One Foot In

Chapter Four – Soul Man

A/N: A special thanks to my reviewers Lulu and Negative Nine. Quick answer to the question, yes he was the intruder.

Just a reminder: I’m trying to write 1,666 words per day for Nanowrimo. As of this posting I’m 45% (22,600 words) of the way when I really should be at 50%. So time to write, write, write and catch up.

With no time for revisions, I hope that this is coherent enough to read and I hope that you all like the story. Please do send me some encouragement if you do.

Hugs,

April


It was actually a very upscale place for being an all night diner. Nothing like the Edward Hopper picture, though. And like most diners in the city, it wan byn by Greeks, but had anything and everything you could think of.

We sat in the sidewalk café area, which was cold but kinda fun. The large glass enclosure would allow us to watch the sunrise over the city. I ordered bagels and lox with a schmear and he got the breakfast special number 14, aka the lumberjack special. It must be expensive to keep a huge boike ike that alive. I could see Thor eating one or two of those a day. Of course, sigh, Josh had quite an appetite, too. He always watched his health, though. Egg white omelet’s and wheatgrass smoothies were a constant in our lives. Me, I was the mezzo mezzo, I’d eat a little bit healthy and then, when he wasn’t looking, undo all the good with greasy potato chips or some other sinfully bad sugary, salty or fat laden goody. It hadn’t caught up with me though. I could still touch the old toes and do a split in class.

I looked at Thor and felt a pang of uncertainty. Leo had said I had been unfair to the big guy. And frankly, he probably had only been following Leo’s orders. However, once it became obvious that no one had followed the rodent in, I think he owed me an apology.

The next time I looked up from my meal, I caught him looking at me.

“So, tell me about yourself.” His voice still reminded me of plate tectonics, rumbling around causing Earthquakes and generalized havoc for our planet.

“Well, it seems I’m the daughter of a cowardly, selfish, elfish warlord, who abandoned his people and created God knows how much death and destruction by his hiding in this world.” I stared at him, “Do I have that right?” I don’t know why he kept bringing out the bitch in me.

“I don’t think that describes you so much as your father. And you left out that he was a kind, good-hearted man.”

“The two things seem a bit incongruous don’t they?”

“You don’t know what the other world was like. So you can’t judge.”

“So tell me. What is it like?” I sipped my coffee. It wasn’t Starbucks, but they tried. They wanted to charge Two bucks per coffee, just like the evil corporation did.

“It was once a place of great beauty. Mostly untouched. You see, there are different realms and they are supposed to be kept separate. But once a portal is formed, and those that don’t belong head over, it all starts to go to shit.”

Maybe if I got him a word a day calendar… “And how did you get involved? If you are totally human, what’s that marking on your cheek?” I gestured to the waiter for a refill. He ignored me with a talent developed over years.

Thor touched his cheek as if he had just been stung.

“I’m sorry. Am I not supposed to mention it?” I waved a bit harder for the man who stood between my free Java refill and me. Yes, in this place refills were l frl free.

“It’s a long story.” We continued to eat in silence. As far as I was concerned the ball was still in his court.

He picked up the Heinz 57 ketchup bottle and began reading it. Well, at least he could read…

“I got married at 17 to the girl from the farm next to my family’s . W. We were given a few acres of prime land and some oxen as a wedding present. Both sides of our family were real pleased about it all, Becca and I being in love since we were old enough to walk.”

Whatever I had been expecting it wasn’t this.

“Well, within six months of our wedding, she was pregnant. And that’s when things started to go wrong. She went into premature labor and lost our child. She was stillborn. Well, those things happen and we were still both young and hopeful. So she got pregnant again.” He continued to read the ketchup label. “Little Emily died after three days. It was a bit harder to take this time. Becca’s milk had come in and she was just gushing all over. Had to use cabbage leaves to dry her up. She’d just lay there in bed and cry, while I kept the farm going.”

I didn’t like the way this story was headed. No siree, I was starting to have very bad feelings. Thor could have been reading the ingredients on the bottle to me for all the emotion he was showing.

“We didn’t name the next baby. We were too scared of losing it. And it was stillborn, anyway. So when Daniel came along, we didn’t name him for a long while. He was strong though. Real strong. He was just starting to walk when Becca came down with something, I still don’t know what it was. She’d lost a lot of weight with the previous babies and was still kinda frail. She was coughing all the time, and her milk
began to dry up. We weaned Daniel quickly, though then he started coughing too. The two of them got it, but Daniel would cough so bad he’d been sick to his stomach.”

“Thor, if you don’t want to continue…”

He looked at me with those light blue eyes of his. They were a different kind of blue than Josh had, but just as piercing. He waved away my concern.

“So Becca’s mother came over and so did my sister who had just finished nursing her toddler and she tried to get her milk back for Daniel. But it wasn’t working. It was early January; and a couple of feet of snow were already on the ground. I took my horse and headed to town.”

I gave him a funny look. But he continued.

“I was on my third ale and starting to feel it, when this stranger comes up to me. ‘You look like a man with a peck o’troubles, he says.’ Now, I’m not going to go telling my troubles to just anyone. All the locals they knew what was going on. And then he says, ‘come work for me and I’ll take care of your family. I can make them healthy. I can save ‘em.’ At first I thought he was some sort of traveling preacher, going to talk about salvation or something. And I said sure. I laughed a bit at him. I wasn’t a religious person. Went to Church because it was expected, but in general, if I couldn’t see something, then it just didn’t exist.”

He paused.

“So what happened then,” I asked.

“I sold my soul to him.” My mouthful of coffee went down the wrong way. I spluttered a bit and wiped my mouth.

“You mean you sold out. Gave up the for sor something.”

“No. He was a demon, it turned out. And in return for my soul, he saved the lives of my son and wife. Of course, then I had to do his will because he owned me. I never returned to the farm. Never saw my wife or son again. Oh sure, I kept track of them. And Beallin kept his word. My wife died of old age at 99 and my son had him a half dozen children and a score or more of grandchildren, all healthy as oxen. I did try to keep track the first hundred years or so, but then there were so many offspring, I sorta stopped caring.”

I stared at him. I wasn’t sure which was more outrageous, his burying a wife and four children, or his being… “What year were you born in?”

“1772”

I looked at him. Why should I be upset? I have a werewolf across the hallway, why not Faust on the floor below. Faust? No, Thor didn’t want knowledge. He just wanted his loved ones to live. I felt like slime for all the nastiness I’d said about it. About my only hope was that he was pulling my leg. But I knew, deep down was certain, that he wouldn’t lie about a thing like this.

“So what was it like? Are you still working for Beal.. Beal….”

“Beallin.”

“Like you said. Are you still working for him or are you on vacation or something?”

He smiled for the first time since we’d come onto this topic. “Something. I was his handyman. He kept me pretty busy for around 300 years, then we came into your father’s world. Beallin got in the way of a stronger, more powerful demon and was vanquished. Suddenly, I was a free man again.”

I pushed my plate way. My half-eaten bagel wasn’t going to get eaten anytime soon. I’d have it wrapped to go.

“You got your soul back?”

“I’m not sure. But, I’ve been aging normally for the past few years.”

I looked at him. He looked to be about 30. “So how did you come to the building?”

“They’ve been looking for your father and others like him. There’s sort of a bounty on his head. I was in charge of tracking him.”

“And?”

“I had found the passageway and was ready to report back to my master. But before I could tell him, he was destroyed.”

“How do you destroy a demon?”

“Go up against a stronone,one, of course.” He laughed. “I guess it’s not public information. Anyhow, as soon as I found out of was masterless, I didn’t wait around, just in case it gave one of them ideas. I got out and came here, to relative freedom and safety. Of course, a lot of things have changed.” He picked up his fork and made an attempt to eat some more.

I was surprised he could eat after telling me all that. “What does it feel like to be so old?”

He shrugged. “I often wonder why I don’t get tired of living. But I don’t. Everyday is a new day. Of course, I think I like it better now. I like being free again. It’s good after so long to not have to explain yourself to anyone.”

Yeah, I know that feeling. I wasn’t crass enough to say it out loud. Seven years with a boyfriend hardly compared with 300 years of enslavement to a demon, but what the hey?

I had the waiter wrap up what was left of my bagel and lox. It would make a good snack later on. We paid the check and left. He didn’t argue about getting separate checks. Okay, that was one in Thor’s favor. I found, softhearted idiot that I was, that the story about selling his soul because he was trying to help his family was really affecting me. I didn’t think he was lying and I’m a good judge of character, with the exception of Josh. I really hadn’t seen that coming…

He walked me back to my apartment and I was glad he did because Leo was keening again.

I turned to Thor and asked him, “Can’t you do anything? He’s suffering.”

He looked down at me. “I could have put a silver bullet in him earlier. That would have stopped it.”

Shithead! Forget all the dreamy stuff about him being a family man! He’s a shithead.

I was turning into my apartment when he grabbed my arm. I broke his grip without breaking his arm-- yes that was an option! He merely rearranged his grip to take the upper part of both my arms and then his lips were on mine. I didn’t bother breaking his grip this time. The kiss was fairly chaste and I didn’t fight it, nor did I encourage it. I just let it happen. And this, I can’t explain. Was it the dream earlier that I’d had about him? Maybe I was simply acknowledging that there was something between us.

He let go of me and started to turn away.

“Why did you do that?” Yeah, yeah, the whole building was getting an earful. He backed me into my apartment and looked at me.

“Leo doesn’t want you and I do.”

“Did Leo tell you that?”

“I’ve known Leo a good amount of time. I know him and he’s not ready.”

I walked into my living room and patted the couch beside me. He sat. And then it happened, I saw my father. He was standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Cindy? Good can you see and hear me?”

“Dad? Boy, is mom going to be pissed off when she finds out…”

“Keep it a secret, okay, one of our specials?” One of our specials was when Daddy would take me out to a movie and let me eat too many sweets and I wouldn’t eat my dinner. Mom would plotz if she ever found out the amount of the sugar Daddy let me eat as a kid. Come to think of it, she was a lot like Josh that way.

“All right. Where are you?”

“At the place I told you about in all those stories. I’m afraid I’m in some trouble. They’ve got your cousin prisoner and I’m next.”

“Who are they?”

“Lord Accalla, he’s the demon that has taken over this area.”

“Can’t you come back here? I miss you.”

“I need you to find Thor. Since you’ve made it to the building—“

“How do you know that?” He waved his hand at me.

“No time to explain. Find Thor—“

“He’s right next to me,” I turned to find that it seemed like Thor was frozen. “What’s happened to him?”

“He’s human. I can’t communicate with him directly.

“So all of this is real? I’m some sort of Xena?”

“No, you don’t have her physique, thank goodness.” He laughed. What a man, great sense of humor, my daddy. I could kill him, if he wasn’t already dead.

“Tell me what to do.”

“Tell him to get the devise and bring it to me.”

“Sadie is with you?”

“She was already captured. Damn, I forgot, okay, she’s really your cousin.”

“We really need to talk about your side of the family, Dad.”

He laughed. He was as crazy as ever. Mom was the sensible one. He was the dreamer, and the explorer and the poet.

“So that’s it? Thor will know about the devise you are talking about?”

Daddy seemed to hear something over his shoulder and suddenly he was gone.

“No, come back!”

I felt a tap on my shoulder and started. It was Thor. He was staring at me.

“You’ve been contacted?”

“Why couldn’t you see him?”

“Your father? I don’t have his blood. It’s his talent but it works best with his own bloodline.”

“So how much can you see what with being human and all.” I still couldn’t believe I was having this conversation. When did I stop being human? I’m still human.

“Quite a lot. I was in his realm long enough, drank enough of the food and water to acclimate, if that’s what you want to call it. But for that sort of communication, bloodlines are needed.

“So what did he tell you?”

“He told me to get a devise from you and he wanted me to bring it to him.”

“He couldn’t have said that.” He shook his head, “Cindy, the truth would be good right now.”

“How did you know that’s not the truth?” I am an excellent liar.

“Because you wouldn’t be able to find him. You wouldn’t last a second.”

Big guy was annoying, but I wasn’t giving up. “I’m of his blood, as you pointed out. He’ll guide me.

“No.”

“You’ve got no choice.”

He gave a slow smile. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”

“Because you are human and it’s not your problem.” Oooh, I did enjoy the look on his face. “You’re avoiding the demons, remember? It wouldn’t be good if they put it all together and decided that maybe your soul is up for grabs.”

“Did he mention Leo?”

“No, why should he?”

“Leo is his second in command. Or at least he was until he got bit and wound up cursed.”

“Damn, who isn’t involved in all this?”

“No, it was just your cousin and Leo. There’s no one left of your family.”

“I’m related to Leo?” I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

”He’s royal house. If you three died, he’d probably be next in line to rule.”

“Small world.”

“Not really. Your father found this place and then went back for the people he loved. It took a while for him to find them both. But he eventually got them.”

“Sadie knew about me, but no one else did.”

“He’s smart. He wasn’t about to spread it around that he’d started a second life away from this own lands.”

“So who knew?”

“Sadie and the Weird sisters.”

Just then there was the keening from Leo’s apartment. “God, it’s awful.”

“Gotto go. I need to see how Alar is doing.”

“I’m going with you.”

“I think your father would prefer if you stayed out of this.”

“You said there was no safe place. Whatever was hunting Sadie and Dad, wouldn’t it also be hunting me?”

“Can’t say.”

“I am involved, whether you like it or not.”

“Go back to your boyfriend.” I stared at him. Wasn’t this the guy who said he wanted me?

He picked up on the look. “I don’t want to see you hurt, and there’s no way you can get involved without that happening.”

“Let’s go see Alar.”

We headed downstairs to Mrs. Tiggywiggle and found that the mole/vole rodent thing was still asleep. And would probably be that way for a while. Admittedly, I was pretty bothered by all this.

“So we have some time to kill.” Thor leered at me, “Want to go see my etchings.”

“Sure,” I snorted. He might be a Shithead, but he had a sense of humor.

His apartment was right across the hall and I was surprised that he didn’t get claustrophobia living there. Almost every square inch of space was taken up with art, artwork and art supplies. It looked like he slept on a small pallet on the floor while all the rest of his living space was taken. Leo had said he was an artist.

But the work was all very nightmarish; I suppose just what you’d expect of a guy who’d been hanging with demons for the past few centuries.

“This is a demon?” I pointed to an oil color done in garish colors of a creature straight out of a horror novel.

“Yeah, that was my master.”

“You must have a strong stomach.”

He laughed. Again it was the sound of earthquakes and mountains moving. “He smelled worse than he looked.”

He cleared a stool for me and I sat down while he sat on his mattress.

“Is the devise here? And what does it do?”

“We don’t know what it does. And I’m not telling you where it is, just that it’s safe.”

“You’re still not taking me?”

“Got it in one little girl. Your father would never forgive me.”

“I don’t get a say in this?” He just smiled and shook his head. I felt pissed off. I was tired and depressed. I thought about what bargaining chips I might have… And then I got up and sat on his lap. I had the supreme pleasure of seeing a very shocked look cross Thor’s face.

“What are you doing?”

I played with his hair. “You have something that I want. And I have something that you want.” I winked. I put my legs around him and continued to run my fingers through his long, reddish gold hair.

“Don’t make yourself into a whore for this.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t like me touching you?”

“I can go pay for this kind of treatment. It’s not right from you.”

“So little Xena isn’t aloud to be a slut?” I rubbed my lips across his. I rewarded by a very deep groan.

“No.” He lifted me by my arms and got me off his lap. Still I was on my knees and in a dominant position.

“You are taking me with you or I’ll just follow you.” I threw myself on him and kissed him in a way that I had practiced for many a soap audition. My tongue went into his mouth and I explored for gold.

This time his didn’t remove me. He brought my body down next to him and continued to kiss. His hands swept up and over my breasts. Now it was my turn to moan. I found playing Mata Hari daring and exciting. I hoped it wouldn’t go too far. I wasn’t ready yet to have sex with any other man than Josh. But kissing like this, kissing a man who was almost a stranger, I found it very exciting. Maybe it was because I was angry with my ex-lover. Or maybe it just felt good to throw caution to the winds.

Thor broke off the kiss and he was breathing heavily. He looked me in the eyes. “You better not be toying with me.”

My lips felt bruised, but I wanted to continue. “What if I am?”

He pushed me away, but I didn’t let go and came right back at him. “Aren’t you into casual sex?”

“I’m not willing to make you into something less of what you should be.” He grumbled.

Damn. I needed to make a decision. I felt that I had gone too far to stop, and yet. I couldn’t just use him.

He saw my doubt and took himself further away.

“I want you, Thor. But I can’t say that I like you.” I started get my little nervous laugh. “I like Leo, a whole lot. But you keep telling me he doesn’t want me. I guess it’s just too soon after leaving Josh.”

“No, it’s not that he doesn’t want you. He wants you. But after what happened to his last girlfriend, it may be a while before.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“That should be up to—“

I kissed Thor hard and long. After a few minutes he pulled away.

“Tell me, Thor. Why doesn’t Leo want me?”

“Okay, he’s a bit traumatized. His girlfriend, damn, how do I say this?” He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated by something.

I put my hand over the erection in his pants. He stared at my hand in amazement. And then he said,” Leo gave her the keys to his apartment, thinking she would never come over without him asking her to and--”

I put my hands over my mouth so I wouldn’t scream, throw up or get hysterical.

“And she tried to pet the puppy in the cage.” He removed my hand from his crotch. “The moon cycle was just ending, but there was enough of the beast left in him that…. Well, we all heard her screams and while he was distracted with her corpse, we locked him in again, with her dead body. We couldn’t do anything else.”

It was a good thing that I have a strong stomach, or I would have had a very embarrassing moment there on his mattress. As it was I started to cry and he held me.

“So you can see. It might take some time, if ever.”

“He was so nice to me.”

“He’s one of the cleverest people I know. He was just trying to suss you out.” Thor kissed the top of my head. Don’t think I didn’t notice him sneaking that in. “He’s lonely and he misses Maria a lot. That was her name. Anyhow, he might have given you the wrong message.”

Suddenly, I felt very alone and very small. I might not like Thor, but he was big and hard and there. If he hadn’t been there, I would have taken the first cab to my old apartment and crawled on my hands and knees, groveling for Josh to take me back. Instead I took off my shirt and my bra.

“I want you, Thor.”

“No you don’t.” I couldn’t believe he wouldn’t just take me. For crying out loud, I’m half naked.

“Yes, I do. What do you care if I’m in love with you or not? What does it matter if I’m doing this to get back at a lying, cheating twerp. I’ll tell you. None. My reasons are my business alone. And that doesn’t make me into anyone’s whore.” I sighed a big shuddering sigh and went on.

“So either you want me, or you don’t and I’ll leave. It’s not rocket science.”

“What about my pride?”

“This from the demon’s lackey?”

He made a face. “It’s rude to throw that up at a man.”

“I’m supposed to ignore it? Like some peccadillo?”

I cradled my not small breasts. “Are you going to ignore these out of pride?”

He looked at me. “Yes.”

I lost it. I put my top back on and left. Feeling like a fool and angry as all get out. Maybe living with demons had affected him. Either way, it was two days in a row of being attracted to a man and then being rejected. If I hadn’t already developed a cast iron skin from years of rejection by casting agents and directors, well, I could have been pretty upset.

As it was, I stormed into my room and took to bed. Remembering how I had been roused quite early in the day, it seemed the right time for a nap. I snuggled under the covers and slept and dreamed.

There was something about this building because my dreams had never been this intense or so involved.

I was walking with a white unicorn. That wasn’t so unusual, but it was my father’s talking unicorn. The very same which had figured so directly in his fairy tales that he told to me as a child.

“Cindy, my dear child. I hope you do come to visit me.” Neighed Mr. Ed with a horn.

I was about peeing myself with joy. Oh goody, talking unicorns. I conveniently forgot I hadn’t been a virgin in way too many years and so was probably not a favorite among the uni horned.

“Oh, yes I will.” I walked along with him, feeling like I was five years old again. The area where we were walking looked like a verdant heath. There were gentle rolling hills as far as the eye could see.

“Good.” He whinnied.

And then an arrow came darting up and struck the unicorn through the neck. He went down with a sickening thud and blood began shooting out from a severed artery. I watched and the poor animal bled out and it’s eyes glazed over. I looked around to try and find the bastard that had destroyed such a noble creature. I saw nothing, except for a fire several miles off. I had a bad feeling about all of this and I just wanted to go home.

I woke up in a panic and soaked in sweat. Goddamn! Was nothing sacred? I got dressed discovering that it was a little past ten in the morning. If I hurried, I’d make the 11 AM karate class. I was guaranteed that Josh wouldn’t be at that one because Monday was one of his taping days.