With One Look (46 page)

"I loved him.... I loved him...."

He was not at first thinking of the words they said. Love words mixed with a tone and caress, all to comfort and sooth her pain. It began to rain. Warm drops fell against his bare skin as she buried her face against his chest. "He loved you too, sweetheart. He worshiped you...-."

"But how could he do this to me? How! To just... hurt me like this ... when he knows, he knows how much I needed him, I loved him...."

. He tensed ever so slightly, his mind understanding when she did not. And though he knew it wasn't true, he said, "He'll be back. He will come back to you."

She shook her head. "No, 'tis done. Somehow I know he is gone, mine no more."

"You don't know that—"

He felt her stiffen. She slowly looked up. Their gazes locked, his searchingly as he brushed a lone tear from her flushed cheek. He was shaking his head, but it was too late.

She stood up, backing away, frightened by the power of the emotions between them. "Why did you have to do this to me? Why couldn't you just leave me be? As once you loved me?"

"I still love you, Jade! With every breath I draw into my body, I love you—"

"No." She backed away more. "’Tis over now. You might as well have killed me. And I hate you for it. I hate you!"

He acted in the instant as if she had violated a sacred text, and she had, she had. He had heard her say this once before but she had been mad then. He caught her in a stride. His strong hands seized her wrists, pulling them behind her back. She cried out as he pulled her up hard against his unyielding form. She struggled to free herself but he'd give her no measure now. "Look at me and say that!"

She tried to twist to the side but couldn't. "Look at me."

The force he used brought fury, and, feeling her heart race, and her breath labor, she tilted her face up and boldly met his gaze.

Only to be brought up short by his emotions there. The next breath caught. She swallowed slowly, mesmerized and torn by the wealth of his love, his own worries and fears that shone like a light in the darkness of her turmoil. er defenses tumbled in sudden confusion as she still stared, held by the love shining in his eyes.

The rain fell all around them now. An errant lock of hair lay against his forehead. He was breathing hard; his eyes, appeared questioning, uncertain. "I still want you."

She felt her face grow hot. She started to shake her head now. Her head spun as when his lips touched hers. It was as if she had forgotten how it felt to have his warm firm mouth on hers, the heady rush and drive of his tongue inside her, the sheer force and power of his desire sweeping into her limbs, making her blood run hot.

Like a vicious monster, the sweep of desire turned to fear. Images drawn from the nightmarish day rose forcefully in her mind: she remembered how he had trapped and held her down, forcing that pain into her weak and battered body over and over as she begged him not to do it. She had begged him....

A silent scream rose in her throat. She tore her mouth from his with trembling violence. She backed away, shaking her head before spinning around and running for her horse. She leaped onto Ariel's back and took off all at once, leaning over to take the reins over the horse's head as the creature was already trotting away. And even as she held the reins tightly in her hand, she stayed forward, leaning against Ariel's strong neck, crying, a hundred too many tears, she cried.

When at last she looked up it was to see only darkness. Night had fallen. The clouds hid the moon and the stars. The forest was quiet, dark and deep.

Like a mirror held against her soul...

There was no light to guide her. The light of a full moon hid behind the clouds. No stars pointed the direction to home. The shadows of the towering trees were strangers. Even the sounds were strange to her—unseen night creatures scurrying away, the haunting caw of a hidden night bird, searching for prey. She was lost.

Ariel stopped as if awaiting directions. With a toss of her pretty head, she stomped her foot impatiently, hungry for her oats and hay, the warm dry comfort of her stall. Jade searched the surrounding darkness, looking for a clue as to the right direction, but there was nothing except darkness. She released her hold on the reins, having no choice but to yield to her creature's greater instincts. The slosh of Ariel's hooves as she picked her way through the soggy forest floor, the thickness of bush and trees suggesting the area around the lake...

Dear Lord, if that were true, 'twas a very long way from home. A very long way. "Wolf Dog! Wolf Dog," she cried out loud into the darkness.

If only he were still with her!

Her anxiety mounted as the minutes gathered into a hour. She felt hungry and cold and so tired, as if she had not felt the comfort of sleep for days. She closed her eyes and prayed for a sign, some small sign that would lead her home.

Victor's image rose in her mind's eye with such startling clarity and vividness that he might have been before her. He was standing on the lamp lit porch, his handsome face torn with worry as he called her name over and over.

Her heart leapt. "I'm here! I'm here!"

The image disappeared with an angry thought and a forceful shake of her head. She did not need him. She did not want him or his love that cost so dearly!

She opened her eyes and gasped. A light shone in the distance through the trees. She stopped Ariel and stared. Voices rose, sounding far, far away. She kicked her bare feet to Ariel's sides. The mare trotted happily forward as if she, too, were relieved by the sign.

Torchlight illuminated a clearing, an opening of the forest floor, marked by three stumps of different heights. Jade drew back hard on the reins, slipping off Ariel's back as she crept through the trees and stared into the lighted space.

She stiffened as if struck by a bolt of lightning.

Dozens of scantily clad people, both colored and white, knelt in a huge semicircle in the middle of the clearing. A whispered chanting rose. A wide circle was drawn around them; tiny candles lit what appeared to be the dark rocks or coal that made up this circle. Three even tree stumps supported a black velvet cloth with a metal box on top of that. Various feathers and candles surrounded the box, too, and she realized as she studied this that it served as an altar. A naked man and woman attended this abomination, their perspiration glistening in the torchlight. Blue sashes were tied around their wrists and waists.

A voodoo ceremony. The vision was so bizarre as to lend it a queer nightmarish quality. As if it would all vanish if she only woke.

A chill raced up her spine. A warning sounded loud in her mind and yet she was held still, mesmerized by the fantastic sight of the sacrilegious, the celebration of darkness. The chanting grew louder and louder still. She felt her heart beat with the haunting rhythm of the rising chant.

Brass goblets were passed from person to person, each person interrupting the chanting to partake of the stimulating bile.

Moans began interrupting the chanting.

The queen began writhing. Her long naked legs straddled the box like a lover. The hideous moans became louder. More and more people began writhing, the chants coming faster and faster as their upper bodies jerked with convulsions. A number of the people came to their feet and began dancing obscenely, their bodies gyrating and undulating with the increasingly loud and fast chant.

The queen spread her legs and arched over the box. Four men leaped up; each took an arm or leg, and they spread the queen's limbs wider as her naked body writhed. The king danced around her. A nervous tremor possessed the entire audience. And as if by magic the lid of the box opened and the head of a snake appeared between the queen's legs.

Jade caught the scream in her throat, staring with incredulity, awe and horror. The people went wild. Pandemonium ensued. The dancers spun around and around with incredible velocity, tearing their scant vestments. Bodies undulated wildly in the circle of light before they flung themselves to the ground, panting and gyrating.

Emerging from the darkness, she appeared. A white woman behind the queen. Jade stared at the thick ropes covering her naked body—

No, not ropes. Snakes, slithering and alive. Snakes circled her naked white skin. The blood left Jade's arms and legs in a rush. She didn't know she was instinctively backing up until she hit Ariel's strong flank, shaking her head even as she reached for the reins.

Screams began sounding from the mad audience as if they were surprised by the snake woman. The snake woman's knife caught and reflected the torchlight as she raised the knife and sent it into the queen's body—

Jade screamed a piercing long no.

The chanting stopped, dying like a whisper carried on a breeze as one by one gazes turned in her direction. The snake woman shouted at her. Two men started running to her. The snake woman pointed.

In a terrified panic, Jade leaped onto Ariel just as a hand grabbed her foot. She screamed again and again as strong hands pulled her off the horse. Ariel neighed angrily, turning to bite. One of the men held Jade hard against his body as the other man stuck a dagger in Ariel's side.

Ariel leaped into the air with a frightened neigh, her hooves crashing to the ground as she took off in a gallop. Jade never saw. The men carried her kicking and screaming over their heads into the circle of torchlight. They laid her flailing body over the altar. Four men held her down.

The chanting began whisper soft ... The snake woman leaned over her.

Jade froze with terror as she watched the slithering creatures move over the naked flesh. The woman's eyes caught and reflected the torchlight like a cat. Jade screamed again, frantically struggling to escape the hot sweaty hands holding her down.

"You!" the snake woman said. She threw back her head with a howl of laughter. "My power grows and grows, bringing you to my feet!" She stopped as she stared at her victim. "You see now!" She hissed as a snake came off her arm and circled Jade's chest. "You see now!" The woman's hands struck the air all around her. "Snake eyes, snake eyes!"

The chanting grew louder.

Jade could not stop screaming. The world became a blur of terrifying images: of snakes and knives and frenzied bodies. The loud chant turned into her loud continuous scream as the snake woman's face became the one she knew in her nightmares. The snake woman became the woman soaked in her mother's blood as she turned to see a young thirteen-year-old girl opening the door....

"Run, little girl, run ..."

*****

Dawn's light crept over a still-gray sky where Wolf Dog ran, sniffed and ran some more.

The rabbit was close now. Very close. He ran to a tree.

He stopped. He sniffed. There the scent excited him. The other. The horse.

He barked, his tail waving in the still morning air. He raced around the trees, searching for the scent. He caught it. The scent brought him into a clearing. His huge body tensed.

Blood nearby. Humans.

He barked again, following the scent that grew stronger and stronger. His eyes drew him to the fallen form. He rushed over, barking excitedly. He barked and barked. She did not stir. He whimpered. He stood over her. He licked her face and barked some more. She still did not stir. He laid back on his haunches to wait, his tail thumping with excitement. He sprang up, whimpering, licking her face again.

The noise of the birds sang loud. The air warmed by degrees. Wolf Dog fell asleep by her

side.

A scent woke him. His ears pricked, his nostrils drew in the scent. The pack. He stood up.

Intelligent red eyes circled the surroundings as his hair lifted along his back. Lips curled over strong white teeth. A low long howl sounded as they appeared one by one through the trees and bush, drawn by the scent of spilt blood. Hungry red eyes studied the snarling wolf.

The leader snarled threateningly.

Wolf Dog leaned back. The other. She was his pack. They could not have her. He would kill to protect her.

The leader stepped forward.

Wolf Dog leaped on him, his jaws sinking mercilessly into the neck. Four other dogs sprang on him. The death fight was on.

Victor's voice sounded hoarse from calling Jade's name throughout this long night and morning. A distant sound made him draw his mount to a stop. He listened, hearing the snarls and snaps of the wild dogs. His next shout reached through the forest for a mile or more in any direction even as he kicked spurs to his mount and his horse leaped forward with sudden vigor. The forest was thick here. A tree branch caught a tumble of his hair, another caught his shirt and yanked hard, but he hardly noticed as he leaned forward on his horse, attempting to simultaneously withdraw his pistols.

He came upon the terrifying scene in a rush. A half dozen or more dogs in the circle of a vicious fight. He reined his horse to a stop with a loud shout, leaping to the ground only to get a better shot. He fired once. A dog dropped. The smoke cleared. Two other dogs backed away in sudden alarm, turning to run. Three others still fought. He aimed carefully, following the wild jerks and vicious tears until he found a clean shot and fired again. The dog dropped with an anguished whimper. Mercifully Victor fired again.

Another dog ran off. Two dogs left still fighting.

Then he saw who it was covered in blood. "Wolf Dog!"

He shot at the other dog, missed, and then fired his last shot. The dog dropped. Wolf Dog still tore into the flesh, going for the kill with a vicious rip at the neck. Then it was quiet.

"Wolf Dog." Victor stared. Blood covered his muzzle. He stood on all fours, panting, as if uncertain it was over or that he was alive. His eyes lifted to Victor. He howled, then fixed his eyes at a point away.

Victor followed the gaze and saw her. "Jade!"

Victor quietly shut the door. He paused for a moment and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh. Now this. Now this delusional madness.

/ am so scared ...

Jade, let me help you....

He descended the stairs and moved down the hall and the lower gallery, out to the patio, where Sebastian, his father and Murray waited for him, watching the sleeping dog who had saved