Darker Shade of Pale - HER FREEDOM (3 page)

Chapter Five

Voodoo Vagina. Voodoo Vagina. Voodoo Vagina…

That little mantra echoed in my mind for close to a minute before I started snickering like a dipshit high on laughing gas.

"What is so funny?" Tyb demanded. I bet he was perplexed that I went from solidly dumbfounded to giggling 'tard in under sixty.

"I was thinking that if I ever started a jazz trio, I'm going to call it
 
Voodoo Vagina
. In the liner notes of the first album, there'll be an acknowledgement to you." You know, this bodes well. Tyb is so refreshingly upfront; it felt like a stimulating breeze after the stagnant swamp of Christos's dancing around topics.

Tyb
started laughing. "You know, we're almost finished with day one, and I'm not sure whether to be thrilled or scared shitless."

"Please, be thrilled. I don't want to clean up diarrhea, thank you very much."

"If I make the mess, I clean it up. First rule of homesteading."

"Seems almost too logical."

"That's because I watch a lot of Star Trek on YouTube." Tyb started walking past me on the raspberry-lined pathway to the front door. "My mind was blown when Mara gave me a computer and smartphone for Christmas. She arranged with some guy she was dating to hook me up with piggy-backed satellite internet. She showed me three websites: Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Think I spent three days surfing the net before I got over it."

"That must have been like culture shock." I started walking again to keep pace with him.
"Especially the smartphone."

"Hell yes! I came up here in 1996. Only doctors and drug dealers had cell phones, and they weren't some futuristic doo-dad one touched like in a sci-fi movie."

We reached the door, and Tyb held it open for me. "Thank you, sir." I walked into the indoors jungle, eyeing the lush growth. One side was edibles, or at least edibles I recognized. The other side, an undesciphered forest.

"Anytime, ma'am."
He walked towards the kitchen, to stop at the sink and wash his hands. Then Tyb progressed to wrangling lunch. I headed toward the bathroom.

Once inside, I relieved myself and at the sink, studied my reflection in the oval mirror. I
kinda liked the pixie cut, spikey and windblown. Being in the sun would lighten my hair. I'm okay with that. Had circles beneath my eyes and attributed that to last night's flight. Holy shit, was that only last night? Felt so disconnected with everything, and now with Tyb being way too attractive for either of our good… Confusion, oh the damned confusion! Divorce carries over in a new life, right? I'm free and clear, right? In my awakening against Christos's abuse, I emotionally divorced him. I started biting my lip in vexation and stopped. 
Sigh.
 Play everything by ear. New world. No need to over think things. I'll listen to my gut this time instead of rationalizing everything away.

When
Tyb discovered who I was, his anger melted away almost as fast as it appeared. He didn't menace, didn't growl. He got sarcastic and accepted what it was and moved on.

Wish I could have met him in my past life…

I washed my hands and ventured towards the kitchen. There was a lot of stainless steel. Sink, stove, fridge. I suspect though, they were chosen more for utility than aesthetics. Light wood cabinetry held everything, while dark burl wood countertops finished it. "Where did you get your countertops?"

Tyb
stood at the stove, spatula in hand while he tended what looked to be grilled cheese sandwiches. "Got them here."

"You made them?"

He never turned around to speak, just focused on the sandwiches. "Yep. I lived in a tent for six months, then a little cabin I built in time for winter. Once that was done, I started growing things—animals and crops. About ten years into living in that one-roomed cabin, got stir crazy and started clearing the land. My sister would visit all summer long, she helped to frame this house. She even brought a bunch of books about building green. Took a couple years to finish the house – we only framed, roofed and walled the outside that summer. Made buddies with the sheriff—and his friend with a helicopter license, coincidently. We were going to lift the glass panels into the valley here, but couldn't. A dead tree was going all leaning Tower of Pisa, and we had to cut it down to give clearance—and there was no way I was going to let the helicopter land in my garden. So, we cut it down and boom, here's this huge chunk of art. It made the countertops, the toilet seat and lid, that table there, a couple chairs… every scrap got used, really."

"Good to have friends in high places, eh?"

"Yep, it is good. Good to have family in higher places, though."

I smiled when he put late lunch in front of me. "Where did you learn to cook?"

"Used to watch Great Chefs of PBS after school. Julia Child, too. Watched and applied. Seems to work."

I bit into the buttery yet crisp bread cradling cheese of melting-goodness. "Honestly, with all you've shown me, I'm a bit intimidated."

"Don't be. There's only eight goats, so milking doesn't take very long. All the milk gets stored in the springbox until Saturday. That's the day I make cheese and butter. Eggs get collected every day, but again, that doesn't take long. Fifteen minutes tops. In regards to the crops, the real hard work is at planting and at harvest. Otherwise, all it really takes is water—and that's negated by the hugelbeds I built, so I don't really have to water them that much. If everything is set up well to begin with, then really, it's just a matter of keeping it running well. I grow mainly perennials, that way I don't have to reseed everything every year. The main thing really, is the grain. But that's two days of harvest, a couple days of drying, then threshing. Everything is on a seasonal clock. That makes a huge difference."

The more he spoke, the more impassioned he grew about his lifestyle choice. I don't know if I could make it one season, let alone several years.

"I'll do my best, Tyb. But I wasn't in FFA or 4H. This is total foreign territory."

"That's okay, Izzy. You're learning
, that's the important part. I could flap my lips and you not listen… That's when we'd have an issue. That's not the case, so I'm more than willing to be patient. Hey, want a beer with your lunch?"

"You have beer up here?"

"I make beer up here." Satisfaction soaked his voice.

"Yes, I will have a beer." Cold beer sounds good.

"Do you have any objections to me turning the radio back on?"

"None whatsoever."
Actually, I was very curious to find out what was known about Christos and his situation. If they found his body, I would be free. Could donate the bulk of his wealth to charities and just go on, forging my way. It'd be too easy, though.

Tyb
wound up the radio and switched it on. Then the world changed.

"Pure anarchy is ruling the Bay Area. After
Haytham Labs suffered a series of explosions, HAZMAT teams from across the region were called in to contain the area. After being declared a Federal Disaster Area, all traffic into and out of the city has been halted as a quarantine mandate has been issued. Officials are quiet on the source of contamination, but experts from UC Berkeley are chiming in with various theories. Everything from comet dust to nuclear fallout has been proposed. Rescuers are still searching for survivors in the ruins, although the likelihood is slim, according to fire science experts."

"Switch the station,
Tyb."

He fiddled with the dial, and after a moment of static, a voice faded in. "While officials are not sure what caused the fireball to expand at such a rate, well over a fifty-mile radius has been affected by the snow-like particulate matter falling from the sky. Residents of California, north to south, are encouraged to stay indoors and wear a
respitory mask when going outside."

Again,
Tyb fiddled with the radio's dial and found a new station. This one scared me most of all. I knew that voice. Hoped never to hear it, let alone listen to the insanity spewing forth. My eyes never left Tyb's as that voice of evil sank into my brain and chilled my bones.

"And when I find that lying bitch, I will skin her alive. No one leaves me.
 
No one.
 Selesta, your ass is mine. When I find you, you lying cunt, you will learn who is master of their universe. You were my wife. No more. Now you are the hunted. Skin you. Skin you. Skin you…."

Chapter Six

Tyb and I both jumped when his cell phone rang. The ringtone he had sounded like an old rotary phone, and it killed the silence between the radio, Tyb and I.

He answered the call, relief washing over his face. "Hey, wench… Yeah, we've settled in nicely. What's up with the shit I'm hearing on the radio
?...You're fucking kidding me… Fuck… What do you want me to do?... That's it? Seriously? Bucky would love to get in on that action… Fine, your call…. Can do… Okay, see you in three days. Oh, and Mara? I have a hell of a question for you. Why would Christopher Haytham's voice be heard on the radio, no more than five minutes ago? … He was talking mad shit about what he'd do to Selesta…" Tyb flashed his eyes at me before looking away and speaking to his sister. "Skin her… yeah. Uh, let me check…" He looked at the station dial on the radio. "101.9…. No, no, no. Don't tell me that sort of shit, sister of mine. Fuck me not." Tyb ran a frustrated hand through his black hair. "Okay. Will do. Three days, no more. Otherwise we're on full fucking lockdown… Got it. See you." Tyb ended the call and looked to me. "Wasn't really going to show you the treehouse unless it became imperative. But it has the tools I need. Mara thinks your husband may have tagged you with a radio chip. Some fancy spy shit. Sub-dermal implant that sends a ping when it's triggered by a FM radio frequency. Can also pirate the radio frequency to broadcast, which is what happened. Haytham has access to a satellite and its feed. So in about twenty minutes he'll get a vague idea where you are when the signal bounces back to him. Which means he's alive and well."

A massive sinking feeling made its presence known in the pit of my stomach.
"Seriously? What can we do?" I hoped against hope there was something I could do to prevent that signal from reaching Christos.

"Come on, Izzy. We don't want the ghost of
Selesta resurrected." He trotted out the house, and down the path. I followed him, shutting the door behind me.

I quickened my pace to reach his side.
"Where we going?"

"Gotta get in the Mule and haul ass to the treehouse.
Got no time to spare."

I took that as a challenge and ran full throttle down the winding path, reaching the farm golf-cart before he did. I sat in the seat, hands on the grab bar, eagerly awaiting
Tyb to get this clown car going.

He hopped in, started it up and away we went. Good thing I hand the grab bar, because skidding through muddy curves on two wheels had me leaning out the side, only to duck back into the cab so tree and brush limbs didn't whack me in the face. There was no trail he drove on as he wended his way through thick forest growth. Five minutes at breakneck speed had us at the base of a massive dead tree in a nearly-empty glade.

Tyb spoke. "Ever see 
The Princess Bride
?"

"Uh, yes, only a thousand times."
Cary Elwes in a black mask. OMG, yummy. That pirate could pillage my ship any day. Shiver my timbers, even.

"Remember the scene with the albino taking Wesley to the pit of terror? That's
kinda like my treehouse."

"A pit of terror?"

"Only for the uninvited." He got out of the Mule and I followed. He walked to a nearby large tree and climbed up, only to reach for a branch. He bent the branch down and then a great rumbling sounded. Tyb let go and fell the six feet to the ground. He whirled around and trotted towards the huge dead tree. "Hurry, it's on a timer!"

Shit. I bolted for
Tyb's side, so I would know where the entrance was. The entry point to the treehouse it seems, was at the stump of another dead tree, about twenty feet away. A small door was cracked open. Tyb widened the aperture and stepped inside. "It's amazing what cams, gears, weights, and some chain can do. After pulling that branch, it drops a stone weight which gives slack to the chain holding this door shut. Coring out that tree was a real bitch, by the way. Had to seal it on the inside to keep the sap from gooping shit up. Anyway, the weight falls, and with a series of gears and stuff, the counterweight will pull that door shut again in under thirty seconds. Makes it a pain in the ass for someone who doesn't know that the key goes nowhere near the door." While he spoke, Tyb walked a little ways and started climbing down a ladder. "Come on Izzy, we don't have time to waste."

By now, the door had shut and light, gone. I was in the dark. To play it on the safe side, I crawled on hands and knees toward the ladder
Tyb used. It was shorter than I thought. After trotting down a small hallway, things got fancy. Steel door and lights ended the hallway. Tyb already had the door open. There were two other doors in the chamber he stood in. "Come on, Izzy." He opened the left door and lights automatically turned on. The room was Spartan. Chairs surrounding a long table, a bunch of cabinets and shelves, sink and countertop.

"Okay, here, hold this."
Tyb put some rectangular gadget in my hand and turned around to dig through some drawers. I looked at the contraption and recognized it as the same Mara used to scan my hotel room. Tyb returned to my side with his hands full of things. Bottles and cotton balls and something wrapped in plastic. When he put it all on the table, I recognized the plastic wrapped items as scalpels in autoclave sterilization packets.

"You're going to cut me?" With
Christos's words about skinning me, the thought of something cutting through my flesh did not sit well.

"Sub-dermal means
 
under skin
. We'll locate it with the wand and I'll remove it. It'll be destroyed."

"Why do you have all this sort of stuff?"
Scalpels? Gizmos? 
How the hell did he afford all this stuff?

"Like I mentioned earlier,
Haytham tried killing me. Twice. First time, he and his brother beat the shit out of me. Was in the hospital for months. Second time, he ran me off the road. I crashed my car, the hood was smoking when I got out through the passanger side. He didn't see me because he drove on and turned around. By the time he reached my car, it exploded because the fire reached the gas tank. Gave me the chance to disappear off his radar. But in the event he tried finding me again, I was going to be prepared, even if that meant battle-ground surgery."

I swallowed the knot growing in my throat. In my wildest dreams, I could have never conceived my husband doing the things he did before I grew to know the real him. "I'm sorry he caused you to give everything up."

Tyb smirked. "I gave nothing up. I have the world, here. It may not be a fancy city life, but it is more rewarding to me than anything I knew before hand." All business now, he took the gizmo from me and turned it on. "Hold out your arms." I did so, and he scanned them. "Okay, legs." Same thing. "Stand up, please." Can do, and did. First he scanned my front. Lights stayed green on the contraption. "Turn around." I did as asked. No more than ten seconds passed. "Okay, found it."

"Where?"
I wanted to know what part of my anatomy Christos branded as his without my knowledge or consent.

"Your, uh,
 
derriere
."

"Where exactly?"

"What, do you want me to tell you or put your hand there or what?"

"Just touch where it is."

After a short moment, I felt a gentle touch low on my right ass cheek. "It's there."

"Okay. So, what do I need to do, take off my pants?" I turned around to face
Tyb, only to notice his cheeks flushed red.

"That would help." He began laying his surgery gear out in a neat and orderly fashion on a paper towel. "I have some lidocaine for the pain."
Tyb began to put on latex gloves.

I took a deep breath and tried not thinking about
Christos would do if a) he knew I was taking my jeans off in front of a man I found deeply attractive and b) found me. Without Tyb asking, I crawled up onto the table next to his surgery gear and lay face down. If I had known Tyb would be looking at my underwear today, I would have opted for the black lace tanga, instead of my utilitarian cotton bikini.

"Okay, uh, Izzy… I need to, uh, get to the area to numb it. I'm going to pull your panties down on the right side."

"Do what you have to do, Tyb."

I felt him uncovering my butt cheek for access. "I have a visual on the implant. I'm going to numb the area then remove it the interloper." As soon as he stopped talking, I felt his hand on my ass and then a pinch. "That's the lidocaine."
And another pinch. "Two more, okay?"

"Just get the damn thing out of me,
Tyb."

Two more pinches and then all I felt was
Tyb's hand on my backside. I rather liked it. "Removing implant now." Could feel something happening, but the sensation was hampered by the numb skin. "Okay, got it." He held a small silver and black sliver looking thing with a pair of tweezers and showed it to me. One side was very pointed, and it sickens me to think that one of the times Christos spanked me, he might have implanted that into me, masqueraded as rough love.

Tyb
dropped the implant and ground it to pieces beneath his boot heel. "There, and with two minutes to spare." He turned his focus back on my butt. "Okay, let's bandage this up, and you'll be good to go."

I sighed deeply with relief. "So now he won't know where I am."

"In theory. Zia said she'd be here in three days. Hell has broken loose in the Bay Area and it's meandering its way to Sacramento. The whole state will be quarantined before long."

From my spot on the table, I looked up to
Tyb. "For how long, I wonder?"

He was busy dabbing some iodine on my incision and putting a
guaze pad on the wound. "Don't know. But I'm going to call my sheriff buddy, see what he hears. There. You're done. It's not deep, but we don't want to risk you getting infection." He pulled my underwear up to cover my ass.

I sat up, unnerved by everything going on.
Could still hear the echoes of Christos taunting me with skinning as punishment. I took one good look around the room berift of windows and started crying. Christos will kill me. He'll drag it out and kill me in as painful a way he could devise. He'll skin me alive. I hated breaking down in front of Tyb—until now I had done a pretty decent job of keeping things together. Now was the time that the past 48 hours had finally caught up with me.

Tyb
said nothing, just stripped off his gloves, stepped forward, and wrapped his muscular arms around me. Such sweet, exquisite torture, to be in the embrace of a man I found indelibly attractive and dear God, lusted for. He smelled of soap and sweat, of earth and manly musk. I could feel his hand stroking my back in a soothing manner. A few moments of sobbing against his shoulder, I raised my face to his to apologize for getting his shirt wet with tears.

Instead, his lips met mine. Electricity surged through me, and I leaned into him more, cursing my clothing for impeding his touch against my skin. The gentle sensation of
Tyb's tongue gliding across my lower lip had me silently begging for more of his kisses. Then, as sudden as it started, he stopped and I protested.

"I can't, Izzy. I can't."
Tyb stepped away. "I want to, but I can't."

I tried to not take his words as rejection. "I'm sorry,
Tyb."

"Christ, don't be!" The way he exclaimed that, made me think he felt the electricity, too. "But let's face it. I've been lonesome up here
alone, I don't want to fuck the first thing that catches my fancy."

Well, why the hell not?