Rokland Manor

The more he moved through the house, passing by doors closed and opened and smashed, the more he shivered. It felt as if the air itself was passing directly through him, touching his insides as it moved. He stopped and looked it his left. With a gasp, he turned to his right. He was certain something was watching him. There was nothing. He shook his head and muttered about his own silliness and hurried down the sweeping staircase to the front foyer.

It was when he stepped off the last stair that he heard the music for the first time. It was faint, faraway, and barely recognizable. A classical waltz, baroque he thought, though he couldn’t be certain. It was coming from the left. He gave a quick look about him and headed in that direction.

Julian knew he was moving in the right direction, that the source of the music was ahead, but even as he moved closer, the volume stayed constant. It seemed to be almost playing in his mind. He shook his head and tried to clear his ears, but the music only played on. He shivered and hurried his step. When he finally arrived at the open double doors that granted entrance into the main ballroom, he could only stop and stare.

Maddy danced in circles about the dusty, empty, nearly black room in time with the music that played in Julian’s head. She seemed lost in a world of her own as she twirled about the room, eyes closed, with the most content smile Julian had ever seen playing on her lips. When she finally opened her eyes and spotted Julian standing at the door, she giggled at his gawk.

”Julian,” she gasped and looked all around her at the blank, drab walls. “Isn’t it wonderful?” Julian crinkled his brow and stepped into the room.

”Isn’t what wonderf” His voice caught in his throat as he fully stepped inside. The room transformed from a dusty shell to what it must have looked like two hundred years before in the height of its Victorian glory. Julian froze in his steps and stared.

The entire room was everything that Victorian splendor and extravagance stood for. Three massive chandeliers hung from the ceiling casting the light of dozens of candles upon the floor below. The walls were richly decorated in fine tapestries and lined with plush, velvet furniture. A series of exquisitely decorated tables sat to one side beside a main stage that was currently empty, all in preparation for a future party. A hardwood dance floor dominated the majority of the ballroom. When Julian finally turned back to the floor and Maddy, his eyes widened even more.

Maddy stared at him with a strange sadness. But it was not her face that made his voice catch in his throat. Her dark clothes had been replaced by a ball gown of rich reds and pearl whites, all silk and satin and velvet. Her long, black hair was lifted up in elegant curls, tied with silver and gold thread. She looked like a dream out an era that she wished she was born in. To Julian, as he forced himself to swallow hard, she looked like an angel.

”You never dance with me anymore.”

Both of them stared, startled, at her words. Maddy knew that she had spoken them, but they didn’t come from her mind, and the voice that was hers’ belonged somehow to someone else. Julian started to walk towards her and caught a glimpse of himself in one of many mirrors that hung at intervals on the walls. His own clothes were gone, replaced by a suit and jacket that he had never seen outside of period movies. A frilled, white shirt was tucked in beneath a sharp, midnight blue vest and jacket complete with tails. The top hat made him the most nervous, even though it fit perfectly.

”How can you say that?” Julian’s reply was as surprising as Maddy’s words. They came from his throat, but spoken by someone else.

”Because you don’t.” Maddy’s eyes were wide as she moved toward him against her will. She felt like she belonged in an audience, watching this play unfold. “You talk to me, you touch me, you kiss my lips, but you don’t dance with me the way you did. Am I so imperfect to you now?”

Julian bit his lip and moved forward. “You are more perfect than the new fallen snow.” He stopped in front of her and removed his hat with a bow. “I feel like dancing now, if you would oblige me?”

Maddy blushed and nodded once. Julian smiled and pulled her into his arms. The music that tickled their minds suddenly pounded like an orchestra in their ears, playing for their benefit alone. Julian had never taken a lesson in his life, but led Maddy around the dance floor as if he were doing nothing more than taking a leisurely stroll.

”I missed you last night,” Maddy whispered into his ear. “I waited up until long after Mother and Father were asleep. I missed you.”

”I know,” Julian said with a reassuring smile and looked into her dark eyes. “I missed you, as well. When we are married, nothing we ever come between us.”

”But that could be another year, maybe more. What about now? Don’t you want me?”

”More than you could ever know. I want you so much, but we must wait.” He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth. “We must wait.”

”Why? I want you so much. I’m ready for you, to take me. I lay awake at think and think of you. Don’t you think of me?”

Julian smiled wistfully as he spun her around the room. “Last night I lay awake until the early morning hours, dreaming of you, dreaming of the hint of breast I see so clearly now.” He gently caressed the palm of his hand over the exposed skin and tops of her breasts that were uncovered on her chest. “Dreaming of that warm and heavenly place between your legs were I pray to spend the rest of my days.”

”Then take me. No more waiting. I’ve sent the servants away. Mother and Father are long gone to bed. It’s just you and I left in the world.” She stopped dancing and pulled him with her until she bumped into the stage. “Take me. I want you now. No thinking, no talking, just take me.”

Julian’s hands were all over her. There was no question in his eyes, no reluctance in his actions as he pulled her clothing from her body as tossed it away. Maddy was no less aggressive, tearing his jacket and shirt. When his chest was exposed her mouth moved to it, kissing the soft skin and sucking on his nipples. He moaned and tore the rest of her clothes free.

Everything seemed to fade away. The music, the ballroom, the wind that howled outside, it all vanished around them. Eternity was contained within the bodies that fell back onto the stage. He pulled at her hips so they were at the edge. Kissing wildly, Julian entered her with a slow, gently thrust. Maddy moaned into his mouth and wrapped her legs around his waist as he leaned over her. His hands found her firm breasts and groped them both, squeezing her hard nipples in between his fingers.

The couple thrust into each other, their lips never separating as they made love on that stage. The only sounds they could hear were of kissing, gentle moans, and their bodies trying to become one. With a final, animal groan, Julian thrust into Maddy as deep as he could and came inside her. Maddy continued to thrust against him, refusing to let it end until she finally fell back against the stage, exhausted.

”I love you, Julian,” she whispered in his ear.

Both of them suddenly looked around as her voice became her own. The dark, dusty room was as it should have been, their clothes strewn about on the floor near the stage where they lay. Julian looked down into Maddy’s dark eyes, trying to force his mind away from what he thought had happened to what just did. Swallowing hard, he kissed her lips.

”I love you, Maddy,” he said to her, looking into her eyes. He pulled out of her slowly and looked around the room. “Let’s say we get the hell out of here.”

”That’s the second best thing you’ve said all day,” Maddy snickered as she collected her clothes.