Crystal pulled the keys out of her pocket, opened the door to the apartment and turned toward the white living room, from which she heard the murmur of conversation.
Miranda and Cornelia were eating their breakfast. The drama that had shaken the young woman’s night had not reached them. The two Paladines were unbelievably normal, acting just like themselves. Of course, they didn’t know anything. They were in their own world, and this last thought warmed Crystal’s heart again. She dropped down on the sofa between her two friends. The only people she could trust.
The coffee-colored warrior seized her cup, took a swallow of green tea and gave the young woman a wink.
“So, out all night, sweet pea ? You finally get it on with that dude that was messing with your head ? Not too tired for training, I hope ? Mimi has concocted a course for you that is seriously going to bust you up ! If your boyfriend didn’t wear you out too much, of course.”
“What’s he like ?” Miranda asked with interest, gulping down a croissant. “What’s his name ? We want to know everything.”
Crystal rubbed her eyelids. It was horrible, lying to the girls.
“I left him before we even did anything. He was really a bastard. But I....” The young woman became confused, suddenly remembering the episode with the mysterious mirror at Dimitri’s. That mirror where she heard a voice that was both familiar and unrecognizable. “I was wondering. Do many of the Damned Ones have magic mirrors ? You know, like Helen’s ?”
“Viewing mirrors,” Miranda explained. “Only the powerful Damned Ones have them. They are very expensive and they’re rare. But they have extraordinary properties. Not only do they make it possible to communicate at a distance, they allow you to observe certain things from far away, and the black mages claim that you can also manipulate people through them. Helen bought hers from a human. Of course, he didn’t know how to use it at all. I can tell you she is completely hooked on it. She spends her life....”
The sorceress didn’t finish her sentence. Glory and Falada appeared in the living room followed by Beatrice, her head lowered. Apparently they had dematerialized to escape a deluge. They were as soaked as if they had taken a shower fully dressed.
“We reenacted the Titanic ; Beatrice seemed to think that drowning herself in the Hudson was an effective means of making our informers talk,” declared the Paladin, masking his annoyance with great difficulty.
Crystal raised her eyes to him. She didn’t utter a word, but her attitude spoke for her. Falada knew that she had been angry since they had kissed, but to that degree ? Wondering, the Paladin silently examined her. She turned her face away. Surprised, Falada moved closer to her and discreetly put a wet hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and turned her attention back to the rest of the group.
“I love Titanic, I cry every time,” Miranda chattered. “That Leonardo, he’s irresistible.”
Cornelia lit a joint.
“Whatever. Don’t tell me you fantasize about that little bonbon. Gone with the Wind, now that was a movie !”
“Could we please stop with the stupid comments for a minute ?” stormed Glory abruptly. “You’re making me tired.”
Seemingly unbothered by the unpleasant silence she had just imposed on the living room, she paced a few steps. Red spike heels against a white carpet. Dollface took off her coat and threw it over the arm of a chair.
“Delighted to have your attention”, she scoffed aggressively, challenging all of them with her gaze. Beatrice moved back, and even Cornelia abstained from making one of her usual comments. Glory was on edge, and none of them had any desire to expose themselves to her wrath. She grabbed Cornelia’s cup of tea and, under the dumbfounded eyes of the whole troop, she squeezed it in her hand until it shattered. A little blood ran from her palm, red.
“We are not overexcited junior high schoolers,” she fumed. “I’ve had enough of listening to you talk about Brad Pitt, your latest lunch or the sweater you bought yourself yesterday. Killing poor second-rate dirtbags and joking around all day – do you really believe that’s enough ? Our enemies are getting stronger. Death and betrayal await us at every turn. So I want....” The Paladine stopped her little speech short. Crystal was looking her up and down with a murderous expression on her face. “What’s the matter with you ? You don’t like what I’m saying ? You’re the one most affected by the latest news.”
The young woman felt the anger rising in her throat. Glory had one hell of a nerve, preaching about betrayal while she was secretly dating Falada. While she and the Paladin had been shafting Crystal for months. She was on the point of giving her oh-so-perfect best friend a piece of her mind when the telephone rang.
The fashion doll, distracted, picked up the handset. But Falada, who had continued to observe Crystal, gestured to her : “What’s wrong ?”
She did not deign to speak to him but rather stared at Glory, whose face fell as the person on the other end of the line spoke. When she finally hung up, the Paladine gravely contemplated Crystal.
“And that’s what I was afraid of. When I get irritated, I have reason to be.”
“Glow ? What’s happening ?” the young woman panicked, forgetting her anger for the moment and feeling her heart pound with irrational anxiety.
“It’s your father,” she finally answered. “He’s dying.”
Crystal felt herself fall onto the sofa as the room whirled around her amidst the hubbub of exclamations from Falada and the girls.
“I talked to the All Powerful through my viewing mirror for a moment,” Glory silenced them. “He thinks that someone is poisoning him with Black Magic. We don’t know how. I’ve been trying to find out for weeks now. That was the Empress I talked to. She has had to take over all the All Powerful’s functions : he lost consciousness an hour ago.”
“I’m going,” the young woman announced, not understanding how the suffering of the father she hated suddenly moved her so deeply.
“No,” Glory forbade her. “It’s too dangerous. The magic that is devouring him could very well affect you, too. The Empress was definite : it would be better for them to secure the perimeter before you approach the All Powerful.”
All of Crystal’s disgust resurfaced. That bitch Glory really thought she was superior. She thought she could have Falada and, to add insult to injury, come between Crystal and her father, as well. The young woman stood face-to-face with her.
“You know what : I’m going to do what I want to. You’re not giving me orders anymore.”
“Really,” Dollface faked an expression of wonder, an acid smile on her face.
“Apparently,” Crystal asserted.
The blond Paladine shrugged her shoulders and for a moment the quarrel seemed to be over. But then, without any hint of a warning, she grabbed the young woman by the throat and threw her onto the sofa. Crystal’s back bounced against the back of the sofa. Glory jumped on her, seizing the dagger wedged into her garter belt and planting the blade in the cushions half an inch from Crystal’s head.
“Keep trying to be smart and it’s your body we’ll be recovering !” she exploded. “You have not reached the summit of your power, but I have. So you’re going to shut up and obey me. I’m not going to let you go to see your father now. I’m not going to let you die !”
The Paladines looked at them in open-mouthed astonishment. Falada rushed forward and pulled Glory up. He reached a hand out to Crystal.
“Calm down, girls. Little flower, give us a few days, you can see the All Powerful....”
Beside herself, the young woman pushed him back and stood up. The Paladin was holding Glory against himself. A couple, how had she failed to see it ? Unaware of her despair and new understanding, Falada continued :
“Your father is probably the victim of the magic of Prince Dimitri himself. This is no joke.”
Crystal stiffened. Dimitri. She had a scapegoat, then. Someone on whom she could take vengeance for what the Paladin and Glory had inflicted on her. Someone who could take
the blame for all her suffering, her disappointments and her trials. She pulled herself together completely.
“All right, I’ll wait. But in that case, I’m going for a walk. I need some air. Don’t wait up for me,” she decreed, not giving her friends time to react.
And with a snap of her fingers, Crystal dematerialized, leaving a trail of white smoke behind her.
She reappeared in the Prince’s living room. She was boiling inside. Finally, she was going to be able to vent her rage on someone. And who better than on him, after all ? An enemy whom, unlike Glory, she had a legitimate right to confront.
To kick things off, she made sure not to blow her entrance. As she arrived, she made all the furniture in the room implode. The noise of the explosion made the building’s foundations shake.
Dimitri, who was putting some files away, deigned to raise his head when the chest of drawers fell to pieces. He turned toward Crystal.
“What are you doing back here ?” he questioned her, royally ignoring the state of his apartments.
Her eyes ablaze, she lifted her chin. The light of the early afternoon made her lips sparkle.
“You are killing my father,” she said. “One way or another, we’re going to end this.”
The Prince gave a sinister laugh.
“You’re right, baby. Your sweet little Daddy dearest is going to die. And after him, I’m going to waste your girlfriends.” Dimitri stopped for a moment, aiming his wild animal eyes at her. “You think you’re going to stop me by wrecking the furniture ? You think I care about this stuff ?” he growled, grabbing one end of the chest of drawers and sending it crashing against the opposite wall. “Your powers are nothing. So do not provoke me !” he threatened, advancing toward her.
Crystal waited until the Prince was close. For the space of a second, she appeared to be stretching her body toward him. An invitation. Disconcerted, the Prince relaxed imperceptibly. Then she struck. With all her strength, she thrust her knee into his stomach. Dimitri pulled back several feet, doubling over. Perfectly aware that this was her only chance to beat him, she leaped and slugged him violently in the face, making him fall to the floor. The young woman fell on Dimitri’s body on the floor. She wrapped her thighs around his ribs in the hope of breaking them and started to hit him again.
The Prince roared. She was hurting him, the little bitch. But she would see.... He grabbed her by the hips, forcing her to let go, and threw her on her stomach. Brutally, he lay on top of her, immobilizing her slender body with his whole weight.
Her cheek against the floor full of debris, her hair snarled, Crystal let out a groan. His mouth against her ear, the Prince hissed :
“What do you want, kitten ? You want me to overpower you, is that it ? You want me to make you mine ?”
Dimitri smoothed her hair with a paradoxically tender gesture. Crystal felt the Prince’s stiff cock against the curve of her ass. A tear escaped her.
Savagely, he ran his hand over the full curves of her fragile body and slid up her skirt, already pulled up by the fight. He savored the softness of her asscheeks before running his fingers into the crack of the young woman’s little white panties.
Under him, she squirmed in protest, but when he touched her intimate lips, he discovered that she was soaked.
“You’re wet, my angel,” Dimitri murmured, at the height of arousal. “That’s all you were waiting for, right ? For me to fuck you.”
Crystal closed her eyes. Yes, she wanted to feel his muscles enslave her ; yes, she wanted to feel subjugated by his prick. To have him screw her. Oh God, how could she have such dirty urges ? So pornographic. But her whole being clamored for male domination. The assuaging of passion. Oblivion.
The Prince tugged on the white false-virgin panties, drawing them down her thighs. The young woman opened her mouth for a breath of air. He unbuckled his belt – a metallic sound – and unzipped his fly. Dimitri released his engorged member, tortured with desire. Her head pressed into the carpet, Crystal did not see him. But she felt him. A beautiful, hard penis. A little darker than the Prince’s skin. Long, thick. And pubic hair the color of the burning sun. A perfect dick. The prince placed his stiff sex at the entrance of the young woman’s pussy. He teased her, rubbing his rod against the golden fleece. Dimitri passed his hand over Crystal’s flat stomach and caressed her swollen clitoris, extracting an involuntary meow from her.
She stiffened, hating this feeling. Hating feeling so overpowered by him, by these degrading desires. She hated herself for giving in. For wanting him. Seeming to read her mind, the Prince whispered to her :
“Let yourself go, my princess. My little beauty... you know you’re going to love it.”
With a surge, he penetrated her. Crystal dug her fingernails into the thick carpet. A soft cry. But she was too weak to yell or argue. Dimitri possessed her to that point. He bit the back of her neck and forced himself into her more deeply. She quivered from head to toe, feeling a wave of heat burning her from within. Her body assented immediately. God, that’s so good, she’s so tight, so hot..., thought the Prince, holding back to keep himself from coming immediately. He enjoyed knowing how easy it was for him. For an instant he told himself with a perverse pleasure that he was screwing the future All Powerful. And then he heard her moan in ecstasy under the effect of his thrusts, and he came back to her. To Crystal. To the woman. To the one who had obsessed him for months. To the one he had listened to and consoled. To the only person for whom he had been capable of feeling any emotion. Only then was he making love to her.
Dimitri buried his face in his beautiful woman’s golden hair, and covered her delicate little hands with his own. He slowed his movements.
Crystal gasped for breath, her cheeks suffused with pink, perspiration on her forehead. She gripped her lover’s fingers, accepting his embrace, completely abandoning herself. She called his name, her voice breaking. Her cotton panties – little girl panties – were still rolled down around her thighs. He hadn’t even undressed her to fuck her. Oh yes, she loved that. She loved being taken like that.
Short of breath, the Prince pulled back from her intimate recesses. She half opened her eyes, frustrated. She wanted him now, why was he stopping ?
With feline movements, he lifted her halfway and gently grasped his lover to turn her over. She let herself be guided, docile. She was no longer anything but a plaything in his arms. Obedient.
Dimitri stretched her out on her back and slid the little panties along the young woman’s curved legs. He pulled them off her and slid the little bit of fabric into his pants pocket.
“Spread your legs, my angel,” he ordered in a hushed voice. “Wider....”
Crystal complied, offering her pink vagina to the Prince. He moistened his lips, avid, and plunged his head between her legs. He tasted his adorable kitten in one single, long kiss.
“Exquisite, my beauty. You taste delicious.”
Supporting himself on his arms, Dimitri returned to her and once again forced himself into the cunt offered to him. Crystal arched her back, meeting him. She threw back her head as the monster’s strokes became more ferocious.
He raised his lover’s little pullover, tearing her bra to cover her breasts with a possessive hand.
Crystal was suffocating. The Prince’s stomach slammed again hers. She was gradually losing consciousness. Possession. And orgasm, at last. The most intense orgasm she had ever had. Orgasm, at last. On the threshold of pain. At the dawn of death. And Dimitri, moaning against me. And Dimitri, finally. And if I loved you…. And if I loved you, my Prince. And if I loved you I could give you no more. And if I loved you, we would not die like this. Not so hard. And if you loved me, you would not make me come like your latest bitch. And if you loved me, you would not give me what I hunger for. And if we loved each other....
Dimitri fell back on Crystal’s exhausted body. He had ejaculated in her, finding his own pleasure at the moment when the woman’s vagina had contracted with her orgasm.
And now, feeling him collapse on top of her, she again remembered the sad song that haunted her and that the Prince awakened each time. She could not help herself ; she remembered the melancholy melody that she had doubtless never heard.
After love, what remains ? When passion has consumed everything, what remains for us ?
But Dimitri slowly raised his cheek against hers and kissed her. Mouth to mouth. Their kiss. The first, that of the capture. Can I look you in the eyes and remember this kiss forever ?
She kissed him back. Lips half open, her heart pounding. She gave him her tongue in order better to give him her soul.
And then, there was a moment of romance. A moment when he was no longer evil, a moment when she no longer detested him. A kiss. After the storm of sex, this kiss was like a blue sky. This kiss expressed everything they could never say to each other. A kiss. And on this path, I am walking blindly, but next to you... next to you, I wonder. I wonder about everything.
13
Behind the Veil
The Mediterranean Sea, Island of the All Powerful
Crystal tenderly caressed her father’s forehead. Kneeling beside the All Powerful’s bed, she felt a great black abyss within herself.
She had come as soon as the Paladines let her, two days after that accursed night with Dimitri. She couldn’t talk to the girls anymore – she couldn’t even look them in the face. After what Crystal had done – that night, oh my God – she was no longer angry at Glory. The only one responsible was Falada. If he had loved her, if he had not betrayed her, it would never have come to this. At least, it was easy to convince herself of that.
Next to the bed of her dying father in the dusky light of the All Powerful’s immense bed chamber, she forced herself to breathe, forcing air into her tight lungs.
She watched over her father for hours, but he did not awaken. Now she could see that he was old. And how cold he must have been. And how afraid he must have been. And how he must have suffered. In Crystal’s head a small child’s voice called out. A voice that belonged to her. Her own voice. Her buried voice. Now she remembered the little girl who had dreamed of having a father. She rested her cheek on the inert, icy hand of the All Powerful and closed her eyes, holding back her tears. She wanted to ask for his forgiveness. I’m sorry. I didn’t understand, but if you knew how much I need you. I need you, Daddy. I need my father. My Daddy. My Daddy....
Crystal and the Damned - Possession Page 13
