Engravings of Wraith

by Kiera Dellacroix

  “Try not to be such a stick in the mud,” Piper chided. “I’ll go with pearl unless you have any objection?”

  “I’ve no objection, Miss Tate,” Bailey said gravely and was rewarded with a condescending look that made her chuckle.

  “Lemme see a hand,” Piper said with a sigh and Bailey dutifully placed her left hand on the table.

  Piper took the offered hand and studied it. “You file your nails so short, how come?”

  “It’s practical,” Bailey explained.

  “Hmmm,” Piper grunted in response as she bent to her task.

  Bailey sipped her wine and watched Piper with a mixture of fascination and amusement. She noted that Piper chewed on her lower lip when she concentrated, a habit she found enormously appealing for reasons she couldn’t quite explain. By the time Piper started on the other hand she was beginning to feel a little disturbed with herself, her stomach would occasionally jolt her with a flip flop and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t keep from looking at the woman. She studied Piper closely; committing to memory the woman’s every feature. Suddenly, the reality of her situation struck her and she felt herself involuntarily shiver.

  “Are you cold? I could turn the heat up a little if you like,” Piper said having felt the sudden tremor.

  “No, I’m fine,” Bailey said uncomfortably and Piper stared at her for a second before going back to work.

  Bailey debated with herself furiously. If she continued to pursue a relationship with Piper, the truth would eventually have to surface and that scared her more than she thought possible. Watching Piper happily paint her nails it had occurred to her that she not only wanted a life for herself, but she wanted Piper to be a part of it. She couldn’t nail down any of her emotions with certainty, but it hurt more than she thought possible to consider any alternative that didn’t include her. She studied her covertly and wondered if she should just walk away now before Piper hated her or even worse, was afraid of her. She winced inwardly at the thought of seeing either of those emotions directed at her from the little redhead. Could she walk away? The answer came quickly and brought another question with it. No, she couldn’t walk away, but could she bear it when Piper left? That was the question she had no idea how to answer. Never in her adult life had she felt so vulnerable and she knew that, in a very short time, she had allowed Piper to have a control over her that she couldn’t mount an adequate defense against.

  “What do you think?” Piper asked.

  “About what?” Bailey asked distractedly emerging from her thoughts.

  “About your nails, goofy,” Piper said rolling her eyes. “Aren’t they pretty?”

  Bailey looked at her hands. “Yes, I’m sure I’ll have thousands of new admirers by this time tomorrow,” she speculated and grinned when Piper narrowed her eyes.

  “That very well may be true, but I hope that I’m the only one you’ll be admiring,” Piper said quietly.

  “I dunno, Nancy’s kinda cute,” Bailey said mischievously and laughed at the resulting scowl.

  “Very funny,” Piper said dryly.

  “Indeed,” Bailey chuckled and swallowed nervously when Piper rose from her chair and, without warning, threw a leg over her lap to straddle her. Clamping down on the instinctual reaction to throw the weight from her, she felt herself shake slightly when Piper reached to gently free the hair from her ponytail. Her back arched in pleasure from the sensation of Piper’s hands in her hair and she felt herself surrender to the attention.

  “You have beautiful hair,” Piper whispered in her ear and smiled at the shiver she felt underneath her.

  “Uh…” Bailey managed before her mouth was covered by Piper’s.

  Piper tenderly chewed on Bailey’s lower lip, marveling at how soft and thick the hair cascading through her hands felt. She smiled when she felt Bailey’s hands find a grip on her waist and she greedily intensified her exploration of the lips and mouth under her own. She had a brilliant flash of desire accompanied by the sobering knowledge that she wanted the woman on whose lap she sat, more than she ever wanted anything in her life. The clarity of that awareness brought a very gradual halt to her attentions and she leisurely broke contact to the point of placing feather light kisses around Bailey’s mouth.

  Bailey cleared her throat. “Uhm… you can paint my nails anytime.”

  Piper snickered softly and leaned forward to snuggle against her. “I think I’m in big trouble,” she whispered into the ebony tresses.

  “Me too,” Bailey said over Piper’s shoulder, closing her eyes when she felt Piper squeeze her tightly.

  ———

  Zack studied Russell carefully, spending several minutes in close observation to assure himself that the man was indeed asleep. Once satisfied, he took a tube of superglue from his shirt pocket and liberally coated one side of a nickel, taking great pains to hold the coin by the edges so as not to get any on his fingers. Earlier, he had discovered the tube of glue quite by accident as he rummaged through the trunk for something to keep him occupied, since the object of their surveillance was apparently planning on spending the evening within the confines of house down the street. He had found the glue, brand new and unopened, in some of the gear they carried around and a plan for revenge had formed immediately.

  Taking a deep breath and holding it, he leaned over stealthily and as gently as he could, placed the nickel on the end of Russell’s nose. Pleased with the outcome, with one finger he applied a minute amount of pressure on the coin to cement it in place. He took a moment to expel his breath and to pleasurably observe the results of his labors before he returned to his side of the vehicle, giving free reign to the shit-eating grin that would not be denied.

  He was terribly tempted to stir his partner awake so he could further enjoy his revenge, but stifled the urge to give the glue time to solidly affix itself to the skin of Russell’s nose. He knew he would catch hell from Mike later, but it didn’t phase him. He believed that if he was going to be forced to wear the deformity that was his current hairstyle, Russell should have an accompanying defect to display just as proudly. Irrationally delighted, he made himself comfortable and waited patiently for Russell to awake.

  IV

  Ah, now I don’t hardly know her,

  But I think I can love her.

  —T. James

  Nancy awoke to the signals her bladder was urgently sending her and quickly padded down the hallway for the bathroom. She emerged a few minutes later and paused at the end of the hall when she noticed the two forms asleep on the couch. She took note of the empty bottle of wine and the half-eaten bowl of popcorn and smiled to herself. Bailey had her legs curled up under her and had an arm around Piper’s shoulders who was fast asleep in her lap. Despite her misgivings, she grudgingly had to admit to herself that they made a cute couple. Her musings ended abruptly when Bailey raised her head and turned eyes in her direction.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you guys were still out here,” Nancy said quietly.

  “It’s okay,” Bailey said around a yawn. “I should probably go.”

  “She seems to have you trapped,” Nancy said with a look at Piper. “Don’t worry she sleeps like the dead, you can move her.”

  “Where’s her room?” Bailey asked disentangling herself from the sleeping body.

  “Down the hall, second door on the right,” Nancy said as Bailey stood up and stretched.

  “What time does she usually set her clock for?”

  “Six,” Nancy answered and watched curiously as Bailey leaned down and very gently lifted Piper off the couch and into her arms.

  “I’ll put her to bed and be off, if that’s alright?”

  Nancy just nodded as she watched Bailey navigate around the furniture and proceed down the hallway. She shook her head a little bit in confusion, Bailey wasn’t a large person or obviously muscular but she had lifted and carried Piper as though she were as light as a kitten. There was just something about the woman that set off her warning be
lls. It was clear that she was more than she seemed and she wondered if Piper really knew what she was getting involved in. She knew that she couldn’t express her concerns to Piper again until she had more to go on, she was already very protective and another attempt at conversation on the subject would probably turn ugly. With a sigh, she ambled to the fridge and popped open a Coke, deciding that she would just wait and see how things turned out.

  Bailey gave the half open door to Piper’s bedroom a gentle kick and smiled upon entering. There was crap everywhere, the bed was a crumpled mass of sheets and clothes were strewn about the room haphazardly. She gently lay her burden on the bed and after the small annoyance of straightening a crumpled sheet, she pulled it over Piper to tuck her in. She made a slow circle of the room in curiosity, lingering for several moments over the numerous family photographs that covered the surface of Piper’s dresser. Noting wistfully that Piper had handsome and close knit family, she sighed and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

  She had surprised herself earlier by actually falling asleep. As soon as the movie started Piper had wasted no time in snuggling up close to her and after a few handfuls of popcorn and a glass of wine, she had fallen asleep in her lap. She had watched the sleeping face in fascination for a long time before she managed to drift off herself, sleeping soundly until the opening of Nancy’s door had awoken her. She looked down at Piper, who hadn’t stirred in the slightest, and tenderly brushed the hair out of her face. Marveling at how many changes had taken place within herself in just the last few days. Fifteen years of violence and finally she had found, in the form a diminutive redhead, something worth waking up for. It was a revelation that both scared and delighted her and she experienced an overwhelming sense of protectiveness for the soundly sleeping woman.

  Suddenly remembering that Nancy was awake and probably wondering what she was doing she stood up and set the alarm on the clock next to the bed. She turned to go but hesitated, leaning quickly over Piper and brushing her lips over her cheek.

  “I’ll see you later,” she whispered and Piper stirred slightly.

  “Okay, I love you,” Piper sleepily mumbled.

  Bailey’s eyes widened and she straightened stiffly in shock. She stood without breathing for a long moment in an attempt to compose herself and analyze the tightening in her chest. With an audible expulsion of breath, she decided that an escape was in order and quietly fled the room. She stopped at the sofa to put on her sneakers, glad that Nancy was nowhere in sight. She donned her jacket and locked the front door on her way out, swiftly going for her cigarettes as soon as the door closed behind her. She inhaled deeply as she dazedly made her way to the car and mechanically opened the door. She sat down behind the wheel, rolled down the window, and stared unseeingly through the windshield until the forgotten cigarette began to heat her fingers. She flipped the butt out the window and, completely on autopilot, she backed the car out of the driveway and drove off down the street.

  ———

  “Russell,” Zack said sharply as soon as he saw the woman get in her car.

  “What?” Russell said groggily as snapped awake.

  “She’s getting ready to move,” Zack answered.

  Russell reached up to start the car, brushing absently at his nose with the other hand. Upon encountering a foreign object, he paused and shot a quick glance at Zack, who to his dismay was grinning widely.

  “What the hell?” he said as both hands came up to investigate.

  “Looks like ya got a little something on your nose there,” Zack said cheerily.

  Russell leaned over to look at his reflection in the rearview and surprised Zack with a quick burst of laughter.

  “What’s this, amateur night?” Russell said still chuckling. “I expected a little more from you, Zack my friend.”

  “Well, it was all I could come up with on short notice,” Zack shrugged beginning to laugh.

  “Pretty sad,” Russell said reaching up to remove the coin. “Owww!” he exclaimed painfully as the skin beneath the nickel tore.

  “Problems?” Zack chuckled happily.

  “This ain’t funny. What the fuck did you attach it with?” Russell demanded.

  “Superglue,” Zack provided between laughs.

  Russell glared at his friend and attempted to remove it from another angle. “Goddamn it,” he hissed in pain when the skin tore again and blood started to flow.

  “Quit picking your nose and get on the ball, Russell,” Zack said laughing. “She’s moving.”

  Russell started the car and began to follow the Barracuda. “Fuck. Give me a Kleenex or something, I have blood running down my face,” he yelled angrily.

  “I’m sorry,” Zack said sorrowfully. “I used the last one to clean my binoculars an hour ago.”

  “Asshole,” he spat out and used his tie to dab at the blood. “How the fuck am I supposed to get it off?”

  “It’s like a Band-Aid, Russell,” Zack said sagely. “If you pull it off quickly, it only stings for a second or two,” he finished bursting into overjoyed laughter.

  “Fuck that. It’ll take the skin off with it,” Russell said angrily.

  “It’s either that or you can tell Mike that it’s a fashion statement,” Zack said and fell back against his seat laughing delightedly.

  “Fuck it,” Russell said angrily reaching up to rip the nickel from his nose with a scream, flinging the coin at Zack who merrily ducked the missile.

  “Oh… my… God… that… hurt!” Russell exclaimed pressing his tie to his nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding. “That was fucked up, Zack.”

  “Not anymore fucked up than my hair,” Zack said and promptly went into another fit of laughter. The nickel had torn off an almost perfectly circular piece of skin from the end of Russell’s nose. “That’s gonna be a hard scab to explain,” he choked out between chuckles.

  “Fuck you,” he sulked.

  V

  I want to know what love is,

  I want you to show me.

  —M. Jones

  Being overcome with boredom, Martin ventured out of his room with the intention of checking out Bailey’s library, having been satisfied up until now with just trips to the kitchen and back to his room to watch television and feel sorry for himself. He had carefully pulled on a sweatshirt and wandered as quietly as he could down the hall. His brows knitting as he tried to recognize the notes of a vaguely recognizable tune that increased in volume as he approached his destination. He entered the library to find Bailey smiling and sitting at a desk, absently doodling in a book that lay open in front of her. He was a little surprised that she seemed to be totally unaware of his presence and he cleared his throat to announce himself.

  “Uhm... good morning,” he said cautiously.

  The smile she had been wearing faded immediately and the book was slammed shut, her eyes pinning him instantaneously.

  “Good morning,” she said a little peevishly while turning off the stereo with a remote, being a little put out that he had managed to surprise her.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said pleasantly.

  “It’s alright,” she conceded. “Is there something that you need?”

  “No, I was just bored and I thought I would look around,” he said as he took in his surroundings. “Have you read all of these books?” he asked in amazement as he digested the amount of literature that graced the room.

  “Yes.”

  “Wow,” he said impressed. “You must be fast reader,” he said jovially but winced internally when he glanced in her direction.

  “When you’re a prisoner, Mr. Satterfield, you occupy yourself with any means at your disposal,” she said in monotone.

  “I don’t understand,” he said cautiously.

  “Do you think that when I escaped British incarceration I became any less of a prisoner?” she asked vehemently. “I’m alive, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve had a life to lead.” She paused surprised at herself. “Uhm… I apologize. I don’
t really know where that came from,” she added honestly a few seconds later.

  “No need to apologize,” he said carefully. “It wasn’t my intention to upset you.”

  “Well, it wasn’t my intention to tear into you with my feelings of self pity,” she said quickly and stood up. “I’m going downstairs for a little while today and I’ll be out again tonight. Is there anything you need?”

  “No, thank you,” he answered politely. “Did she like the roses?” he added impulsively and was relieved when she smiled.

  “Yes, she did,” Bailey said with a little grin.

  “Are you going to ask her over here for dinner?” he asked conversationally.

  Bailey gaped at him. “I… I haven’t thought of that,” she admitted. “Do you think I should?” she asked curiously.

  “It’s sort of customary.”

  “What is?”

  “She invited you to her home, you should invite her to yours,” Martin said thinking he had just opened up another can of worms.

  “I… I don’t think that would be a good idea,” she said regretfully.

  “Why not? I could go into hiding for an evening so you wouldn’t have to explain me.”

  “It’s not just you,” Bailey said uncomfortably. “She… uhm…” she trailed off stymied.

  “She doesn’t know the whole story does she?” Martin asked suddenly understanding.

  Bailey sighed and plopped back into her seat. “No, she doesn’t.”

  Martin considered the matter seriously as he took a seat in one of the chairs. “Do you really like her?”

  “Yes,” she answered slowly.

  “Are you going to tell her?” he asked cautiously.

  “How can I?” she asked reasonably. “If I did she would…” She stopped when her throat constricted at the thought. “… she would leave me,” she finished in a small voice.

  “You don’t know that.” he said compassionately.

  “Yes, I do,” she said knowingly. “She’s a good person and I’m… I’m not.”

  “I don’t think you’re a bad person.”