The Return of Nicholas Collins

Time to time fingers of sunlight broke through the clouds and the leafy canopy over head to bounce off the sparkling stream like fireworks. This had to be what heaven looked like. Peaceful. Quiet. Soothing. A place where your dreams were possible and no one would ever hurt you.

Drawing her knees toward her chest, Roni wrapped her arms around them and thought about her life. An opportunity had presented itself to end the horror of the last three years. The chance to start over and make something of herself, and maybe have a dream come true.

For anyone else this decision would have been a no-brainer, but for her it wasn't. On the street she had her independence, relied on herself more times than not to make it to the next day. She had to worry about no one, which meant not having to care or love anyone, never having to end up hurt when they disappeared.

Already she cared more for Rachel than she had anyone since her parents had died. It wasn't the money or the offer of a home, that made her care either. Roni had a feeling that Rachel knew from experience what she had gone through. Rachel seemed to care about her well-being, and so far, hadn't gotten upset for having to take care of her, though, she did get a bit steamed at her for driving all the way up here, but that was okay. Actually, it made Roni feel good to know that someone cared, worried that much over her to get angry with her for doing something wrong like that.

As much as she loved the breeze caressing her skin, she knew it was time to head back. She gathered up her trash and then dusted off the seat of her pants. Squatted down by the stream, she rinsed her hands, slinging the water off them and laughing when she realized she didn't have anything to dry them on. She was about to wipe them off on her jeans when she sensed that she wasn't alone.

Roni never had a chance to turn around. Two large hairy arms came around her and pulled her into a body that was as hard as the boulder she'd been sitting on. Shrieking at the top of her lungs, she wiggled and twisted, brought her foot down hard on top of his, stomping with all her might.

Again and again she used all the fear and fight she had in her to make contact with his feet and legs. Then she struck gold, one of her blows landed on his knee, dropping them both to the rocky ground.

They both grunted on impact and still those thick arms restrained her. The only advantage to being off her feet was that it allowed her to kick with both legs at the same time.

Shear terror caused her to swing them wildly, connecting the heel of her cross trainers to hard bone of her captor's body almost continuously.

There was no way she could win. Her body hadn't had enough time to rebuild the strength she needed to fight off the attack. She ached from head to toe. Her heels throbbed from the steady pounding against muscular legs of her attacker. Her calves and thighs quivered from the strain, growing weaker and weaker with each lift of her leg. Her upper body was no better. The bear hug that the man had around her, trapped her arms at her sides and rendered them useless. The wound in her shoulder burnt. The pain so intense it was like a bullet had once again ripped through her.

Then, when she thought she was about to lose to the two-ton gorilla that had her, he bellowed in pain and his arms fell away. Not knowing what she'd hit to cause him to release her, she scrambled to her feet, tripping over his legs before gaining her balance and ran for her life.

Adrenalin, it was all she had to rely on. Sweat dripped into her eyes, tree limbs reached out and snagged her skin, leaving deep nasty gashes on her arms and face. She didn't dare look back; she had to stay focused on the ground ahead of her. There was no one to help her, not even Rachel and Nicholas, who were hours away from waking to be of any use to her, but she had to get back to the house and somehow barricade herself inside and call for help.

What she saw when she topped a small rise in the trail made her want to cry. Ahead of her the path dipped about twenty feet, but on the other side of that was a hill. Under normal conditions it would be easy to walk up, but her legs had the consistence of soupy oatmeal, while her cross trainers had turned into concrete shoes. Add those factors together and they made that innocent hill look like Mount Kilimanjaro.

Roni threw herself down the short incline. The force of gravity pulled her as she barreled down into the tiny valley below, hoping that momentum would boost her up the other side. Arms and legs pumping, lungs huffing, sucking every ounce of oxygen they could out of the air, she charged up the hill. Time and again her feet slipped from beneath her on the loose pebbles that dusted the trail, each time using her hands to catch herself before smashing her face into the ground.

Tears blinded her and ran down her grime covered cheeks when she glanced up and saw that she'd only made it halfway. Surely she had gotten farther than that, she thought, then crashed face first into the dirt. She lifted her head spitting and sputtering rock and dried earth from her mouth. To weak to get on her feet, she clawed and crawled, grabbed at exposed tree roots and clumps of crab grass, pulling herself foot by excruciating foot toward the top.

On hands and knees she made it over the crest. She tried to shout with joy but her voice was gone, she couldn't even whimper. All that would come from her mouth was the sound of her wheezing.

God, she knew that she was going to die on that very spot, as she tried over and over again to get to her feet. Fifth time was the charm. Light headed and dizzy she stumbled forward, pressing her hand against the stitch in her side. From her toes to the ends of her hair, she sizzled, like someone had put out thousands of cigarettes on her skin, it hurt that much. Every cell screamed in pain so bad that she couldn't feel the wound in her shoulder anymore, but she knew it was a mess. Over top of the sweat, trees and decaying leaves, she smelled the scent of blood.

She un-tucked her shirt and used its edges to wipe her forehead and eyes. The sweat dried from her lashes, Roni began to catch glimpses of the clapboard house between the trunks and wild foliage. Safety was there within those walls and it made her heart race faster to see just how close.

She couldn't run another step; her legs were as weak as cotton candy in a hurricane. She didn't even have the power to jog, but forced herself to try. Lumbering along the path, eyes forward, she imagined the coolness of the air conditioning blowing across her sticky skin. She had to make it inside. The answer to her dreams, to a new life, lay behind those locked doors.

Her pulse pounded in her brain. Thump, thump, thump. It was worse than the sounds of men jack hammering on a city street, which explains why she never heard him coming. One second her eyes were locked on the house the next she watched helplessly as the ground seemed to rise up to meet her falling body. The son-of-a-bitch had tackled her, jarring her bones when he slammed her to the ground.

Oh, fuck she couldn't breathe. Her lungs were frozen; fighting their natural urge to inhale as pain filled them to capacity. It felt like they would force her ribs through her skin at any moment to escape from the prison of her torso to find air. It didn't help that the gorilla had her pinned to the ground like a butterfly to a pegboard.

Roni tried to buck him off with her hips, but he outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. She tried to wiggle and squirm from beneath him, digging her nails into the dirt, twisting her legs and feet to find some kind of leverage, in the end it was useless. She was too weak to get away.

He shifted on top of her and straddled her body, resting his weight on her lower back and trapping her arms at her side. Roni cried out when he wrapped his fingers in her hair and then jerked till her face was turned to the side. His hot breath bathed her neck and drowned her ear. "You won't escape me this time, little girl."

A white colored cloth appeared inches in front of her face. Fear had her on the edge of hyperventilating, but enough air made it through her nostrils and mouth for her to try and shrink away as the chemical scent on the clothe gave off its ominous warning. The man then placed it over her nose and mouth, hitting her in the ribs with a knee and caused her to inhale against her will.

After blazing a trail through the woods and physically fighting with this man twice, Roni didn't have anything left in her to battle the effects of the chemical. Her vision blurred and her head grew dizzy as the seconds pasted.

She was sorry that she hadn't minded Rachel and Nicolas' order to stay in the house, but even more so, sorry that she never really thanked Rachel for all she had done. Her thoughts scattered then, as her sight grew dim and sweet release from the agony she felt swept over her.

Chapter 11

Sleep gradually rolled away as the sun sank deeper below the horizon. Rachel stretched and eased onto her side. Nicholas rested beside her, body still as a stone, his handsome face frozen. For once, she had awaken before him.

She brushed the back of her fingers down the center of his chest, smiling as the hair there tickled them, then she flipped her hand over and slid her palm across his flat belly. His skin was so cool beneath her touch, but it made her blood heat. Hell, just being in the same room with him made her melt. Snuggled close to his side, she pressed a soft kiss to his lips then rested her head on his shoulder.

Lazily she drew her nails up and down his torso, slid her foot along his calf beneath the thin white sheet that covered them. Her mind still found it hard to wrap around the idea that he loved her the entire time they had been together so long ago and she had never known. All those nights wasted. The countless faces that she'd taken to her bed to forget him, but only to be reminded again and again that no one touched her heart like him.

Part of Rachel seethed with jealousy though. He'd found someone for a short while who he had been able to love. Deep down that made her want to tear the roof off the house and bury him beneath the rubble of her anger. How dare he love another while she walked virtually alone, aching to be near him. She tilted her head and stroked his jaw with her palm. Then again, the part of her that still loved Dunn tore through that anger, reminded her that there once had been another for her as well, and reminded her that no matter how it is found, you had to take a chance on love, even if it is not with the one that your heart longs for.

By degrees Nicholas began to wake. The stiffness of the death like sleep that held him in bondage receded. "Wake, my love," she whispered, kissing a path toward his mouth as his muscles softened and his features began to twitch with animated signs of life.

Rachel squealed and playfully fought him when he suddenly pulled her on top of him and held her there with his arms. "Stop your squirming, woman and surrender to my will."

Her knees went to either side of his hips and trapped his hardening cock against his abdomen with her sex. She wiggled and shimmed, her breasts pressing hard into his wide chest and stiffening her nipples. "I will never surrender to a beast like you," she grunted, tugging her arms free and then planting her hands flat on the bed beside him. Looking down, his bright blue eyes shined and danced with laughter at her. That look changed quickly when she moved her hips, rubbing her pussy along his thick shaft.

He scraped his fingernails down her spine till he reached her ass then gripped the cheeks tight, squeezing and spreading them apart to caress the inner flesh. She moaned deeply as he took over, guiding her over his cock and teasing her clit.

He lifted his head from the pillow and captured her mouth, swallowing the sound of her pleasure. Rachel bit his lip and moaned even louder as she licked the drop of blood away that welled to the surface before she pulled away, tossing her auburn hair. Her belly clenched with hunger when he slowly licked his wounds.

His hands skimmed over the tops of her thighs, hesitated at the their juncture then moved upward over her belly to her breasts. He tweaked her nipples and brought a gasp from her. "Mm, as much as I love to hear you moan and make all those sexy noises, love, remember that Roni is awake."

"Oh, hell." She collapsed onto his chest and buried her face into his neck. "I forgot that she was here. Do you think she heard me?"

His chuckle rumbled in his chest and brought another gasp from her as it vibrated against her nipples. "It's very quiet in the other room, Rachel, so there is a good chance that she did." His hands paused in their soothing motions on her back. "Actually, for her to be a teenager, it's too quiet."

Rachel lifted her head and listened to the eerie stillness. Eyes closed, her senses took control, penetrating the walls in search of a single heartbeat. She jumped out of bed and tore through the house, not caring that she didn't have a stitch of clothing on as she looked for a note or something to tell her where Roni had gone.

She met Nicholas in the hall as he came from the living room. "Did you find anything?"

The grim shake of his head sent Rachel's stomach plummeting to the floor. Dressed they started their search around the perimeter of the house then spread out over the lawn toward the surrounding woods.

Not a clue one was found, they each took a different trail and extended their search. Rachel swept her gaze from side to side on the path, looking for a broken branch or crushed vegetation, anything to show that someone had been there, then she froze when she spotted trash on the ground. Crouched down, she picked up the small paper sack and examined it. It was too clean looking to have been laying outside in the elements for any amount of time, so it had to be from Roni. The evidence grew worse when Rachel spotted two sets of foot prints in the dirt.

Come quickly, Nicholas. No sooner had she put the thought out to him, he was behind her.

She watched as he circled around the prints carefully, his eyes sharp as they swept the small area. "One set belongs to a man." He pointed to one print that seemed to nearly double the other. Nicholas moved down the path and kept his eyes to the ground. "There are two sets going up the trail toward the house and then," he paused in front of smudged area in the dirt, "the smaller print disappears right here."

Rachel traced the petite shoe print with her index finger, then placed her hand directly over top of it. "He's got her. I know it with my heart that bastard has Roni."

Rachel took off like a bullet toward the house, determined to find Roni and the man who had taken her. Heaven help him if he'd harmed that girl because nothing would stop her from tearing him apart limb by cowardly limb, if he had.

"Rachel! Rachel, stop." Nicholas ran after her. When he got close enough he reached out and surrounded her upper arm with his hand and jerked her around to face him. "Damnit, I said stop. What do you think you're doing? You can't go charging in like a bulldozer, Rach, you'll get her killed if you do."

"Let go of me," she shouted and tried to break loose from his hold. "I can't stand here and do nothing. The longer she's with him the more likely he will hurt her." His grip slackened and she pulled away. "We don't even know how long she has been with him, much less what he has done to her."

She turned to walk away but he caught her in his arms and pulled her back against his chest. "I know, love, and we will find her, but we need a plan or we'll wind up being the reason she gets hurt or dies."

She tried to push his arms away but he only held her tighter. She shook and tears filled her eyes. "I can't let her down, Nicholas. So many people have failed her." Swallowing the lump in her throat, drops of blood rolled down her face as he kissed her cheek.

He whispered against her temple. "I promise you, no one will fail her, not this time."

***

Roni came to and wished that she hadn't. She was dying of thirst. The cloth gag in her mouth had soaked up all the saliva and made her tongue feel like something that had crawled out of the desert. She hurt everywhere. She thought she had ached before when she got shot, but this was worse. And what ever that idiot had given her made her weak. It was difficult but she lifted her chin off her chest and groaned. How long had she been unconscious, she wondered, rolling her head gingerly from side to side.

Woozy, she tried to move her arms and couldn't. Grunting with effort, she tried once more and still nothing happened. Grimacing in pain, she turned her head and struggled to open her eyes, but the lids felt like lead weights dangled from them. When she could finally see, she found that he had crucified her. Her arms had been lifted straight out to the side and then tied to a tree limb that stretched from wrist to wrist behind her shoulders. The rest of her body had also been tied to another, but thicker, limb down the length of her spine all the way to her ankles. She was frightened beyond anything she had ever experienced before, but what she saw next made her screech through the gag in terror.

She hadn't noticed it till now, but the man had somehow positioned her so that she leaned out over the edge of a cliff. The stars and quarter moon shined just bright enough to allow her to see into deep gorge. Shadows played tricks in the wavering light on the forest floor, hiding dead trees and exposing jagged rocks. Roni shivered, for she knew that death awaited her down below.

The man hit the crudely made cross and sent it tittering from side to side. Ropes creaked under the strain of the cross. He hit it once more, hard enough that her muffled wail filled the air, so sure that it was the end, as the ropes gave way and the cross fell forward then stopped.

Tears of relief poured from her eyes. Roni wasn't very religious, but she did believe in a higher power, one that she was gratefully thanking over and over in her mind at the moment for saving her.

A cool breeze stirred the air around her and chilled the sweat on her body, but her insides turned to ice when she felt a large beefy hand touch her thigh. His touch was surprisingly gentle, not at all painful like she had braced herself for, and then he increased the pressure of his grip. Harder and harder he squeezed, feeling like his fingers had dug through her jeans and into muscle. She shut her eyes and groaned as the pain ripped along the length of her leg, then he let go.

The man's laughter was pure evil, raising the hair on the back of her neck. At the sound of his voice fear knotted in her stomach and made her want to vomit. "Don't worry little girl, I'm not going to kill you...yet. Live bait always works better and with you as my lure, I'm going to catch two full grown vampires."

Roni struggled against her binds in earnest, pulling and twisting in desperation to loosen the ropes around her body, snorting in pain as her skin cracked and bled from the abrasive fibers rubbing across it. If not for the gag she would have screamed at him the word no and even begged him not to kill Rachel and Nicholas.

"That's it, keep wiggling like a worm on a hook, girly. Bring them to me so that I can make them suffer."

Roni stopped all movement instantly. No way was she going to help this man draw in the two people who have helped her so much in just a few short days.

"You don't have to move to attract them. All I need is your young unguarded thoughts to help them find you." Then he began to tell her in a calm quiet voice what he would do to Rachel and Nicholas. Roni tried humming the words of an old nursery rhyme that her mom told her as a little girl inside her mind, but it wasn't enough to block out the menacing voice that painted a picture of terrifying brutality. It was too much to fight off and her thoughts created images that the man's cruel words described. Defeated, she cried there as she hung on the cross and, with the last thread of mental strength that she had, hoped that if there was an afterlife that Rachel and Nicholas would forgive her.