Pentangle Ch. 01

Michael. He'd tried to call her. How long since she'd failed to answer his call? He had to be frantic by now.

She was almost shocked at how little it mattered to her.

Her cell phone was pressed into her hand as he closed the front of her coat. "Tell Michael to go on to the restaurant. Tell him you'll be coming soon." From any other lips but his it would have been a sophomoric double entendre. From this man...she actually felt the tiniest of anticipatory frissons begin, and continue, and spread until she ached for him. He had already pressed the cell phone's Send button twice, and she could hear Michael's answering machine and the beep.

"Michael, it's me." She hoped that her breathlessness sounded as if she were hurrying to meet him, "I'll be a little late to dinner. Go ahead and order for me. Something light, O.K.? I expect to be, um, coming quite soon." She smiled despite herself. Somehow, this complicity in a silly pun was more scandalous than the act for which her body seemed already to have thoroughly prepared itself. "Quite soon," she breathed, and felt the phone removed gently from her hand and the front of her coat opened again.

She had been wrong to think that her body was as ready as possible. What would ordinarily have been evidence of great arousal turned out to be only the beginning. Only a hint of the beginning. Irrationally, she recalled the first time she had bitten into really wonderful chocolate, and had discovered that she had chocolate receptors throughout every inch of her body. She could taste the chocolate everywhere, it was that good. Tonight, no matter where he touched her, it was everywhere. She had receptors for this man everywhere she was capable of sensation. And she was capable of sensation absolutely everywhere. The phrase "erogenous zone" lost its meaning and became a universal with him. His mouth alone, on her nipples and her hardened clitoris helped her make good on her voice-mail promise to Michael at least 3 times, and now she was headed into something that seemed to be beyond orgasm.

Until she remembered her period. It was the end of her period. A stupid tampon occupied the place that now craved this man as she had never craved anything before. She knew she would have to make a little joke and demurely dispose of it. She tried to reach down for it and his hand stopped her arm. She felt the bristles on his chin as his teeth closed on the string and she watched his head draw back as he slowly, oh, so slowly, drew it from her. Drew it without problem. Without dryness. With the help of her own abundant wetness. And then drew it into his mouth. That sucked on it. And smiled. And time stopped.

And he was deep inside of her (when? how?) and so very hot in her and she wanted him so much that all that had come before was not just the best it had ever been but it was, and she knew it, mere foreplay. He had not even begun to move within her. He just held her there, pinned to him, she wanting never to release him, as he reared back above her...

His hand was tight over her mouth so quickly that she never felt a second's apprehension. Never had the slightest opportunity to scream. But she did have the opportunity to see his smile turn to a vile grin, dripping, obscenely lengthened canines, poised high above her, and he was still inside her. She burst from sheer mindless bliss into utter, nearly mindless terror. Yet a part of her knew she was fighting back, had to fight back.

Where was her purse? Where was the Mace? She flailed with one hand, then the other, and felt nothing but his coat and the filthy ground. As they struggled her hand found her coat pocket, her handkerchief, and at last she grasped the filigreed silver pen she had bought for Michael. God, please don't let it have a threaded cap! Did it? She knew, but she couldn't remember. Her fingers slipped on the cap and then she felt it come off. She gripped the pen so hard she feared it would somehow break, and she thrust it forward into the soft spot just below his sternum, now gripping her right hand with her left and forcing the pen forward with every bit of strength she could muster.

His scream was from another world. His eyes opened into nearly perfect orbs. Through the pen's shaft she felt the beating of his heart as it first went wild, then slowed. His head fell forward onto her heaving breasts, and he lay still. As slowly as he had touched her earlier, his hand ceased to press her mouth. At last she could scream, but there was no need to scream. And inside her he shrank, and he fell away from her, and from within her. And despite it all, she did not want him to leave her empty of him.

For at least 10 minutes more, she kept her grip on Michael's sterling silver fountain pen with the unusually stiff nib.

She pulled herself to her knees, finally, wrapping her coat tightly about her. She was about to stand when the quietest of whispers reached her. He was barely alive.

"Listen to me. Michael is Long. Do you hear me? Michael is Long. He wanted to be hanged because he knew hanging could not kill him. I wanted to warn you. I only wanted to warn you. I never meant to fall in love with you. Please. He's coming for you. Since I failed to free him he has been determined to turn every lawyer he can find into...one of us. He's bound to check this place. It's where he left Carla. He was your client's master. He was my master for 200 years, until I failed to get him acquitted."

"You're lying, you bastard! You tried to smother me!"

"I was only trying to keep you from screaming. He could be on his way here. He's going to find you. You have to run. Please run! But please, take your pen with you. You will need it."

She pulled the silver pen from his chest. There was not a drop of blood on it.

"Thank you! Now, run!" She could barely hear him. But she did hear another voice.

It was then that she saw her cell phone. Its screen was still lit.

She had never broken the connection. Michael's voice was clear.

"Don't worry, honey. I was there when you called. I heard everything. Everything! I know where you are. I'll be there soon! I can hardly wait to see you. I'm coming, darling!"