I slumped my shoulders but still held out for avoiding the cops. "What if we wait until tonight? He hasn't really been gone all that long. Maybe he'll drag himself back to his apartment and give me a call later."
"Maybe..." Brent half-heartedly agreed.
"It's worth a chance," I persisted.
Brent sighed and shrugged. "Fine. We'll wait until dark and then give the police a call."
"If he's not back," I emphasized.
"If he's not back," Brent repeated.
For the first time that day I felt relief, but it was short-lived. The eerie silence around us was broken by the sound of a sharp crack, like a foot had stepped on a dry twig. Brent and I stiffened, and my head twirled around so fast I got whiplash. Nothing moved that I could see, but the hairs on the back of my neck sprang up like a scared cat's fur.
"About that leaving..." I reminded Brent.
Unfortunately, he was intrigued by the noise. "Maybe it's Rob," he pointed out. "I think it came from that mausoleum I found you at last night."
He walked past me and toward the silent crypt. My heart skipped a beat and I lunged for him. I was a little off in my aim and we collided. We rolled onto the ground end over end for a few yards until we both came to sudden and painful stops. Mine was against a bramble bush, his was a gravestone.
Brent rubbed his bruised cranium and scowled at me. "Damn it, why'd you do that?" he yelled at me. "Don't you want to find him?"
I wasn't in too good a mood myself. It was the fear of that place inside of me, and it was rising fast. "If I have to stay one more minute in this creepy place, than no."
Brent stood up and brushed off the moldy leaves from his coat. "Then just go to the car and let me have a look."
"Only if you give me the keys," I demanded.
He wasn't going for that, and shook his head. "Oh no, I'm not having some scared girl driving off and leaving me here. It's a few miles to Ashley's house and I don't feel like walking all the way."
"Fine. I'll go wait in the car, but don't take too long," I ordered him.
"You sound like my mom," he replied.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Then listen to your mother and meet me at the car in ten."
He sighed and glanced over at the mausoleum. "Fine. Ten minutes and I'll be right there."
"Promise?" I asked him.
"Promise."
Brent broke his promise. Badly. Thirty minutes later I was still sitting in the car, alone and frightened. My eyes were glued on the rickety metal gate, but they should have been glued onto the sky. The sunny day changed fast into a cloudy one. I didn't think to look up until the distant boom of thunder told me more trouble was coming. I glanced down the road at the open sky and cringed back. A thick head of clouds were building up on the horizon toward town, and the breeze was blowing them toward me.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. My head swiveled around toward the gate, but the road was empty. A flurry of leaves wisped by the car, but I knew I'd seen something other than foliage. I glanced at my watch again. Thirty-five minutes. The weather grew worse as the clouds blew their way toward me. If we didn't leave soon we'd be caught in the middle of the storm.
I swallowed some of my fear and stepped out of the car. My hope for Brent's quick arrival grew dimmer with each second that passed by. "Brent? Brent!" I called out. No answer.
I shut the car door and wandered up toward the metal gate. The shadows lengthened as the sun sped along its way toward the ominous clouds. I wrapped my coat tight around me and leaned over the bars that blocked the cemetery from the outside world. A quick thought passed through my mind. They weren't meant to keep vandals or stupid people like myself inside. They were meant to keep him, the phantom, from getting out. But he had come out, at least for me.
I heard a noise. It was the same as before; a sharp crack of a stick. I wondered if it wasn't him dragging his dry bones out of his mausoleum toward me. My heart skipped a beat. Then another. A boom overhead warned me that danger was approaching from the skies as well as from the ground. I backed up from the gate and cupped my hands to my mouth. "Brent! Brent!"
No reply but the storm and the silence. I turned and fled from the gate back to the car, but the minute I sat myself down I felt an inexplicable cold wash over me. My head swiveled this way and that in search of the reason, but nothing was seen. The door was still open and I smelled the rain that was promised with the thunder and lightning. The feeling of danger swept over me and all the hairs on my body stood on end.
That's when a horrible realization passed over me. Brent wasn't going to come back, and if he did I wouldn't want to see him. I had only two choices, the road back to town or the direction of Ashley's house. Ashley's was closer, so I got out and dashed away from the storm and that cursed cemetery. My feet pounded the hard dirt and the trees flashed by with my arms pumping at my sides, but it wasn't enough to outrun the wind and the clouds. Ashley's house was a good two miles away and both came down on me when I was only halfway there.
The rain came with them, and it was like the clouds poured a bucket down on top of me. I was drenched in a minute and chilled from the wind. The sky and air around me grew dark and cold. I could barely see the road, and worse yet a heavy fog rose up from the warm ground and covered everything around me in that soft, ghoulish blanket. My legs felt like heavy weights and each step was like a mile. I looked for shelter, anything to stand under and wait for the worst of the storm to pass. Then I'd move on to Ashley's house for a warm welcome and an even warmer mug of cocoa.
Out of the corner of my eyes I caught a light of sorts. I turned my head and stiffened when I saw some sort of bright, hovering orb of light, like those will-o-the-wisps in old stories. They were said to be souls of the dead, but right now it was a comforting beacon in the darkness of the storm. If I hadn't been so tired and miserable I might have been scared, but the light was soft and friendly. It floated beneath a large pine tree not too far off the road. Its dry roots were inviting and I veered off toward it. I ducked beneath its wide, full branches that fanned out to create an umbrella of comfort. In ducking my head I lost sight of the orb for a moment, and when I looked back the light was gone.
I didn't mind the lack of company, though. One ghost at a time was all I could handle. My body was so tired and aching that I collapsed down against the trunk. Beyond the branches I watched the rain ruthlessly pelt the ground. The untamed wind bent and broke the smaller trees and branches, but I was on the side of the trunk away from the cold gusts.
I snuggled down and leaned back my head. The rough bark didn't bother me a bit, not after being out in such a storm. I sighed when a warmth filled my body and my muscles relaxed. My eyes closed and the pounding of the rain melted into the background. There was only a soft trickling of noise and the heat building up in my body. My clothes felt tight, uncomfortable. I frowned and yanked at my coat. The zipper pulled down and I sighed when a hint of cool air brushed against my thin shirt. My relief didn't last long, though, as the heat inside of me pushed back the stormy air.
I squirmed and opened my eyes. The storm still beat the woods around me, but my focus wasn't on that. It was on the shadowed figure that stood at the edge of the tree limbs. My heart thumped loudly in my ears when I saw the person had bright red eyes, and they were staring straight at me. They took a step toward me and I cried out to my body to flee, to run far from this thing. My body wouldn't move. My legs were like stones and my arms hung limp at my side. The shadow moved to kneel before me and I could see it was a man. I didn't need to wonder who it was, just what he would do with me. I was helpless to stop any sort of intentions he had.
The figure reached up a shadowed hand and brushed it against my hot cheek. The fingers passed through me and let a chill in my skin. My body shuddered at the feel and he pulled his hand away. "This form is very useless for lovemaking, isn't it?" the figure spoke up. The words were an echo, as though he was speaking from afar.
I felt that thing insi
de my body slide up my throat. My mouth was pushed open and the dark mist floated out. The figure held up his hand so the palm faced me and the mist melded into the shadowed form. The moment they connected the darkness over his form began to fade away. A human body was revealed beneath the shadows, the same man I'd met in the cemetery and my room. There was a difference from the last time, the one in my dorm. His body was more focused, real. I swear I saw him take a breath. When the last of the mist entered his body, he was a whole man.
He reached out and again brushed his hand against my cheek. This time his fingers touched me, caressed my skin. I shuddered at the cool feel of his body so near my own, touching my own. He smiled, soft and soothing. His words came to my ears like a gentle breeze. "You returned to me and I wasn't able to greet you at my home. How rude of me." He leaned in and those dark eyes caught me in their grasp. His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. "How should I repay such an insult to my beloved? Should I pleasure her? Tease her so I may hear her cry out to the storm in mockery of its noise?"
My head filled with a thick fog of sensual need. I only knew that this man, this creature, loved me. What he offered was what my body demanded to receive; pleasure in all its finest, gentlest forms. My lips parted. A ghost of my voice flitted out. "Please," I moaned. The more I accepted these heady sensations the more control I was given over my body. I arched my back and my swollen breasts pressed out toward him.
"Please? Please what?" he whispered in return.
I knew he was teasing me, torturing me, but I didn't care. He held me in his power and I only wanted to obey. All thoughts of fleeing him in terror were pushed aside for the promise of his touch. "Please touch me."
He leaned in and his lips brushed against mine. "Touch you how?" he asked me. His hand reached up and cupped one of my achingly sensitive breasts. He massaged the mass of needy flesh and toyed with my pert bud. "Like this? Or should I stop?" He pulled his hand away and I whimpered at the loss. Rather than resuming his teasing, he leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was so soft I hardly felt a ghost of a touch of him. "Hush, little one. I will please you as best I can with what I am."
I didn't know what he meant, and I didn't care. He leaned his cool body against my heated skin. His hand slid down past my breasts and down to the band on my jeans. His fingers toyed with the waist before I felt the button and zipper pull away, opening my jeans to show off my white panties. They were soaked and my folds pulsed with the promise of fulfillment. He dipped his fingers down my panties and brushed them against my sensitive clit.
I jumped at his touch but he leaned his heavier weight on my body. His lips teased my ear and his voice rang through my body. "Calm, little one. You will enjoy this." He pressed his fingers against my clit again and a thrill of pleasure washed through my body. I trembled and bit my lower lip. He pressed his lips against mine, forcing mine to part. "Don't hold back your cries," he whispered. "I want to hear the sounds of your pleasure."
He softly stroked a finger between my wet folds. I closed my eyes and I leaned back against the tree. My hips matched his rhythm push for push and my hands dug into the ground at my sides. I squirmed and pushed my breasts out of my coat. The shirt was too tight, it needed to come off. I reached up and pulled my shirt down to reveal the top of my heaving breasts. His eyes widened and he swiftly swung one of his legs over my own. He wrapped his free arm around my back and dipped his head down. I gasped when his tongue flicked out and ran along my hot, bare skin.
I squirmed and moaned at his soft touches. His own need bulged from his pants and pressed up against my hip. He would be a tight fit but I was soaked enough for even him. I hoped he would remove his own clothes, but he was only eager to see mine gone. His soaked hand pulled out of my panties and tore my coat down over my shoulder. The coat pinned my arms behind my back and thrust my breasts out even farther. He straddled my waist and, like a man possessed, took my shirt and tore it in half. My swollen breasts filled my bra to near-breaking, and my buds peaked over the tops. They were like pink candy to him as he swooped down and caught one between his hot lips.
I cried out in ecstasy and that encouraged him to reach around and unclasp my bra. It slid down and revealed my bare chest to him. His hungry eyes swept over every inch of me, and I blushed at his admiration. He reached out and cupped my naked breast. He weighed it and gently lifted it up to let it fall back down. By this time the heat between my thighs was unbearable. "Please," I groaned. "Please take me. All of me."
At my plea he raised his eyes to my face. In their depths I could see a wish to make me his own, and yet there was hesitation. "I cannot. Not yet. Know that what I give you is a small bit of my ability. A greater pleasure tomorrow night if you will but come to my resting place."
He reached down between us and slipped his fingers back into my wet panties. His touch was now more firm, more insistent. The pace was faster. My hips tried to keep up but fell woefully behind. He snatched up my nipples in his warm mouth, and suckled hard and long. Tingles of pleasure washed over my body as my eyes filled with bright, blinding lights.
I could feel the tension tightening between my thighs. Higher and higher. I squirmed and bucked, but he pulled me close to him, too close to move. Each breath was a struggle that was fought between my gasps and my deep groans. My voice came out in a heavy, sultry whisper. "Oh god yes. Please don't stop. Oh god." Closer and closer I came. With each stroke of his finger and tease of his lips I could feel the end coming. Tighter. Tighter. My walls trembled, tensed. My fluids soaked his quick, deft finger.
Then the end. The blinding light of heaven as my release came. The tension erupted in orgasm; a burning, sweating orgasm. I arched my back and cried out my joy to the heavens. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
He kept up the pace, allowing me to enjoy the euphoria for a little while longer. Unfortunately all good things come to an end, and this wasn't an exception. The heated orgasm slipped away, replaced by exhaustion and a little chill. I felt as weak as a baby, but my lover was kind enough to protect me from the stormy weather around us. He pulled his hand out of my panties and zipped my jeans back up. My shirt was ruined but he clasped my bra and buttoned my coat up halfway.
He admired his work for a moment and turned to smile at me. "You haven't much farther to go until you reach that house. If you hurry you shouldn't take more than ten minutes, but be wary you don't catch a cold. As for the shirt, I'm afraid I must give you some excuse for its condition." He reached up and pressed his fingernails against the skin between my breasts. My eyes shot wide when he ran his fingers down my flesh and opened up deep scratches that more resembled the cutting of a tree branch than a human hand. I yelped and pulled away. The wounds bled down my chest and the blood caught in my bra. I felt confused and betrayed, and my eyes told him as much. "If your friends are not too wise they will not see the ruse. As for the wounds themselves, they will disappear within a day and your skin will be back to its perfect condition," he assured me.
I wasn't so sure. Tears of pain and emotional agony stained my face. When he reached out to brush the back of his hand against my cheek, I flinched. He sighed, stood up and stepped back away from me. The outline of his body quivered at the edges. His features blurred and darkened. "It is only this once that I would hurt you to protect us both. I don't wish for your friends to keep you from me, so we must not let them become suspicious of our affair."
As I watched, he returned to the shadowed form in which he arrived. The black mist broke from him and floated over to me. Knowing what it wanted, I pressed back against the tree and turned my head away. The mist was persistent, and surged toward me. It slipped between my pinched lips and I felt its coldness slide down my throat. I bent over and coughed for a few moments. When I looked up the shadowed figure had vanished. I was alone again, and yet not. Not with that thing inside of me, taking possession of me and making me so eager for his touches.
The pouring rain trickled down to a steady drizzle. The wind abated and the sky lig
htened. The thunder and lightning passed by without trouble. I stumbled to my feet, weak and trembling. I forced myself to walk forward onto the muddy road. There was only a mile left to Ashley's house, and as the phantom had said I covered it in ten minutes. When I arrived the house was thrown into an uproar. It might have been something to do with my filthy, wounded appearance. Ashley was the first to see me, as she answered the door when I knocked.
Her bright, friendly smile greeted me only for a second before her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. "Good god, Jess! What the hell happened?"
"Long story," I choked out. I felt a touch of fever in my body and my throat ached for that cocoa.
"Well, get inside before you catch your death of cold," my friend scolded me. She took a hold of my shoulder and dragged me inside. "Mom, we have a guest!" she called out.
Her mother came out of the kitchen and her own face showed her shock at my disheveled appearance. "Good grief, what in the world's happened?" she asked us.
I was too tired to answer, but Ashley covered that for me. "I don't know, but we'd better get some dry clothes on you. Yours are soaked to the skin."
"And my shirt tore," I hoarsely informed them. My sensible mind wrestled with my infatuation toward the strange, ghostly man. I could have told them the truth and let them decide whether I was crazy or not, but my mind was too weary to put up much of a fight. That, and I couldn't think of a better excuse than the one he'd given me. "Got caught on a tree."
Ashley frowned but didn't argue. "Less talk, more changing," she ordered. She led me up the stairs and to her room. Once there I was summarily stripped and given a dry, clean set of her clothes. While I dressed she took a gander at my shirt and didn't miss the wounds on my chest. "My god, Jess. You sure it was just a tree that got you? Those marks look awful."
"Had a hard time with it," I grumbled, and quickly covered the marks with her shirt.
Ashley dropped my torn shirt and moved to stand in front of me. She put her hands on my shoulders and I braved a look into her face. Her eyes were firm, insistent, pleading. "I want to know the truth, Jess. What the hell happened to you out there? Why were you even out there?"