Sanctity

by S. M. Bowles

  Victor grinned and I couldn’t help thinking that he seemed pleased with my reaction to the night air. He handed me into the car and settled in beside me. He drove us to the airport which took about fifteen minutes or so and once we arrived headed straight for the tarmac to a charter plane that was apparently there for us, waiting to take off.

  I wasn’t sure whether I had ever been on a plane or not and was filled with dismay, “Oh, Victor, I don’t know if I can do this; I had no idea we were travelling,” I was suddenly lucid enough to protest against whatever he had in store. “Where are we going?” my face was full of wonder and fear.

  Victor took me in his arms, “I told you, love, it’s a surprise and this is the only way I can take you there. It’s very far and there’s not enough time to travel any other way. We have to go. We have to go now,” he insisted.

  I looked up into his eyes and they seemed to be lost and looking far beyond anything I could see. He turned his gaze back to me and smiled encouragingly, “Here,” he nibbled my lip and made a little gnash on his tongue and when his mouth covered mine I could taste the blood from both of us mingling like some intimate potion that softened my resolve.

  I started up the stairs towards the cabin and just as I was nearing the last two steps my stomach gave a terrible lurch and I felt like I was going to lose my insides. My breath felt like it was being forcibly squeezed from my lungs; like something had a desperate hold on me from the inside out and it refused to let me take another step. There were beads of sweat gathering on my brow and I stood in a daze, weak and confused as my arms and legs began to tremble again.

  Victor glanced over his shoulder and swept me from the back of my knees up into his arms. He kicked the stairs away and placed me in one of the passenger’s seats before hurrying back to close and lock the door. He called to the pilot, “Now! Take off now, damn it!”

  We were lumbering down the runway at an all too sluggish rate and Victor screamed to the pilot again, “Can’t you go any faster?!”

  The pilot didn’t answer but there was a decided improvement in our pace as the plane gained momentum. Just as he was urging us into the air I heard what sounded like a horrible collision from the belly of the plane and then all was quiet as we took to the sky.

  My heart began to slow, my breathing eased up, the tightness in my belly dissipated. I closed my eyes and sank back into the seat. Victor put his ear to the floor and listened intently for a number of minutes then satisfied with whatever he did or did not hear took the seat beside me.

  “My but he is persistent, isn’t he?” he mumbled.

  I shook my head, “What’s that Victor? Did I miss something?”

  “No, Sweetness, nothing at all. Come sit with me,” he patted his lap, “I want to feel you close.”

  I slid from my seat and did as he asked. As I twisted sideways and tucked my legs over his thigh I leaned my head against his shoulder while he stroked my hair. I didn’t know why but I started to cry. I tried to blink back the tears but they were determined to escape.

  “Ssh, love, ssh. You’re safe now. We are together and after tonight we will be together forever.”

  “Yes, Victor. Yes,” I sobbed, “that is what I want, what I have always wanted.” I kissed his ear and the back of his neck and ran my lips over his, “Please,” I muttered against his neck, “please,” I begged.

  “You can’t, it’s too soon.”

  “Just a taste,” I began unbuttoning his shirt, “I can’t wait any longer.”

  “You must,” he grasped my wrists and pulled them away from their pursuit.

  “Then you must give me something else while I wait,” I took his face in my hands and fervently kissed him.

  I felt his smile against my lips, “As you wish,” he whispered and whirled me about so that I was straddling him. He hiked up my dress and eased himself into me.

  “Ooooh,” I fell against him, “yes, yes, this will do…for now.”

  After enjoying Victor I fell asleep in his lap and hours later he kissed me awake, “We’re here, love,” he nibbled my ear.

  I sighed and stretched, I felt a little chill ripple through me, “Have we landed?”

  “Yes,” he touched his lips to mine, “are you ready?”

  “I would say yes but I don’t have any idea what I would be agreeing to,” I teased as I stood up and smoothed the folds from my dress.

  “Does it matter,” He held his arm out for me and ran his fingernail across it opening a little nick for me.

  For a split second I tried to resist but I was mesmerized as I watched the blood trickle around his wrist and seized him despite my reservations. As I pulled back I felt the icy heat from him spreading throughout me, “No, Victor, it doesn’t matter. As long as we are together nothing matters.”

  There was a car waiting for us when we exited the plane. It was raining and when we got to the bottom of the stairs the driver handed an umbrella to Victor and escorted us across the tarmac. When he took the wheel he met Victor’s gaze in the rear view mirror, “You’re late,” he began.

  “We are not late,” Victor ground the words out.

  “No sir, of course not,” he corrected, “your flight arrived later than I expected.”

  “It is unfortunate but yes, it did.”

  “We may not be able to follow your itinerary precisely as you requested.”

  “Again, unfortunate,” Victor waved his hand dismissively. “Let’s just do what we can, shall we.”

  “Yes, sir,” the driver nodded.

  I clung to Victor throughout the ride. A half hour later the driver made his first stop. We were in a parking garage and when he helped us out I realized we were at the entrance to a mall of some sort.

  “Are we shopping Victor, why are we here?”

  “No not shopping. We are just going on a little trip down memory lane. I need you to understand. I need you to know who I am and why you need to be with me,” he kissed my forehead and gathered my hand in his. “Don’t go far,” he called to the driver over his shoulder, “we’ll be back shortly.”

  The doors slid back and we walked through one or two wings of the mall. Just as the arboretum was coming into view Victor stopped me and gave me a sly look. He pressed his lips hard against mine and I felt the familiar icy flavor drift from his mouth to mine.

  “So soon,” I eyed him surprised by his little gift.

  He just smiled and motioned me to resume our walk. I could hear cascades of water to the left of where we were facing and as I looked towards the sound I caught sight of an intricate stonewalled fountain.

  “Oh,” I gasped.

  “Yes,” he stood behind me, his lips against my ear, “this is where we first met. Let me help you remember,” he discreetly kissed me again.

  I pictured myself as a young girl approaching him as he sat on the ledge of the fountain, “It was you,” I breathed. There was something odd about the memory but I couldn’t seem to put a finger on it and pushed the idea aside.

  “Yes, love, it was me. I called you and you came to me and your mother was worried.”

  I started to cry; it was all right before me. “Yes, yes, Victor and I thought about you for the rest of the day and wondered if I would ever see you again.”

  He kissed the back of my head, “There’s more,” he said and led me back the way we came.

  I was excited; thrilled to be able to recall the moment we met. My head and my heart were filled with joy and I kept seeing him sitting on the ledge and smiling at me. We exited the mall from where we had come in and when the driver spied us he hurried from his parking space and picked us up at the doorway.

  Once we were settled in the back seat I leaned over and kissed Victor’s cheek, “Thank you, Victor. Thank you for taking me here and showing me this.”

  He brushed the hair back from my face, “I would do anything for you, love, you know that.”

  I tucked my arm in his and snuggled against his shoulder.

  The driver pulled f
rom the garage and drove us a short distance to a little community of condominiums. There were townhouses to the right and the condominiums were off to the left. Victor told the driver to pull around to the back and though it was still raining he refused the umbrella. He told the driver to come back in 5 minutes and not a moment before.

  We exited the car and Victor wrapped my arms around his neck, “Hold tight,” he said and he began scaling the building; climbing from balcony to balcony until we reached the roof.

  “Here we are,” he spun me around and around in the rain.

  I shook my head laughing, “I’m sorry Victor, it’s not at all familiar to me.”

  “You just need a little help,” he offered me his wrist and in my eagerness to recall why he had brought me there I latched on.

  “The shower, yes, the meteor shower. It was exactly one year later…Our anniversary you called it!” I threw my arms around him, “Oh, Victor, how have I forgotten so much.”

  He gave a little chuckle and swept me up off my feet. He ran to the corner of the roof and as he cradled me close leapt off. It was an incredible thrill and when we landed my heart was racing and I was gasping for breath. The driver was pulling around and I did what I could to recover myself before sliding into the back of the car with Victor close on my heels.

  I was giddy, beaming from head to toe and couldn’t wait to see what Victor had in store for us next. I carelessly wrung my hair out and apologized to the driver for my thoughtlessness.

  “It’s quite alright,” he assured me as he smiled back at me in the mirror.

  Victor leaned forward and hissed something completely inaudible to me but quite clear to the driver. He looked nervously back and nodded in understanding; his exuberance suddenly seeming to fade into fear. I pretended not to have seen the exchange and turned my head towards the window. It must have been close to midnight by then and as I watched the rain streaming down the window I noticed that we were pulling onto the highway.

  “Are we going into the city?”

  “Yes, for a bit.”

  I decided not to press him knowing that I would see for myself, soon enough, what Victor wanted to show me next. He was quiet and subdued during the ride and every time I tried to engage him Victor gave me a weak smile. I held his hand and ran my thumb back and forth across his wrist.

  He seemed to relax and sank back into the seat, “Mmm, that’s nice.”

  As his expression softened I felt a little memory ripple across my mind. I pictured myself in a darkened room somewhere walking towards a man sprawled across massive bed covered in heavy linens. As I got closer the man’s features became more and more distinct and at first I thought it was Victor but when I reached out to touch the man’s cheek he turned into my touch and smiled. Though he looked so very much like Victor, I knew it wasn’t him. It was…it was…it was someone else; someone important to me. My heart seemed to stop for a moment.

  “Where have you gone off to?” Victor was violently clutching my hand, his eyes demanding an answer.

  I shook the memory away, “I…I was just wondering what you have planned next,” I stuttered.

  “You lie!”

  “No, Victor. I would never lie to you,” I insisted. I gave my hand a little shake to let him know he was hurting me.

  The driver cleared his throat concernedly.

  “Drive, idiot. This doesn’t concern you.”

  “Please Victor,” I sidled up to him and kissed his neck, “I have loved every moment of tonight, let’s not spoil it now,” I let my hand wander along his thigh and felt some of his irritation subside.

  “Pull over,” he commanded the driver.

  The driver eased us off the highway onto the shoulder and put the car in park.

  “Get out.”

  The driver looked unsure but I nodded to him and told him we just needed a moment. As soon as he closed the door Victor was on me. He shoved my dress up around my waist and ran his tongue along the inner edge of my thigh. I could barely stand the teasing sensuousness of the act and I moaned out loud. I felt him pierce the soft flesh several inches above my knee and bit my lip to keep from screaming as he took a fierce pull from me. I watched him swallow then eagerly lunged for him urging him to take me.

  The world fell away and there was only the terrible need to feel him over and over again but something else was happening, too. I felt that strange little tendril inside me searching and reaching out for him but I was lost in the ecstasy of the moment and it couldn’t seem to find him. Victor seemed to feel it too but it was already too late as we heaved against one another.

  He held me tightly, “Oh, Lily,” he kissed my hair and caressed my back. “I felt it,” he whispered and moments later, “we were meant to be.”

  I suspected he was crying but when I tried to pull away to see for sure he held me tighter so I whispered comfortingly to him instead, “Yes Victor, yes, we were".

  After we composed ourselves Victor rolled the window down and let the driver know we were ready for him to return. He drove us to a magnificent theater and Victor again sent him on his way with instructions to return a certain number of minutes later.

  “It’s closed Victor,” I stated as he led me around to the back of the building.

  “Not for us, love.”

  He wrapped his fingers around the handle, closed his eyes and leaned his head back concentrating. Victor gave the handle a meaningful turn and pushed the door open, “After you,” he bowed.

  I smiled and stepped through.

  He led me through the backstage area, past the dressing rooms and onto the stage. From there we took the short flight of stairs towards the pit area where the orchestra would set-up and out beyond the first of the many rows of seats. We came to a stairway that led to the upper levels of the audience chamber and Victor hurried me up the flight and down a short tier of steps and into the first of the theater boxes.

  “Do you remember being here? Do you remember what we saw?”

  I shook my head, “No wait, maybe,” I paused as I tried to recall.

  He had me take one of the seats, “You were sitting right here and I was there, behind you.”

  I couldn’t remember.

  Victor looked thoughtfully at his watch, “It’s too soon,” he mumbled, “but we can’t wait, there isn’t much time,” he took a deep breath and nipped his finger, “just a drop, no more,” he said firmly.

  It all flashed through my mind, “The Nutcracker,” I whispered, “I had a fever, we left early. You were with someone, she was mean to me…” my eyes filled with fear, “you…you killed her!” I accused.

  “You weren’t supposed to see that,” he clenched his hands, “but yes, I did. She hurt you and I lost control of myself because you wouldn’t answer me, you wouldn’t help me.”

  It was becoming clearer as he spoke and again I felt a twinge of wrongness with how the memory was unfolding but I couldn’t detect specifically why it seemed so imprecise to me.

  “We went home and I fell asleep and when I woke up, you were gone. I couldn’t reach you, you left me and I tried so hard to tell you I was sorry and to please, please come back,” there was a lump in my throat that I tried to swallow, “and somehow, somehow I forced you to come to me and you did and we were always together then.”

  “Yes, yes,” Victor sounded relieved.

  I threw myself around him, “I’m so sorry, Victor. I am so, so sorry for everything that happened that night. I didn’t realize what I was doing or how much I had hurt you,” I caressed his face and stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his temple.

  He smiled down at me, “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “No, of course not, because it will never be that way again, not now, not as long as we are together.”

  Victor wrapped his arm around my waist and ushered me back the way we had come, “We’re running out of time and I still have more I want to show you.”

  “It’s OK Victor, we can do more tomorrow if we need to.”


  “No, no, it must be tonight. I cannot ris…I cannot wait another day. I want you too much to have to wait.”

  I smiled and blushed.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he turned and faced me, “and every moment you grow more and more beautiful,” he placed his palm on my cheek and gave me just the lightest of kisses. “Every time I touch your lips I want to take you,” he said and sighed, “Let’s hurry.”

  The rain had finally let up by the time we were outside which seemed fortunate since when we got to the front of the Arts Center the driver was not there. We had to wait several minutes for him to show up, “Damn it,” Victor cursed with every passing second.

  As he pulled into view Victor yanked the door open and motioned me inside, “Where were you? We’ve been waiting!”

  “Sorry sir. The police came by and told me I was in a no parking zone and asked me to move. This is a one way street and it took me a while to get my bearings and find my way back.”

  “Idiot,” Victor slapped the back of his head.

  I grabbed his arm, “Victor, calm yourself!” I frowned at him.

  He shook his head, “Yes, yes, I’m sorry. My apologies,” he leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I’ll behave,” he promised, “if you’ll forgive me, too.”

  “I will if you show me you are sincere,” I stretched my legs out across the seat and tucked my feet onto Victor’s lap. He grinned and slipped one shoe off then the other and softly stroked the bottom of each foot. I leaned back and closed my eyes.

  About a half an hour later Victor nudged me, “You’ve fallen asleep, love. Stay with me, only one more stop after this.”

  I blinked and rubbed my eyes, “Where are we?”

  “Home,” he simply stated. “Yours and mine, or at least it was once. I lived here when I was a boy and many years later, not long after the ballet, you did, too.”

  I looked puzzled as he told me this.