Moan

by Kenya Wright

  And in between those kisses and pumping, fucking and humping, Emi whispered parts of her plan to me in my ears. Her pussy was so good it was a wonder I could pay attention to it all. In fact, I was sure there were things that I’d missed in the middle of sliding between her thighs.

  Regardless, there was one statement that she’d said that soothed my soul. And for once, I thought that we might be able to get out of here without hurting any innocent people.

  In between one of our rounds of sex, she whispered, “The kids were moved to another facility in a small town in Indonesia. The papers are lying.”

  Fuck. Her pussy is so good. What did she say? They didn’t get kidnaped? Oh God. Why does she have to feel so good?

  “I called in some major favors. Major. Like, I may be working like a slave for the rest of my life, but someone slipped the story to the associate press. Several reporters are in on it. Including many editors in Indonesia.” She widened her eyes. “Did you hear what I said?”

  “Yes. I’m just. . .fuck. . .” I thrust in her once more and lost control right there, falling deep into the very core of her. I swear our bodies merged as I came hard. Not able to control myself anymore, I gripped the bed and pounded my way to victory. “Fuck!”

  CHAPTER 15

  Emi

  I hope this works.

  I didn’t have a whole lot of the plan down. He’d tried to whisper it to me as we made love. The biggest theme I’d gotten from his words, was that I had to stay close to him so that when it was time to run, I could.

  “Stay with me. We go in,” Roman had said in between my moaning. “We say hi to the Devil, and then we sneak away as soon as the lights go out. Our masks will have night vision glasses built inside of them. Everyone with us will be able to get out of there, before the gases fill the room.”

  On the day of the party, we dressed in silence. My fingers shook so bad I couldn’t even zip up my fig leaf costume. Roman had to help me into it. Each leaf was made from silk and dyed an elegant green. Jade stones dotted the tips. The soft fabric hugged my whole body in this lovely gown that flared out at the bottom with flowers, tons of flowers, of many colors.

  He had to help me into my mask too. It was this huge thing made of polished fake apples that gleamed like magical fruit. Branches surrounded the rims. While we had sex, he’d explained that the night goggles could be pulled down with buttons on top of the branches. As he put the mask on me, he brought my fingers to the buttons, but made sure I didn’t press on them.

  He said nothing else but, “Okay?”

  “Okay.” I nodded.

  “How does the gown feel?”

  “Great. It’s beautiful. Is it another one of your designs?”

  “Yes.”

  “You should get into some sort of high level costume design.”

  “Anything is possible after this.” And then he pierced me with his gaze. “Anything.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that, if the Cardinals are pleased, we should consider truly exploring us.”

  “You want to date?”

  “No, Emi. I want to capture.”

  “I’m not sure I’ve ever been captured before.”

  “Those other guys didn’t have the right motivation and hunting gear.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yes.” He licked his lips. “If we this all works out, then I want you and not just to be my girlfriend. I want you in the most extreme and possessive way. I don ‘t think I want to wake up in the morning and not see you lying on the pillow next to me. I’ve been enjoying that most these days.”

  I opened my mouth in shock.

  “There’s nothing to say, Emi.”

  Stunned, I whispered, “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes. I’m sure. I’m certain that you feel the same way about me. I know that what moves inside of my body, when I make love to you, has to be flowing inside of you. I want you and there’s nothing that you can do about it.”

  A smile broke over my face. “Then I’m lucky that I want you too, or that might’ve been a problem.”

  “Oh yes.” He captured me with his arms. “I want you forever, if I have forever to give.”

  “You will.”

  He gave me a sad nod. “Yes, I will.”

  He wore a suit, outlined in the same type of leaves. His mask was almost exactly like mine, but bigger. We looked like a high fashion Adam and Eve.

  Why did he dress us like this?

  Once we rode the elevator up to the floor and entered the party, I realized why he’d chosen these costumes.

  Roman had designed the hotel’s banquet room after the Garden of Good and Evil. A freaking spring streamed down the center of the room. A spring! Like somehow this man had gotten someone to have water flow through the space and not cause flooding.

  It was breathtaking.

  Artificial trees towered over us, but they weren’t the plastic variety. The trunk was actual wood, carved by skilled hands. The leaves were sewn from shiny, silky fabric. Lovely colorful blooms and jeweled fruit dangled from the branches. A fake sky glowed from the center, bathing us in warm golden light. Unlike the castle parties, there was no orchestra or band. The speakers were hidden, but they definitely played a beautiful melody of violins and piano notes.

  The food smelled so good I almost reached out for it, but Roman had told me not to touch, taste, or drink anything inside the space. Everything would hold some poison. Each piece to the party was a weapon against these evil men.

  Men crowded the room. They wore the same black robes and wooden masks with no uniqueness to it, making it clear that they weren’t here to party, they were here to do what they wanted and hide their identities.

  You sick piece of shit men!

  Arm in arm, I walked in with Roman and my skin crawled with unease. We were going to kill these men. I didn’t put the toxins and poisons in here, but I’d helped in my way. And we were really going to do it. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that yet. I just knew that we had to do it. They had to die. That wasn’t even a question. They were willing to kidnap other people’s kids, abuse, and probably discard them. There would be no way the kids would survive it, even if these men had allowed them to live afterwards.

  They had to die, and Roman and I were going to do it.

  “Here we go.” Roman guided me to a man that sat on a throne themed after a massive serpent. I had to blink to make sure there wasn’t a real boa constrictor formed into a chair. It was long and carved from wood. The painting had been excellent. Fierce green scales that seemed to move on their own in the light. At the top of the throne, the snake revealed its head with an opened mouth, fangs stretched out and ready to attack.

  In the chair, the devil must’ve sat. He was a big man, but one could tell he was old by the wrinkles on his hands. He wore a mask, similar to the others, but it was easy to tell the he ruled them all. Power and vileness exuded from him. The closer I got to him, the more I wanted to itch my skin and edge away.

  “Mr. Meade, I see you’ve brought a friend.” The devil tipped his wine glass to me.

  Good. Drink up, buddy. First mission accomplished, find any way we can to poison the cardinal.

  I did my best to keep the smile off of my face as I bowed in front of him.

  He didn’t grin or smile. Instead, he frowned. “I thought I told you not to speak to Mrs. Rice anymore.”

  “Did you?” Roman asked. “I was so busy with planning this party, I didn’t remember that.”

  The devil’s voice grew darker. “When will the entertainment begin?”

  “Soon. I will go get them.”

  “I saw the papers. Next time let’s do this in a more discreet way.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m new to this.”

  “Yes, you are.” The devil turned to me and finished his wine. “But it seems you still haven’t learned a valuable lesson. How about you go get the entertainment and Ms. Rice stays with me?”

  “No,” I said
. As far as I was concerned the bastard was already dead.

  The devil gestured to the waiter to give him another glass. Eagerly, two different servants rushed to him with more wine.

  Yes. Yes. Drink up.

  Holding his new glass, he sipped and hissed at me. “You’ll sit here on your own or you’ll be made to sit here.”

  “No.”

  The devil directed his attention to Roman as if he could help him.

  Roman shrugged. “Emi does what she damn well wants to do. I just try to stay out of her way and be thankful for the times she does let me lead.”

  The devil gestured to his men. They came towards me, and then Roman took charge and got between us. His voice shifted to ice cold. “No. She stays next to me. Whatever problems you have with her, deal with them after the party. Just understand, that first you’ll have to deal with me.”

  The devil kept his eyes on Roman as he sipped more wine. No words slipped from his mouth. And then his gaze appeared odd. He widened his eyes and started to grasp for his neck, coughing the whole time. His men gave up on me and rushed to him, hitting his back and asking if he needed water.

  “We should leave you to the party.” Roman nodded and took my hand.

  The devil’s voice came out harsh and pained. “No. You both stay.”

  Roman simply tossed him a wicked smile. “No. But can I say, may you rest in peace, you fucking devil.”

  And then the lights went off, and the mania came. Cold darkness bathed us all. I could see nothing but black. And those men screamed like girls, all shrilly and wild.

  “What’s going on?” one yelled.

  “Get me out of here!” another shrilled.

  “Put on your goggles!” Roman screamed.

  I touched the branches on my mask, found the buttons, and pressed them at the same time. Soon a dark green view greeted my gaze.

  “Let’s go!” Roman grabbed my arm, right as the devil jumped from his chair and tried to reach for one of us. Blind, he missed me by a foot, but that didn’t stop me from kicking at his leg. The devil fell over. And I wasted no time, kicked off my heels, and rushed off with Roman.

  I’d thought getting out of there would be easy, but it ended up being the hardest task. There was a sea of men all around us with their hands out like zombies, trying to get out of there and pushing each other down. The cardinals had become so frantic that they’d run and walked over their fellow men. Many already lay stamped out and dead on the floor.

  Bile rose in my throat. I had to jump over those murdered men and hold on tightly to Roman the entire time. We couldn’t get lost. He knew the way and without him next to me, I would worry that he wasn’t safe. No. We had to stay together.

  We’re going to get out of here. We’re going to get out of here.

  By the time we got to the center of the room, it looked more like we were fighting a mob of zombies. The men clawed and snatched at my leaves not knowing what they were, grabbing hoping it would help them get out. I had to hit and beat them away. Roman helped and held on to me, getting in jabs and pulling us forward some more.

  “Stay with me, Emi!”

  “I will!” I could see the door in front of us. It was barely ten feet away, but possible. My heart boomed inside my chest. My legs had already grown tired from the anxiety and running over bodies. But I had to stay focused and continue moving. I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t let go of Roman’s hand. I had to run as fast as I could and keep his pace.

  A beep sounded off in the distance.

  “That’s the first warning for the gas, Emi! Hurry!”

  Breathing in as much clean air as I could, I increased my pace. Sweat dripped all over my face. That damn mask was so heavy I wanted to take it off, but the night goggles attached to it, so I couldn’t.

  “We’re almost there, baby. We’re almost there!”

  “Yes.” I panted. “I won’t stop.”

  “Don’t!” He punched another cardinal out the way, reached for the door, and opened it. Others fled out with us, but thank God none of them were the wooden masked men. They all had those odd night vision goggle masks and they were all happy to see us.

  A woman snatched off her mask and began to count as two huge men held the doors open. Anytime a cardinal got close, they shoved them back into the banquet room. Anytime one of our guys came to the doorway, they yanked him out to safety.

  Another beep sounded. The women finished counting. “Okay. It’s twenty. Close the doors! Now!”

  One more beep sounded as the doors shut tight. And then the screams came. They were louder than before. So horrid, I knew they would give me nightmares for the rest of my life. They sounded like demons drowning in holy water. They were blood-curdling sounds that made my heart boom even faster.

  Tears spilled from my eyes and I knew they weren’t for the men, but for the loss of life. It was sad that we’d been forced to resort to something like this. There shouldn’t have been so many evil men in the world that loved to hurt children—so many that they could fill a big room.

  The whole situation was wrong, but I’d been glad that I did it. I couldn’t care less, if my soul darkened for it or if I even went to jail. No kids would be harmed that evening and now that those men were gone, a few more children would be saved. In fact, their religion would be saved, because the wrong men were gone.

  Roman must’ve saw that I was crying because he pulled off my mask and wiped away my tears. “Let’s go, sweet Emi and forget about all of this.”

  “But don’t we have to—”

  “Don’t worry. Butter’s friends will finish the job. They have a special interest in this. In fact, they’re willing to stand here all night and listen to these men scream as they die.”

  A cold shiver ran up my spine as he tightened his grip on my hand and guided us away. “Let’s go. We’re still not done.”

  And he was right. The whole night, fear pumped through my veins. We got to the airport with our new identification and passports. I had a long wig with light brown highlights and hazel contacts. I wore a I visited Rome t-shirt with the most unappealing pants and sneakers. Roman being a master of theatrics, even suited me in a pregnancy body suit. I actually looked pregnant as I wobbled through the airport.

  Roman wore a wig too. This shaggy thing with a hat and some fake skull earrings dangling from his ear. He had a Metallica shirt on and some holey jeans.

  We didn’t walk around together, but he always maintained a safe distance. He figured that if they were looking for us they’d be searching for a couple. Once we got on the plane, I sat in the seat in front of him. It wasn’t until the plane took off that we even reached our arms through the aisle and held hands.

  And still I didn’t relax until we got to Jamaica, jumped in a cab, and checked into our room.

  That night neither of us slept and we didn’t make love. Instead, we lay in each other’s arms and whispered about our lives—things that we probably had never told anyone. He’d confessed to me how afraid he’d been of death. And being human, I agreed. Neither one of us wanted to die, but we weren’t willing to let children be harmed in the process. It was sort of a mutual sad agreement that we had no regrets, but hoped we would survive.

  “I want more out of life.” Roman ran his fingers through my hair. “If I get another chance, I want to really live.”

  “You were named the Sex Tycoon of Europe. Believe me. You’ve lived.”

  “No, I didn’t marry the woman and have the kids. For some reason I just felt selfish about that. I kept thinking that it would be annoying.”

  I laughed. “Why?”

  “I figured the kids and her would want to be around me all of the time.”

  “Yeah. Wives and kids are crazy like that.”

  He smiled. “But what really was going on was that I’d never been with a woman that I wanted around me for more than a few hours. Add the fact that I would be procreating with her and getting a mini-version of her that pissed on itself and couldn’t get a j
ob, and it didn’t make any sense.”

  The laughter fled out of my lips. For the first time since fleeing Vatican City, my sense of humor had returned.

  “But now all of that has changed,” he said.

  My laughing ceased. “Why?”

  “You are a woman that I would want around me forever. I meant that in Italy and I still mean it now.”

  “So you like it so much, you might want to put a ring on it?”

  “Yes.”

  Again, I didn’t laugh. “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, my sweet Emi. I want you forever.”

  “Forever, forever?”

  “Yes. Forever times forever, actually.”

  “That sounds like a long time.”

  “Oh yes. I like that idea a lot.”

  And then all the fear came back, but this time it had nothing to do with those cardinals in Vatican City, probably all dead and boiling in hell. Now I was afraid of Roman’s love because every word he’d said, I loved. Just like him, I hadn’t thought about marriage or kids. But after going through hell with him and killing these men, I couldn’t think of anyone else I could trust with my heart.

  “Okay, Roman.”

  He kissed me as we laid in the bed and dawn arrived. “Okay?”

  “Okay. I will give you forever.”

  “Oh, Emi.” He rolled me over on top of him. “You said that as if you had a choice.”

  And then we made love, as I imagined an old couple would—nice and slow and wet with years of knowing each other’s bodies and desires. We touched each other as if we’d been married for thirty, or even forty years. Passion swelled within the sheets. I’d known nothing but desire since meeting this amazing man.

  And for those minutes as we made love, I didn’t give two shits if someone came and killed us right there.

  I could die in that moment. I could just lose my life right there in his arms and have no regrets.

  “I think I love you, Emi.”

  “I think I love you, too.”

  EPILOGUE

  Roman

  Weeks passed and we fished and tanned in Jamaica. Not one report came on the news about men dying in Vatican City. Maybe those recordings had helped. I’d delivered the copies to the Pope. He would’ve known the Cardinal’s voice since the devil was one of his top advisors.