My Bloody Valentine

by Multi-Author

  “I know, baby. I know,” he said softly. He turned her over again on her back and caressed her face. “I know,” he said again.

  Then he bit her. Hard. On the neck. It was then that she knew.

  Holy shit, he is a vampire this time around. Why the hell had he saved me just to eat me? And not in a good way. That sadistic motherfucker. That was what you got with multi-level players. It was what she got with Stryder every damn time.

  Her life-force was ebbing. That fact took them both to a place that was in between her world and his. Here he was inside her, and she was coming in colors that spread throughout the globe. Lost in the pleasure inside, dying outside. She had to think fast with what was left of both parts of her brain.

  “I challenge you to a game of Scrabble.” It took every force of might she had left just to speak. Unable to turn down a challenge, he stopped momentarily, blood trickling from his lips. In their minds they threw the pictures of seven letters at each other. She had thrown him certain letters on purpose. She put her initial letters down. N–E–W.

  There were no rules here. She knew he would play whatever he wanted to play. He played A-R-K and looked at her, eyes bright.

  Then she made her move.

  With every bit of power, real power, inside power, Cassandra power, she swept away the A with her hand and threw down a Y-O. Then she bit him. Hard. On the neck. On the inside. This was no hotel room bite. She had bitten him in between their worlds. In between. Where all the laws of physics and anatomy and earth were impotent.

  He looked stricken. For a moment, she wanted to take it back. But then they were moving back and forth. First to the hotel room, then back to the in-between place, then to the crack house, and back again to the hotel. Around like a carousel. She had summoned her power and it was working. She felt herself changing. She continued sucking. But just enough. Not enough to kill him. He was changing too. The whole process took only a few minutes.

  In the end she wondered, had she had played too rough? Broken any rules? She was sure she had. That was why they, the rest of them, hated her. That was why he, Stryder, loved her. But not at this moment.

  “You goddamn whore.” His voice was raspy. He hardly had a voice left.

  There it was. Sore loser.

  She laughed, her eyes bright. Then she whispered in his ear, “Who are you talking about, honey? Have you checked a mirror lately?” No, he had just fucked one.

  Because now she was Stryder. Feeling the sexual power of the new Cassandra and the power he had over her. Now it was his to command. He felt their bond. Though he knew from experience that once recovered, Cassandra’s power was off the charts—greater than his. Greater than all of them. All the more reason they hated her. All that power and Cassandra hated to use it. Though he doubted she would act the same way now. He didn’t think anyone had ever changed insides for real before. Husks, faces are one thing. But who you really are? There was definitely a rule broken somewhere. The new Stryder laughed.

  He liked this new body–the maleness of it. He felt the sexual tension coming off who he had been—Cassandra, the universal, never dead, always wet girl—already reaching for him inside. Her husk just couldn’t see it. He licked his lips.

  He wondered if the former him had known what it meant when he said the future needed a stand-in. That it was going to be the real him.

  The game wasn’t going to end.

  Blindfold

  By

  Jay Wilburn

  Tracy spotted light leaking through the upper corner of the blackout drape over one of her windows. As she retrieved a stepstool, she tried to calm herself.

  She whispered, “God, what if it slipped last night and light showed outside. They’ll know I’m in here.”

  Her palms felt sweaty and her hands shook as she set the stool down under the fallen corner of the curtain. She felt lucky the drapes were thick. They had been in her apartment for commercial photo shoots before the world burned. She hadn’t touched her camera in months, but she had cases and cases of food.

  “If it fell last night, you would be dead, girl,” she whispered.

  With her legs feeling weak, she gripped the corner of the drape and forced it back up over the hook to completely cover the window.

  Tracy looked back toward the brick wall at the end of her kitchen and swallowed.

  Using her fingers around the edge of the drape, she started to peek, but hesitated. Tracy glanced back to be sure all the lights were out in the dark apartment, even though it was daytime.

  Finally, temptation won out and she pulled the curtain aside and peered through the gap. Buildings still burned across the city and the sky was hazed over, black with smoke from countless fires.

  Tracy sighed. “How long before our building catches?”

  Cutting her eyes back to the kitchen in the light from the parted curtain, the swatch of stolen sun felt dangerous as she spied the missing bricks.

  Stealing one more look for the creatures that burned, she saw no motion. The lack of activity always made it tempting to try to flee, but she knew they waited for people to show themselves. They caught everyone who tried.

  Tracy laid the curtain back against the wall, snuffing out the light. The heel of her hand pressed it down to the wall to be sure it stayed.

  With a wash of memory, she recalled taking still-life photos outside before she started shooting for corporations. Now that the outside was off-limits, it pained her.

  “This is my punishment for selling out. I gave up on the outside long before it burned.” Tracy licked her lips. “They don’t burn every building. They just burn them when they find someone inside. Don’t let them find you and we will be fine.”

  The thudding of her heart quickened as she had to wait at the top of the stool for her eyes to adjust. Her nipples hardened from fear. She rested her head against the edge of the drape on the wall. The adrenaline pumped through her and burned as she tried to stand still. Under her skirt, she felt wetness and the fear turned into something else.

  She climbed down and left the stool by the window.

  Sticking her hands out ahead of her, Tracy crossed the apartment and used the stack of boxed supplies in the kitchen to guide her around the island to the brick wall. She knelt down by one of the holes made by part of a missing brick.

  After two breaths, Tracy tapped the wall with her rings. The cloth covering the holes on the other side of the wall muffled the sound. The largest of the holes in the wall was wide enough for her to feed her hand through, but just barely.

  She used to cover her side of the wall too, but had used the cloth to cover a tear in one of her drapes. He had more to lose.

  After she could take the silence no more, Tracy tapped the wall again. He pulled the drape up, startling her. Tracy moved to the side, out of his view.

  She whispered, “Put on your blindfold. It’s time.”

  “What are you doing? It’s morning,” he said. “Julie could wake up any time. If she doesn’t, the kids will.”

  “I make the rules, Paul. I had a bit of a scare this morning. Do as I say and we’ll be done before your wife or kids wake up.”

  Through the tiny gap near Tracy’s face, Paul closed his hands over the edge of the missing brick so she could see the tips of his fingers. Sliding her hand along the brick, she brought her hand closer to his fingers, but did not touch them.

  He said, “Are we in trouble? If they saw you, I need to get my family to safety.”

  Suddenly, he drew his hands back out of the hole. Tracy reached up and grabbed hold of another small opening above her head.

  “If they saw me, we wouldn’t have time to get to safety,” Tracy said. “Put on your blindfold and help me relax.”

  “You need to wait until tonight,” Paul said. “Roger will wake up hungry and then his sister will be up. If you get me caught, it will mess this up for you.”

  “For your whole family, you mean,” Tracy said. “If you want them to have something to eat for break
fast, you do what I say. I’m ready now, so now is when you earn your keep.”

  “We have to hurry,” Paul said.

  “You do your job right, then. Get your blindfold on if you want to hurry.”

  “I have it on,” Paul said.

  Tracy licked her lips and peeked around the edge of the missing brick. The view through the opening consisted of his nose and lips below the black scarf tied over his eyes. With the paint over his windows in his apartment, she could not see much beyond the hallway that ran along his side of the brick wall to his barricaded front door.

  “Give me your hand to start.”

  She took his fingers and pulled his hand into her apartment up to his forearm. Kissing and licking his fingers, she managed to unbuckle her belt and push her skirt and panties down to her ankles without looking. Paul sighed on his side of the wall and she smiled. Still holding his wrist, she stood and turned around.

  “Move the cover. You’ll need all the holes today.”

  The cloth rustled on his side and she shivered. Bending over, Tracy held on to one of the holes for balance. She slid his hand under her ass and between her legs with her panties still around her ankles.

  She guided his finger inside and she felt her wetness close around him. He slid in and out and she groaned.

  “Reach through and tease my clit at the same time.”

  She felt the fingers from his other hand slide along her ass as his arm scraped through another hole in the brick. His wrist brushed her hip and a muscle twitched. Biting her lower lip, she grabbed another hole in the brick with her free hand.

  “Back up closer,” he said.

  Tracy stepped out of her clothes and backed up. His fingers parted her lips and brushed over her swollen clitoris; she rested against the cool brick and the rough edge of the broken mortar of the hole. She licked her teeth.

  “Use two fingers.”

  She felt another one slide in as he pleasured her with both hands. His fingers made a scissoring motion inside her and she moaned.

  Reaching up on the counter, Tracy pulled off a foil-wrapped block. She slid it through a hole behind her and heard it hit the floor in Paul’s apartment.

  His fingers slid out of her as his hand pulled back.

  “Did I tell you to stop?”

  He reached back under her and she felt three fingers push inside her. Fingers pumped in and out of her vigorously. His thumb pressed up between her cheeks and teased her ass. He did not try to go inside. He knew better. After he had tried one time, Tracy had cut him off for days.

  “What’s in the foil?”

  She showed her teeth to her empty apartment as she unbuttoned her blouse. “Crackers.”

  “My family needs more than crackers.”

  Tracy pulled her arms out of her sleeves. “I guess you better not stop yet.”

  She reached behind her back and unhooked her bra as she remained bent over with her ass against the wall.

  “Did Emily like the cookies I gave you yesterday?”

  His breath caught and she smiled. With a feeling of anger, he drilled her with his three fingers faster in response. A cord in her neck twitched.

  Tracy lifted a tin from the counter in front of her. She let her arms hang down; her bra fell over her hands and to the floor.

  “How does your family think you get food for them, Paul?”

  She heard him breathing as he continued to finger her. He did not answer.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “I tell them I go out to the other apartments through the vents while they are sleeping. I tell them to stay back in the bedrooms.”

  “Then we shouldn’t be interrupted, should we?”

  His fingers twisted inside her as he pinched her clit with two fingers of the other hand.

  Paul sighed. “Kids don’t listen.”

  She held the flat tin through the unused hole behind her. “You’ll want to reach back and grab this. It’s ham. If it hits the floor, your loving wife will wake up.”

  Paul pulled his hand away from her clit, leaving his other hand under and inside her. After a moment, she felt him take the tin from her.

  “Enjoy that with your crackers, Paul.”

  He pushed his thumb against her ass, sending a shock up her spine and through her belly. He relented before going inside her from behind.

  Tracy smiled. “Good, boy. I need your mouth now. Turn sideways. I want as much of your tongue and lips as I can get.”

  He withdrew his fingers and she backed harder into the opening. His tongue swiped across her slit.

  “Arch your back,” he said.

  She did and felt his tongue and lips work. Tracy passed cans and plastic packages of food through the holes. Without interrupting his licking, he took them.

  “Play with my nipples.”

  He pushed his arm through almost to the shoulder. The strain made him groan and she turned slightly so he could pinch and play.

  Tracy shook with an orgasm and Paul licked faster.

  She handed a water bottle through as her spasms subsided.

  “Show me how hard your cock is.”

  Standing up straight, she faced the wall as his arm vanished, she heard his belt unbuckle.

  Paul pushed his shaft through until his scrotum rested in the hole. Her fingers pinched near the head and he groaned. She slid her fingers down him and grazed his balls with her fingernails.

  “Can you fuck me hard enough to earn more candy for your kids?”

  “Don’t talk about my kids.”

  Tracy smiled and flicked the tip of his erection.

  “I’ll talk about whatever I like, if I’m sharing my food.”

  Something exploded and the building shook. Dust fell down from her ceiling.

  Paul pulled himself back through to his side.

  Glass shattered somewhere.

  Tracy curled up naked next to the wall. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know,” he whispered. “Stay quiet.”

  Something else exploded and more glass broke somewhere else in the building. One of Tracy’s drapes fell and light blazed across her living room. The fire was close. She heard one of the creatures roar.

  “Check on your family, Paul.”

  “I have a confession,” he said, “I lied. I don’t have a family.”

  “What? Why did you pretend?”

  “I thought you were more likely to give me food. It seemed like part of the game.”

  Fire raced across the outside of their building.

  “Have they found us, Paul?”

  “I don’t know. It may be one of the other buildings on our block. Are you mad at me for lying?”

  “Just stay with me until this is over, either way. My real name is Tracy. I was a photographer.”

  Another explosion rocked their building, followed by silence.

  “Paul?”

  “I’m still here, Tracy.”

  The silence stretched out between them as they waited on opposite sides of their wall.

  Dangerous Desires

  By

  Jen Bradlee

  The darkness settled on Langston Station as Emily closed her notebook with a sigh. Packing her writing kit into her satchel, she stood and glanced around the empty platform. Of all the places in the city, this was her favorite to come to write. Roan had warned her of the dangers of being here alone after dark: “Beware of the Phantom.”

  She had brushed him off with a soft chuckle. “It’s 1899, nearly a new century,” she had told him. “I’ll be perfectly safe.” She had left him standing in the doorway of the boarding house, a strange look on his face.

  Emily snapped the bag closed. She thought of the handsome, bashful gentleman who showed such concern for her well-being. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought Roan fancied her. She shoved the thought away and slung the bag over her shoulder. A train whistle sounded in the distance. She barely noticed the two men approaching her.

  “Oi, lovey, wh
at’s a perty dove like you doin’ out so late, eh?” the taller one asked with a distinctive accent. Emily backed up a few steps, colliding with the brick building. She scanned the deserted platform. She was utterly alone. A sickening dread settled in the pit of her stomach when the short, balding man drew a knife from his waistband.

  Emily darted to the right, hoping to clear the building and find help. The tall man was quick, snatching her by the waist and pinning her against the brick wall. His breath stank of malted alcohol and rotten teeth. She gagged as his heavy breaths puffed across her cheek.

  “Come now, lass, we only want a taste of what you gots under yer skirts,” the bald assailant said as he unbuckled his pants. The tall one was strong. Emily struggled, trying to jerk free from his grip. She kicked at his shin, but he blocked it with his foot and leaned his weight against her, holding her for his partner.

  She closed her eyes. A sob choked her as the bald man hitched up her skirt, his dirty hands running along the inside of her thigh. She opened her eyes, looking past the men at the train that approached. A shadow split from beneath the lamp; a tall, dark figure swiftly overtook the men. A flash of silver cut the darkness. With a cry, the bald attacker grasped his throat, dark liquid spilling from the hole gaping between his fingers as he fell to the ground. The other one could barely react when he was wrenched off her. A sucking gasp echoed as he dropped next to the first man.

  Emily tore her gaze from the bodies lying at her feet. She was drenched in blood, her hands trembling and her heart racing. She looked at the man before her. He had two slender blades in his hands. With an audible click, they disappeared into his sleeves. When she met his gaze, her breath caught in her chest. He wore a black half-mask. His hair was tucked into a gentleman’s hat, and a caped coat framed his broad shoulders. The lights from the train cars flashed behind him, illuminating him in a surreal, flickering light. He held his hand out to her.

  Hesitantly, Emily placed her hand in his. He guided her around the dead men and away from the train station. The clicking of the train on the tracks echoed behind her. They darted down several alleys, shifting this way and that. The man knew his way around, that much was certain. They appeared on a side street that led to a small park. She glanced around. Even in the dark she recognized the park that was situated next to her boarding house. How did he know...? The thought trailed off as he pulled her toward a small building tucked deep in the park. He opened the door and tugged her inside, closing it behind her. He leaned against it.