Praise Her, Praise Diana

by Anne Rothman-Hicks

  Praise Her, Praise Diana

  by Anne Rothman-Hicks

  and

  Ken Hicks

  Published by

  Melange Books, LLC

  White Bear Lake, MN 55110

  www.melange-books.com

  Praise Her, Praise Diana, Copyright 2014 Anne Rothman-Hicks and Ken Hicks

  ISBN: 978-1-61235-945-8

  Names, characters, and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover Design by Becca Barnes

  Table of Contents

  "Praise Her, Praise Diana"

  Chapter One

  "Diana" Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  "Diana" Chapter Two

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  "Diana" Chapter Three

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  "Diana" Chapter Four

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  "Diana" Chapter Five

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  "Diana" Chapter Six

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  "Diana" Chapter Seven

  About the Authors

  Previews

  PRAISE HER, PRAISE DIANA

  by Anne Rothman-Hicks & Ken Hicks

  Jane Larson's new client has written a novel in which the main character is a woman who seeks vengeance for a horrific rape by seducing men and then killing and castrating them. Soon a person who calls herself Diana begins to imitate the character in the book, setting New York City on edge and men and women at each other’s throats.

  We dedicate this book to all women who have suffered rape or violence of any kind, to our three children, Brendan, Zachary and Alice, whose support means the world to us, and to Alice who read and edited every word.

  Chapter One

  Maggie Edwards sat cross-legged on the wooden floor of her front porch and gazed out at the dense early-morning mist. Her hands rested lightly on her knees, palms up, thumbs and forefingers touching. Her back was arched slightly and propped against a wicker sofa. Breathe. Count. Breathe. Keep the demon thoughts at bay.

  She was in her mid-thirties, tall and slender, with deep-set emerald eyes, high cheekbones and a wide sensuous mouth. Her long blond hair had golden streaks in it from being outdoors and was pinned up in a ballerina’s neat bun. On a good day, she could easily pass for under thirty. On a bad day like this one, she felt like a hag.

  Through the fog she could just barely see the white and purple asters that grew in a thick tangle at the edges of her yard. The long driveway, lined with maple and oak trees, had also been transformed into an Impressionistic blur. Beyond the veil of mist, she pictured in her mind the surrounding fields and forests and hills, with their mottled shades of yellow, red and orange in full autumn display.

  Six years earlier, with the improbable proceeds of her first novel, Getting There, she purchased this house and the surrounding fifteen acres of land, including the barn, pond and dilapidated outbuildings. That first summer, she planted fruit trees and flowers and cleaned up the pond. She’d wanted to tear down some of the smaller structures and renovate the barn into bed-and-breakfast rooms. But the royalties from Getting There had soon slowed to a trickle, canceling those plans, and she hadn’t been able to write another book since.

  She still heard from editors or agents who wanted to handle her next novel, but she rarely answered their e-mails or phone calls. She knew what they wanted. They wanted the heroic Marissa from Getting There to resume her sexual escapades—the minutely described couplings that had catapulted Marissa up the corporate ladder and into the position of Chief Executive Officer of a major corporation. Overnight, Getting There had become a widely read favorite of high school and college girls, and then of their mothers as well. She never had the courage to tell any of these still-avid fans that Marissa was dead.

  Now the cell phone rang beside her, like an alarm jarring her awake from a deep sleep. Although she had set it on the lowest volume, the sound pierced her mantle of calm so completely that it seemed she could have heard the ringing a mile away through the mist, as the clanging of a buoy travels over water at night. Bad news, bad news. Death, death.

  She let it ring. Twice. Three times. She had been expecting the call. Dreading it and desiring it at the same time.

  The woman had contacted her many times before, introducing herself as ‘Diana’. She spoke in a heavy Eastern European accent, never disclosing her real name or any detail that might identify her—calling only from public pay phones in New York City.

  “Hello?” Maggie said finally.

  “Did you send it?”

  Maggie inhaled and let the air out slowly with her answer. She took yoga classes to discipline her mind, but it didn’t work nearly well enough. Still, she did the breathing exercises, exhaling the cleansing breaths that never seemed to cleanse anything.

  “Not yet,” Maggie said.

  “Not yet?” The woman snapped, enunciating her response with robotic crispness, as if she were biting off each word and spitting it through the phone. “You fool! What moment will finally suit you? When the sheriff auctions your house? When they cart you away?”

  Maggie took another deep breath.

  “I keep telling you. It’s not the book I agreed to give Anthony, and I—”

  “You’re lying, Maggie Edwards!” the woman shrieked. “That’s not the reason that you delay, day after day! It’s a better book than the one that foolish man wanted. And Heather has agreed to take it and make sure it is printed.”

  “Heather would do anything for me at this point,” Maggie said softly. “I’m her hero. Author of Getting There.”

  “So much the better. Infatuation will ease the pain if there are consequences. Did you seduce her? Is that why you have qualms?”

  “I did not,” Maggie snapped.

  Silence came from Diana’s end of the phone, although Maggie sensed that this unknown woman was amused by her weakness and enjoyed the pain she inflicted. When the woman spoke again, there was
no attempt to cajole. The words were like stones thudding against Maggie’s head and torso.

  “Then you will delay no longer. You are not a fool! Time has run out. You have no other choice. Tell the truth about Marissa, Maggie Edwards. Tell them how she ... died.”

  The connection was broken. Maggie gently placed the cell phone beside her on the floor, although she would have liked to throw it against a wall. Her heart was racing. She could feel the throb of blood in her temples. She closed her eyes to try to concentrate and recapture some semblance of calm. But the peaceful image of the autumn countryside was drowned out by the pattern of words drumming in her head.

  How could she know?

  Was this woman, Diana, real? Or was she imagined like those distant hills through the fog—a figment of an overwrought mind desperate for a way out?

  Marissa was dead. She had no choice. Marissa was dead.

  Tell the truth.

  * * * *

  She went upstairs to her bedroom where she had her laptop set up and typed an e-mail to Heather Blake of The New York Portal:

  Dear H,

  Here is the final draft, for better or for worse.

  Your friend, M.

  Still she hesitated, filled with the nagging sense that once the chapter left the privacy of her own computer, unknown consequences would follow. Her entire life would be beyond her control.

  And yet, what the woman said was true—she had no choice.

  She attached a file marked D-Ch 1, and pressed the send button.

  Chapter One

  ~ Diana ~

  By

  Maggie Edwards

  Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Diana. You may have heard of me. The Huntress. Goddess of the moon. Beloved of virgins. Never been kissed.

  So anyway, I met this guy in a bar near his apartment in New York City. He thought it was by chance—two people locking gazes across a crowded room. I knew better.

  It was a dark, dirty place filled with the smell of all the stale beer that had been spilled onto the wooden floor over the course of a half-century or so. When I arrived, his eyes were already bright from several drafts, although he probably would have fought you if you told him he was drunk. He liked to fight. He played rugby just for the fun of hitting people and being hit, and wore his cuts and bruises like trophies.

  All the same, he had a surprisingly engaging smile, marred slightly by a cap on one of his front teeth that didn’t quite match the rest. Too bad. His hair was brown and medium length. Slightly tousled, it fell in a cascade over his forehead. His skin was very white, nearly blemish-free, except for a swath of freckles across his nose and cheeks that added to his boyish appearance. You would have liked him at first. I’m sure of that.

  He patted the seat next to him at the far end of the bar and bought me a drink. I was wearing a short skirt, high leather boots, and no stockings. A long down jacket was draped over my shoulders like a cape, reaching to the floor.

  He looked me up and down without apology, weaving this way and that, just a little unsteady on the barstool. He liked what he saw, apparently. With all the beer that had passed his lips that night, he didn’t notice I was wearing a blond wig. I was also wearing my blue contacts. He didn’t notice that either.

  He told me a joke about dumb blonds and his hand slapped me on the naked part of my thigh as I pretended to laugh. A minute later, his hand returned to the same spot, tweaking me a little higher up the inside of my leg, like a mischievous child who is sure his antics will be forgiven. I pushed his hand away and he started describing his job and his boss, and I remember thinking, ‘I don’t care about your life, tooth-boy.’ And then there was that hand again, creeping upward along my thigh, and he was chattering away and grinning roguishly at me as though that five-fingered appendage was operating independently of the rest of him, finding its own way in the world.

  “What’s with the coat,” he asked me.

  I moved my shoulders as if I were shivering.

  “I’m cold,” I said, hunching over the bar and pulling my arms together. This had the effect of pressing my breasts upward against the unbuttoned top of my shirt. His eyes were glued to that triangle of soft, inviting flesh. There was no subtlety in him.

  “I could warm you up,” tooth-boy said, obviously proud of his wit.

  “I’ll bet you could,” I said, and stood up.

  The air was cool and the pale clouds of our breath were caught by a light wind and dispersed as we walked down a deserted side street, westward into a neighborhood of small buildings, passing a row of worn brownstone stoops that extended onto the pavement. I had put on my down coat with its neutral unmemorable color, and I now had a similarly nondescript knitted cap pulled low over my ears. I liked the anonymity of it—the sense that a person passing would see just a slightly drunk guy leading a girl to his apartment and that, if anyone were asked, no essential part of me would stand out to be described.

  His arm was around my waist, and he leaned against me to steady himself as we walked. At one point he stopped and pulled me to him, kissing me with his open mouth and wet lips and thick rancid beer breath. His left hand pawed at the front of me but couldn’t get past the armor of my coat.

  “Not here, you animal,” I said to him and he laughed because he thought I was joking.

  We lumbered along, trying to match our steps. There was no one on the street but an occasional rat skittering among the garbage cans. Soon we turned up the front stairs to his building and through the dingy foyer with its soiled carpeting and then up one flight where he struggled to get his key in the lock. Here I thought that if I wanted to leave I should do it now. Once I got inside, I knew I would not be able to stop myself. I was already thinking about a certain sunny meadow off a winding backcountry road on a beautiful spring day—the first really warm day of the year—and what was taken from me.

  * * * *

  His apartment is a pair of rooms that are small and cave-like and untidy. There are dirty clothes everywhere. Dishes with food encrusted on them are stacked in the sink. I imagine that his sheets haven’t been changed for weeks. A vaguely sour odor pervades the air. I tell myself to ignore these unpleasant details. I won’t be here long.

  He tosses his jacket onto a chair and looks at me standing in the middle of his living room.

  “Take off your coat,” he says. “Stay a while.”

  There’s that wit of his again.

  “You take it off,” I say.

  Grinning, Tooth-boy unzips the down jacket slowly from my neck to my toes and peels it off backwards so that it falls in a heap behind me. He unbuttons my blouse and discovers that I am not wearing a brassiere. Without asking, he leans over and sucks at one nipple and then the other until those tender buds are red and swollen. I am not surprised that he leaves my blouse on and takes off my skirt and then my underpants. It is his pattern, after all. I know him well, although he hasn’t recognized me yet. He’s too intent on his conquest. Too drunk.

  “What about the boots?” he asks.

  “The boots stay on,” I reply.

  He is so wonderfully arrogant. He imagines that I want him terribly, that I would gladly suffer small indignities to be possessed by him. His five-fingered appendage travels up the inside of my leg with all the grace of a burrowing mammal. He thinks he will penetrate me with his finger, but I stop him.

  “Your turn to get undressed,” I say.

  Tooth-boy grins again. He is quite happy when I peel off his T-shirt, revealing a chest whose muscles are ill-defined and a belly that is soft and spreading. There are wisps of brown hair between his flabby pectorals and around his belly button. I undo his pants next; let them drop to the floor with a thud, then pull down his boxers as the grand finale. He has an above-average penis that is well on the way to tumescence. He seems proud of this, too.

  He wants to step out of his pants, but I don’t let him. Smiling, I put my hands on his shoulders and push him down, allowing his tongue to leave a wet trail down my
chest and across my stomach like the path of a slug. When his mouth reaches my pubic hair I push him gently backward, meeting his quizzical gaze, never letting on how much I hate him.

  I guide him slowly onto his back. I straddle his legs and touch his fully erect penis modestly, as though it were an object of great beauty. His breathing is rushed.

  “Slow down,” I say.

  He obeys.

  I am his leader now. It is simply a matter of time.

  I glide forward and am strangely gratified that he gasps as he enters me while I feel nothing. I may as well be a plastic mannequin. A nerveless receptacle.

  Don’t pity me!

  I move my hips with exquisite skill and he gasps again. Soon his breathing reaches a rhythm matching the movement of my body on top of his. It is a rhythm that carries him away to a new place. His eyelids flutter closed as he concentrates on the pleasure that I am causing to well up inside, ready to explode. And when his moment arrives and my anger can no longer be contained, I remove the knife that was hidden inside my leather boot and the blade strikes past his naked ribs to his heart, buried to the hilt in his muscle, bone and blood.

  “Sorry,” I say. “Did that hurt?”

  His eyes open, displaying disbelief. And pain, of course.

  “Remember me now?”

  But no sound comes from his gaping mouth. Death follows quickly, instantaneously, it seems, although I hope with all my heart that the instant of agony is long enough for him to understand that he has been tricked, and to experience the same gaping loneliness and fear that I once did.