Tara descended the steps giving him a flirty smile. She had taken her time getting dressed. She wanted to look her best. If the look on his face was any indication, she had done well. She knew when a man wanted her and Paul wanted her. It gave her a sense of power. As if she had a vested interest in him. She had been sleeping in his arms for more than a week now and she liked it. His kisses were hot. This was different. It felt primal. Like his hot gaze was somehow branding her as his, before anyone else could get a chance.
“You look beautiful.” His eyes took in the shortness of her dress that stopped mid-thigh. Then he slowly swept from the end of the dress down her legs before retreating in the other direction. “I never knew a woman could make a dress look so good.”
She found herself smiling. Biting her bottom lip to keep from giving herself away, she walked towards the door.
“Have fun you two.” This came from her mother, who she was still upset with. Truthfully, she had never gotten over the abandoned thing, but she had been playing nice. She was tired of playing nice. With a small wave of her hand, she walked out.
“So where are we going?” She was looking at Paul’s hands as he turned the key and smoothly took off. He had strong lean looking hands. The kind you would expect a surgeon to have.
“The club’s in East Liberty.”
“How did East Liberty become the hot bed of alien activity?”
“It’s East Liberty. Where else in the city would you expect it?”
She thought about it. Yeah it made some type of sense. You could find just about anything in East Liberty and yet it always seemed to avoid attention. She had hidden there more than once. She always thought nothing happened in Pittsburgh. Now she knew better.
She looked up as Paul pulled into a parking lot.
“The club is two blocks over. Can you walk in those heels?”
She looked down at her insanely expensive strappy silver heels that complimented not only her dress, but her legs. “Try and stop me.”
They walked in silence, passing the now closed Tea Room. The closer they got to the club, the more she felt as if she was being watched. Stopping, she looked at him, but he nodded his head slightly and kept walking. Following his lead, she kept up as she tried to see if anything was hidden in the dark doorways they passed.
The beat of the music invaded her body before she was even close enough to open the door and yet she couldn’t hear the music. She could feel her heart rate pick up and her pulse flutter before taking off as in a race. A mixture of pure dread and excitement hit her at the same time. She didn’t know if she should run away from or to the door. The look on Paul’s face was a lot like hers, letting her know she wasn’t alone in this. With a half-smile, he opened the door.
The club was bright, as if everyone there wanted to be seen. In the corners there were spots that were dark, almost black. If the call for privacy hit you, that was where you wanted to be. They were evenly dispersed through the club and even seemed to have a subtle glowing sign that let you know if a particular spot was occupied.
Moving further into the club, Paul directed her to a table for two. Immediately a waiter appeared by their side, dropping off menus and asking for drink orders.
“What would you like to drink?” She looked at the waiter who had obvious antennae sticking up from his head and smiled. she was getting used to weird.
“A Mojito?” She had never taken the time to drink with her death wish. So she picked something she had heard talked about once.
“What would you like?” The waiter said, addressing Paul.
“The same please.”
They watched as the waiter walked away. The loud beat of the music seemed to drown out all conversation again.
“You didn’t know what to order either?”
“Nope. Seems like I was studying when others were partying and then I decided to become a doctor. With my background, I always felt I had to study more than my classmates.”
She leaned back letting a big smile cross her lips. The more she got to know him, the more she liked him. She sat there wondering what they should talk about until the waiter brought their drinks. Taking a few sips she finally met his eyes.
“Dance?”
Nodding her head yes, they headed for the dance floor. The music was fast and fun sounding, even though they couldn’t understand the words. They must have various music from different planets because the language seemed to continually change. From what she could tell, it was definitely not universal.
“I almost wish I could understand the words.” She shouted over the pulsing music, as she moved to the beat. She loved to dance and fortunately for her she had natural rhythm. Her mother always claimed she had picked it up from her. She moved nice and slow, teasing him on the dance floor, liking the ways his eyes grew darker with desire. It just seemed so natural to slip into his arms when a slow dance came on.
Her body was rocking gently against his as she felt her temperature rising. This had to be the best song she had ever heard, despite not being able to understand the words. She looked up in anticipation of the kiss she thought she should be getting, to find a pair of yellow eyes staring at her.
“Paul?”
“Yes baby?” He was staring at her lips as if he wanted a taste.
“I think we have company” he turned around to see the same yellow eyes standing on the dance floor staring at them.
They stopped dancing and returned the stare. The creature looking at them seemed to be about six feet tall with the palest skin she had ever seen. It looked like it should be a sheet of paper, white or almost transparent, but it was neither. The hair was a true blonde, the shade every woman wanted to be, but only one in a million ever was. The body was extremely thin, as in the, ‘oh my God let me buy you a hamburger’ thin. Yet, what was making her flight or fight sense go off the chart was those eyes. They had the look of a certified killer and a famished zombie all in one nice bright yellow package. And her date had been going so well.
“Do we talk to him or do we run?” She whispered to Paul, hoping yellow eyes didn’t have super hearing.
“Let’s try sitting?”
They walked back to their table, trying not to draw any attention. As they sat, they saw him pick up a chair and move in their direction.
He walked slowly with deliberate movements, almost daring anyone to interfere with him or the humans that had unwittingly stumbled into the place. Coming to a halt by their table, he set the chair down. Giving them a nice big smile of a predator, he sat in the chair.
“Welcome to my small club. I am Dix.” He tilted his head in greeting, ignoring Paul’s out stretched hand.
“I am Paul and this is Tara.”
“So what brings you here to my little establishment?” His smile stayed in place, but he seemed to be watching their every move.
Paul shrugged his shoulders before replying. “For the same reasons most people go out I would imagine. I wanted a chance to be with my woman, as well as show her off. You have to admit she is beautiful. I figured a little dancing, a smooth drink and light conversation would be perfect. I also thought while I was here, maybe I could find someone with information.”
“A beautiful woman and information almost feels like a movie.”
Tara tilted her head and laughed. It was nice and robust, but still managed to be feminine. “This definitely has a slight movie feel to it.”
“So who do you need information on?”
“Why are you so willing to help us?” Paul’s eyes narrowed still overcome with a need to escape with Tara in tow.
“Let’s just say I received a visit earlier informing me I would receive visitors and the more I helped them, the more I would be helped.”
He caught both of their gazes with his own. The need to literally run became so acute that they would have, if they could have moved. His eyes were now lit up as if he had his own personal face light.
“Come with me.” He murmured this so low that only the tw
o within hearing range heard him. Standing, they followed him through the bar and into the back room. They moved stiffly, as if in some kind of trance, unable to move their heads. They couldn’t see anything, but what was in front of them. He took them into a darkened room and opened a second door. He descended steps and they found themselves following unable to see what they were walking into and unable to protest his treatment of them.
Taking them deep into the dark room, he commanded them to stop. He turned on the light, but never seemed to move. He released them enough to be able to look around. It was like he wanted to show off his handiwork. It was not a room, but a dungeon. It was dank and still dark, even with the light. There were chains attached to the wall and furniture that looked like medieval torture devices.
“Why did you bring us here?” Paul was still looking shell shocked so she decided to step in.
“Why are you in my club?” He paused to stare at them. “Exactly what information do you need?”
“This is not where I imagined we would negotiate.” Paul was snapping out of his shock and it was a good thing because she felt like going into shock.
“That’s the problem with you humans. You think the rest of the universe wants to negotiate. So here’s my offer. Tell me what you want fast or spend some time getting to know my chamber of human horrors.”
“You’re not a very good host. I definitely will not be recommending this place.” She murmured, wishing she had the power to bring him to his knees.
“We need information on the Demos Raimel. We were told we could find it here.”
“It’s a death sentence to give out information on that Demos. Seems he has no respect for life, including his own. What could the two of you have that would interest me in taking that risk?” He walked closer and sniffed the air. “Well a door. Not just any door, but a gateway and her shield.”
He took the time to look them over slowly, walking around them as if he was thinking how much he could get for them.
“A pity I can’t kill or sell you. I was warned though and what I get if you walk out of here is beyond compare. But it doesn’t pay the price for the information. You will have to pay that price.”
With a snap of his fingers, two men stepped out of the shadows. They had to be seven feet tall, each well over three hundred pounds of muscle. Stepping forward they grabbed them, forcing them to face the wall before chaining them.
“What are you doing?” Tara screamed, even as her body refused her command to struggle.
She turned her head to look at Paul who was trying to open his mouth, but couldn’t.
“The gateway screams, but the shield says nothing.” He looked at his men and nodded. They went to the side of the room and each picked up a whip. Running their hands over the soft leather, they simply waited. When he nodded again, they raised their hands and let them fly.
Tara, had already decided she would say nothing. When she felt that whip hit her back shredding her dress her body jerked, she bit her tongue almost in half, but said nothing. The tears couldn’t be held back no matter how she tried. They poured down her face. BDSM was not for her, she thought. She tensed as she waited for the second one. The second blow had not yet fallen and for one moment she felt a flicker of hope. Tilting her head she could see the look of pain on Paul’s face. The look of acceptance, of something he could not change, it quickly killed the small ember of hope as she cringed.
“There’s a black market for certain things. Blood is one of those things. The interesting thing about blood is that some species can feel what the donor felt when they gave it. Another.”
A second strike of that leather whip on her back made her scream. She was not into pain, she screamed and cursed him as he commanded them to hit her again. She looked over and saw that even though Paul’s body was beaten he refused to cry. Not a single tear fell from his face. How could he do that?
“This race of beings are addicted to human blood. They say the emotions are so raw or so sweet. When that human is other like the two of you, the blood is so rare that they will pay a fortune for one small sip of it. To have both the gatekeeper and the shield will bring me riches beyond compare. Which by the way you owe me, since you are asking me to risk my life.”
After what seemed like forever he commanded them to collect the blood. After that it was like nothing had ever happened. He led them upstairs and through the doorway to his establishment. They moved like puppets being manipulated by a string.
“Look at that you walked out.” He turned to go back in, but stopped. Looking over his shoulder he said “What you need will be waiting for you tomorrow morning.” With that he disappeared and his bar seemed to go with him.
As if the puppet master no longer cared about the puppets, their bodies sank to the ground and darkness overtook them.
Chapter Ten
She tried to move and cried out in pain. Why did she feel like someone had beat her up?
“Careful” A small voice said. “Your back is very bad. I tried to clean it up, but you screamed when I touched it.”
Everything that happened came back in a flood of memory. The last thing she remembered was falling to the ground, then nothing.
“Where am I?”
“I … I live here. It is underground.”
“Underground? Where is the man I was with?”
“He is there next to you. He was too heavy for me to drag very far, so I stopped there. I just wanted to get you off the street before any more of the aliens showed up. I see them everywhere. I tried to tell others, but no one could see them. Can you see them?”
“Yes, I see them.” Paul was starting to rouse. She could hear him making almost silent moves. He was trying not to scare the voice, but looking for her also.
“When your friend wakes up, you will have to leave to get medical help. You will have to leave. You cannot stay here.” The voice was definitely young and female, although she was trying to appear so much older.
“I understand. We will not hurt you.” Lifting her head when it felt like spikes were being driven into it was difficult, but she managed for a minute or two. Looking around she saw a soiled mattress in one corner with a box of half eaten cereal on it, and lots of dirt. Although there were no visible rodents, she knew the place was filled with them.
In the corner, thinking she was hiding in the shadows was a pathetically thin young girl. There was no telling her age, but she couldn’t be older than sixteen. That was probably a generous guess. She looked dirty, small and hungry. Tara’s head fell back down, she had already run out of strength.
“Paul?”
“I’m up. Just wondering how we get out of this situation.”
“Can you move?”
“Not even if my life depended on it. And it does depend on it. If our backs get infected…”
She tried to move, only to feel fire race up her back. “Well there’s a possibility mine is already infected. So what now?”
“Cell phone.”
“Mine’s in my purse and that is back at that club.”
“Mine’s in my pocket, if it works. Getting to it will be tough. Unless our host would pull it out for me?”
The young girl tried to shrink further back into the shadows, but Tara could still see her shaking body. Her head was going side to side as she looked towards the door that they were laying in front of.
“I won’t hurt you. She,” he tried to nod towards Tara “would hurt me when we get well if I tried to.”
“He’s right.” She grimaced as her pain kept increasing. “There’s no way I would let him hurt you. If you would get his cell phone though, there is a chance we could find someone to come get us. That way we would be gone.” There was no way she was leaving that child here alone, but she was smart enough to keep that to herself.
The girl began to creep out of the shadows, still hesitant.
“It’s ok. I promise.” Tara spoke low and reassuringly.
Finally, she stepped all the way into the light.
Tara exhaled as if she had just been punched in the stomach. She understood the girl’s caution.
“Paul, she is going to come and get the phone, but I need you to close your eyes and keep them closed for me.”
“Understood.”
“He will keep them closed. You can trust us.”
Nodding she walked over to him and hurriedly felt his pockets for the phone. Feeling it she grabbed it and backed up.
“Who should she call?”
“My phone is locked. The code is 8521. Look under the contacts for Charon. C, H, A,R,O,N. Call him. He will get us help.”
“Hello, Paul?” They could hear his voice through the phone.
“Hello.” She said in a soft voice. “Your friends are here and they need help.”
One minute he was on the phone, the next he was shimmering into the room.
“You two have been missing for three days. Your mother is about to start a war to find you. Since you’re obviously not well, I will never hear the end of it.”
“I would love to trade words with you, but can you get us out of here?” Tara heard him sigh before everything went black again.
She woke up feeling like she was laying on a cloud. Opening her eyes, she looked around and let out a sigh of relief. She was simply on her insanely soft mattress. Not a cloud in sight. She moved and tried to prepare herself for the excruciating pain, but there was none. She was sore, but she could handle that. Rolling over she saw Paul was looking at her.
“How long have we been here?” She smiled at him, thinking he looked so good just lying there.
“I’m not sure, but your back looks like it has healed. That type of healing would take several months, but we could not have been out that long.”
There was a tentative knock at the door. Then Dora and Charon walked in.
“Try three weeks.” Dora came in holding a container of salve.
“There’s no way her back could heal that much in three weeks.” Paul’s Dr. voice was making itself known.
“Your right, if you were just human. But to steal a phrase, you’re other. So you heal much faster. Of course your young friend helped, doing her best to keep your backs clean while you were out the first time.”
Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) Page 7
