Helen, who was now naked and whose hair was a mass of serpentine curls, put a hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. “They caught me,” she said.
“They?” asked Reginald.
I sat up.
“The killjoys that run this place. I was only out for a couple of days.” She stepped down into the lava, more woman than girl, and definitely not as innocent as she had appeared that day in the forest.
My eyes were riveted to her shaved pubic mound. I’d never seen a real one before and it just looked strange, like something more than the pubic hair was missing. It looked tidy though, a dark line with a small butterfly resting on it.
“My shortest time yet.” She sat down, her breasts resting on the surface of the lava. “Once I was out for six months. Oh, that was a joy. I went to some pretty wild and wonderful places that time.” She spread her arms along the edge of the rock. “Met some pretty wild and wonderful people, too.” She laughed.
I looked at Reginald, whose brow was wrinkled with either concentration or annoyance.
“What about your sister, Rosamond? Did you ever find her?”
Helen laughed. “My good man, I’m Rosamond. There was never any missing sister. I was having a laugh.”
Reginald’s expression turned to thunder. “What?” he growled.
“Oh don’t get your testicles in a tangle,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “What harm was done?”
“We wasted our time looking for this ‘missing sister’ of yours, that’s what!”
“And what would you have done with your time otherwise? You’re dead.” She leaned towards us. “You have nothing but time!” Settling back against the rock she smiled. “I did you a favour. I gave you an interesting distraction to help you pass the time.”
Reginald sat back with a huff.
“Are you a demon?” I asked.
Rosamond laughed. “No, no, no. Maybe a demonette. I’m a spirit like you, although I do have more than a touch of wickedness within me.”
I looked at Reginald, who was still seething. I didn’t understand why. I agreed with Rosamond. She did give us something to do and because of that I got to see Heaven.
“And what did you think?” asked Rosamond.
I furrowed my brow. “Think of what?”
“Of Heaven?”
“How did you…?” Then I shook my head. It was obvious how. She’d read my mind so I’d have to be careful from now on she didn’t read something I didn’t want her to. “Disappointing,” I replied. “Not at all what I was expecting, but then again, neither is Hell.”
Rosamond laughed some more. “I ask you, why would you deny yourself, make sacrifices, and give up all the fun the world has to offer just to go there? For me, the party never stopped. I lived just the same way when I was alive. If anything, I’m having more fun now.”
“And what brought you to Hell? I mean, what did you do that was so bad?”
Her smile dimmed.
“I slid out of the womb and straight onto the road to Hell. I hated my parents. I can’t tell you what they did to me. Even now it makes me sick to my stomach.” She flicked her long tresses over her shoulder and continued. “I ran away from home at fifteen and became a ‘lady-of-the-night’, as they say. I did drugs. I drank too much. I smoked too much and had too much sex. I stole when I wasn’t earning. I lied, I swore, and I didn’t give a shit about anyone but me.” It was plain to see, by her tortured expression, that she wasn’t proud of any of this, despite her bold words. “I was born selfish and died the same way.” She sniffed back non-existent tears and forced a smile. “And loved every minute of it.”
I didn’t believe her. When I looked at Reginald I could see that his thunder had died and he was looking at Rosamond with an entirely different expression. One that was softer, kinder, gentler.
“So how is it that you can’t just walk out of here?” I asked, changing the topic, even though I was enthralled with her answer to my previous question. “There was no one guarding the entrance when we came in.”
Rosamond leaned forward and swept some lava over her shoulders.
“It was being guarded. Don’t you worry about that. Those sentinels love their job, and they never sleep.”
“Then how have you managed to escape so many times?”
“Ah!” she said enthusiastically; her eyes lighting up. “I wait for a distraction, you see. I keep to the shadows and crawl. Like mad! I’ve no doubt that while the eyes of the sentinels were on your approach one or two lucky souls escaped.”
“But if this place is so wonderful why would anyone want to escape?”
Rosamond shrugged. “A change is as good as a holiday. Even paradise can grow tedious when it’s the same thing every day.”
I nodded in agreement.
“This is all well and good,” said Reginald, who up to that time had been content to sit and listen. “But now we no longer have to search for someone who never existed in the first place, we should be leaving.”
Rosamond lurched forward. “Take me with you. I won’t be any bother. Promise.”
Reginald looked at me.
“How?” I asked.
“I told you how,” said Rosamond. “Distract the sentinels while I sneak out.”
I looked at Reginald and saw no evidence of him disliking the idea.
“Aren’t you worried what they’ll do if they have to keep sending demons out to bring you back?”
Rosamond smiled. “I’m already in Hell. What else could they possibly do to me?” Her smile turned into a laugh. “Send me to Heaven?”
Reginald climbed out of the lava pool and began dressing.
“So can I?” asked Rosamond.
I looked at Reginald, who had his back to me. He was bending down to retrieve his clothing. His balls were swinging between his legs. I glimpsed his tiny arsehole and felt my cock begin to stiffen a little. I wanted to keep him all to myself, but Rosamond intrigued me. She struck me as a spirit that would wither if not allowed to roam.
“Yes,” I said finally. “You can come with us.”
Together we climbed, dripping lava, from the pool.
After we’d dressed we walked back the way we’d come. As we approached the exit, Rosamond grabbed my shoulder.
“Wait,” she said. “I’m scared.”
I looked at her with mild amazement. “What? You?”
She peered over my shoulder into the darkness of the outside world. “Maybe it’s because all those times before I didn’t think about the escape. I just got the idea into my head and left. I’ve already been thinking about this time more than I should have.”
“What can we do?”
Rosamond shook her head. “Nothing. It’s up to me.” She placed a thoughtful finger on her bottom lip then immediately removed it. “Let’s go.”
We started moving and again I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Wait. If I get captured, I want you to go on without me. Don’t turn back. You won’t be able to help me, anyway.”
“Okay, Rosamond. We promise,” said Reginald who was beginning to sound impatient.
Rosamond swallowed and nodded, gesturing for me to go on.
All her talk had made me nervous. I followed Reginald so closely I could have been his shadow, but only because I knew he’d protect me, whatever happened. As we neared the outside world I began to see movement in the shadows above. I caught snatches of sound—of claw on rock and low growls. Something black, something denser than the night, hung down just to one side of us. I could hear it sniffing us. I grabbed Reginald’s hand.
“Duchess,” Reginald called as loudly and as calmly as he could.
Duchess materialised.
I heard more growls, more movement, all around us this time.
Duchess was skittish and kept moving about while we were trying to climb into the saddle. After we were safely atop her back, I was struck by a thought.
“How is Rosa…?”
“Shhhh!”
Duchess whinnied a
nd needed no prompting to head back to the river. Even the eels sliding around beneath her hooves weren’t enough to prevent her from wanting to get as far away from Hell as possible.
Once we were safely on the opposite bank, Reginald turned in the saddle.
“She made it out before, didn’t she?” he said in a low voice. “We’ll wait here a few minutes and see what happens.”
I searched the darkness for Rosamond. My whole body was tense. Each second seemed like a minute. The minutes, an eternity. Finally, I saw a pale glimmer in the darkness in front of me.
“Thank goodness for being able to hover over that lot,” she said.
“You made it!” I hugged her.
“Steady on,” she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. “Gee, you’re an affectionate lad, aren’t you?”
I released her and took a step back.
“Thank you,” she said, patting my shoulder. “So, where are we headed?”
Chapter 6
“Nocturne is the highlight of the spirit year,” said Reginald. “Why, every spirit within thousands of miles attends and then talks about it for months afterwards.”
“The times I’ve had at Nocturne,” said Rosamond said with a smile that said more than her words.
“How did you know where to find it?” I asked, walking between Reginald and Rosamond.
“We sense it,” said Reginald. “When you’ve been dead as long as I have, there’s no end to your powers. Of course, you don’t get them all at once. My God, what would that be like?”
We’d left Duchess in a field and were walking towards a faint glow emanating from within an ancient forest. As we drew nearer I could hear whispers and shrieks, but nothing could have prepared me for the visual spectacle of Nocturne.
I stepped into the clearing and was amazed to see a carnival of light. Every spirit gave off its own luminescence, but some of those gathered were breathtakingly beautiful, like gem stones. One small entity, fluttered right by my face, her delicate wings like illuminated opals, and as she passed by she left a rainbow-coloured afterglow in her wake.
The trees were festooned with flowers. I’d never seen so many before. Every single blossom was open, as though it were day, and gave off its own pale, silvery light.
At the centre of the gathering was a graceful spirit that towered over the other assembled entities. She gave off a brilliant glow, silver and gold mixed with a hint of green. She was juggling smaller spirits, like the one that had just flown by, each of whom were giggling and squealing as they were tossed and caught in rapid succession. As she performed, her luminescence dulled and brightened with each movement. As she threw her hand up, tossing one tiny sprite into the air, her radiance brightened for two seconds, then, as it relaxed and came down, the colours dulled.
“I can’t believe my eyes,” I said.
Reginald laughed. “Believe them.”
“Let’s go our own separate ways,” said Rosamond, whose attention had been taken by a muscular spirit standing by himself on the outskirts of the carnival. “We’ll meet back here when it’s over.”
She hurried away, wriggling her hips in a manner that brought a smile to my face.
“What do you say, Morgan? Shall we go our own way and meet up afterwards?”
“I’d rather not,” I replied. “It’s all a bit overwhelming and I’d feel better if I stayed with you. At least for a while.”
Reginald wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we entered the throng.
Closer to the action I realised there were more than spirits here. There were all manner of night-folk. There was no denying human spirits were in the majority, but there also many sprites or fairies, or whatever it was that had flown by me a few minutes earlier. They were everywhere. There were also animal spirits and orbs. I saw a pair of vampires and a werewolf, the latter of which nearly scared me to death—again!
“What is the purpose of Nocturne?” I asked, for while everyone was having fun and enjoying themselves, there was nothing to eat and nothing to drink. There were no rides like at the funfairs I’d read about and seen on the internet, but never actually been to.
“It’s purely a social event,” said Morgan, sounding very knowledgeable as he always did. “It’s been going on for hundreds of years. It provides the perfect opportunity for night-folk, such as ourselves, to meet others of our kind, to share news and information, and to forget about everything else for a few hours every year.”
We must have seen the satyr at the same time because as soon I spotted the half-man, half-goat creature sitting on a tree stump surrounded by a host of naked female spirits, Reginald said, “How peculiar.”
I was surprised by his reaction. “Peculiar?”
“Yes. What do you suppose it is?”
I felt a crease form between my brows. “Are you serious?”
Reginald looked at me blankly. “What do you mean am I serious? I suppose you can tell me what it is.”
“Yes,” I said. “It’s a satyr. Like Pan. You know, from Greek mythology.”
“You’ve seen these creatures before?”
“Only in books,” I said. “I can’t believe you haven’t seen one before.”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, Morgan,” he said defensively. “I didn’t realise I was walking with an expert.” Then he winked at me, and smiled. “Let’s go and talk to him. I’m curious.”
“Good evening,” said Reginald, thrusting his hand out in his usual confident manner towards the surprised satyr. “Reginald Batt of the Big River Batts, at your service.”
The satyr stood up. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Naal. And these lovely nymphs are Erato, Dryope, Kraneia, and Syke.”
Each of the naked maidens nodded and smiled before getting up one by one to leave us alone with Naal.
“We didn’t mean to bring an end to your little gathering,” said Reginald.
Naal shook his head. “Worry not. We arrived together and after a long journey we’re pleased to have a break from each other’s company. Please sit.”
Reginald and I sat down in the grass while Naal returned to his tree stump.
“It’s a fine Nocturne, isn’t it?” said Naal.
“That it is,” said Reginald. I just sat there. “And where have you come from?”
“From the European mainland,” Naal replied. “The journey’s been long, made easier by the company I travelled with.”
“It certainly is a long way to come,” said Reginald.
“It is, Mr Batt, although I’m also here for the Council of the Night. I don’t suppose you’re on the council?”
Reginald waved a hand in front of him. “No, I’m not fortunate enough to serve on the council.”
My curiosity was now piqued to the extent I was moved to finally make a contribution to the conversation.
“What’s the Council of the Night?” My eyes darted between Reginald and Naal.
Reginald patted me on the thigh, though directed his comment to Naal. “He’s a new spirit,” he explained. “There’s a lot for him to learn.” Then he added, “Though he certainly knew more about you than I did, so credit where credit is indeed due.”
“The Council of the Night,” Naal began, shifting on his tree stump, “is a council of elders that meet every year after Nocturne to hear grievances and judgement appeals.”
“Judgement appeals?” I asked.
“Yes. The powers that be…” He pointed towards the heavens. “…don’t always get it right, and when you think about the volume of souls they have to wade through all day, every day, you can understand how many slip ups there are.”
“And you have the power to overturn such judgements?”
Naal nodded. “The Council of the Night does. The big guy himself…” He pointed skywards again. “…sends a representative to oversee the proceedings and any decision made is both final and immediate.”
I nodded.
“I don’t suppose you have a grievance?” asked Naal.
Naal turned his head away. I looked at Reginald and he’d averted his eyes, as well.
I suddenly wished the ground would swallow me up. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Let’s say we go and see what Rosamond is up to,” said Reginald, leaping to his feet.
He helped me up then turned to Naal. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he said, giving a little bow. “It’s been most illuminating.”
Naal bowed his head. “And I’ve enjoyed talking with you. I hope we can meet again.”
“I’m sorry about…you know…,” I said as we walked back to the lights and spectacle of the masses.
Reginald placed a hand in the centre of my back and gave it a gentle rub. “There’s no harm done. I’d feel the same way if I were you.”
“I spoiled the conversation.”
“Well, you brought it to a halt though I’m not sure you spoiled it. Anyway,” he said, his tone becoming more upbeat, “it’s over now and there’s no point in dwelling on it. Is that Rosamond?”
Rosamond was dancing with a group of sailor spirits. One of her breasts had popped out of her dress and it had the attention of every sailor present. She obviously hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care. She was laughing and clapping her hands, enjoying herself as only Rosamond could. Then a thought came to me.
I waited until Rosamond took a break and forced my way through the throng of sailor spirits until I reached her.
“Rosamond, can I talk to you?”
She cupped my face in her hand and kissed me on the lips. “Does it have to be now, darling boy? Can’t you see I’m busy?”
I looked at the glee on the faces of the sailors and again at Rosamond’s perfect smile. I shrugged and shook my head. “No, it doesn’t have to be now,” I said and pushed my way back past the sailors.
I scanned the crowd and found Reginald talking to another spirit man dressed in a similar style of clothing to that which he wore. It was obvious they knew each other. Reginald was laughing as the other man spoke. I looked at Rosamond, at her laughing as the sailor spirits kissed her neck and whispered naughty things into her ears.
Paranormal Lovers Box Set Page 15
