by Alexa Silver
Once the spasms wore out, she floated on the peace left in its wake, her arms wrapped tightly around the man above her, who panted and gasped as he recovered. He raised his head to look at her and smiled. It made her heart squeeze. She loved him so much it hurt.
But then she met his eyes again. She sank into the pale blue depths of them and was swept away.
*****
Having been defeated in a direct challenge, the bullies changed tactics. They spread rumors that Robert was violent and dangerous, using the broken hand as an example. The few people he’d grown close to didn’t believe it, but he was the newcomer in town, while his antagonists had grown up there, so most did. They began to avoid him.
The butcher’s daughter, Mary Ellen McCain, was the prettiest girl in town. Both of the bullies were sweet on her, but the dominant one thought he had the inside track for her hand, until Robert went to the butcher’s place one day to pick up the meat order and she was minding the shop.
Her shy smile captivated him from the start and she seemed to like him as well. They began to meet for lunch or after work. If she was alone in the shop in the evening, he’d keep her company and walk her home. Word got around that the two of them were interested in each other. That didn’t sit well with his antagonists or with the girl’s father. He didn’t want his daughter paired off with a penniless cook, a possibly violent and dangerous former indentured servant. Her father didn’t like the bullies much either. He planned to take her to Richmond in a year or so, in hopes she’d catch the eye of a man who could give her a better future.
One day when Robert went to meet her after work, he found her father waiting. The man warned him to stay away from his daughter and threatened to kill or castrate him should he see him with her again.
Robert was crushed but recognized her father had the right. If Mary Ellen had a chance for a better life somewhere away from here, Robert couldn’t deny her that opportunity, so he bid her goodbye and wished her luck. He shed a couple of tears in private later that evening, alone in his hut, but knew it was best for her.
He didn’t know until the next day that in the early hours of the morning, someone broke into the butcher’s home, ravished Mary Ellen and beat her father to death, when he fought with the attackers.
The head cook gave Robert the news, which was all over town by then. He also warned that a button from Robert’s shirt had been found clutched in the dead man’s hand. When he recovered from his shock, he thanked the cook and left by the back door to avoid being seen on the street.
It took a moment’s thought to remember when he’d lost the button, and when it did, it confirmed his suspicions about the culprit. It had been torn off during the fight where he’d broken the bully’s fingers. Robert hadn’t even noticed the loss until later, but one of his opponents must have seen it, and recognized its potential usefulness. Which meant one or both of them had ravished Mary Ellen as well as killing her father.
He should have just run, as far and as fast as he could, but that would have meant abandoning the land that was his and all he’d built. Plus the criminals would go unpunished. He couldn’t do it.
Instead he went in search of his enemies and found them. “Ye did it,” he yelled as he approached. “Ye hurt Mary Ellen and killed her father.”
The bigger bully shrugged. “What if we did?”
“I’ll kill ye,” Robert promised.
“You’re the one they all think did it.”
“And ye’re going to confess to yer guilt.”
“I don’t think so.”
Blinded by rage, Robert dove at the man and took him to the ground. He already had his arm cocked for a punch before his opponent was ready to defend himself. Murderous anger laid a red haze over his vision, so that all he saw was the man in front of him hurting Mary Ellen. Robert easily fended off the man’s feeble attempts to counter-punch. He wanted to hurt him, to beat him to a pulp, make him sorry he’d ever been born, before he ended his miserable life. He let all the viciousness of a lifetime of hurt and anger have its way, pouring itself out in his crashing fists. He kicked as well, using the toe of his boot to stave in the other man’s ribs. He felt bones crack in his opponent’s face and saw teeth roll out in the river of blood from his mouth. Anything rational in him got pushed to the back while the need for vengeance poured itself out through this fists and feet.
The other man had stopped resisting some time back, but Robert was still battering him when the mob came and surrounded him.
*****
“Dear God!” The depth of rage and violence shocked Kelly to the core. “No.” She pushed him back, away from her, unable to bear any more of his hideous memories. “No. Get away!”
Robert scooted down and knelt, still between her knees, but no longer touching her. His expression changed as he stared at her, the joy becoming a puzzled frown that in turn showed a bare moment of horror, then peace and an odd little half-smile. His form began to fade out, as though he returned to the ghostly condition of before.
It wasn’t until he was gone that Kelly realized what she’d done. Her verdict. She’d given her verdict on whether Robert deserved another chance at life. She’d done it in instinctive reaction to his violence, not as a considered opinion on his worth as a man or whether the world was safe from him.
And now he was gone. Forever. She’d never see him again.
Chapter 3
Her mind went blank for a moment as it sank in. Hard to believe it was done so quickly. She’d said, “No. Get away,” and Poof! Robert was gone.
Gone. So fast. So wrongly.
Why? Why did she think it was wrong? He’d shown her the depth of violence he was capable of. It was bad. Ugly. He showed a dangerous lack of control and a frightening ruthlessness.
And yet, it was hardly surprising, given his background. Or the time in which he lived. It was an ugly and brutal age. Whatever justice prevailed then was rough and not particularly reliable.
A man had to establish his own rules and boundaries, and many people respected nothing but strength and the willingness to use it. Robert had been seeking retribution for another in his own way. He went for an old-fashioned, eye-for-an-eye sort of justice, but the only one he thought Mary Ellen and her father were likely to get.
Kelly sat up abruptly and looked around. This couldn’t be the final judgment on him. It couldn’t. Not if there was any real justice in the supernatural world. “No!” She said it aloud and forcefully, hoping the powers that had set up this scene would hear. The only answer was the echo of her own words returning from the cavern walls. “That was not my verdict. It was an emotional reaction, not a considered opinion.”
What was her considered opinion? She had to mull it for a couple of minutes. The violence she’d seen him do was disturbing. It was ugly and brutal and ruthless. But most of it had been in defense of someone else he cared about. He’d only initiated a fight when he thought it necessary to protect or avenge someone else.
“No. I was wrong,” she said to the room. “That wasn’t really my verdict.” Again nothing happened with only the reverberations of her voice and the snapping of the flames in the pit breaking the profound silence.
The fire still burned in the pit in the center of the cavern. Would another drop of blood summon those shades again? She had to try.
“Please! I want another chance.” She found the knife, stood over the fire and pricked her arm again until a drop of blood formed and dripped into the flames.
For long moments, nothing happened. She sobbed in desperation. The tears started and flowed down her cheeks. Kelly couldn’t believe this was happening, that she’d made such a mistake in such a drastically important thing.
“This can’t stand. I was wrong.” She yelled it and heard her admission come back to her from every direction.
Then the echoes cut off abruptly in an odd and disquieting way. The crackling from the fire went mute. For a few long, eerie moments, the silence was absolute. She grew uneasy, but a fla
sh of terror held her frozen in place and quiet.
A low rumble shook the cavern, escalating her terror almost to panic. But as she turned to run, the shaking stopped and a cloud of smoke formed in front of her. The same cloud that had preceded the appearance of the group of shades earlier.
Kelly stopped and waited until the fog or smoke cleared. The group stood there, the leader a step in front of the others. “You summoned us again?” he asked. “You have another request?”
Kelly had to call up all the courage she possessed to answer. “Yes, sir. I made a mistake in my first verdict. I wish to change it, if that is possible.”
The man said nothing for a moment, then asked, “Why?”
“I made a mistake. I was wrong. I need to correct it if I can.”
“Why were you wrong?”
“I reacted from shock and an emotional response when I pushed Robert away and denied him. It was too much, too sudden, and overwhelming. When I was able to think about it, though, I realized there were good, solid reasons for his actions. They didn’t come from evil within him, but in reaction to and defense against evil outside him.”
“An interesting distinction,” the man noted. “And an important one.” He stared at her for a moment. “What made you think you could summon us again and demand a second chance?”
“I’m not sure I know. I only knew that I made a mistake and that if you were really as concerned about justice as you seemed to be, it couldn’t be allowed to stand.”
The man’s expression changed to a smile. “So you did what you could to set it right.”
“I had to.”
He nodded. “Robert did indeed choose his judge well.”
“Then you’ll let me change my verdict?”
“My dear, what are we about, if not second chances?” The group parted behind him and Robert appeared in between them, tall, solid, and nude.
“But what if I hadn’t sought you out again? What would have happened to him?”
“Then his spirit would have gone on to the final judgment. A judgment rendered, mercifully, by a power far more qualified to do so than any of us. But because he picked his judge well, he is now returned to you to live out the span of his human life.” He put a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “Go now, both of you. This cavern will no longer exist half an hour from now.”
*****
They stopped only long enough to gather up Kelly’s clothes and belongings and relight the candle before racing to the stairs and back up them.
Once up the stairs and back through the door that hadn’t existed before today—one that probably wouldn’t exist again tomorrow—they stopped to turn to each other.
She stared at him, amazed and a bit stunned to have him with her. She put a hand on his arm to assure herself he was solid and real. Warmth soaked into her palm from his skin and the muscles tensed under her touch.
Turning to him, she put both hands on his shoulders. Reaching up brought her against the hard muscles of his chest. It reminded her how tall he was, how unexpectedly present and…how nakedly male.
But for the first time she got a good look at him. Other amazing parts of him couldn’t distract her from staring at his face for the moment. It fascinated her. She’d long ago decided from what she could see that he’d be a good-looking man, and in that she wasn’t disappointed. But the vagueness of his form had hidden the way the harsh planes of his cheeks and temples, carved by deprivation, hardened his expression. Suffering and hardship had gouged deep lines around his eyes and mouth as well. Based on his history, he couldn’t be more than twenty-seven or eight and was probably at least a couple of years younger, but he looked older. Even with the jubilation showing on his face now, the shadow of his past lay under it.
She would do everything in her power to replace those shadows with joy.
If he still wanted her. She was thirty, which would make her several years older than him. And he deserved a chance to look around, to test out this new life.
He stared down at her, and his expression slowly transformed into a quieter thrill and more than a little bemusement. He lifted a hand and turned to look at it, twisting it one way and then another. “This is real. You brought me back.” He ran his fingers down the side of her face. “Kelly? I don’t know what to say. ‘Thank you’ seems ridiculously inadequate. I’ll be your slave for the rest of my life?”
“Slavery was outlawed ages ago,” she said. “But, Robert? This is still you? Your accent? When you were with me down in the cavern, you were different. You spoke the way I assume you spoke in life, and you didn’t seem to know anything from your time as a ghost.”
“During the testing period, I could be only as I was in life,” he answered. “The testing had to be based on that and only that. But now I have all the memories of my life and my afterlife. Plus a body.” His tone went suddenly elated. “And there are so many things I want to do. I’m eager to ride in an automobile, to see the mountains and the huge buildings, to fly in an airplane.” He stopped and drew a breath. “Just to feel the sun and the wind on my body again.” His fingers slid down her cheek another time. “First and most of all, though, I want to touch you all over. Everywhere. And make love to you with my body as well as my spirit.”
He pulled her tight against him and wrapped her in his arms. She treasured the feel of his hard body against hers, his engorging cock probing her belly, the smooth skin of his back. Smooth?
“The scars,” she said. “They’re gone.”
He reached up and felt at his throat. “So they are. And thank heaven. It would be awkward to have to explain this one.” He brushed a hand under his ear as if he could still feel the imprint of the rope scar that had been there.
“The ones on your back are gone as well.”
“And good riddance to them. I’m starting over again. A new life.” He looked around. “Your bedroom is that way, right?”
“You know very well it is.”
“What are we waiting for then? We only have fifty or sixty more years to get to know each other and try out all the things I want to do.”
“Robert…?”
He heard the doubts in her voice and backed up a step. “You don’t want me?” he asked. “I just assumed—“
“No,” she interrupted. “I want you desperately. But I’m not sure you really want me. You have a chance to look around now. You could have a lot of women. And…I’m older than you.”
His face broke up into a gleeful smile. “Older than me… What? This is what? 2015? That makes me something more than 300 years old. Don’t pull that older woman thing on me. And, I don’t want any other woman,” he said. “I’ve seen plenty of them on the television and in the house over the years. Beautiful women, seductive women, smart women, sexy women, elegant women, gracious women… You get the picture. You’re the one who has the exact combination that thrills me. I may not have met as many in person, but I’ve seen more of them than you can imagine, and you’re the first one I’ve met that I trusted enough to judge me and wanted enough to take the risk of letting it happen.”
“Oh. I guess there’s that.”
“Damn right. But haven’t you noticed what my body is trying to tell you?” He glanced downward at his straining cock.
“It does seem eager.”
“Damn right. And there are many things to try.” He gave her a sideways look from the light blue eyes. “I’ve read most of those novels you keep tucked away in your bedroom. They’ve given me more than a few ideas.”
“You read those books! You pervert. Those were private.”
“I only wanted to find out how to please you,” he answered.
“Oh. Well. Remember, some of them are fantasies.”
“We’ll have to discuss which are to be tried. In the meantime, though.” He nodded toward the bedroom.
Joy bubbled up inside her, finding expression as a giggle before she said, “Race you!” and took off.
Though he pursued, he let her win. When she dove for the bed
, he followed suit and ended up half on top of her. The weight was delicious. Then he righted himself and rolled over, ending up stretched out beside her.
He leaned over and planted his mouth on hers. His lips brushed over hers, gently at first, but then getting harder. He nipped at hers, then brushed his tongue over the spot to soothe it.
His tongue pushed into her mouth and made a long, hot exploration. Her blood rushed hot through her veins and spread tingles all over her skin. He found every sweet spot inside.
His fingers made their own independent search at the same time, brushing over her throat and down her chest to her breasts. He tweaked her nipples and slid his hands down farther, smoothing over her stomach to her slit.
Meanwhile Kelly was doing some exploration of her own, running her hands up and down his chest, reveling in the feel of strong muscle and the light, curly hair there. The solidity of him, the masculine feel delighted her with its novelty.
She ran her hand through his blond hair, which was no longer a shaggy, shoulder-length mass, but clean and neatly cut around his head. It appeared he’d shaved recently as well. Later she’d have to ask him how he’d managed it.
On a whim, she pulled back and leaned over to run her tongue along his throat. The salty sweet taste of him rewarded the effort. Seeking more, she kissed down his neck to his chest and swirled her tongue over his pectoral muscles and circled the little nub of each nipple. He gasped and held her tighter when she nipped lightly. She’d never get enough of this.
She let her fingers march down his chest, following a fine line of hair across his navel, avoiding his swollen cock and going around to cup his balls in one hand. “Kelly,” he whispered on a sharp exhale.
“Robert. I love you, you know.” She ran a fingertip up his cock to the tip, circled it and rubbed right below the ridge.
