The Sleeping Devil Ch. 03

Jaysin's disappearance very soon stretched well into the month of July, past the fourth, on into the middle, and hottest part, of the month, and I had moved well on and forgotten that he'd even been around. Or tried to tell myself I had, anyway. The times I was on campus with my friends went well enough, I saw a lot of people who were emerging freshmen I remembered from high school and even helped out some of them with finding places to stay. The nights, however, when I didn't have anyone to talk to or anything to do, all I did was think of him, I'd lay in bed and stare at the ceiling and try to imagine him looking down at me, tried to recover some of that feeling he always gave me. Depression began to eat at me, though I kept it well hidden from anyone, even Shayna and Wendy, I knew Shay would just criticize me, tell me to let him go that he was a bad man. But I didn't want to believe he was as bad as everyone said he was, even though Amanda had killed herself over him. I just considered her a stupid girl, even though I was fast headed the same way if I didn't do something soon.

He turned up late one night, just buzzed the door when I was expecting Wendy, who I was sure he'd intimidated into leaving as soon as I'd released the downstairs lock. I opened the door and gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. His hair had gotten a lot longer, and he had it pulled back, which made him that much more attractive, though I tried not to notice. He stood looking down at me and I saw the extreme exhaustion in his face. His skin was tanned darker than ever, and his hair was nearly completely blonde, so clearly he'd been working in the sun quite a bit more. "You've been gone for months!"

"Yeah...don't I know it." He went past me into my room and grabbed one of my duffle bags from the closet and started packing it full of my clothes. "I need you to come with me, I need to show you something."

"You can't just walk back in and expect me to trust you..." I said, my heart was racing and my mind confused by his sudden appearance. "I don't even know you, you're always disappearing." I said, beginning to regain my composure.

"Can you trust me enough to believe all of that is going to stop tonight?" He asked and, slinging the bag over his shoulder he turned off all of the lights, grabbed my hand and without waiting for me to answer said, "Come with me."

I obeyed him but dragged my feet, hoping one of the neighbors would hear me so that when Shay came looking and found me gone someone would remember something. He took me out of the back entrance to where a rather worn car awaited us, unlocked the doors and threw my bag in the back and then leaned the seat back for me and stepped back. I got in, wondering if Shay was anywhere to see me leaving with him, but she so rarely came in the back way I knew that was hopeless. We travelled for what seemed like hours, leaving the city limits and going out into the country for further than I could ever remember having gone, especially since we were going in the direction opposite my own hometown. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere the car slowed to nearly a stop and he turned easily into an almost completley hidden narrow gravel road. It might have been a driveway, I guessed, we stopped once at a gate and he got out and unlocked it pulled the car through and stepped out to lock it back. We moved on slowly for what seemed to me like hours until lights came into view, a large house that looked to have been either newly built or renovated. Two large wolf-like dogs greeted the car with wagging tails but did not bark, clearly they knew the vehicle and they waited expectantly at the driver's side for Jaysin to get out. "Where are we?" I asked him quietly.

"This is my house." He said, simply, getting out he said, "Stay put, they don't know you yet, I'll have to introduce you to them." I guessed he meant the dogs and had no intention of making them angry. He came around promptly and let me out and then showed my hand to both of the dogs, who sniffed me with great disinterest and then trotted off into the darkness as a pair, disdainfully.

Jaysin took my bag and led me up a long flight of stairs into the house and I stared around me in disbelief at the simple beauty of it. This was a man's house, none of the decorations a woman's touch would bring to it, but it was something wonderful to look at even in it's simplicity. The living room was large, what appeared to be the skins of real animals lay here and there, one before an enormous but empty fireplace, another in front of a large sectional couch that was covered in tan micro-suede. Above the living room I saw a loft where a soft light was also flickering and knew that this must be the bedroom, seeing me looking up he motioned for me to follow him. We ascended a hand built and concealed spiral staircase that was behind, of all things, the fireplace and through a narrow door into what I would soon find out was his room. The bed was covered, not in blankets, but also in animal skins, and here I found the first electronic device other than the lights, an enormous plasma screen television that hung on the wall directly adjacent the bed. I looked around still in complete silence and realized when I looked at him that he was smiling. "You like it, then?"

"Yeah, this place is awesome." I said faintly, wondering why he'd brought me here. "It's yours?" I asked, unable to stop myself, I should have, of course, known this.

"I built it myself, from the ground up. I had some help, yeah, but most of it I designed and put up." He said, then looked down at my bag and said, "There's more to show you than just two rooms."

I followed him curiously, passing a room where I distinctly thought I'd seen a set of drums and other band equipment, down a rather long hallway, we took a left turn into another staircase that descended into darkness briefly before opening into another, smaller, bedroom that was decorated strangely. A twin bed in one corner of the small room, it had a red velvet canopy and fine black satin sheets. A small fireplace, this one complete with a fire to chase away the chill of the basement room, sat across the room from the bed. There was an antique writing desk and also a wardrobe here but no windows. Across the small space at the bottom of the stairs was a bathroom with a tub that was sunk into the floor and appeared to be made of black marble. "Servant's quarters?" I asked, thinking of visits to other such rooms.

"Your room." he said, his tone changing, hardening. "You'll be staying here."

"I...I have to go back to school in the Fall, though." I said, lamely. I knew I wasn't getting out of this so easy before the words had even left my lips. I could see it in his eyes, I was trapped. "You can't just keep me here." The threat was without conviction, and I knew he knew that. He smiled coldly.

"Of course I can." He said and tossed my bag onto my bed and left me standing alone and afraid in the room, I heard him ascend the stairs and a door slam with a heavy metallic ring and the unmistakable sound of a lock clicking. I unpacked slowly, completely unsure of what I could do. There was no phone in my room, no television, no connection to the outside world. I knew without a doubt that I'd heard the door at the top of the stairs lock when he left and I also knew that there was nothing I could do until he made the mistake of leaving it unlocked so that I might slip out.

After many long hours, it seemed, waiting for him to return for me I drifted off to sleep on the bed provided to me reluctantly, my dreams were uneasy, and I woke feeling rather unhappy and hungry. I went up the stairs to the door and found that it was still locked and then went back to my room and paced for a while before finally deciding to take a bath. That done I returned to pacing again, shivering slightly I added some wood to the fire, it was rather damp and chilly in the room so I knew I was well underground. I had no inclination of what time it was when I jerked awake from dozing at the sound of loud music from above. I knew that I had seen band equipment in the hallway and decided to go up and see if I might attract someone else's attention that might be in the room. At the top of the stairs I found that the door had been opened, I was free to leave the basement cell. The music stopped as soon as I crossed the threshold and as I passed the band room I couldn't help but to glance in and I saw two other men standing and looking back at me, equally as surprised to see me as I was them.

"Go get you something from the kitchen to eat." he said, softly. I looked at the faces of the other two men pleadingly and they both returned my gaze impassively, expressionless, as if I were just an animal. "Go eat. Then wait in the living room." as an afterthought he called after me, as I continued down the hallway, "And don't try to leave the house."

I did as I was told, the smell of food from the kitchen was easy to follow after having been deprived of food for so long. I found there quite a bit of things to eat, all recently cooked, and I wondered if he'd done this or if someone came in and cooked for him. I reprimanded myself sharply, I couldn't see him actually having someone in to cook, he wasn't completely helpless, obviously. I ate what I could, I was still in a state of heightened nervousness over the situation and despite the fact that the food was good I couldn't choke down much. I could hear them playing music, they were actually quite as good as the bands I'd often heard him blare from my stereo in my apartment. I settled myself on the couch and, despite the loud music, soon drifted off, my hunger at least temporarily sated. When I'd drifted off it had been broad daylight, when I woke to the sound of loud talk and laughing I opened my eyes and saw that it was completely dark outside and Jaysin and his two friends were standing just outside the front door, clearly the other two were leaving. My stomach clenched, I was almost certain I knew what would happen soon and I was terrified again, suddenly. This was his home, his playing turf, I had lost the advantage when we'd left my apartment. I didn't know how to get back to campus from here, let alone where we were at except that it had seemed hours from anything familiar.

I saw the other two leave and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep, but it wasn't good enough because he said, "Open your eyes, I saw you watching us."

I opened my eyes and he was standing at the back of the couch looking down at me. "You can't keep me here forever." I said, defiantly and he laughed as if this were a joke. "I'm serious."

"What made you think I'd want to keep you forever?" He said, his smile gone, his eyes colder than I'd ever seen them. "You won't amuse me forever." He nodded towards the loft and for a moment I wondered what would happen if I refused him what he wanted but at his expression I decided against it. I followed him less than willingly up the narrow staircase, which was quite warm now owing to the fire burning in the fireplace, and into his room. He flung himself down on the bed and turned on the television to some channel I couldn't have cared less about or other and patted the bed to indicate I should join him. For what seemed hours he watched the television with complete interest and I found myself becoming sleepy again and beginning to drift without thinking of the danger I might be in. I was becoming comfortable in his presence, which I should have already learned was not the wisest thing to do.

I woke suddenly and the room was dark except for a fire that burned in the fireplace directly beside the door we'd come in through, I'd not noticed it before, either it had been covered or I'd been paying too much attention to everything else. I woke because I realized my clothes were gone and his face was buried between my legs. I gave a startled moan and he looked up at me briefly but I didn't meet his eyes. He reached up and grabbed at my left breast and squeezed it hard enough to make me gasp in pain and then released and went back to his work on me. I struggled somewhat, tried to free myself, not because I wanted to but because I knew it would drive him into a frenzy, drive him to give me what I'd been missing for the weeks he'd been gone. Soon enough he was doing just that, but he was gentler this time, not so rough and I was surprised. While his size did cause pain it was more of a delicious pain than a terrifying one. In the end, when he was spent, he collapsed on me and kissed me several times, "Whatever you might think, I did miss you when I was gone." He got up and left me, then, disappearing into a niche behind the television and returning with the usual towel that he tossed me. "Clean yourself up."

I did as I was told and then tenatively dressed myself and stretched back out on his bed beside him but not touching him, confused by this sudden change, he'd actually seemed as if he had deep feelings for me, if only for that instant. His manner now was as cold and detatched as ever, he'd turned the television back on and was half dozing. I got up and stood for a moment, feeling unwelcome and unsure if I should speak. He looked at me sleepily and rolled over, switching off the television. "Good night Cass." he said and I took this for what it was. A dismissal. I returned to my little basement room by way of the kitchen where I grabbed something to drink and some leftovers, which hadn't been cleaned up yet. I ate and cleaned up my own part and took the drink with me and descended the staircase, taking care to close the door behind me as I went. I crawled into my bed and fell asleep almost immediately, realizing that even if I was going to be held here at least he wasn't requiring me to stay in his presence more than necessary and this was a good thing. No room for attachment on my part, and he'd warned me against getting attached several times. Physically I craved him but I didn't think I'd ever really love him emotionally, there was something untouchable, dangerous about him and until I could understand that I would never be able to completely trust him with my heart.

Two days passed before I was again invited into his presence, I lay in my room and read books, I'd requested he bring them from my apartment if I wasn't going to be allowed to leave and he'd done so rather agreeably. Some days the band came over and played for hours until night had fallen, I'd asked for a clock, also, so that I'd know what time it was. I was allowed to roam around the house but kept myself away from him as much as possible so as to be unintrusive. I learned his schedule and only came out when he was either sleeping or not at home, which was when I gathered he was working. He called me up this particular day, a Thursday, and I found that there were a number of people in the house and glared at him angrily, the people ignored me as well as his bandmates had done. He sent me up to his loft bedroom and what I found there made my heart skip a beat. A young woman was laying on the bed watching the fire flickering in the fireplace, and when she saw me she smiled widely. "You are everything he said you'd be."

"I...excuse me?" My feeling of jealousy turned suddenly to confusion. "Who are you and what are you doing up here in his room?"

"Waiting for you..." She reached out gently and took my hand, pulling me toward the bed with her. "Jaysin said he wanted us to meet, seemed to think I'd like you. He was right."

"I...but I'm not..." I stammered, but she was running her fingers through my hair, sitting behind me and I felt a little shudder of wicked pleasure pass through me. I could hear the party going on downstairs, music had started but my attention was on the little brunette behind me and the moment seemed very surreal. "What's your name?" I asked her as her lips brushed my neck.

"My nickname is Shade, that will do." she said, now moving around in front of me to push me onto my back, I scooted up to the headboard and lay my head back, a dangerous thrill passed through me as I realized what I was about to do. Shade was working my shirt up, kissing my stomach, and I had to admit a woman's touch was much better than anything I'd yet felt from Jaysin. Her hands were softer and seemed to know how to find all the right places on me to arouse my interests. "I'll not ask you to do anything you don't want to, I only want to show you what you're missing."

She used my body in every way a woman could, and I found more intense pleasure with her than I'd ever known before, in the end, as I lay half asleep and completely exhausted I was partially jarred back to consciousness at the sudden sound of Jaysin's deep voice in the room. It seemed so harsh after what had been hours of Shade's soft comments as she'd pleased me in a woman's loving way and then covered me with the tanned skin covers before dressing to leave me with one last kiss. They were talking softly but their words made no sense as I slipped in and out of sleep, finally letting the inevitable darkness take me. I woke once in the night to him on me, I was on my stomach and felt him drawing close to his own finish and let him without complaint, without moving to show him that I was awake. He rolled to the left and lay an arm across my back and was soon breathing deeply and regularly. I slid out from under his arm and gathered up my clothes, dressed and went back to my room. I had no desire to sleep beside him, though clearly that had been his intention.

Final Chapter coming soon...