Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series)

by Julia P. Lynde

  "I'm not her type," I said.

  "Oh honey," he said. "Tonight you are everybody's type."

  I said quietly. "I had a pashmina to, well, tone this all down a little, but Andrea stole it."

  "Next year maybe a faux fur stole," he suggested.

  I grinned. "I think it's time to work the room again."

  "She's right behind you about ten feet," he said, winking at me.

  I'd been nursing the same glass of wine for the entire evening. I finished it off and set it aside. I didn't want to get sloppy and would switch to water or soda next.

  I turned around and caught her looking at me. I hadn't used the tail for anything except letting it swish back and forth on it's own, so I reached down with my left hand and held the switch. The tail swished to my right then pointed straight ahead.

  "You," I said quietly, advancing on her. "I caught you checking out my tail."

  "Felicia," she said quietly once I was standing in front of her. "It wasn't your tail I was checking out."

  "Maybe it's time to play with you for a while," I said, staring at her cleavage. I used the tip of my whip to herd her backwards. A sofa was free, and I guided her straight to it. She sat down, and I perched on the sofa next to her, one hand casually playing with her hair.

  I flirted with her outrageously. She flirted back. She let me leave a bright red lipstick mark on her neck. She smelled wonderful. I took her wine from her and left bright red lipstick marks on the rim when I drank it half down. I handed it back to her and smiled.

  "Did you drive?" she asked.

  "Excuse me?"

  "Did you drive?"

  "No. Karen did."

  "All right," she said.

  I eyed her suspiciously. "I've had one sip from Karen's, one glass of my own, which I've nursed for two hours, and a partial glass I stole from you. Why are you being a fuddy-duddy?"

  "Oh hell," she said. "You didn't notice."

  "Notice what?"

  "Dillon and Mike have been taking turns refilling your glass. I saw them do it three times."

  "Seriously?" I asked. She nodded. "Oh hell. I thought I could trust everyone here. Did they put anything in it?"

  "No, but I'm not letting you out of my sight."

  "Am I drunk?"

  "I don't think so, but I wouldn't want you driving."

  "Those assholes. How do they know I'm not driving?" My eyes started to burn. "Am I going to get fired or embarrass Andrea if I go embarrass the hell out of them?"

  "No."

  "Can I be crude?"

  "Yes."

  "Will you flirt with me some more after?"

  She laughed. "I'd love to." She looked around the room. "The clients here won't get offended."

  I slowly climbed off of her and stood up. I felt pretty steady, but now that Petra had told me, I could tell I'd had more to drink than I would have preferred, and I hadn't been eating. I wandered the room once more. I collected a fresh glass of wine. I teased Karen for a moment then whispered to her, "I'm about to kill Dillon and Mike. Please go warn Andrea."

  "I think Petra already is," she said.

  I glanced over and found them. They were standing next to each other. I raised an eyebrow and Andrea nodded.

  I turned and found Mike and Dillon. They were watching me. Assholes.

  I turned back and kissed Karen's neck again and used it to warn her, "I'm not drunk, but it's about to look like it." Then I pulled away and examined her neck and grinned at her.

  I turned back to Mike and Dillon and began walking to them, intentionally just a little bit unsteady. I took a sip from my wine. I really didn't want it.

  "Mike," I said. "I saw your girlfriend the other night." Then I pulled away. "Or was she Dillon's? Oh, that's right. You're both paying her. Mike, did you start using that cream she told you about." I gestured and splashed wine down his front. "And Dillon, is the therapist helping you with your little, well, your little thing?" I splashed the rest of the wine on him.

  "What the hell?" Dillon said.

  "Oopsie," I said. "I think I've had a little too much wine. I could have sworn I only had one." I paused. "I'm sure no one would have been filling my glass when I wasn't looking. Because that would be dangerous if I were driving. I'm sure there's no one in the room who has to try to get a girl drunk to have a chance with her. You two, after all, just have to pay the girls to spend time with you."

  Then I turned my back and stepped away.

  The room had grown silent.

  I walked calm and steady to Andrea. "Will you please call me a cab?"

  "Wait, Felicia," Petra said very quietly. I nodded. Then she raised her voice. "You two. Leave. Now. In my office Monday, nine AM. We'll see whether Renea wants to keep you employed."

  "We didn't mean anything," Mike said.

  "Shut up," Petra said. "You may be needing lawyers, and they won't be happy if you confess in full of an entire room."

  They practically ran from the house.

  I turned to Andrea. "I guess I bit off more than I could chew. I'm sorry."

  "Hush," she said. "Renea's been looking for an excuse to get rid of those two for some time."

  I took a deep breath. "How drunk am I?"

  "Just a little tipsy," Petra said. "I'm sorry, I thought you knew they were doing it."

  Ben came over and handed me a glass. "Ginger ale," he said. "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't realize you didn't know they were doing it."

  I hugged him. "Thanks. I'm fine." I took a sip. "It just ruins the effect of the costume if everything thinks I'm flirting because I'm drunk."

  Petra disappeared while I was talking to Ben, but she came back with a plate of food. "I believe you promised me more flirting," she said.

  I thanked Ben again and let Petra lead me to the sofa.

  "Sit," she said.

  "You sit," I told her. "The tail makes sitting tricky."

  She laughed and sat. I perched next to her and let her feed me for a while. We flirted a little bit, but I couldn't get back into character.

  "Bah," I said. "I was going to try to stay in character all night. Now I'm all self-conscious."

  She smiled and popped a grape into my mouth.

  I held it in my mouth and had a huge urge to kiss her and feed it to her. I looked away and ate the grape. Petra and I continued to talk and I started to relax.

  Periodically my tail would twitch over to her side, catching her attention for a moment. I grinned. "Pretty kick ass costume, isn't it?"

  "Oh yeah," she said. "I love the... horns."

  I laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the best part." I paused. "Petra, am I going to be all the gossip Monday?"

  "Yes," she said. "You're going to be Andrea's smoking hot assistant who kicked Mike's and Dillon's asses."

  I grinned. "You think I'm smoking hot?"

  She grinned back. "No, of course not. But everyone else does."

  I laughed.

  The party was starting to die down. About half the guests had left. I looked around the room and there were plates and glasses everywhere.

  "Sitting like this isn't very comfortable," I told Petra. "I'm going to get up and start collecting plates to wash."

  "I'll help," she offered.

  I smiled.

  We roamed around the house, collecting everything that needed collecting, and carried it to the kitchen. I rinsed everything then checked the dishwasher. It was full and needed running. I set the timer on it so it would run later and began filling the sink with suds.

  Petra made a few more trips, piling more dishes for me, then stood next to me while I was washing, talking quietly to me. As we talked, she kept getting closer and closer to me. I looked over to her and she pulled away.

  "You don't have to move away," I said.

  "I do if I don't want to get poked by your hair," she said, batting at my wayward hair.

  "Oh," I said. "I didn't think of that when I was working on it." I leaned towards her and tried to poke her with my hair. She laug
hed.

  "Sorry," I said. "I'm just feeling a little horny."

  "Oh, Felicia," she said. "That was bad." She reached up and patted my horns.

  I grinned. "I was saving that one just for you."

  Karen wandered in and deposited a few more plates. Petra found a dish towel and began to dry what I was washing, setting them on the counter for Andrea to put away later.

  "Thank you for watching out for me," I told her.

  "My pleasure," she said.

  We finished the available dishes. When we returned to the living room, the party had dwindled to the two of us, Andrea, Karen and Ben. I grabbed a folding chair and sat on it backwards, letting my tail hang off behind me.

  "Andrea," Ben said. "Your new assistant rocks."

  "Thank you, Ben," she said. "I agree with you."

  I looked around. "I had a glass of ginger ale around here somewhere."

  "You just washed it," said Karen. "I'm getting one for myself. Want one?"

  "Yes, thank you."

  The five of us chatted for another hour. Twice Ben begged off, suggesting the he'd leave the four of us some privacy. Andrea told him not to be daft, that he should stay as long as he was having a nice time.

  "Did anyone get pictures of me?" Of the five of us, no one had taken photos. "Could we? Does someone have a camera?"

  Andrea went to get hers. "I'm going to go fix my makeup," I said. "I'll just be a few minutes."

  I went upstairs. I actually still mostly looked good. I fluffed my hair a bit and touched up the makeup, especially the lipstick. I went back downstairs. Andrea got photos of me descending the stairs. Then we took turns getting photos of everyone. I put a fresh red mark on Karen's neck, and Andrea made sure to get a shot both of me leaving the mark and then of Karen's neck. I touched up the makeup when Petra's back was turned and as soon as she turned back, I latched onto her and gave her a fresh mark, too. Ben had the camera at that point and got several shots.

  "There we go," I said. "Blackmail material in case I ever run for President."

  Karen and Petra fought over who got to drive me home. I said, "I'll ride with whomever promises me a good night kiss."

  "That's me!" said Karen.

  Petra growled. She actually growled. Karen and I both looked at her, then Karen turned to me. "Maybe Petra should drive you home."

  When we got home, she walked me to my door. "Are you coming in?" I asked.

  "Do you need help getting all this off?" she asked.

  "And let you see all my secrets? No way, it'll spoil the mystery." I held the door for her. "But you can come in."

  I watched her consider everything. "It's late," she said. "Am I invited tomorrow?"

  "Of course."

  She leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. I accepted it graciously then watched her head to the stairs. I closed my door quietly, then leaned against it.

  "I'm such an idiot," I said.

  It took me a half hour to climb out of my costume and another twenty minutes to shower and climb into bed.

  * * *

  Dream Petra was holding my hand when I opened my eyes. I looked at her and said, "Real Petra is a fucking pansy."

  She looked shocked.

  I sighed. "I suppose that's not fair. If she didn't want me the way I was dressed tonight, she clearly never is going to. Why do I keep throwing myself at her?"

  Dream Petra looked away, then pulled me into a hug.

  "Well, you still love me," I said to her. I started singing, "Looking for love in all the wrong faces."

  She pushed me away and shook me a little.

  I sighed. "Did you see what I looked like?"

  She nodded.

  "Did you like it?"

  She nodded.

  "Well, that's something." I paused. "Of course, I'm the one who is clearly insane. I wonder how much longer I can go on before seeking some sort of help."

  She cocked her head.

  I gestured around. "All of this. You. Every night? Every single night? Come on, no one does this. Clearly something is wrong with me." I paused. "Am I really asleep?"

  She looked at me, startled.

  "I might be schizophrenic," I said. "I could be awake and having delusions. Like that guy in 'A Beautiful Mind'."

  She shook her head.

  "Well, of course my delusions would tell me I'm not. I might go get them cured, then what would happen to them."

  I stood up and walked to the wall. I made a window and pointed out. "That's no forest anywhere on earth," I said. Then I closed the window. It was cold. "Where could I possibly have come up with all of this? Night after night?"

  She looked worried. She held up a finger, then disappeared. She left me alone for several minutes. I looked around the room. There was a blanket waiting, so she had planned to bring me to her tower.

  Sigh. I still thought of her as someone outside me.

  I wrapped the blanket around me then made a really small window to look outside.

  The window disappeared, and I turned around. Dream Petra was back, holding a note. She handed it to me. It said, "Please tell Real Petra or Andrea before you see a professional." Below that it said, "Promise!"

  "I don't think I'm a threat to myself or other people," I told her.

  She tapped the bottom of the note where it said "Promise".

  I sighed. "If I think I should see a professional, I will talk to Real Petra or Andrea first. I promise." I sighed again. "Making promises to my imaginary friend. Who I can see and touch, and who gives me the most amazing orgasms. My future shrink is going to love me. He'll write a book about me."

  She frowned and tapped the note again.

  "I promised. You don't have to get the lemon juice."

  She smiled, then took my hand and led me to her tower.

  She sure felt real. So did what she did to me.

  * * *

  Andrea arrived first. I apologized again. She turned me to her and said, "I should be the one apologizing. You should be able to trust anyone in my home. I'm deeply embarrassed and sorry."

  I hugged her and told her I'd had a nice time.

  "So Petra will slap their wrists on Monday?"

  "No," Petra said, walking in. "Petra will fire them on Monday. We can't do it with cause, because they could claim I gave tacit approval when I saw them do it and didn't stop them. But Renea wants them gone. So do I. I talked to their managers, and they are both happy to be rid of them, too, and are quite happy I'm the one handling it."

  I looked away. "I'm sorry to be the cause of so much trouble."

  "If you apologize for this one more time," Petra said. "I am going to..."

  "What?"

  She smiled. "Put you over my knee and spank you."

  I laughed. "We both know I'd enjoy it."

  "You two get a room," Karen said, stepping in. "There are children present."

  Petra shook her head. "So amazingly stupid. Andrea and I clearly have both of you fenced off. How anyone could think they could mess with either of you, I don't understand."

  "Yeah," said Andrea. "We're the only ones who get to mess with you."

  We moved into the kitchen and waited for Erika. She rang in shortly.

  "Boring dinner, Felicia," she said.

  "I know," I replied. "But it's a long movie and I thought people would appreciate if we started sooner rather than later."

  "What movie?" Andrea asked.

  "Avatar," I said. "I've recently been reminded of a place a lot like Pandora, so it seemed fitting."

  Dinner was spaghetti using canned sauce and ground hamburger plus frozen garlic cheese bread from the store. Start to finish was about fifteen minutes.

  "I know it's boring and not up to standards," I said.

  "Nonsense," said Petra. She tasted it. "But may I doctor it?"

  Petra and Erika negotiated herbs. It was better when they were done.

  Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie.

  * * *

  Sunday night, Dream Petra had my
clothes and the swords waiting. She was dressed in her Van Helsing outfit, which I really thought looked great on her. My matching outfit looked pretty good on me, too.

  I got dressed, then drew the sword, assuming we were doing katas. She shook her head and walked up to me, helping me to sheath the sword again. She adjusted it on my hip then led me out the door.

  We descended into the courtyard. Instead of heading to her tower, we turned right and stared at the wall of the castle. She gestured, and an opening appeared. She turned to look at me.

  "We're going for a walk?"

  She nodded.

  I smiled. "I'd like that."

  She took my right arm, and we stepped out of the castle.

  I hadn't been out of the castle before. The woods were even more amazing from down below. The trees were huge, absolutely huge. There was a trail we followed, but it was a dense forest on either side.

  The plants were unlike the plants I knew. There were huge flowers, much larger than any I'd seen before. I turned to her. "Is anything dangerous?"

  She nodded.

  "So don't poke anything with my finger."

  She shook her head.

  I leaned my head on her shoulder for a moment and we proceeded further down the path.

  The colors were just unbelievable. Green was dominant, and the flowers were a wide ranger of colors, but I also saw trees that were bright flaming red. There was an animal that reminded me of a ground squirrel, but it was bright purple.

  "That seems like bad design," I said as it hopped away. "Won't every predator see it?"

  She pointed at the squirrel, then stuck her finger into her throat in the standard, "make me sick" gesture.

  "Poisonous?"

  She nodded.

  We walked for an hour before we turned around. When we got back to the castle, she led the way to her tower. She took the sword from me then pulled me into her arms and kissed me.

  I woke up.

  * * *

  Monday on the way to the office, Petra asked me if I wanted to watch Mike and Dillon get fired.

  "I wouldn't take any particular pleasure from it," I told her. "I will come if you ask me to."

  She thought about it.

  "I'd like you there," she said. "I suggest you not answer anything they say."

  I nodded.

  When we got to the dojo, I asked her for a particularly good exercise, something to work off some steam. She had me practice aikido throws. She let me practice on her.