Beast of Caledonia (14 page)

Annachie and Jacob were also confined to land during the
storms. Annachie would do as much work outside as he could, but most often the
foul weather kept him shut indoors. As time went on, he grew more and more
impatient for spring. But he still didn’t know where he and Sara would end up.
Rather, he thought, the three of us.

I am going to be a father.
As Sara’s belly grew
larger and he felt his child kicking inside her, he marveled at that fact. And
vowed to himself that he would give up his life if necessary to protect them.

Sara and Rachel talked and sewed infants’ clothes, and
Rachel prepared Sara for the impending birth. Soon, she began to feel
comfortable and safe with Micah’s family.

But she and Annachie both were careful not to let their
guard down. And there were still times when an overwhelming sense of foreboding
would come over her and a pang of fear shoot through her.

* * * * *

“It is time to go, your grace.”

Lucius looked up to see his young assistant standing in the
doorway to the Pontifex Maximus’ office. “Yes, I am coming.”

It was one of his duties to perform rites at the Vestal’s
tomb to appease her ghost and ensure the welfare of the empire. Usually, Lucius
enjoyed this duty, but today he dreaded it. Not because it didn’t give him
great pleasure to imagine the corpse of that sinful girl rotting away beneath the
slab. Oh, no, he liked the thought of that.

But today, the ground was covered in a thick layer of snow
and he knew his old bones would suffer because of it. He had rarely seen snow
in his lifetime, and never this much of it, especially in
Februarius
. It
is her doing, he thought, the little bitch.

It still galled him that Antoninus had let the woman be
admitted to the ranks of the Vestals. Too old, scarred, it was sacrilege to
even consider her as one of the purest of women in the empire. No wonder she
had broken her vow; he recognized the weakness of her character as soon as he
saw her.
Now she even vexes me from the grave by sending this abysmal
weather.

He donned his warmest robes and cape and followed the
younger man down the street to the Colline Gate. The guards unlocked the heavy
iron doors and Lucius and the boy walked through. He was not surprised to see
that none of the citizens had come here today; as much as they had lamented the
Vestal’s actions, it was obviously not enough to bring them out in such foul
weather. He was glad of that for it meant he could rush through the service and
get back to his warm rooms in the
Regia
.

He began to recite the words carefully, having never done
this before. But as he looked down at the slab over the tomb, something about
it kept niggling at the back of his consciousness. It didn’t look right for
some reason, but with his mind preoccupied trying to remember the words of the
service, he could not figure out what was wrong.

To make matters worse, it had started to snow again. He
watched the snow start to pile up on the top of the tomb. He followed one
particularly large flake as it fell…

And then it struck him.

Lucius’ words stopped in mid-sentence.

Whereas the snow had built up in a small mound on three
sides of the slab over the grave, on a portion of the fourth side there was
nothing. Literally nothing. No snow lay there, only a dark, unbroken line.

He stepped closer and looked down at the tomb.

“I’ll be damned,” he said.

Chapter Twelve

For several days, Sara had been feeling uneasy. She tried to
brush it off as anxiety about her impending labor. But deep inside, she feared
it was more than that, a premonition perhaps that something was going to happen
to her or Annachie…or both of them. She knew she had to have a plan for their
baby if her worst fears were realized.

She broached the subject with Rachel one day as they kneaded
dough for bread for that evening’s meal. “Rachel, will you promise me
something?” Sara asked.

“Of course,” Rachel replied. “We have become close friends.
If there is something I can do for you, I shall.”

“If anything happens to me after the baby is born, will you
take care of him? Raise him as your own, until he is old enough that Annachie
can take him away from here?”

“Oh, Sara, you mustn’t say that. Do not even think it.
Nothing is going to happen. You and Annachie are safe and when the babe is
born, the three of you can go where you will be forever safe.”

“I pray that you are right. But I shall not be easy until we
are away from here, hopefully beyond the emperor’s reach.” If there is such a
place, Sara thought.

“Well, even though I am sure everything will be all right, I
would be honored to care for your child…until you can come back for him and
care for him yourself.”

“Thank you, you have taken quite a burden off my mind. And
Rachel…tell Annachie not to come after me. His son will need him and I will not
have him throw his life away to save me.”

Rachel hugged Sara as closely as their bellies would allow.
But she did not promise the last favor Sara asked.

* * * * *

Rachel’s promise to care for their baby eased Sara’s
mind…enough so that in bed that night, she had other things on her mind.

“Annachie?”

“Aye?”

“Are you very tired?”

His laugh was deep and gravelly, a sound that always gave
Sara a shiver of longing. “I know what that question means. I think I told you
once—I shall never be too tired to love you. But you are only about a month
away from giving birth. I do not think it would be a good idea to—”

“I know what you are going to say, but you will not hurt us.
I have thought of a way we can make love that will be very gentle.”

He chuckled again. “Have you now? And is that how you spend
your time, thinking of ways to make love?”

“A good part of my time, yes.” She grinned at him.

“Well, then, show me this method you have thought of.”

“We will get to it…eventually.” She nuzzled his ear, sending
chills from his head to his toe. Down his neck, across his chin, she kissed him
until he thought he would go mad if she did not find his mouth soon. And then
she did. She parted her lips, sucked his tongue into her sweet mouth. His cock
rose between them, straining to find its home inside her. She slid farther down
in the bed until she was level with his chest. With the tip of her tongue, she
bathed each flat nipple until it hardened, then nipped it with her teeth. Oh,
that such a tiny pain could bring such pleasure, he marveled.

She rose over him, and with her lips, traced the path of
fine dark golden hair down his belly to the thick curls surrounding his shaft.
When her nose nudged his engorged flesh, he gasped. Against his thigh, he could
feel the infant kicking. For a moment, his worry about hurting her or their
child by doing this so close to her lying in almost stopped him. Almost…but he
knew he was too far gone at that point. He had to find release.

And he was more than curious about what she had planned.

Still, when her lips closed over his phallus, he almost came
in her mouth. “Sara, have pity. I cannot hold out much longer.”

She giggled. “All right. Turn on your side.”

He did as she asked. They had made love on their sides
before, face to face. But now that her belly was so big with his child, it was
no longer an option. Still he wondered what would be different. Then, with her
next action, he knew.

She lay on her back and scooted close to him, in contact
with his groin. She raised her legs and rested them over his hip. Then she
reached down between her legs and guided his shaft into her opening.

“By the gods,” he breathed.

She grinned at him. “So you like it.”

“Oh, yes, I like it very much,” he replied. He leaned up on
his elbow and kissed her breast, tracing the paths of the blue veins beneath
her white skin, while his other hand slid over her swollen belly and slipped
between her legs.

“Oh, Annachie.”

“Now it is my turn to torture you,” he said, between
nibbling and licking her nipple. He tightened his buttocks and eased himself in
and out of her passage.

“Ah, such sweet torture it is.” Sara gasped as Annachie
traced her nether lips with his finger. She felt herself becoming wetter and
wetter, the moisture seeping out around his flesh as he stroked her. When he
found her sensitive nub of flesh, she cried out softly and pressed tighter
against him.

She leaned slightly to the side and probed between Annachie’s
legs until she found his sac. She gently rolled his testicles in her hand until
he too cried out.

One last stroke of her swollen bud sent her over the edge.
He stiffened against her and she felt his hot seed spilling inside her.

It was some time before they were able to catch their
breaths and longer still before Sara lowered her legs to the bed. She was
reluctant to break the connection between them. For some reason, she had the
feeling it would be a long time before they would be this close again.

* * * * *

“It is impossible!”

“I would have thought so too,
Dominus
, but it is
true. The slab has been moved and her body is not in there.” Lucius’ knees
shook as he faced the emperor. The Pontifex Maximus prayed Antoninus would not
somehow blame him for the girl’s disappearance. But it was under his auspices
that the sinful Vestal had been tried and punished. Damn the little whore, he
thought.
She haunts me still.

“We do not know when the grave was opened or that she was
alive, Sire, when she was taken from the grave. Someone could have simply taken
her body.”

Antoninus growled in Lucius’ face. “You had best hope it was
the latter.” He began to pace about the room. “First a virgin conception, now a
‘stone’ rolled away. This has an oddly familiar ring to it. Are you telling me
this is another “divine intervention” by that god of the Christians?”

Spittle flew from the emperor’s mouth, and Lucius found
himself leaning backward to try to avoid being sprayed. “Of course not, Sire.
She must have had help.”

“I know that, you idiot, but who? Who could have done it?”

Frightened by Antoninus’ anger, Lucius could only whisper,
“I do not know,
Dominus
.”

“I want to send soldiers to look for her, but where would
they begin? She could be anywhere in the empire by this time.”

“Excellent point, Sire, excellent point.”

Antoninus gave him a jaundiced look and Lucius felt a chill
go through him.

* * * * *

“
Soldiers!
” Micah gasped as he burst through the
front door. “Soldiers are coming.”

Rebekah, Sara and Rachel had just finished clearing away the
evening meal, while Annachie and Jacob mended nets for the next day’s catch.
Micah had been returning from taking the families’ waste buckets to the city’s
public latrines for dumping. He would bend over and exaggerate his limp to make
people think he was an old man. He said he didn’t mind this duty, but Sara
always wondered how the boy could stand to perform such a noisome task.

Tonight, however, she was glad, for that was when Micah saw
the soldiers. She knew the emperor would not waste his valuable manpower
searching for two escaped slaves.

It could only mean that Antoninus knew
she
had
escaped.

She stared at Annachie, a shiver racking her body. To be
found now, when they were so close to getting away was unthinkable. “Annachie?”
she whispered.

He nodded. “Aye, they must know.”

Rebekah was the first to move. “Quickly,” she ran into her,
now their, bedroom. Sara heard her release the mechanism hidden in the wall.

Annachie got up and took Sara’s hand. “Come,
nighean
.”

Sara nodded and followed him into the room…then stopped
abruptly.

The bed was up against the wall, and the black maw of the
hiding place gaped before her.

“An-Annachie, I can’t.” She hadn’t realized she was staring
at the hole until Annachie took her by the shoulders and shook her gently.

“Sara, listen to me. You know the fate that awaits us if
they find us here. But if you really cannot go down there, we will take our
chances.”

“I cannot do it, Annachie, I cannot…do it.” She was sobbing
now.

He took her in his arms. “All right, all right. But we must
leave here and find another place to hide. Rebekah and her family are also in
danger if we stay here.”

Sara had not thought of that. She turned to Rebekah.
“Rebekah, I—”

“Do not worry, Sara, we will be fine. I know how hard this is
for you.”

“No,” Sara said, coming to her senses. “No, I will not put
you at risk after all you have done for us.” She turned to Annachie, and
nodded. “Help me down.” Yet even as she said it she realized she was still
shaking.

He gave a quick hug. “That is my brave Sara. Come.”

He went first, then reached up to help her down. As soon as
Rebekah dropped the trap door back into place, however, Sara’s courage failed
her. There was no light at all in the tight space. And the smell, oh gods, the
smell was the same as her burial chamber in Rome. She could feel one wall of
the enclosure against her back. If she reached around Annachie, she knew she
would be able to touch the other side. Her shaking increased until her teeth
chattered.

Annachie’s strong arms engulfed her. “Sara, everything is
all right, I am here with you. I will never leave you, I will never let
anything bad happen to you, ever again, I swear it.”

She buried her face in the crook of his shoulder. “Annachie,
I am so afraid.”

His warm breath tickled her ear as he whispered, “Do not be
afraid, my little love. When the soldiers have gone away, Rebekah will come for
us and let us out of here.”

A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to Sara. “What if
Rebekah and the others are killed? No one knows we are here. No one will come
to let us out. We will both be buried alive.” As a scream built in her throat,
she burrowed into Annachie’s shoulder to mute it as best she could.