Dirty Aristocrat(11)

I felt my heart start beating so hard and fast that I could hear it. My  breath came out in short sharp gasps. Then my hands began to tremble  uncontrollably. I looked at them in horror. Indescribably frightened and  horrified at what was happening to my body, I curled up into a tight,  shivering ball, and peered out into the gloom. I was absolutely and  inexplicably convinced that monsters were going to come out of the  darkness.

Suddenly my petrified gaze was pulled to one corner of the room. I  thought I had seen movement. With my heart racing like a mad thing, I  fixed my eyes in that bit of gloom, and to my horror I found that there  was a crack in the wall  …  and oh God! The crack was growing, becoming  bigger and bigger. Inside the crack were moving shadows. A cold wind  blew through it.

I suddenly understood its significance.         

     



 

The crack was a door to another dimension and something was trying to  come through, but I knew without any doubt whatever it was, it was not a  good thing.

I wanted to stand up and run out of the room, but I had no control over  my body. It was locked solid in its fetal position. Frozen with  unnameable terror and dread I stared at the widening gap. Suddenly I  heard a scuttling noise, an eerie scratching.

Oh sweet Jesus! It was coming!

I wanted to scream for help, but my mouth was numb and useless. All I could do was stare helplessly at the gap in the wall.

Something was coming.

Another scratching sound. This time closer. Louder. It sounded like nails or claws.

I began to pray fervently. I had never been so afraid.

Then it popped out.

The squirrel.

My eyes bulged with surprise. The squirrel I had given the cookie to?  No, this one was different. This one had fierce eyes. I knew instantly  without being told that it was related to the squirrel I had eaten all  those years ago. It was hopping mad at me. It began to grow. Until it  morphed into Rosalind!

She advanced into the room and looked around with crazy, bulging eyes.  Spotting me cowering in the bed, she gave a murderous howl of rage and  began swaying like some kind of demon from a horror movie towards me. My  teeth chattered and my whole body was shaking with abject fear.

I wanted to beg her not to hurt me, but I could not. My heart was  pounding so hard I thought it would burst. I had never felt such fear.  She was coming closer and closer. Silent tears started to pour down my  face. This was it. I was going to die. Killed by my stepdaughter.  Somehow I managed to force open my mouth and let out a scream.

The door to the room flew open and a man came in. Instantly the squirrel  disappeared into the crack and the crack began to close. I turned  gratefully towards the man who had come in, but he had a mean face and  he was nearly as tall as the ceiling. He was saying something, but his  voice was so distorted it sounded like a demonic wail.

I was very frightened of him, because there was no doubt in my mind his  plan was to hurt me. It was clear that he had brought me here to hurt  me.

I opened my mouth and screamed for Ivan.

He suddenly strode towards me and cradled me in his arms. The gesture  surprised me. He was the bad guy. What was he doing? I felt cold. So  cold that my teeth were chattering. His body was warm and though he was  the enemy I snuggled up to his splendid warmth.

He said something and I knew it was urgent, but I could not make the  words out. The edges of his face were blurred. I tried to form words,  but even to my ears they sounded like the sound of wind wailing in the  distance.

'Mommy,' I yelled.

He said something else, but I still I couldn't understand him.

'I want my Mommy,' I begged.

The stranger rocked me in his arms and crooned something, but the words  ran into each other so I couldn't understand a word he said.

'Where is Ivan?' I cried, clutching his shirt. 'I'm not allowed to trust anyone else. You must find him for me.'

The man stilled as if I had said something shocking.

He pulled me even closer and continued rocking me while he stroked my  hair as if I was a sick child. I let him. I knew that if I let him stay  and rock me Rosalind could not get to me.

I don't know how long he rocked me, that big, boulder-like stranger.  Then another man came into the room and he was holding a black bag. I  was certain he was the serial killer from the movie Child 44, and I  cringed away from him and clung desperately to the stranger.

'Don't let go of me,' I sobbed. 'Please. He wants to kill me.'

The gentle giant's voice echoed in my head. I couldn't understand him,  but it was OK because he did not let go of me. The other man tried to  touch me but, like a madwoman, I went into spasms of fear and eventually  he said something to the stranger and left. When I was alone with the  stranger I began to sob loudly. I don't know why I felt such grief that I  wanted to end my life. If he had given me a knife I would have stabbed  myself.

'Who are you?' I asked him.

He told me but I could not understand him. His voice was faint like how fading flowers must sound if they could talk.

Every time he tried to extricate himself, I clung harder to him until eventually darkness came to take me.

'I don't know who you are, but please, please, I beg of you, don't let  go of me,' I whispered as the darkness was taking me away.



Lord Greystoke

When she passed out from sheer exhaustion I put her to bed, and as the  doctor had ordered I sat next to her all night. I never closed my eyes  once. She was not walking out of any of my windows. I stared at her the  way a man stares at a thing that he craves even though it frightens the  shit out of him.         

     



 

Once she moaned in her sleep and thrashed her arms about, but I held her  close, kissed her cheek and whispered, 'Shhhh,' until she became quiet  and still.

Then I sat and planned how I would keep my distance from her, because  the truth was she was not mine. And never would be. She belonged to no  one. All this unfortunate incident had proved was that I was fucking  putty in her hands, and if she even suspected it she'd milk it for all  it was worth.

I promised Robert I'd help her, but once she was firmly on her own two  feet, I would have to let go pretty quick. She was dangerous the way  heroin was dangerous to the ordinary human. I knew a man who stepped  over his dying girlfriend to get his fix.

It was not too late: she was not already in my blood calling to me. A cunning gold digger entwining herself into my soul.





CHAPTER 11


Tawny Maxwell

When I opened my eyes again, I seemed to be gazing at a different  ceiling. This one was recessed with cream moldings and was much bigger.  My head was fuzzy, my mouth tasted dry and bitter, and I felt as weak as  a kitten. I swiveled my eyes slowly around the room. It was large and  masculine with glossy blue walls, gleaming walnut furniture, a large  surreal oil painting of a white castle floating in a blue sky, red suede  bedside tables, and a large, dove-grey armchair by the bed in which was  slumped  …  a sleeping Ivan!

I had to blink a few times to make sure he was real and not another  hallucination like the squirrel. When did he get here and how long had  he been sitting there?

Bemused, I turned my head and watched him curiously. Actually, I drank  in the sight of him. He did not look so dark and dangerous in sleep. His  head was tilted slightly to the left, his hair had fallen over his  forehead, his unfairly thick lashes were resting on his gorgeous cheeks,  and there was a dark shadow on his hard jaw which, strangely, made him  look vulnerable and wickedly sexy at the same time.

The other man, the giant, probably called him, and he must have come.  Where was I? Was I in his home? I suddenly realized that under the  duvet, I was totally naked under a huge T-shirt. What the devil?

'Oh,' I exclaimed with surprise as his eyes snapped open, the grey finding me instantly.

I froze at the suddenness with which they focused on me, laser-like and  disconcertingly sharp. We stared at each other. The air between us  crackled as if there was a big storm coming. The sensual lips thinned  into a straight stern line. He broke eye contact, sat forward, then  glanced at his watch.

'How're you feeling?' he asked.

'You undressed me,' I accused.

His eyes flickered, but his face was shuttered. 'Yeah, but don't worry I've kind of seen it all before.'

''You didn't have to. I could have slept in my clothes,' I said resentfully.

His lips twisted wryly. 'You pissed yourself.'

My eyes popped open and my entire body flushed with crushing  embarrassment. 'Oh God,' I gasped. I wished the ground would open up and  swallow me. I couldn't be more completely mortified.

'I had to move you from the spare bedroom into my bed. A new mattress  will be delivered later today and you can move back in there for  tonight,' he explained.

I drew a shaky breath. 'I'm so sorry,' I whispered.

'Don't be,' he said carelessly and stood up. His clothes were crumpled as if he had spent all night in the chair.

'I'll pay for the new mattress, of course,' I added quickly, exhaling in a rush.

'That won't be necessary.' His voice was cold as if I had offended him.