The holster was in his hands, forgotten, as he registered the words in the darkness.
Appreciation for his work....
The man cleared his throat and said, "And who in the hell are you?"
He hoped he sounded authoritative. He wanted to sound that way...very much.
There was faint laughter. Then, the voice said, "Why I am he who will point the way to your wayward girl, Deputy Woodard."
Jackson's throat went dry, but he managed to croak out, "What do you know about that?"
A derby hat appeared in the pale hands and began to twirl. The old fashioned thing spun between long fingered hands in a whirl that quickly became a dark blur. The movement was stunning and fascinating all at once and soon the man could not look away.
"I know everything, Deputy," said the voice as it took a shambling step forward, "And I'm here to explain it to you."
Moonlight ran up its body and Deputy Jackson Woodard was frozen like a deer in the headlights. The thing stepped free of the darkness and all Jackson wanted was for it to go back in....way back in.
His face seized tight as muscles readied themselves to wrap around a scream meant to wake the dead. But, the sound was a stillborn thing and all that slipped from between the man's lips was a thin line of saliva tracking down his chin.
His pupils were blown wide and black. What his father would have called two piss holes in a snow bank.
"That's right, Jacky boy. The Journeyman has come to tell you a tale about your darling Sara."
The man did not move, then whimpered in the darkness, "Please, Papa...don't hurt me...."
The Journeyman laughed at the man upon his knees before him.
"Oh, but I will, Jacky. I will hurt you. Sooooo, tell me..."
The thing set the derby hat upon Jackson's head, then gave it a light tap to settle it in place.
"...who's your daddy now?"
~~~
Sara looked down to the arms that encircled her. Hard, like iron, they held her in a grasp that seemed to promise they would never let go. They spoke of security as her lover bent to take her earlobe between his lips.
He tugged back, then released her before moving lower, along her neckline, searching for more of her to savor.
She slipped her fingers into the grooves of his knuckles, following the hills and valleys of his hand. Her own seemed so small and pale by comparison. With his under hers, her hand looked like that of a child.
Raised veins ran like branches of a tree under her fingertips, and Sara knew that the man who held her was as strong as an oak, as unyielding as steel.
She also knew this because she had seen the fangs lining his mouth as these same powerful hands had become enormous black paws. The beast within him had shown itself in all its indomitable power and was the perfect mirror of the enigmatic man. Possessed of secrets that went far beyond the impossible, this was a man with one foot firmly in the realm of myth and legend.
And it was her that he held in his powerful arms as he bent to gently kiss her bare shoulder.
Sara smiled even though she knew he could not see her. Like giant balls of cotton, white clouds rolled by the rounded window of the bedroom cabin as his personal jet carried them towards another continent. For some reason, they reminded her of cotton candy.
“I like flying,” she said, then sighed as she felt his teeth upon her skin.
“And I like biting,” he replied before returning to her shoulder, nipping along its outline before he shifted his grip and took her hand in his own.
He brought it to his face, then turned her hand so that the palm faced him. Then, he held his lips to the few lines running across its surface, kissing her like a gentleman would a fair lady.
She felt ridiculous, but loved that he did it all the same.
“I want you, Sara.”
They turned to face one another. Fingers interlaced as hungry lips did the same. Warm tongues flickered in a humid dance before they were falling back upon the bed with sweat breaking upon their bodies.
Braze eased lower upon Sara and took a nipple that stiffened between his teeth. Her breath came more deeply as he pulled back before releasing her. The brown aureola took on a rosy hue as it puckered in tight and stiff. Then he came back but instead of seizing Sara once more in his teeth, he blew against the damp his mouth had left behind.
Sara moaned and opened her legs for him. An invitation to plunder her at twenty thousand feet.
“Please," she breathed, then finished with "...Master.”
Braze pulled back to stare deeply into Sara’s eyes.
“I have something in mind for us once we get back. However, I admit the temptation that you represent, little slave, leaves me hungry for an hors d’oeuvre before the main course.”
She breathed deeply. The look in his eyes was so intense. As always, she wanted to look away, but fought the impulse and let herself drown in his amber color flecked with green and gold.