or did you even have one?"

It was a very hard question to answer, because for the most part, I was just going by the seat of my pants and hoping to God that some kind of sign would lead me in the right direction.

Now that my symptoms have progressed, I have been having a lot of problems concentrating and even controlling a rage that was constantly on the cusp of coming out at the most unpredictable times.

### Chapter Nine

"ALL I CAN tell you, Peter, is that right now I don't know which way is up or down or if I can trust anybody but you. So far, everybody that I have approached about this has either tried to quarantine me or kill me outright. This is not exactly a problem that is going to be easily fixed."

"You have to give me a little bit of time to think, because right now my mind is going everywhere at once. It was... a little shocking to see you attack those two men with such venom in your eyes and it looked like you didn't even have any compunction about killing them at all. I know you tell me that this is part of the process but if that is the way it's supposed to be, then I have to wonder just how much worse this can get for you and me."

"I know that I have laid a lot on your shoulders and I don't think it's fair to involve you in any of this. However, you did save my life, and you did ask. I feel that I owed you the courtesy of telling you exactly what you were getting yourself into."

"Are you sure that you don't know how you got it in the first place? I mean something like that should be very memorable... but you tell me that you have no recollection of how it happened."

"They told me that I was injected but I honestly don't remember any sort of pain or someone coming after me with a needle. I've wracked my brain and I still just can't figure out where and when it happened. If I could do that, I might be able to track down the person responsible and make them give me what I need to survive. So far, I have hit nothing but roadblocks and everyone in authority has been less than useless. I'm really trying to help you with this, but I can't tell you something that I don't know."

"I might be able to help you with that. My sister is a police psychologist and she might be able to bring all those memories out. It's just that I'm not sure if I want to get her or anybody I know involved in any of this."

He looked at me before continuing. "I don't think we have a choice. We need to know how you contracted this, and the best way to do that is to dig into that brain of yours." I thought for sure that he was going to run for the hills but he was stronger than I gave him credit for.

"We better hurry, because according to the timetable, we have less than forty-eight hours to make any sense out of this before I have to be eliminated for good. I don't have to tell you what will happen after those forty-eight hours and how I would become contagious to everybody around me at the time. Until then, I feel like I am just a walking corpse waiting to be put into my coffin and then into the ground."

He dragged the two bodies into the bushes, and hoped that they wouldn't be discovered until all of this was over. I used sand on the ground to cover the pools of blood, making sure that nobody would see them and wonder what had happened. The last thing I needed was for the police to interfere in all this, especially with the government hot on my tail-and I doubted that they were the only ones.

I imagine that I was number one on everyone's hit list. If I was seen by anybody that knew of my condition, they would probably eliminate me with extreme prejudice.

"Let's go before I rethink my position and change my mind, and leave you here on your own." He was mad and putting this on him was not the right thing to do, but it was the only thing I could think to do at the time. "I called my sister Shauna and she told me that I could stop by her house. Don't worry, I didn't tell her anything, only that it was important for me to see her immediately." I wasn't about to relay this kind of information over the phone lines. "You just never know who is listening on the other end.

"I mean, the government has a way to listen for any kind of verbal threat against the president, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that they were using some kind of code to listen for anything that pertains to your situation," he finished. I hadn't even thought of that. I guess that the headaches and rage had been dulling my own ability to think somewhat.

"I don't know how to thank you but I will make it up to you," I told Peter. "Even if it takes me the rest of my life. No matter how long or short that might be."

I climbed on the back of the bike again and we sped out of there with not another word spoken between the two of us. I had already said way too much, and now, I was guilty of bringing others into my own personal hell.

THAT DAY, THE day I was infected, was mostly a blur and I was only able to think about it for short periods of time before my head felt like it was going to explode. I remember leaving my neighbor with these obscene thoughts in my head about how it would be if we went to bed.

The next thing I remembered was lying on the concrete and then waking up to find that I wasn't alone. Through my hazy vision, I noticed a lot of people talking on walkie-talkies and pointing in my general direction. They brandished weapons and came after me. They had no mercy and they weren't going to keep me alive.

I think I heard somebody say, "Don't shoot her, we still don't know how this pathogen works." He then said something else, but I was too busy trying to escape by running down the alley, slamming into dumpsters and falling all over myself, to understand his words.

I stumbled several times and got up, wondering what the hell was going on and why these people were trying to capture me.

What I really wanted to remember was how I got on the concrete in the first place, because that alone might be the key to unraveling this whole mystery.

### Chapter Ten

I COULD SEE that Peter was surveying the scene, constantly moving his eyes from one section of the house to the other. He didn't say a word and was concentrating on trying to find someone that didn't fit and I was kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"As far as I can tell, I don't see anything suspicious and there is no nondescript van sitting down the street announcing they're a cable company or some kind of florist. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be careful, because I know a little bit about these types. I used to work in military intelligence and I can tell you that some of the things we did back then would be considered against the law. We were after terrorists and our superiors didn't care how we got results, just so long as we were able to ferret out those that wanted to do our country harm. I can't tell you how many times we used people without their knowledge, just so that we could trap certain individuals and bring them to justice."

I had no idea that he was this kind of person, but that would certainly explain why he didn't go screaming into the night when he first found out about all this.

The only problem I foresaw was that now, I was seeing him as one of them, and not as some innocent bystander that got caught in the middle. I had to trust somebody, so I had to take it on faith that I had found him. He could still have been a plant put in place to bring me in quietly, but that could just be my paranoia working overtime. Since all of this happened, I began to see threats everywhere, believing that I was being followed everywhere I went.

It didn't help that those two men in the black suits appeared out of nowhere on top of that hill, and that I still wasn't sure how they found me.

"You didn't tell me any of this, so how can I trust you if you aren't completely honest with me?" I knew that I was calling the kettle black, but I just couldn't help how I felt.

Dashing across the lawn, I followed him from shadow to shadow, never staying in the light for too long. He was very good at staying hidden and it looked like his training back in the day was just like riding a bicycle. He motioned for me to stay put, as he climbed the back deck and knocked lightly on the door. For some reason, the outside light didn't illuminate his presence and the door opened slowly to reveal a slender, yet diminutive woman wearing glasses and some kind of professional pantsuit.

They hugged and they talked in a very low whisper, almost making me think that they were conspiring against me, and that I was walking into what could have been a deadly trap. He waved me over and I tentatively took a few steps towards the back door, constantly watching everything around me for anything that was going to jump out at me from the darkness.

"Clara, this is my sister Shauna." I didn't bother to shake her hand, even though she had it outstretched in greeting. I wasn't about to trust most people until I got to know them better.

"Clara, my brother has told me that you are in desperate need of recovering a certain memory buried in your mind. I think that I can help you with that... but you're going to have to trust me and put your well-being in my hands. If you can't do that, then I don't see this working and you will be right back where you started. Peter has not been very forthcoming, but I get this feeling that there is a lot more to this story than I've been told. Come with me and I will do what I can to help you. After all, any friend of Peter is a friend of mine."

Walking down the hall, I looked at all the furnishings and even saw that she was in the process of renovating her bathroom with new fixtures. "Looks like your house is going through some changes."

"Don't mind that, you know how contractors are, they tell you one thing and do exactly another. This should have been done a week ago and now they tell me it's going to be another month before they finish the job." I'd heard such horror stories, and at least that part of her story was making some sort of sense. I still didn't know what to make of Peter and his family, but if I didn't trust somebody sometime, I would always be looking over my shoulder until my last breath.

On the couch, I lay back on and allowed her to talk to me, until I slowly fell into a half-sleeping, half waking state of consciousness. "Now, I want you to go back to that memory that you are trying to hide from, and just think of it as a movie playing in your head."

THE SIDEWALK THAT I was walking down suddenly turned completely black and hands began to reach out from every angle, grasping at my arms and legs, pulling me into the darkness until I was seeing these red eyes peering at me.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh."

I bolted straight up on the couch, my eyes peering into the wall and my entire body shaking from the experience.

There was a brief glimpse of a face I thought I knew, but then it was stripped away before I had a chance to really look at it...

### Dance of Desire

Chains of the Incubi 1

### Chapter One

"KAREN, what the hell is that?"

Cassie pulled her fingers out of her brown hair where she'd shoved them in frustration. Karen walked to her, bringing with her the pungent smell of industrial strength bleach and super cleaner. Karen was the resident manager and caretaker. She perused the stain on the floor as Cassie finished putting the last part of her new bed frame together, then she crossed to open a window for fresh air.

"I still have no freakin' idea, kiddo." Karen shoved her hands in her jumpsuit pockets. "That's my last, best idea on spot removal and it's not even making one damn dent in it. Sorry. And I know the feeling. I had one of these in my apartment, too. Just figured the last resident manager had left it, which doesn't explain why she'd just bolted and left all her stuff, though."

"Really?"Cassie's expression said that was strange.

"Yes. Really. My boss was vague and prickly on the subject. The company should've just kept her deposit, not all of her belongings. Who just leaves all their stuff and wanders off? Maybe she just cracked under pressure? Residents can be wicked odd." She sighed with annoyance, blowing wind through her lips like she was whistling. "What could have made that thing?"

Both young women stared at the large stain staring back at them from the corner of her new bedroom. It was big, and dark. It gave the feeling that it was crawling up the wall-of course it wasn't, how could it?-but it just got under Cassie's skin somehow.

She frowned at Karen."How'd you get rid of yours, then?"

Karen shrugged. "Didn't. Still there under a big rug my last boyfriend stuck me with."

Cassie stomped her foot in frustration."This place is new! Half the apartments aren't even lent yet. There was a janitor and resident manager here before you. How long could she have lived here?"

The manager shrugged before speaking."Couple of months, maybe? Been here just a couple of weeks myself, Cassie. And to tell you the truth, I keep finding these marks throughout the building."

"Everyone has one?!"

"No. But, Jimmy-down the hall and other side?"

Cassie made a face, remembering. That man is distasteful, she thought.

"Well, Jimmy has one, too. But not the Carsons, that retired couple with the energetic redheaded little girl and boy? Or Ms. Samson, that wicked tough chick, who lets everyone know she's a die-hard celibate, abstaining from sex and all things carnal. Not a good conversationalist, that woman. But you didn't hear that from me." Karen sighed again."I have to check with my boss to talk with the owners to get with the builders, Cassie, but it keeps slipping my mind. I haven't been getting enough sleep. This is not right. Really bugs me and feels kind of nasty, you know?"

"Yeah, and it ruins my design plans," Cassie said.

Karen nodded in sympathy.

Then she suddenly got an idea. "Well, now I know what to do with this."

Cassie grabbed a rolled-up synthetic rug and rolled it out, covering the blemish. Both women moved it and made it flat, covering the part of the stain on the floor, but not the part staining up the walls at the corner. It was an ugly rug, too.

"My grand auntie's," she explained. "Insisted I 'christen' my 'first home away from home' with it. She said that it was accidentally drenched in holy water once and has been lucky ever since. I love her, but I hate this old rug. It still has a good sheen, though. I think it's made of rayon. They don't make that anymore, do they?"

Karen almost shook her head, then shrugged, clearly not certain.

Cassie shook her own head, still not feeling the joy over the solution. She now had a spot with a louder spot on top of it. Plus, the original stain was staring back at them with malice from where it crept up the corner's walls.

"Put the bed over it, kiddo, covers the whole damn thing. That's what I did downstairs. Diagonal in the corner, works the room better than squarin' it."

"Huh. Let's see." They dragged Cassie's new bed frame over, then lifted it over the rug. "Yeah. I think you're right."

Minutes later, they had the foam mattress on and Karen had to leave after her phone buzzed and she read the message.

"Gotta go. Jimmy's got a 'drain straight into hell,' he says." Chuckling and rolling her eyes, she left.

Alone, Cassie dressed her bed then lay down on it for a little nap, glad to be out of that creepy motel with the neighbor who stood in his doorway and watched her every time she stepped outside. Or in a dorm, where kids-well, young adults-out on their own for the first time, acted like crazed hedonists all day, every day. She didn't mind a drink, sex, or getting a bit smashed on one or the other, but being smashed on both, perpetually....

Okay, her cousin's antics and horror stories about college life were turning out to be true. The stories of guys and girls who'd didn't know from where they'd gotten some icky STD. But, oh my god, it was worse here.

Not know how you got pregnant and by whom?! That is too drunk or too stoned. And it is crazy, too crazy even for a movie.

That's why she had wanted her own place. She needed the distance from the constant pressure of daily impromptu dorm parties and tomfoolery as she stretched her own limits and explored adulthood in the big city, without a roommate to distract her or drag her into some long, extended crying jag about her last broken relationship.

Anyway, she presently needed a little rest from moving in and dealing with the unclean-at least it felt that way-like a mark of Cain hidden beneath her bed and a clean but ugly rug-before she'd go across town to meet her new friends from school.

Her new bed was especially comfortable so Cassie burrowed in and drifted off into Dreamland on a gentle, warm cloud.

And, in the way of dreams, when your life was in flux, she dreamed of leaving home and entering her new apartment, of moving to a big city that was completely new to her and far from all she'd previously known, in order to attend school as a new freshman at a college the size of a city itself.

Young Cassie dreamed deeply of being an adult with adult responsibilities now, and of a world that was new, wide, and at her feet.

She grinned while she dreamed, pleased to see that what she had envisioned from online pictures and paper brochures hadn't done justice to the actual places inside the college-the quad, the library (the extensive physical one and the extensive online one, both interconnected with county, state, and fed libraries, too!), the president's old mansion residence, and the oil baron millionaire heritage mansions that were now part of her school's real estate. Plus the new corporate-sponsored tech labs.

"But you don't know anyone there," Mom said.

"I'll make new friends; good friends."

And she had, as she now dreamed of her new friends in and out of class.

She smiled happily, still in her sleep, exploring with excitement the busy streets and the shopping near to her apartment-laundry shops, coffee shops, internet cafes, a little mall, a burger joint with fattening to-die-for sandwiches and fries and brownies, and a small family-run grocery store. This was her home and place for now-these were her people. And there would be more people more places all fascinating and wonderful!

And, again, in the way of dreams, she walked from one step to another, stepping from college to being surrounded with her friends, taking no notice of the change in the quick dream transition but immediately loving how her possible new apartment was located at the far end of the corridor, on the second floor, at the corner.

It was a completely new building, too, only a few months old.

But Cassie didn't know that it replaced an older building that had been over a hundred years old, and that it had burned "to the ground in intense heat and leaping fire like Hell's own fire," the news article had read in print and online.

It hadn't been empty during that blaze, either.

Cassie's dream view was as clean and precise as her mind. Her mental schematic included the entire rectangular complex-meaning that in her dream perspective, she could see all of it, like a 3D blueprint. It had a garden square section in the middle that wasn't yet thriving with greenery-okay, it was just dirt, so far. All doors faced the main, encircling corridor. Each tenant had the choice of a view of the surrounding city block area, or a view of other tenant's windows from the facing buildings.

Cassie's corner apartment was bigger than the others beside and opposite hers, which were still vacant, at least for now. It overlooked the street and a park and...

And that gross stain on her bed.

Well, on her dream bed, not under it. Either way, it intruded into her mind's dream.

She scowled in her sleep. She would have been surprised if she were now watching herself dreaming, whimpering a bit, as if she were frightened. Then her alarm went off.

And it quickly dragged her back to this reality. She resurfaced sluggishly, briefly seeing a 3D blueprint of the city, too, especially her university campus with dark, writhing, and gross stains dotted across and encircling...

"Uh!"

Cassie awoke fully, startled upright from her nap by real alarm. And with the shock, she immediately forgot what she was dreaming about. It quickly faded into unreachable nothingness. She could not even remember what shocked and scared her so much that she woke up.

She turned and saw the gold lettered business card propped on the table by her bed, beside her alarm clock. It was one of several given to her by her friend Krystal. She said a "maybe cute, tattooed guy in a hoodie and sunshades, with delicious lips for kissing" had given it to her to distribute to her friends. And she was gushing when she said it, which surprised Cassie because it was so un-Krystal-like.

Cassie hadn't seen the hot, hooded guy. She was on a mandatory library training session when the guy walked up to Krystal and gave her the cards. They were passes to a club "for free entry, plus one, and a free drink," was what he apparently said. Krystal said the club was one of best in town and really hard for just anyone to get into.

"Bring all your friends, Sweet Girl. There's always room for the smart and beautiful," was the last thing the guy said before leaving, according to Krystal.

Cassie had asked if the hoodie guy had said he'd be at the club, too. Krystal hadn't asked. She'd hoped, but had been too shy to ask. He must have really been impressively magnetic to get K all wet and waxing poetic, even with tats, a hoodie, and dark shades. She often said that she only liked guys who were clean, open, and honest.

And then she suddenly realized... "I'm going out tonight! For the first time, out on the town with my girls; all night. Oh, wow!"

She leapt out of bed, grinning ear to ear, and paused to take a look around her new adult residence-all hers. She still had some unpacking, decorating, and settling in to do but she'd accomplished her dreams. She was grown up now, had moved out on her own and would be "moving up in the world," as her Dad would say.

Looking at it and feeling it all around her felt so good.

She went to get ready.

### Chapter Two

CASSIE JUMPED OUT of a city taxi with her free card held tight in her hand and rushed to get in line at the nightclub to wait her turn.

"You!" The guy on the door waved her out of line, past those who'd been waiting much longer.

"Me?" Cassie stopped, dead in her tracks, like a deer spotted by a hunter.

"Ah, come on, man! You let the cute girl go in? She just got here!"

The guy on the door shrugged to the complainer. "What can I say? She'll lighten up the place. Go right on in, miss."

"I do have a card for free entry." She held her free card up.

The door guy didn't even look at it. "Of course you do."

As soon her card was stamped, Cassie stepped directly inside a throbbing, pulsing, living environment. The place felt like nothing she'd ever been before. It was sensational. Amazing. It was magical.

Alive!

"Want ta dance?" a total male stranger abruptly asked, looking very intent-too intent.

Okay. A little less "magical." The man's approach was a bit unsettling, in fact, making her feel suddenly like she'd entered a room of hunters and she was a delicate, edible prey.

"Um. No. But thanks."

He frowned, like she'd led him on and done him wrong. She was glad when he stalked away. She quickly looked around for her friends.

Oh, there.

They waved her over. They were sitting in a cozy corner; three young women clustered around a glass table on lavish, cushioned sofas.

"Hi, Cassie," greeted Lauren, their ringleader, with her dark hair and slanted eyes. "You are late!"

Cassie rolled her eyes as Anne scooted closer to Krystal to make room for her. She felt harried and off-balance. It was always like that when she'd planned to be extra early so she could get her bearings but managed to end up late. "This isn't class. I can be a little late. Traffic is horrendous in this city at night. Could've gotten here faster on a cow." She giggled. Then she took a breath, settling herself, before leveling her gaze at her friends. "Hello, bitches!"

"Yeah!" they all chorused together.

From the looks of it, she wasn't really so late, although she could see her friends had all downed at least two drinks each. Even Krystal, though hers came with umbrellas and straws. Looking sideways at Anne, she found the blonde distracted. Following Anne's green-eyed gaze, Cassie saw a young man at the bar and Anne was playing a flirty-eye game with him.

"I thought you were a prude," Cassie said to Anne, who shot a double-take look at her.

"A prude? Girlfriend, there is no such thing as a prude in a bar full of hot, available men!"

"Don't get your hopes up, dear," Krystal piped in over the music and noise and between sips of her drink. She flipped a lengthy bit of auburn hair off her golden tan shoulder. "Like that all-male dorm next to mine. But I bet, at least half of the beautiful men in here love beautiful men, too."

They all giggled like crazed chicks. And many a man was watching and circling to approach them. While men were working up their nerve, Cassie's group was complete and they officially began their evening, ordering drinks and food to share, sometimes dancing with an occasional guy and with one another, too. Girls could do that. It just made guys want them more.

"I've never been to a place like this. I love it! We have to come back. A lot. And often-very often," Cassie declared as they came back to sit and have more drinks, becoming louder the more they drank.

Cassie bounced on her sofa seat. The entire place was furnished for high society yet professional and comfortable, too. The blaring sounds oozing from the speakers, the lighting, the courteous, smiling service-all of it seized something deep inside of Cassie.

Her old town had nothing like this-a town she'd never been out of for more than a few hours, where it only took twenty minutes to drive all the way through, anyway. If you drove very slowly.

It was mesmerizing in this city, and she could get easily drunk by the ecstacy of being care free for the first time in her life. She danced with her friends again. They were playing one of her all-time, sexy old favorites, The Eagles' Those Shoes. She was feeling it in her body and loving the sexy guitar and throbbing-

"Dance with me."

The warm voice slithered through her and seemed to come out of nowhere, a total unexpected surprise. How bossy. And she should feel offended, she sort of thought. But his voice was more of a seductive purr than a command, spoken into the deepest and centermost of the swirl in Cassie's ear.

Contrary to being offended, Cassie was instantly all a-tingle, even before she slowly turned to see him. "Damn."

She'd been afraid he was going to be like one of those radio performers, a great voice with ogre face and body.

But no.

Not even close.

He was a gorgeous hunk. Fucking gorgeous. His skin was a delicious, edible shade of brown. His looks were somehow exotic, tropical, and fascinatingly other. His eyes were so remarkable that she wanted to fall into them.

He led her away from her friends, through the crowd that parted for them. He led her across the dance floor, stealing her away from her present dance partner, Anne, who was left standing there with her mouth open.

A tall person bumped into them as they walked past. The person was androgynous, someone beautiful but clearly gave off the feeling of being male. He bumped shoulders with her gorgeous hunk in that challenging way males do as they passed each other. They exchanged a pointed look before they passed.

Cassie forgot it immediately as her gorgeous hunk returned his attention to her. She liked the way he looked, square-cut jaw but not too square, with sad, smoldering eyes and a well-muscled build. Everything about him whispered hot... hard... soul-stirring sex to Cassie.

She'd never had hot, hard, soul-stirring sex, just regular vanilla sex with past boyfriends too few in between. But if he liked...

"What's your name?" she asked Mr. Gorgeous Hunk as they started to sway.

He laughed a bit as he moved around her, as if checking her out at every angle. She so wanted to squeal in delight, but that wouldn't be sexy or cool.

"Not yet. I'll tell you later," he finally answered.

Damn, he moved well like-really well. He was so mesmerizing that others stood, lurking about to watch him twirl her, move her, hold her against himself. He watched her and she liked him watching her. She'd giggled and squirmed a little at first, every time he brought her close to his body.

He'd pull a little half smile at her reaction. So sexy.

"You have to get used to me holding you, Beautiful. I like the way you move, the way you feel against me."

"Y-You do?" she stammered. Uncool, Cassie. "All these dancers, you can do better than me."

His reaction was a quick, deep frown. "No, I can't. You're right I shouldn't be with you. You're far above me, Beautiful. But I can't resist you."

What the flying fuck. Could he really be that into me? Probably a very effective line... very effective. She mentally tried to back pedal her emotions away from him. It wasn't working.

The man passed his hand over empty air at the edge of the bar and materialized a drink.

Wow! What a great trick! How'd he do that? He's like a magician. Cassie clapped at his magic. He took a sip then handed it to her. She gulped it down thirstily, and she wanted to get back to dancing with him, fast.

She made a face. "Odd. Tastes sweet and something... funny." She actually belched! Not a demure little burp but a full-on belch. Cassie was horrified! But he didn't seem to notice or care.

"A special recipe from my exotic homeland-Cleveland, Ohio," he said with mock importance.

That made her laugh out loud. Okay, she was officially drunk. But she sobered when he stared at her with a look of awe, so full of yearning. "You're so beautiful. You shine with light. Go away with me?"

His request was so abrupt and seemingly real that part of her screamed, Yeah! Another part, the part that was still her mother's child, said, Whoa, girl! Speechless, Cassie involuntarily shook her pretty head. Okay, she wasn't feeling so much the sophisticated city girl just now. She felt confused and immature.

He laughed sexily before shrugging with a shyness that seemed in direct contrast to his self-assured look. He whirled her out to dance again. She was a bit dizzy. No, she felt more like she was a top spinning and enjoying the spin as she clung to his hard arms.

"Man, you smell fantastic," she blurted.

"What?"

She shook her head, thinking it was embarrassing to repeat her impulsive comment. He did though. He smelled like no man she'd ever smelled before, like exotic spices and intoxicants. Like wrapped in sweet things, coconut and flavored with sexy, irresistible MALE scent. She was done giggling like a schoolgirl since they were now rubbing against each other with serious intent, hard enough to generate flames that could set the club and the world afire.

She didn't know where she got that thought. Hot. Fire. Both of them were inflamed...

She didn't know where her friends were. She wasn't even thinking of them. Cassie wanted this nameless man inside her.

She felt him, felt his lengthening cock against her. She closed her eyes. It felt like he was already inside her, plumbing her deepest secrets. Flames, yeah. Pure, blue fire. It was already there, licking around inside her, making her moisten in welcome. Heat curled inside her, like fingers beckoning from his sex to hers, making her ache for him as she felt the manly part of him grow harder, wanting her.

Cassie's answer came as she rubbed herself against his hardness, which was something she'd never done in public or in private before, and she didn't even notice. She burned for him. She felt bright and radiant as the sun for him, even if she was also feeling very wild and wanton. Like an animal in heat.

Gazing into his face, she didn't find any expression that said he'd expected this kind of behavior from her. Or that he was disgusted by it.

His expression said he was surprised that she was so pleased to be with him and so open to showing him her pleasure.

Or maybe I'm more than a bit drunk and reading too much into this? But it felt good... to feel like this. So free. Like this...

Cassie was completely lost in her erotic shamelessness, breathing deeply-panting really-like she was ready for penetration.

"Beautiful, you're ready."

For what? The thought chugged slowly through her hormone-flooded mind.

He seized her tightly to him, making her open her eyes, half-lidded like a sleepwalker. She was burning up, his body hot and hard against hers, her crotch wet and humid and hungry, as she clawed at his muscular back to hold him closer to her. She felt his hand kneading her ass cheek while she rubbed her aching body against his, and in her head...

The world shifted. A hazy distortion.

A bird flew past her view! It was close enough to make her flinch.

A dove. A white dove. What the hell...?

"Did you see that? A dove! In here."

Annoyance flitted across his expression and he glanced across the floor, but she didn't see who he saw. The annoyance left his face before he looked at her again. "No, Beautiful. I only see you. I only want you. Say 'yes' to me. Now."

Cassie was panting hard and was horny as hell but..."Really? No white dove? You didn't see that? Wow, man. You're really getting to me. I'm so... overheated." She wiggled against him, but stopped. It felt too damn good. "I-I need to sit down."

She pushed away from his hot, firm grasp. And it was hard, like he was a huge magnet and she a tiny iron shaving trying to peel away from him. Even his fingertips felt to her like they didn't want her to go.

His expression was one that simply seemed to state that he couldn't believe she could leave him.

### Chapter Three

BUT CASSIE WAS ABLE to stumble away from him and through the thick crowd back to her girlfriends. She was subjected to a lot of teasing from her drunken friends, especially from Anne and Lauren.

"Ah, our sex kitten has returned from the arms of that glorious, godly Dionysus. Or is he more of a down and dirty sex fiend? We need details, Cassie!" Lauren crowed. "Lots and lots of details. What's he taste like? Have you slipped him the tongue? Does he love it three-way? How fucking huge is his fucking tool?"

And Lauren made a "this big" fishing reference the full length of her reach, from left to right. And they all laughed at her crudeness.

Krystal rolled her eyes, a bit pink in the face with embarrassment and too many fruity drinks laced with rum. Then she giggled hysterically a long while before quieting and sitting overly straight and dignified, as if she weren't at all sloshed.

"Ha-ha, girlfriends," Cassie retorted. Then, she welcomed further teasing with her own drunken announcement. "There's only one way I'm ending tonight. With that man."

She gazed with longing at her masculine dance partner who was waiting for her. He was really waiting for her where she's left him. The odd thing was... it seemed like he was surrounded by a force field as he stood isolated by himself. Others reached out to him, but his eyes-those eyes-were only for her.

I must be really drunk, she thought in exuberant intoxication, closing one eye then the other, to just look at him and that field. He can't really be naked there, having more than two hands and... two cocks?

She giggled at herself and her hallucinations. But as he came to her, to claim her, she stared at his crotch. It moved like there was a thick, long cock growing down both his left thigh and his right.

Someone laughed and bumped into her, and all of Cassie's friends and her entire new world became a noisy, slurring blur....

CASSIE WAS DREAMING. She was in the club with a gorgeous hunk who was leading her away from her friends. The noise in the club died down as a tall, androgynous person with a white dove tattoo high on his neck bumped shoulders with her gorgeous dark hunk while they passed each other.

She heard them both acknowledge each other with stiff civility.

"Paulo," the androgynous one said.

"Gabriel," her hunk said in return.

CASSIE SLID SLOWLY back into consciousness late the following morning, curled up in a fiercely tight ball, like a frightened hedgehog protecting itself from a slobbering and laughing wild jackal.

"What...?" Who's laughing?

Only part of her brain functioned. It was Sunday. She no longer did church on a weekly basis and there was no need to hurry or agonize about classes. She cracked a red, achy eye open at the clock. But it wasn't there. Or, more specifically, she was not laid on the bed properly. She tilted her head.

"Oh. Eleven." In the morning. The sunshine bleeding around her window curtains told her.

Hung over, flaming thirsty and hungry, too, she uncurled and felt fuzzy, like she'd forgotten something. Normal sensations had yet to return to her limbs, her body in general, and her head.

"Oww." Her insides hurt. Down there, as her grandma would've said. Didn't she just have her period a little while ago? She couldn't remember just yet.

Cassie lurched fully upright with a groan and sat on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor, before creaking to a bent stance, like a super-elderly old woman, to stumble her way to the bathroom.

"Fucking hell...!"

She abruptly realized the state she was in.

She wasn't wearing her blouse from last night. One of the solid straps of her bra was ripped completely loose. The bra itself was pulled down exposing her breasts. Her skirt was made of sturdy twill. It was slightly torn in the middle but still on, folded or yanked up-Why would I think 'yanked up'?-and caught high inside the waistband.

She looked around frantically. Her panties were nowhere to be found! The waistband was on the floor and completely destroyed, like someone had ripped them open and torn them from the delicate missing fabric. The apartment air conditioner was on, breezing through her soft and trimmed pubic hair.

She was sore as hell almost everywhere. Even the lips of her vulva hurt. And they were slick, wet. Her thighs, too-slick with wetness and were sore.

Like I've been fucking all night.

Then, she... she couldn't recall...!

H-How'd I get home? I went out with the girls. We partied at that cool club and... and....

She felt fear growing inside her and she wanted to panic. Cassie tugged down her skirt and rearranged her breasts in order to cover herself even though she was completely alone. The bra was so messed up that she threw on a sweatshirt. Halfway clothed again, she still wanted to panic. But she took deep, slow breaths and tried to be logical.

She tried to figure out how she'd gotten from way across town all the way back to her apartment without remembering it. She tried hard, but only remembered sitting back down at the table with her drunken, happy girlfriends after dancing with that gorgeous, hot guy she'd been flirting with.

No...! That's just not it.

He'd come back for her and she'd stood, his strong arm looping around her, his touch sending electrical shocks of joy, lust and amazement.

And then... and then... Cassie didn't remember past that moment! A silent, primal shudder coursed through her spine like cold fingers tipped with long, pointed nails.

No, it can't be.

She realized she really had to piss so she finally made her way into the bathroom to sit down, slowly, and pee. Slowly. Because it hurt like hell.

Her breasts hurt, too. The nipples were painfully sensitive and felt abused.

She gingerly tugged the sweatshirt up and off, then gazed at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. Her breasts looked tortured, reddened and bruised in the bright bathroom light. She gazed downward at her crotch. Her thighs looked red on some spots, too. She was tender all over.

She began trembling. Cassie tried not to sob but she sniffled anyway and wracked her brain to remember.

What could have happened last night to leave her in this wretched condition? But she had no more good fortune with her memory than before.

She did remember the man, her man, nameless, exotic, and dangerous but not a rapist. Not a maniac.

But how could she be sure? Would she know what a rapist looked like in real life? Looking in the mirror at her appearance again, she looked like a doll three hysterical toddlers had fought over.

She washed her face and fought for calmness.

Who to call? Who... Lauren! She rushed outside and grabbed the phone. She called Lauren.

"Wh-What? Wh-Who's this? Oh, Cassie." Lauren half-muted the phone to talk with her roommate. "No, Anne. It's Cassie. Don't talk so damn loud, woman. You're up already, C? It's only noon-ish. Ah, not even."

Since Lauren was still in bed, Cassie kept her questions straightforward.

Laurie's answers were fairly clear in return. "No, C, you didn't leave with him. That gorgeous creature did catch you when you passed out, though. He carried you out for us, and held you until we got a cab. Hey, Anne, wasn't that cabby the most asexual person you've ever seen? He's male but he's just so gorgeous and lovely. Oh, don't tell me to shut-Ow! My head-up."

She listened for a while until Lauren could talk clearly again.

"All us girls brought you home, C. Just us. Not him. Left him standing all sad-eyed and gorgeous on the curb. We drove off and he disappeared back into the club, I guess. You, well, we, well, you was, um, were too drunk to go with him and you were awake. Kinda. But kept mumbling gibberish."

"Like what? What was I saying?" she asked.

"Something about, maybe, 'Come with ushshsh.'? Or that's the way you said it. So whatever you were thinking 'bout or dreaming, your secret's safe. He didn't come with us. Ah, just thinking about that hottie... all pure man, that one, and the possibilities of his cock makes me wet."

"And me?"

"Least you were kind of walking, stumbling when we got back. You're heavier than you look, d'you know that? We just dropped you on your bed and locked the door on our way out. Then we went home ourselves."

"Why'd you trash my clothes? And where was my underwear! And why am I sore all over?"

These questions were followed by a long pause on the other end of the line. A snort came through, as if Lauren had dozed off in mid-consideration.

"Go back to bed, Cassie. You're still talking gibberish and my damn head hurts. My brain hurts. I have no idea where my panties are, honestly, let alone yours. See you in class tomorrow. Bye."

The line went dead before she could say anything in return.

Terribly confused and scared, Cassie checked the door and found it still locked like Lauren said. Her keys were inside with her. She calmed down a bit.

Okay, that was logical and matched what Lauren had said.

She must've missed something, some small clue. So she examined her clothes and her body in the mirror again, and stretched her body to find all marks that she could. There were bruises. If she hadn't been... she couldn't even say it. What really happened to her? Why was she bruised all over? Were they all so drunk that they might have dragged her from the cab towards the elevator and possibly banged her up like these? Or maybe the elevator wasn't working and they dragged her up the stairs?

It did not explain her womanhood hurting.

She took a deep breath. "Ahhh! Cassie Shea Watsen, you cannot hold your liquor." She pointed to herself in the mirror. "I do not know you, girl."

She blinked sleepily. Maybe she was mistaken? Maybe something could explain this, but she just couldn't get it right now. No, she wasn't... no of course not. She blinked again, and looked back at the mirror.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed.

Her mirror was gone. Her reflection was gone.

Instead, the mirror frame gaped like a doorway into a dark, putrid smelling cave. The doorway's framing breathed as if about to bow out and explode open.

Then her glimpse into Hell was gone.

The mirror was back with her own frightened, wide-eyed image. But her heart raced like hell.

### Chapter Four

SHE FROZE like an animal too frightened to run but panting like she had been running for a long time. Finally, she shook her head and decided she was still feeling the after-effects of her drunken stupor.

What could've been in that 'Cleveland' drink? she thought a bit. You did mix drinks, Stupid Girl. What you were drinking, tasting everyone else's drinks, and whatever his 'magic' drink was.

What if she had caused her bewildering state of undress? What if she had been so drunk and so horny that she ripped her clothes up and did everything else? She had never... but what other explanation could there be? She certainly remembered how she pined for her dace partner. She certainly remembered feeling lust so strong she would have let him fuck her if there had been a chance for them to find a place somewhere where they could be alone.

Later, she washed down a few analgesic pills with a lot of water. She was really thirsty. Then she peeled off what was left of her clothes, dumped them into the dirty laundry, and took a long, hot shower to get cleaned. She followed it up by a long hot soak in the tub to reach those parts of her too sore and unreachable by the shower.

The comforting heat of the water washed away her fears. Dry, relaxed and bundled in her thick, fluffy robe, she prepared a light meal and watched TV with the sound down low as she ate. It was something to take her mind off the throbbing headache brought about by her hangover. The pain pills, water and food weren't helping dim the rhythmic pain as much as they advertised.

Without noticing though, she got back to being impatient and dissatisfied, half forgetting her meal as she flicked through channels, never staying on one for more than a couple of minutes.

She finally finished her meal without tasting it because her mind kept wandering to her friends, to the club last night, and to the gorgeous man rubbing his hard, hot body against hers.

God, he'd felt good. Smelled unbelievably good. Better than chocolate and more addicting. And he had such promise for being good naughty. I'd like naughty sex. Hell, I'd like any kind of sex with him!

Cassie pressed her knees together as her uncontained thoughts of him started to make her cunt wet and throb that it ached. She remembered grinding her ass and crotch against his hardened manhood through his jeans. It was maddening, how wild and wanton she had been with him last night.

She sighed. You cannot hold your liquor, OR your hangover, sister.

Later again, she grabbed a thick and heavy class book to study and get her mind distracted. She took care and had a reasonable pride in her ability to stay focused and precised whenever she was studying. And anyway, she really wasn't the kind of girl who fantasized too much. She suffered only the occasional day dreams and her feet always reached back for solid earth. It resulted into high grades and honors when she graduated.

That's why her parents hadn't minded footing the bill for her to come here and study in a better, more expensive school. They had been glad when a great apartment had come available. She wouldn't be in a dorm with all those "possible negative influences."

"Only one more week, Cassie dear. If you don't get a good, safe apartment in one more week, you're coming straight back home."

But she soon realized that even studying wasn't working. Her focus kept unraveling and slipping into all the wrong places. She was thinking of the hunk again when she caught herself staring at the book and not reading.

"He was hot... but not that hot. Was he?" she asked the room.

No one answered, of course, but her body reacted and started to throb and ache again when she thought how it would have been like had she brought him here and they fucked each other like crazy all night long.

She would have felt like this in the morning, she conceded, if that really had happened.

But it did not happen, according to Lauren. And her friend had no reason to lie about something like that.

Her textbook slipped from her fingers and clunked unto to the floor, pages bent, when she suddenly realized that her cunt felt exactly like she'd had a big man with a big cock fucking her all night. That hunk had felt big against her. And he'd felt really strong and athletic.

"Ahh, you're stupid, Cassie. How could you accuse the man if you can't even remember anything? He never could get in without a key."

Something still kept bothering her and she tried to focus on what it was. But it kept slipping away when it felt like she was getting a grasp on it.

I am tired. I am so fucking exhausted. Perk up, already.

She stood up and washed the dish she had been eating from, took another quick shower just to wash off any lingering thought of icky things, and put on a lightweight, oversized shirt. She meant to fully dry her hair but her hair dryer's whining loudness hurt her head. She took two more aspirins and decided to let her hair dry on its own.

Okay, Cassie. Stop fighting it. You've partied too hard and just need to sleep the rest of the day. Hopefully, you won't wake till Monday morning, when you'll feel totally fine. Oh, alarm.

Good, responsible girl that she was, she made certain her alarm was set, just in case. Then she gently laid her head on the pillow.

About ten seconds later, she finally grasped that vague thought that kept getting away like a slithery snake. She kept thinking about it until she was half-asleep. Just before she completely dozed off, some slid into place, like a puzzle's missing pieces.

I may have been able to take off my blouse and even rip up and lose my panties. But, really, how strong could I get, even violent drunk, to rip a bra strap in two? Or ram my tits into a wall? Or masturbate so hard that it hurt to pee?

She shifted herself around the bed trying to get comfortable. Her sore tits were not happy. She drifted off and fell into an odd dream, must have been fed by her unresolved anxieties and questions. In her dream, she watched as her friends talked about her while she was passed out in her bed.

"Okay, she's good," Krystal said as the others moved to leave. "Let's lock the door. Oh, and leave the keys by the door so she can find it when she wakes up."

In the dream, her friends were leaving and locking her in. Her clothes were intact and in their proper place as she laid prone on the bed, not moving.

Then... he was just there-her dance partner. The gorgeous hunk with the magician's hands materialized before her. He came out of nowhere and he was just there, staring down at her with his warm, heavy lidded, sexy eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, even when it was him who was in her room. She was awake and looking up at him with eyes pleading in need.

She wanted to fall into those sad eyes of his. He looked like he was in pain. But he smiled.

"I am sorry, but I am glad. You are my reward, Beautiful. Give yourself to me. You want me, don't you?"

She wanted him, but she didn't move since she was still wondering how to ask how he'd gotten in.

"You resist me?"

No, no, I want you.

He smiled. "Oh... I know you do. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't summoned me, Beautiful."

Then he bent and he started to kiss her. She immediately kissed him back, and the kiss turned into something hungry and alive and fiery. His hands were both rough and tender as he explored her, as he did away with her clothes in wanting to reach her skin. She, too, tried to tear his clothes off of him. She wanted to feel him. She wanted his naked skin against her naked skin. She wanted to burn for him.

I need you... I want you...

"Yes, Beautiful?" He'd answered as if he'd heard her mind speak. But he soon paid no heed to her because he was suckling on her tits, pulling at them gently but firmly with his teeth and devouring them.

Ow! There! She'd found her voice. No. That had been a shout in her head. She had no voice. Ow. It hurts... she whimpered.

"The pain will become pleasure, Beautiful," he stated, roughly parting her thighs with his own hard thighs.

There was a wrenching noise as he tore at her bra, and another smaller ripping sound as he yanked her panties off of her body, exposing her sex. He lowered herself and she felt her ass leave the bed as he lifted her lower torso and glued his mouth on her cunt.

Ahhh... ahhhhhh!

He kissed her there like he was French kissing her mouth, his tongue flicking at her clit like it was her tongue and slipping inside her folds like they were her lips. She shivered and trembled and shook with pleasure! She had never been subjected to such expert manhandling. He continued to draw on her clit, slipping it between his teeth and sucking that she found herself screaming, though it was all inside her head.

She imploded. Or exploded. Whatever... it was a full-blown orgasm and it threw her into an ocean of heat wave that did not release her until he was done. And then he rose, fully-naked, and he came back to her, and she could feel his meat nudging at her soaked opening as she groggily came back to earth.

What the fuck... how could you... it was so... I have never...

I can do more, he promised. And she realized... he just talked to her without speaking!

And then he pierced her. She cried, startled, at his hugeness. She was already wet, so wet from her juices and his saliva, but it was still an excruciating, wedging fullness.

Ahh! No. You're too...

It had been a long time since her last boyfriend, and he had not been as big as the meat that she felt wedged inside her sex right then. She felt like she would burst.

She struggled against him, or thought she did. This magician was too much. He held her to him like he had more than two hands, strong hands like vices, and she wiggled and pushed away from the pain. But for some reason, he started to become lesser... like he was getting smaller, yet still very hard. She thought that couldn't be possible the pain was making her think crazy things. But it was true, he has lessened that the pain melted into manageable discomfort. She opened her eyes and he was looking at her, his eyes inquiring.

"Better?"

In answer, she pulled him closer, reveling in the pain and sensation, like she wanted him more than she feared the pain. Then he moved, and the pain mingled into something so good that she was moaning hard and long inside her head. He began to earnestly fuck her, full and hard and getting faster. His urgency was so intense that he never let up, even for a moment, even as she came again, and again, and she cannot stop cumming.

This really must be a dream because that was just impossible, to have a hundred orgasm in just one fucking session?! But he moved like a whip, and she was burning, and she was still cumming. He was consuming her, eating her up like he was fire and she was dry leaves.

Yes. Yes. Yes, Beautiful. Cum for me. Cum! We'll be here all night... you will keep me alive...

And she came, and she came, and she came until it was dawn and she had nothing more to give...

### Chapter Five

THERE WAS LIGHT everywhere and Cassie felt great.

She was soaking up the sun in a beach chair facing the sea with a pineapple fruit shake in one hand. Everything felt calm and she made a mental note that she deserved this; a reward for all her hard work about... something.

She shook her head. She could not remember what. But it had been hard work and it had depleted all that she has. She had to take all the sun that she could get. She needed the sun so much, but she couldn't explain why.

She saw people working on banana boats, playful people dangling from parachutes being hauled by speed boats. But most of all, she saw gorgeous Paulo the Latino, or maybe a Greek transplant hottie from the hotel she was staying. She'd hired him for a full-body massage-the Complete Paulo Package.

Cassie hadn't made that up. That was the ad. Clearly it was meant to be suggestive. She hoped to find out if Paulo's package was really "complete" as it promised.

Initially, she'd just wanted a regular massage. But after seeing him, she thought he looked vaguely familiar. From school, a store, a club...? She dimly remembered cushy sofas she'd bounced on. But, Paulo, here and now, smiled at her, his eyes bright and happy, his smile to die for, and she stopped trying to remember.

What happened to his sad eyes?

She didn't know where that thought came from. She felt surprised for a moment, but then it suddenly did not matter because Cassie felt positively lascivious as she gazed at his smiling, handsome face. She wondered if she could get him to go back to her room with her and lock herself in with him and fuck him till he begged for more.

His sweet, angel-like smile made her sigh. His lips were almost femininely sensual. He kept combing his hair back against the breeze with his wicked fingers. He was a wonderful masseur but she still felt "tense"-but not from tired or cramped muscles. At least not "cramped muscles" in her limbs or back.

Paulo had just finished her... well, finished massaging her back and the backs of her thighs and legs. Now she'd flipped over to lay on her back and he was just massaging down her thighs. Cassie tensed her muscles on purpose, to make him knead the muscles longer. Naughty, naughty Cassie.

"You're so tight, senora."

You have no idea. Damn it. Now, she worried that she might explode.

"Relax, Senora Cassie. Give in to me."

She relaxed, but that delicious "tension" he generated in her was still there, deep between them. He was now kneading down her lower leg. He touched a particularly sensitive cluster of nerves that made her core nearly burst.

Cassie stifled a moan -- or a giggle. She wanted to do both. She saw him glance furtively at her through his thick, long lashes, probably to check if she were watching him. Of course she was, but she had on her super dark sunglasses. Paulo's powerful muscles flexed divinely in his tight shirt and his beautiful hands were... magic. She looked downwards and she almost grinned.

Is that a substantial hard on for me, Paulo, dear?

Cassie's intense, shielded stare and the naughty things brewing in her mind had her breathing in tune with Paulo's. Finally, she couldn't control a low moan from escaping her lips. She hadn't noticed it. All she knew were the ticklish feelings every time he touched pretty much any part of her. They were shooting up tender nerve endings from his fingertips, though her, straight to her. She did not know if he intended this, but by this time she did not care.

Magic fingers, sexy-fingered Paulo. You might as well just take those delicious fingers and poke 'em right in my cunt.

She closed her eyes and savored every sensuous moment of her limited time with him. Time was passing, the clouds slipping by overhead signaled so.

She knew that she might get carried away and someone might hear, although she truly felt no one else was in the beach but her and gorgeous, dark Paulo. But she knew she was wrong. The beach had people enjoying the sand and the water before she focused her eyes at Paulo. She tried to control herself and stifle her moans to a sigh.

He looked at her, not boldly, like you'd think a hot guy like he was would look at a woman or a massage client. He gazed up at her shyly, under his lashes, again, with those remarkable eyes of his. And the sun came out again, chasing the clouds away.

"How are you feeling, Senora Cassie?"

She nodded, unable to talk. Everywhere his hands landed and his fingertips touched her was pure heaven. She also felt the sun's heat, the pressure and warmth of Paulo's strong hands, the scent of coconut oil, and the breeze that ruffled his hair and tickled her softly against her cheek. Without thinking, she slid her hands over the plastic and metal edges of the beach chair, gripping so hard her knuckles paled.

I swear I'm going to get as tense and drawn tight as a bow and spill all over....

Their world darkened again, the warmth of the sun slowly dissipated and a cooling breeze took its place. Each time the breeze hit her she felt cooler and cooler.

Then colder. It was like an iceman were blowing his frigid breath on her, making her nipples stand more erect with the chill that crept up her skin. But Paulo's hands only burned hotter, and so did her body. She imagined her nipples poking so hard they'd cut two revealing holes in her bikini top. Would he like seeing that result from all his industrious work?.

Paulo's two hands kept kneading her, warming her against the very cold breeze. The rest of the world fell away. His hands were making her needy, until they slid down her shins to her sensitive ankles.

She frowned behind her glasses, eyes still closed, as she realized she felt him using his entire hands now, not individual fingers together, almost like he wore fleshy mittens. Huh. It felt so good, though, that she didn't want to burst the bubble by looking. She just wanted to enjoy. She wanted to purr, while wondering how he could make his hands feel like that, firm but almost boneless. It was as if she felt a gentle, rolling motion of something fleshy and muscled, almost like a hand-sized tongue on the delicate inner sides of her shins all the way up her thighs and into her center as she parted her knees for him.

Damn. He's not pretending now. This isn't playing anymore. God, it felt so good..!

She moaned again as he teased her by massaging away down there.

"Paulo, you are magnificent. Again, please."

She really shouldn't ask it of him or encourage him. She didn't want him to lose his job, or to stop. But, really, this man's exquisite skill, and that tongue-like maneuver, made her feel so damn good, heightening her libido and cranking it way higher. The delicious rolling motion continued between her thighs-seductively, slowly, again and again. Each part of her body was tensing and aching in answer. It felt so good that she stayed that way, tense and resisting.

Can I cum, just from a massage? Mmmm. With him fuck-massaging me like this? Mm-mmm...

Cassie knew if she let her muscles relax in any way into the massage, she would involuntary shiver and moan, and that would give away what was really happening to her. But she was so damn close. She didn't want anyone stopping them. She didn't want him stopping.

His magic-filled hands gripped hers, making her hands release their taut grip on the edge of her beach chair. She welcomed the shift, knowing her hands were next to be touched. She was pretty certain that she really would come just from glorious Paulo's massage.

What the hell?!

Like a freak lightning storm, it hit her. A pair of hands was grabbing her wrists, but her inner thighs were still being firmly held and massaged by another pair of hands!

Cassie's eyes flew wide open to utter darkness. She was completely lost right away, not knowing where she was, certainly no longer feeling like she was by the water, under the sun and getting a massage any longer.

Everything was suddenly... intensely, dark. Her heart pounded and she didn't notice one of the hands releasing her wrist, allowing her to rip off her sunglasses.

Yeah. The sun was gone. The beach -- gone. Ocean \-- gone. The darkness was like a dense blanket upon her. Like being immersed in Indian ink.

"Where am I?"

A hand seized upon her freed wrist, imprisoning her. When she tried to pull and squirm free, she couldn't. Cassie tried to control the fright but it was like a pack of startled birds within her.

"Wh-What's going on, Paulo? Paulo?" she demanded.

Then she realized -- she wasn't awake. She was still dreaming. And she was still with the man from the club of lust. She cocked an ear to hear Paulo answer. Nothing. Although the warm rolling, tongue-like massage still touching between her thighs continued quite aroused. Her eyes frantically searched the dense darkness.

Finally, a little bit of light revealed the dim outline of the silhouetted person in front of her. She was about to utter words of protest or a demand for information, but there was only one man in front of here so she calmed down a bit. It could only be Paulo.

Right? That was logical.

With two pairs of hands?!

She opened her eyes wider in the solid dark to adapt more quickly to the radical change in the surroundings. She finally got a good look at the "person" who was caressing her so intimately.

Fuck! This wasn't good. It wasn't a clear picture, but it certainly wasn't Paulo!

And a clear, whispering realization flashed as a feeling first in her mind. Her dream was continuing... and she was still getting fucked. It truly never stopped.

And then she was cumming... cumming again!

### Chapter Six

CASSIE SCREAMED!

Or she thought she was screaming because her throat felt like she was screaming full out. Even the tenseness in her neck muscles told her she was. But there was no sound coming out of her mouth! None whatsoever assaulted her eardrums.

When the orgasm died down, she struggled against the strong hands, all four of them from one man -- god, her dream was becoming a nightmare! -- and tried fighting against him. But her arms and legs were firmly pinned.

The only way she could move was by using her full weight to try to flip and launch herself to the side using her torso and hips. And she was making some headway, until a third pair of hands appeared before her, then gripped and pinned her shoulders back.

There was still no one else with her but Paulo. But this wasn't sweet, handsome Paulo. The figure in front of her was wrong. It still gripped her ankles, her wrists, and her shoulders. Without releasing them, he now stood up to his full height.

Terror's sickening grip seized Cassie. She fell silent and motionless, entirely petrified where she was. The logic was wrong, the common physics of it were off. What she was seeing was wrong, even if it were all inside a dream. If the many pairs of strong hands restraining her had gently let her go, she would still be frozen.

Tears streamed down her face involuntarily. Her body shook on its own, trembling out of control. She wanted to plead for mercy but her tongue wouldn't obey. She'd lost her voice to fear.

This wasn't Paulo.

This wasn't human.

When the figure had gotten up from its knees, its many hands had never left her shoulders or wrists or ankles. Even with the minimal light she could see that it was hunched and not fully standing straight, but it was towering high above her, taller than any man she'd ever heard of or seen.

A big and fleshy thickness touched the goose-fleshed, chilled skin of her stiffened legs. It touched and tasted the tender, defenseless insides of her nude thighs. The "tongue" felt heavy, like a great python slithering over her bare skin.

She flinched when another one touched her. It slowly snaked and crept over her thinly-clothed body. The first "tongue" inched its way up from her shins over the tops of her thighs, then made a more direct route between her thighs.

Cassie's mind was locked in. She wanted to both freeze in place and run away and of course couldn't accomplish either. She felt one of the snaky tongues graze too closely to her tightening vagina, her thin bikini no protection, as it continued slithering heavily over her belly.

And in spite of it all, her body started humming again. Her breathing came in quick gasps as she tried to fight the next orgasm while both things heavily slither over her skin and encircled her tits, displacing the thin fabric with their weight and friction, while twisting and slithering around her nipples. The things were sliding back and forth, back and forth, and around and around upon her, and she moaned against her will because it felt good, before finally gliding upward to her neck.

Cassie strained her neck to keep her head away from them. But the two slithering things found her throat and wound around her outstretched throat with a whispering, scaly rasp.

Cassie's quick gasping stopped because she couldn't breathe! She tried to gasp but nothing came and she panicked and shook, ineffectually fighting against the huge, multi-limbed silhouetted creature still shrouded in darkness. Her body was going limp, as it was burning up the last of the oxygen in her lungs and blood.

The entire time, her mouth gaped open in vain, her tongue bulging forth. Cassie stared at two glistening black pools, the murky creature's eyes staring back at her.

Is this how I die? In terror while I never stopped cumming? Is there such a nightmare like this? I don't understand this. If this is a nightmare, WAKE UP!

As the heavy darkness folded tighter around her, another heavy slithering thing took a firm position between her legs, completely filling the space between her thighs. The thing pushed against her thin bikini bottoms. Her mouth opened wider.

Oh my God, I am cumming again... oh my God... ahhhhhh!

It passed. Sweat trickled down her brow and her neck was slippery with it. And yet, as the thing worked, she could feel herself cumming again.

Oh no... how can I survive this? Okay, yeah. This is how I die.

She wished she could see his face at least, not this thick, inky darkness. Paulo.

As tears slid from her eyes, Cassie lost consciousness. She did not even had time to be grateful for it. Everything just... stopped.

CASSIE AWOKE shaking violently, and whimpering.

Her mind was able to function just enough around the fear to register that the foot of her bed had creaked. The entire bed jolted upwards abruptly, as if an exceptionally weighty object had just fallen from it, and landed without any noise upon the floor.

She tried very hard to not breathe so loudly that she couldn't hear what might be in the darkness of her own bedroom. She forced herself to stop shaking from a nightmare that was so vivid but was quickly sliding away into nothingness, replaced by her instincts screaming about a possible nearby danger. She couldn't move, and her limbs felt so heavy that the lamp felt miles away.

There was a dense intensity in the black, as if something were near and heavy, like too much humidity hanging in the air or when someone leans over close to you in a dark room. You can feel their presence, even if you could not quite feel them.

And though she couldn't fully explain what she was sensing, all the hair in her body stood on end. Why wasn't any light coming in from the moon outside her window, or from the street lights, or the security lights off the side of her building? She strained her ears, too, to catch any sound. She heard nothing \-- not the thrum of the air conditioner or street traffic or night insects. She heard nothing but her own heart hammering furiously against her ribs, as if it wanted to break out and escape.

The darkness wasn't helping her calm down. Within it, her eyes played tricks on her, creating images out of thin air and black ink, like darkness folding or reshaping itself; images that appeared substantially real to her frightened mind, and felt tangibly alive to her inner terrified animal.

A chilly breeze touched her exposed body, like from a doorway briefly opened then closed. And though it was just a momentary occurrence, the sudden chill it brought was enough to startle her. Cold breath blew on the naked inner skin of her thighs.

Cassie bolted from the middle of her bed and scurried to the upper far corner where the headboard met the wall. And then... there was light everywhere! It suddenly exposed the furniture now; as if whatever had sucked up or blocked it before had finally left.

But where? How? Did she just woke up now and the darkness was part of the dream... the nightmare... that she couldn't suddenly seem to remember, too? Like it left with whatever nastiness she had felt when it was still dark... or when she was still dreaming?

Nothing was moving or lurking. Just her normal inanimate things still lying where she'd last laid them. She took comfort in the solidness of the walls, and she slowly felt much calmer, secure with her back pressed tightly against her apartment walls' reliable solidity. But, like the breeze, her comfort was fleeting, as she noticed the cold of the wall at her back.

Her back was bare!

Her fear escalated once again. Her gaze darted about the dark, but could see nothing. This wasn't the first time she'd slept in an oversized shirt, but it was the first time she'd ever awoken without it, without knowing when she'd removed it. Even during a really hot night.

And it wasn't a hot night. Not tonight.

She eased down and knocked the little bed lamp over, reaching for it from this angle. But the room did fill with shadowed light, despite the lamp being askew. Cassie stared around her again, upon her bed, the bare floor covered by the hideous, heritage rug that alone was probably giving her nightmares. She kicked at her covers, as if she believed a rat might be within. Then she fell upon them, casting them in all directions, like she'd desperately lost something.

But Cassie found no oversized, sleeping shirt. That was enough to send Cassie into a full-fledged, screaming panic.

A screeching sound caught her attention -- the sound of a car driving away fast along the street nearest her apartment. It stirred her, such a normal sound that it gave her courage. She hugged herself as she tried to collect herself back together.

Before she lost her resolve, she immediately jumped out of bed and ran for the door to find the light switch. The room was immediately flooded with brighter light. The abrupt change from shadows to bright, safe light caused her to shut her eyes to shield them from the sudden illumination.

She shifted her weight, feeling something underfoot, and she stared down at it.

It was the sleeve of her sleep tee. Just the sleeve, torn ragged.

She stood glued to the spot by the door, under the bright light, not picking up the thing beneath her foot as she fought to analyze the situation.

Look for the logic. It has to be here somewhere.

She needed to make sense of it. She had never been a sleepwalker. Even when she was drunk, she never wandered off or do something she could not explain later when she woke up.

Cassie screwed up her face and attempted to recall if she'd gotten up to pee. Maybe, once coming out of her bathroom she had discarded her shirt altogether before slumping back into bed. She didn't recall that, but it was the only explanation. She walked to the bathroom and back, twice. Even cautiously got on hands and knees and checked under her bed. Nothing.

Where was the rest of her shirt?! Why would she tear it apart? She certainly didn't eat it. Although, she did check to see if she felt, well, full. She didn't.

Cassie started to laugh, but then she saw something far more unsettling.

The foot of her bed bore a deep, large indentation that should have been gone, after all the time she'd spent cowering in the corner. It was as if someone-or something-had been in here.

Whatever that was, it must be heavy as a tank.

### Chapter Seven

MONDAY. A.M.

Cassie was not able to sleep after that. She managed to get back to bed, but she didn't turn the lights off until the sun rose outside. While she sat, she stared at everything with her darting eyes. She saw nothing, becoming startled by every little sound she heard, whether a chirping bird in the dark of early morning or distant car doors slamming as other people came home from their night shifts or left to start their day.

When the sun finally poked through the blinds of her bedroom windows, Cassie finally stood up, shook her head clear, still not knowing what to make of the entire night. They had a few extra credit sessions on human logic versus instinct, human reason versus fear back in honors class in high school. Her arguments for the superiority of human logic and reasoning over baser, thoughtless animal instincts, superstitions, and fear, had gotten her excellent class points and grades, and an award certificate.

She recalled that it was possible to control life through reason, by simple clear logic in the bright of day. However, once she sighed in relief and fully relaxed into the day, was when something became obvious.

"Ow! Ow." Soreness! Her entire body felt sore. Again.

She moved each arm, each leg, bending every joint and bent her frame from the waist -- every part was sore. Even her wrists hurt. There were subtle hints of bruising on both. She didn't know what to make of that and decided to dismiss it. After all, the bruising was faint, although painful.

She started to walk to her small kitchen. "Ow!" Her ankles felt sore, too.

Self-preservation triggers came again, and hair stood all over her body. Suddenly, there seemed like something was within the silence, weighing on her. She scurried to her small couch, then sat and pulled her feet up to take a closer look at her ankles.

They were there, the same subtle bruises around her wrists, like large hands had held them tight.

No.

The vivid nightmare of last night flooded back into her thoughts, and it overwhelmed her. The intense panic she'd felt before came rushing back.

She remembered seeing something in the thick darkness.

Although Cassie was now wide awake, sitting on her own couch in a large urban city near her chosen university, she shivered, unable to stop remembering something -- the slithering feel of things crawling all over her body. She suddenly knew that little memory came from her forgotten nightmare.

A nauseated feeling whispered within her.

What kind of dream was it? What nightmare, no matter how fearful, leaves marks on the dreamer's flesh?

Cassie suddenly felt very naked and all too vulnerable. But she couldn't fight fear if she could not find explanation for it. She had to be brave. She stood in front of her full-length mirror and observed all that she could see. Like with her wrists and ankles, there was a subtle bruising and sore spots around her neck, as well.

And her breasts were tender and sensitive to the touch overall; except for her nipples and areolas and the surrounding flesh, where all normal sensations were numbed and noticeably flushed with bruising, as if she had enormous hickeys! She did not!

"Breathe, Cassie. Breathe. Just breathe, girl. Calmly. Deeply. Breathe."

She scrutinized her tits more closely and noticed that, even without stimulation, her nipples were standing intensely erect and that her areolas and the area around her areolas protruded, as if they'd been sucked or pinched hard for a long time.

The thought of which made her cunt ache in reciprocation, and she frowned at the feeling; she didn't want to feel that, not now. Not yet. She need more sun. She felt too exhausted, too drained... what?

What? What happened? Where did those thoughts came from? Why the sun? Why did I feel exhausted again ...?

Another memory that sneaked from her nightmare.

Cassie's gaze darted here and there about her apartment. She needed to get out. Now. She needed to be anywhere but here. Taking a quick shower and sliding into a loose and soft turtleneck sweater and jeans to hide the bruises on her neck and wrists, Cassie nearly ran all the way to school and classes, postponing any possible hope she didn't really have of finding solid answers to her questions.

She didn't really feel as certain that she would find answers. It was something that had never happened to her... until now.

"C? DID YOU drunk dial me Shunday?" Lauren mumbled with a slur soon as Cassie slumped down the corridor to her first early-morning class. Anne stumbled into Cassie's blurry-eyed view to lean against her roomie.

"Yeah. She did. Though I didn't actually hear her. You talked to her, L, so there is a slim possibility that someone dialed the wrong number and you, my hung-over roomie, only thought it was Cassie."

"Do you even really remember me saying Cassie called?" Lauren asked as she squinted with out-of-focus eyes at Anne.

"Not really, no. It was hard to hear you from down the hall and down on the floor."

Cassie stared at Anne with a quizzical look and her friend explained further.

"Couldn't walk, most of Sunday. Cleared up late last night. Spent the whole day on all fours. Bathroom. Kitchen. Bathroom, again, quickly. Amazing stuff they serve in that club."

Krystal crept over to their little group. "Wow, you guys look like you got run over by the same freight truck that did me wrong. What's wrong, Cassie? You okay?"

"Just a migraine."

"You and me both."

It happened to them, too. Ahh, that couldn't just be coincidence. It could be that drink, as Anne had said. Maybe they also had the same nightmares I did, and couldn't remember, like I had. That's the logic. It must just be the drink.

Feeling suddenly alright, she walked with them. Actually, they all stumbled into their early Monday class.

CLASS AFTER class came and ended, one after another, yet Cassie couldn't make sense of any of it. Her mind was a complete, blurry muddle and her fears lingered with her.

Even in class she saw ghastly forms, like loose autumn leaves flitting by in the wind, the grisly forms were everywhere and nowhere. They were outside her class windows, in the faux wood patterns of her desktops, in the gnarled bark of trees, and in the writhing clouds high above. They were like malevolent angels or winged monsters stealing upon her to have a glimpse and hide before she could fully focus her own gaze upon them.

Cassie even saw them when she tightly closed her eyes. She was now worn out and slumped outside of her first afternoon class, her back against a solid stone wall, as her elderly but jovial college adviser rounded the corner and spotted her.

"Is something wrong with your eyes, Ms. Watsen?" he said formally. He was teasing, really, since he was a man about whom nothing was formal.

"No, Harold. I'm just really tired. I didn't get enough sleep. Slept... badly."

"Well, you're in college now, Cassie. You're mother's not here to hold your hand and soothe your brow. Don't hurry yourself to slaughter. Take measured steps. There are a lot more parties, dinner parties, weddings, and other opportunities of debauchery that you can go to for the rest of your life. Don't try and do it all in these first few weeks of adult freedom in school." He playfully squinted at her squinting at him. "Eye drops will help, I find. And, my door is always open. It's the one that says Dr. Harold Fink. It's written in Braille, too. If it comes to that."

He waited for her acknowledgement and smile, which she gave because she couldn't help not liking the kind man, and then he left her. Krystal quietly leaned against the wall beside her, telling about her Sunday, as Lauren and Anne walked up.

"Once I'd loaded up on aspirin, lots of water and soft pillows, I slept through until this morning. That was the biggest hangover I've had in a while. Well, ever, really. They must make those drinks extra potent. That's probably why you can't see straight today."

"Yeah," Cassie giggled, softly.

They all joined in but, in a peculiar way, their laughter soon grated on Cassie's nerves. It even made her cunt hurt. So she stopped laughing with them, and also stopped really acknowledging them at all and went to her next class sooner than necessary, because she knew they weren't in it.

It was like that all day, like all vital energy had been squashed or sucked right out of her. Like most people feel when they broke up with someone special, and didn't know what to do-didn't have the energy for anything else anyway.

Her feelings didn't make sense. She liked her new friends, but not today. She just couldn't connect with them or bear their whining about their discomfort.

Cassie's limp attitude was noticed by her friends but they left her alone, thinking it was just a problem she wanted to deal with alone. Or that she still had a ghost of her hangover or she had that and her menstrual period arriving, too.

Hell, they were all dragging still, too, so no one was all that curious.

It was a long day for them all. Plus, her body remained sore. The bright and busy day was too brief, as well. The shadows were already lengthening and spreading to everything, making Cassie's fears grow.

Her heart raced with the realization that she was going back to her apartment soon, the same one she'd been so ecstatic to move into just days ago.

Either way, she didn't have to say goodbye to any of her friends, since her last class was with a totally different group of people. She dawdled after class with them until they cheerily said "goodnight" and left for home or dorm. Then Cassie loitered about on campus, at the Commons, unwilling to go home, as the day darkened into night.

Without direction, Cassie finally walked off the school grounds with no plans of going back to her apartment. She let her feet take her away from school, as buildings were locked and others went into dorms or wherever their lives led. She headed in the other direction, away from her new home.

Then she found herself in one of the coffee shops near where she lived anyway.

### Chapter Eight

"DAMN," she cursed under her breath. Exasperated, she ordered espresso and chocolate crinkles -- the first bite to eat she'd had all day.

With no friends to distract her or class notes to take, Cassie sat down in the corner facing the door with her back against a solid wall and the entire room visible to her view. She again tried to make sense of how she could get such bruises as the ones on her body, and pain like in her nipples and other parts, while totally alone and asleep.

"Maybe you're possessed," she quietly whispered to herself, then shuddered.

She also steered her thoughts away from her dream that she knew in her gut was actually a nightmare though she did not remember what happened in it. Slumping, she picked at the sugary crinkles and crushed one into dust as she obsessed over the dream that had turned on her. It was too much of a coincidence that the bruises had appeared in exact spots where she would be held if she had been fighting. What was scared was... was she fighting in her dream? And what was that feeling of dread, that inly darkness, that scary presence when she woke up? Was that also part of the dream?

And where the hell was the rest of her shirt?

She was still trying to analyze what happened to her on her second round of espresso and chocolate crinkles even though at the beginning, she wanted to forget them. She decided to find a logical -- medical -- explanation and signed onto her netbook to avidly search the internet.

By the end of her second cup of coffee, Cassie had believed she had a medical condition and decided that it would be best to get an appointment with a professional to find out for certain. Women sometimes exhibited a trait of being easily bruised when nearing their period. It was often a sign of anemia, too. Perhaps she was anemic and had grabbed her own arms... and ankles... and neck, in her dream and....

Okay. That explanation should be good, but it doesn't fit.

It didn't explain her shirt, how it disappeared except for the torn sleeve. And that indentation at the foot of her bed!

She shoved away her cup. Maybe she'd had too much caffeine, chocolate, and sugar and not enough protein. The coffee shop was closing so she had to leave. Cassie trudged back out into the lonely darkness, taking note of the cafe door being locked behind her, before slowly treading the path towards her apartment building.

THE NIGHT night felt thick. She felt its weight upon her.

You are just imagining things. There's nothing in your apartment to fear. Grow up, already. There's nothing in the proverbial closet or under the-

Someone blocked her view and pushed at her, making her trip and fall back on her ass.

"You voracious slut!"

It took a second or two to realize it was a man, then another to understand who it was.

Jimmy screamed down in her face, his eyes wild, rimmed with dark bags as if he'd not been sleeping. Oh, and his eyes were glazed with craze, too.

"You fucking slut! What have you done to him! Polluted him with your bright lust and your insatiable angel's cunt!"

Cassie's heart was pounding. What the hell was his problem? Who was he talking about?

From behind him, Karen appeared running around the building's exterior through the bushes and trees that landscaped it with a large flashlight.

"Hey-hey-hey! Jimmy! I've told you about that shit!" she shouted at him. Her appearance caught Elise's attention. Karen looked ragged and beat, her hair standing up every which way. Being the super of an apartment building with Jimmy and his "pipes-to-hell" was telling on her.

"You, too!" Jimmy shrieked at Karen. "You keep him from me! He protects me from THEM! But YOU'RE playing with him, DISTRACTING him, from ME!!!"

Then, he ran into the building, his mail left scattered in the entryway.

"Well, he's calmer today," Karen snarked in a sarcastic deadpan. "You okay, Cassie?"

Cassie stood and took a quick inventory. She had no injuries, not from the last few seconds, anyway.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's his problem, Karen? And who's this guy he's talking about?"

Karen shrugged. She looked like she was about to fall down on the lawn and sleep. "Not sure who he's talking about. He was gushing about -- oh, the day before you moved in -- about running into this 'amazing, hot, sexy guy' in the locker room at some gym or something. That they'd hit it off, right away. Guess Mr. Amazing Hot Sexy Guy is wandering off the path already and Jimmy's gone from feeling his oats to getting the full-on crazies joneses for his new man." She lapsed into silence a while, as if she'd forgotten something. "I think he thinks we're detaining his lover in our beds."

Cassie made a wry face but Karen was too tired to answer it with her own. "You do know he's crazy, right? Not to be judgmental or whatever."

"Preaching to the choir. You haven't seen a cat out here, have you? Ever since I moved here, my cat keeps hiding under furniture like she's hiding from stuff and, last night or two, she's high on top of other stuff, instead, like she's trying to see what's coming before it gets her. She darted out this morning, and I haven't seen her since.

"Then, again, maybe I wigged her out. I had some crazy wild sex the other week myself with my own amazing, hot, sexy guy. That man fucked me sore, in the best way. But, this week... I woke up the other night with the screaming meemies. And I don't drink or do drugs."

She glanced at Cassie with a look of embarrassment. Like she had not planned to say too much. Then she realized Cassie had no clue what she was saying.

"Screaming meemies. Nightmares. Been having these intense, super horrific nightmares, lately."

Cassie scrunched her face. "M-Me, too."

"Huh. Strange. Wonder if it's like that girls' menstruating-in-sync stuff, except it's nightmares."

"I-I wouldn't know. Do... Do you have any bruises?"

Cassie thought she saw Karen flinch, but then the woman shook her head. "Yes, but that's creepy. Impossible. Or..." She looked up at their residence. "Maybe, we've moved into one of the places like they have in horror movies and the place is eating our brains and doing... things... to our bodies," she teased.

Cassie's eyes went wide with surprise. She hoped Karen would do a stagey movie ghoul's laugh. What she had said was absurd. She didn't, thankfully, so Cassie said nothing, although she got an impression that Karen wanted her to say something. She'd already asked about the bruises and Karen had already said she'd had kind of rough sex, so bruising...

Cassie couldn't think more than that. Having two of them experiencing this was terrifying.

Then Karen sighed. "If you see a striped tiger cat, Cassie, grab her for me, if you can. She's been zipping about all spooked. God, I am so tired all the fucking time! I just want to sleep like a normal person again."

They both started in. But Karen paused with her foot on the step of the building's threshold to look up at their building again.

"Are... are you coming?" Cassie asked, hopeful that she'd have company part of the way in, especially if Jimmy was lurking in the halls somewhere.

Karen nervously shifted on her feet, almost like she might be considering running away. But that was a weird thought to think about your super. "Nooo. I-I'm gonna go for another cup of super-caffeinated coffee, I think, before I turn in."

Karen turned on her heel and walked away from the building she managed, as if her heels were on fire.

"But, the coffee shop's..." Cassie's sentence trailed off as Karen nearly ran out of sight of home.

She took a deep breath or two. Or three. Then she finally turned and stepped inside alone. Maybe she was ill because the halls seemed to be longer, more silent, and far emptier than she'd remembered. If she were ill, that'd put the difference in perspective. Even the elevator's quiet rattling and stomach-unsettling motion was wholly disturbing.

A sudden, dark movement in the hall out of the corner of her eye had her jumping, afraid it was Jimmy or one of the horrible things from her dream. But it was a striped cat frozen in place, watching her with its wide-eyed fixed stare, until it slunk away a few steps before darting out of sight.

### Chapter Nine

FINALLY, Cassie reached her door.

She quickly shoved her apartment door open, as if to startle a possible intruder, and her hand darted in to find the light switch.

CLICK!

Her entire apartment was bathed in bright light. Cassie's eyes darted to every corner and minutely swept every inch of the floor and wall and ceiling before she fully stepped inside and reluctantly shut the door behind her.

It felt like she was shutting herself within.

She swallowed hard. The air in here felt heavy, humid, thick with... something.

My imagination is running away from me again, she told herself. Stop it!

That did not stop her from straining her ears to check for anything. But nothing was out of the ordinary. She justified that the air felt heavy because the apartment had been closed all day, with the windows locked and the air conditioner off so the air inside had had no circulation.

It's just muggy humidity.

The phone suddenly rang. Cassie started at the sound, jumping clear off the ground like a frightened cat, her heart pounding. Then she laughed at herself.

"Calm down, stupid, it's just the phone. Ugh, stop ringing like that!" She grabbed up the receiver. "Hello!" she practically shouted.

A pregnant pause answered her query.

And then, "Cassie? It's Mom."

Cassie almost slumped to the floor in relief. And then she felt her eyes getting rapidly warm. It felt so great to hear her mom's voice!

"Hi, Mom! How are you?" She walked to the windows then unlocked and opened them. The gush of cool night air was refreshing and seemed to lighten up the place, giving Cassie some comfort and assurance. She shook her head and relaxed even more.

"I'm fine, baby. Missing my little girl, though."

"I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm grown up, remember."

"Well-"

"I know. I'll always be your little girl. Always."

Light, bubbly laughter warmed Cassie's heart through the phone. "Exactly, young lady. I'm so glad you're finally out of that transients' motel, though. How's your first apartment?"

Different parts of Cassie's inner person were screaming.

"Horrendous!"

"Haunted!"

"Terrifying!"

"It's... remarkable," she answered. That seemed a neutral statement from a grown woman on her own who wasn't going to cry to her mother at every mysterious creaky sound. Or nightmare. Even mega-nightmares she couldn't even remember. "I haven't been sleeping too well here, though," she ventured, not too childishly, she hoped.

"You've stayed in hotels with us and yeah, you have always been very listless when you are not sleeping in your own bed here. I guess you've never outgrown that, huh? But it will pass. You're just adjusting to grown-up life on your own." Her mother sounded wistful, and also like she was trying to convince herself to be calm and let her daughter be a full-fledged adult.

A part of Cassie wanted to sob in hysterics and asked them if they could come and get her right now? That it wasn't working out and she wanted to leave this place, board the bus, and just come back later for her stuff-with them.

But grownups should not bitch about being on their own when they had been bitching about wanting to grow up and be out on their own as soon as possible.

So they talked a little longer about classes and her new friends. She skipped the details of what happened-not that she fully knew what had happened-when she and her friends had gone out to their first classy nightclub together.

"No, I didn't drink much." Not much as the other girls, she was sure. But her mom did not know that, and she did not want her to worry. It wasn't' going to happen again. Not if she could help it. Especially since everything started since that night.

Again, could the drink be the culprit? Maybe, that magic man slid a powerful drug on it and she was suffering from withdrawal ever since?

She also didn't mention the "magic man" with his possibly too magical drinks to her mother because that might lead to her blurting, without anything to support her theory that, I think we've fucked, Mom, but I can't figure out how he could have gotten in and out of my place. And I'm sore, bruised, and am having a hard time pissing. She could not prove that. Or maybe she was just going crazy? "How's Dad?" she asked instead. And her mom transferred her to her father.

"Hey, Dad. Yeah, I don't stay out too late and I walk strong, not timid, like you taught me."

Before long, she'd said goodbye to Mom and Dad. They reminded Cassie to always have cab fare. Her Dad said that he didn't care what she said; he was going to buy her a new car to make certain she didn't ride with any oddballs on the bus, dangerous men with cars or motorcycles, or evil cabbies.

That made her smile. She knew her Daddy. He was serious.

After her call, she prepared a healthy meal and sat to eat it in front of her internet-linked TV monitor. There was a new episode of a show she liked that she'd wanted to see. But Cassie didn't absorb any of it. It proved to be a distraction, though, something to keep her from thinking about what lurked in the back of her mind. She was merely whiling the hours away until bedtime.

After the show, she did some homework. Then she decided she could not put off going to bed. All the lights were left on, no matter how bright.

She slipped into her pajamas, closed her bedroom door, and locked it behind her. Not that she had any concerns that someone might get in. Of course not. She laid down in her bed, pulled her blanket up to her chin, and tried to relax, to drift into sleep. She normally would do so within five-to-ten minutes, tops.

Not tonight.

The bedroom light was directly above her and despite her self-assurance, she was still terribly afraid. Could anyone come inside a locked door? It's hard to sleep when you're too afraid to even close your eyes, or that you're used to sleeping in a nearly pitch black room. But the lights were all on and it was so damn bright.

Cassie opted instead to place a pillow above her head to get a little relief from the relentless light shining into every corner of her room. It seemed better, instead of lying on her side or turning off the light altogether. This was just some adjustment her inner little kid had to go through, she assured herself. A night or two of this and she'd be fine.

But she tossed and turned and became more tensed. In fact, her body was more at full alert lying tensely curled up in her bed than she'd been all day on the street or in class. Her heart would not stop racing and her thoughts would not stop chasing her heart's racing beat.

So she took several slow and deep breaths. She opened her eyes wide. Maybe keeping her eyes open until they'd close on their own would work. She stared into the dimness under her pillow that was blocking the bright light. And, for a long time nothing happened.

Finally, as she stared at her fluffy pillow, her tension slipped, and dropped little by little.

Cassie began drifting through pleasant imaginary scenes and happy half-memories, as if escaping from her current plight of nameless fears. And, finally, without noticing it, Cassie slipped into the arms of sleep.

Her last thought after a glance at the time was: It's the Witching Hour somewhere.

The clock's mechanism made a slight swish, which she didn't hear, just as it struck three a.m.

### Chapter Ten

AACK! Aaack! Eeeewww!

She opened her eyes in a place that had no pleasure, no sun and fun. This place reeked of blood, both old and new, and of decaying flesh. Human flesh, she knew. There was no cold or even cool here.

Dim lightings shone... faint, reddish, and glowing, as if from distant, unseen flames bouncing off the irregularly shaped walls of the cave. Or an underground cavern?

Where the fuck is this? How'd I get here?

Lava, there is lava here, too, burned through her frantic thoughts when she saw the room lit with the scorching orange-red of lava, like living light somewhere near but out of direct sight. Hot sweat was already pouring from her body, trickling from her brow to chin, down her neck, from her armpits and from her very sides, and below.

It slid down her body from every pore, like salty tears.

Her sweat converged as if drawn together down to her toes before dripping off. The hot ground far below hissed and hungrily consumed every kiss of sweat it received. No visible source of white light was in this place. Only the faint, hellish red glows upon the misshapen walls.

No. She was wrong, she realized, as three hazy moving orbs of dark red with fiery bright accents which had been on the periphery of her vision before, now zoomed in and out of her line of sight.

"Aaaaarrrrggg," Cassie screamed as pain struck her body. And she remembered. As if she could truly forget such pain. "Stop! Please!" she pleaded.

How long have I been here? When did I get here? How is this happening again?

All she knew for a definite certainty was the pain-it grew sharper, hotter, and more painful. But, she didn't know why or how.

A mist of multiple grays she hadn't realized was surrounding her disappeared and reappeared without any apparent pattern until it eventually seemed to linger in front of her, gathering itself together into something more solid.

Not to be forgotten, the three fiery ruby orbs had brightened and now arranged themselves in a downward-pointing triangle to loom near her face. Her impression, between the moments of excruciating pain, was that the orbs were watching her.

No. Not again. Control it. Control-

She wretched again at the smell of putrid rotting flesh, and much of what she'd retched up -- chocolate sprinkles and other chunky stuff she didn't recall eating -- disgustingly slid down her nude body. The only saving grace was her sweat, which was so profuse, ran in torrents down her and rinsed it down and off.

Oddly, Cassie didn't actually recall that she had puked before, but somehow she knew she had vomited, again and again, for like the hundredth time.

How long could I've been here to do that, so many times? she wondered, her mind fuzzy with exhaustion, heat, and dehydration. How could I actually still vomit from an empty stomach?

What was it?! The fiery dark red orbs and the multi-layered grayness now abruptly formed a wraith-like figure with tentacled limbs before her. It spoke. To her. Its voice was painfully reverberating through her.

"Your reshishtansh ish foolishhh..." the tentacle wraith hissed, the sound slithered around painfully inside Cassie's cunt. "I willsh break you!"

Cassie thrashed, cutting and bruising her wrists. Her shoulders felt disjointed, completely snapped apart. It was like her arms and shoulders were no longer a part of her abused body. Her battered shoulders were tightly stretched beyond their limits as they took the heavy strain of supporting her entire physical frame from the cave's slick ceiling as she hung suspended, entirely exposed and naked, drenched in her own sweat.

Her head and body again resonated to the monstrous monster's mouthless voice."Shpare yourshelf, foolishhh girrrrl," it taunted. "Giiive yourshelf to me!"

Cassie could hear her ragged panting, also hearing in her head its "voice", piercing her mind with every syllable. She distinctly heard a slithery "ushhh" instead of "me."

"Giiive yourshelf-to ushhh!" the voice repeated.

Is... Is this a d-d-demon...?

Before her question could fully form in her mind, the mist rapidly lost its solid-like form, dispersing before it completely disappeared. The pointy, nail-like tips of its octopus-like, sucker tentacles the last thing that trailed out of her view. Even its three fiery red orbs disappeared, all in the blink of an eye. Her eyes darted about as best she could in her painful suspended position, trying to see if the monster, demon, or whatever it was reassembled to the side of her.

A sudden pain shot deep into the base of her spine, making her fingers and toes splay out in unbearable pain.

"Giiive yourshelf to meee!" the creature howled from behind her. Another wave of pain pierced through her and consumed her, from her shoulder blades to her tender ankles.

"N-N-Noooooooooo... never!" she managed to scream hoarsely, more from the fear of the worst thing she could never imagine happening to her if she gave in. If this was what she got from not giving it, what more when-

She flinched when she heard screams-other screams. A man and a woman, their hysterical screams in counterpoint, from either side of her, like some sadistic musical phrase. They weren't far away though Cassie couldn't see them. The place was so large and filled with utter darkness that she wasn't certain if they were even in the same cavern or just in adjoining cavern "rooms."

Both of them screamed again. "Aaaaiiiii-" And then their tortured voices were cut simultaneously, abruptly. It made her wonder not just who they were. Why they, like she, were here. But also, why had they both stopped screaming at the same damn time? To terrorize her further? As if this wasn't enough?

Cassie flinched again and shivered when the grey mist abruptly reassembled itself and reformed in front of her. She could feel its cold presence, its "body" taking up space. This time, its triangular dark ruby orbs were brighter and larger. Some sickening feeling inside her decided without any other reasoning that it's bigger and brighter because it has fed.

From the others, it's fed. That's why they're silent now.

The Wraith aggressively pulsed with dark hues of jeweled flames and blood in its ruby red eyes and multiple shades of gray form, as it undulated on its tentacles.

Not understanding clearly what it wanted increased her terror. It poured from her like her sweat, hot and relentless, exhausting her in the oppressive heat. The creature growled. And, finally, she understood what it meant. As if the meaning had been transmitted directly into her mind and flesh.

"Fuck," she muttered, then braced for more pain.

"Shtupid girl! We will break you, you will shurrender. You shhhall giiive yourshelllff to uuussh," the creature declared with utter conviction.

Us? How many...?! There. Are. More? If only one creature causes this much pain...!

Her eyes darted about as her vision filled with tears and sweat. She looked hard, but she saw nothing certain in the reddened, grayish and inky black shadows. Like the trapped animal she was, all her thoughts scampered wide and far from her, while her pain magnified tenfold, making her body tighten and bend taut as a bow with its demand. It was so painful that she could not scream. If she had, her ears were so numbed by her own raw shrieks and the demon's "voice" that she hadn't heard her own voice screaming.

The voice was frustrated with her and the creature's manic howling filled the cavern, filled her with such throbbing pain, like explosions of knives from different parts of her body, all at once, to center deep in her core. Not once did she ever bleed. Her sweat poured out in hot rivers down her body, dripping and sizzling to the ground, the steam rising back to her to make her boil all the more in the heat.

Cassie's vision dimmed and became small and pointless. She panted for each smothering breath as her body became dehydrated. Each breath was coming shorter and shorter, gasp after gasp, as wave upon wave of unbearable contraction of pain cut into her ability to stay awake.

But she did not succumb to the nightmare. For some reason, Cassie managed to fight the desire to surrender, as the beast said, and give herself to them. She somehow knew that whatever would come after her surrender would never be as worthy as what she would give up. But she could not know where she had find the strength to stay alive.

Until finally, miraculously, Cassie fainted away.

**~ ~ ~ ~**

**Read the next book by Lily Green:**

**If you like this book, you will also like Fires Of Passion Part 2...**

WHEN THE NIGHTMARES COME CALLING

Lily Green's Paranormal and Mystery Erotic Romance Collection 2

One Wrong Step 2: RUN FAST

As she is being hunted, Clara is on the hunt. She must hide and run fast to survive.

As Clara tries to find out about the part of her memory that seems to be deliberately blotted out, she also has to find a way to survive her hunters. Can hypnosis give her answers about the other "person" that lives inside of her, the killing machine that maims and cold-bloodedly kills as soon as the light in her brain turns off?

Clara suffers from blackouts, and when she returns, she only has fleeting memories of what she couldn't believe to be real.

Who is Angel? Why does it feel like she is this person even as "she" aims a high-powered assassin's gun to a target in a podium? She hasn't ever held a gun in her life!

And what about Peter? How long will he stick with her as she navigates through the bloody labyrinth of her memory, when one wrong step will mean their death?

Chains of the Incubi Part 2: NIGHTMARES AND ILLUSIONS

Cassie's dreams are horrible nightmares where she is bound and tortured by demon monsters in their hellish dimension, and they want her soul. How long can she hold out? She has no control and can't reason her way out of their power. She's weakening with exhaustion, and every good thing that she has is being siphoned away.

Her girlfriends and neighbors are having exhausting nightmares, too. Isn't that strange? And who's the "secret hottie" one girlfriend won't stop talking about but refuses to name?

Can a chance meeting with her gorgeous dance partner from the club, Paulo, become more than loving sex? Can he be her refuge and protection against her nightmares?

Or is this magical man, with the strange and frightening tattoos that resemble much of the monsters in her nightmares, a part of it all?

**Unravel more of this fascinating book, continue reading Fires Of Passion Part 2...**

**~ ~ ~ ~**

### Related Books

Did you enjoy this book? I recommend reading these related books, available on various retailers:

The Billionaire's Liaison

Eternity

Dark Knight in Disguise (Complete)

In The Blood: The Complete Book

# Bonus Preview:

#### Fires of Passion Part 2

#### When the Nightmare Comes Calling

#### Run Fast

#### One Wrong Step Part 2

#### Chapter One

"CLARA, STOP IT, you're killing her!" I could vaguely hear somebody shouting in the back of my mind, but I really didn't pay any attention to it until I opened my eyes and saw that I had my hands wrapped around Shauna's neck.

She was wheezing now, and Peter was trying to loosen my grip. I let go of her feeling like I wasn't even myself. I looked at my hands, and then at Shauna. I saw red fingerprints on the surface of her neck. Peter was looking with concern at the marks I'd made.

"Peter – Shauna – I'm sorry... I didn't mean..." I couldn't finish saying it.

I had come out of the trance like some sort of wild animal. I had attacked Shauna so quickly that neither she nor Peter had seen it coming. I felt a wave of remorse and some vindication too – this was the price of getting involved, and Peter was beginning to understand it.

"I'm pretty strong," Peter said, "and I couldn't even budge you one single inch."

"Peter," Shauna coughed. "It's not her fault. I pushed her too far for her first time." She was rubbing her neck, trying to breathe and talk at the same time. "Don't... blame her, it was my fault and I take full responsibility for it. I didn't know how deeply that memory was ingrained, and when I tried to... purge it, something pushed back against me. I've only seen that in a few of my patients, and I think we might have something more to worry about."

This wasn't sounding good, and even though I already knew I had a death sentence, I had this funny feeling that things were going to take a turn sideways.

"I blame myself," said Peter. "She shouldn't have been able to have that kind of opportunity to try to kill you. I should've acted quicker, but she attacked you so fast that I didn't have a chance to do anything about it. We're going to have to take some more precautions. I don't want to see that happen again."

Shauna answered him, "Don't be so melodramatic, brother. This is all part of the process." She rubbed her neck again. "It seems that I have awakened something in her that doesn't want to be disturbed."

The way she talked made this eerie sensation creep over my skin. It felt like somebody was walking over my grave.

"Clara's mind was rejecting my intense prodding," Shauna continued, "so I think it's going to take a lot more than hypnosis to get to the bottom of this. I think we have done more than enough for this evening. We should take another crack at this in the morning. In the meantime, I am going to go and get the spare room set up, and you two can decide which one is going to use that... or maybe you're both going to use the same bed?"

She had obviously seen something between us, but it wasn't like we were trying to project that we had a physical relationship. It just seemed to bleed out of us. Or maybe she was just that damn good.

As she walked away, she no longer looked like she was in distress, and she was back to being in control, the way I had noticed when I first got here. Peter was pacing back and forth in front of the window, and I could see that he was thinking very hard.

I thought this moment needed some levity, and I wanted to really apologize for the bruises around Shauna's neck. I needed something, even something lame, to break the ice.

But I could only come up with: "Penny for your thoughts, Peter?" Blah.

Peter smiled ruefully. "That's a good one, Clara, but I don't think jokes are going to solve anything right now. You killed those two men without blinking an eye, and now I've seen you try to do the same thing to my sister. It's just lucky that you came out of whatever that was, but I don't think I would've been able to pull you off in time. You are beginning to scare me, and I am not the kind of man that scares easy."

I let him continue. He was struggling to process the reality of the situation.

"Hell, I've seen people blow up right in front of me, but you are making that pale in comparison. Don't get me wrong, I really want to help you, but I really don't want to put my friends or family in danger doing so."

"I'm really sorry about what I did, Peter. Look, I understand, and I can't give you any kind of assurances except that I don't mean to cause anybody any harm."

"This is just a little bit more than I can wrap my mind around," he said. "But I could see that my sister isn't at all concerned. I am a little wary about continuing. This is affecting her on a deeper level. She hides her true emotions from everybody around her, but she has this habit of rubbing her hands together when she feels herself getting out of control. After you put your hands around her throat, she began to rub her hands so fast that I thought for sure she was going to burst into flames."

I hadn't even noticed that, which goes to show you just how out of touch I really was. Those damn headaches were searing a white-hot heat into my eyeballs, and right now, I just needed two of the biggest aspirins that I could find.

As if reading my mind, Shauna came into the room with two aspirins and a tall glass of cold water. "I thought you would need these. I want you to take two every four hours without fail." She placed a bottle of pills in mine and left the room talking. "The room is all set up, and if you don't mind, it's been a very trying evening and I would like to put it behind me."

Oh, yeah. If I could forget this whole thing, I would, I thought sarcastically.

But I just didn't have that kind of luxury.

#### Chapter Two

"I THINK YOU need some sleep, Clara. I will show you to the spare room," said Peter.

I made my way down the hall until I was walking into this small bedroom with a double bed and covered with a quilt that looked like grandma might've made it back in the day. It had all of these very intricate designs, and if I took the time to look at each picture, I was sure that I would be able to read their family history from beginning to end.

Climbing on the covers, I looked over at Peter in front of the door, not exactly sure where his head was going to find a pillow.

He was hesitant to come forward. "I don't think this is a good idea," he said. "Maybe I should just go into the living room and sleep on the couch."

I know he was just trying to do what was right, but right now I really needed him beside me. He saw my pleading eyes, and came forward and sat down with his back towards me.

"I would never hurt you, Peter," I soothingly stated. "If I thought for a moment that I was capable of doing that, I would disappear in the middle of the night."

He turned towards me, taking my face in his hands, looking me right in the eye, making me feel like we were connected by invisible strings.

"I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose. I really don't think you know what exactly you're capable of. You remind me of POWs that come back from the war and go off for no apparent reason. There is something so soft and alluring about you, but there is also something hard and dangerous about you as well."

I could feel it myself, and whatever this disease was, it was causing unpredictable actions, which I couldn't stop. Every time I've had these episodes, I had no idea what I was doing. I seemed to black out through the whole experience."

Peter continued. "We will get to the bottom of this, but are you sure you really want to know the answers? With everything that I've seen so far, I just don't know if we should open those doors."

If it was just up to me, I would keep all of those doors closed for good, but the only way that I was going to make sense out of any of this was to open each one of those doors. "I have this ticking time bomb inside me," I said. "Somebody put it there for reason. Before my clock completely counts down to zero, I want to know all that I need to know, and hopefully find a cure. Dying is not on my agenda–not if I can help it. I am going to fight with everything I have to stop it from happening."

"You're very strong. Right now, you can count on me to stand by your side. But if things go too far, though, I can't promise to stay with you. My family means more to me than you could ever know: they've been a constant support system, and bringing this kind of trouble to their front door makes me feel guilty."

I began to massage his shoulders by this time, and I felt all this tension built up inside him. I dug my fingers into his muscles to alleviate some of that tension.

Leaning back against me, his body started to relax, and this moan of contentment escaped his lips. "You sure have a convincing argument. I can't find any way to fight you on this any longer."

My lips touched his neck, and I could feel his body stiffen against me. He turned his head and we began to kiss like we were old lovers coming together after so much time apart.

He had only met me the other day, and as the hours ticked by, I was getting closer and closer to death, and to being infectious to everybody around me.

Every time I tried to break through that memory on the sidewalk, something would snap me back to reality so fast that my head would begin to spin. The only thing I remembered after that was being in some sort of van and then running away from my abductors before flying into that pool with no hope of survival.

Was I trying to kill myself, or maybe I was just in the wrong place at the right time?

His tongue was doing some interesting maneuvers within my mouth, and I tried to match them with my own. My fingers were playing over his pants, stroking his cock from under the cloth. My touch was a love song that serenaded his manhood into a hard stick of dynamite. If I wasn't careful it was going to go off in my hand. I could feel his cock jerking and thrusting, trying its very best to get free.

"I need you tonight, Peter, so much that it hurts me. If these are going to be my last days on earth, then I want to make the most out of them." I could feel the fabric of my clothing rustling underneath his touch. I watched as every piece of clothing began to melt off my body like ice from a sculpture.

This time, when I pulled off his shirt, I wasn't so distracted by the insane lust between us. I was able to see his many scars. Each one had a story behind it– from his work in law enforcement, perhaps.

Those scars made him who he was today, and, without the influence of our desires, I could finally see this reflected in his eyes when I looked at him.

This man was hurting, and there were things in his past that were left better off buried. Maybe this was why he so readily offered his help? I was somewhat disappointed to think that it wasn't just my charms.

#### Chapter Three

HIS MOUTH TOOK one of my nipples and circled around and around, while I grabbed his head and ran my fingers through his hair.

"I love how you do that, you make it impossible for me to push you out of my bed." He looked up at me, smiling while still pleasuring my little buds, stoking the fire between my legs with his fingers. "You are such a tease. You are just doing this to make me yearn for your cock."

He gave me a look that signaled that he was innocent of any wrongdoing, when we both knew that he was doing exactly what he intended to.

Amazingly, my headaches began to subside.

"You have me wrapped around your little finger. I have never felt like this with any woman in my life," Peter said, his voice husky. He pulled me towards him and we kissed again, and then I started to lead his tongue down between my cleavage. His attentions left a trail of wetness there. I was looking at him as he pushed my legs apart with his hands. He had somehow unleashed his love muscle, and was now stroking it with his hand as he pushed his tongue within my folds.

"Give me that tongue... Make love to me. Faster, faster, oh God faster, right fucking... mmmmmppphhhh." Not wanting to disturb his sister, I grabbed a pillow and pushed my face into the middle of it, screaming. The only things anyone could hear were my muffled exclamations of ecstasy.

I curled my legs around his head, and pulled him towards me. I held onto the back of his head with my other hand. Peter had that magic touch – my headache had all but disappeared. I knew it wasn't the aspirin, because I had neglected to take the pills.

My ass came off the mattress because this intense electrical sensation was going through my body. He penetrated me again and again with his tongue. I hooked my legs over his back to keep him focused on pleasuring me.

"Yes, taste me!" My juices dripped out of me continuously, and he was right there to consume everything. It felt like his tongue had a mind of its own, and he was everywhere all at once. I never knew where he was going to end up next, until he finally grasped my clit into his mouth, giving me what I could only describe as an out-of-body experience.

Finally coming down from the aftermath, I looked down to see him smiling and fisting his cock in his own hand. It was already producing clear droplets of his man juice, so I took a hold of it and drew him onto the mattress on top of me.

Lining him up with my pussy, I felt him sink in an inch at a time, the feel of his thick and manly hardness spreading me out before him.

"Your cock is the perfect fit for my hot tight hole. Let me devour you with my own body."

He was trying his best to stay on course, but I could see in his eyes that he wanted to bury his shaft all the way down to the balls. I beat him to the punch, wrapping my legs around his waist and pulling him in the rest of the way. He made this moan of pleasure, ignoring the fact that his sister was right down the hall.

"It's like hot silk and I can't get enough."

He started to really move, making the bed creak under our weight. We were practically lifting it into the air with each thrust.

His arms, his chest, everything from his crown to his hard cock screamed real man. All of my energy was in this precise time and place, and I was meeting him, smacking our bodies against each other in a lurid display of affection.

His cock filled me up, and the way that he was bouncing up and down on top of me was making his shaft stimulate a very special part of my female anatomy. His jaw line was clenched, and his eyes burned holes into my own.

"Take me. I want you to take me from behind."

He didn't miss a beat, turning me over and flattening me under his weight. My body was against the mattress, and all he did was push my legs out wide. He found me already gaping from the punishment that he had already given me.

I looked back at him and smiled as I felt him slip back in, and then he was driving his weight down onto my back. His hands were on either side of me, keeping him from crushing me altogether, while his sweat dripped onto my back and his lips kissed the back of my neck.

Our bodies were tuned to each other's pleasures, and now I was sliding my pussy up and down his cock, letting him feel my inner muscles working all over his shaft.

" _Cummmming!"_

This time when I screamed, I wasn't concerned about his sister hearing me, and I just let myself go.

My internal workings did their job on him, and he was soon so close to an overwhelming sensation of climax that I could feel his cock swelling, pulsing to mammoth proportions.

" _Ahhhhhhhhj!"_

His hot cum only enhanced my own orgasm, and I thought for sure that I was going to pass out from the pure bliss that we were both experiencing together. Each of his spurts was forceful and demanding, but he continued to slow-fuck me until every single drop was squeezed out of his balls.

Pulling out of me, he lay behind me with his arms wrapped around my waist. I looked over at the clock and saw that two hours had elapsed since we began.

It felt like only a few minutes, but all time seemed to stand still while we were enveloped in our own little sexual world.

"You are something else, Clara. I don't think I have ever met anybody quite like you. We'll find a way to get you out of this or we will both die trying," he exclaimed.

Suddenly, I was on top of him and was yelling into his face. "I don't want you dying for me... do you hear me?!" Everything I was saying was coming out of my mouth with more venom than was intended.

"Calm down! I was just saying that I won't let you face this alone."

I didn't know why I went off the handle like I did, but there was a huge part of me that didn't want him involved. I had grown too close to him to want to see any harm come his way, yet I didn't want to take all of this on myself. This was a classic Catch-22.

I lay down on his chest listening to his heart beating in my ear, letting it send me into a deep slumber.

I was with Peter.

I was in good hands.
