Box Set

by Kim Petersen

  ‘Together, there are no limits. Just tell me where we start. I am yours,’ she murmured.

  His lips parted slightly to reveal the sweep of his tongue as his eyes rested on the strawberry coloured nipples that swelled in offering before him. Her pale skin glowed vividly in the light of the fire and her tizzy hair blazed over darkly provocative eyes, giving her a lustrous appearance.

  A plump hand reached for the strain of his groin, and with one swift movement he was unzipped and released. He clutched handfuls of frizzy red tresses while throbbing against the firm grip of her fingers, pulsating under the hot flickers of her tongue, and palpitating within the pleasurable suckling of her mouth. His grasp on her tightened and he restrained her head firmly as he reached his peak and released a throaty groan along with an arousing climax.

  He allowed his body to relax, and slumped back into the sofa again with a gratifying smirk.

  He looked around the cottage for a moment. His interest perked when he noticed some shelves laden with jars of various sizes full of herbs, moss and liquid-like substances. String, bone needles, poppets and crooked wands were laid out in an orderly fashion next to an iron cauldron.

  He traced his eyes back down to her, still on her knees before him. ‘First we start with some fun. We shall eat with Warren Glassop and his family tomorrow night.’ His eyes darkened with the shadow of his sneer. ‘Then we will travel to Sydney and pay a visit to my dear sister.’

  Her smile danced with the melody of the flames that warmed the room. She rose to her feet and slipped out of her jeans. She kicked them away and straddled him. ‘So, tell me about your dear sister,’ she said.

  Her voice was like honey.

  Ace and Madison were greeted with an onslaught of barking dogs when the Harley Davidson pulled up outside the Glassop homestead the next evening. Ace wedged down the kick stand with his boot and dismounted the bike. He turned and helped Madison’s short figure disembark, groping a big hand down her V-neck sweater as he did so. He pulled her close, holding her from behind while pressing himself rigidly against her soft, plump body. It had been so long since he had held a woman. Never had a woman provoked more than just flitting lust within him. At last, a woman who may hold my interest! he thought, nuzzling promises against her skin with his lips.

  Madison moulded into his towering body like jelly suctioning against its cup. She grinded her fleshy skirted bottom into his groin and lifted her chin back towards him. ‘Steady cowboy, dessert will come later,’ she teased.

  The dogs scurried and growled near their feet.

  Ace regarded them with amusement. He leaned towards them, his eyes flashed and his head cocked to one side. He centred himself, and in one deliberate action he opened his mouth wide. White pointed fangs gleamed and twisted, exposing themselves in a vicious snarl. The dogs instantly backed off as they curled in their tails and ran away in yelping whimpers.

  Ace clasped Madison’s hand while they laughed and made for the homestead. ‘This is going to be fun,’ Ace said, squeezing her hand lightly.

  Warren answered their knocking with a watery smile. His smile waned when he saw Madison standing next to Ace.

  Ace took Warren’s bony hand in a shake. ‘This is Madison. I hope you don’t mind that I brought along a companion,’ he beamed.

  Warren gave Madison a curt nod. ‘I know who she is …’ His voice trailed and his thin lips pursed beneath his goatee.

  ‘Oh?’ Madison’s eyes narrowed, ‘I’m sorry; have we met before?’

  Warren shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. But everyone in town knows the likes of you; you’re the witch,’ he said, pointing an accusing finger towards her.

  Ace and Madison exchanged an amused look.

  ‘Don’t be silly old mate,’ Ace laughed. ‘Small towns breed big bullshit.’ He clasped an arm around Warren and began to lead him into the house.

  Warren introduced them to his wife, Sheila. She regarded them suspiciously, yet Ace could not fault her accommodating nature towards her guests. She quietly set about seating Skye close to Warren before serving them a roast dinner, bread and whiskey, barely glancing their way throughout the whole process.

  ‘I asked around town. I heard-tell you were good at working the land. Good with machinery too,’ Warren said while chewing a mouthful of meaty gravy.

  Ace nodded. ‘Yeah. You needing a hand with those pineapple crops?’

  ‘Yep. Can you start this week? I have a bed over the barn, and all meals included,’ Warren said.

  ‘Oh, he won’t be needing a bed,’ Madison interjected. She threw Ace an alluring grin. ‘He’ll stay with me.’

  Ace returned her grin with a wink. ‘Ahh … I can give you a hand here and there, but I’ll be leaving for a while soon. Family business in Sydney.’

  Warren took a generous sip of his whiskey. His deep-set watery eyes strained to focus against the streaks of blood that webbed across them. ‘Rightio, then,’ he nodded grimly. He gestured towards the table. ‘Let me help Sheila in the kitchen, then we’ll talk about hunting down this snake tomorrow.’

  Suddenly Sheila’s voice penetrated through the room like a choir hymn. ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it: John 1:5,’ she chanted.

  All eyes settled on her.

  ‘Sheila?’ Warren exclaimed. His scrawny face scrunched into a frown. ‘What are you going on about, woman?’

  She directed her hazel gaze at Ace. ‘Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. I beg you. It’s not too late for you.’ Her voice was insistent.

  Ace held her stare and cautiously smiled. For a moment his blackened heart saw a glimmer of light and leaped for joy. Could she be right?

  Warren thumped a balled fist against the table. ‘Enough, Sheila! You’re spooking our guests.’ He rose to his feet. ‘Let’s clean up.’

  Sheila silently groped for the empty plates and cutlery but would not look at Ace and Madison. When they reached the kitchen, Ace heard Warren’s low grumbles through the thin walls.

  Madison squeezed Ace’s hand. ‘Spooky! Be right back,’ she whispered in his ear, before leaving the room to offer help in the kitchen.

  Finally Ace was left with Skye without her parents around. He turned to her with a smile, catching the visible shudder in her brown eyes.

  ‘You’ve been very quiet, little miss. Cat got your tongue?’ he grinned.

  She shook her head, slinging her long brown hair over her shoulders.

  ‘Hmmm … a dog maybe?’

  Another shake, and her dark eyes grew as wide as a pottery wheel.

  Ace leaned towards her. His eyes peered up at the ceiling for a moment as if in deep thought. ‘I know,’ he exclaimed with mischief twinkling over his face. He looked back to her. ‘It must be a snake then! A snake has caught your little tongue.’

  Skye gasped and jumped in her seat.

  He laughed. ‘Your tongue was working fine last night when you told everyone I was the snake,’ he said.

  In a courageous move, she poked her tongue out at him before pursing her lips tight.

  Ace’s face softened as he watched her. Her long dark hair and big eyes reminded him of Arella. He missed his little niece more than he cared to admit.

  ‘Did you know the tongue is the fastest healing part of the body?’ he said.

  Skye shook her head again, only this time her eyes lit up with curiosity. ‘Is your tongue forked?’ she ventured quietly.

  Ace chuckled. ‘Well, let’s see,’ he said.

  He protruded his tongue out towards her and watched in amusement as her eyes scoured over it thoroughly.

  She grinned. Satisfied his tongue was like her own, she proceeded to poke her own tongue back out towards him.

  They wriggled and curled them about in the air together before bursting into giggles. Shelia entered the room with an expression of disapproval, and both stiffened and looked at her like naughty little children. She pushed back an imaginary strand of her grey-streaked m
ousy hair that was pulled tightly into a bun and scurried over to her daughter.

  Her lips clung together in a thin line. ‘That’s enough Skye, time for bed.’ She pulled at her daughter’s arm.

  ‘Okay, mummy,’ Skye answered and followed her mother from the room.

  She paused and turned to Ace. ‘Next time will you eat my candy?’

  Ace grinned. ‘Promise,’ he said.

  She smiled and skipped out of the room.

  Sheila stopped at the door and looked at him. Her eyes shadowed for a moment. ‘Love will set you free. Love or suffer. Claim it or …,’ she croaked and disappeared through the doorway, leaving him to contemplate her words.

  The next morning Ace joined Warren and two other men in their quest for a large black snake. They met in the dusty carpark of the rodeo arena, and armed with rifles and axes, agreed to split up and scour the surrounding bush.

  Ace trekked into the wild backwoods with Greggo, a short man sporting a long beard, an Aussie bush hat and a hefty gut.

  ‘His track seems to stop here,’ Greggo called out through the shrubbery. He was standing by a thick overthrown tree trunk.

  Ace ventured closer. He regarded the man as he approached him, curbing the disgust that rose in his throat when he noticed the curls of wiry hair that protruded from his backside between his trousers and sweater.

  ‘Fricking dirty trickster snake. Must be a smart one, that one,’ Greggo said.

  He turned his head with a throaty hurl and spat a thick green golly into the trees. ‘I’m gonna rip his head off and cook him for dinner when I catch him,’ he gloated.

  A few drops of spittle clung to the ends of his beard, threatening to drop with each word he uttered.

  Ace raised an eyebrow. ‘Ha! I’d like to see that,’ he muttered.

  Greggo bent down to peer closer at the track. ‘This just doesn’t seem to make sense. Something else has gone on here.’ He traced a grubby finger through the dirt.

  Ace looked down at the squatting man, unable to disguise his grimace when he caught sight of the deep hairy crevice between his buttocks that his pants revealed.

  He tore his eyes away. ‘Where are the others?’ He couldn’t hear Warren and the other man. They must have been deep into the adjacent bush by now.

  Greggo chuckled and hauled himself up. ‘Why, you scared pretty boy?’ he retorted.

  Ace threw him an icy stare. ‘I’m going this way,’ He gestured over his shoulder.

  The tubby man grunted a reply and lumbered away.

  Ace delved deeper into the bush and stopped when he discovered a huge crevice in the trunk of a big gum tree. Perfect! He smiled and began to undress.

  He folded his belongings and placed them carefully in the tree crevice before crawling within its damp cavity. He closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply. He felt all resistance drain from his body and welcomed the shift in his awareness as he began the transformation.

  He beckoned the presence of Apepsis to consume him, and when the glint of white fangs became visible to him, he allowed himself to be totally engulfed until the union was complete.

  Ace fixed his thoughts towards his curled figure below and savoured the agony as he entered the denseness of a physical body again; now with senses that were razor sharp and a mouth an armed deadly weapon.

  A big black head extended from the crevice. Ace squinted against the light for a moment and inhaled deeply while tasting the air for the scent he desired. He grimaced in loathing when the slight stench of stale alcohol combined with days old grime filled his senses and ran rancid between his sensory glands. Shiny scales flexed under the involuntary writhing that permeated through him before he set off in a stealthy slither towards his quarry, his long thick body uncoiled with the grace of a perfect trail behind him.

  Let’s see whose head will be ripped off today, he mused as he stole silently near Greggo. He paused behind a thick bush and took solace among the long unruly blades of grass that carpeted the wooded floor of the forest.

  He watched the short-bearded man as Greggo slumped his bulky body on a log and took out a pouch of tobacco. Blubbery fingers fumbled a tobacco filled paper between them, and he mumbled something inaudible under his breath. Bringing the unlit cigarette to his lips, he bit down to chew off the papery end between yellowed teeth before turning his beard to spit the thin soggy paper to the ground.

  Ace moved soundlessly on a bed of dampened earth and moist fallen leaves, pausing only when the consistent muttering ceased.

  ‘Snakey, snakey where are you?’ Greggo sang. His eyes peered beneath the bush hat while he looked over the quiet bush. ‘Ima gonna be the one to catch you.’

  Involved in his sing-song, he missed the sudden commotion of the birds above as their chirps shrilled while they took refuge in flight. Greggo chuckled to himself and inhaled his fill of charring tobacco. It was then his mumbling crooning wavered and he cocked his head to one side in sudden alarm.

  A deathly silence filled the woods. The small break of a twig echoed through the bush with an earth-shattering crack, and when Greggo turned to peer behind him, his widening eyes met with a cobalt shimmer.

  Greggo jolted back in surprise. Reeling off the log and landing with a thud on a blanket of damp leaves, he scrambled for his rifle only a few feet away. Thickened fingers grappled desperately in the earth as he threw a glance upward to find his gaze swallowed by the sight of white incisors seeping with droplets of venom.

  The overweight man froze beneath the snake’s steely presence as he poised over him threateningly. Ace’s pearl blue eyes danced with amusement as he caught the petrified look in his quarry’s eyes. He drew a quick breath and with the greatest of pleasure exhaled all his air over Greggo in a long warm hiss.

  A squawking grunt escaped through Greggo’s lips as he stumbled over onto his knees in an awkward attempt to get to his feet. It was at this moment that Ace lunged. The length of his five-inch fangs found the putrid skin of Greggo’s neck and sank with the force of a deep strike as he manipulated his scaly sinuous body to entwine his prey. Ace constricted his thick coils, stopping only with the last of the gurgling sounds issued from Greggo’s mouth and all his breath had been pushed out of him.

  A hush befell the bush, an eerie silence that preceded the happening of death and touched the falling shadows of the trees. Not an animal could be heard, and as Ace contemplated using his pointed teeth to tear the head off the man that had threatened to take his own, a darkness emanated through a cluster of large tree trunks nearby.

  Ace raised his head when he felt the presence overcome him, and as he peered into the inkiness between the trees, he instinctively bared hissing fangs with a dangerous flash of his eyes.

  A low chortling sound rolled out from the darkness and yellow eyes became visible as if suspended in a blanket of black.

  ‘Ace … come closer,’ it beckoned.

  Ace loosened his long coils and cautiously slinked closer to the beaming yellow eyes. He knew his visitor’s name now, and he knew his essence intimately.

  He paused where the darkness met the light in a line of vibrant contrast. ‘Apepsis?’ he said.

  ‘I am Apepsis. We are pleased with your progress. More power awaits you, Ace,’ Apepsis sneered. A sizzle echoed from the black. ‘With each shift, you will become more powerful and your form will expand; destroy the last of the ascended bloodlines and victory will be ours.’

  Ace peered into the shadows with confusion. ‘Who are these bloodlines?’ he asked.

  A long drawn out hiss resounded from the gloom among the trunks and reverberated through Ace’s ears.

  He flinched.

  Apepsis fell silent and Ace was unsure if he still lurked in the inky shadows. He studied the darkness in search of the yellow eyes. Suddenly they flashed before him like studded lights, so close it began to unnerve him.

  ‘The feminine offspring of your family,’ Apepsis whispered. ‘You were already on the right path. Now go!’

  The
yellow eyes faded into the shadows and the darkness lifted with the roll of a heavy fog.

  Ace became aware of Warren’s thundering footsteps and the other snake hunter as they drew closer. He glanced back to Greggo, now laying flaccid upon the earth that soaked the steady stream of blood leaking from his throat.

  A brief feeling of remorse seeped through him, and as he slithered away with the thrust of great speed behind him, a vision of his sister fogged his mind. Millie-pie … my silly Millie-pie, he thought.

  He reached the cavity of the tree trunk where his clothes lay folded neatly and waiting. When he performed the ritual that would shift his body into its former shape, he lay cold and shivering in a curved ball of anguish. How did I get this far …? He sobbed into the heart of the tree that consumed his torment with an unconditional, accepting ear. The words of Sheila the night before crowded his mind under a golden-violet ray.

  Madison sashayed into the room with a bath towel wrapped around her damp body. She handed Ace a steaming mug of freshly brewed coffee and threw an appreciative gaze over his nakedness, pausing when her dark eyes found his shaft laying flaccid and resting against his upper thigh. His skin glowed with the warmth of the fire under her stare. A lopsided grin marked his face as he watched the hunger in her eyes growing in unison with the hardening of his male member. He placed his mug aside and reached for the edge of the towel that swathed her. He tugged and in one swift movement her kneeling plump body was exposed. He noticed the heave of her chest as she gasped audibly and the gentle swell of her nipples as they became erect under his provocative gaze.

  He reached out to catch the green stone emblem that nestled between the generous curves of her breasts and tugged again. She willingly leaned closer to him, and allowed another gasp to escape her lips when his other hand found the soft folds between her thighs. His eyes held hers firmly in a seductive game of wills as his stare dared her to lose all control.

  ‘Come my witch. Come with me,’ he murmured.