Jessi shook her umbrella, folded it and opened the door to her car. She slid under the steering wheel and started the car. Her mind wandered as she headed back towards her house. Ed's reminder rang in her mind as she passed by a supermarket. She turned into the parking lot. There was some food at the house but not much. Wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up on some water and canned goods. As she shut off her engine she reached in her back pocket to pull out her cell phone wallet. Her hand froze over the empty pocket. She sat up and her hand ran over the whole seat to find nothing. Switching on her interior light, she bent down and looked between the door and seat. Her hand squeezed under the seat and felt around only to find some loose change and old mints. Her mind froze. Her phone must have fallen out at the excavation site. That was the last place she remembered having it. She quickly headed back to the site. The rain started to pour down even harder and she flicked her wipers to move faster. Her palms began to sweat as she gripped the wheel tighter. Her whole life was in that cell phone wallet. Her driver's license, credit cards, insurance cards, everything. She turned back into the muddy parking lot that now looked like a pig's dream resort. Her hand shook as she shifted the car to park and grabbed the umbrella. She popped open her glove compartment and pulled out a flashlight.
The rain pounded on her umbrella as soon as she opened it and exited the car. The wind pushed the water sideways, drenching her jeans. She retraced her steps from where she left her car to where the canopy previously stood. Various pools of water dotted the area. She had two options. Either step in mushy mud or soak in a deep puddle. She opted for the puddle since she could take her shoes off in the car and drive in socks. Each puddle she stepped in was ice cold, and her hair stood on end every time her foot soaked in one. Every step became a squishy, sloppy sound as she realized the mud mixed into the puddle, causing her feet to be coated and wet. She moaned in agony as she felt her shoes becoming muddy sops. It didn't stop her from continuing her search. She trekked around the area but only found pools of muddy water. She had to find her wallet, she hadn't changed her license address yet or the address on her credit cards. It would take forever to get new cards without the old ones. Fortunately, the white and pink cover would stick out in the muddy plane. The rain thoroughly drenched through her jeans and she swore under her breath.
"Where the hell are you?" she muttered as her foot stepped into another cold wet puddle. She reached where the canopy stood before and scanned the ground. Mud. Mud. Puddle. Mud. Puddle.
She took her flashlight and pointed it to the ground. Hopefully, the extra light from it would help her recover her phone quicker. The light bounced on the ground and didn't uncover anything. She sighed and walked around the area in a circle. Her phone had to be here somewhere. Where else would it have landed? She turned around and headed towards the parking lot. Her foot went into a puddle and she felt something hard. She jumped back and bent down. The muddy water made it hard to see. She put her flashlight under her arm and braced herself as she reached into the cold, dingy water. Her hand touched something rectangular. She pulled it out and moaned. It was her cell phone. Was being the word to best describe its status. Her thumb popped the clasp and it opened to reveal a soggy phone and a bunch of cards inside. There was no way her phone survived a swim in the water for this long. At least she had all her cards and ID. She could get another phone on the way back to the house.
Her drenched feet inched back to her car. The rain pounded on her umbrella with such a strong force that she held onto it with both hands. The muddy water dripped down her hand as she held both her phone and the umbrella. Her sopping jeans squeaked with every stride that she took. She was going to take a bath tonight. A shower would not help rid the disgusting dirty feeling her feet had from swimming in the dingy water. Her foot hit something and she went flying face first into the mud.
She lifted her face from the soppy ground and moaned. "What the fu...?" She turned over. Black and brown mud covered her body and began to slowly soak into her clothes.
"Oh, come on!" she screamed in anguish as she stood up. She found her cell phone wallet next to her. The opened umbrella lay a few feet away in the muck. She shook off as much of the mud as she could and decided to close the umbrella. The rain already soaked into her pants, so she might as well let the rain wash off the mud. The flashlight was shining next to one of the puddles. She shook the sludge off of it and shined the beam to find what tripped her.
Jessi got up and walked closer to the object. The water droplets from her saturated hair dripped down onto the object, clearing some mud. Various images and shapes lined the object. It all looked Aztec. The object would get washed away in the rain if she didn't take it. She put everything down and started to dig it out. She was already covered in mud, so a little more wouldn't make a difference. When she removed more of the mushy ground she discovered the object was a clay vase. She pulled it out and wiped more of the wet slop off. One of the images caught her eye. It was the same one on the pendant. Her heart started to beat faster. Jon could figure out what this meant. She grabbed her things and moved as quickly as she could to her car. The rain pounded her as she raced back. She opened her trunk and placed the vase in a box she had. She took out an old blanket and covered her seat before she sat down in her car.
Her mind stayed on the vase as she drove out of the site. What was it? Who created it? What did all the inscriptions mean? She decided to head straight home, because there was no way she was going to trek into a store looking like she just tackled a Sasquatch.
Chapter Eleven
Jon paced the living room as the storm got stronger. The rain pounded on the roof so hard he swore it sounded like hail. He glanced at the digital clock on the stove in the kitchen. What's taking her so long? Maybe the lines are long because of people swamping the stores to stock up on supplies?
He stopped and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. He itched to go out and find her. Never had he felt this protective of someone. Why? His attention moved toward the island and he couldn't hide the smile on his face. He would never look at the island the same way again. Jessi became a wild ravenous woman after their first time and she hungrily took him again on the island and then on the living room couch, along with some other places before they eventually ended up in the bedroom. He couldn't get enough of her. And now he was worried about her and why she was so late.
The garage door closed and Jon bolted towards Jessi's car and stopped in his tracks. Jessi inched her way out of her car. She was covered with mud from head to toe and completely soaked. She sluggishly walked to the garage wall and placed her hand against it to steady herself as she began to take off her waterlogged shoes.
"What happened? I thought you said you were going to get groceries?" he asked as she peeled off her drenched socks.
She threw the socks on top of the shoes. "I went to the dig site."
Red flashed in front of Jon. "I told you not to go see David! He's dangerous!"
She stood up, a sour look came over her face. "He wasn't there." She started to walk inside the house. "He left his whole team to close up the site before this storm."
Jon followed her down the hall into the living room. "I'm not surprised. That sounds just like him. So if he wasn't there then what happened to you?"
Jessi walked into the kitchen and plopped down her phone on the countertop. "Can your ghostly powers resurrect my phone?"
Jon peered over her shoulder. Mud caked her whole phone and a small pool of water began to form on the counter.
"What did you do, play soccer with it?"
She spun around, her eyes squinted as her hand gripped the counter. Her expression combined with the dried mud smeared all over her made her seem demonic. Jon took a step back. Even though he was a ghost he was sure that she would hurt him in some way if he said anything else.
"I tripped over a vase when I went looking for my phone that fell in the mud and..." She continued in an eerily calm voice. "I dug the vase out, because I didn't wa
nt it to get washed away in the rain." She wiped a spot of mud off her cheek. "You may want to look at it, because your friend's face is on it."
"Friend?"
Jessi walked over to the sink and washed her hands. "Yeah, Hootzipoochili."
Jon's heart raced. "You mean Huitzilopochtli?"
"Yeah him. He's on the vase."
"Where's the vase?"
"My trunk." She took some paper towels and dried her hands. "Now if you'll excuse me I am going to take a very long hot bath."
"Take as long as you want. You look like you need it."
Jessi glared at him before he ran off to her car to retrieve the vase. The rain outside pounded on the garage roof. He tried to channel anger to open the trunk but he just couldn't muster up enough. What did he feel right now? Excitement. He wanted to see what Jessi found. He thought about the vase and the hope that it held some clues about the pendant. He kept the excitement close to him and opened the trunk. Staring at him was Huitzilopochtli. His heart started to race. The same image was on the pendant, almost as if copied directly from it. He gently lifted the vase and took it to the kitchen. He found some old towels and placed the vase on top of them. The colors on the vase stood out, which was odd for something that old. Some of the colors should have faded over the years. Huitzilopochtli stood in the center of it, along with some other inscriptions.
When he heard the bath turn on upstairs he imagined Jessi stripping off her mud-soaked clothes and dipping her feet into the warm bubbly water. He browsed around the room to change his thoughts before he raced to her and took her in her nude dingy state.
His attention stopped on her cell phone. The puddle around it grew even more. All the components were likely waterlogged. Thankfully, that was the only thing that got damaged when she went to the dig site. What possessed her to think it would be a good idea to go back and face David? Her determination could have gotten her hurt. If David did kill him then Jon wouldn't put it past him to kill again, especially if it had to do with this pendant of immortality. David became obsessed with the concept from the day they found it.
The bath water stopped and Jon wondered what else he could do for Jessi to make the rest of her day better. Half of him had wanted to laugh when he saw her, but the other half felt bad. Hopefully she didn't catch a cold from being waterlogged. He looked over at the fridge. There had to be something he could give her while she soaked away all the mud and grime. He opened the fridge and scanned the contents inside. A half bottle of red wine sat in the door shelf and an unopened chocolate bar was in one of the veggie drawers. He smirked, figures Jessi would put chocolate under the healthy category.
He took out a wine glass from the cabinet and poured the wine in. After looking through a couple of cabinets he found a small dish perfect for the chocolate. He broke a couple pieces of chocolate into the dish and froze. How did he do all this? He didn't channel any specific emotion. He was just thinking of Jessi and her comfort. He grabbed the glass and dish before diving deeper into that question and glided upstairs. He knocked on the bathroom door.
"Jessi?"
A soft moan came from inside. "Yeah?"
"I...um have something for you. Can I come in?"
"Yes, come in."
He opened the door and found the room glowed with candlelight. Five candles were placed around the bathroom. The bathtub foamed with bubbles and Jessi's head, toes, and arms peeked out.
Jon walked in slowly. "I, uh brought you a glass of wine and some chocolate." He carried everything over to her and handed her the glass.
Her mouth formed an O and she looked into his eyes. "That's so sweet. Thank you."
His gaze remained on her face as he placed the dish on the side of the tub. "I figured that you needed it after what happened."
She nodded and took a small sip of the wine. "Oh, that's so good." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
Jon tried to focus his gaze on the beige colored walls, but his eyes traveled down her neck and casually started to travel down into the suds. Ravenous thoughts popped into his head.
"Jon?" Her voice broke his thoughts and he looked up at her. A lazy smile formed on her face. "Thirty minutes, okay? I need this bath to make me human again."
His lips curled. "I'll set a timer." He dipped his head and gave her a quick kiss and headed out the door.
"Jon?"
He didn't turn around because of the strong temptation to pull her out of that water. "Yes?"
"Thank you."
He nodded. "You're welcome." He bolted out as fast as he could. Thirty minutes would feel like an eternity if he didn't do something. When he went back downstairs he shook his head. He was acting like he did back in junior high. He knew how to act around women. Where was the confidence he had? It seemed it disintegrated every time he came close to Jessi. Something in him reverted back to being a primal caveman who only wanted to take her away to his cave and pound into her all night long.
He walked to the stove and set the timer for thirty minutes. He wasn't going to let the opportunity to be with her fly by him. The vase called out to him, so he plopped down in front of it. He scanned through his notes again to compare the images on the vase. Most of the inscriptions he had translations for. He moved to a clean section of the notebook and began to transcribe the words on the vase. Halfway through the translation, he realized a ritual chant was on that vase. The missing piece he was looking for was right there. His fingers moved over the transcriptions on the vase as he wrote the translation. When he completed the translation he read through it and realized that this could be used to give someone immortality, if they were alive. If he had a body he could complete the ritual, but he didn't have one. He looked through the chant again and tried to see if a loophole existed where it could bring someone back from the dead. He read it and reread it, but he still couldn't find anything that would help with his current condition. The pendant was useless to him.
A major surge of lightning struck outside and the lights went out. A loud crash resounded from the bathroom upstairs and he quickly materialized in the bathroom to find Jessi naked on the bathroom floor, holding onto the bathtub and pulling herself off the floor. He flew to her side and helped her up.
"What happened? Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm okay. I was getting out and the lightning spooked me and I slipped."
He knelt down in front of her and checked for any visual wounds. Her hair was still wet from the bath and she smelled like roses. "Does anything hurt?"
She sat up and her breasts rubbed against his chest. His breath stilled as the heat from her body penetrated his.
"No, but I'm sure I'll have a bruise on my butt tomorrow morning."
"You want me to kiss it and make it feel better?" He grinned, half joking as he leaned over her and lifted her off the floor and into his arms. She was wet, hot and dripping. His body became rock hard with need.
"I want you to kiss something else that is aching," she whispered as her lips kissed his neck.
Her words were his undoing. In an instant he had her sprawled out on the bed and his clothes fell off of him, exposing his rock hard shaft.
His eyes darkened in desire as he crawled up the bed. He looked like a tiger, wild, dominant, and ready to attack, and she wanted him to attack her- multiple times in multiple ways.
His face stopped a few inches away from hers. "I'll be glad to kiss you anywhere you'd like."
Her fingers touched his face tenderly. “Everywhere. I want your lips everywhere.”
“That can be arranged.” His voice turned deep. His head dipped down and he kissed her neck and traveled lower to the tops of her breasts. His fingers took hold of her breast and tweaked her nipple.
The electric sparks from his touch ignited the small fire in her core to a roaring flame. No man had ever caused such an inferno inside of her like he did. She wanted more. No, she craved more. Her body arched closer to his lips and he placed gentle kisses on the top of her breasts.
&n
bsp; The room began to pulse and the air thickened. Jessi looked around and smiled. Their passion for each other created it. She raised her knee gently and stroked his erection. The room pulsed even more and the fog surrounded the bed.
Jon continued his trek with his kisses to her breasts and suckled on her nipple.
A passionate sigh escaped her lips and her fingers held his head close to her. He slowed his pace and gently licked her bud until it was a hard peak. She looked down at him and his mouth turned into a sultry grin. His lips parted, his warm breath escaped and hit her sensitive nipple.
The fire inside her flared up and her body arched to his mouth wanting more.
He moved to her other nipple and her body shivered as his lips dipped and took hold of it in his mouth.
Jessi’s fingers contracted against his head as the fiery sensation inside of her rose. His lips released her nipple and trailed kisses down her stomach, stopping above her mound of curls.
Her eyes darted down and captured his. His eyes turned wicked and she felt her breath still.
“You need to learn a little patience.” he told her as he gently flipped her onto her belly.
She twisted her head and laid it on the pillow. She felt his body move and a gentle kiss was planted on the back of her neck.
“You wanted me to kiss every inch of your body,” his hot breath whispered in her ear.
She inhaled a ragged breath as he nipped at her earlobe and gently planted kisses down the back of her neck. Zips of current emanated from each kiss and sizzled her skin. She felt his kisses travel to both her shoulders and she didn’t care how he managed to do it. The sensations it caused made her quiver and grab hold of her pillow. She’d never experienced this kind of feeling before in her life, and she craved more of it- of him.
“Close your eyes.” Jon’s voice sounded distant and full of desire.
She did as he commanded and began to feel his lips plant kisses from the top of her spine and slowly moved down. Each kiss felt like a dozen more moved through her back. They were gentle and caused more currents to move through her, heightening her senses.
Mystic Realms: A Limited Edition Collection Page 170
