Dark Days (Written Pictures #2) (29 page)

CHAPTER LXIV – Threats Everywhere

A lazy evening followed a lazy afternoon and an even lazier morning. The little cat dozed in blissful half-sleep, content with the achievements of her day. Breakfast had been an exertion that warranted full focus on a nap, while the herculean effort of waking from it called for another one.

Six naps down, two to go, she was right on track; her day had been a day of sweeping success. The legs had delivered her food right on cue and they had prepared chicken, which was always worth a little extra attention to clean every last morsel from her whiskers. They had even kept the pill out today. Well, at least she thought they had - it was difficult to tell. That gravy had been so delicious she had rushed it more than was ideal for pill-hunting purposes.

The legs had been rewarded with a nuzzle. They deserved that for their obedience. If her dinner was on time too and was fish, which she always preferred after chicken, they may get laid across as well. Now though, there were other priorities and so with a high-arching stretch, the little cat slipped off the king size bed to her manicure station, satisfied to have left enough fur behind to let them know she had visited.

Reaching up, she anchored extended claws and hunkered back. It was so thoughtful of them to locate her manicure point right below her bed and the little cat started to pull her claws on the upholstered divan. Ears back, she concentrated hard.

Two sharp claps came from the legs as they entered the room and she was almost embarrassed by the applause she was receiving. The shout was a little too much for sensitive ears though and so, letting go of her pull on the furniture, the little cat shot between legs and out into the lounge, drifting at full speed around the corner of armchair.

They could be noisy things sometimes these legs. Clearly they liked it that way. The little cat resolved to surprise them with noise of her own later, right when they were at their quietest, when they were asleep just so they could appreciate it the most.

Screeching to a halt, the little cat froze in disgust. There, directly in front of her was her most hated rival. It often came to visit her empire, audaciously watching her without fear. It was always in the same place and she had never once managed to scare it away. Today though, she was on nap-track and so really on her game. To be polite, the little cat warned it with an agitated flick of her tail, only to be answered with a flick of its own.

She had never known such audacity. It was a true affront and even with her finest tail flicking, it flicked right back. Narrowing her eyes, she cocked her head yet it did the same, mocking her with its mimicry. There was only one thing for it and with a growl in her throat, the little cat cranked up the arms race another notch.

There was no growl back, no answer to match this time. Only her growl could be heard and the little cat smiled inside at the fulfilment of her inevitable victory. After all, there was nothing that could withstand her fury – they all bowed to her will in the end.

== ~ ==

Amber curled her legs under her and snuggled back into the waiting arms of Kat. “I’m sure she thinks she’s looking at another cat you know honey,” she observed casually, watching the little cat eyeing the reflection of herself in the mirror.

Kat’s attention though was miles away, thousands of miles away to be precise and enveloping Amber in her arms, she kissed the top of her head, forcing a weak smile. Sensing tension, Amber looked up, twisting to look her lover in the eyes. “She’ll be alright sweetie, she’s stronger than she looks you know.”

And as silence wrapped them and they held on to each other for mutual reassurance, their thoughts were on Mela and her mission.

CHAPTER LXV – Farmed Out

The rise of the hill protected her from sight and working round its flank, Raven could move more freely in its lee. Picking a way between loose rocks, a process made more difficult by her swollen and partially closed eye, each stride took her further away from the threat of the hunt. As she scrabbled through the scree, she was buoyed by the realisation that she would become increasingly difficult to track.

It has hard. With each step the loose top of the surface slithered downhill and threatened both to steal her footing and betray Raven with tell-tale puffs of dust, despite the brief rain shower earlier. Her progress slowed and even though the spikey heels threatened to break her neck should she make a careless step, she was glad of the boots, a protective layer between her feet and the sharp stones.

Her pace was barely above a crawl now but it was nevertheless a crawl away from them, from
her
. Though the Jester was maniacally unpredictable and dangerous, the more she thought about it, the more confident she was that she could handle him. He was a man after all and with a pop of the hips and lick of the lips he would be putty in her hands, begging to fuck her like they all did. Even the most stubborn cracked in the end.

Natalia though was a vastly different proposition. There was no sex there, nothing to work with and Raven’s ultimate weapon was therefore completely neutered. All she saw was hatred and Raven suspected that hatred had deep foundations. In all the times they had faced each other, she had seen nothing beyond it, not even a flicker.

Unadulterated hatred with nothing to temper it bred a fear Raven hadn’t felt before. She liked pain, indeed she positively thrilled to the sexual potential of it. Giving it, taking it, so intertwined was it in her head that the merest caress of a whip fired a physical arousal within her. Pain without a sexual frisson though was just, well, pain and it scared her that Natalia spelt just that.

Or perhaps she had been too focussed on Alexei and hadn’t really tried with Natalia. It was difficult to say, and even trying something to entice her may just end up making things worse. The thought was desperate, and stupid.

What was crystal clear to Raven was that if Natalia found her, she hated her enough to keep her alive and that what she had experienced so far would be just an hors d’oeuvres to what would undoubtedly follow.

So despite the screaming fatigue in her muscles, the struggle of every step on the loose rock, she had to go on.

== ~ ==

The dust from the bike ahead burnt his eyes and Alexei had to squint to see the way. He had to stay at the head of the pack. While he suspected what Natalia had in her mind, he had no idea what that red-haired idiot would do.

While he was learning to distrust his little sister, he trusted the Jester even less and always had. He had been brought into the house because as well as a spontaneity and mirth, he didn’t turn away from helping with the dirty things that others wouldn’t do. Yet it was becoming more obvious that with him also came a chaos that could so easily become destructive.

He had a look about him as he tracked Raven on his bike that spelt trouble for the woman Alexei wanted. He spurred his horse forward again. To hell with Natalia. To hell with the consequences.

== ~ ==

By keeping the sun roughly to her right as it approached the height of day, Raven continued to head east, away from the danger and further out into the countryside. The scree field had given way to upland scrub and she was able to quicken her pace, taking care to keep off the ridge's crest to avoid being silhouetted.

Dropping down further to keep away from the ridge as it fell away from its heights, she caught the fragrant welcome of fruit trees, triggering a single thought: hunger. Raven twisted an apple from a low-hanging branch before pushing on, deeper into the heart of the ancient orchard.

Watchful eyes noted her progress.

== ~ ==

The Jester was gunning and speeding his motorbike along the rocky road, then stopping abruptly every few hundred metres to crane his scrawny neck down. Alexei’s doubts were growing – she would not have been stupid enough to just follow the path. The fool didn’t have a clue.

Reigning in his horse, he allowed the rest of the party to engulf then overtake him. When they were all ahead, he looked back, peering into the skies for his beloved falcon.

The sun was bright and it was difficult to see. Shading his eyes, Alexei scanned the horizon. The boundary of his estate was long gone, set in a valley as it was and he traced his eyes along the ridge looking for his prized bird, always an invaluable aid to his hunts.

He spotted her way in the distance and while he couldn’t make out detail, she appeared to be hovering, as she was bred to when sighting her prey. He looked down at the path, which was far too rocky to track anything properly, the Jester’s headlong dash more madness than method. Alexei trusted the falcon far more than the fool on the bike.

Leaving the Jester to his inane pursuit was a risk should he actually be right. But he trusted his falcon. With a dig of his heels, Alexei hauled his horse around and galloped away on nothing but a gamble, a gamble that did not go entirely unnoticed.

== ~ ==

Breathlessness usually came in the bedroom rather than open country, though there was that one time when she was younger. Raven’s muscles burnt and she had jarred her shoulder clambering over an orchard wall, leaving her cursing Murphy’s Law, and then everyone else as the throbbing continued. Fatigue was creeping toward overruling other concerns. Tossing the remains of the apple away, she looked for a safe place to rest.

Edging down the slope alongside the wall, she soon came across a dilapidated farmhouse with three partial walls and no roof. It wasn’t ideal but it would protect her from being seen by anyone unless they were close. She really needed to catch her breath and think and taking another apple from the last tree before the ruined building, Raven headed inside.

The large fireplace would once have been the focus of the house. Cooking, heating, baking, all would have happened there and with part of the chimney still intact, it was big enough to crouch inside to get some respite from the midday sun.

It was a building that had been built to last. With thick stone walls, it was reminiscent of the building she had first sheltered in when running from home all those years ago. That had been where time for safe reflection had helped see Raven ultimately born. It would serve her well for now, at least until she was strong enough to put more distance between herself and captivity.

Nestling into the remains of the fireplace, Raven relaxed for the first time she could remember and bit down into the red-green apple. Sweet and brimming with juice, it nourished her spirit as much as her hunger and she closed her eyes in a rare moment of contentment as the fruit released sweet sugars onto her tongue and smoothed down her parched throat.

== ~ ==

Alexei watched his precious bird swooping then soaring, finding the thermal and adjusting her position again. He could see more of the fine colouring of her plumage now and he kicked his horse on, keen to find if what he instinctively felt was indeed right.

When they reached the scree field, he slowed his horse to let him pick his own way across the loose surface. The stallion had been with Alexei since his teens and keen as he was to make progress, he didn’t want his ageing horse hurt.

Once clear, the falcon told him that he was close. Alexei could see the effort she was putting in just to stay in place above a building he remembered from childhood. With a whistle, Alexei acknowledged her effort and the falcon landed on the top of the chimney.

Alexei dismounted, secured the reigns around a low hanging branch of a nearby tree and moved as quietly as he could toward the ruins of the old farmhouse.

He had once known the house well, having come here as a child. It had been his fort, where he had battled all manner of demons not dissimilar to the one he had become himself.

Power, pride and revenge had driven his every act, shaped every decision and now he wondered if he had been blinded to what was really important. She was that. Everything else could go to hell, right now he just wanted her.

Was it love? He didn’t really know what that was. But if love made you feel that there was no single thing in life more important then yes, it was love. If someone monopolised every single thought and compelled every single act then yes, it was love. If you instinctively knew when someone was close then yes, it was love.

Love or not, he had to find her, had to make her sure she knew she was safe with him and he could feel that she was close. Alexei stretched to peer over the ragged wall, heart pounding. The first thing he saw was a half-eaten apple on the floor and then, rising further, the scuffed leather of a heeled boot. His heart seemed to leap into his mouth as his gaze trailed upward along the endless length of leg and the lean body he had enjoyed just once, only a short while before.

He could smell her. God, how he wanted to hold her again and this time he would never let her go. Family or not, Natalia would be dealt with. With a dry mouth and racing heart, Alexei moved to what was left of the doorway and passed inside.

== ~ ==

Her dreams struggled to rationalise the horrors she had endured. Images flickered and flared triggering feelings, fears and phobias to first well up then wane as her subconscious hurried from one topic to the next.

Raven stretched out, reaching for the pillow so she could press it against her head to slow it all down but all she found was the rock of the chimney. A jolt of reality fed all the way up her arm and into her shoulder, nudging her conscious mind forward with a moan of frustration and discomfort.

She wasn’t in her bed and moving her leg, she realised that she wasn’t chained to one either. As her mind slowly clicked into gear, Raven remembered the Jester, how he had fallen across her, how she had run and the difficulty of crossing the scree field. She remembered now. That was why she wasn’t in her bed. She was in a farmhouse and needed to push on but when she opened her eyes, a figure was standing over her.

== ~ ==

Alexei watched her stir and imagined watching that every morning as the sun streamed through curtains and he held her. The stretching of her leg seemed to lengthen something that already ran forever and when she reached her arm sleepily back, he had to admire how the latex of her now tarnished catsuit strained across her breast.

She was enough to rearrange your world - the priorities in his had already been changed dramatically. Alexei had planned her to be his crowning glory, a celebration and maybe she would still be that, but she had changed the ‘how’. Many things had changed, he had changed. She would not be some kind of toy to take out, fuck and forget until his next erection needed an outlet. No. She would adorn his arm and enjoy his bed. An equal. His love.

As her eyelids edged open he welcomed her awakening with a smile and stretched out a hand to help her up, seeing beyond her bruising to the beauty that would always lie beneath.

Opening his large hand, the smile danced across Alexei’s lips and into his eyes. “Come back, Jacqueline,” he said softly.

== ~ ==

Alexei?! The shock of seeing him sent her sleepy senses into instant overload. He had inflicted so much on her and yet, and
yet
, there was something that called to her, something that whispered deeper within her as she looked nonplussed into his sparkling eyes. She was cornered. She had nowhere left to run, but that wasn’t her concern. Even in the open she would have frozen as she did, head and heart racing just looking at him.

He had called her Jacqueline. Not Raven. Not Ki-Ki. Not some sadistically spat insult. Jacqueline. His voice; softer,
real
and in his eyes there was the promise of things she had barely allowed herself to dream of. In that moment, two screamingly solitary souls connected for eternity and entwined in a look that spoke a thousand silent words.

The sceptic within her saw a ploy to lull and lure her back to the misery of his house but she wanted to believe in more than that. She wanted to be Jacqueline again and in her heart she knew she could be Jacqueline with him.