"Deadly Night" Brandi Jackson 9
Chapter # 1
"As the mind wonders, the heart ponders..."
When he saw the painting he could not move, the image, it shocked him to the core. It was an exact replica of her face. Those brown eyes, smooth silky skin, and the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. He could not tear his eyes away from the painting. It was like she was so close to him but so far away.
He was transfixed on the painting that he did not hear the security guard tell him to step back twice. It was not until the security guard tapped him on the shoulder that he realized he was in a museum.
"I'm sorry, sir. But you are going to have to ask you to step back from the painting."
"Huh?...oh...yes. I'm sorry...I guess I got a little sidetracked." Maxim said stepping back from the painting.
"I think any man can get sidetracked by looking at such a beautiful woman." Maxim just smiled and walked away.
As he walked out of the museum, he started to recall all the times he found himself lost within her beauty. He remembered when he first saw her laying there on his bed like she was a gift from heaven, how he just wanted to taste her but he knew if he tasted her he would never be able to get enough of her. Now, after being separated for three years he still yearned for the taste of her.
Patience woke up in a daze of confusion. She could not remember where she was or how she got there. She tried to sit up but her head was pounding with unbearable pain. She couldn't even keep her eyes open for more than a second. From what she glimpsed of the room, she was laying on blood red silk sheets on a king-size canopy bed with see-through black polyester sheet surrounding the bed. She also saw that there was a fireplace with a fire blazing.
Patience sat there trying to think about how she had gotten where she was. The last thing she remembered was walking into her apartment building and opening her mailbox then...from there it became blank. She tried to remember but it hurt when she did.
"It's called a memory block." a voice said out of a far corner in the room. Patience almost jumped up but she remembered that it would hurt too much.
"Who are you?"
"I think I'm the one who is supposed to be asking that since you are in my bed." the voice said stepping out of the corner.
"What?" Patience opened her eyes and sat up this time forgetting about the pain. It was so unbearable that it became blinding and she almost fainted but she felt a hand push her down.
"You mustn't sit up or open your eyes."
"What is going on? Why does it hurt so much?" Patience said on the break of tears.
"Whoever brought you here did not want you to remember anything. What is the last thing you remember?" the voice said pulling back the black sheet and sitting on the bed.
"I remember that I was walking into my apartment about 11:30 at night because I had just come from my boyfriend's house and I was opening my mailbox...that is all I can remember." Patience could feel him staring at her. She wanted to open her eyes to see what he looked like but she did not want to endure the pain. She felt him touch the side of her face and whisper "you're beautiful." Her breathe caught and she felt his lips on hers. He was kissing her and to her amazement she was kissing him back. She felt her arms wrap around his neck. She felt so hot like she was burning. His kisses were like fire. As quick as the fire came it was gone. He had pulled away from her and was now standing on the other side of the room. She could hear him breathing hard the same as she.
"I have to leave I can't stay here tonight." He said backing away toward the door.
"No! Don't leave me!" Patience screamed sitting up then fainting because of the pounding pain she felt in her head.
When Patience woke up a few hours later and found that she could sit up with no pounding pain. She almost wanted to smile until she opened her eyes to find that she was still in the same place but the fire had died down and it was cold.
"Don't these people believe in electric or gas heat?" She said rubbing her shoulders. She got up off the bed and started looking for a light switch but not finding one.
"What kind of place is this with no electricity?" she said heading for the door. She was amazed that it was not locked as she slowly opened it until she could stick her head out. She looked down the stone hallway lite by torches.
"This is way too medieval for me." She stepped out into the hallway flipped a coin in her head and chose right. The hallway was much warmer than the room so she did not understand why she was still shivering. It was something about this place that scared her but what girl would not be scared? She was stuck in this big creepy castle in the middle of nowhere plus she had no idea how she got there and then there was that man or was that a dream?
She was almost to the end of the hallway when she heard voices coming from one of the rooms. It sounded like two men talking. She stopped then looked at the end of the hall and the door. "Decisions, decisions, decisions?" she said tapping her chin. She decided to walk toward door and found that it was ajar. There were two men one was an old man sitting on a long velvet couch, calm and collective, just listening to the young man rant and rave as he wore a whole in the floor.
"Why did you have her brought here? And put in my bed for God's sakes?" the young man said running his hand through his hair.
"That voice sounds so familiar." Patience whispered trying to peer deeper into the room so she could get a better look at the young man but his back was turned from her.
"Maxim, you have not had a woman in such a long time. I know what they did to you in that prison was horr-"
"No! It was hell!" Maxim said throwing a glass against the wall.
"I understand that-" the old man said standing up walking over to where Maxim threw the glass.
"Do you?" Maxim said glaring at the old man.
"Maxim, your brother brought the girl for you. He thinks you need to sate your thirst before you end up going mad."
"My thirst does not need to be sated, thank you." the old man sighed.
"Maxim"
"Father, it would be nice if you could tell my brother to mind his own business, I can perfectly well find a woman when I need one." the old man looked at Maxim and disappeared through the wall next to the fireplace. Maxim stared after him for a minute then sat on the couch and put his head in his hands.
Patience slowly backed away from the door and started heading down the hall as quickly as possible. She could not believe what she heard. They kidnap woman, gave them to men just to be raped. She felt so sick and disgusted. For the first time she felt terror vibrate throughout her. She got to the end of the hallway and found two doors at both ends of the hall. She flipped a coin in her mind again, this time she chose left. She hurried quickly through the door because she heard footsteps coming down the hall.
As soon as she got in the room she wanted to run right back out but she was frozen in place. There was a bed. The same as the last one she was in except all the sheets were a dark blue and there was a naked man lying in it.
"And who may you be?"
"Umm..." she could not find any words to say. All she could do was stare into his eyes.
The man got up from the bed and walked toward her with a fierce look of lust in his eyes. Patience could not move. She was paralyzed by his glare.
"You must be for me to taste." He was so close to her that she could not breathe. He put an arm around her waist and slowly walked her over to the bed never taking his eyes from hers. It was as if she was under a spell because she knew she did not want him to touch her but still she could do nothing but look into his golden eyes.
He laid her down on the bed. "You must be my snack before my meal." he said smiling as he slowly started to unbutton her shirt.
"Joseph, what may I ask, are you doing?" a young blond woman said standing naked in front of the door.
"About to enjoy a snack if you do not mind." he said as he finished unbuttoning Patience's shirt.
"Why taste her when you can have me." she said walking to the bed with her hands on her hips.
"I just want a little taste then you can taste, too." he said as she climbed on the bed.
Patience could feel him kissing on her but she could not move no matter how much she tried.
"I want to taste her first." the woman said.
Patience looked at the woman and watched her grow fangs right before her eyes. Something snapped in Patience because she found herself pushing the man off of her, running toward the door, flinging it open and running toward the door across the hall. When she was about open the door she stopped something made her turn around and run the other way. She ran until she saw the midnight blue door with silver handles and knew that she was suppose go in there because for some reason she knew she would be safe in there. She closed and locked the door but was too distracted in trying to catch her breathe that she did not realize that she walked into a room full of men.
Someone cleared their throat and Patience slowly turned around. She was paralyzed again but this time it was not because of a look. It was because she was paralyzed with fear. Each male had a look of lust in their eyes and some had already drawn fangs.
"Ahh, you must be...if I can remember correctly...Patience" a young man with light brown hair and green eyes said as he put down his drink and walked towards her.
"You're more beautiful than I remember" he said running a finger down her cheek.
Patience finally found some inner strength to grab the door knob but he grabbed her hand and pressed it against her breast.
"You were a gift for my brother but seeing as he let you just wonder he must not want you" he said squeezing her breast with her hand. "So I think I'll take you."
He kissed and licked her neck. She could feel him drag his sharp teeth across her neck. She felt tears roll down her eyes. She just wanted him to stop torturing her and just kill her.
"Michael, what are you doing?" Maxim said walking through a door at the back of the room.
Michael stopped kissing Patience's neck and turned around to look at his brother.
"I'm taking what you do not want?" he said turning around to look at Patience.
"As usually but I never said I did not want her." Maxim said crossing his arms.
Patience looked over Michael's shoulder at Maxim. He was almost the tallest man in the room. He had dark brown hair with sliver-gray eyes like the sky before a storm. He looked powerful and fierce but he did not have lust in his eyes.
Patience for some reason knew that he was the reason she had walked into the room to find him.
Michael still had her hand on her breast. She tried to move it but his grip tightened. She knew she needed to get to him. She knew she would be safe with him.
"Then you do want her." he said turning around to rise one eyebrow at Maxim. With that he loosened his grip giving Patience the opportunity she needed to run to Maxim. She ran to him and wrapped her arms around him.
Maxim was so shocked he did nothing but stare at her for a moment then he put one arm around her and walked her out the room. All eyes were on them.
When he got her back to the room, he pried her off of him and saw that she was crying.
"Why did you leave the room?" he said angrily.
Patience just stared at him and backed away wiping her eyes with her arms.
"It wasn't a dream. You were here in this room with me and you kissed me." Maxim turned his back on her.
"It doesn't matter, it was an accident. Just a mistake. Anyway, the point is why did you leave?"
"What was I suppose to do stay here and wait to be killed or try to find a way to escape?"
"You were supposed to-" he said turning around but he stopped before he looked at her.
"I was supposed to what?" she said crossing her arms becoming angry. Finally, he did turn around.
"You were supposed to stay here." he said his eyes growing silver with anger.
Patience became so frightened that she stepped back quickly and fell over onto the bed. Maxim was within inches of her within minutes.
"H-h-h-how d-did you d-do t-that?" Patience's said her heart pounding a mile a minute but she did not know if it was because she was frightened or because he was so close to her.
"The same way you would only faster." He kissed her and set her soul on fire.
"Where have you been all my life?" he said kissing her neck.
Patience felt a prick of pain then an explosion of pleasure. It was so powerful that she felt herself blackout.
When she woke up her shoes and jacket were off and she was lying beneath the blood red covers. There was a fire burning in the fireplace and there was food sitting on the table. Patience felt so weak when pushed the covers off it was as if her arms were made of lead. She tried to move her legs but she could not find the strength to swing them off the bed. She just sat there and tried to remember what happened then she remembered the pleasure.
"Are you hungry?" Maxim said from the darkest corner of the room. Patience lifted her head to see where he was.
"Yes, I'm hungry actually I'm starving but I'm too tired to get up" She could not keep her head up any longer. She heard movement in the corner. She heard him grunt then he was standing on the side of bed. He looked at her in agony for a moment then he lifted her up and placed her at the table.
"What is your name?" he said with sadness in his voice.
"Patience, th -"
Before Patience could even manage to say thank you he was gone out the door. Patience just started eating her food feeling hurt that she caused him pain.
Maxim walked into the elevator of his penthouse and felt regret wash over him. He wished he had never let go that night but he knew if he did not let her go he would of made her his forever. He knew she was not ready to accept who he truly was. He doubted she ever would be.
Chapter # 2
"Get the hell out! I hate you!" Patience screamed at her fiancé as she threw the vase at his head.
"What the hell was that for?" he said missing the vase by inches.
"Well I don't know maybe it was the fact that you slept with my neighbor or it could be the fact that you were sleeping with her for months? It could any one of those." Patience knew that he was cheating on her but she stuck with him anyway thinking if she just ignored it everything would be okay. Her fiancé apparently wanted her to find out because he did not cover his tracks. She still did not know why she was with him in the first place, he was a jerk.
"Get the hell out. Just take your stuff and leave." she said as she pointed to the door.
"I'm only leaving because I want to and you know that. I'll be back." He grabbed his clothes off the floor and walked out the door. As soon as the door closed she fell to the floor crying. She never understood why she keeps putting herself through this. She knew he would be back before the week is out and she would accept him with open arms like she usually did.
After Patience was finished crying, she cleaned up the broken vase and started cleaning up the house. She finished cleaning right before 10 in the morning, an hour before she had to go to work. Patience worked as a photographer for the New York Times and she had hoped that one day she would be able to write for them but she'll take what she's gets.
When Patience's got to her office, she already had ten assignments awaiting her. She sat down and just started sorting the out. Her first appointment was to take a picture of the new building downtown at 11 o' clock then at 12:30 she was to meet Gary, her boss's secretary, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"That's just great! I have to meet Gary." It's not that she disliked Gary but he was just so creepy. He was always watching her and it always felt like he was undressing her with his eyes.
"Just another crazy day." she said leaning back in her comfy leather chair, a gift from her office mate, Jeremy.
Patience was just about to close her eyes when her office phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Patience, it's me Gary."
"Yes?"
"Where are you?"
"In my office"
"You should be at Central Park!"
"What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you get my message?
"What message?"
"The one I gave Jeremy to give to you?"
"No. Jeremy is not even-"
Patience looked up to find Jeremy, standing in her door, waving a note in his hands.
"Never mind. I'll be there." She hung up then got up and snatched the note from Jeremy's hand.
"Where were you?"
"Sorry I meant to call you before you came in but Michelle called for a little morning breakfast if you catch my drift?"
"Yeah, we now I'm late."
"Come on, I'll give you a ride."
When they got to Central Park, Gary was steaming fumes.
The model had left because she had another photo shoot to go to and she would not wait any longer.
"I'm sorry, Gary. Technically, it really was not my fault."
"Well, you have one hour to get the picture he wants for the cover." he said walking off.
"How am I supposed to do that?" she yelled after him.
"You'll think of something! I pray!" he said flicking his hand back.
Patience had no idea what to do but she knew if she did not get a model for this picture, her job was gone.
"Why don't you just find someone? Anyone can be a model?" Someone said behind her. Patience nearly jumped out of her skin and what was even creepier was when she turned around there was no one there. That was not the only thing that scared her. What scared her most was the fact that it sounded like him. She would know that voice anywhere.
It's been three years since she last saw him. She still remembered his touch, his kisses. She still dreamed about him. She knew she should not be but she just could not help it. She tried not to think about him but every time she closed her eyes, he was there. She relived the night he made love to her every single night.
Maxim did not know why she affected him like this. All he wanted to do was be near her, touch her, taste her. He had to stay away from her.
"Why are you sitting here in the dark?" Patience said from the doorway.
After Patience, finished eating and got her strength back, she decided to go find Maxim because she did want to sit in that cold, dark room alone. When she walked out the room she thought it would be hard to find him but somehow she knew exactly where he was. Sitting in the room where she had eavesdropped on his father and him.
"Why can't you just stay in the room?" he said covering himself with a pillow so she would not see what she did to him.
"If you wanted me to stay put, you shouldn't have left the door unlocked. It's as simple as that." she said sitting next to him on the couch. "Why isn't there any electricity here?"
"Let's just say, my family is a bit old fashioned."
"A-bit?"
"Well, a lot. How do you feel, Patience?"
"I feel okay, a little light headed but the food helped." Patience said then shifted in her seat to face Maxim. "What did you do to me?"
Maxim did not know what to say to her. He could not tell her, there was no way. He stood up and walked out into the hall.
"Hey, wait!" she said following him. "What did you do to me?" He just kept walking.
"Fine!" she said and turned around to walk back to the room. She grabbed her jacket and started to search for a way out again. This time she promised herself nothing would stop her. This time she chose to go left and this time she found a stairwell that led her to the kitchens.
"Who are you?" a short, blue eyed red head in blue jeans and a green polo shirt said to her.
"I'm Patience."
"Are you one of Master Michael's friends?" she said putting down the basket of laundry she had in her hands.
"Yes. I'm lost."
"Would you like me to show you to-"
"No! I mean...no. I was looking for my way out."
"Oh! I'll show you then. Do you have a car?"
"Y-yes."
"Oh, then we can just go out the back. Grab your keys off the wall." she said pointing to the wall to the right of Patience. Patience grabbed the first keys that caught her eye.
"I got them."
"Okay, follow me." she said walking down the hallway then out a door.
When Patience felt the fresh night air she felt alive again. Patience had always been a night person. The night always rejuvenated her and made her do wild things.
"Miss?"
"Yes, I'm coming. I'm sorry."
"No worries. I suspect your night person as well."
"How did you know?"
"I could always tell your kind. It's in the way you breathe the night air. Now, here we are. Just point and you should find the car." Patience pointed and the lights of a 2005 Volvo XC90 flashed. "That would be Master Maxim's car. I won't tell. I know Master Michael only had male guests today and the females were all prostitutes."
"Thank you so very much." Patience said as she practically ran towards the car.
Maxim was sitting on the roof of the castle, trying to get Patience's out of his mind, when he saw his car drive out of the garage.
"What the hell?" Then he knew it was Patience trying to get away from him. He jumped off the roof which was 250 foot drop and landed unhurt on his feet. He started running toward the garage and he saw their maid, Hope about to walk back into the house.
"Hope! Throw me the keys to my brother's car. I'll deal with you later."
"Yes, sir." She ran into the house, got the keys and threw them to him.
Patience did not know when she started crying but she felt the tears streaming down her face. She tried to wipe them away but they just keep flowing. She could not figure out why she was crying. She was finally free there was nothing left back there for her. She was so busy trying to figure out why she was crying that she did not see the lights of the black Chrysler Crossfire. It was coming up on her tail fast.
Maxim was furious. How dare she leave him? She was his no one else's. She will leave when he says. He pulled up beside her car and rolled down the window.
"PULL OVER!!" He yelled out the window.
Patience did not know what to do. One part of her wanted to just pull over then the other part just wanted to keep driving and never stop.
"PULL OVER NOW!!" He yelled again and when she did not stop. He sped up and swerved in front of her. She stopped. He jumped out of the car, walked over to her car and opened the door.
All of Patience felt relief. Somehow, she knew he would come after her. He unbuckled her seat belt and pulled her out of the car then slammed the door shut.
"Are you crazy?" he said with fiery in his voice then he kissed her. He kissed her with so much passion that if he was not holding her she would have fallen to the floor. He pushed her up against the car and started kissing her neck.
"No...NO! STOP!" she said pushing him. He pulled away.
"I'm sorry" he said breathing heavy like her. It started to rain.
Maxim and Patience just stared at each other for what felt like eternity then Maxim held out his hand and she took it. They got into his car and just left Michael's car in the middle of the road.
When they got back to the castle, they walked through the back running into Hope.
"Hope."
"Yes, sir." She said this time with an empty laundry basket in her hand.
"Tell my brother that if he wants his car to stay in perfect perfection then he better go get it out of the middle of the road."
"Yes, sir" she was about to walk away when he said.
"Also?"
"Yes?"
"Could you bring us up some food and some wine?"
"Yes, sir." She said walking out of the kitchen to go tell Michael the news.
Walking back to Maxim's room was the longest journey, mentally, that Patience had ever taken. She knew that she wanted to be there with him but she was also afraid.
"Ease your mind. I will not do anything you do not want me to and I definitely will not harm you." He said when they had gotten to his bedroom door.
When he opened the door, there was already a fire burning in the fireplace, making the room cozy and warm.
"Would you relax? Your building my tension with your tension." He said as he took off his jacket and sat on the bed. "Come sit." He patted a spot right next to him. As nervous as Patience was, there was no hesitation walking over to him and sitting on the bed next to him.
'Why are you trembling?"
"Because I want to -" he kissed. Passionately and slowly he made love to her.
About midnight, someone came and banged on his door. He tried to ignore it but the person just kept banging.
"I know you're in there Maxim open up!" Michael said continuously banging on the door.
Maxim forced himself to get up from the warm coziness of her softness.
"You better have a good goddamn reason for disturbing me." He said opening the door and slipping out.
"What do you want Michael?"
"You owe me a new car."
"Are you serious? Please do not tell me that is the reason why you woke me out of my sleep?" he said wanting to kill Michael.
"It is not like you were busy?" he said leaning against the wall across from Maxim's door with his arms crossed.
"Actually I was sleeping."
"hahaha, you sleeping. You have not slept since you came back." He said smugly. "The only thing that could make you sleep is if you had a good wo…man" He just stared at Maxim for a minute, looking him up and down, realizing that Maxim was standing in his robe. "She is in there isn't she?"
"If you must know she is." He said now crossing his arms.
"Oh, I am so sorry, big bro. You should have told me. I'll make sure no disturbs you." He said with a smile on his face.
"Good. Goodnight." He said walking back in the room.
He walked over to his bed and looked down on Patience trying to imprint every detail of her face in his mind. He knew he could not keep her here. He knew he had to let her go.