When the Other Shoe Drops

When the Other Shoe Drops

By April Grey


Author\'s Note: Warning--You are about to read an unedited rough draft version. Typos, grammatical errors, whatever abound. I\'m putting this up for curiosity’s sake. I will be working on One Foot In and When the Other Shoe Drops and combining them into one, hopefully workable novel. So that is why this one is posted unpolished. Read at your own Risk!

Chapter Seven - Can’t rape the willing –part II


“Oh, Hell. Cindy, what are you doing here?” Leo sounded sick and upset.

“Rescuing you?” I felt subdued and insecure. We were in the bottom of a well of some sort, but then how did he get in and out? He hadn’t dropped down. I wished I could see better in the dark, but heck, my night vision was pretty good and it seemed like there was just nothing to see. I was betting that Leo’s night vision might be slighter was better.

I was holding him close to me and it felt good to have someone there. “Leo, I’m sorry.”

He pushed at me and I let him go. “Cindy, I’d rather be dead than see you go through this.”

“It’s been bad.” It was a statement of fact on my part, but probably an understatement.

“They’ve got the ability to force me to change into my wolf form whenever they choose. They find it amusing.”

I held my breath, attempting not to cry or gasp or anything, but I knew how badly it hurt him to transform. I’d listened to it from the other side of his apartment door. “Why are they so cruel?”

There was silence. It stretched on a bit too long and I panicked. God, but I wanted some light to see by. Then I remembered, they hadn’t taken away anything. I still had some matches in my pants pocket, damn, what a fool I’d been.

“Leo? You still there?”

“Yes.”

“Still upset?”

“No.”

Did I mention how talented Leo was at sulking. I wasn’t sure if it was just one of those passive aggressive type things or what, but it worked my nerves.

“You might want to cover your eyes. I’m going to light a match.”

“No, don’t—“

I didn’t feel like arguing and went ahead and lit it. Leo looked worse that I could have ever imagined, “Oh, fuck, they are starving you!”

“Cindy, why don’t you ever listen to me?”

“You’re not my boss.” The match came to its end and I dropped it on the ground. The room was so large that I couldn’t even make out the walls.

“Just save those, you might need them later.”

“Thanks. Is it that you are just upset, or are you upset with me?”

“I—I don’t know. I don’t understand why you are here? Why aren’t you with your husband?”

The way he said husband sounded like bit of the old green-eyed monster was there. “I’m not married.”

“The best news of my life and we’re stuck here about to die.”

That’s my Leo, ever the optimist.

He took my hand and squeezed it. “I knew that you had better sense than to be with that over-grown idiot.”

I wanted to defend my future-hubby-to-be, but it really seemed a bit tacky since Leo probably right about us going to die here. After all every single attempt of mine to yell, scream or shout to get attention had been ignored. They knew we were here and had no plans to negotiate with us a better situation. In the light of this, whether Josh was an idiot or not, simply seemed moot.

“Why are they doing this, Leo?

“Because they are Faerae and they can.”

Might makes right? It wasn’t sitting with me. “So, they’ve done things like this in the past?”

“Cindy, you’re showing how naïve you are. They are Faerae!”

“And you just sound prejudiced. When I asked them back to this realm after the demons had cleared out, they seemed really nice.”

“Dumb luck, little girl.”

“Don’t call me, little girl.”

“I’m old enough to be your grandfather. I’ve already had a family, one which the demon’s destroyed and I’ll call you whatever I want.”

I sat quietly, letting the tears drip down my face. I didn’t make a sound, didn’t want him to have the satisfaction that he had managed to upset me. I really had no idea if five minutes or 50 minutes had gone by.

“Cindy?”

I wiped the tears away, glad that he couldn’t see them.

“Cindy!” And edge of alarm had entered his voice.

“What?” I sighed.

“I’m sorry. I just—I wanted.” I felt his hand touch my leg and then move higher up. He was close to me and I noticed his musky aroma. It had been a while since he had a bath, but it was less a smell of unwashed human flesh than a smell of animal. In that moment, I understood that he was aroused. “I love you, Cindy. It was difficult when you left me.”

I didn’t feel like fighting, not about Josh and not about who had abandoned whom. It just wasn’t good timing. If we did ever get out of here we could discuss it over a Starbuck’s Latte. But for now, I had an ex-lover coming on to me and I wasn’t sure exactly how to deal with it.

He took me in his arms and hugged me. I gave into the hug and reciprocated the warmth and affection. Damn. It just felt so good to be holding him again. I felt his lips on my cheek and then lower onto my neck. His hand brushed against my chest and then over my hips as if he were exploring the terrain. I moved my head, thinking I should find a way to let him down easily, only to find his lips on mine.

I think I’d forgotten what a good kisser he was.

I found my breathing getting tighter and my body responding to him. His tongue pressed into my mouth and I let him in. His body pressed down and I let myself go backwards onto the floor. He continued to kiss me and his hand snaked up and under my tee shirt to fondle my breast. I moaned as he squeezed and then got his hand under my bra and against a tender nipple.

Reaching down I found him more than ready for me. I had a moment of indecision. Josh and I had spent more a bundle on couple’s therapy and I was about to blow it all. Was I really that fickle or shallow to want to have sex just because I was terrified of what might happen next?

Yes.

One hears stories of soldiers in the trenches jerking off one last time before being killed. Sex relieves tension, but it’s also an affirmation of life. If I did get out of this, maybe I’d be able to explain it to Josh. Or maybe not. I just didn’t care, because Leo was here and now and he was alive and so was I. And I wanted this affirmation that no matter how bad things were, that we still loved each other. And it was true-- for some reason I’d been able to go back to Josh and continue loving Leo. Now that was a revelation.

My thumb played with the knoblike head of his cock, feeling the pre-cum and letting it lubricate my hand. He moaned in appreciation. I reached down and undid my pants, while kicking off my shoes. The floor felt damp and gritty under my naked legs. Leo lifted up my shirt and pulled my bra up with it, exposing my breasts to the cold air. He nipped and nibbled at them both, forcing them to stand painfully erect.

“Oh, God, Leo,” I said as he put his down under my pantied and cupped my sex. It felt so incredible good that I pushed myself hard against his hand and was rewarded by him inserting first one and then two fingers. I felt his hand leave me and grip my underwear. Gently and carefully he slipped my panties down over my legs. Ever the gentleman-- he’d never been the kind to rip or tear clothing. And I guess he wasn’t going to change his ways now.

“Yes, Leo, do it.” I swallowed hard. Tears were stinging my eyes. I didn’t know why I was crying, was it just the need for release?

He nuzzled my breasts one last time before lifting himself up over me, and then he stopped and he rolled off of me and brought me over onto him.

“What is it?” I stroked his face, pushing long, stringy hair away from his mouth and thought perhaps he was too weak to support himself. I almost laughed, was that all? But Leo had a lot of pride. “It’s okay, lover. I like being on top sometimes.” I kissed him.

I didn’t say anything more, but rather took him in hand, pun intended. I crouched over him and place him at my entrance. Something that sounded like an oath, slipped from my lips as his tip entered me. I continued to hold my weight up and over him as I slowly brought him into me.

He wasn’t as broad or long as Josh, but he had his own talents in bed mostly a sensitivity and an ability to bring me off over and over again without coming himself. Perhaps it came with the curse, but I always saw it as more of a blessing.

I felt a shudder run through him.

“I love you,” I said. And I meant it, as I finally sheathed him fully within me. I used my inner muscles to squeeze him and he responded by taken holding my thighs and giving them a little squeeze back.

“I’ve thought about you so often.” I didn’t know why I need to make these confessions, perhaps it was guilt.

I leaned down over him and kissed him, tenderly before pulling myself up and almost totally off of him. I used my muscles to caress him and stroke him as I slowly moved up and down on his shaft. It felt so very good that I didn’t want it to ever end. But I think Leo had other plans, as he grabbed my hips and tried to get me to speed up the pace. I was more that willing to accommodate him and I followed his lead, going faster on him as he tried to buck his hips under me.

He started hitting the perfect spot and I cried out as our sex became less gentle. I was mewing and rotating my hips as I felt myself get closing to climax. He was holding me so hard that I could feel the bruises come under his fingers. I was sobbing as he forced me ever faster and closer to the edge.

“Leo, please,” and I didn’t know what I was begging for, it was so good that I wanted to continue forever. “Don’t stop.”

I slid over the edge, screaming. Leo held my hips even tighter, thrusting himself up hard to my very core.

When my head began to clear a bit it found I was still riding him, with him setting the pace even as my cunny twitched in post orgasm. I focused a bit and milked his cock with my vaginal muscles. Balancing my weight with one hand, I reached behind me and found his balls.

I held them gingerly as I continued to move over him, giving them tiny rhythmic presses. He groaned and I pressed a little harder. Suddenly he began to buck wildly under me and kept pace never letting go of his scrotum.

He then pressed upward in one last thrust and released his hot semen into me. I felt his body shudder with spasm after post-orgasm spasm. Eventually he calmed and I stroked his face with my hands.

I leaned down over him and kissed him deeply, pressing his mouth open with my tongue. He grabbed the back of my head and pressed my face hard against his mouth.

Then he laughed, and the lights came on and the room transformed.

I wasn’t in a prison cell, nor was I with Leo. A Faerae with silver-blue skin was underneath me and inside of me. And we weren’t alone. The room was filled with Faerae and they clapped and laughed. I spotted Leo in one corner of the room, he was tied and gagged with some velvety plan like material. There were tears in his eyes as he looked away from he.

I looked down into a familiar face. And that was strange. Although the skin, eye and hair color was all-wrong, I suddenly realized that Josh had more than a passing resemblance to the Faerae. Okay, I was feeling a bit freaked out. I got off of the stranger and stared at him.

“Who are you?”

“Your lover?” he smirked.

I tried to hit him and he caught my wrist. There was something un-Faerae like about him. Most of the Faerae that I’d gotten to know, in a short-term biblical sense, were quite easy going to the point of vapidity. This guy had an edge to him.

“I’d like to have a name to go with that, please?”

“Tyrell. I am leader here.”

“That’s odd. I don’t remember you from a few years back.”

“I was not originally of this group. I come from elsewhere. And I am in charge now.”

Something just wasn’t right about him. I shook my head. “What you did just now wasn’t very nice.”

He laughed and the others tittered along with him. “I thought it was a great joke. Your friend there refused to play along so I took his place.”

“My friend looks ill, please let me take care of him.”

“He’s diseased. Why should you wish to be anywhere near him?”

“I guess that will just have to be a mystery to you, won’t it?”

He slapped me. I tasted something coppery at the corner of my mouth.

“You would be wise to stay civil to your superiors.”

“I will when I see one.”

When I woke up, it was dark again.

“Cindy, are you awake?”

“Leo, is it you or Memorex?” I laughed but stopped because it made me head hurt.

“Cindy.” He made my name sound like some sort of dirge.

“What was it with him? No sense of humor at all.”

“He’s managed to intimidate the others. Although Faerae have never been known for their strong moral compass, or not at least one the rest of us could understand.”

“Can we get some light here?”

“You worried that Tyrell will replace me again.”

“Now that was crude. I’m sorry, I should have know it wasn’t you.”

He kissed me. It was Leo, “You’re forgiven. And I’m still glad you didn’t get married to that actor.”

“His name is Josh—“ and I still couldn’t bring myself to tell Leo that Josh and I were still on.

“I’m sorry. Josh. I know how protective you are of him. You love him a lot.”

He was going to make me cry. “Thanks, Leo.”

“But you still care about me.”

“Yeah. And we got to get out of here. So tell me what happened.”

“The usual. Whenever you have Faerae you have people going missing.”

“And you automatically blame them.”

“They get bored and they find us entertaining. They think nothing more of taking one that is not their own than a child would trapping fireflies. We are lesser creatures to their minds and so are fair game.”

“Now I understand a bit better. It isn’t so much that they rare malicious as childlike?” This was making sense.

“Except for Tyrell. He was captured and lived with the demons for a while. It changed him, made him different.”

“Okay, I can see that.” I reached out into the dark and found Leo’s hand. “Thanks.”

“Your grandfather thought with the help of the demons they Faerae could be controlled or kept in check.”

“And we all know where that led to.” I sighed. We were so screwed. I laughed.

“What is it?”

“Tyrell. He’s still a Faerae, horny bastard. Why didn’t he just seduce me? They have that talent for orgies.”

“Living with the Demons for too long.”

“But when—” I stopped myself. I’d had a demonic lover who had inhabited Thor and it was a bit of a sore point between Leo and me.

“You were about to bring up what happened between you and Thor?”

“Yeah. I think maybe we are too quick to condemn those who are unlike us.”

“Could you summon your demon friend?” Leo actually sounded hopeful. Wow, I never thought the day would come that Leo would want a demon to show up.

“I think I’d need a Demon Box to do the summoning. That’s what I needed last time.” Yet there was something I was trying to remember. Hadn’t the Mage who lived by the sea said something about my being watched by my demon friend? So what do I do wave my hands and say, ‘yoo-hoo’ I’m in trouble?

I shook my head, forgetting that it was too dark for Leo to see it.

“Are they cheap or what? How about some light?”

“It’s meant to disorientate and discourage us.”

“From what? Trying to escape? How would we even begin to try?”

“Hush, Cindy.”

I thought maybe Leo had a plan and so he didn’t want me ruining things? Good, good for Leo if that was the case.

I heard something from the area behind me.

“It’s our food,” said Leo. “I’ll get it.”

Obviously Leo did have better night sight than myself. I couldn’t see the hand in front of my face. He took my hand and put it onto something that felt like a bag.

“What is it?”

“Nectar. Tastes like sugar water and I suspect has about the same nutrition. They don’t really understand the concept of food.”

“But I ate well with them.”

Leo sighed, “They are able to make things appear and taste delicious and it all has about the same food value as this.”

“I got quite loaded on the wine.”

“So, don’t believe me!”

We don’t talk to each other for months and here we are fighting about life among the Faerae. I wanted us to get along, but my stomach was rumbling and I guess he wasn’t feeling much better. “Sorry, Leo. I was just really hoping that have some of that wonderful food again. But I guess you’d know better than me about these things.”

“Finally some respect. Sometimes you drive me crazy.”

“You never used to feel that way about me.”

“We were safe in my apartment back then. It was different.”

So I guess the honeymoon was over.

“I would like to understand what happened?”

“When?”

“Oh, from the beginning. How did you wind up here.”

“There was a complaint that some of the Folk were gone missing. Just like in the old days.”

“So you contacted my father?”

“Yes, so you already know?”

Yes, from what Thor had told me. “I just wanted to hear your side of it.”

“He asked me to investigate. He’s busy right now.”

“With what?” I heard something in Leo’s voice I didn’t like. “Spill it!”

“You’re mom’s been ill.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, I didn’t think they’d told you about it.”

Actually they didn’t. They like to have this image of themselves as super human-parents, “Yep. I know all about it.” I lied.

“So after the chemo, she was pretty sick.”

“Okay. That makes sense. Thanks.” I felt cold all over. I didn’t know a thing. And that’s why they’d barely made a peep over my wedding being postponed.

“So I came out to this area.”

“What area?”

“We are by the coastline where you’d had your original meeting with them. It seems they set up their mound here.”

“So the Mage must be around.”

“There was a hut, but it looked abandoned. Anyway, I wasn’t here long before I was taken prisoner and here I am. And now it’s your turn.”

“Jimbo came and told me that you’d gone missing and he didn’t know where. And once I started making noise about find the Faerae he ran off.”

“That old dragon has the best instincts of us all.”

“I guess. It just seemed rather cowardly at the time. I found a female mage, should I call her a witch?”

“No. Mage is the proper term for either sex.”

“And she told me I could summon them myself. And I did and it’s the last thing I remember before waking up in this dungeon.”

“I’m very sorry that Jimbo didn’t keep you out of this.”

“It’s alright. I’m glad that you aren’t alone anymore. Maybe we’ll figure something out.”

“We are hostages to one another. I kept hoping to drop dead and now there’s you here. They can ask anything and I’ll do it to keep you safe.”

“I didn’t think of it that way.”

“Well, we can’t all be beautiful.”

I snorted. “Compliments Leo? I don’t feel very attractive right now.”

“I know.” And he put his arm around me.

“You are a very confusing person.”

“They wanted me to have sex with you, to put on a show and I refused. So that leader of theirs went ahead and had you. I don’t want to think about what else they want to do.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure we can handle it.” I was talking a lot braver than I felt. I liked being close to Leo, even though that creepy king or whatever he was had taken advantage.

He kissed on the side of the mouth. Here we go again I thought. We’re we being watched right now? I trembled.

Just then the room got much brighter. One of the Faerae had appeared with a lantern.

“It is time,” she said with a happy grin.

“Time?”

“We wish to be entertained again.”

Leo and I looked at each other. I had an idea. “Why not leave my friend here.”

“Cindy, no!”

“He’ll be fine.”

“Don’t listen to her.”

She giggled. “Both are requested. We are going to have a party.”

“Will there be food?” I was hungry for more than that nectar stuff.

“Why of course. Lot’s of food, and music and sex.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” I smiled, “Let’s go.”


Leo had been wrong, and I was right. While they hadn’t bothered feeding their pet werewolf much, him being diseased and all and so not worth the bother, once he was part of a team, we got better service.

Part of it is charm. I was friendly and nice, whereas Leo, lifelong enemy of the Faerae tended to be gloomy and nasty. Several weeks went by where I did my best to ingratiate myself, hoping for little favors which might eventually give us a chance to be released or escape. Leo disliked my doing this. It was below the Elfish, as if we had some sort of code or something.

I became a popular party item, while Leo, he was left alone. I was a lot more fun that a morose creature forced to transform. What could I do? Oh, I’m glad you asked. Here was an audience. I sing, I dance, I tell jokes and I have a one-woman show. I worked my ass off, but it got us decent food and eventually, after being particularly nice to Tyrell, real living quarters instead of the dungeon. Sometimes it seemed that Leo just got more and more pissed off with me.

“Cindy, how could you?”

“What now.”

“You were flirting with Tyrell again.”

“He reminds me of someone I know. As far as Faerae go, he’s the most complex persona I’ve met. I can’t help in paying him extra attention.”

“His being alpha dog here probably doesn’t hurt.”

“No, It doesn’t.” I’d gotten fresh really clothing to replace the stuff that I’d arrive in. They didn’t have Laundromats or dry cleaners and for the effort of cleaning clothes it was early just to summon up new ones. Then again, the Faerae weren’t for clothing other than fancy dress. Except for Tyrell, he liked dressing up, even to the point of helmets, fancy robes, and complete body armor. Go figure, most of them loved being naked.

“Sometimes I think you’re jealous.”

“Would that be such a surprise? All things considered?”

“If it meant us being able to one day escape—I think it would be well worth it.

He grabbed my arms, none too gently and swung me around to him, “It can’t happen. Why don’t you see that?” And then he hugged me.

I hugged him back. It was difficult to judge him sometimes. The moodiness and anger that he had, I supposed if I had lost hope as he, I might also be that way. But I hadn’t lost hope. I couldn’t tell how much time was passing but I knew that everyday that we lived and managed to improve our situation, brought us a bit closer to freedom.

I had managed to get a mirror for myself along with some lovely new Faerae cloth. It was primarily gold but all the colors of the rainbow swirled through it. It was a long rectangle and I thought it would be good for veil work.

The Faerae had some incredibly talented musicians among them. Show songs sounded a bit funny with their old style musical instruments, but they did come up with tunes that were good for Middle Eastern and Exotic dancing. I don’t think there was a class at International School of Dance I hadn’t taken. It was $60 for a book of ten classes and nobody really cared what class you took. So if you showed up just as Jazz was starting, you took jazz. Tap and Ballet preferred that you had the right kind of shoes, but nobody made a peep if you didn’t. So I’d audited or studied almost every dance form and really enjoyed my improvising with the musicians. Leo hated that. He felt I was having too good a time as a captive.

He had a point. I loved dance and being able to perform gave me a sense of freedom. The more often I danced or sung, or was allowed to do a monologue the better I felt. Leo didn’t have that sort of resource, so I guess I shouldn’t have held it against him. But I did. He wasn’t being forced to transform and for some reason the Faerae mount seemed to protect him from the stages of the moon. He should have been happy. But he resented it.

We didn’t really fight; we just didn’t feel comfortable with each other. And that was sad.

One of the Faerae came and informed us that there was to be a special banquet. “Special” didn’t have much meaning since almost every meal was a banquet of some sort. It wasn’t like they needed to eat to live or anything, it was just an excuse to removed the boredom of nothing to do but have sex or gossip. Faerae did not lead very interesting lives, mostly because they didn’t need to worry about the basics such as food, clothing, or a roof over their heads. They were practically immortal and hardly ever had children, which was the reason why they would on occasion steal children or hold Elfish or Folk captives. We were entertaining. Unfortunately it was easy for them to forget how to take care of their charges and so some just wound up starving to death in some tiny little prison. What had saved Leo was his transformations, and then my showing up had taken the spotlight off of him onto me. They liked me enough to pay attention to my requests, which they had never done for Leo. Instead of resenting me, Leo should have been grateful.

Sigh.

So it was time to get ready for another evening or was it morning? No way of knowing in the mound, they didn’t need natural light or even fire. All around them there was a glow which let them see their way around. Again, it was my begging that got Leo and I some lanterns and oil, stolen from gods only knew where, so we wouldn’t be in complete darkness when the Faerae weren’t about.

There wasn’t much of a hierarchy among the Faerae, those that played music were considered talented but not held in greater or lesser esteem than any other. They had no servants and, other than Tyrell’s bossiness, no leadership. So asking any of them to rehearse with me to possibly “improve” our act was met with titters and a lack of understanding. Sometimes I wondered if there was any common ground at all between Elfish society and theirs. They really didn’t seem to do anything other than mill around and demand entertainment.

Then again, if they didn’t care how well I performed, why should I? That’s what Leo said. Time for a good smacking about the face for that one. I care! Okay, maybe I am 99.999% unadulterated ego. When I do my dance with the veil I don’t want to feel inept. I want to practice first. And those musicians, who have never seen sheet music in their life, could use a bit of practice. Well, I wasn’t to happen.

Leo has been informed that he will be serving food as I entertain. They love my one-woman monologue. No, they don’t know what a subway is and have never heard of lox and cream cheese, but they love it and so I do it. And if Leo rolls his eyes at the Jay Leno joke one more time, I shall hit him.

So the music starts and I start counting. It’s music similar to something you might hear in at a Renaissance Fair and I come in with my beautiful new Faerae fabric veil and an anklet of bells which I stomp and I’m twirling and going into a shimmy. And then I get this prickly sensation just between my shoulder blades.

I swirl around, hiding most of my face behind the veil, and look up into artic ice blue eyes.

“Beatrice,” he says.

Oh shit, it’s Josh, I thought as I quickly covered my head and danced away.