“Of course.” He turned back to his desk and opened an ornate inlaid box. He pulled out the amulet and handed it to me, but he didn’t let go. He moved in close and smoothed back my hair gently. He gazed deep into my eyes, and I was mesmerized in spite of myself. I saw something there. I know I did.
His fingers insinuated under my hair, adjusting my collar and brushing my sensitive nape. I shivered. My mouth went dry, and I began to tremble. Something flared in his eyes in response.
He kissed me. This time it was a full-bodied kiss, openly passionate. He wrapped his large arms around my waist and pressed every bit of me from shoulders to knees to touch every bit of him. My breasts were cradled against his broad chest. I cried out inarticulately into his mouth and threw my own arms around him and kissed him back.
I don’t remember how we made it to his couch. I don’t remember how the electric shades got lowered. All I knew was we were getting naked again. Somehow, sanity returned to me for a second. I had to stop my own headlong rush, not just his. I pulled away. It felt like cutting off a limb. “No. Eric, we can’t.”
After a long silent moment, he sighed and stopped caressing me. He still was holding me in his arms. His cheek was resting on my forehead. I felt the completely deceptive sense of peace and rightness I’d experienced in his arms before. Another reason I’d left his bed in a hurry last night.
Only this morning he’d ignored me. I shouldn’t forget. I shouldn’t let my hormones lead me around like an idiot. Eric was not to be trusted.
“I didn’t come here for this,” I said on a sigh of regret. I straightened my disarrayed clothes.
He shook himself out of my arms, and stood up, but he didn’t walk away. He glanced down at me appraisingly as he rebuttoned the dress shirt I had ripped out of his waistband. He unbuckled his belt unselfconsciously to tuck in his shirt. At the flash of his hard belly with its soft arrow of hair, I had to fight from grabbing him again. I wanted badly to touch.
Eric had come out of the sensual haze more completely, and cut right to the chase. “What happened to you in the other dimension?”
“What did Jerry tell you?” I parried. Despite my nearly overwhelming physical reaction to Eric, I wasn’t ready to confide extensively in him. He was still too high on the suspect list.
“Nothing much. He said you’d explain everything when you got here.”
“Fine for Jerry to say,” I grumbled. “He doesn’t even believe what happened.”
“It’s pretty obvious you’re in the middle of something very unusual,” Eric prodded.
“Yeah. You already know, Eric. Last night, when I left, you were dreaming,” I said. Eric’s face suddenly took on a closed expression. “You said some odd words.”
“Yes? What were they?” he asked. His tense stance betrayed his interest.
“Portal. Flying. Amulet,” I replied, giving each word weight. Each highly suspicious word.
Eric’s expression was contemplative, giving away none of his thoughts. Did he remember the dream or saying those words?
“Do you often dream about flying and amulets and portals?” I pressed. If Eric wanted my trust, he’d better deliver some of his own.
Finally, he seemed to make up his mind. But the words left his mouth reluctantly. “I might as well tell you,” he said slowly.
“Guess so,” I drawled.
“It all started two months ago.” Eric did not look at me now, but at the middle distance, focusing on the past. “I had an unusually vivid dream one night. In it, I was a supervillain. I didn’t pay much attention once I woke.” His manner was offhand. “Some people call me a villain, or less flattering words, because I’m the boss.”
“I can believe that,” I said, with irony intended.
He ignored my words. “Then I saw a video on the net. A man flew through the air and attacked a boat. Same boat, same guy. Me.”
Maybe Roland was right. Maybe Eric was the Purple Menace.
“I had more of those dreams. They were driving me crazy,” he said, shaking his head. “Meanwhile, the news reports were spotty and confused.”
He gave me a significant look as he continued, “Then I saw your entry for the contest. I recognized the scene because I had dreamed it. I picked your entry and persuaded the other judges to agree.”
“You deliberately came on to me at the party to find out why I drew your dream?” I asked. His motives hadn’t been any more sincere than mine.
“Yes.” Eric admitted his duplicity simply and without regret. “Also why you were dressed up as a superheroine and fighting me in the dreams.”
Uh-oh. Yeah. Of course he would have seen me there, wouldn’t he? “I knew you had some ulterior motive in chasing after me aggressively,” I said, hiding my disappointment. “I had an ulterior motive myself. Solving the mystery.”
“Neither of us come off as particularly good people, do we?” Eric said wryly.
“You got that right.” I noticed he wasn’t denying my accusation about his motive for becoming sexually involved with me. Even for a hook-up. I decided not to think about how that made me feel. At least, not now. It was more important to understand his place in this mess Diabolical Dave had created.
I might as well ask the big question.
“Eric, are you the Purple Menace?”
“No.” It was an angry denial. “You saw me jump him earlier today, in the studio.” Eric looked me straight in the eye. His whole manner radiated honesty. Yet I wasn’t sure I believed him, much as I wanted to.
My skepticism must have shown on my face. Not being the type to plead his case, he pushed back. “What about you? You’re in this up to your pretty neck.”
“Why should I tell you?” I tried to retain my hostility and my challenging attitude. I wanted to confide everything to Eric. I wanted him to say Dave was crazy and I should not return to the other dimension. I wanted Eric to tell me to forget about trying to defeat the Purple Menace. I wanted to lean my head on his shoulder and be as weak as I felt.
He made a noise I took to be impatience. “A rogue supervillain is more important than a few hurt feelings, so spill.”
I had pouted, hoping he would grovel. Eric wasn’t the type. Oh, what the hell. How could it hurt to tell him? Maybe he would have a different angle on all the mind-boggling stuff Dave had shoveled at me.
“I’ve been having dreams, too,” I said. I gave him the short and dirty version of the visit to the world in Diabolical Dave’s head, plus the meeting with my eccentric father, and all his justifications. I left out the part where I discovered I had superpowers.
It took a while, and we both sat down on the couch. When I got to the bit about being told my own father wanted to use me to fix his mistakes, Eric pulled me onto his lap.
“Eric. The world needs saving, remember?” I remonstrated half-heartedly.
“I’m hot for you, girl. Why not have some fun?” He smiled wickedly and put his hand on a sensitive spot.
I suspected he groped me to distract me from the cold reality that my father had ignored me all my life, then had finally contacted me only to turn my existence into a shambles. Was Eric any better? Wasn’t he a cold user, too? Even though right now his hands were warm all over me?
“Is anything between us real?” I asked. His face changed. Was it possible my accusation hurt him? I put my finger on his lips. “Don’t answer. Not now.” We didn’t have time for sex play even though it was a battle to restrain myself from putting my own hand between the buttons of his shirt and caressing his lightly furred chest. I removed his fingers from attempting to cup one of my breasts, even as a part of me shivered with delight. I wanted more. I appreciated his physical reminder. Despite so much being upside down in my world right now, some things possibly were dead-on normal. I squirmed a little in his lap, to pay him back for teasing me.
“Behave,” he said. “Tell me the rest.”
After I told him most of it, Eric stood up with me still in his arms. He didn’t even have to take a
breath to do it, either. Impressive act for a desk jockey. My hormones made an instinctive jump. My breath caught. He deposited me in a chair, and started to pace the length of his huge office.
When I made to speak, he waved me to silence. Very masterful. It was interesting to watch his mind process all the incredible information I had given him. I hoped he’d tell me I was crazy to go.
“What are you holding back?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why would Diabolical Dave insist on you?”
“It’s the mythic prince on a quest thing,” I claimed, parroting Jerry.
“I’m not buying,” Eric shook his head. “Power, not blood, will bring this guy down.”
I was mute.
“What’s special about you?”
The dam broke. My words came out in a rush. “I can shoot power bolts from my fingertips. The way I did in the dreams.”
He stared at me, assessing.
“This is getting wild,” he finally said.
“Yes,” I agreed, in a gigantic understatement. “It’s not a fluke, either. Roland and I tested.”
“You won’t be helpless. Good.”
Would I be strong enough? Or smart enough? I took off the Amulet of Life and stared into its depths. The jewel kept its secrets. I set it on the coffee table.
“I should go now,” I sighed.
“I’m making the jump with you.” Eric stated purposefully.
“Dave said I had to do this alone.”
“Chloe, you’re not thinking strategically.”
“I already know I’m winging it.”
“Your one superpower won’t be enough,” he said.
“No need to rub it in.”
“Then why won’t you accept some help? You took your friend Roland earlier today. Why not me?”
He stood in front of me, towering over me.
Because I don’t trust you, Eric. I hardly even know you. Would you really have my back during a struggle with the Purple Menace?
I didn’t say it aloud. Instead, we debated, with me claiming I could handle the quest, and him poking holes in my fake confidence. As we argued, Eric took me to the office storage closets and procured a pastiche of mismatched superheroine costume bits.
“Jerry said you needed a costume. Now I understand why. We use these for PR events and the like,” he shrugged. “They might make you feel more superheroic.”
I inspected the pieces. Cheesy as the white-and-blue spandex costume was, at least it would cover all my assets. Blue spandex for the torso, arms, and legs, and white for the boots and gloves. There was even a white vinyl tool belt I loaded with an assortment of odds and ends, some from Roland that he’d thrust into my hands before I left, some from Eric. I could put my long hair in a ponytail. As a superheroine, I would not be expected to wear a hat, I hoped. My pillbox was back at Dave’s office.
Silly, but having a costume to wear did make me feel I’d be a little more prepared to face the other world.
Like the analytic thinker he was, Eric continued to present good reasons to go with me. Or to delay the trip. “We should wait until we can formulate a plan. We need real weapons, too.”
“There’s no time,” I protested. I had all the costume bits in my arms as he led the way to his office. I argued with his back.
“The Purple Menace has been gaining power. Waiting won’t help.” I made myself speak firmly. “I’m going as soon as I suit up, and I’m going alone.” Diabolical Dave was already sleep deprived. I only had a few hours to act.
Eric frowned at me.
If he kept presenting logical arguments, he’d talk me out of my reluctant mission. I retreated to his private washroom to change clothes. No need to get distracted again by sex and weaken in my decision. The lock on the door was on the inside, so there was no fear he’d try to control me by keeping me a prisoner.
At least that’s what I thought. In those few minutes while I donned the superheroine costume, Eric made a lightning executive maneuver. I opened the door in time to see the smoke dissipate, and knew exactly what he had done.
Chapter 16
“Eric.”
He was gone. He had said the incantation and taken off for the other dimension on his own. There was a short note propped next to the amulet.
Sorry. Meet you on the other side.
E.
I sank into the couch, stunned. The ground had shifted under my feet, although nothing in the room had altered. Except the Indiana Jones hat was gone.
Suddenly, it clicked. He must have traveled to the other dimension earlier today, after Roland and I vanished from my mother’s living room. In that world, Eric would have learned what Roland and I had about hats as typical street wear. I hadn’t mentioned it. Eric already knew. He’d chosen a hat symbolic in our world of supercharged movie heroics—the fedora of Indiana Jones.
The evidence had been here for me to see, but I had ignored it because all I could think about was having sex with him. I’m a total moron, utterly distracted by sex.
This jump to the other dimension was his second. I had believed what he’d told me. I’d let him distract me with his questions. I had confided in him, like a trusting little girl. What the hell was he trying to do? Whose side was he on?
I called Diabolical Dave to tell him what Eric had done. That he might be in league with the Purple Menace.
“Go after him,” he commanded. “Don’t waste any more time. Leave the amulet at the guard’s desk downstairs.”
He hung up on me. Thanks, Bad Dad.
My reasons for returning to the other dimension were still urgent. I put my shaking hand on the amulet and started to chant.
“Great spirits…” The smoke billowed again, then vanished.
I was back on Earth Whatever.
Alone. Although I had followed Eric by maybe only three minutes, he was nowhere to be seen. I wasn’t on a midtown sidewalk as had happened before. This was somewhere on the lower west side of Manhattan, near the warehouse district, or what was left of it. How did I know this? Because I could see the Empire State Building, or at least, something like it, to the northeast. Manhattan is conveniently full of tall landmarks, most of them laid out on a grid. I knew exactly where I was.
I definitely was back in the other dimension. I could tell by the hats and gloves worn by the few people on the street. I’d never seen ordinary people dressed like this in their daily lives, except in movies. Oh, maybe a hipster here and there, or some old bald guy. As for women, the Queen of England still wears a hat and gloves everywhere, but she’s a very old lady, and a queen. Ordinary women seldom bother.
The last time I was in this dimension, the Purple Menace had hunted me down. This trip, I wanted to attack him. My team, consisting of Diabolical Dave, Roland, and Jerry, all thought checking out the Purple Menace’s headquarters might give me a clue about how to decisively defeat him. Even Eric had agreed.
Although Eric could have said so to keep me away from his own destination. Where was he, and what he was up to? My mission must continue now as if the interlude in his office had never happened.
Although the cross streets were busy with upscale shoppers, I was on one of the few seedy pockets in this part of lower Manhattan. Of course the Purple Menace had to be there. I’d read enough comics to know a seedy lair was practically a rule of supervillainy.
The building was exactly as Roland had described and Diabolical Dave had drawn, a Romanesque revival loft building with a zillion layers of paint on the lobby doors. The Purple Menace’s two henchmen made an unwelcome sight at the entrance. Wearing ill-matched street clothes and newsboy caps, they were moving a large wooden crate on a dolly toward a truck. I approached, shaking off the uneasy feeling that something or someone was watching me.
They moved to block the elevator.
“Is your boss in?” I asked politely. No need to start a fight if I didn’t have to.
“This is private property, girlie,” said the tall one. I didn’t know
their names in my dimension, and I guessed I wouldn’t learn them here, either. I might as well call them Mutt and Jeff again, although I couldn't remember which of the antique newspaper comic strip characters was the tall one and which was the short.
My polite request hadn’t gotten me anywhere back in Queens with the duplicates of these guys, mere editors of comics. Why had I expected these same personality types would be any different in Diabolical Dave’s world? The only difference was in degree. Here they were outright criminals. I had witnessed their snatching of Roland, and their attempt to storm Barb’s office to get at me.
The two men blocked my path, smiling unpleasantly.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” I offered, still maintaining my polite demeanor.
“Ooh, I’m scared of the superheroine in her fancy costume,” Mutt mocked me.
“I see you prefer the hard way,” I replied. I shoved him against the solid stone of the entranceway with my power bolts. Stunned, he collapsed in a heap.
Jeff started to grab me, but I immediately pivoted and hit him with a couple of bolts, too. He was out cold in a second. This time around, I kind of knew how much juice to give them to knock them out.
“Sleep well, guys.” I said, and turned for the elevator. Lucky them. They were the only ones involved in this mess who were likely to enjoy a nap. I would love a nap myself. My lack of sleep the past few days was catching up with me. My muscles ached from all the unaccustomed physical activity. Including last night with Eric. Oh, how I wished I could be back in his lavish bachelor pad apartment, sparring over typical male-female issues, instead of in a strange dimension on a life-or-death mission. With him gone AWOL and possibly with a bad guy or a co-conspirator.
Before I had time to indulge in any more self-pity, I burst into the Purple Menace’s top floor lair.
It was empty. The loft space Roland had described still contained a couple of huge crates like the ones Mutt and Jeff had wrangled downstairs. The Purple Menace himself was nowhere in evidence. He was long gone.
Temporary Superheroine Page 13
