A Bear For Christmas

by Kassandra Cross

  What was happening?

  And why did I feel so drawn to it all?

  I was about to turn and run back for the door when a big, strong hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed it tight. I didn’t need to turn and look to know who it was, and I instantly felt like putty in his arms. He wrapped himself around me and pulled me backwards into the dark as he trailed kisses up the side of my neck.

  “What is this place?” I panted.

  “Here?” he mused, “This is the gateway to Hell, baby… Welcome to The Underworld,” he ran his tongue up to my ear and I shivered.

  I collapsed in his arms and he lay me down on a bed covered in black plastic. As he shackled my arms high above me by the wrists I wanted to scream out and tell him to stop, but at the same time I was completely at his mercy. He had taken my free will. And I knew that even if I wanted to reclaim it… I wouldn’t. I wanted him to show me everything… I wanted to give him my body and for him to break me.

  “Aradia,” he whispered in my ear as he held onto me by the throat, “Queen of the Witches.”

  His eyes bore into mine so intensely I felt stripped bare.

  “We’re going to be very good together, you and I…” he said as he lent forwards and kissed me on the lips. “It was always supposed to be this way...”

  I didn’t know what he meant, but at the same time it seemed to resonate with me. His lips brushed against mine as his grip on my throat got tighter. All around us people were screaming in ecstasy and the passion that was igniting between Lucifer and I seemed to be spurring them on even more.

  I opened my legs wide, desperate for him to climb between them. Even though we were in a room full of people, I wanted him to take me. I wanted him to strip me bare and show me everything he knew. He was so much older than me, so much more experienced and as he licked up my neck and pressed his weight down on me I shuddered and felt myself slipping into an abyss of pleasure that I didn’t know whether I would ever be able to come back from.

  Men and women writhed on the floor around us. They watched us with wild, red eyes, and gripped onto each other, fucking and sucking parts of each other’s bodies that I didn’t even know existed. Lucifer was red hot, hard and heavy. His breath was becoming rapid and I knew he was moments away from ripping my clothes off, when suddenly he stopped and exhaled.

  “Not here,” he whispered, “Not like this.”

  He snapped me out of my reverie and I bit my lip. My whole body was weak with desire and I was so ready for him to ravish me.

  He reached up and unbound me from the shackles. The women writhing on the floor looked up at me with jealous eyes and I was suddenly so very aware of where I was.

  “Oh God,” I whispered as I lowered my head. I couldn’t believe what I had been doing. It was as if some incredible force had overtaken me.

  Lucifer pulled me to my feet and took hold of my hand.

  “Come with me,” he whispered as he led me further into the dungeon.

  The deeper we went, the more bodies writhed around us. The music was so loud, so dark and nasty that I felt as if I was about to fall over the edge into a world of nightmares.

  I gripped his hand tight and tried not to look at the couples around us, in the throes of passion and exploring their darkest desires. Suddenly we were approaching a doorway and Lucifer threw it open. We were back in the corridor and I was in a daze as he led me quickly to the end, where another door was waiting, and out into the night.

  As the warm night air hit me I breathed it in deeply and fell to my knees. He rushed down to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

  “Are you alright, little one?” he asked as he brushed my hair away from my eyes.

  I was shivering. I didn’t know what he had done to me or what that place was, but every part of me knew it was wrong.

  “I need to go home,” I gasped. “Please, take me back to Woodmont.”

  Lucifer helped me to my feet for the second time and wrapped his arm around my waist.

  “A girl like you shouldn’t be in a place like that,” he said with amusement as we crossed the road to an empty parking lot, where one lone car was waiting. He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and as he pressed them the black, ferocious sports car lit up to life in front of my eyes.

  “What is this?” I asked him.

  He looked down at me with his dark eyes as they glinted under the light of the moon.

  “It’s my Ferrari,” he said deeply, “Now get in.”

  Chapter 10

  The car thundered down the woodland roads and I gripped on to my seat as my mind began to return to normal and I found myself being able to get a better hold on reality.

  “What the hell was that place?” I asked him.

  The engine was so loud and it screeched with each turn. Lucifer was in perfect control, it was as if the car was an extension of him, and as he took each bend he flashed his eyes down to me and smiled.

  “Gets the adrenaline going,” he laughed manically. “Wouldn’t you agree?”

  He was talking about the Ferrari and the fact that he easily could have been doing well over a hundred, but I couldn’t help but relate it back to The Underworld.

  I ignored him and dug my heels into the foot well. It was the first time I had been with him when I hadn’t felt completely safe.

  He sensed my distaste and slowed right down.

  “I’m sorry,” he said seriously, “I know you’re better than all of this… a fast car is hardly going to impress you.”

  I rolled my eyes. He was, of course, right.

  “Tell me…” I asked again, “The Underworld?”

  He smiled and nodded.

  “It’s mine,” he said. “I own it.”

  I exhaled and let my tight grip on the leather seat loosen.

  “Is it a club?”

  He nodded. “A very exclusive one.”

  “Where do those people come from?” I asked him in disbelief. “I can’t imagine many of the residents of Valport clamoring to get in there.”

  “You’d be surprised,” he said with a raised brow. “But mostly, they are very wealthy clients from all over the country. Some of them are the summer people, why else do you think the town is so popular?”

  I thought about it for a moment and then I shook my head.

  “There’s no way all of the vacationers just come here for that,” I said. “Most of these people have families! They come to spend a relaxing time at the lake.”

  “Mostly…” he smiled, “But as I say… you’d be surprised.”

  He laughed and reached down and squeezed my hand. He was red hot to the touch and it made my skin tighten.

  “What are you?” I asked as I looked up at him with serious eyes and a wild heart. “Please, I have to know?”

  He stopped the car and I realized we were at the iron gates at the foot of the entrance to Woodmont.

  “I’m everything,” he whispered, “I’m that little piece of hell you need… I’m your own personal Devil.”

  “You are The Devil,” I tell him, “Even your name would suggest it.”

  He winked at me and then he pulled me close to him by the neck and brushed his lips up against mine.

  “Come to me tomorrow,” he said, “So we can be alone.”

  “What will you do to me?” I asked him, my heart racing.

  “Nothing you don’t want more than I do…” he trailed off before his lips pressed up against mine and his tongue slipped inside my mouth. As he kissed me deep and hard I felt as if all of the air had been spirited from my body.

  “My aunt says I should stay away from you,” I said. “She says you’re no good for me.”

  “I’m not,” he said with a wicked smile, “But doesn’t that make it all the more fun?”

  I bit my bottom lip and he kissed me again. Each time our bodies connected something deeper was sealed between us.

  “Where will I find you?” I whispered.

  “Valmont,” he said, “The biggest
estate here.”

  I locked my fingers with his and he squeezed my hand.

  “You’ll know where to go,” he told me, “You’ll sense it… I have every faith in you.”

  He kissed me once more and even though I didn’t want it to be over, I knew I had to pull myself away.

  “Until tomorrow, my Witch Queen,” he smiled as I opened the door and climbed out to stand in front of the gates.

  “Until tomorrow…” I said as I turned on my heel, slammed the door lightly and walked up to the entrance of Woodmont.

  The gates only opened for Marianne’s car, but as I approached them that night, I willed them to and they juddered before they slid smoothly open. I turned and smiled at him, his wicked eyes glinting out at me as he gripped on to the wheel.

  I was getting stronger.

  “Until tomorrow, my Devil,” I whispered as I raised my hand.

  He floored the Ferrari and it screamed off into the night.

  When he was gone I exhaled and looked up to the moon and stars. I still didn’t know what he was or why he was so taken with me… but there was something beyond reasonable explanation drawing us together. It was as if our souls were always meant to find each other’s, and now we were both in a lot of trouble.

  I slipped off my shoes and gathered them into my hands. I walked back up the winding driveway underneath the heavy canopy of trees and I remembered the way he had felt, the way he had tasted… the way he touched me. It was all so new and exciting, I didn’t know how I would ever be able to tear myself away.

  “Because you’re not supposed to,” I said aloud. “You’re meant to fall into whatever trap he has waiting.”

  I smiled to myself as I continued walking.

  Woodmont was up ahead, the lights were on and illuminated down and around the driveway. I knew Marianne would still be up, even though it was late, but after everything that had happened, I didn’t want to speak to her. She would only drag me down and make me wish that none of it had happened.

  I snuck into the house and tiptoed up the stairs. When I got to the top of the galleried landing I could hear her singing in the kitchen and the sweet smell of liquor was drifting up right through the house.

  I wanted to go and wrap my arms around her and for her to tell me that everything would be okay. But after I had met Lucifer, I knew it was unlikely that Marianne and I would ever be on the same page again.

  Chapter 11

  The sun shone down fiercely through the ceiling of the orangery and I lay back on the couch with one of my hands lightly shielding my eyes. Outside, I could see a gardener working away, trimming back the rose bushes and collecting each clipped stem in a small pile on the patio table.

  Marianne was in the kitchen, she had asked me to help her with something but had yet to elaborate on what. I cast my mind back to the previous evening and I remembered his lips on mine. I remembered the way he had gripped me with such power that I was weak at the knees. I thought of The Underworld… and I knew that even though it excited me, I never wanted to go there again.

  “Aradia?” Marianne called through from the kitchen.

  I got to my feet and went through. She was elbow deep in herbs and oils, mulching them all together as she burned purple candles.

  “Can you pass me the athame?” she asked me.

  I reached down and picked up the small dagger-like blade. I lay it on the table in front of her and then traced my hands along the light blue candles that lay all around the base of her mixing bowl.

  “I’m going outside,” she smiled. “I’m going to do a ritual for your mother.”

  “But it’s day time?” I asked her.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “The moon will be out soon enough.”

  She gathered up the pieces she needed and I watched her nod her head in the direction of the blue candles. I picked them up for her and followed her out into the garden. We walked down towards the lake through the forest and she stopped at a clearing.

  It didn’t register why straight away, but I immediately felt uneasy.

  “Right,” she smiled, “I’m going to open a circle. Would you like to stay?”

  She knelt down in the soft earth and began to draw a circle with the athame.

  All I could feel was dread and I shook my head.

  “I don’t like it here,” I said.

  Her smile dropped and the color drained from her face.

  “I’m sorry,” she stammered, “I’m a fool.”

  The second she said it, I knew why I was feeling so peculiar. I recognized the clearing and that part of the forest immediately. My memories pulsed back to me and I felt woozy. It was where I had gotten lost all those years before and where my powers had unleashed themselves without warning.

  I was standing right where I had been when I had killed the Baker Boy.

  “Aradia,” she began, but I shook my head and shut her down.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “Here,” I dropped the candles with a thump to the ground. “Send Mom as much positive energy as you can, she needs it.”

  As I marched away from the clearing my heart was pounding and my palms were sweating.

  Something wasn’t right. I stopped in my tracks and turned back to look at Marianne. She was watching me with tears in her eyes and I could sense the deceit, but I didn’t know why.

  I could have stayed and had it out with her… but I wasn’t ready. I had to get back up to Woodmont and prepare myself for Lucifer. I had already decided that I was going to let him make me his. And nothing Marianne could say would stop me.

  In my room I lay back on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. Why did I feel as if suddenly, something was about to be revealed? I had the overwhelming feeling of dread pulsing through me and no matter what, I couldn’t shake it. It was something to do with that clearing in the forest… the Baker Boy… my past…

  I rolled onto my side and buried my head in my pillow. Since I had set foot in Valport my power had been ready to break free again, but I had kept it reined in like my mom had always taught me.

  Men don’t like powerful women, she had said. Don’t even let them see what you can do.

  I’d been so afraid… so cautious… But Lucifer, he seemed to love the fact I was a witch and he even knew the origins of my name. Aradia was a witch queen and I had been named after her because of the alignment of the stars on the day I was born.

  The power was always in you, Marianne had told me. From the very moment you entered this world.

  I pushed the memories away and closed my eyes.

  As the day passed and the sun began to set I stayed up there alone and didn’t answer Marianne when she called to me. I needed to be alone. I needed to think. Somewhere at the back of my mind a memory was niggling and was desperate to break free, but I couldn’t quite grasp it.

  I ran the shower so it was red hot and climbed inside. As the heat ravaged my body I thought of Lucifer and his incredible touch. I washed everywhere, I wanted to feel brand new. When I turned off the water and got out I chose the biggest towel I could find and I wrapped myself in it, my skin pink and raw.

  It was almost 8pm by the time I unlocked the door to my room and made my way back out to the landing and down the staircase. I could hear Marianne and I knew I couldn’t leave her for a second night in a row without explaining myself, so I wandered along to the kitchen and stood in the doorway.

  “You look lovely,” she said seriously. “Where are you going?”

  “You know where I’m going,” I said defiantly.

  She pushed her chair back along the slate floor with a screech and got to her feet.

  “Please don’t,” she whispered.

  “What I don’t understand, is why?”

  Marianne looked down to avoid my gaze and rubbed her temples.

  “He’s a dark force Aradia,” she said with defeat.

  “But he’s not a witch… I haven’t seen him do anything untoward.”

  “That doesn’t mean he can�
��t,” she sighed. “The truth is, I don’t know what Lucifer is made of… I don’t know who he is or what runs through his veins… all I know is that there is a darkness around him that never seems to lift… and that all of the people close to him have died.”

  I pouted and put my hand on my hip.

  “I like him,” I told her, “I know you don’t, and you’re just looking out for me… but there’s something about him that I can’t forget. And if I’m completely honest, I don’t want to forget… I need him. It’s like we were meant to be together.”

  I could see the tears welling up behind her eyes.

  “You’re an adult,” she said, “I can’t stop you.”

  I nodded my head and felt relief.

  “That’s all I really wanted to hear,” I said.

  She sat back down at the table and brought her clasped hands up to her mouth.

  “He can sense your power,” she added as I turned to make for the door, “He’ll use you.”

  I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at her.

  “I don’t think so,” I said.

  “Well…” she said with menace, “He has before…”

  Chapter 12

  I was frozen to the spot. Her words had speared me through the heart.

  “What do you mean?” I asked her.

  She shook her head as if she wished she had never said anything and then she turned and went towards the refrigerator.

  “Marianne,” I shouted, “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing,” she said defiantly, “I don’t mean anything. Go on, run off and have a good night.”

  The rage was building inside of me, but I knew that was exactly what she wanted. I squeezed my fists together tightly and my skin began to prickle.

  “Aradia,” she whispered with a meek look of fear drawing across her face.

  I knew I could have blasted her. With my will I could have severed the chandelier support above her and brought it crashing down on her head. I could have ripped up all of the knives out of the carving block and powered them right into her heart. But she was my aunt, and I did love her.