SECTION III - The Stories

ELEMENTAL
Chapter Two - Crossing Paths with the Shadow

        Sleep came unwilling to Samantha, who tossed and turned until she finally ripped the sheets off her frame. She covered her face, trying to believe that she was still asleep, that this was and had been all a dream. A nightmare, only that.
        She felt a sob erupt. She still felt ill as she staggered to her feet, rubbing her chest agitatedly. She exited to see Devon on the couch, flicking the channels though he instantly turned it off as soon as he was aware of her.
        She was aware of him in many levels as well. The lithe form, everything of him was hauntingly feline but the strength in him, it startled her how well she picked up on him. She rubbed her eyes. "I can´t sleep." She said finally. "My chest hurts."
        He neared her cautiously before she snapped. "Stop tiptoeing around me! I´m not going to do anything! Like I could, anyways."
        Devon gave a sheepish smile as he reached out to trace a piece of her hair. His gaze dropped and a frown instantly took over his face. "No wonder you´re feeling ill. Pull your shirt down."
        Samantha stared at him but reluctantly did so and nearly screamed. Two visible handprints were visible, smeared black across her chest. "What.. What is this!?" She asked wildly.
        "Rogue Poisoning," She watched a hand approach, eyeing it suspiciously. "I´m a healer, a minor one but this will help you feel better. I just need you to let your guard down, Sam."
        She glared at him fiercely. "Don´t call me Sam."
        He grinned and she pulled back instinctively at the fanged smile. His smile wiped from his face as she watched his nostrils flare. She couldn´t help but pay such attention to his features, they were startling and yet, she couldn´t quite pin down her fascination. "It´s all right, Samantha. Trust me, please," He spoke softly, gently as if trying to console a child. She allowed herself to be fooled as his fingers brushed her neck.
        She couldn´t stop her shiver at the cascading touch. So close, she almost could smell his masculine odor. She felt the heat strengthen around her as he touched the blacken marks and felt something sweep into her. She was afloat in something warm, that grew hotter and stronger with each breath.
        Energy, blazing gold like the eyes who peered at her with swirling emotions. She was aware of his movement, coming closer as his lips moved wordlessly against the roar. She felt her hand wrap around his as she pulled it away roughly.
        Her eyes bugged out at the black crusting over his hands as she blinked in slow motion. The black turned to dust, fading from view as she remembered to breathe. "You… oh, God, it´s still moving.." The energy she had felt now felt trapped in her body, unable to escape.
        "Calm down, stay calm and cool. Don´t be controlled," He offered.
        "Easy enough for you," She gasped as the energy seemed to sink into her lower region and finally disperse. "What was that?"
        He coughed, looking uncomfortable. "Thing is, about my healing that is, I tend to be oppressive. My energy can be too much and people overload. You did better than most. You´re still standing, after all."
        "But it felt so, so… Possessive," She managed to straighten up. She was feeling better, she noted wryly.
        "I´m sorry," He had a crooked smile tugging at his lips. "Since you´re up, want to talk?"
        "No."
        "You´re not dreaming."
        "Then I´m delusional. I must´ve snapped or something." She felt her back hit the wall, none-too-gently and yet not enough for real harm. He stared her down until she gritted her teeth, speaking carefully. "Fine, I´ll listen."
        He waved her to the couch, sitting across her in the armchair. He waited until she seemed most settled and then began.
        "I´m sorry. For any trespassing that I have and had done. It wasn´t fair but I figured you´d get a little confused if your cat kept leaving you alone when you did.. Ah, things."
        "I wasn´t planning on staying," He kept his eyes down. "But I found myself liking who you were. I saw how others were around you and I couldn´t believe that they couldn´t see you at all. They think you´re some meek, weak, nameless person. They don´t see the iron spine, the glint of rebellion and I decided if I were to do what I was sent for, I´d have to come closer."
        "A cat is my alter ego because my race can do that. I´m called a Norgelian, or if you want to get technical, I´m a Homo Felinid, a feline human."
        "Alien."
        "No, not quite," He eyed her quietly. "I want to tell you more but the timeline is already out of balance. I just… wanted you to know who I was, what makes me who I am."
        "Why? If you´re just a guard, then what´s the point of me getting to know you?"
        "I wouldn´t mind you trusting me. You trusted me as a cat."
        "Yea, see, you couldn´t talk back."
        "I did though," He smirked.
        "Shut up." She glared before looking away. "So, you hung around me because you liked me? Because I´m… what, different?"
        "Everyone is different. If I told you why I liked you, you probably would freak."
        She narrowed her gaze at him. "It better not because of a morbid sense of, of lust or something."
        He laughed, a deep, musical tune as he grinned with his fangs. "Oh, but, Samantha. My race doesn´t go by looks when looking for a mate. We like those who we like because we can see the inside, the person behind the eyes. After all, the eyes are the window to the soul, don´t you know?"
        Her head tilted. "Mate, like breeding?"
        "Nothing like that," He continued to smile but it altered into a neutral look. He seemed wary and hesitant to continue but after a pause, he continued to talk. "It´s our version of marriage only it, well, lasts."
        Samantha blinked, covering her mouth as a snicker drifted out. She tried hard to not laugh but the chortle ripped from her as she pointed at him. "You´re kidding right? Have you SEEN the divorce rates around here? Love is an illusion."
        He grasped the offending finger, eyeing her reflectively. "I know you better than that, Samantha. You´re one of the few that still believe in true love. It´s a quality that is shared in my race."
        "And we don´t have divorces. There is the ninety-nine point nine percent that the mating will stand. We´re blessed in that area." His gazed softened, saddening as it dropped. "Well, some of us anyways."
        Samantha tilted her head. "You don´t have a mate?"
        He flushed, looking away. "I´d rather not discuss it."
        "We have a lot in common," She stared at her hands. "Am I really important to this whole thing? How could it be me? I´m just like everyone else."
        "I… don´t know why. But something is different about you, that´s for sure," He still held the offending finger before he traced a forefinger up along the back of her hand. She pulled it away with a blush. "I don´t know what´s going to happen but if the Rogues have found you, it won´t be long before the Dark King finds you. We need a haven to hide in. Your apartment," He glanced around. "It´s nice but not quite what we´re looking for," He grinned at the end of the sentence.
        "If you think I´m leaving, then you have another thing coming.." She began dryly.


        She stared at her apartment door as Jaime tugged her luggage out. "Phew, heavy!" She looked up to see if Samantha had moved at all. "Hey, Sam, how ‘bout a hand?"
        Samantha turned narrowed eyes to the taller woman. "Don´t ever call me Sam."
        Jaime tried a bright smile in order to diffuse the growing frustration that was Samantha.
        "How the Hell did I let myself be convinced?" She threw her hands up. "Where am I going to be safe in?"
        She followed them, leaving behind her home, her car, and she was pretty sure her life was only a thread from shattering. Why was she doing this, she tried to reason with herself. I mean, this wasn´t true at all, she argued, so why was she doing this like some obedient child?
        "It´ll be all right," Andrew fell into step. Like his brother, they wore sunglasses and seemed to have managed to hide their tails in their pants. She decided she´d rather not know how they did so and pointedly ignored him. His chuckle set her off. "It´s amazing how much you listen to him."
        She glared at him. "I´m only doing this for a day, tops. If nothing happens, than I´m out of here!"
        His smile wiped from his face, a serious gaze lingering as he stared her down. "Yes, you will be out of here, Samantha; but it´ll be a choice, not an end."
        She turned away from him, anger bubbling. Her emotions were all over the place, unteetered and uncontrolled. She hurt and she ached, feelings that she didn´t think she could feel and didn´t want to feel. Fear was there, a marginal piece locked in the corner. She was still halfway to believing she was having some bizarre nightmare, a dream she couldn´t wake up from but each step reminded her, as her bones jolted as she staggered and fell to her knees, that she was more than awake, she was somehow changing.
        There had been something more to the healing that Devon had performed. A cleansing that took more than blackness. She couldn´t help but think something had been unlocked.
        She stared at Devon´s back as she slowly became aware of the white mist drifting in toward the group.
        Andrew´s hiss was echoed as Jaime pulled Samantha next to her. The group poised for attack, stilling like statues.
        Samantha felt something crawl up her spine, just like she had felt when she had seen Steven staring at her with those eyes. Terror, a small sliver, suddenly ignited as a voice whispered in her mind.
        ‘What we could do is so much, such greatness.. Fear is fear itself, my precious thing. I can give you all that you would have wanted and deserved..´
        "Get out of my head," Samantha slammed her hands over her ears but to no avail.
        ‘Let me in, Nature..´
        "I won´t!" Samantha felt the iciness of the shadow that sprawled over her eyes, swallowing her whole. Fingers grasped her, Devon´s eyes the last thing she was aware as her soul fled somewhere from the shadow that followed.

....Return to Section I - The Beginning?
....Return to Section III - The Stories?

DISCLAIMERS

      Worlds Within (title/site) 2003 - 2009 Wildnature. All stories, characters, writings by and (C) Wildnature.