Ink Soaked Penumbra
Chapter 5: Shadow of hope, Light of desire
“You remember me. I’m glad. There were times when I was fairly sure you’d forgotten me or chosen to pretend you had.” Even if I had forgotten her, the feeling of her body curled up against the back of mine would have refreshed my memory in an instant.
“Silhouette . . . You were my shadow kitten. You slept curled up against me. Some of the fun we had . . .” My cheeks blush, and for the first time in so long it actually feels like my cheeks are flushing in that silver way they used to. I know they’re not that color yet, but they will be again and . . . damn it! That light up there in the not too far distance is a red, not green.
I’ve only just barely gotten my sparks back and I’m already acting like a rookie all over again.. Losing my powers was the best thing that ever happened to my career. Getting them back is great, but I should keep in mind that going back to being silly little candy brained Silver isn’t going to help me get this done. I’ve learned a lot since I lost Chronos. Forgetting any of it would be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done—including some rather recent events.
Oh well, I guess you can teach an old dog her old tricks again but they might bring back some old habits. “I remember . . . Do you think that I could ever forget those nights curled up against you, mewling like a kitten?” Silhouette squirms against me as if to get more comfortable, but it feels like more.
“Well, I don’t even know what happened to you after the cops took down Chronos. They could have made you forget me, Pink, Dust, and The Lady . . . Forgetting wouldn’t make me happy, but it would have helped with the . . . loss.” The light turns green, and I keep driving, though at a slower speed than before. I want this trip to take some time. We have catching up to do and I don’t know just how long she’s going to stick around. “Was that you, who stopped Quillspawn’s minion from inking up my gas tank?”
Silhouette purrs, and my whole body melts forward into Sylvia. Out of everyone and everything that happened in that tall, tall tower . . . I admit, I’ve probably dwelled on my kitty the least. Pink, Dust, and I . . . there was an incestuous sisterhood among us. Windy was my pillow. The Lady was . . . too much.
It makes me feel awful looking back on it, considering that she was the friend I betrayed. It didn’t feel like I was betraying her. I was giving her a new life. I was obeying The Lady . . .
Hopefully, she doesn’t hold it against me. She doesn’t seem to. “If you mean the pale girl in the fetish getup? Yes. I’ve been keeping an eye on you since you got back into town. I was going to stick my nose into the last mess you got yourself into, but there were two of you and you had a little group built up . . . There wasn’t time for us to talk. When I saw how scared you were, and alone, I thought you could use a hand.”
“No hard feelings then for playing ‘sparksie’ under the table and handing you over to a woman who turned you into a kitty slave? I mean, I never thought that I treated you all that bad, but I wouldn’t really blame you if you held a grudge.” She’s been watching me? I don’t want to be suspicious, but . . .
She purrs into my ear again and squirms a little more against me. “You didn’t really have much of a choice . . . and considering the fact that The Lady would have turned me into anything for you, I think I got off easy being your bikini kitten. Even if I wouldn’t love to be back in that building again, my memories of you . . . are not unhappy ones. It took me awhile to get used to walking upright, but once I did, well . . . I’ve missed you. You were always a sweet girl.”
Without Silhouette I probably wouldn’t have lived long enough to be drawn in by The Lady. If anyone helped me get all of the sense I had back when I was Silver Girl, it was her. I remember telling her I’d always wanted to be closer to her when I tried to snatch her . . .
That wasn’t true, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t always find her attractive and skillful.
When she’s Silhouette her long black hair looks like the shadow of night itself, and her body is covered with skin taut shadow. To anyone else it would be her costume, but I know it’s a part of her. She can reshape it or restyle it at will. I don’t know all of what she can do, but she never failed to impress me.
Outside of her shadow, her black hair still looks just as black, and just the perfect length to slide fingers through. Her eyes always look a little dark, maybe cloudy, but gorgeous. She’s almost tan . . .
If closing my eyes wouldn’t be stupid in the middle of a drive, I could imagine the way her entire body looked with that bathing suit like bit of cloth The Lady gave her. I can still remember the way her bell would ring when she would run about making me mewl at the sight. My yummy little shadow kitty was always so adorable. The way she would always try to protect me from Pink and Dust was almost as endearing as the way she would purr and mewl while rubbing herself into me, curling up in my lap . . . it was paradise. I didn’t lie to her when I said I wanted her to be my shadow, staying so close . . .
“And you were always the sweetest kitt- . . . the sweetest kitten. I shouldn’t be ashamed to discuss that, should I? You’re right, I mean . . . All that I was doing was obeying The Lady . . . and hey, you’re not trying to kill me. I should take that as a complement.” I take a hard turn, and a part of me is surprised that she doesn’t fling me off of the bike.
“Silver . . . Relax. I am not here to hurt you. If I was, do you think I would be grinding up against you on your bike?” She has a point, but I have to keep a little suspicion, at least until I feel sure. “You’re in over your head with this one. I’m here to help.”
“Well, you are right about that. Remember what I told you about that witch Yanta when you were curled up beside me, trying to help me feel solid enough to focus after she frayed my mind? The woman I have a disagreement with now is that threat times a thousand and she knows everything about me. She’s probably even aware of you. She has her fingers in everyone I can turn to. She has a mirror that can show her anything that’s already happened, and my sparks just slow her down.” Sighing, I take another turn and stop at another red light. “You’ve been at this longer than me. I’m open to suggestions.”
Red turns green, and Sylvia purrs along with Silhouette as we start to move anew. That sound, that sweet vibration, makes my whole body feel alive and pacified in a way I haven’t felt since I lost her. Could I have provided the same kind of feeling for Silhouette, caring for her like that?
The Lady made me feel nice. Knowing that she was the one responsible for me made a lot of life easier. My life had structure. It wasn’t an altogether unwelcome feeling.
Even still, I can never have it back, and if I don’t stop wanting it back, it will continue to be used against me. I’m growing very tired of that. “Then the first thing we need to do, is get to some safe ground, and . . . reminisce. My apartment is safe. Take a left here, then a right at West Union . . . When I said we were going the same way, it was only half a joke. It’s a nice neighborhood.”
She knows where I live. That’s not too surprising if she’s been watching over me, but it’s a little too . . . convenient. All of this is too convenient. Still, she wants to help . . . and I need it.
Dolores is way too far away now to get Pandora’s help. Jade could probably help, but . . . no. She’s had too many run-ins with these types before. I’m Silver again, smarter than I used to be, and I’m a big girl. I don’t need an army to stop a single threat. Silhouette was my kitty. She’s acting like she always used to, well, maybe, but a healthy medium. She’s talking English, but she’s being playful. “Okay, we’re almost there . . .”
“So all of your friends have been infected by whatever that woman has been spreading around? I’ve been watching the police who were in that car, and they haven’t been acting strangely. Everything seems localized to you.” She squirms closer, and I take that left. The right isn’t very far.
“On purpose. I think she did it in some misguided attempt to convince me her side was better, but I’m not sure why . . . Well, I know why, but it’s insane. I imagine now that I’ve turned her down, very shortly that will change. The hospital the police were taken to is going to be crawling with inked nurses, doctors, and patients. I wouldn’t trust a single member of the Midas City police department. Any patients released could spread the mental parasite her ink is like wildfire. It could be out of Midas already, but I think her initial desire is here. If she can get Midas, and I mean really get Midas . . . It won’t be easy to drag her out.” Aiming for the whole world is a bit much. Aim for a city . . .
Silhouette shudders against me, and I stop after taking the right. “Three blocks, and then I show you where you can park. Damn. I keep my eye on you, and now I’m drawn up in this. If this wasn’t so serious my advice for the both of us would be to leave town.”
“I know Silhouette, but I have the feeling that if we leave town, Midas will be Ink City by the time we got back.”
Her apartment is really a short walk away from mine. When I’ve gone out riding on Sylvia to clear my head I’ve passed it every time. Aureus and I passed it every night on our patrols . . . It’s no wonder that my once-shadow had such an easy time keeping tabs on me. I wonder how she first got wind of me coming into town again, but I’m not sure I want to ask her and tip my hand that I’m not as trusting as I used to be.
It’s not too big, but it’s not too small either. The good thing is that I can take off my mask and pop out my contacts. I’m not sure they liked the ink moving over my eyes. If everything goes well, I might not need to wear them soon.
Spark!
From both of my pointer fingers I slide a small little glimmer of silver energy, and dance it like a sing-a-long across my other fingertips. To try and add difficulty I’ve been making more and more sparks as the process goes on, and surprisingly enough even large numbers feel easy to keep track of. My mind feels like its actually moving faster now that my power is back!
“Silver . . . Sarah . . . Do you have to keep doing that?” Silhouette slides back into her living room with an eyebrow raised, her costume of shadows melted off. Her black tattoo that curves around her eye frames half of her face in such a pretty way. Her hair covers the other side.
Knowing that tattoo slides all of the way down her body makes the sight of it arousing, and breaks my conversation. With a bright flash that still makes my eyes wince, but hopefully will stop soon, I make the sparks vanish in a flash of light. “Sorry Shadow. I just want to get used to having my sparks back again so that I can, well, be ready when we figure out what to do next. Also I need to use as much of my power as I can so that I can get my silver color back. Silver and Silver Girl might have looked more or less the same, but Patina doesn’t. I want to keep the identities separate.”
She smiles, curling her pretty pink lips and making her visible eye shine with happiness, in that special way only dark eyes can shine. They always look blue, but so dark blue that you can’t be sure. The embarrassing thing about this, her being outside of her shadow, is that it makes me realize I have no clue what her ‘normal’ name is.
That’s okay, she’ll always be “Shadow” or “Kitten” to me. “That makes sense. In case you’re wondering why I wanted us to come here, I have some wards set up to protect my apartment from scrying. It might not block out her vision, but it’s better than nothing.”
“Scrying? Quillspawn, Yana, whatever you want to call her . . . she used this huge golden mirror to see the past There was a huge ruby on top of it . . . Ever heard of anything like that?” Oh I hope she has.
“Not exactly like that, but the theory is a familiar one. Scrying is where traditionally you use either a pool of water or a mirror to see the past, the present, or the future. But the future is always in motion, always changing. Then people like your doppelganger come into the present and cause a whole new time line to erupt . . . At least, according to popular time space theory.” She says it all so nonchalantly, that I could almost forget she just mentioned The Domina as if everybody knew about it.
Since when did everyone start getting the Sarah LaSilvas newsletter? I’m going to need to find the publisher and spark them a thing or two . . .
My face shows the shock, but to try and calm down I spark myself without moving, just a small little sharp spark, and sigh at the afterglow . . . and then start dancing them around in my hand again. “My . . . doppelganger . . . The Domina Argenti is not a doppelganger; she’s my alternate future self.”
“I know Silver, I was trying to make a joke. Relax?” Silhouette smiles and sits down next to me. She’s in my personal space, and then she’s against me, but . . . it doesn’t feel like how it should feel. It just feels like having . . . a runaway cat curling up next to me. I make the sparks orbiting one hand poof before sliding the fingertips through her hair like I used to. “Mmm, thanks, I missed that . . . but yes, it was a joke.”
Stroking her hair like this makes me feel so warm and happy. I feel younger being with Silhouette again. It’s not as if I’m old now, but well . . . I’m not the twenty three I was when I met her. She makes me feel even younger than that, in a safe, youthful way.
A part of me really wonders if I could convince both her and Olivia that we could use a kitty . . .
“How did you find out about that, my sweet little shadow kitty . . .?” This is such a perfect moment. It feels like I’m stepping over some invisible line of once-ownership conduct but . . . I don’t care. If she tells me to stop, I will, but if she doesn’t . . . I don’t want to ever stop. Witches to the left of me, ink stains to the right . . . “I really hope you don’t mind me calling you that . . .”
She shakes her head, and nuzzles more against me. Her bangs fall away from her covered eye, and I let my fingers absorb the sparks to give her just a taste of the bliss across her eyelid as I gently push the strands further away . . . and taste her in the process.
Silhouette tastes so much different than Quillspawn. In Quillspawn I tasted a deep, dark slick energy that was like tar. With Silhouette, I can taste the shadow that she uses, the shadow that covers her and fills her . . . It’s delightful. I can feel the way that her shadow reacts to my light. It doesn’t shy away it just grows, expanded by the sparks, illuminated, but still so strong and glorious. Just because her shadow is lit, doesn’t make it fade. It only intensifies in reaction.
Just like my sparks shine brighter in her darkness, her darkness’s concealment is all the more noticeable with a spark.
I’m not nearly eloquent enough to describe it, but in a way, it feels like our opposite traits only highlight them in such a sensual way. Just a few minutes here with Silhouette have made all of my stress from Quillspawn feel . . . like such a moot point. Realizing that brings back some, but not much.
“Mmmm . . . Well . . . If you’re in the right circles . . . It’s common knowledge. And you know . . . You can wear that mask or not . . . I slept in the same bed with you for a year. If you thought I couldn’t see through that . . .” My cheeks burn, and Silhouette smiles in a crooked lazy way as she nuzzles into my fingers. “I knew the moment I saw you, that Patina was my Silver . . .”
“Your Silver . . . Just how intensely have you been watching me . . . and for how long?” I let some silver trail out from my fingertips and slowly slide them across my kitten’s cheek. “It’s not that I don’t trust you . . . okay, I’ll admit . . . a part of me doesn’t trust you . . . but I want to. I don’t taste any of Quillspawn on you . . . but you’ve been watching me, and you’re okay with me sizzling you just a little . . . I’m allowed to not be the most trustworthy woman in the world. After all . . . right before you became my kitty, I betrayed you . . .”
Silhouette stiffens, and that might have something to do with the spark that I slide right into her lips with the very tip of my pinky. Her lips quiver and she tenderly moans. That sound resonates through my body, and I’ve never felt better or safer in a tender way.
Her voice comes out in a whimper, but it’s not one that sounds at all upset. “I-I’ve been watching you . . . Since you caught that thief. I watched you when you used that pendant to make her turn herself in . . . and I knew that you were asking for trouble. So I followed you. I had to make sure that you were okay. No one’s voice sounds like yours to me . . . No matter how much work they did to me, to try and make me just like I was before Chronos . . . Your voice still felt like home.”
“Home . . .” I hold one of my hands in front of my face, and slide more and more of that energy out of my fingertips just to watch. My sparks are back . . . Hah! As long as I just keep on using them, I’ll be Silver again. I can be me again. I’ll never have to be so scared, so afraid . . . I can make things right again!
“Home . . .” Silhouette looks up to me with loving eyes, and I press sparking lips to her forehead. So much of this is wrong but the way she clings to me, mewling like she used to in those low feline ways, it doesn’t feel wrong. Nothing feels wrong. This is home again, this is Silver and Silhouette, the sparkling ray of hope and the protecting shade . . . oh I can’t say it right, but I can taste the understanding in her, I can feel that she knows why I’m doing this and she wants it!
The flow changes, stops feeling so much like jolts, and it finally feels like a current again from my lips to her skin. I can feel the current making her toes curl and her eyes flutter as she mewls. I can feel the nerves in her nipples tightening as she grinds herself against me and it lights a fire in me stronger than any fire I’ve ever felt before.
I love it.
All of the old times, of control, of surrender, all of the times where I would get my hands on Dust or Pink are nothing compared to the feeling of my kitten wanting me. Deep inside of her mind, below her shadow, below her fear, below her . . . she wants me. I can taste the way my voice sounds to her and it is . . .
It’s beyond words. Devotion, loyalty, cravings, oh I can taste that the same way I felt about The Lady she felt about me. I can taste her nightmares that would always follow with her waking in the hospital bed of the recovery center . . . and knowing that her vision of being curled up on top of me, my silver fingertips scratching behind her ears . . . knowing it wasn’t real and would never be real again. I can taste how gut wrenching it was and how good it feels for her now to know she can have it again, and that it’s safe.
My lips pull away from her forehead, and she meows just like she used to. It’s a soft, tender sound. It’s a pleading sound. “S-silver . . . I want . . . mroooow . . . I want to feel . . . silver . . .”
If anyone can help me stop Quillspawn . . . and turn silver again, become Silver again . . . it’s her. I need her now as much as she’s needed me before. She’s my chance to reintegrate everything that I tried to bury when Yanuka tore the sparks out of me with that flower . . .
“I’ll give you all of the silver I have baby . . . My sweet little kitty needs some of her special silver milk . . . and her sweet silver mommy is going to indulge her . . .” That’s when it finally occurs to me . . . the suit has been letting my sparks through. The suit let her ink through. Either something happened to the suit or . . . I don’t know. It’s a disturbing thing to realize. That was supposed to be the way the Slut Squad took down The Domina . . . by making her spark into her own gloves. Even beside that point, I only just realized it. I’m only barely managing to worry . . . something is wrong . . .
Maybe . . . maybe her ink affected me more than I know. Maybe my experience inside of my mind-bubble had more to it, or . . . or . . . My lungs feel on the verge of hyperventilation, but somehow mellow.
Just to be sure, I spark up a fingertip, and the fabric doesn’t bounce it back. I fling it back at my hand, and it goes right into me with a jolt along my arm and all along my spine. This brings up too many new facts, too many questions, too many . . . too much.
Silhouette is making me relax too much, maybe that’s it . . . I’ve barely even realized I was wearing gloves. I’ve been feeling everything through the fabric as if it wasn’t even there. Have I stopped sparking since I got my sparks back? My mind feels so bright, and it . . . oh it doesn’t want me to think about this any more . . . I don’t know if I can.
“Meeeeeew . . . pleeeeease . . . mommy . . .” Her voice might be working for a human language, but it only barely sounds like it. Her eyes are almost closed, but what of them I can see are so full of desire, desperate desire, and a deep passionate need. I can taste it in her when I kiss her forehead again.
“Just a minute sweetie . . . Mommy just had a little moment of worry there . . . but it’ll . . . It’ll be okay . . .” Carefully I reach back, and pull the fabric up along the seam so I can unzip the suit and pull it off of me so it hangs from around my waist. It peels off almost painfully but it only feels good. Everything is twined with this burning hot feeling of good that I can’t seem to turn down.
My skin is almost shining, almost that perfect silver color of gray, but just barely not. My nipples are another matter. They’re harder than I’ve ever felt them since I lost my sparks, and they’re shining just as silver as they used to be. Just thinking of them being so perfectly silver makes me remember Lida’s . . .
Sweet and needy, my darling kitten latches onto my nipple, and it almost feels like she’s suckling the sparks right out of me. Her lips tighten as the current opens, and she mews helplessly, cravingly as my energy sears through her, melting her mind, and stimulating each and every nerve in her body until all she can feel is the pleasure we’re sharing.
It feels like for one, perfect moment our selves sync, my energy catches onto hers, her mind latches onto mine, and I scream for the both of us as the torrent rends through both of us, and I hold her against me tighter than I’ve ever held anyone in my entire life.
I can feel every part of us sizzling as aftershocks burn and arc across us both . . . and I let my eyes melt closed with my lips to her forehead, and our feelings of completion entwined . . .