Victoria's Fall

I glanced at the clock and saw in another two hours or so we would have to have sex. I had mixed feelings about that, once again. The flicker on the screen caught my attention and I rushed over to it.

There was a response and it read 'state your exact location'.

I did so, to the best of my knowledge, and sent the e-mail off. My father kept the exact location of this compound hidden from everyone, except his most trusted men. I had been blindfolded when I came here, but I knew roughly where we were.

A reply came surprisingly quickly. 'Where is she? Where are the others?'

"Victoria, come here and sit." She obeyed.

'She is beside me and can see the screen. Something has happened to her and she doesn't remember who she is.' "Victoria, who are these others that are referred to here," I asked pointing at the screen.

"I don't know."

I added to the message 'I know nothing of any others. Were there other girls with her?' and then clicked on the send button.

Again the reply was quicker than I expected. 'You are lying. You are alone in the room and there is no one on the chair beside you, sir. Stop wasting our time.'

My mouth dropped open. I muttered a few swear words and was ready to throw the monitor across the room, when I sudden and chilling calm came over me. The message indicated the sender knew exactly where I was and could see me. That meant it had to be my father's men, somehow able to see in a window. But, why the charade?

'Where are you? I really do know where she is.' I sent.

"The North Pole," said a man's voice. "Now stop wasting our time and tell us exactly what you know of Victoria Smart and the others."

I jumped. The man had an American accent so he was most definitely not one of my father's men. I spun around and did not see anyone else in the room.

"Yes, I can see you. But I am not there. Tell me what you know, now!"

"Can you hear me?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes." The voice sounded very frustrated. I could guess that Victoria's friends had been sent on many wild goose chases.

"You can see me?"

"Yes, as I already said," the impatient man replied.

I pointed at Victoria. "But you cannot see her sitting right there?"

"Okay, I've had enough."

"Are you still there?" There was no response. "Hello?"

"Why couldn't they see you, Victoria?"

"I don't know, Master." Her face showed no emotion.

"Why couldn't they see you?"

"I don't know, Master," she repeated in the same tone.

I supposed I could try and get them to 'see' me again and have Victoria type them a message on the computer or lift an object, but I was sure that would be dismissed as a parlour trick. I walked over to the bed and stretched out on it, with my hands behind my head.

Why couldn't they see her when they could see me? Was it because she wasn't behaving like herself? But I was behaving normally and they didn't even know me and saw me fine. But they couldn't see her?

The room was getting dark as night fell. I glanced at Victoria's fine face, lit up by the light from the computer screen. Maybe they have some sort of spy satellite and they only saw me through the window? I mentally figured out the angles and dismissed that notion as they had seen a seat beside me, but no Victoria.

How could they not have seen her? Father Christmas or Santa Clause is at the North Pole, if he can see all the children you'd think he could see one helpless young woman in desperate need of his help. Except he saw the children with magic, didn't he? So if Santa exists then some magic may be real and if magic may be real, maybe there is some magic concealing Victoria? But what magic?

I was grasping at straws. It would be better to be forced to make a new story for each of a thousand and one nights than try to solve this riddle.

While I was deep in thought, Victoria had come up beside the bed. "It is time, Master."

I opened my eyes and looked up at her. She was so beautiful. I felt my member rising at her mere presence beside the bed.

"Okay, take off your stuff and help me undress. Why don't you be on top, Victoria? You can control the insertion and make it as pleasurable for yourself as you can."

She slipped off her belt, dropping the loin cloth to the floor with it. She left her necklace on, though. Then she helped me undo my shirt and pants and slip them off. She climbed up onto the bed and squatted over my groin. Reaching under her, her gentle fingers wrapped around my shaft and she slowly eased herself down.

It felt marvellously tight and wet. She wiggled her bottom to get just the right position and then dropped to her knees. Victoria ran her hands over my chest slowly. Then she started bouncing just a little. Her necklace jingled as it bounced on her chest. She managed to squeeze with her pussy each time she rose, pulling me up from the bed a little. Then she increased the pace and I felt myself approaching an orgasm way too fast. I didn't understand why it was happening so fast, but if I got it over with then she was safe from me for another twelve hours.

I raised my hands to her breasts and played with them gently, hoping to increase her pleasure as well. But, I was too late. I felt myself thrust up and liquid pulsed forth from my cock. I gasped in pleasure. She was still bouncing on me and I could already feel myself growing flaccid.

"Victoria...I'm done. You can get off me now."

She silently lifted herself and then stepped off the bed.

I rolled off the other side of the bed and went into the bathroom. I grabbed a cloth and tossed it to Victoria. "You can clean yourself up and then get dressed again." I washed myself with water from the sink thinking that this was getting too easy for me and afraid to look at myself in the mirror. I was a coward.

I returned to the bed and dressed, staring at Victoria as I did so. She returned my stare unashamed and I averted my gaze. I looked down and the crystal on her necklace caught my eye. It seemed to fix itself in my mind.

Where had she found it? Who had given it to her? Someone who took away her memory and who didn't want her to know who she really was...could the person who took her memory and made her a slave also have given her the necklace? Then it must have a purpose, I deduced. He or she didn't want Victoria to know who she was so this person wouldn't want her friends finding her, either. Could the necklace somehow be preventing Victoria's friends form finding her?

To test this theory, I needed to remove her necklace. It would also give me a chance to examine the odd looking piece of jewellery. I needed to think this out, but I had so little time. I felt that to try to flee my father's compound with the girl would result in our capture fairly quickly, but if her friends were somehow able to help us then our chances of success would be improved.

"Victoria-M'Gwalla, lay on the bed and get some sleep. I'll wake you in a little bit."

She obediently laid herself down and closed her eyes. I watched her breathing slow.

Now what was I to do? I thought perhaps I could remove the necklace from her while she was sleeping and then contact her friends again. Maybe now they would be able to see her. I waited several minutes, until I was confident she was deeply asleep. Then I sat on the bed beside her and pondered how best to remove the necklace. Should I proceed slowly and gently or lift her and pull the necklace off quickly?

I decided my best course was to remove it slowly. I lifted her head with one hand cupped in her hair, then proceeded to gently lift the necklace from her chest. She did not stir and her breathing was steady. As I raised the front of the necklace over her face I thought I saw her eyes flicker and I froze. She remained asleep. I felt my time was running out, so I pulled the necklace over her head and lowered her head gently.

Her eyes flashed open and she howled. Her eyes darted this way and that and then focussed on me. She grabbed at me, curling her fingers into claws and scratching my chest. The glitter of the necklace caught her attention and she clutched at it and quickly put it back over her head.

She calmed immediately.

"Are you all right, M'Gwalla?"

"Yes, Master."

"Then rest some more."

She lay back down and closed her eyes again. I stood and paced around the room. How in the world was I going to get this necklace away from her long enough to contact her friends? I sat by the computer and began searching the internet for some information on this necklace, every once in awhile returning to where she lay and peering at it with out touching it.

An hour later and I was ready to hurl the computer through the window. My search had been completely fruitless. I lay my head on the table. If I was a religious man I would have prayed for help, but how could I believe in God when my father was such a devil?

I heard sporadic gunfire outside and I wandered over to the window. Outside, some of my father's men were firing at a ghost! The glowing spectre was translucent and colourless. It floated less than a meter above the ground and seemed to be wearing a long cloak, which hung in tatters. It glided across the compound, looking this way and that, as my father's men sought to shoot it down from a safe distance.

I had never heard of such a thing before, but then I had never believed that Father Christmas was real, either. Then I had the thought that perhaps the two were related. I looked at Victoria. Had I had the necklace off her long enough that her friends had become aware of where she was?

I went to the computer and there was a new message. As my heart thundered in my chest I read, 'we're coming!'

I had to get the necklace off her for long enough for them to know exactly where she was! I ran to the bed and shook her awake.

"M'Gwalla! I need to get the necklace off of you. How do I do that without you fighting me or making too much noise and without hurting you?"

"Gag me and then tie me up tightly first," she answered.

I slapped my forehead. It was so obvious, but I would never have connected binding her with freeing her. "M'Gwalla, gag yourself so you cannot make any loud noises. Then tie up your legs so you cannot walk or hurt yourself."

I ripped the sheets from the bed and began tearing them into strips. Once she had bound her legs tightly, I tied up her arms behind her and then tied her tightly in place on the bed. If she fought then she would get bruised, but she would not be seriously hurt. I would have to keep an eye on her just in case, though.

I took a deep breath and then pulled the necklace off of her. She moaned through her gag and tried to bite through it with her teeth. She bucked and stretched and fought against her bindings, but they held. I was terribly afraid that she would still hurt herself in her struggles, but I had to do this.

I raced to the computer and there was another message reading 'we can see both of you. Free her now. We are coming.'

As I turned back to look at her a movement by the window caught my attention. It was the ghost who had been wandering the compound. I ran to the window and threw it open. The spectra rushed past me, chilling my bare skin, and hovered by the bed apparently staring down at Victoria.

"Are you...are you here to help her?" I asked the thing.

It slowly turned to me and nodded. Then it pointed at some of her bindings.

"I cannot set her free," I said, lifting the necklace before me. "This is what has been keeping her hidden. For some reason she is compelled to wear it."

Some small lights suddenly darted past me and into the room from outside. They whirled around the ghost and then hovered over Victoria's struggling body, bathing her in a phosphorescent glow. The scene was both eerie and spiritual as I sensed the luminescent and wraith-like being were standing watch over her. I stood and watched in fascination as the smaller lights moved from her feet to her head and then spiralled in a chaotic dance before returning to her feet to begin the pattern again.

The door to my room burst open with a bang and my father stood there panting. "The men have seen..." he stopped as he spied what was happening on the bed. He started walking to the supernatural scene slowly, but froze in fury when he saw me race for the computer.

"Stop!" he commanded.

I did not stop so he pulled out his gun. Then I stopped. He looked at me and then back to my bed. He looked back at me and spied Victoria's necklace hanging from my hand.

"What have you done?"

"Hopefully, I've freed her, father," I said with defiance.

Shakra's eyes dropped to the computer, which I had been running to. His eyes narrowed and my heart shrivelled as I remembered that he could read some English.

"Come here," he ordered, pointing in front of him. He put his gun away.

I shuffled over to him, feeling like I was six years old. Completing the memory, he swung back his arm and slapped me across my face as hard as he could. I was knocked to the floor. I knew that there was no point in begging for mercy from him; it would only provoke him to further abuses.

"Do what you want to me, but her friends are coming to rescue her, Shakra." I spit out at him.

"I am your father!" he bellowed. "And you have betrayed me. I should shoot you down like a dog, like I did to your mother. But no, you are not worth the bullet. I will beat you to death with my own hands."

He advanced on me, his hands stretching out to me when he saw the look on my face and stopped. He recognized that I was not afraid of him. I felt utter contempt for him. Even when I was completely under his power he did not understand that I had won. We both knew he would kill me, but he sensed that killing me was winning the battle and losing the war. My blood ran cold as I saw him turn his head towards Victoria.

"You don't care if you die, right now. Shit, you expect to die. But you think you've saved that cow? I'll strangle the life from her as you watch and then I'll kill you."

He turned and headed for the bed and the girl, whom I had bound and made helpless! I scrambled to my feet and charged toward him. It was half stagger and half charge, but I managed to reach the bed just as he did. His hands reached down and encircled her throat.

I grabbed at his wrists, trying to pull him away but he was too powerful. I swung my fist, hitting him in the face, but he merely laughed. I was no match for him physically.

I looked into Victoria's eyes and saw no fear of dying. Even at this point her one obsession was to regain the necklace that I had stolen from her. How was I to stop this psychopath form murdering her in front of me? He was just too strong and I was just too weak.

I put my arms around his waist and tried to lever myself between him and the bed, but I didn't have the strength. However, my hand brushed against the handle of the gun. I withdrew it form its holster and stepped away from, pointing it at his head with my shaking hand.

He turned his head slowly on his thick neck and his eyes briefly flickered with fear. Then he smiled. "You are too much of a coward to shoot me, son. You couldn't kill me before and you can't do it now."

I briefly wondered where the spirits were and why they weren't helping Victoria. I couldn't see them and hadn't seen them since Shakra had approached the bed. I looked back at his grinning face, brought the gun up to his head and pulled the trigger.

The gun roared! Shakra stood perfectly still and I heard Victoria take in a great gasping breath. I pulled the trigger again. Another roar and I was jostled back by the recoil of the weapon. Shakra's head had a gaping hole in it and he slowly teetered away from me, like a falling tree. On the wall behind him was a large smear of blood and gore. I dropped the gun.

I found I was holding my breath and I suddenly let it out and then sucked in a great gulp of air. I tasted burnt flesh and looked at my hands, thinking I had burned them with the gun somehow. They were glistening with Shakra's blood.

I remembered the girl writhing on the bed and looked down at her. She was spattered with blood, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Her eyes were fixed on the necklace, partially hidden in my pocket, and she continued to struggle against her bonds with all her strength.

I went in to the washroom and looked in the mirror. The blood-covered face I saw was that of my father. I ran water and scrubbed away as much of the blood as I could and as fast as I could.

I headed back to the bedroom carrying a wet cloth and a small basin filled with water. Setting the basin on the night table, I picked up my holster and put it on. I wanted to be armed if some of Shakra's men showed up before Victoria's friends did. I began to wash the blood from Victoria's skin as best I could.

I heard laughing in the compound below. Apparently, the soldiers believed that Shakra had fired the shots, one to kill Victoria and one to kill me. None of them would want to approach this room soon, I hoped.

As I finished cleaning the girl, I began to wish that voice would speak to me again. I needed some reassurance that help was coming soon. And then I remembered that her friends were at the North Pole. It would take them several hours, under the best circumstances, to get here. It would be daylight then. I had to flee with Victoria before then or we would not leave this compound alive. I fished the necklace out of my pocket, realizing that I had to return this to her. If I was shot her friends might not find her, but at least she would be alive somewhere and not in the hands of Shakra's soldiers.

I took a closer look at the piece of jewellery. It was silver and there were beads of some sort of dark, opaque crystal, along with the large colourless crystal of quartz. The darker crystal almost looked like small scarabs. The thing looked and felt incredibly old. The name Set had been mentioned by someone and this necklace could have come from Egypt, originally.

There was a shout of warning in the compound below and then the popping of automatic gunfire. I approached the window slowly and peeked out. I could see muzzle flashes throughout the compound and through the open window I heard shouting from Shakra's men and the odd word in Russian!

Were the Russians here to help Victoria? I learned Russian when I was at school there, so I was fairly confident that I could convince them we were not dangerous. But wasn't there also some connections between Victoria and Russians? Something about a submarine? I had been awake too long and was not thinking clearly.

I went over to the bed.

"M'Gwalla. We're being rescued. Calm down. I am returning your necklace to you. Do you see it here?"

Her eyes focussed on the necklace and her struggles eased. I lifted her head and put the necklace back on her and she immediately calmed. I sat her on the edge of the bed and untied her hands and arms. Her smooth, white throat was bruised.

"Free yourself, M'Gwalla. I am going to find you some of my clothes so you will be presentable when they get here."

I walked a couple of steps when the door burst open again. I whirled about in surprise and saw three men burst into the room. All were dressed in dark clothes, had white skin and had automatic rifles ready for firing and aimed about the room.

Their eyes briefly set on Victoria. One of them cursed in Russian and turned to me, bringing his gun to bear on me.

Everything happened quickly. There was a flash of grey at the window and, as I raised my hands in a defensive gesture, the wraith returned and flew in front of me. The Russian fired. I felt a streak of white-hot pain in my right shoulder, let out a cry and fell to the floor.

Before my eyes closed, I saw one of the Russians pull off his jacket and drape it over Victoria while he said something to her in English.