The Silent Goddess: The Otherworld Series Book 1 (8 page)

But he’s not a stranger,
something inside her whispered.  Annie’s frown turned into a scowl.

“Stop that,” Kat chided.  “You’ll mar that pretty face will premature wrinkles.”  Annie willed her face to relax.  “So then tell me about these dreams.”

Annie took another long pull on her stolen iced coffee.  “I can’t really remember them,” she admitted.  “It’s frustrating actually because for some reason it just really feels like I need to remember them.  It’s like I’ve forgotten something really important.”

Annie saw Kat out of the corner of her eye nod in understanding.  “Well,” Kat said coming to an abrupt stop.  “I can think of one thing you forgot.”  Annie looked down at her questioningly.  “Your sunglasses, here, she said, plucking hers of the top of her head.  “Take mine; I don’t want you running around town squinting all day.”

“You sure?”

Kat waved a tiny hand at her.  “Please this is as much as I will see the sun today.”  She glanced down at her watch and cursed.  “I gotta fly girl.  Robert will be prowling around the shop waiting for his morning fix and I need him on his game today he’s booked solid.”  They shot air kisses at each other and Kat scurried down the street.  “See you tonight at the pub!”  She called over her shoulder.

Annie waved goodbye and put the borrowed sunglasses on.  If she could make it through the rest of the day without any more hallucinations or daydreams about kissing her neighbor she promised herself a few extra pints of home brewed ale at the end of the day to balance out the over caffeinated morning.

The problem with lots of caffeine in an empty stomach was that it had harsh long lasting effects. Her stomach felt like a lead ball had taken up residence and both of her earlier tours had to suffer as Annie chatted away so fast that she was almost incoherent.  By five o’clock her stomach was screaming for real calories instead of the rice cakes she had shoved into it a few hours ago.  Since she had a couple of hours to kill before the dreaded ghost tour Annie made her way to the Pedestrian Mall in search of pizza and a bottle of fizzy diet soda.  She planned to spend the next two hours huddled in a booth at her favorite pizzeria, nose buried in a book, preparing for the last leg of her day.

She pushed her way through the early evening dinner crowd and up to the counter.  She placed her usual order and chatted amicably with the girl behind the counter as she waited patiently for her two slices of cheese pizza to be heated up to a perfect edible temperature.  When they were done and slid in front of her, her stomach growled in delight.

“Oh, I’ve missed you,” she whispered to her dinner.

“Well I’m here,” chuckled and accented voice behind her.

Annie, startled, spun around yelping in surprise and lost her grip on her plate.  She watched in awe as lightning quick reflexes sprang into action rescuing her pizza from a painful fall to the floor.  Duncan balanced her breakfast, lunch and dinner on his hands under her nose.  Her eyes traveled slowly from her rescued pizza up to his face lingering to see the sights along the way. 

She admired the fit of his light gray tee shirt; the way it clung perfectly to what she imagined was a well chiseled muscular torso.  Her eyes traveled up slowly resting briefly on the hollow where his collar bone met at the base of his throat.  Further up she admired the five o’clock shadow that hugged his jawline, and above that those wicked lips that she had fought all day to forget.  She watched as one corner of his mouth slowly raised up creating a devastatingly wicked half smile. 

Unconsciously she licked her lips wondering if he tasted half as good as he looked.   She heard him suck in his breath and her eyes snapped up to meet his.  She watched as his steely blue eyes were overcome with a flood of some emotion that defied words.  For a moment the world stopped spinning, time froze and she was struck by the uncanny feeling that she should know this strange man so much better than she did.  He reminded her of her dreams, begging to be remembered.  She tried hard to shake the feeling that she knew this man much better than she actually did. 

She reached into her memory searching its archives for some shred of evidence that he had existed somewhere in her life’s timeline before yesterday.  A tiny spark ignited, she saw a flash of a lake surrounded by fire and image of a figure hiding behind the flickering wall of flames.  She heard the howl of a man filled with frustration and pain then the vision snapped out of focus.  Annie heard another sound, a low rumbling growl.  At first she thought the sound had emanated in her throat, but it was quickly revealed that the sound had come from just slightly lower.

“Hungry?”  Duncan asked as he teasingly waved her pizza under her nose.  Her traitorous stomach growled again.

“Yes,” she muttered slightly embarrassed.  Her cheeks grew hot as she blushed.  Damn, she really knew how to make an impression.  Last night she had almost blown them up and now she was staring at him like he was something to be devoured.  As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough her empty stomach had decided now was a good a time to be heard.  Avoiding his eyes she reached for her plate so she could go hide in a hole far away from him and eat.  She held out her hands silently asking for her food.  He held it away from her.

“Does it taste as good as it looks and smells?”  He asked.  She shivered in delight and reminded herself that he was asking about the pizza.

A wicked grin possessed her mouth as she allowed the thought a little bit of life inside her mind’s eye.  “Better,” she replied as she watched his eyes widen in surprise.  She wanted to be shocked by her shameless flirting but found she didn’t care and besides it seemed normal.  Her grin transformed into a smile.  Maybe this attraction thing wasn’t as one sided as she thought.  She ordered two more slices for him. 

Who knew pizza was an aphrodisiac?

A few moments later they were settled into a booth hungrily devouring the best pizza Salem had to offer.  They ate quickly and in silence all the while Annie was watching him and everyone around them.  Every woman in the place was staring openly at her dinner companion.  He caught her looking around occasionally tracing her gaze back to him.  He raised an eyebrow at her silently asking a question.  “What?”

She leaned forward resting her elbows on the table; he copied her leaning forward more as she crooked a finger at him.

“What?” he asked in a hushed whisper.

She cupped a hand next to her mouth and whispered, “Every woman in this place is staring at you.”

He chuckled softly and motioned for her to come closer.  She turned her head so he could whisper his secret in her ear.

“Every mon an’ woman is starin’ at your beauty
mo gradh
,” he breathed into her ear.  “Including this one,” he said slowly sitting back.

Annie laughed at him not wanting to admit to him or herself how those words really made her feel.

“So,” she drawled searching for words that would quickly change the topic.  “Have you gotten to know your way around Salem?”  She asked quickly slipping into her comfort zone.

“I’ll admit, I do seem to keep wanderin’ in circles.”

Annie laughed.  “It does happen.  Most people seem to end up on either Derby or Essex Street.  A good chunk of the small streets in the downtown area dump out onto one or the other.  Would you care for a tour from a real official tour guide?” She asked flashing her phot id that allowed her to operated guided tours.

“Absolutely,” he quickly replied.

             A short while later they were wandering down Essex Street.  Annie was pointing out the sights.  The big brick manor house at the end of Essex was the scene of a real murder back in the 1800s and inspired by Parker brothers to create the board game,
Clue.
  She showed him the Commons and explained that during the great fire of 1914 it became a tent city for refugees.  A big red trolley rounded the corner ringing its bell to warn pedestrians of its approach.

“Care for a driven tour?” she asked.

He shrugged.  “Where you lead I shall follow
, bhanphriosa
,” he said motioning for her to precede him.  She found herself giggling as he bowed deeply.

She flashed her tour guide ID at the driver who nodded his head.  “We got plenty of room, hop on.”

They found seats near the back and settled in.  Duncan seemed to keep a few inches of space between them with both hands clutched tightly on the seat in front of him.  Annie was disappointed by his rigid almost aloof posture.  It was as if he was trying very hard not to have any physical contact with her at all, which seemed at odds with the way he was flirting with her earlier. 

Maybe she had misread him?

She watched him out of the corner of her eye, he sat ramrod straight his face and gaze locked on the road in front of them, his knuckles white from the death grip he now had on the seat in front of him.  Every muscle in his body was tense and rigid as they seemed to struggle to hold him stone still.  It didn’t even look like he was breathing.

The trolley finally made a turn onto Derby Street the lights stayed green allowing the trolley to continue on to its next stop at Pickering wharf.  At the wharf a familiar face boarded the trolley and having spotted Annie made his way back to her.  Annie took several deep breathes of fresh air before Stinky Pete sat in the empty seat in front of her.

“Hey girlie,” Pete greeted her smiling and giving her a good look at his yellowing teeth as well as a good whiff of his stale cigar breath.  “Who’s your friend?”  He said pointing a chewed up cigar at Duncan.

“Pete this is my new neighbor Duncan.  Duncan this is Pete,” she said introducing the two men.

“Is he okay?  He looks green to me.  He’s not going to boot on me is he?”  Pete asked leaning away.

Annie glanced over at Duncan and realized he did not in fact look well.  “Uh?  I think he’s just a little car sick.”  Duncan nodded once stiffly.  “Um, luckily we’re getting out at the next stop.”  Yes, lucky indeed as Annie caught another whiff of Pete’s unique aroma.

The rest of Derby Street passed by in a blur as Annie tried to keep a polite distance from Pete.  When the edge of the willows came into view Annie felt as green and nauseous as Duncan looked.  The trolley had barely stopped as Annie jumped to her feet.  She liked Pete and his clever wit she just preferred not to be sitting next to him.

“Later Pete! Come on Duncan, this is our stop.”

Just then the driver’s foot slipped and the trolley lurched forward causing Annie to bump lightly against Duncan.  Two sounds happened simultaneously, Duncan hissed in pain and Annie yelped as her shin slammed into the bench Pete was sitting on.

“You ok girlie?”  Pete asked concerned.

Duncan stood quickly stepping away from her.  “I’m verra sorry Annie are you alright?”

Annie frowned up at him rubbing her bruised shin.  “Just bumped my shin I’m fine,” she assured both men.  “Come on Duncan let’s get off this death trap.”

He stepped back allowing her to lead the way.  When she got into the driver’s line of sight she shot him a death glare and quickly exited the trolley.

“Are you alright?”  She asked Duncan.  “I have no idea where that guy got his operator license.”  She frowned at the trolley as the bell rang and slowly pulled away.