by HP Mallory
Am I correct to imagine you discarded the phone I gave to you while you were still in the Dark Wood? he texted back immediately. Alaire must have had nothing to do and all day to do it in, because whenever I responded to one of his texts, his reply invariably arrived within the next five seconds. Or have you decided to make the Dark Wood your new home because you have not changed your position in … oh, let’s see … four days.
So you did have the phone bugged! I wrote immediately as instantaneous annoyance snaked up my back. I was suddenly grateful that Tallis had launched the phone elsewhere. I should have known better than to trust any gift that came from you!
I readily admit that your trips through the haunted realms continue to concern me. I had to know whether or not you made it out alive. As you, no doubt, already must sense, I have become quite enamored with you. Consequently, your comings and goings do not cease to concern me.
What a load of bullshit! I texted back, boiling with rage. Admit the truth, which we both know lies along the lines of your intention to keep closer tabs on me.
I believe keeping “closer tabs” on you is just another way of expressing the same notion, Ms. Harper, he responded. His cool calm and calculated guise dripped from his words, which irritated me all the more.
And bravo on your pun.
What are you talking about? I asked immediately, stifling the anger that was clouding my brain, if only temporarily.
Your pun on the word “lies,” he replied. Shall I guess it was not intentional?
Of course it was, I responded. And no, I hadn’t even realized I’d made a pun; but I didn’t want to seem unawares. In general, Alaire drew great satisfaction from having the upper hand and on touting his supremacy in all things. The last thing I wanted to do was suggest I thought he was in any way better than I was.
I’m only interested in the reason why you’re texting me, I added.
Ah, getting down to the brass tacks, are we? I could see the smirk on his face as I read his words. Frowning, my eyebrows furrowed in the middle of my forehead.
Stop stalling, I replied. Why are you texting me?
I shall answer you, my dear, and it is for two reasons, he replied. After three or four seconds, which he used as a dramatic device, he typed the rest of his reply. The first reason, as I’ve already admitted, was merely to establish you were not dead, as suggested by the discarded phone …
I recall, I interrupted him. And the second reason?
The second reason is because I would like to cash in on that small favor you owe me. I daresay you have not forgotten it?
Of course, I haven’t forgotten it! I typed back right away. As if anyone could forget owing the devil a favor!
Very good, my dear.
After waiting ten seconds for him to expound further, when he didn’t, I texted: Were you planning to tell me just what you had in mind? Or am I supposed to guess what it is?
If it pleases you to know, I shall happily tell you.
Nothing involving you pleases me, I replied haughtily. Then I wondered if I should cool my jets a bit. It probably wasn’t a good idea to deliberately offend or piss him off since I’d never experienced or witnessed Alaire’s temper. It wasn’t too far-fetched to imagine he might explode at some point. I mean, there was only so long he could tolerate playing the calm role and appearing unruffled before getting fed up with my obstinance. And then who really knew what might happen?
I should like that to change in time, Ms. Harper, he answered; I was grateful that his tail feathers seemed unruffled by my sarcasm. Do not forget that we have just made one another’s acquaintance, and are still in the infancy of our affair. There is still so much for us to learn about the other.
And that was exactly the way I wanted to keep things! Naturally, I didn’t voice my thoughts to him. His referring to our feeble acquaintanceship as an affair also bothered me. Just tell me the favor you’d like me to do for you, I answered. Yes, I wanted to get right down to the subject at hand, or the “brass tacks,” as he’d referred to earlier.
When next you venture to my city, I request you retrieve an object for me, he responded, completely perplexing me. Once you have acquired said object, you shall dine with me and then you may be free to go on your way.
An object? I repeated as my eyes narrowed. It’s your city so why can’t you just go get whatever it is yourself?
Perhaps I shall enlighten you as to my reasons in time.
What is the object you want me to retrieve? I texted back.
Never forget, my dear, that curiosity killed the cat.
I wasn’t sure what to make of Alaire’s annoying response, and of course, my doubts continued to plague me but I figured the situation was what it was. The sooner I could get this favor taken care of, the better.
Do we have a deal then? Alaire persisted.
I paused for a few seconds and inhaled deeply as I wondered what he had up his sleeve. Was the favor I owed so easy to repay? And what, exactly, was this object I was meant to retrieve? Furthermore, why couldn’t Alaire just get off his lazy ass and get whatever he wanted himself? I shrugged while the unanswered questions continued to bombard me. Then, taking a deep breath, I figured maybe I should just accept that this favor wasn’t going to be quite as difficult as I’d assumed.
Or maybe I was just a victim of wishful thinking?
“If they were banished, they returned on all sides...”
- Dante’s Inferno
TEN
Hearing a brief knock and the subsequent opening of the front door, a wave of exasperation overtook me. Turning around, I yelled: “Bill! It hasn’t been two hours yet! Barely ten minutes …” I was compelled to swallow the rest of my words as soon as I identified the massive body looming in the doorway.
“Tallis?” I asked, the doubt in my voice making my entire body tremble.
“Aye,” he answered before clearing his throat and diverting his attention to the ground. He looked completely uncomfortable. Well, worse than that, he also looked out of place. That, of course, was due to how he was dressed—in jeans. And a pair of jeans on Tallis Black was definitely a strange sight to see.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, not meaning to sound rude, despite how the words tumbled out of my mouth seemingly of their own accord.
“Ah came tae check oan ye,” he answered stiffly as he cleared his throat again. He glanced around the inside of my house showing feigned interest, or at least, that’s what it looked like to me. His eyes darted this way and that, but refused to meet mine. If I hadn’t known better, I might have thought that Tallis looked nervous.
“Oh,” I started when I realized how impolite I was by not inviting him inside. “Would you like to come in?”
He responded with a brief nod and then showed himself through the door, standing awkwardly in front of me as soon as he crossed the threshold. His dark blue jeans were paired with a white T-shirt, the seams of which seemed ready to burst from the broad expanse of his shoulders and back. Clasping his hands in front of him, he looked like he was anxious for his first day of school.
“Well, I’m feeling lots better,” I announced with a timid smile. I was grasping for words, something more to say because he wasn’t saying anything. We both just stood there, me looking at him while he looked at the floor. The silence stretched between us and pretty soon it became glaringly uncomfortable. Searching desperately for an innocuous subject to discuss, I scanned my apartment, hoping to spot a piece of furniture, or a painting, a knickknack, or anything of interest that might spark a conversation. But nothing I saw seemed story worthy.
So I returned my attention to Tallis and couldn’t resist taking him in from head to toe. I also couldn’t hide the smile that tugged at my lips at how completely ridiculous he looked in his jeans and T-shirt. Not that jeans were especially comical in general, but on Tallis, they just didn’t work. It was as preposterous as Zeus going for the Marlboro Man. All he needed was a cowboy hat.
“Whit?” he d
emanded as he frowned down at me.
Instantly striving to stifle my inner amusement, I diverted my eyes to the ground and chewed on my lip. I had to use all my will power to keep from laughing. As I cleared my throat, I strove to keep my wits about me.
“Whit?” he repeated, and his tone of voice was downright annoyed.
“You just … ahem … you just look kind of … silly,” I answered, motioning to his outfit before I emitted a strange, giggling sound.
“Silly?” he repeated with another frown, rubbing the back of his head as if he didn’t know the meaning of the word. When he cleared his throat for the third time, he glared at me.
“Yeah, it’s just the … the way you’re dressed,” I explained. “I’m not used to it, I guess.” I tried to hoist myself out of the hole I’d unwittingly gotten into. “You don’t really look like your usual self,” I finished with another hurried laugh that I automatically turned into a smile, which I then hid by chewing my lip again.
“Ah care not tae dress like this,” he responded with turned-down lips. Tallis definitely didn’t appreciate humor when it was at his expense.
“Then why?” I started.
“Ah try nae tae stand oot when Ah travel oot o’ the Dark Wood,” he replied with a shrug. He crossed his arms over his chest as if he felt as out of place as he looked. That was probably very close to the truth …
“Oh,” I answered with a nod as I worried if I’d offended him. “It’s not like you look bad or anything,” I continued, “except I’m just not used to seeing you dressed in anything but a kilt.”
“Ah dinnae want tae stand oot,” he repeated, apparently assuming I’d missed that much the first time around.
I smiled more broadly. “Well, just so you’re aware, even when you’re dressed like that, you still stand out.”
There was no way Tallis couldn’t command attention, no matter where he went. His looming height, incredibly broad build, and perpetual scowl all ensured the attention of everyone who saw him. Yep, there was no playing Where’s Waldo? with Tallis.
“Ah said Ah try,” he answered with a heavy sigh, drawing his eyebrows into a haughty expression. “Ah didnae say Ah soocceed.”
Without further comment, I unilaterally decided to change the subject. “Are you thirsty? Or hungry? I don’t have much in the pantry, but I could make you some coffee. And there’s milk and maybe even—” I rattled on before he interrupted me.
“Ah also came tae inquire aboot yer lessons.”
“My lessons?” I repeated. Frowning, I drew a blank. Hadn’t I just been offering him a refreshment?
“Aye!” he answered with a firm nod. “Ye moost nae forgit tae practice yer sword fightin’ nor trainin’ yer body tae ready it fer combat.”
“Oh,” I replied glumly. The image of my personal trainer, Ael, whom Tallis had brought me to in his attempt to tone my body into proper fighting shape, detonated in my brain like a bomb. Ael was a demon; so to say the training sessions were never easy would have been putting it very mildly. They were literal torture. So, yes, I wasn’t particularly thrilled to resume my physical training. As for my swordplay, Tallis did have a good point. Soul Retrievers had to be prepared to battle any of the various creatures of the Underground City. I couldn’t allow myself to slack when it came to swordplay. My sword was basically the only thing standing between me and certain death.
“Ah will take ye oop oan ah glass o’ milk,” Tallis interjected suddenly as he headed toward the kitchen and pulled out one of the stools in front of the bar. The stool creaked and groaned as soon as he sat down on it, and I half wondered if the cheap pine could support his massive weight.
“Oh,” I answered, resigned to having my thoughts blindsided again. “Sure,” I said as I followed him into the kitchen. His immense presence nearly encompassed the smallish space. I had to sidle up next to him in order to reach the fridge. When my hip accidentally grazed his, he immediately withdrew, pulling away from me, as if I’d just burned him. Refusing to get offended, I retrieved a glass from the cabinet and opened the fridge for the milk as I turned to face him.
“So when are we supposed to resume my physical training?” I asked as I poured a glass of milk and handed it to him.
“Thank ye,” he said with a quick nod before downing the contents in two gulps. He put the glass back on the granite countertop with a little too much gusto and the glass made a loud slapping sound but, luckily, didn’t break.
“You’re welcome,” I answered with a hesitant laugh, wishing I didn’t always feel so goofy around Tallis. Would the moment ever come when I could just comfortably be myself while in his presence?
“As tae yer lessons, there is nae time like the present,” he said as he stood up. I half wondered if he planned to pull out his sword and challenge me to a duel right there in my living room.
“Right now?” I asked.
“May Ah bother ye fer another glass o’ milk?” he interrupted me.
“Sure,” I answered, taking his glass and setting it on the counter before retrieving the milk carton again. After refilling his glass and handing it to him, an important topic suddenly flashed in my edgy mind. “By the way, Alaire texted me in regard to that favor I owe him,” I said while Tallis reached for the milk.
It wasn’t so much that I watched the glass slip out of Tallis’s hand as I heard the screeching sound as it shattered into a thousand pieces after getting up close and personal with the hardwood floor. Feeling trapped in slow motion, I grabbed a dish towel that was hanging on the oven handle. I kneeled down at the same time as Tallis did, and both of our heads nearly collided. In my feeble attempt to avoid a potentially throbbing headache, I leaned backward, clearing Tallis, only to lose my balance. As I prepared to topple over, I immediately threw my hands behind me in order to support myself.
“Shit!” I screeched. I immediately felt the telltale, slicing pain of sharp glass as the shards embedded themselves into both of my palms. I pushed myself back onto my heels as Tallis grabbed me around my wrists and thrust me upward, standing me on my feet again. Then he grabbed my hands, pulling them in front of me as we both assessed the damage. That wasn’t exactly an easy task to do. There was so much blood, I couldn’t see the source of it, or the number of wounds. The blood puddled in my palms and soon found a twisting path down my right arm.
Tallis took a deep breath and released me. When I glanced back at him, I could see his chest rising and falling along with the wide flare of his nostrils. His eyes were huge and wholly focused on the blood that he now saw trailing down both of my arms.
“Bluid,” he whispered, as if he’d become transfixed by the sight of it, almost like a vampire.
“Tallis!” I called out, wanting, no, needing him to snap out of whatever weird trance was overtaking him.
As soon as I called his name, he shook his head and the bizarre stupor he was under left him just as quickly as it appeared. He leaned forward and turned on the sink faucet before grabbing my right wrist, his fingers immediately covered with my blood.
At the feel of Tallis’s skin on mine, I felt a great jolt ricocheting through my body. I felt as if I’d been struck by lightning. My eyes immediately closed of their own accord, and I suddenly felt an indescribable, but intense pressure between my ears and behind my eyes. It felt like my head was filling up with water, water that was desperately seeking a way out. Then, in the blink of an eye, the feeling vanished.
I opened my eyes and saw Tallis in front of me, no … above me. Only he wasn’t dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt anymore. No. Now he wasn’t dressed in anything! Confused, I looked left and then right, only to discover I was no longer in my kitchen, or even inside my house. Instead, we were outside, standing in some sort of green pasture. I glimpsed the sun sinking behind the craggy mountains in the distance. Mountains which were framed by a vast lake.
My heartbeat raced as my logical mind sifted through the feedback my eyes insisted on reporting. There was no room for logic in the scen
ery that now surrounded me. I looked at Tallis again and found he looked younger somehow. The scar that ran the length of half his face was gone, and his ordinarily short hair was much longer. It trailed over his upper back and cascaded down his massive shoulders, tickling my chest. Glancing down, I discovered that I too, was completely naked. Shocked, and maybe a little mortified, I looked back up at Tallis who smiled at me. That was when I felt him.
My heart lodged in my throat as he thrust himself fully inside me. I wasn’t sure how I hadn’t felt him inside me before. I didn’t even know if this was the first time he’d entered me since my arrival to this strange dream state. When he withdrew before pushing hard into me again, I couldn’t help the moan that escaped me. I watched my arms attempting to wrap around him, but that was an impossibility, owing to his expansive chest and back. So I settled for looping my arms around his neck as I watched him smile down at me, and his eyes twinkled with what looked like love.
“Tallis,” I said in a hot breath, but he quieted me with a kiss. His lips intoxicated me with their plumpness as his hands found my breasts. I moaned again when he squeezed the taut pebbles of my nipples slightly. Just long enough to make me alternate between calling it a pleasurable and a painful experience.
I heard my moans growing even louder as he started to hasten his thrusts. Now he no longer fully extricated himself before driving back in again. Now his movements were shorter, faster and more purposeful. I dug my nails into the soft flesh of his back and wrapped my legs around his waist, giving him more access and begging him to push more deeply inside me. And he lapped up that opportunity with gusto.
I clenched my eyes shut tightly as I tried to prepare again for his girth and length. But every thrust somehow felt deeper than the last. With each pounding entry, I was consumed by an intense ecstasy that verged on pain, owing to his substantial length. All I could do was cling to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my feet around his middle as his body explored and penetrated mine.
