4 comments/ 9031 views/ 7 favorites Darkly Stranger Ch. 01 By: MJRoberts This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Copyright belongs to MJ Roberts 2014. Please do not reproduce without permission from the author. ***** Over the years the outgoing, daring parts of me were smothered and the introverted mouse had come more and more to the fore. But during the last two months something changed, something radical. I started to have weird, vivid dreams—nightmares—in the shower. And I was afraid they might be coming true. I owned an old turn-of-the-century farm house. I planned to do renovations, room by room, but most of that never happened. Only one room got the complete overhaul. The bathroom. I actually took one of the small bedrooms next to existing bathroom and busted out the wall to merge the two together to convert it. The end result was a spa bathroom fit for a king, queen, or an entire royal guard. I did most of the work myself. I sank a lot of money—hell, all of my available money—on converting that bathroom into something where all my troubles could be washed away. I knew the heated floors, the special wide rainforest shower nozzles, the six separate shower heads, the fancy beige tile, and the imported Italian marble were ridiculous luxuries. I didn't matter. As I got quieter and quieter and spent more and more time at home, I needed one place where I could unwind. So the rest of the house looked its years, but I had a beautiful rejuvenation chamber I so badly needed. My name is Donna Martini. I look like a librarian, or a kindergarten teacher, which makes sense because I used to be both. But while in my twenties I occasionally went out and played up the naughty librarian stereotype when I could, things changed a lot since I started working at home. Now I taught eighth and ninth grade to needy, socially maladapted teenagers online. So I really needed that bathroom. The day before yesterday had been a particularly tough one. Finally, I was standing under the shower, letting all that wonderful water cascade over me. I leaned my head back against the tile of the side wall with my eyes closed. Then I found myself with my arms bent in front of me, forcing my breasts up, and my wrists pushed together as if they were tied and bound. I blinked and looked down at my flushed chest, aroused nipples, invisibly trussed-up arms. I'd pictured a lush forest and people staring at me and fingers brushing my midsection. I shook my head to clear it. It was like a lost a few seconds there. I squeezed some strawberry shampoo into my hand and had it halfway up to my head when I saw something dart by in the hall. Something large. !! I was not alone. I frantically wiped water and steam off of the inside of the shower glass doors. There was nothing there. I must have imagined it. I MUST have imagined it. I kept my eyes on the door as I blindly groped to turn the water off. My ragged breathing sounded loud against a new, hard silence. I snagged a towel and wrapped it around me, never taking my eyes off the tower. I clutched the towel shut right over my racing heart. The nap of the towel felt rougher, the steam more sinister, the thunder of my blood pumping so fast and hot, a deep contrast to the rapidly cooling skin not covered by the towel. The bathroom door was only open a few inches, just how I like it to let some steam out but keep most of it in. Of course I didn't see anything. There was no way I could have seen anything. I pushed the door open slowly. I flinched, jumping slightly as it groaned a drawn-out creak. No one there. I remembered a literature professor in college asking us what the scariest sound is. A scream? A scratch at the door? Breaking glass? A toilet flushing in your house, when you absolutely know you are supposed to be alone. I suppressed a shudder. The dreaminess of the shower had totally left me, and my skin was cold. But I began to think. There had been no noise, no rustle. What had I seen? I hadn't seen anything. In fact, it was more like I'd seen nothing; it was a break in the light. But what could move with no sound? I avoided my shower for three days. After all, if I didn't leave the house, who'd care if I got grimy? When I finally decided I needed to get clean, I skirted the shower at first, opting for the separate Jacuzzi bath. I brought a book in with me but couldn't get in to the story. I added a jasmine bubble bath and stayed in until I felt terrific. But when I stood up a film of jasmine yuck was stuck to me from the chest down. I stared at the shower. I loved that shower. So I got in. When I closed my eyes I remembered all the dreams I'd been having for the last two months. Me, begging huge, violent men to rape me. Me, gang-banged by a bunch of rough, angry looking hoodlums. Me, as a man, with a pretty petite blonde, licking her until she screamed. Me, in a wild, Amazon-like forest, tied up and naked, while people rubbed me all over with leaves. That one was the most vivid. There was a fire at my feet, like I was being burned at the stake. I heard the fire crackling. My body looked perfect in the dream, like a Playboy bunny centerfold but better, lit by the firelight below, emphasizing my curves. There were men and women, touching me everywhere, torturing me with their teasing. Firelight revealed and concealed them. They had very different motives, expressions. Every detail was so... tantalizing. I soaped up quickly. I should write this all down. I hopped out and toweled off. To the weird feeling of being... watched. There was something about the dream that was... real. I had to write this down. But I didn't want anyone to read these sordid, overwhelming, twisted fantasy trips of mine. EVER. I didn't want anyone to read it by accident. I didn't want to put this on my computer and have one of my students reverse hack into my stuff and find out what might amount to—almost—porn. I should go old school. Write it down by hand. But I didn't want some handyman to see a stray piece of paper, or a friend who might come over, or a lover if I ever got one ever again, to open up a notebook and be surprised that Donna was... whacko. But boy did I want to write this stuff down because these shower visions just kept getting hotter, more twisted, and much weirder. As my students would say, my mind was getting too full without a brain dump. But I needed somewhere safe to write it down. So I started looking for journals. Locked journals. But strangely enough most locked journals are made for ten year old girls and lock with these little square jokes you could unlock with a pen, bobby pin, or even a fingernail. That would never do. Finally I found a journal online that would work. It was a hand-made old parchment tomb really, with a huge bronze metal band around it and a combination and key lock. The leather was deep red. It cost a hundred and thirty-five bucks. I called it the grimoire. I couldn't wait for it to arrive. Days passed, still no delivery. One week, nothing. Two weeks, still nothing. It was almost into the third week before it arrived. It was bigger than my computer. Literally. I couldn't wait to get it to my desk. The opening page was gold leaf and had one word in bold old English letters. Beware. I began writing, and it was like I couldn't stop. I was a fountain of words, copying down dictation from memories that had come to me when I was naked, wet, and soap-slicked. The ink scratched across the pages I got wet in my core thinking of men dominating men, strange shadows battling for sexual spoils, virgins hoping to be captured, and strange dreams of blood and need. I slammed the book closed with a huge exhale of satisfaction at three a.m. after hours of releasing a dark side I didn't know I had. I spun the lock on the combination part of the grimoire and turned the key in the lock. I rummaged through my gift-wrap drawer and found a red velvet ribbon to put the key on and tied it into a necklace to wear around my neck. I sighed heartily; I felt more tired and complete than I had in a long time. I slid in between the cool, fresh sheets on my bed and curled up on my side. I tucked the tiny key between my breasts. "You'll have pleasant dreams from now on. No more of this non-sense," I whispered to myself. I slept well, woke up refreshed, and felt like life was good. I talked to myself as I watered the plants on my patio. I cursed as the refrigerator handle came loose. But more than anything I hummed sappy tunes from Fats Waller to Over the Rainbow, grateful for sunlight filtering in perfect weather through all the windows and the feeling that all was right with the world. Although I still wondered, somewhere in the back of my mind, about that flash of shadow. I had my students do multiple exercises of creative writing. I gave them double the homework I usually do. I wanted to keep busy. While there were no more strange, inexplicable motions out of the corner of my eye, I couldn't help the occasional feeling like I was being watched. The house seemed more magical, more mysterious, as I wrote more and more in the grimoire. But the shower fantasies stopped, so my entries in The Grim turned more into a journal. Entry upon entry described a good life of a solitary woman with doubts. 'Maybe I should have gotten a PhD and taught in a city, not be living by myself so far out from nowhere in a farm house that seemed so quaint with its copper pipes and peeling paint.' It was almost the end of the school year. Soon this bunch of cyber miscreants would be gone, and I would be free for the summer before being lassoed back in to guide and advise another batch. My students chomped at the bit to be free, anticipating the sweet days of beaches. So too I felt a restlessness, the constant edge of feeling that something new, fast and bright as it sped toward me, might be right around the corner. It was like a silent, large clock counting down... but counting down to what? Just like anything else, it's when you don't think about something that it creeps up on you. Sunday was a scorcher, but I decided that was the day I absolutely had to weed, mow, and replant. So when I got in the shower it was with a sweaty face, dirt under my fingernails, and an aching back. I turned on all six shower heads, let the water cascade over me, and closed my eyes as I swept the hair back off my face and neck. Oh God, the water felt so good. I kept my eyes closed when I leaned the back of my head against the tile. I still had my eyes closed when I bent far forward letting the warm water do its magic on my shoulders and lower back. I was making soft 'aaahhh,' sounds to myself when the hair on the back of my neck raised and the skin there turned to gooseflesh. I snapped open my eyes and jerked upright. Something stared at me from the other side of the glass. Something big, black, and completely foreign. And not black as in African or African American. Black, as in the absence of color, black. I wiped water frantically from the inside of the glass. Its whole body seemed thin, elongated. The forehead was distorted somehow. I kept batting away water as new beads formed, in my trapped, panicked response. The thing was still during these long seconds as I was all thundering heartbeats and frantic hands. Then I realized I could slide the door out of the way and with a violent push I shoved the glass door open. The creature ran away in flash of speed but left me with one thought. Was that a tail? I closed the shower door, as if that thin layer of glass offered some flimsy protection from what I'd seen, or my shattered emotions. I bent over, my hands on my knees, while the room spun, and I decided, very firmly, that I would not hyperventilate. Certainly not a tail. What was that Sherlock said about impossible and improbable? That creature was carrying something, right? Must have been something... maybe, a rope? It was just a shadow. Not a tail, surely not. Flashes of high school came back to me. On the blackboard in clear letters I saw the words 'Occam's Razor'. Then flashes of college and grad school lectures wheeled by, parallel universes, unknown newly discovered species, homo sapiens divergent DNA theories, and then literature, specifically Dante's inferno. The water suddenly turned cold. It was if the icy spray reflected my inner chill. I stood for a second longer as my I pictured my lips turning blue, which is what would happen if I stayed in there forever. Even though I was clean, I felt clammy. Suddenly, it was very important to be quiet. I held my breath, pursed my lips. Bit back my fear. Absolutely silently, I very, very slowly stepped out. I flashed back to Comparative Religions 101. And psychology. Abnormal psych. Schizophrenia, mental hallucinations, breaks in reality. My teeth chattered as I scrubbed the rough towel over my body. I didn't want to run it over my hair or face for fear of covering my eyes and missing something. "This is silly," I whispered to myself as I quickly finished drying off. I thought of many past classes, including Drawing 101. Except what would I draw, a blur? I didn't even put on a robe. I went right to The Grim. I had to write this down. It didn't sound probable, or logical, or realistic when I wrote it. It sounded insane. I closed The Grim and spun the lock. Turned the key. Hung my head. Denial is not a river in Egypt. I know what I saw. That night I was raw, restless, wanting. I tossed and turned, getting tangled up in the sheets. My hands ran south and north, trying to soothe imaginary aches. On Monday I gave the children the day off from cyber school. I wanted, needed, to ponder my mystery person, creature, whatever-it-was. I spent the day pacing, thinking, wondering. If I were going to be honest with myself, I had felt a sort of weird difference, an almost presence, a change of energy in and around the house for two months, so it probably lived here, at least part-time. That thing was living in my house. I didn't know whether to be horrified or elated. It was very late at night when I came to the conclusion the most likely place for an unofficial visitor to invite himself to, sight unseen, was the attic. I put on a robe and went in the hall to stare at the pull-down attic access. It was trap-door-like slab in the ceiling with a small brass hook hanging down from it. It wasn't even an attic really; it was more of a crawl space. I went up there once when I was inspecting every nook and cranny of the house before buying the place. I hadn't been up there since. I stood in my bare feet on the concrete floor I had never gotten around to finishing. Was this even a good idea? I had to jump up to reach the pull-down hook. The door was stuck. Now I remembered many one of the reasons I didn't go up there. I had to jump up a couple of times to get a good grip on the old hook and give a hard yank on the thing. Boom. The top half of the rickety wooden stairs unfolded. Another reason I don't go up there. It was hard to open the second half of the ladder and even harder, almost impossible, to put it back up. But I unfolded it and gingerly climbed up. I flicked the light switch at the top. No light. Fine, at least for the first few feet there was some ambient light from the hall. I peeked my head up. No floors. Oh, right. The crawl space was evenly spaced wood beams with chewed up fluffy pink insulation in between. The attic was about four feet tall so I had to crawl. In for a penny, in for a pound. I started out slowly. It took effort, and like a kid in elementary school, for a second I was sticking my tongue up and out with the intense concentration. It was hard going, carefully placing each hand, knee, and curled-under toes on the beams. I was about halfway to the water heater when I stopped, a vision of what I must look like springing to my mind. I was bent forward like a wary cat, just wearing my spa robe. It was belted tightly at my waist but gaping open revealing a wide swath of breasts with my key swinging in between them. The bottom edges of the robe had parted and were riding up, giving a clear glimpse all the way up to my thigh. My expression must have been tentative and unsure. I was headed toward an even darker area. If this were a movie the increasingly eerie music would be cresting to a crescendo in the background, and I'd be sitting at the edge of my seat, torn between biting my nails and wanting to throw popcorn at the movie screen. Then I thought I saw something in the very corner of the attic. Two bright green slits! Yikes. I turned around and ran, in a half crouch, as fast as I could, jumping from beam to beam. Then a few things happened at once. I realized what I saw was part of the pattern in the Tiffany-like lamp I'd noticed stashed behind an old heater reflecting off the key. I turned around to look at it and my foot caught. I fell through the empty hole where the fold up stairs had been. Time slowed down for a second in that 'oh shit' sort of way, the bottom of my robe and my foot still caught for a second, my body falling at a terrible neck and head first angle. I realized there was no way to twist around; I was heading for the concrete at literally break-neck speed, and there was nothing I could do. It was the kind of fall that could kill me. I closed my eyes and prepared for impact. Thump. What? I was about a foot off the ground, held securely in the creature's embrace. I stared into bright yellow, red, and orange-striped eyes. The creature was crouched low, and I was cradled into it. It had saved my life. I put my hand on my heart to keep it from beating out of my chest. I saw a dreamlike sparkling blue line connecting me to the creature. It's eyes dilated and I heard a voice in my head that wasn't my own; it was strange and deep. I need more. There has got to be more. I opened my mouth to scream and its hand quickly covered my mouth. Before I could even make sense of the weird snake-like texture, it stood me up, and I spun. There was a whoosh, and the ladder was folded up and closed. Another whoosh, and it was gone. I'd never been so scared in all my life. Or so turned on. ***** Dear Reader, If this story tickled you, then please be so kind as to honor me with a high five. It's only a mouse click away. I love to hear from readers. (PG comments only please.) I read every note and welcome corrections and positive feedback. Please visit my author page and click on the contact page to get in touch with me. I really want to know what you think. It just takes a minute. If you want to read more about any specific characters, please let me know. Enjoy! I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, sincerely; MJ Darkly Stranger Ch. 02 This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Copyright belongs to MJ Roberts 2014. Please do not reproduce without permission from the author. ***** I relived that moment a million times over. In all my dreams nothing was a wild as that one moment of truth. It lasted about four seconds, and it was more exciting, more stimulating, more mind-bogglingly hot than all the years of my life put together. I never doubted what I saw. But I doubted what I heard in my head. 'I need more. There has to be more.' Where did that come from? Was that telepathy? If so, what did the creature mean? I knew what I wanted it to mean. There were no more nightmares - in the shower or otherwise. There also was no feeling of being watched. I spent a lot of time pacing my hallway wondering where the thing had come from. Could it communicate? Was it dangerous? Was it hiding somewhere on my property? When it would it return? The house was completely quiet. Weeks passed and many questions became one burning question. How could I get it to come back? While the weird dreams stopped, my desires didn't. I formed a plan. It seemed the creature only came when the shower was running or when I was in danger of being hurt. I bought a sexy white satin robe. I went into the bathroom and turned the water on full blast. I knocked over my bathroom shelves and everything on them with as loud a crash as I could manage. I laid down on the floor on my side and artfully arranged the slit in the bottom of the robe showing a revealing swath of leg. I pulled a few locks of hair over my face and waited. I worked as hard as I could to calm my rapid breathing. I waited. I heard a whoosh of movement. I felt a gentle touch on my foot. I struggled not to move as I felt a wonderful, very subtle energy pour through me. Goosebumps sprung up on my skin as the creature quickly palpitated every bone in my feet with that strange pebbly skin. It reminded me of when I pet an iguana and the iguana rubbed back against me with happiness. The creature moved on to my ankles. It spent quite a bit of time on my ankles. I wasn't sure what it was doing and then it occurred to me. It was checking for injuries. It's hand slid up to my hip. Four fingers squeezed my hip in three places. It touched my forehead; its fingers were cool. It ghosted one hand over my breast to my heart and rested its palm there for a few moments. It tucked one lock of hair behind my ear. Then whoosh, it was gone. Well hell. So much for that. I propped myself up. I wasn't sure if it saw through my ruse or if it decided that I was healthy enough to take care of myself. I sighed, got up, disrobed, and adjusted the water temperature and got in the shower. I told myself that that had been dumb, a total failure. Maybe he thought I was clumsy or manipulative. Who knows? I picked up my favorite soap and lathered it in my hands vigorously, letting the smell of jasmine soothe me. I washed my face and when I opened my eyes there was something standing outside the shower stall. I opened the sliding glass. The steam rushed out and a million thoughts raced into my mind. When you picture a fortune teller saying 'A tall dark stranger will enter your life' I don't think they mean this much stranger. The water continued to pour down on me, splashing it a little bit too. "Can you understand English?" I asked. Very slight nod. "Can you speak?" Also slight nod. "Are you a male?" Large nod. One corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. His tail came up in a big graceful motion from behind him until it was face height and waved as if saying 'hello, this should make that obvious'. I said the next thing that came to my mind. "Would you like to come in?" His eyes widened and his pupils dilated to almost twice their size. I extended one hand out to him, palm up. "Come on in, the water's fine." He hesitated one second, then took my hand just briefly, stepped in, and we stared at each other. I still had the bar of soap in my right hand and I massaged it in my palm, lathering it up one-handedly. I guess I expected we'd continue to stare at each other while I finished bathing but he grabbed me and turned me around, yanking me to him, my back to his front. He put his lips near my ear and the first words he spoke shook me to my core. "Where I come from, if a female asks a male into running water, then she is proposing a life union of marriage." I sucked in breath and stiffened. His grip around me tightened. His voice got deeper until it was almost sub-aural. "And if a male steps in with her that means he accepts." Oh shit. Very sharp teeth grazed up my ear and I shivered in the warm water. On the other hand, maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Something slithered around my calf and shin. Oh my God, was that his tail? The soap fell from my hand. He said something, his voice low and grumbly. I couldn't understand it. "If that's not what you meant, I won't hold you to the agreement," he said and there was a pause. He teeth scratched my neck. "This time." His hand stroked my side and my core blossomed, warm and hot. He caressed up and down one side, from shoulder hip, grazing more and more of my breast each time. My head lolled back against him. "I will immobilize you, paralyze you, enter you, join with you." What? Huh? The tail wrapped a few times around my thigh and slid up, firm and quick, locking me even further into place. He wrenched my head around, stared at me. I blinked, unnaturally aware of the water pounding around us, and the heaving of my chest as I breathed heavy. He was so strange up close. Yet, somehow so familiar. I stared at those weird yellow, red, and orange-striped eyes, and I was so hungry for him, but content to just stare. I wondered if that's what he meant by immobilize. Tranced out with desire. He touched his lips to mine, and gently rubbed them side to side. It was not so much a kiss as a sensual brush of the lips. I wanted so much more. I nodded. Then he kissed me, stroking his tongue into my mouth, brutal and hot. I had a panicked thought, there was something different about his tongue. Was it... forked? Then I couldn't think at all because he was running that talented tongue around mine. Then he was touching me, there , matching the in and out caresses of his tongue to down below. Holy shit, was he doing that with the tip of his TAIL? He kissed down my throat. Moved around a little. Suckled one nipple and rolled the other. Pushed his tail further into me. And it, Whoa! Expanded outwards! I trembled, right on the precipice. He withdrew. He lifted me up and, BAM, slammed me against the tile, pining me to wall with his hips, his erection huge between us. He pulled my legs up around his waist. He opened his mouth wide, wider than humanly possible, to reveal two sets of upper fangs, the outer set descending like knives and dripping. Shit. He tilted his head to the side and lunged that mouth at me. He bit down hard, his fangs breaking the flesh. I felt a burn. My body stiffened. I couldn't move. Literally. The only thing I could move were my eyes. Venom. I'm going to immobilize you. Prey. The fangs felt like blades coming out. He looked at me and smiled. He opened that wide, wide jaw again. Was it double hinged? Then outer fangs had retracted and the inner fangs lengthened. I could hear him think directly into my brain. The toxin is a tonic. He bit the other side of my neck. Nothing. Then I flew apart. I came so hard I thought my entire body exploded. It was the biggest rush I ever experienced. My core gushed. He pushed into me in one hard thrust. It was a good thing I was paralyzed because my body wanted to buck against him hard. He pulled out and stroked back in and huge flowing rings of light, red, orange, yellow, blue, crashed into me one after another. I came again. And again. Not a tonic. An aphrodisiac. Times 1,000. The paralyzing venom wore off and every cell tingled and danced. I tightened my legs around him and ground my hips into him with each stroke. He put his forehead to mine. I could hear his thoughts. Yes. More. Mine. I felt him shoot up into me. Join with me, mate. Huh? Then I felt his soul merge into mine, and mine into his. Flying together, dancing. Burning. A lush, hot, blaze. I was glad for the water. He increased his speed and the inferno inside me exploded to thermonuclear. Join. Start. What did he think we were doing now? The colors turned into a tsunami. A barrage. Now. It was untamed. I was still needy, yet satisfied. Mine. Join. Create. What did he want? I came again. And again. And again. Then the multiples rolled over me again and again and I couldn't get them to stop. I contracted around him and opened my mouth in a silent scream. Blinding lights made me close my eyes. I shook so hard, I wished I were paralyzed again. Then I passed out. * Dear Reader, If this story tickled you, then please be so kind as to honor me with a high five. It's only a mouse click away. I love to hear from readers. (PG comments only please.) I read every note and welcome corrections and positive feedback. Please visit my author page and click on the contact page to get in touch with me. I really want to know what you think. It just takes a minute. If you want to read more about any specific characters, please let me know. Enjoy! I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, sincerely; MJ Darkly Stranger Ch. 03 This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Copyright belongs to MJ Roberts 2014. Please do not reproduce without permission from the author. Dear Reader, Thanks so much for all the positive emails and comments! Due to a fan request, I am posting this series bit by bit as I write it. I know this story was a little different from my others, and I really hope you enjoy this short chapter. DARKLY STRANGER Chapter 3 I woke as if from a decade of sleep. Like an apple, bobbing to the surface of water, suddenly breaking through one viscosity and into another. I was lying in my bed. I didn't remember going to bed. I blinked. I turned to my head. My creature was on his side staring at me. Oh yeah. Now I remember. "You wake," he said. "Mmn-hmn, I wake," I said. He slowly reached one dark finger and caressed it down my sternum, and my body arched up to meet him. My eyes closed slightly and I purred. "So good," I murmured. He smiled. I took his hand in mine and studied it. Three long fingers, all almost equal in length, one more finger, slightly on the side, basically a thumb. The fingers had wider pads at the end and webbing in between. Reminded me of a frog. I caressed the back of his hand and found the texture of his skin identical to my own. I frowned. Wasn't his skin pebbly before? "You fell asleep in the middle of our joining. Is this normal for your kind?" Fell asleep? Nuh-uh. Blacked out. He looked at me waiting for an answer. "Maybe, if the sex is really, really good," I said. He smiled wide. No fangs that I could see. Hhm. "I wanted to wait until you awoke before I left," he said and jumped off the bed in one smooth motion. "What?" I reached after him. I was tangled in the sheets, but he stopped when he saw I was lurching almost off the bed trying to grab him. He came back to me and settled into my arms. "I go to register our union and to petition your move to the other side," he said. "What, what?" He had said his statement in the most logical voice. We both furrowed our brows at each other. His confusion seemed to stem from the fact I wasn't on the same page as he was. My confusion was that I was about 100 steps behind him. "Surely you don't want to stay here when you can live in my world? I can only survive here for hours at a time. You do not wish to live with me?" I took a deep breath. What did I really have here after all? A Skype job to misfits who were mandated to classes they didn't want. A house that cost more in utilities than my mortgage payments. "I wish to live with you." He got up to go again. "Wait!" He sat back down on the side of the bed. "Don't go yet." He brushed his lips against mine. I had a powerful flashback of our souls merging together. He opened his mouth and I saw both sets of fangs. He scraped his teeth and fangs lightly up my neck, barely scratching, not breaking the skin, but creating a wonderful rasping sensation. He pulled away slightly. I put my hand on his jaw and gestured for him to open. He did. The fangs retracted. "Amazing," I said. He shrugged. "Do females have fangs?" "One pair." I wondered which ones. "I don't even know your name," I said. He made a facial expression that I interpreted to mean that names weren't as important to them as they were to us. He said a very long, low word that I assumed was his name. I shook my head. There was no way I'd ever be able to get that. He said it again. I frowned. He said it again, much slower. His neck expanded a little when he said it. There was no way I'd ever be able to say it. Damn. "Tah-ah-nan," he said. He'd shortened it. Must be a nickname. I repeated it. He made a face like, close enough. "T-aaaahn." I said. He smiled at that. Lover's pet name. I liked it, it had aaahh in the middle. Still it seemed a mouth full. "Tan," I said. He smiled again. It was okay with him; he didn't care. "Donna," I said while I put my hand on my chest. "Donna," he repeated, taking my hand away and putting his lips there. Obviously he had no problem saying my name. Although it appeared he decided to give me a pet name of his own. "Da'a." He stood up to go. "Wait!" "What?" Now he looked impatient. I had so many questions; I wasn't sure what to ask. "When I first thought I saw you, you looked...whispy?" He frowned. He didn't understand the word. "Like smoke," I said. He walked in front of my blue accent wall and his skin color changed to blue. "Whoa!" I said. He smiled. Then when he moved away his edges seemed to blur. The smoke effect. That was much more freaky. "Nature's magic, protective illusions," he said. Tan kissed me on the cheek and then, whoosh, he was gone. Amazing speed, another of nature's protective bonuses. Then I thought of another question. When would he be back? Everything with him seemed so right, I hadn't questioned it. I got up, got dressed, made myself scrambled eggs for breakfast. I wondered about the change in his skin texture. Did he do that to please me? I went to The Grim to write down the whole experience. Although I couldn't quite find the words. How do you explain your souls actually flying and merging together, and then coming back into you stronger than before? I wrote for about an hour. Tan still wasn't back. I walked around my house, idly cleaning up and putting away things and I wondered if moving in with someone, to another what, world, dimension, what? Wasn't crazy. Yep, it was crazy. But I had been so lonely. And face it, there was no where in this world I was going to get sex like that. Still, it seemed weird that I was so attached. I was usually pretty cautious when it came to dating. And what about love? This was the thought when he came back, all smiles. How many teeth did he have? "The elders approved your cross-over," he said. "Good, ah Tan, I have a question." He came to me and kissed a sweet peck on my lips, then kissed down my cheek, my jaw. "Yes, marret." I assumed that was an endearment for girlfriend from the way he said it. "Ah..." the kisses were a little distracting. I tried to put my thoughts into words. "Do you emit some sort of pheromone?" He stopped kissing me to look puzzled. He didn't understand the word. "Did you," I made a gesture with my hand, "put out a chemical to make me attracted to you?" "Of course." "I mean... ah, do you put out a chemical that makes me want you, like binds me to you." He raised one shoulder in a move that said to me 'well that should be obvious'. "Yes." "I..." I could see his expression change. The male instinct of wariness where he knew he might be in trouble. "Da'a," he traced one finger down my cheek and the texture was pebbly again. "Surely the males of your species try to attract the females." I gave up. "Yeah, we have all kinds of attraction. You didn't do anything wrong. I was just wondering, because I like you so much. Want you so much." He smiled wide. "Then perhaps we should go in the water again now. We have a little time before we have to get back." I licked my lips. "What if I pass out again?" It took him a second to decipher the phase pass out. He smiled. "Then I guess that means I did well, and I will carry you over sleeping." It sounded good to me. Dear Reader, If this story tickled you, then please be so kind as to honor me with a high five. It's only a mouse click away. I love to hear from readers. (PG comments only please.) I read every note and welcome corrections and positive feedback. Please visit my author page and click on the contact page to get in touch with me. I really want to know what you think. It just takes a minute. If you want to read more about any specific characters, please let me know. Enjoy! I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, sincerely; MJ Darkly Stranger Ch. 04 This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Copyright belongs to MJ Roberts 2014. Please do not reproduce without permission from the author. Dear Reader, Thanks so much for all the positive emails and comments! Due to a fan request, I am posting this series bit by bit as I write it. I know this story was a little different from my others, and I really hope you enjoy this short chapter. ***** I spun around my room, euphoria and overwhelm making me dizzy. I was sure he'd get permission, which meant, oh, oh, oh, I was going to live with Tan! I should pack a bag. Right. Pack a bag. I pulled a big duffle out from the back of my closet. I started putting bras, underwear, and socks on the bed. Jeez. I didn't know how much to bring. He said I could come back didn't he? I mean, how easy was it to "cross over"? I decided on five days worth of clothes. I got a little hung up on toiletries. "Yeah, Donna, I don't think you need a hair dryer where you're going," I said to myself when I noticed what I was holding. "Who knows if they even have electricity?" Some of my euphoria broke. What the hell was I doing? Still, I decided to over pack on the toiletry products side, bringing my favorites of everything from shampoo and conditioner to shaving cream and blush. I rarely wore make-up at home, I couldn't picture wearing it somewhere else, but what the hell. Maybe it would make me feel stronger, knowing I had it. All and all it took me about a half an hour to pack. I packed a few books, and I packed my computer, even though I didn't know if I'd have a rechargeable power source, and of course, I packed The Grim. Then I was done, and I started pacing. The longer he took to return, the more insecure I got. It was nuts, going off to who knows where with someone I barely knew. I paced up and down my hallway, having two sides of myself talking to each other, my instincts feeling like going away with Tan was the right thing to do, and my logical part of the brain reiterating over and over again that normal people don't just pair up and drop everything and move in together. I became more and more of a nervous wreck. Tan got back and whoosed next to me and scooped me up in his arms. "Hello, marret," he said. Immediately I felt different, like a switch had been flipped. I had to go with him, I didn't want to spend one minute without him. He kissed my neck, finding sweet spots behind my ear and near my shoulder. He raked fangs lightly over my neck skin. I arched into him, and my chest flooded with a deliciously warm, happy feeling. I remembered the pheromone thing. Something about having him near made me forget everything but him, want only him, need him. I could tell it was chemical but I didn't care, it felt divine. Like everything was right in the world. I thought about the human "love chemicals" PEA and oxytocin. Yeah, I was getting plenty of those all right but this intense attraction I was feeling to him wasn't that. It was something else. But it had to be okay to let myself go under its sway, because I didn't feel like I had much of a choice to do anything else. And it felt so good. "The Elders approved your living permission, and our union, also approved." Tan pulled my arm. "Let's go." I pulled away from him, got my suitcase and duffle bag from the bedroom, and came back. "What's that?" "My stuff," I said. He looked confused. "Well, I need my clothes and stuff," I said, and gestured down at myself. Tan shrugged. He took my arm again, holding me firmly just above the elbow. We went out through the back door. I locked up, resisted the urge to triple check everything. We walked across my backyard, and into the woods behind. We walked for a few minutes, and it seemed quite a long ways, with me carrying both my suitcase and my duffle bag. I was just about to ask Tan to help me when we came to a small clearing, maybe a ¼ acre across and a few feet wide. We crossed the clearing, and on the other side we stopped next to the tree. Tan gestured with his hand. "Door portal," he said. Except there was nothing out of the ordinary there. Tan put his right hand to his left wrist and took something out of his wrist! No, that wasn't possible, was it? Maybe he was wearing some kind of bracelet that looked like wrist skin and he had taken the thing out of that? It looked like a piece of jewelry, a sharp, silver arrowhead. He held it up in front of him. For a brief second, I got a better look at it. It was more like a triangular knife, with some curvy places near the tip. Tan stabbed the pointy tip into the air in front of him, face level, and sliced down. Two halves of scenery separated as if opened by a zipper. "Holy shit," I said, and stepped back. Tan stuck his fingers in the small gap and pulled it open. It was almost as if the woods were a curtain and he pulled it back a bit. "Hurry," he said, reaching his hand out to me. I blinked. Tan whoosed over, picked me up, including the suitcase and the duffle, and walked us through. He put me down, turned around, ran the knife down the open edge and it closed, as if he was zipping it up. He put the knife back in his wrist. Yeah, that was definitely IN his wrist. I looked up at where we had come through. Perfect forest. I was afraid to look around. Instead, I focused on his wrist. "How do you do that?" "How do I do what?" I made the motion he did when he slipped the knife, or key, or whatever it was under his skin. "We have two layers of outer skin," he said. He simply pulled apart his skin, as if there were a small cut there. The knife was resting on top of another black pebbly layer identical to the top layer. He took the knife out. "We can carry things in between the two layers." Tan put the knife back in and his skin closed up over it. "That leaves our hands free." "Do that again," I asked. He did. It was fascinating. "Do you carry anything else like that?" Tan opened his other wrist. I bent down to look, a series of tiny darts. He closed it up. He opened a small place on his chest, I leaned closer. A tiny painting of two people. "Your parents?" "Yes." Okay. So the skin thing was weird, but kangaroos and other marsupials carried babies in a pouch. We pierced ourselves, and carried lockets, and keys, and knives in our pockets, so I guess it was just something to get used to. "Marret," he said softly. "Mmn?" "Are you ready to see my world?" Hell no. "Yes." He firmly squeezed my shoulders and turned me around. My first thought was that if the world from Avatar was even more colorful, it wouldn't be that far off. Tan pointed up. Two suns, and four moons, one in partial eclipse. "Come," he said, and took my arm again. Nothing looked familiar. I guessed it looked a little like what I thought the Amazon rain forest would look like, except huge. Then a flock of about 100 butterflies flew by. They were beautiful, but also somehow reassuring. We had the same butterflies. "Where are we?" I asked. He said a word, it sounded like "Boo-month." I repeated it. He laughed. "Close enough." And then I saw a few houses, like very large huts really. I was staring at them, and Tan was still pulling me along. We went through an archway of trees and vines, and I was standing in a dirt field, staring at five, very serious-looking beings on thrones of various sizes. The Elders. I didn't need Tan to tell me that. He pushed me forward a little. I looked at all five people. They pretty much all looked like Tan, except one had skin that was a dark chocolate brown, and one had skin that was a very dark purple. I didn't know if they were male or female. The one in the middle said something to Tan, in a language I couldn't begin to understand. It had lots of rolling r's, and flemy ch sounds, and what sounded like cricket chirps. They went back and forth for a minute until I caught one word I did know from Tan, as he gestured toward me. "Donna." I did a little curtsey. God damn it, Tan should have prepared me for this. "Hello, Child." He had a very deep voice. Once I knew he was a male, I was able to see the tail behind him; I hadn't thought to look for it before. "Hello," I said. "Tan has asked for your stay, and we have agreed." I nodded. "Until you become a citizen, you are our guest. If you hurt another, or kill an animal, or show violence in any way, you will be banished, and Tan will be punished. Do you understand?" "Yes," I said. "We do not violent here," he said. "I promise." "You are not to disturb the way." I looked at Tan. He nodded. I nodded. Tan told me the names of each Elder, which were so difficult not only didn't I try to repeat them, I didn't worry that I might not remember them. Tan said something that sounded in tone like a thank you. We both bowed, and then left. "Come," Tan said. He took my arm. He took me to what I thought might be the equivalent of a main town square. A lot of beings were staring at me. "I did not think this through," I whispered to myself. "Do not worry," Tan said. We stopped in front of a large hut. "This is my house." I looked at it. It seemed to be made out of small trees and some kind of large green and purple leaves that were the size of cars. Tan opened the door and we went inside. The first thing I noticed was the waterfall. It was a shallow blue and green rock wall and well with a perfect cascade of water over it. Then I looked around the open space. A large red palette to the right, which I assumed was his bed. A hearth and maybe a separate room or closet to the left. I looked up. The entire roof was like a sky-light. I pointed up. "Those leaves are from the Tetrasaurast plant," Tan said. That roof is made of leaves? It looked like one big pane of smooth glass. "They change color slightly with the weather." "Oh," I said. Tan moved my suitcase and duffle bag near the bed and ran his hands over my shoulders, my sides, my breasts. He kissed my neck, nuzzling his fangs against me. "I want you to..." He didn't say anything more for a minute, pausing to tweak my nipple. "Be comfortable here. Even though we are not complete, I can sense your discomfort." Not complete? "Will stroking you make you more comfortable?" I don't know, but it will certainly distract me. "Yes," I said. He looked at the waterfall. I remembered our shower at my house. Was the waterfall wall his shower? Then Tan looked at the bed. But instead he led me over to a chair I hadn't noticed. "Marret," he said softly. "Thank you." Tan sat down, and pulled me down onto his lap, straddling him. He fit my core tightly into his growing expression, and smiled the wicked smile of sexy ownership, possession, and anticipation, that is apparently universal to all males, no matter the species. He nuzzled my neck. "Da'a," he said softly. "My beauty." Tan kissed my neck, behind my ear, over my collarbones. He ran his hands over the side of my breasts. Tan licked his top lip and then smiled with a truly devious expression. He held up one hand, and with a sharp, wthoowhupt sound, teeny tiny bristle spikes, burst out of the pads of his fingertips. He slowly brought that prickly fingertip toward me, and touched and rolled my nipple. I arched into him with a moan-like scream. It felt fantastic. "You like that, marret?" He whispered in my ear in a low husky tone. I ground against him. He sucked my other nipple into his mouth. I let my head drop back. I felt more than saw the lights between us. He increased the pressure a little and I came. Tan laughed. That pleased, contented laugh of a man who knows he satisfied his woman. Apparently that's universal too. Tan stood me up, and quickly stripped me of my shoes, pants, and underwear. He stroked himself a few times while staring at me with those amazing foreign eyes, in the most incredibly intense gaze. Then he grabbed me by the hips and lowered me onto him. "So. Good." I said. Tan had no problem maneuvering my weight up and down, kissing me until I was wild for another release, making me feel close to him with whatever alien chemical and light show was his way. His tail snaked in between us and found my clit and I came, and then came again as he did. I slumped onto his shoulder. "Amazing, Tan. Incredible. Mind blowing." "And now you are relaxed and happy." "Yes, Tan. Relaxed and happy." He disentangled us and helped me get dressed. "You are okay to visit?" It took me a minute to decipher this one. Maybe he wanted to have a guest over? "Yeah. I'm okay." He took my hand and led me out of his house, past more of the amazing jungle landscape, and to another house similar to his own. Tan didn't knock. He just said his name, the whole long complicated syllables of it, and waited. A few seconds later a male opened the door. Very similar to Tan, but with a slight dark purple tint to his skin. He saw me and his eyes opened wide. He stuck his hand out, in the handshake gesture, and I automatically reached out to shake it. "Hi, I'm John. Come in." His English was perfect. Weirdly so. And did he just say his name was... John? There were three very human children in his hut. They had light mocha skin and dark blondish curly hair. "My mate, Donna," Tan said. "These are my boys, Peter, Josh, and the little one is J.M. Boys, come say hello." The two boys who looked to me to be about seven and nine came and stood in front of John and said hi. They had the same strange multicolor eyes as John. "Hi," the baby said. Freaking me out. "Ah, hi everyone." "Your mate is not home," Tan said in a half question, half statement way. "No, she's down by the river. But I called her when I saw your..." he paused here, "wife, and she will be here in a minute." Wife? Yikes. It was all taking me a minute to process. He called her? The perfect English. The kids. "How long have you been here?" John asked me. "About two minutes," I said. He laughed. "Would you like something to eat? You must be hungry." My stomach growled in response and John laughed again. After the amazing sex session with Tan I was hungry, I just hadn't realized it until John said something. "How is it your name is John?" I asked. "That's my human name. My Bumonth name is..." and then he said a word that began with a Ja sound and had even more clicks and complicated sounds than Tan's name. "John it is," I said. "All the boys have Bumonth names too." "Got it." The door opened. "Hey honey, what—whoa." "This is my wife, Marie," John said. "Whoa. Again." Marie said. "Hi." She came and shook my hand. She stared at me for a minute. She seemed even more surprised than John. "Tan. Holy shit." Tan shrugged. The baby pointed at me and said, "human." "That's right, sweetheart," Marie said. "Human." "How many of us are here?" I asked. "In the village, just me, and now you. On the planet, maybe five or six hundred." I did a double take. A triple take really, as I used my fingers to count my brain's problems processing. First, she called it a planet. I didn't know what it was, I guess I was thinking of it as some magical pocket. Calling it a planet was weird. Second, just her. Third, five or six hundred? What? I just blinked. "How long have you been here?" Marie asked. "I just got here." "Well, I'm sure you have lots of questions. It's overwhelming. But you'll get used to it." I doubt it. "How long have you been here?" I asked. "Twenty-five years." What? She looked about thiry-five. John stepped into what I guess was another room, and came out with packets of ...something. He went to a wall and pulled down a table top. "Crato," John said. "You'll like this." I came over and looked at what he had. They were about the size of a deck of cards, wrapped in some sort of light green leaf, and tied with a thin vine. I touched one. It was cold. "You probably wont like the outer leaf," Marie said. She untied her packet, peeled the leaf off the top part and took a bite. I looked at the one she was eating. The inside looked like very packed mashed potatoes. Tan and John each took one and so did I. I unwrapped mine and bit into it. "Wow, it's really good," I said. Both Tan and John smiled. "It tastes kind of like..." I tried to think. "Mangos, potatoes, tapioca, and spinach all wrapped together?" Marie asked. "Yeah, that's it. But it's delicious." "It comes from the manioc root, on Earth. That's why they go there. Grows under mushrooms. Not only do Bumonths love it, over the years they've developed where they need it to survive." I blinked as I tried to process this. "Your yard is rich in root," Tan said. I felt like my brain was far behind the conversation. I ate the rest of the crato. "I hate to eat and run, but I'm overwhelmed, and tired, and a little... I don't know. I'd love to talk to you more. Can I come back later?" "Sure, anytime," Marie said. "Don't eat the pahota-click-rrrr. It's poisonous to humans. And don't eat the pah-rrrah stew. It has it in it." I looked at Tan. He nodded. "Thank you. I will watch for this." Okee-dokey. We left. People stared at us as we walked back to Tan's house. As soon as we got there I heard someone say their name outside. Tan said something that I assumed was come in. The door opened. Creature. Totally black like Tan. Slight breasts, no tail. She was carrying something. "The females don't speak English," Tan whispered to me. Does this mean all the males do? The woman, because it was too much trouble to think of them as just female or creature, I had to think of them in nouns used for people, went over to a wall and put down a table top. She put down what she was carrying on the table. Removed a leaf from the top. It smelled great. Food. I looked at it. Two shades of orange, and a little bit of grey. Looked like a casserole in a leaf bowl. Tan was talking. I assumed he was thanking her. She smiled at me. Bowed and left. I went over to smell the casserole. "This smells great," I said. "Jeeka is a very good cook," Tan said. Finally, a name I could pronounce. "You will weave with her." Okay-dokey. Whatever you say Tan. Although I'm thinking my weaving skills are going to be lacking. Someone else announced themselves at the door. Another woman. More food. A few minutes passed. Another woman at the door. More food. A guy. Food. Two more women. Food. This is great, it's a welcome wagon, and I won't have to cook. "I guess it's okay that I'm here," I said. Tan looked confused. "Yes. You have permission to be here. You are here now." I wanted to lie down and take a nap, but someone else announced themselves at the door. More food. Jeez, where were we going to put all this stuff? All and all, I figured it was about fifteen people who came by. When the last person left there was no more room on the table for food. I eyed the bed. "You would like to lie down?" Tan asked me. "Yeah." "I will lie with you." "That would be great." Tan motioned for me to lie down, then he followed me and snuggled me into him. I was too amazed to really sleep soundly but too overwhelmed not to check out a little bit. I drifted, thinking about the amazing sex we had. I gloried in Tan's warm body, and how great it felt to be near him. After a while, I drifted deeper into a light sleep. * I must have slept through the night. Maybe my subconscious worked some things out, because when I woke I felt better, more able to handle things. Tan's body was tangled over mine. "You wake." "Yes, I wake." "Are you hungry?" "Yes." I looked over at the table. It was up. The food was gone. Tan hoped up. Whoosh. Into another room. Back with the casserole. It was cold. He handed me a curved leaf. I'm guessing this was a spoon. He had one as well. We ate from the same bowl. Darkly Stranger Ch. 04 "What is this?" I asked. I couldn't make out the first word, but the second word was definitely roots. It was delicious. After I had eaten a little Tan took the bowl away and brought out something else. A little moss colored treat, about the size and shape of a stack of three or four quarters. Tasted like mango. "Are you okay to visit?" "I'm okay to visit." I followed him across the town square. Not so many people stared this time. He announced himself outside a hut. The door opened. A man who looked exactly like Tan answered. "Donna," Tan said. "My son, Taah-rrr." Son? What? Taah-rrr nodded his head at me. I blinked. Somehow the thought of Tan having children never occurred to me. The weirder thought was that meant he had had a wife. I was hoping this was past tense. I looked at Tan. Surely that was past tense. Taah-rr stepped back and we walked in. "You are gladly here," he said. I was pretty sure he meant I'm glad you're here. Taah-rr offered us more of the same little moss-colored treat we had just had for breakfast and Tan and I each had one. I looked back and forth between Taah-rr and Tan, scrutinizing to see if I could find any physical differences. I couldn't. Maybe there were some that they could see, but to me identical twins couldn't possibly look more similar. It was a little freaky. Taah-rr and Tan spoke to each other for a minute in their language. They embraced in a full body hug and held it for a minute. Then we left. "Is your first wife still alive? Your first mate?" "No. She died a long, long time ago." "Oh." How long ago is long ago? What was she like? I didn't say anything. It took me a minute to realize we weren't walking back to Tan's house, but to John and Marie's. Tan announced himself at the door, adding my name to the end of his. One of the boys, Peter, opened the door. "Hello." "Hi," I said. Marie came out carrying a large basket. "Hey, I was just going down to the river. Want to come?" "Sure," I said. Tan nuzzled my neck and then went inside. Marie and I walked past huge purple leaves and reddish trees. "I have so many questions, I'm not even sure where to start." "Yeah, I hear you." "You called this a planet." "Yes." "Care to explain that?" "Hey, I was an account. Quantum physics wasn't my thing. But as near as I can understand it, from what John says, is that Bumonth exists in a bubble that is attached to Earth like so." She put both her palms together. "It's a parallel planet stuck to earth because of a vacuum that a worm hole created during or right after the big bang." Ooookay then. "Yeah. Whatever you said." Marie chuckled. "I'm not sure the physics of it matters so much. The guys go back for the root. They all carry the openers. You can't go back by yourself, but you can go back with one of them, as often as you like. I used to go back once a month or so before I had kids. Now not so much." I was silent for a minute taking this in. "Everyone goes back for roots?" "Just the males." "Hhm." "What else do you want to know?" "What's with the chemical thing?" She laughed. "The ba'ah'grah'had?" "Um, yeah, what you said." "It's how they attract one person and then keep track of that person." "Wait, what?" "You didn't know?" "Know what?" "Oh boy." "What?" I said. "What do you mean, keep track of?" "The ba'ah'grah'had. Once a male sees someone he's attracted to, even from afar, even just once, that feels right to him...Bam. The ba'ah'grah'had. It's a deep release of chemicals that specially alters to best fit the recipient. Makes them not just want the male, but also be able to communicate telepathically and empathically with the guy. And, more importantly, that same chemical feeds back to them to give them a constant fix on where you are, emotionally and physically." I blinked. "So Tan knows where I am, as well as how I am?" "To the most minute inch. Yeah." "Whoa. Not too super creepy." "It's a natural defense for them. If something dangerous happened to you, Tan would be here in a few seconds. Less than that considering we're in easy walking distance from my house, and they can run up to 40 miles an hour when stressed." I frowned. "It's good news for us. It means if you ever, ever need him, Tan will be there. And emotionally, if you are happy, he'll share that with you. If you are upset, you don't need to try to find the words for why. He'll understand it, because he'll feel it. That will give him a better ability to fix it. And trust me, there's not much they can't fix." "Huh." "Humans are pretty simple with our types of discontentment. We basically want more attention, more love, more recognition, more food, more praise, more ability to be needed, the kind of stuff that is simple to give if the communication is there." We reached the river. Marie put her basket on the bank and reached her hand deep in the clear water and pulled out something that looked like a plum, except it was a slightly glowing magenta color. "Help me gather some of these?" We ended up lying down on the edge of the bank in order to plunge our arms in deep to pick the fruit. "Any other questions?" "What do you know about Tan's first wife?" Marie was silent for a minute. "Nothing. He must have had a mate before, because I know Taah-rrr is his son. But he hasn't been with anyone for as long as I've been here. That's twenty-five years. He didn't have a mourning branch on his door when I got here, and they keep those up for ten years, so..." I let that sink in. "Wait, he's been a widower for thirty-five years?" "At least." "Fuck. How old is he?" I didn't expect her to answer. "I don't know exactly, you'd have to ask him, but he's a childhood friend of John's so... about a hundred." I scowled. I was beginning to feel like maybe she was just messing with me. It must have shown on my face. She put her hands up in a pose of surrender. "That's almost like middle age for them." "So, I'm in love with a telepathic centenarian frog-man speed racer?" Marie laughed. "Yeah, I guess that about covers it. Except you forgot to add an adjective for mind-blowing, consistent sex." "Okay," I said. "A telepathic centenarian, exuberant orgasmic inducing, frog-man speed racer." Her basket was full. We started walking back. "Yeah, Donna, that about covers it." "This is going to be one hell of a ride." ### Dear Reader, If this story pleased you, then please be so kind as to honor me with a high five. It will mean a tremendous amount to me. It's only a mouse click away. If you liked the story, drop me a note. Tell me what you liked and why, and how you feel. I love to hear from readers. (PG comments only please.) I read every note and welcome corrections, suggestions, and positive feedback. You can leave a public comment or use the contact tab on my author page to get in touch with me. I really want to know what you think. It just takes a minute. I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, sincerely; MJ