by Mac Flynn
He raised a brow. "And if I refuse this proposed agreement?"
"I gave you those two choices. Take 'em or leave 'em," I firmly replied.
Eric glanced between me and the darkness where Ashley had been drawn. I held my breath awaiting his decision. My shoulders dropped when he shook his head. "I can't allow those choices. Without them both I cannot be free."
I threw up my arms. "Is your revenge really that important? What if I stayed here with you or visited you? Heck, with you in my body like you are I could show you the entire world and do all the work of trudging around in it so you could sightsee."
"My revenge will keep part of my soul here-"
"-for what? Eternity?" I challenged him. "It sure as hell is keeping you here, but because you believe you have to do it. What if that isn't part of the deal? What if all you need to do is love and be loved? You ever think maybe that would be enough to get you out of this musty old pit?" Eric was quiet for a long moment as he pondered my suggestion. I didn't wait for the refusal this time. Instead I walked down the stairs and stood before him, shaking in my boots but stubbornly sticking to my argument. "Revenge never helped anybody, especially the dead. I've seen it happen in a bunch of movies and read about it. You're going to be stuck here until you let go of this hate and let love in." I inwardly cringed at how corny that sounded, but it did the trick.
Eric's face softened and he reached up his hand to brush the back of his hand against my cheek. I smiled and leaned into his cool touch. The flames of his soul inside of me had never extinguished, and at his touch they rekindled to a comfortable, soothing fire.
"You have some very interesting ideas in that mind of yours," he softly complimented me.
I blushed and smiled. "I'm not all looks, you know."
"I know that now, and I will follow your advice," he replied. He dropped his hand and looked into the darkness where he had taken Ashley.
I was relieved to see her reemerge from the shadows, though her body was limp. "Is she-?" I began. I couldn't finish the question for fear of the answer.
Eric shook his head as Ashley was set on the steps above me. "She's merely fainted."
I quickly knelt down by her side and confirmed his words when I put my hand over her chest. She was breathing. Then I returned my attention to Eric. "What are you going to do with her now? She's going to remember what happened here."
"I can solve that problem without killing her," he made sure to add when my brow crashed down. "She will remember nothing of what took place except in the darkest recesses of her nightmares."
"And you'll take her out of here? Her mom's worried sick about her," I told him.
He bowed his head. "You have my word that she will be perfectly taken care of, and no doubt rescued come morning."
I stood and turned to face him. My arms flapped at my side. "Well, what now? I promised you my body, but this isn't exactly the nicest place to do anything about it." In the blink of an eye he stepped forward and swept me up into his arms. I let out a yelp, but by that time he was already carrying me into the darkness of the cavern. "Mind giving me a warning next time?" I snapped at him.
"But then it wouldn't have been as much fun," he teased back.
"I wouldn't call that fun," I countered, but I didn't try to get out of his arms. Instead I snuggled down and looked in the direction we were going. Without the flashlight, though, the place was too dark for me to see a foot in front of my face. "Where are we going, anyway?"
"Down just a little farther to give us some privacy," he replied. "While the cavern is natural, I carved this tunnel myself to hold the large family I intended to have-"
"-but didn't," I finished for him.
Eric had a bitter smile on his face. "Yes, but I've found you, and that makes up for some of the loneliness."
My heart was heavy for his suffering. "Only some?" I whispered back.
He sighed and continued to stare straight ahead. "It was a long loneliness."
We were quiet as he carried me down into the tunnel I'd caught a glimpse of from the stairs. The angle was gentle and the path short, so soon I felt the walls close by stretch out into the darkness. Then, as though with a silent bidding, lights on the floor flickered on. They were will-o-the-wisps like the one I'd seen when I wandered through the storm just yesterday. Their soft light illuminated the ground and the small room. The area was circular like the cavern, and the rough walls showed it was a natural hole in the ground. In this room all the rocks had been broken and carted off. The cleared center had a pile of pillows and blankets so high that I was tempted to jump in and see if I could swim through them.
I was very confused how so many pillows and stuff could get down into this hole. I looked up at him and pointed at the pile. "Um, how did you-"
For once he had a sheepish grin on his face. "Years and years of stealing pillows off the porch of my enemies."
I stared at him for a moment before I burst out laughing. Tears poured down my cheeks and I held onto my gut. "Seriously?" I managed to choke out.
"Seriously," he repeated with a smile. He set me down, with me still laughing and took my hand to guide me over to the mountain of chair pillows.
I managed to get a hold of myself and wiped the tears from my eyes. "Well, it's a very nice pile of thievery. What were you planning on doing with all these pillows?"
He slid up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. His lips brushed against my neck and I shuddered. "I have every intention of making you mine all night. I want to hear you cry out my name and beg for more."
The flames inside me roared up, hot and spicy. Heat pooled between my legs and soaked my panties. He pulled me against his firm chest and I felt his need press up against my pants. His hand slid down my side and rested on my hip.
His chuckle tickled my warm flesh. "Will you have me inside you? Thrusting deeper and deeper into you while my hands touch every inch of your body," he whispered to me.
"Yes," I breathed out. My voice was thick and sultry. I gladly fell into the haze of arousal. Every bit of me wanted him to do with me what he wanted, what he demanded. My body craved his touch, his caresses. I thought about him stroking my folds and heightening my pleasure, and I couldn't contain my impatient groan.
Encouraged by my words and sounds, his hand slid out in front and cupped my groin. The pleasurable sensation was muted by my pants, but he deftly undid the button and zipper. Then he slipped the band over my waist and the jeans fell to the ground. My soaked panties glistened in the faint light. I pressed my legs together to cool the heat between my thighs, but the friction only worsened it. He spread my legs far enough to fit a few fingers, and these pressed up against my folds.
I gasped and squirmed, but he held me tight against him. His voice was strained and amused. This sweet torture excited him, but he longed for the completion as much as I. First, though, he would warm me up. "Be calm, my lovely one. Patience is a virtue."
I leaned my head back against his shoulder and looked up into his eyes with a teasing smile. My chest heaved with deep, groaning pants and my breasts were swollen. They longed for his touch. My coat slid off my shoulders and partway down my arms, trapping them together. My shirt was thin, and flimsy. It also had a low neckline. He could see the top of my smooth breasts, soaked with my sweat and tormenting his already weakened self-control.
My red, luscious lips parted and my tongue slipped out. I slowly and seductively ran it over my parched lips. I enjoyed it when his eyes widened and he dug himself deeper into my rear. When I next spoke I made sure my voice was soft and full of lustful need. "Liking that?" I whispered to him.
One of his fingers between my thighs pressed hard against my clit. A jolt of pleasure rippled through my body and my hands clutched onto his hips. Damn him and his masterful touches! "Maybe," he wickedly replied.
I couldn't take this torture any longer, so I broke from his delightful clutches and swirled around to face him. He reached out to grab me but I playfully stepped out
of his reach. Unfortunately, that meant I stepped right into the pile of pillows. I let out a yelp and fell backwards into that mound of fluffiness. I dug myself out of countless pillows in time to see Eric, sans clothes, spring on top of me. He pinned my arms over my head and caught my eyes in his. They smoldered with a need that was no longer bridled.
He trapped my wrists in one hand and tore away my flimsy shirt with the other. My bra soon followed, and I was left with only my soaked, thin panties. He dove down and wrapped himself over my breasts, lapping up the sweat and nipping at my tight buds. I groaned and squirmed beneath him to try to rub myself against his naked leg. He pushed my legs apart and settled himself down against my inner thigh. The panties were torn off and he rubbed his member against my wet folds, soaking himself in my juices. Each push and press stimulated my lust and sent little waves of pleasure through my body.
He was thick and stiff when he entered me, penetrating me as deep as he could manage. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pushed him in as far as he could go. He still held my wrists and I squirmed in his grasp. That got my wet, sticky walls massaging his pulsing member, and he uncontrollably jerked forward, pressing his hips into mine. I wickedly laughed at his reaction until he grinned and slid out of me, making sure to press every long inch of him against my clit. I moaned and my tongue flicked out to wet my dry lips.
Eric penetrated me again, a thick, slow slide into my hot, wet depths. When next he spoke his voice was thick with lust. "Like that?" he teased me.
I arched my back, pushing my breasts up into the air. "Yes," I groaned.
"Do you want more?" He pulled out again, but didn't thrust back in. I whimpered at the loss of him inside of me, pressing and filling me. "Say you want more. Beg me for more."
My body was a tense coil of pleasure strings, and he was the musician. I needed him to pluck me, tease me. Every string in me demanded his gentle, thick touch. "Please. Please take me. Oh god, take me."
That broke his restraint. In a blink of an eye he'd pressed back into me, pushing us both into a song of lust and passionate lovemaking. I ground my hips against him as he slammed into me. Our thighs smacked together while our grunts mingled with one another. I gasped and tried to push and pull with him, but he was so much faster. He freed my wrists only to coil his sweat-glistening body around mine.
We slipped and pressed our flesh together. The pert tips of my breasts pushed up against his firm chest and aroused me even more with their sweet sensitivity. The muscles in my groin tightened. My cries grew louder and louder, echoing off the walls around us. My hands clawed at his back while I begged for my release. "Oh god, faster! Faster! Oh god, yes!"
My pleasure fell down on me like a crashing wave. My body shook and my walls clenched down on him. I arched my back and dug my shaking fingers into his shoulders. Sweet release never felt so good, and was even better when he stiffened inside me. One last thrust into me and he collapsed atop my sweaty body. We lay there for a long moment, me panting and him very still.
Our lovemaking was so heavenly that I expected to see lights at the end of a long tunnel. What I did see was that the room itself was getting brighter. Eric lifted his head up off my shoulder and glanced around. I followed his gaze and realized the willow-the-wisps were getting brighter. "What's going on?" I whispered to him.
Eric shook his head. "I don't know. They've never acted like this before." He rolled off me and looked from one to the other. Their light was so intense that I had to half close my eyes to keep from being blinded.
"What are they exactly?" I asked him.
He shrugged. "I never have quite figured out. They're not souls, but they are useful in assisting me from time to time with leading people away from my mausoleum."
I sat up and covered myself with a pillow. "Well, they're doing something now without listening to you."
I was in awe at the dazzling light they emitted. The walls and ceiling disappeared in their blanket of brightness. The effect made me feel like I was sitting on a bed of pillows surrounded by an infinite sky. Eric stood up and his clothes materialized back onto his body. I wryly wished for that trick before I noticed he was looking straight ahead at something. I followed his gaze and saw a tunnel forming out of the lights. It stretched up into the sky and a sweet melody floated out of the hole. Eric took a step toward it. My heart skipped a beat when I realized that maybe, just maybe, this was the tunnel I'd been thinking about. I reached out and grabbed his hand. He half turned to me. "Please don't go," I whispered. I'd just found him; I didn't want to lose him so quickly, not even to heaven.
Eric turned and knelt down in front of me. His eyes were shining, and his smile was soft and calm. He looked more alive than I'd ever seen him, and when he clasped his hand over mine I could feel warmth in them. "I have to go, Jess."
I choked out a sob. I knew I needed to let him go so he could rest in peace, but I wanted to be selfish, to keep him for myself for the rest of my life. "But what about that whole revenge? Don't you still need to do that?" I reminded him.
Eric shook his head. "It seems you were right, only love mattered. If I had followed the path of revenge I would have been looking at much different scenery about now." He reached up and wiped the tears from my cheeks. "Just remember I'll always be watching and waiting for you."
I managed a small laugh. "Even if I'm a bad girl?"
He gave me a wink. "Especially if you're a bad girl." Then he stood and his hands slipped from mine. He moved toward the tunnel, but paused at the entrance and glanced over his shoulder. "Goodbye, my wife." Eric walked forward and the light around him grew brighter and brighter.
I couldn't see him anymore; I couldn't see anything. The world around me disappeared and I felt the pillows slip out from beneath me. I was falling down, down, into a deep sleep.
The next morning the search party found us in the crypt, half-dead from the exposure of the cold night air. I was startled awake by a frantic voice. "Ashley! Jessie!" It was Mrs. Stefan. She knelt over us with the two police officers, Perkins and Sandoval, at her back.
We lay together with our backs up against one of the walls of the sarcophagus and ours shoulders leaning against each other. In a less spooky setting it would have been cute, but for the three who found us it was disturbing. We probably looked like death warmed over, because when I looked down at my hands they were a ghastly white. My weary eyes roamed the quiet, dusty room. There was no sign of Eric, and I couldn't feel him inside of me, either. He really was gone.
Mrs. Stefan clutched at my cold hand. Her tear-stained face smiled at me and Ashley, who was also waking up. "Thank god you two are okay," she prayed.
Ashley blinked and squinted at her parent. "Mom?" she whispered. Her mother nodded and Ashley's face lit up in a bright smile. "Mom!" Ashley jumped at her parent and wrapped her arms around Mrs. Stefan. Mother and daughter embraced while Officer Perkins helped me up off the cold floor.
"How'd you two get in here?" he asked me.
My voice was husky and dry. I also felt a hell of a bump on the back of my head. "More questions?" I wearily teased.
He cracked a smile. "Yeah, but maybe I'll wait a while for these ones. You don't look so good."
"I don't feel so good, either," I replied. My whole body was chilled to the bone and all my muscles felt sore. When Ashley was helped up by her mom I noticed she had a nice bump on her forehead. I guessed that was how Eric had made her forget about the whole mess.
Mrs. Stefan didn't want to wait for the answers to her questions. "How in the world did you get here? You were just on the porch and then you were gone. What happened to you?"
Ashley clutched her head in one hand and grimaced. "I-I don't know. I guess I just wandered out here or something. I really don't know."
"I think your daughter needs some rest first, Mrs. Stefan," Perkins pointed out. "She'll have plenty of time to remember what happened later."
Mrs. Stefan graciously accepted his suggestion; she was too happy to just have her da
ughter safe and back in her arms. We were escorted out of the crypt and for the first time I noticed we had more company. It looked like half the police squad was there, and the door to the mausoleum was wrecked by countless crowbars that had nicked and broken the entrance. Perkins noticed my gaze set on the door jam.
"It took us half the night to get that thing open. We weren't even sure you were inside until we got a look in there," he told me.
I gave him an appreciative smile. "Thanks for coming for us."
He grinned back and tipped his hat. "That's my job, miss." It proved to me that you never really knew a person until you needed them.
We were taken to Ashley's home and promptly guided up to her bedroom. Most of the officers remained at the cemetery, but a few were outside the house keeping watch. They still suspected kidnapping was involved with both our disappearances, which technically was true. I almost laughed at the idea of them protecting us from a phantom. It wasn't going to work; bullets and manpower wouldn't stop a ghost.
Mrs. Stefan personally supervised our getting out of those torn, tattered clothes and into some nice clean ones. Even though we were just tired and not sleepy, she tucked Ashley into bed and got out a sleeping bag and air mattress for me.
Ashley protested this coddling. "We're fine now, Mom, we don't really need to go to sleep," she scolded her mother.
Mrs. Stefan stood at the side of Ashley's bed and put her hands on her hips. "I don't know what you've been through, but I don't intend to let you go wandering off again for at least a decade," she replied.
Ashley faked astonishment and horror, a sure sign she was feeling better. "But I'll be thirty by then!"
"Yes, and hopefully more careful." Mrs. Stefan glanced around at both of us. "Now I expect to hear some log sawing in a few minutes or I'm coming back in here with a hammer and knocking you both out." She left us to obey her command to sleep, but with the sun out and our minds now waking to the memories of last evening sleep wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
Ashley leaned over the side of her bed and looked at me. Her voice was low enough nobody outside the room could hear her. "You know, I really can't remember what happened out there, or even how I got there," she told me.
