Lost Highway (11 page)

Odessa

Q
uill left me.

For the longest time, I watch
the spot in the woods where he chased after the Death Dealer. The wind blows
roughly against me, throwing leaves in my face. I finally peel away my gaze
from Quill’s direction and scan the area.

Though we didn’t leave the
cabin so long ago, I sense the day is nearly over. How long have I been waiting
for Quill to return? Darkness lingers near the ground, spreading slowly upward
as if taunting me.

I study the ground for signs of
a trap. Quill hides them too well, and I don’t know how to reach the cabin even
if I avoid every danger. I’m stuck in this spot with the growing darkness
nipping at my feet. Soon, I’ll need to climb the tree to avoid turning into the
wolves’ evening snack.

I hesitate climbing, still
hoping Quill will appear and we can run back to the cabin before night finds
us. Waiting for him, I catch sight of movement to my right. I can’t be sure who
I see, but my machete is in front of me. I know the figure doesn’t belong to
Quill. I doubt the Death Dealer he chased has returned. The figure is too
small, and her movements jerk too much.

The night-dweller’s bright eyes
stare at me from the shadows in the woods. She won’t come out until protected
by the darkness. I can’t fathom how she avoids the wolves or the traps except somehow
this Death Dealer adapted to her world. She didn’t eat Skittles or play music
to retain her humanity. Embracing the darkness, she became a part of it.

Unable to wait any longer to
climb, I remove the band holding the machete to my wrist and then slide it into
the jacket holster Quill created for me. I reach up and try to find footing in
the grooves of the massive tree. The climb isn’t easy, and the darkness doesn’t
wait for me to get comfortable.

The woman inches closer.
Glancing at her over my shoulder, I don’t want to look away. I feel as if
she’ll spring at me if I don’t stay focused on her. Even so, I force myself to
look at where I climb further up into the tree.

I don’t want to imagine Quill
hurt, and I refuse to believe he’s dead. No doubt he’s climbing a tree just
like me. He’ll wait out the night and come for me in the morning. I just have
to survive that long.

I’ll need to embrace the
darkness if I want to see the dawn and reunite with Quill.

Quill

H
esitation is a killer’s enemy.
The Death Dealer’s crystal blue eyes hold no uncertainty. Even with a broken
neck, he moves with ease. When I corner him, I never spot a single moment of
fear on his face. He exists to kill, and the Lost Highway gives him the freedom
he desires. His entire life narrows to this moment with me.

In contrast, my mind is on
Odessa rather than the battle before me. I know she isn’t stupid, but panic
still overwhelms her. If she followed me or tried to return to the cabin, she’s
likely dead now. Or at least trapped until I can find her.

The man moves quickly, showing
his past training in his swift kick to my knee. He takes me down easily, and
I’ll die out here if I can’t stop worrying about Odessa. Flipping him over me
and onto the ground, I return to my feet. He’s back on his immediately too. We
circle each other, reaching out and taking swipes with our weapons. I cut his
shoulder. He tears into my chest. My blade gets lodged in one of his eyes. His
ax tears open my jaw. We remain at an impasse even after he uses my blade from
his eye to cut open the palm of my hand.

When I look up from my bloodied
palm, I find the night approaching. My gaze meets the Death Dealer’s. We know
time is short for us to find safety before the darkness swallows us. My
thoughts flash to Odessa in the woods at night. She’s waiting for me to return
and save her.

I pull my gun and fire once
into the Death Dealer’s face. The sound of the shot echoes in the woods and
sends a crackle of energy through the trees. I don’t care about scarce bullets
or alerting other Death Dealers to my location. All that matters to me is
destroying this man and returning to Odessa before it’s too late.

Swiping off his head before he
can regain consciousness, I don’t think to shove the trophy into my bag. I’m already
on the run back to Odessa.

I barely dodge a trap I set
off, but nothing will slow me down. The darkness creeps closer, disguising my
path back to Odessa. I struggle against the thick branches slowing me. They
reach out to keep me from making progress.

My mind pictures the darkness
surrounding Odessa. I see the wolves lurking nearby. They’ll get to her before
I can. Even if I can find her before they do, I doubt I can return her to the
cabin safely.

I push past the clawing tree
branches and run faster than I have in my life, but my time is up. The darkness
consumes everything around me until I’m running blind. I smash into a tree and
can’t feel my way around it.

Nearby, growling approaches. I
barely climb the tree before the wolves snap at my ankles.

Odessa is in the darkness too.
I imagine her calling out for me, but I’m trapped here and unable to reach her.
She’s all alone, and help isn’t coming.

Howling her name into the
darkness, I need my voice to find Odessa and give her the strength to survive
the night.

Silence is the only reply. Not
even the wolves’ growling reaches me in the tree. For days, I’ve wondered if
ridding myself of Odessa might free me from my recent weaknesses.

Now I’ve lost her, and I’ve
never felt weaker.

Odessa

E
ven blinded by the darkness, I’m
able to straddle a thick branch in the massive tree. The spot is high enough
off the ground to protect me from the wolves. Unfortunately, they aren’t the only
threat to my surviving the night.

The hissing woman climbs the
tree, searching for me in the black night. I calm my breathing and violently
beating heart. I hope to disappear as if she might think I’ve left. I can do
little else besides hold the machete at the ready and listen to her bones
cracking with exertion as she climbs higher.

Tugging at my shoes, she
cackles with glee at finding me. I wrap an arm around a thick branch and reach
down to hit her with the machete. Unable to see, I don’t know if I make
contact. I do know her fingers tighten around my ankle despite my repeated
swinging of the machete.

Her nails digging into my leg,
she pulls me downward. I kick her, but she won’t let go, and her body weight
drags me lower on the branch. My attempts to kill her only prolong the
inevitable. This Death Dealer will soon drag me to the ground and kill me.

Wrapping my legs around the
branch as tightly as I can, I yank up my jacket sleeve. Even in the darkness, I
know she’ll find my exposed flesh. Pressing my feet against the tree to hold me
upright, I have one shot at ending her before she does me.

When her teeth sink into my
wrist, I cup her head with my bloody hand to keep her in place. Leaning over, I
use my free hand to shove the machete into her skull. Though the blade hits
resistance, I’m unsure if I’m stabbing her until her teeth release me and she
drops away.

I grab onto the tree to keep
from following her to the ground. Hugging the trunk, I imagine I’m holding onto
Quill. I press my face against the rough bark and pretend I’m back at the
cabin.

Down below, the wolves feed on
the woman. I cringe at the sounds of shredding flesh and snapping bones. My
stomach lurches, and I instantly imagine them ripping her apart.

All around me, voices promise
Quill is dead, and I will be too.

“Quill will come for me in the
morning,” I whisper to myself. “We’ll go back to the cabin. I’ll hold him again.”

The voices fade the more I say
the words. I don’t let them take hold inside me. Quill will return. I refuse to
believe otherwise unless the ugly truth is before me.

I endure the darkness by
closing my eyes and pretending I’m in the cabin. Quill stands in the kitchen
with his arms crossed and a frown on his beautiful face. He’s studying the view
outside the window, but I know he sees me. Quill always watches me even when
his gaze is elsewhere. Deep inside, he needs me, and I know he’ll find a way
for us to be together again.

Quill

H
aving spent a dozen nights
outdoors in the Lost Highway, I know survival is tenuous. Losing focus for a
moment could lead to my death. This night is worse. Fear would prove a welcomed
distraction from the misery I suffer while waiting for the darkness to lift.

Odessa’s laughter haunts me. I
thought she was insane to find forgiveness in this place after she’d refused to
accept her redemption in her old life. She believed something changed in her
here, and I couldn’t deny she smiled more after our first night in the
basement.

Finding humor in the small
things, Odessa embraced the Lost Highway and claimed to love me.

I hadn’t believed I was capable
of loving her in return.

Except no other feeling
explains the pain I suffer from now.

Her existence made my life more
difficult. I should be relieved to have her dead and gone. Instead, my entire
body rages at the thought of a single day without her.

A sliver of light is all I need
to jump down and run to where I left Odessa. I don’t care if the wolves remain
active. If Odessa is dead, I have no need to take another breath. I’ve had the
taste of something powerfully addictive, and I can no longer survive without
her.

I run through the still murky
woods, barreling through the brush wanting to keep me from learning the truth.

In my mind, I know Odessa is
gone, though my heart refuses to give up yet.

Pushing through the trees, I
spot tattered clothing near where I left Odessa. I stumble nearly to a stop,
unprepared to see the horror even after a night of imagining this exact
outcome. I move to where the bloodied white fabric remains. My mind struggles
to remember what Odessa wore the day before.

I kneel down and touch the torn
shirt. Scanning the ground, I see bone shards left over from the wolves. There
is nothing left behind from her massive jacket or the machete. I move around
the area, careful of the traps. Two of them were set off by the wolves’ activity,
but I notice nothing indicating the beasts were injured. I also discover none
of Odessa’s belongings they’d leave behind such as her shoes.

Finally, I think to look up
where I nearly miss the sight of Odessa’s feet dangling from a branch twenty
feet off of the ground.

“Odessa,” I whisper.

I reach up and begin climbing.
Calling out her name louder, I wait for her to show some sign of life. I’m
halfway to Odessa when her feet wiggle, and she leans over. Her gaze meets
mine, and her expression mimics how I feel.

“Quill,” she says in a rough
voice.

The branches groan under my
weight, but I don’t give up until I reach her.

“You’re alive,” I murmur, still
in disbelief. “You survived.”

“I knew you’d come back.”

My fingers reach out to touch
her cheek. I still fear I’ve lost my mind after a night of mourning in the
darkness. Odessa doesn’t prove to be a mirage. Her skin feels cold yet as soft
as I remember.

I lean forward to kiss her, and
Odessa meets me halfway. Her lips tremble against mine, enticing me to warm
them by deepening my affection. Wrapping an arm around her waist, I press her
closer. Only the whining tree branch below prevents me from never letting her
go.

“Can you climb down?” I ask,
ready to throw her over my shoulder.

Once a smiling Odessa nods, we
descend before the tree tosses us out. Down first, I impatiently wait for
Odessa to join me. Her feet barely touch the ground before I lift her into my
arms.

“You survived,” I say again,
wary of the Lost Highway’s ability to play mind games.

“I waited for you.”

My lips cover hers, and her
flavor reassures me that she’s truly safe. I walk with Odessa in my arms, and
she doesn’t ask to be set down. Her calm gaze holds mine, soothing me.

I don’t need to see where I’m
going now. The traps are of no concern. The long tree branches create no
barriers. I am never more fearsome than in this moment with Odessa. The Lost
Highway failed to tear us apart. Now I can face anything.

The cabin feels like mine for
the first time since I took it from Tom. In the past, I viewed this place as
just another part of my territory. Odessa changed everything with her arrival,
and there’s no returning to the old ways.

Once in the bedroom, I strip
out of my clothes while Odessa watches me and fumbles with her shirt. Even
wanting to help her, I hold back. My trembling fingers finally reach out to
undo the buttons. Her damp shirt and bra cling to her pale flesh. Exhaling
roughly, I rub my fingers together at the thought of exploring her body.

Odessa glances at the chains,
but I shake my head. “I need to touch you.”

Even uncertain about my
intentions, she sits on the bed and works off her jeans. I notice the healing
wound on her wrist. Later, I’ll ask for details. For now, I only want to claim
her in a way I haven’t before.

Odessa’s breasts draw my gaze
to them. Her chilled skin looks different than I remember from our time
together in bed. I’ve never seen her nipples soft the way they are now.

My fingers tremor when they
graze her tender flesh. Uncertain, I look to Odessa, who smiles reassuringly.

“They want you to play with
them.”

“How?”

“Do you remember how I stroke
them with my fingers when we’re together? Or you can tease them the way you do
with your tongue.”

Licking my lips, I think of how
good her nipples taste in my mouth. I’m desperate to suck them, but first I
need to own them with the same hands I’ve used to end so many lives. I want to
prove myself to Odessa. I’ve claimed her heart. Now I need to possess every
inch of her body.

Her nipples instantly harden
when I stroke them between my still trembling thumbs and index fingers. I smile
when Odessa sighs with pleasure. Cupping her breasts, I cover her lips with
mine. I swallow Odessa’s moans as my fingers pluck at her hard pink flesh.

“Quill,” she gasps, leaning
back as I nibble at her earlobe.

Her moans reassure me. I’ve
felt her taste my flesh, sucking and nipping at my body. She knows me, and I
want to know her. I’m frightened, though. Odessa is everything for me now, and
I can’t bear the thought of harming her.

Gently, I suck at her hard
nipples, enjoying their reaction to my touch. Odessa squirms on the bed, and
her legs part. She wants my cock inside her. I hear Odessa beg for me to fuck
her, but I need to take my time so I won’t lose control and become violent.

Odessa grips my face and lifts
me level with her. “I need you inside me.”

“I’m afraid,” I whisper.

“Why? I’ve been yours since the
moment we first existed. You’re only making it official. Take what’s yours.”

Despite her arousal and words
of encouragement, Odessa is filled with fear. A part of her remains terrified
in the dark night, trapped in a tree with monsters lurking below.

Soon, my body covers Odessa’s,
warming her with the heat of my arousal. Though I fear I’m too heavy, her arms possessively
wrap around my neck. All of her stress evaporates, and I feel her completely
present with me.

My cock probes her pussy,
unable to find her wet entrance. Odessa reaches down and guides me into her
waiting body. I stare into her eyes and find no fear in them. Even when I
thrust into her roughly, she only watches me in wonder.

“I don’t understand love,” I
whisper into her ear as our hips frantically move together. “I know I love you,
even if I can’t promise my love is worth anything.”

“It’s everything,” she murmurs.
“I love you too.”

Studying her face, I know I
won’t hurt her. My fear of losing control is gone. Odessa is mine. Rather than
make me weak, love provides a new focus beyond my killer instinct.

Together, we’ll survive the
Lost Highway.