The Storyteller (17 page)

“Our hottest number yet,” came the voice from behind the Krampus mask. “And all on one long take, too. If the morons buying this don’t believe we’re real couples doing our thing with this one, they never will.”

Laura reached up and peeled off the hideous headpiece, revealing one of porn’s hottest so-called amateur spanking stars beneath. Though their productions wore the amateur tag, they were totally professional.

“I’ll get you back for this, you asshole,” Laura whispered, as she embraced the movie’s villain. “Next time, we’re going to do a female dominant and a male submissive. I’m going to be the top and you’re gonna be the bottom, you bastard.”

“Ohhhhhhhhhh,” the unmasked Krampus responded as he held his costar tightly and drifted his hands down to her flaming ass. “Ohhhhhhhhhh...”

Outside, beyond the curtain, the hot night air received their gasps of pleasure. After all, it was not really Christmas, but June.

Chapter Seven

The Keystone Candle Shop

Hailey found the door unlocked, but that was what she expected. It was time for one of the night’s sessions that had gone on for some time now, ever since she had met Rainier by chance at the bar. He was tall and handsome, with a slight foreign accent she could not quite pick up. She’d gone home with him that very evening, surprised at herself for doing so, and from the onset he taught her new things.

How convenient he lived only a block way. He was a new arrival in the neighborhood and wasn’t much at socializing. When they discovered each other, it was as if he had willed it. His aura was that empowering.

Though the house had all the conveniences of modern times, she took a candlestick off the stand by the living room chairs and lit it. The match cover amused her and she read the title aloud, thinking of how practical it was.

The Keystone Candle Shop.

The sun had just set, so the lights were needed.

“Darling? I’m coming.”

She looked at herself in the mirror, and her impish features stared back at her. She looked like a modern Mary Pickford, only much taller. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her lips were full.

Her eyes fell upon the covering around her throat, a cloth neckpiece Rainier had given her. It was sexual black velvet, and she had a feeling before too long this was all she would be wearing.

The light had been on in the living room, for Rainier had expected her. Other wall lights were on as well, but she wanted to bring the candle with her, giving things a gothic air.

She went through the kitchen and opened the door leading down into the basement which as still dark. Rather than flick on the lights, she utilized the candle, again for mood.

“Rainier, I’m here.”

No answer came.

“We’re going to have to work something else out soon,” she chided toward the darkness. “My sister’s getting suspicious, and she just won’t mind her own business.”

“Why don’t you send her down here to me?” came the voice from the shadows. It was Rainier.

“She’s eighteen. A troubled ex-high school kid with enough issues. You don’t want her.”

“But I want you,” came the response. The blackness seemed to be speaking on its own, Rainier was that well-hidden.

Hailey waved the candle in the direction of the voice, but there was nothing.

“Rainier?”

“Let there be light.”

Suddenly the basement was flooded with brightness, and Rainier was standing there before her.

The click of a switch is so much more practical,” he grinned. “Much better than candles. That went out with Bram Stoker.”

“Speaking of...” Hailey noted.

It was not Rainier’s face or frame that stood out this night, but his costume. He was dressed like a vampire, complete with tuxedo, evening shirt, and flowing cape. Around his neck he wore a pendant much like that of Bela Lugosi. At initial examination, it looked like a Star of David.

I don’t know why the studio made Lugosi wear a thing like this,” he mused. “Maybe it was inside humor because there was so much animosity against the Jewish in Hollywood at the time. I think it was some fool Jew hater up in casting or something who wanted to imply Dracula was Jewish, and Jews were evil. Does it make me look silly, with me not being Jewish and all?”

“Bela Lugosi was Jewish?” Hailey questioned.

Rainier shook his head.

“No I think he was a Catholic. They buried him in a Catholic cemetery, Holy Cross out in California, I think. I heard they buried him in his vampire cape.”

“But he didn’t rise from the dead,” Hailey answered, moving closer.

“No. but he did play Jesus on stage back in Europe. Now there’s a contrast for you.”

Hailey moved even closer to her would-be Count Dracula.

“Watch the flame,” Rainier cautioned. “In fact, give me that silly thing.”

Taking the candlestick from her, he blew at the wick and snuffed the fire.

“So are you ready to fuck your friendly neighborhood Dracula?”

Rainier laughed as he let the candlestick drop and motioned about the basement, which was filled with wonders that would have done Satan proud.

“I know all that stuff about how the walking dead in film never coincides with the lore. You can see their reflections in the mirror. They do not die when hit by sunlight, but are only discomfited because the night is their natural habitat. Wolf bane. I don’t even know what wolf bane is, but I am sure it doesn’t work either.”

“I think wolf bane does something to werewolves and not vampires,” she offered.

Rainier shrugged and gave a seductive wave of his fingers like Lugosi was known to do.

“What shall we be up to tonight?”

Again Rainier panned the room with his crawling fingers, totally caught up in his Lugosi imitation.

“There are a thousand delights awaiting us.”

There was an old fashioned bed with bedposts and bed curtains, like something from the time for which Rainier was dressed. There were chains hanging from the ceiling and metal hoops on the floor, built there for the purpose of special punishment. There was a device that looked like a gymnast’s horse, but smaller, obviously intended for someone to be bent over and abused. There were vibrators, whips, and paddles. There was even a coffin in the corner of the room. At least thus far no one had tried to play dead and do it from within. There were also piles of obscene magazines and paperback novels dealing with all forms of erotic fiction. A gigantic wooden devil, carved out of oak or some other formidable tree hunk stood naked with a pitchfork in one hand and pleading fingers with the other, as if begging for someone to sell him his soul. This devil wore no clothes. Not even a loin cloth. A two pronged penis jutted out of the front of his groin and both were amazingly hard. This was the world Rainier had introduced her to, and she loved it all.

“So what would you like to do?” Rainier repeated, again motioning around with his hand. At least this time he had cut out the spidery Lugosi movements. “My world is yours.”

“First, I think you should get rid of that silly costume,” Hailey complained. “You look like a blond Lugosi!”

“I’d rather be Christopher Lee,” he corrected. “Much more believable as a vampire.”

Hailey rolled her eyes, as she was evidently eager to get on with the night’s activities.

“So why don’t you just tell your sister where you go and what we do?” Rainier suggested as he removed the cape and let it fall. “She’s going to find out sooner or later that you’re a consenting adult. You’re how old, again?”

“Twenty three,” Hailey answered.

“And so is she,” Rainier corrected. “She’s eighteen, and that makes her legal in this state, right? Bring her here, and maybe we can cure her troubles.”

“No!” Hailey exclaimed angrily. “Eighteen in physical age doesn’t mean eighteen in maturity. She’s no real adult. She’s a troubled little girl in a growing body. You don’t know the stories...”

“Nor do I want to,” Rainier protested, holding up his hand. “Let’s just worry about us for now.”

Rainier removed the jacket, the vest, and the pendant, again looking at the charm before hurling it aside.

“You never saw Christopher Lee wearing some silly looking shit like this,” he hissed. “Fuck it. I believe that’s the right term?”

Hailey was eying the contraptions that checkered the room, wondering which of them she wanted to try first. Just the very thought of what was to come excited her, but that was what her relationship with Rainier was about. In short order, she had fallen in love with him. More accurately, he had cast a spell over her, leading her to do his every bidding, yet she relished these opportunities to be with him, even if some of his games were painful. This was the price of love in the eyes of an awestruck woman. He had even said so, several times.

“Are you going to take the rest of that Bat Man costume off?” she asked. “It does nothing for you, even if you think it does.”

“But isn’t this what someone might expect me to wear and look like?” he pouted. “I mean, people here have so many stereotypes and so many sexual inhibitions.”

“Hang ups,” Hailey injected. “That is a much better word.”

“Hang ups then,” he corrected himself. “You know, I am glad I have set you free from these things.”

“Remember you found me as a woman and not a little girl,” Hailey whispered, moving closer to look directly into his eyes. “You found me a woman, but you unleashed a demon.”

Rainier smiled. His teeth were inhumanly white.

“Yes, so it seems I did. What you need to remember is I’m not the one who put the demon there. That demon was within you all along. I just brought it to the surface.”

They kissed each other, but it was not erotic. There was no length to it and no tongue, just a routine locking of lips. Hailey stared up at him and into his eyes, losing her will as she always did. Rainier had that effect on her, putting her into a daze. She was his lover, but she was also his voluntary sex slave, and knowing this left her hotter than ever within. She lived for the coming of the night and their encounters in the otherwise silent house. It was like tapping into a different world from a different time. Rainier was not only her master in these moments, but the master at what he did. He controlled everything but life and death itself. Yet even these feared elements would bow to him if he chose to force them to.

“What brought you to a place like Sharon, Pennsylvania?” she asked, her eyes still locked to his. “What brought you here?”

The answer caused her to shiver with sexual chills.

“You brought me here. I was brought here by fate, for us to meet. Do you think I happened to buy this house close to yours by accident? Do you think I happened to go into that bar and find you on just that night by luck? No. It was planned throughout the ages. We were meant to meet.”

“Bullshit,” Hailey rationally wanted to smirk out, but then she caught herself. It sounded so good; the absurdity of his statements didn’t matter. It was romantic. Not even Lugosi at his most sensual could have done better, and that was with or without his controversial pendant.

“I love you,” she again whispered, bringing forth yet another smile from Rainier. His teeth seemed even whiter than before.

“So what do you want tonight?”

“Everything,” she wisped out in a voice sopping with lust. “I want everything.”

“And how do you want everything?” Rainier queried.

Hailey responded by unbuttoning her blouse and opening up to reveal her two jutting, bra-covered breasts.

Rainier gleamed in approval.

“Go on.”

Posed before him, she removed her top and hurled it in the direction of Rainier’s cape, grinning a delightfully perverse expression. Her inner lust was boiling to the surface.

“I want everything,” she whispered.”

“Then take it all off except your neck piece. That will be kinky.”

Her only response was a gust of exhaled hot air, as she reached behind herself and undid her bra. Rather than assist in the removal of her clothes, Rainier just stood there, as if watching a stripper in some dimly lit saloon.

“I love those,” he spoke with a sizzle in his voice. “I want to fondle them, I want to lick them, and I want to suck on them.”

“Oh, you will,” she declared as she reached for the bottom of her two breasts and jiggled them invitingly. “You can have these and more. Everything about me belongs to you.”

“How hot are you down there?” Rainier asked as he tilted his head toward her crotch. “How hot are you? Are you wet for me?”

“How about if I show you instead of tell you?” she replied. “Let me get ready.”

She waltzed past the various spanking equipment toward the bed and sat down, removing her shoes and socks. Then she arose and undid her pants, pulling them off so she wore only checkered underpants and the black neck-piece.

“You should have worn a period timepiece dress to match my costume,” Rainier complained. “Too late for it now, I suppose, but it would have gone with my costume. Mood, you know? Love making is nothing but crude thrusting if you didn’t set the mood. I hate crudeness. I hate vulgarity for the sake of being vulgar. Nothing I do is crude, even if some people might think so. That’s why I am so glad I found you. You and I were meant for each other. Time and space has brought us together. We are for each other.”

“Fuck me with your words,” she commanded.

Rainier knew exactly what she meant. Standing erect, he looked directly at her and beyond, gazing past her body into her soul.

“You are the wholeness of my life. You have brought me new meaning and light to a world of nightfall. You are brighter than the moon to me. You are the other half of my being. I was soulless until I found you. I was guided to you by a magnetic power. I walked the winds of time to find you.”

“Leon,” she whispered. “I love you, Leon.”

It was rare for her to refer to her lover by his first name. He preferred being called by his last which was Rainier. Like Dracula. In the movies, they never seemed to have given Dracula a first name, and whatever it was, one could be sure it wasn’t Jesus.

The tall man smiled yet again. He was seething with sensuality.

“The things we do bridge darkness and light. The things we do bring pain and thrills, as you know. There are truly more things in this world than what is routine. Routine is dull. Routine is temporary. Routine is boring. I have unleashed the demons from hell, and they whisper in your ear as well as mine. We are two souls, you and I, but we become one on these nights. You and I. We will live forever. A lust like ours burns unchallenged and such a love like ours goes beyond time.”