Faerie (18 page)

“Now you believe it,” he said, and carried on eating.

Chapter Fifteen.

Connor had demolished three sandwiches, two bags of crisps, two cereal bars, and an apple, before he pronounced that he’d had enough. He rested back on the bed, pulling her into his arms and holding her close, nestled in the crook of his arm, his face pressed against her hair. They stayed like that for some time, and apart from the gurgling sounds coming from Connor’s stomach, there was nothing but peaceful silence. She snuggled in against him, her face laid to his naked chest, hearing the comforting thump of his heart, and feeling the heavy reassurance of his arm over her shoulders. He pressed his face into her hair, nuzzling her gently and kissing her through it, then he eased her around and began nuzzling her face.

“I need you,” he whispered. Lily wasn’t too sure how she felt about this, but as soon as his lips touched hers all reservations fled from her. She realised that she needed him to, just to drive away their misery for a little while, to have something good in the middle of this nightmare. This was right, everything about it felt right; she was meant to be here and they both needed this. He reached down, and fumbling with the top button of the dress, peeled it open with something close to reverence. The mound of her breasts were exposed, and he bent forward and kissed between them: a light butterfly kiss. She shivered her pleasure.

The next button, and his mouth slid down to her breast, kissing it gently, his mouth finding her nipple, taking it into his mouth and sucking on it gently; it seemed to her as much for comfort as anything else, and she let him rest his head there, his breath warm against her breast, nuzzling and gently sucking her. The last button yielded to his fingers, he pulled back as much of the fabric as he could, and slipped his hands around her waist, bending forward and taking her nipple right into his mouth, sucking harder on it and making her squirm. She froze, the memory of that dark form between her legs suddenly coming back with renewed force and hitting her like a ten pound lump hammer. Her whole body stiffened, and Connor pulled back.

“You are okay?” he asked. “I... am sorry... I will stop.”

She forced a smile, her mouth resisting and making it a hard won victory.

“No, I’m fine. Really,” she lied.

For a moment she had the image of that dark creature over her. She froze, her muscles tensing, and she started to shake – she couldn’t stop the shudder that spasmed through her entire body. She knew that Connor had seen it too, his thoughts and hers joining for a moment.

“I will stop,” he said again, pulling further back. “I am sorry. I know... this is hard for you. “

He looked so distraught, she wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t him, that he wasn’t to blame for anything, but she couldn’t drag words from her brain to her mouth. She lay there, paralysed by the memories that assaulted her. He made to pull back from her, but she forced her body to obey her commands and dragged him back.

“No,” she whispered. “I want you to hold me,” she said, her mouth against his face. “Please, I need this. I have to drive those memories away and this is the only way I can do it.”

Their eyes locked for a moment and she knew she didn’t want him to stop. Couldn’t let him stop, because if she didn’t do this, she was lost. She had to get through the terrible images that flooded her mind and replace it with something else, something better.

This time when he kissed her she didn’t protest. He pulled her gently down on the bed, not moving away from the kiss, and she let him slip his tongue into her mouth, pushing hers into his so they entwined, tasting the fresh mint of the toothpaste on his lips.

“You are sure?  If... you want... me to stop... say so.”

“I will, I promise,” she said.

His hands travelled down, caressing her thighs, slipping up under her dress, so that his hand rested on bare skin. She wanted to pull away, unable to cope with the feelings that coursed through her, a combination of fear and excitement that jangled her nerves and brought her close to panic. But she wanted him, and that urgent need overrode the terrors she was feeling. The taste of him, the smell of him and the feel of his hands on her body was all consuming and no matter what the consequences, she didn’t want him to stop.

The towel had slipped from around his waist and she could see all of him; he was already erect, ripe and so swollen she was surprised that he hadn’t already come, he was so hard. He gently eased her down onto her back and lay half over her, pressed against her, his face buried in her hair. The whole length of his body was pressed to hers, her breast crushed under his weight; his hardness was trapped against her belly, pressed hard into her flesh, like a velvet covered iron rod.

She reached down and closed her hand over his hardness; she let out her breath in a little puff of air as she felt the size of him, now he was fully erect. He was smiling at her, at the expression on her face, but she didn’t mind. She must have looked very funny, with her mouth open and her eyes as big as marbles. He gave a little gasp as she closed her hand around him and began to move against him, tentative at first, still so afraid of what she was doing, terrified that she would make a fool of herself with her naive fumbling. The only sexual contact she had ever had was with that demonic creature, she had never even kissed a boy before Connor.

But then she felt Connor’s thoughts and she knew he felt just the same, was just as unsure as he was, just as desperate not to make a fool of himself. His insecurities made her feel more secure, and she knew it was the same with him. They smiled at one another, seeing the joke.

“We can make fools of ourselves together,” Lily said, kissing him on the nose.

  Her fingers circled him gently, caressing his hardness, getting used to the size of him, the feel of him in her hand. She stroked along the length of him, around the tip, her fingertips gliding over him, making him shudder. He made a small mewling noise through clenched teeth as she closed her fingers around him again and used measured pressure, moving her hand up and down on him.

“Let me just do this for you – I don’t think I’m ready for anything else, just yet, but I want you to hold me and let me do this for you,” she whispered.

“But that... is not... fair.”

“It’s what I want,” she said.

And he nodded his understanding.

He kissed her again and this time they were more desperate; he began to make eager noises, as she squeezed just a little harder, still keeping her movements slow and measured. She felt his hand come up under her dress, closing over her buttocks, kneading her flesh, his fingers pressing in just a little too hard. His tongue was inside her mouth, probing it, hungry and almost violent now, so great was his need. Connor’s breathing became ragged and spasmodic as he came closer to orgasm and she switched hands so that she could reach under and cup his balls in her other hand, rolling them around and squeezing gently. She gave him one last squeeze and felt the warm squirt of semen over her hand, as he throbbed out his orgasm, pulsing under her fingers. He let his mouth slip from hers and kept his lips pressed against her cheek, breathing hot and heavy against it.

“I just want... to touch you, see you,” he said, “that’s all.”

He reached down and pulled up the fine cotton dress at the hem, teasing it upwards over her thighs, then moving back a little, he eased it up over her body, leaving her exposed and naked beneath him. It should have made her feel vulnerable, but it didn’t ‒ with Connor, it just felt right. He pulled himself up and knelt over her, running his hands down over her body, smoothing his palms over her flesh, exploring it, revelling in the new sensations: new pleasures.

He let his fingers travel down the plane of her belly onto the soft mound of her pubes, feeling the texture of the hair, running his hand over it, stroking across her opening with the side of his hand, looking down and watching his fingers as they slid into the crevice. Lily felt a tiny earthquake rock her body as his fingers slid over her skin, seeking every centimetre of her secret places, his fingers delicately probing, his eyes full of curious wonder.

She was almost ready to give in, wanted him so much that she could almost push the fear away, but she was so afraid that if she took it any further that terrible dark form would steal away the precious moment, and she wasn’t sure she could ever recover from it. She just wasn’t ready to take that risk just yet.

“No more,” she said. “Please... I just need time to get used to all of this.”

He smiled and lay back down beside her, pulling the cover up over them both. “It is okay... I understand... that was so good.” She could feel that he meant every word of it.

And she could suddenly feel just how much he did love her, so much love that it almost overwhelmed her.

She lay for as long as she could, wrapped in his arms, their naked bodies pressed together, loving the feel of him next to her, but knowing that she couldn’t stay for much longer. She didn’t want to leave him, couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him.

“I need to get back. I don’t like leaving the kids on their own for too long. Will you be all right?”

“Better now. Don’t worry.”

“Of course I worry. Connor, what are we going to do? We can’t carry on like this forever.”

“I know.  It will all be good.”

Lily only wished she could believe him.

Kieran was still awake when she got back. He’d draped a tea towel over the bedside lamp to make a comforting red glow that welcomed her in. She had already realised that she needed to tell Kieran everything. Sooner or later he was going to find out the truth anyway, and all the time she was holding things back from him she was putting him at more risk.

“Have they been okay?” she asked. The kids both seemed to be out for the count, with peaceful expressions on their faces. Their charms were pinned to their pyjamas and Liam had his hand over his, as if he’d been holding onto it for comfort.

“Sarah started mumbling in her sleep, but I think it was only a dream.”

“Hardly surprising with everything they’ve been through,” she said. She motioned with her head towards the door. “Move away from the bed. I want to tell you something, but I don’t want the kids frightened any more than they are already. If we keep our voices down they won’t hear us.”

“That sounds really heavy.”

They sat propped against the door, their voices hushed.

“It couldn’t be much worse,” Lily said. “There’s been a murder at the care home, where Connor lives – one of the carers. They think that Connor did it, but it was one of the Shadow People – we call him the Black King. Connor has gone on the run, I’m hiding him in my flat for the time being. He’s pretty safe there.”

“Bloody hell.”

She watched Kieran’s face to see what his reaction was to this bit of information. It seemed not to sink in at all for a moment, then she could see the sudden realisation dawning in his eyes that they were all in big, big, trouble. She could actually see the colour draining from his face, his muscles growing slack, and his mouth gaping slightly in an unspoken, 'oh.'

“I know, it’s really scary. I wish I could say that you and the kids weren’t in danger, but you are and I need to tell you some things to try and help keep you safe. I’m so sorry you’ve been dragged into this, but if it’s any consolation I believe that this is a battle for far more than we could ever have imagined. I think that somehow this isn’t just a fight for our lives, but a fight for all of humanity.”

“What do you mean?”

Lily thought back to the vision she’d had of the world on fire, a dead world where every human being had been wiped from the surface of the earth.

“The djinn had always hated mankind, attacking them in any way they can, over millennia, but they have never been strong enough to do more than snipe at us, whispering in our ears and leading us to do bad things to one another. I think that something has changed, and this Black King has got enough power to do far more damage. I don’t know how I know this... I’ve been told a few things, but somehow I sense that what is happening here is all part of that, and we have to fight for our right to this planet.”

“Yeah, but from what you’ve said these things, this Black King is getting stronger by the minute – what the hell can we do against him?”

“Perhaps we can’t do much more than defend ourselves at the minute, but I’m working on it.”

She crawled to the wardrobe and took out the package that had arrived earlier that day. She unwrapped it and pressed the box into Kieran’s hand. He looked down at it, puzzled, turning the box around and examining it.

“It’s a taser. I bought a few of them. That’s what was in the package that arrived this morning. I cleaned out my savings account.”

“Wicked,” he said, worryingly enthusiastic, as he opened the box and took out the lethal looking weapon. Lily wasn’t quite sure they were legal, but in the scheme of things that was the least of her worries.

“Electrical current can hurt them, and these are the most powerful ones I could find on the market. The Black King is usually on his own, but sometimes he has these strange little creatures with him to do his dirty work—”

“Yeah, like little goblin things – they were in my… whatever it was.”

“If you zap them with these, then I’m pretty certain it will do serious damage. It’s all we’ve got at the moment, that and the charms. It will work against humans as well, but... the djinn can possess humans, and it takes a lot to put them down. Don’t try to tackle them, just bloody well run.”