by S.M. Winter
he asked me to pick a hand, I had fantasized the item that resided in one of his hands that would begin our courtship. The heat between us was not dissipating and I wanted him to do something about it. The anticipation was distracting. When we met in the dining room for dinner later that day I was stunned to find the room clear of its normal heaping mounds of food. Next to the hearth was a tiny table for two. Domed metal covers topped the plates on either side of the tiny cafe table. Alexandar stood holding out my chair while I walked, mouth agape, toward him. He looked slightly less disheveled than normal. He even wore a tie over his polo shirt and khaki shorts. His feet were bare and I just had to laugh. I definitely did not feel underdressed in my flowing peasant top and jean shorts. My feet were also bare. It was oddly liberating to think that I hadn’t worn shoes in weeks. I was learning new things at an incredible speed and at the same time I was more relaxed than I had been my entire life.
I sat in the chair offered and laughed as he pushed me in.
“Where are Chauncy and Valerie?” I asked.
“I told them the dining room was closed for the night,” he chuckled as he sat, pretending to flip some non-existent coat tails behind him. “One day this will be a real date, in Paris or Rome. Anywhere you wanna go.”
“This is pretty real right now,” I smiled at him. “What made you start this today?”
He lifted the tops off the plates, letting the steam waft out. The scent was tantalizing. Lobster slathered in butter surrounded by field greens. I’d eaten something similar at a charity auction what seemed like a million years ago. With everything that had happened I almost wished for my old life. It was a lot simpler, if less fulfilling.
“You don’t like lobster?” Alexandar asked as I was picking at my food.
“No, it’s great,” I took a bite and smiled. “I’m just tired. Sorry if I’m not that good of company tonight.”
“You’re the perfect company,” he gave me one of those looks filled with heat and I felt my cheeks pinken.
“Come with me,” he stood up, walked around the table and pulled out my chair.
I put my hand in his when he held it out and we walked out of the dining room, down the torch lit hallway and into the music room. He had me sit on the ground and he took a mandolin from the wall. Sitting next to me, he began to strum a tune. Slowly the room changed around us. Grass grew out of the floor, trees sprang up in an instant, the hammock I’d seen him in before was there again. The ceiling turned to a night sky filled with bright and shining stars that blanketed the darkness. A bright orange full moon shone its light into the valley that surrounded us. It was beautiful. Fireflies danced about the open field and I reached out as it landed on my hand. It fluttered lightly before taking off again. It felt so real. I could have been out in this field, a normal person enjoying a date.
“How is this possible?” I wanted to know.
“It’s a little like astral projection,” he continued playing and his voice took on a sing-song cadence, the timbre reverberating around me. “Except I bring the elements to me. You can touch and feel everything around you, but it’s only here in spirit.”
“Where is this place?” I sat on the grass and looked up at the starry night sky.
“A glen in Ireland near where I used to live,” he began humming along with the music.
“Is this what you do when you get homesick?”
“Sometimes,” he nodded. “I used to just pop down there sometimes, too. But now that they can find us so easily I wouldn’t risk the people in such a small village.”
“Why can’t the Void find the island so easily then?” I laid back on the grass and closed my eyes, feeling the slight dampness of night and the cool breeze across my face.
“The island moves pretty quickly while it orbits,” I heard the shrug in his words. “It’s the only reason I can think of. They still make it onto the island occasionally, as you know.”
“Yes I remember,” I shuddered at the memory. “We should take the fight to them.”
“When you’re ready,” he said. “We will. Now enough talk about the Void. Tell me something foolish you wished for as a child.”
“Something foolish?” I repeated, laughing lightly. “I don’t remember a time when there wasn’t a serious book in my hand.”
“Have you ever wondered why that was?”
“It never occurred to me to question my curiosity,” I answered, then a memory long buried surfaced. “I wanted to be a dancer, but I was never graceful enough.”
“I don’t believe that,” he said.
“It was something I was always told,” I shrugged. “I just started believing it.”
Abruptly, he set aside the instrument and stood. The scene vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and I was suddenly laying on the hard flooring of the music room. I was suddenly very homesick. He walked over and took my hand to help me to my feet.
“I have an idea,” he said. “But we need to be quick.”
“What’s your idea?” I asked as he pulled me along behind him down the hallway.
“The Agents have no problem decimating small towns because it’s usually chalked up to natural disaster when we fight,” he announced as we hurried down the corridor.
“Ok...” I shook my head attempting to follow his train of thought.
“But we all avoid the main cities right?” He asked me.
“Right,” I said. “Because we don’t want to cause havoc and lose the lives in a large city.”
“Of course,” he said. “But that’s our reason. Why don’t they just attack a large city to draw us out?”
“What are you saying,” I pulled him to a stop as we got to the portal doorway.
“I’m saying,” he paused and took out his key. It glimmered in the torch light as it swung from his fingers. “That they won’t attack us in a large public place because they don’t want to be exposed. The Void thrives on chaos, if they are exposed the humans will unite against a common threat like they always do.”
“You think that we would be safe in a large public place?” I asked. The thought that we could get out of the Sanctuary for a bit was intoxicating. I wasn’t sure when, but I’d begun to feel like a prisoner here. Never seeing the sun or the sky it was stifling.
“You in?” He asked, holding out his hand for mine again.
“I’m in,” I grinned at him.
“You only need two of the four keys to go somewhere,” he told me, inserting his key. Then he stood back and motioned for mine.
I stepped up and felt the key warm in my hand. I pushed it into the slot and watched the door glow. Alexandar mumbled something to the door then opened it.
We stepped out into a dark room with thumping base. The door closed behind us to lasers danced and multicolored lights wheeling around the room. I’d heard of raves before but had never experienced one. The music was loud and the dancing fevered. The freedom was exhilarating. I caught Alexandar’s grin as he pulled me onto the dance floor and it occurred to me why we’d come here. Because I’d wanted to dance.
“Why are we doing this?” I pulled him to a stop and had to shout in his ear. “We should be working.”
“Because you need a break,” he shouted back. “It seems it’s been a lifetime coming.”
His hair fell into his eyes as they laughed back at me. Who was this fun loving boy in front of me? Where had the serious man gone? I didn’t have long to wonder before he pulled me into the crowd of bodies that took up the enormous dance floor. At first it was difficult to acclimate. In my previous life I would never even consider spending time in places like this. If I had to go to events with large numbers of people there I hung at the fringes, ready to bolt if I felt too uncomfortable. The press of bodies here made me cringe and my breathing became labored. Then Alexandar pulled me close and looked into my eyes. We could have been the only two there. Suddenly the press of bodies around me didn’t seem so bad and the music wasn’t as suffocating.
He wrapped my a
rms around his neck and we swayed together. I could feel the pulse of the bass in my chest and my heartbeat seemed to match the maddening pace. Our bodies moved together and every movement had my nerves tingling. I reached up to brush the hair out of his eyes and caress his cheek. His eyes were intense on mine as he seemed to consider something. I made the decision for him and leaned forward, resting my lips on his.
The tingling turned to fire and his hands pulled me closer. I let him explore my mouth and we moved together with the beat. My heart went from fluttering to pounding and my legs began to quiver. I had the urge to wrap myself around him. He pulled me from the crowd and we found a small dark corner just for us. My head hit the wall with a thump as he pushed me against it and I explored his mouth this time. His hands were everywhere as he pressed me into the wall. I lifted my leg and let him press farther. He moaned into my mouth, sending thrills down my spine. When his hands moved up my sides and cupped my breasts I shivered. The bass still pounded around us, adding vibrations to our movements. I wrapped my arms around him to bring him closer. Suddenly he wasn’t there and I blinked in the darkness to find him.
As my eyes adjusted I saw that a fistfight had erupted around us and Alexandar had been knocked to the side. Fury exploded over his face as he pushed some drunk slob off and tried to grab my hand but the offender turned around and punched him. I squealed, ducking as a fist came at my face, and scrambled away. It occurred to me
