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Post by Jaxon on Dec 16, 2003 20:59:04 GMT -5
Like a predator's. The moment the thought entered her head the illusion was gone and Alexandria saw the bright blood on his hands. It stained his teeth and chin. The welcoming smile was a grimace exposing vicious fangs. His attention was on the women, his eyes, black pitted holes, glowed a feral red in the darkness.
They were smiling, simpering, reaching out to him. As the women moved closer he raised his hand and pointed to the ground. Obediently the three dropped to their knees, crawled sensuously forward, writhing and moaning, tearing at their clothing. The fog covered the obscene display for a moment and when it was clear again she could see one of the women had reached the man and was winding herself around his knees. She ripped away her blouse, deliberately exposing her breasts, touching herself suggestively, rubbing herself against the man's body, begging and pleading for him to take her, use her. A second woman reached the cliff's edge and clung to his waist, staring up provocatively.
Alexandria wanted to turn away from the horror of what was to come, but she caught sight of Joshua walking slowly toward the man. He didn't seem to notice the women. He looked neither right nor left, just walked forward as if in a dream state.
A trance. A hypnotic trance. Alexandria's heart slammed against her chest. Somehow this killer had hypnotized the women and Joshua. They answered his bidding like mindless sheep. Her brain was trying to analyze how he had accomplished such a feat even as she hurried to intercept Joshua before he could reach the monster. Fortunately, Joshua was moving very slowly, almost as though he was being pulled reluctantly forward.
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Post by Jaxon on Dec 16, 2003 20:59:40 GMT -5
Although the swirling thick veil of fog hid her, she felt the impact of those hostile, unearthly eyes as the man swung his head around toward her. He seemed to undulate his neck like a reptile. She could clearly see the red shine as he examined her, even through the thickness of the fog.
Moth wings beat at her skull, the shards of glass pierced her over and over. The soft, seductive voice murmured insistently in her head. Alexandria focused her attention on reaching Joshua. She kept her chin up and ignored the pain throbbing in her head. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting her.
Her hand caught at Joshua's shirt just as his speed began to accelerate. His feet continued forward, but she planted herself and held him still. Wrapping her arms around the child, she faced the monster, not more than fifteen feet from her.
He was on the very edge of the cliff, the women fawning on him, purring and begging for his attention. He appeared not to notice them, his entire being concentrating on her. He smiled at her, a baring of fangs.
Alexandria shuddered at the sight of so much blood. Henry's blood. This madman had killed him.
"Come to me," he held out his hand to her.
She could feel his voice right through her body, pulling at her to do his bidding. She blinked rapidly to keep the dark stains on his hands, coating the long, dagger-like fingernails in focus. She stared at the talons and the voice lost its beauty and took on a harsh, quarrelsome ugliness.
"I don't think so. Leave us alone. I'm taking Joshua with me, you can't have him." She spoke with a determination she didn't realize she had. But she felt it, her spine stiffening, her blue eyes blazing defiance.
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Post by Jaxon on Dec 16, 2003 21:00:48 GMT -5
Absently one of his obscene hands caressed the woman rubbing at his waist with her cheek. "Join me, look at these women. They want me, they adore me."
"Keep fooling yourself." She tried a careful backward step. Joshua resisted her effort. She tightened her arms to prevent his forward movement. When she dragged him a step backward, he began to thrash around forcing her to stop.
The monster on the cliff raised an eyebrow. "You do not believe me?" He turned his attention to the woman at his waist. "Come here, my dear. I wish you to die for me." He waved his hand behind him.
To Alexandria's horror, the woman licked his outstretched hand, simpering and fawning she crawled passed him. "No!" Alexandria cried out, but the woman was already falling into the emptiness of space, down to the greedy water and jagged rocks below. Furious Alexandria glared at the man. "You really are scum, aren't you? What was that supposed to prove?"
"My point," he said evenly. "I do not understand why you would be so upset. After all, what are these women?" He pulled the second woman up by her hair, kissed her full on the mouth and bending her nearly backwards sank teeth into her neck.
The vivid sketches she had drawn depicting Thomas Ivan's horror novels sprang to life before her eyes. He feasted on the blood spilling down the woman's throat, then tossed her aside, over the cliff, as if she was nothing but an empty shell he found on the beach. Deliberately he ran his thick, obscene tongue over his blood-smeared lips in a grotesque display.
Alexandria found herself murmuring a prayer, a chant over and over beneath her breath. Whatever this creature was, he was a dangerous killer and insane beyond imagination. She took a firmer grip on Joshua and lifted him from his feet.
He kicked at her and fought, made little growling noises and snapped his teeth at her. Alexandria managed to clear two more feet backward before she was forced to put him down. He remained still as long as she wasn't moving away from his objective.
The monster raised his head again, licked his fingers and smiled hideously. "Do you see? They will do anything for me. They adore me. Don't you, pet?" He lifted the last woman to her feet. Instantly she wrapped herself around him, rubbing suggestively, touching and caressing him. "You want only to please me, do you not?"
The woman began to kiss him, his neck, his chest, moving lower and lower, her hands fumbling at the opening to his trousers. His hand fondled her neck. "See, this is power, real power. You are the one I have been seeking to join with me."
"She doesn't adore you. You've made her a puppet. She has no mind of her own. Is that what you call power?" Alexandria put as much contempt in her voice as she was capable.
A low, deadly hiss escaped the monster's mouth, but he continued to smile at her. "Perhaps you are right. This one is useless, is she not?" Still smiling, still staring straight into Alexandria's eyes, the man caught the woman's head between his palms and wrenched.
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Post by Jaxon on Dec 16, 2003 21:02:10 GMT -5
The crack was audible and seemed to vibrate right through Alexandria's body. She was shaking so much her teeth were chattering. The monster casually dangled the woman's broken body over the cliff's edge. She hung there like a rag doll, her neck at a peculiar angle, a once beautiful woman, now an empty, lifeless shell. The monster discarded her by merely opening his hand, allowing her to fall into the water waiting so greedily.
"So, it comes down to the two of us," he said softly.
Alexandria shook her head. "Not me, I'm not going to come to you willingly and I see you for what you really are, not what you made those poor women see."
"You will come to me willingly. You are the one. I have searched the world for one such as you. You must come to me of your own free will." His tone was soft, his words neutral, but there was a whip of warning, a hiss of command.
Alexandria tried a step backward, but Joshua erupted into a growling frenzy, kicking and biting. She stopped again and took a firmer grip so that there was no chance that he would escape. "You're sick, you need help, a doctor or something. I can't do anything for you." She was searching desperately for a way out of this, praying someone would come. The restaurant was patrolled regularly by a security company. Henry had told her he knew their schedule. Why hadn't she paid more attention?
"You do not know what I am, do you?"
He was using terror tactics and Alexandria had to concede to herself it was working. Her mind felt almost numb. She had spent far too much time reading and working on sketches for Thomas Ivan's horror novels. This monster was the epitome of the cold-blooded vampire feeding on an other's blood, ripping and tearing at flesh without emotion. She took a deep breath to calm herself and bring herself back to the world of reality. It was the fog and wind, the dark, starless night and the eerie crash of the waves below that made her think what could not possibly be. This was a sociopath, not some fictional character in a book. She could defeat him if she just held on to her wits and not allow the horror of the night to fuel her imagination.
"I know what you think you are," she said evenly, "but the truth is, you're simply a murderer with a vivid imagination."
He laughed softly, wickedly, the sound scraping like nails on a chalkboard. She actually felt icy fingers along her skin.
"You are a child hiding from the truth." He raised his hand and beckoned to Joshua, his glowing eyes on the boy's face.
Joshua struggled madly, fought and kicked, biting at Alexandria's arms in an effort to get free.
"Leave him alone!" Furious, she concentrated on subduing her brother. He was strong enough in his trance-induced state to wiggle free. Instantly he ran to the monster on the cliff, hugged his knees and gazed adoringly up at the man.
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Post by Jaxon on Dec 16, 2003 21:36:32 GMT -5
© Copyright 1999-2003 Christine Feehan
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