Title: L'Ecrivain se Lamente [3/7]

Author: Airebella E. Spencer

Rating: strong R…lots of dirty goodness :D

Feedback: praises and flames…his_gray_eyes@hotmail.com

Distribution: CD okay, anyone else, Ask First, Post Later

Disclaimer: I wish it was mine…it's the one thing I keep asking Santa for each Christmas…ah well maybe next year

Summary: Post ATY…again another character of my own creation, but this is a seven part serial, so it'll be finished. Sydney and Vaughn are tangled in another web of lies, and their ties are deeper and stronger than what could have ever expected. Part III: they meet….

"Seen a shooting star tonight/and I thought of me/if I was still the same/if I ever became/what you wanted me to be/did I miss the mark/over step the line/the only you could see?" bob dylan.shooting star

for luke

---

Un vincolo della sorella corre più spesso di il sangue.

A sister's bond runs thicker than blood

{Now}

she

Instinct led her to her gun. There were several, strategically placed about the small cottage for easy access. She drew her satin robe around her body and tied the sash at her waist. Removing the nearest gun [position 5, entry, grandfather clock] from behind it's sealed location, she secured it underneath the thick ribbon of the sash, moving towards the door.

She slowly opened the door, a pleasant smile drawn tightly over her lips. The pads of her left fingers ran over the handle of the gun, aligning the best path for the most appropriate grip.

The bright green of those eyes jumped out at her, cutting deep. The smile was familiar, missed, craved. The touch was firm, yet soft, consoling. She felt her knees as they began to buckle beneath her.

Then her smile froze. Her body went rigid.

It was done.

{Then}

She had a memory.

An immense lake, a deserted shore, a warm afternoon.

Running up to the surface, running her heated toes through the cool water, running through the woods that ran along the circumference.

Dancing through the trees, dancing across the leaves, dancing in the faded sunlight.

Jumping into the icy liquid, jumping into the dark depths, jumping into the blue.

Slipping from the dock, slipping because of her grip, slipping against the mossy rock.

Breathing in great gulps, breathing in water, breathing into her own suffocating lungs.

Drowning, drowning in the dark night, drowning into her own body.

Falling into darkness, falling away from the light, falling into the sound.

Silence.

{Now}

She screamed.

She threw her body upwards until she sat straight up, her palms pressed firmly against the cartilage of her ears. She applied more pressure, increasing the pain, increasing the force, decreasing the silence. Her body ached, her muscles were numb and yet she kept pushing.

Harder.

Harder.

She screamed.

A door slammed shut, and she stopped. She slowly removed her hands from her ears and realized that she was shaking. Her body shook in minor convulsions, out of fear, cold, and heat all at the same time. Her breaths came in pants: she then realized that she wasn't in the water, that the sounds around her were clear, that she wasn't lost in an endless sea of mossy blue.

Instead she was lost in a sea of deep olive green. Smooth linen sheets confined her to the soft sanctuary of a large four poster bed, carved from a stained oak. She was swallowed by the masculinity of the room around her, its gentle musky smell, the familiar glow that it possessed.

Without further speculation she shifted her weight with the greatest care and swung her legs over the edge of the high bed, slowly pushing herself to her feet. The room was dark, dimly lit by artificial light, spare a tunnel that attracted her vision twenty feet ahead. A door.

Passing through the doorframe led her into a covered veranda that appeared to sweep out into a long terrace. Its north wall was completely composed of large bay windows, the glass feeding warm light into the cool room. The solid south wall was lined with recliners and an evergreen sofa, whose shade matched that of the potted tree in the corner.

Her ears perked at a creak that sounded in the background. She spun, her back facing the warm sun, and reluctantly retreated into the darkness. Feeling her way through the blackness around her, she switched on a light, illuminating a side chamber that gave off the appearance of a study.

She turned around, and her froze.

{Before}

him

He had a memory.

A distant city, a crowded warehouse, a certain purpose.

Milling through the sweating bodies, milling through the white tunnels, wallowing in his own fate.

Losing, losing his control, losing the connection, losing her voice.

Running, running from his post, running towards the water, running towards her.

Stopping with the sight, stopping to admire the beauty, stopping to taste his death.

Following her cries, following her path, following the smooth air.

The closing, the closing of the gap, the closing of the door, the closing of the last venue of escape.

Water, water pushing him forward, water stealing his breath, water stealing the precious space in his lungs.

Crying, her crying, crying in sobs, crying as she slammed the red fire extinguisher into the thick glass, crying as he disappeared from her sight.

Suffocating, suffocating into himself, suffocating with the pressure, suffocating with the realization.

Swimming, swimming upward, swimming towards the oxygen, swimming towards the calling sound.

Falling, falling out with the draining, falling out onto the asphalt, falling into their hands.

Breathing, breathing in the new air, breathing out the water, breathing alive.

Darkness, surrounded by sound.

Light.

{Now}

she

He was real, and she couldn't believe. He was real. She reached forward and placed the pads of her fingertips at each of his temples. She shut her eyes and left instinct to take control. Her sense of touch rose to the surface, and her photographic memory made a map as she ran her fingers down the sides of his stubbled face. They traced the contours of his cheekbones, the bridge of his nose, the sides of his jawbone, and the cleft of his chin. She pushed her fingers back upward into the corner of his ears, preparing the journey down his neck.

He stopped her.

She felt his soft, firm hands encompass her own. She felt they swim in his large, rough palms, and he held her as if he knew she would break. Satisfied that she was solid, satisfied with her reality, he pulled her index fingers to his lips, and he tasted her.

She opened her eyes, the tears streaming down her cheeks. He intertwined their fingers and held her neck in his strong hold, his eyes a piercing green, as if they were screaming out against the brilliant light.

A kiss. Gentle and smooth, long in length and speed. A spark. The electricity moved from his senses through hers, generating in their lips and moving deep from there to regions below.

She felt him smile into their lip lock, and they broke away. She was cold.

She was empty.

Soon his turn had come, and her body jumped to life. He followed the precedents that she set and walked along the outlined path, taking his own initiative as well. He memorized the curves of her face, and from this came her ecstasy. Her skin ignited and her toes curled, and then came his touch. Kisses, along her neck, across her collarbone. Down, far into the valley between her breasts, for she was nearly bare, spare the clothes she had previously worn. She could only smile as he pursued a natural trail, tracing a straight line from her jutting hips to the tip of her big toe.

He returned to her lips, and this time they only felt fever. Hunger. They were both demanding, and soon he took control from her capable hands. He lessened the pace, breathing into their kiss, slowly leaning her backwards. Back, into the dark, against the dark olive and scarlet.

She moaned. He gave her more.

His hands began to roam, up from their previous stop. Along the muscle of her calves, the bone of her kneecaps, and the thinning meat of her thighs. His fingers tiptoed past the middle of her thighs, farther, up around the material into the damp moisture, weakening her knees and stealing her breath from her lips.

They twisted their way, in the tangle of arms and legs that they were in, to the high bed behind her. Never losing her lips he lifted her up onto the bed and threw the robe to the floor, letting her peel off his white button down shirt. He took every scant piece of clothing she wore hostage, and in exchange let him have a token of his.

She was lost in him, lost in his eyes, lost in his touch. As he entered her, her eyes welled up with tears, and he stopped.

It was silent. Nothing but heavy air passed between the two, who were now one, and she pleaded. Without words she pleaded for more, she pleaded for all of him.

He answered.

He was alive.

She cried.

{Then}

Alexander had been the one to pull her from the water. She remember hearing Francie's sobs, and Annika's yelling at everyone in the lake in her angry German. Few understood her, but she did it anyway, calling "schneller, schneller!" and cursing at anyone who managed to say anything otherwise.

She coughed and spit up the liquid in her lungs, forcing herself into a sitting position amidst a circle of half-clothed teenagers. She could feel the relief ripple through all of them, and then only felt pain as Annika pushed her into her bosom, clutching her so tight that she had to squirm in protest.

She strayed away from the water, taking comfort in the attention she was given. She watched it splash and ripple from the warm arms of a fleece-lined jacket, muttering her curses, bedding her scowls. She'd been at its shore once, in her mother's embrace, but they never returned again.

{Now}

She awoke to darkness once again. Content and happiness had flooded her senses, and she sighed deeply, a exhale free of worry and stress.

She turned to look at him, and found nothing but warm space of wrinkled linen. She knew from the heat that he couldn't have been gone long, and given their history, she knew he would find a way back.

He was gone. And she stilled had no idea where she was.

Robing and a short walk lead her out onto his sunny veranda, with its white chiffon curtains drawn over two of the large windows. She found a door, its release hidden in the expert craftsmanship of the wood that paneled the glass.

She found the terrace to be cool underneath her bare feet, long and winding in it's length and width. On the railing before her sat a black mug, coffee, which she knew from the smell, black and strong. She brought it to her lips and drank, then smiled. Black, spiced and powerful, spare two spoons to sugar.

Instinct lead her to her left. She traced the paved path along the extended balcony, occasionally glancing over the railing at the glistening Mediterranean, and the white sandy shores that hugged its curves. She twisted with the wood, and kept her back to the concrete of the building, inching forward as a flash of white caught her eyes.

Again.

A curtain, she realized. A curtain of silky white that dancing with the salty breeze, moving in its embrace.

She soon discovered its master, the pane of glass that it sheltered. Open, as she had opened his door, knowingly open, open for a reason. A reason she didn't know.

These rooms, unlike his, were well lit. Their colors were bright, streams of pastel in all shades. Dark mahogany, or perhaps another wood of the stained nature, had been carved into pieces of furniture, desks, a bed, chairs, a fireplace mantel.

Another open door, an empty room. White, cream, pearl. Curtains, drapes, walls, floors, all various shades of the nondescript, the absence of color. All but a stark chair, with its back faced towards her. She entered the room with caution, creeping towards the chair with deliberately, her pace slowly and gradual.

It swung around by itself, perhaps at the will of its inhabitant, and faced her.

A flip of hair, a twinkle in the eye, a misleading smile.

Annika.

him

He hadn't slept.

She was lying in his arms, dreaming in a peaceful sleep, and he was awake, staring at the ceiling.

His eyes shut, only to open them just a second later, always praying that time had managed to escape past him. Eventually seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and the sky was still black.

At dawn he settled her into the sheets, arranging them to make up for the lack of warmth that would come with his departure, and he rose. His head pounded, his back ached, and his eyes had begun to nag for the sleep that refused to come. He dressed in loose black slacks and an olive button down linen, moving into a side chamber, making the coffee that his throat was screaming for.

Out, into the warm Greek sun, to watch the ocean as she washed out onto the shores of Crete. He'd much preferred the Italian sun, as he'd discovered when they went to retrieve her, when he pleaded for her to be spared. He took his coffee with him, black with two spoons of sugar, as he liked it strong and sweet. He shut his eyes and drank, drifting with the wind, letting it carry him as it pleased from side to side.

A throat cleared and his eyes opened, but no one was there.

He looked down and found a small girl staring at him, her eyes big and bright, her long pigtails dark as midnight. She was dress in all white, in a plain sleeveless sundress that skirted her ankles, courting with her brown-sandled feet. Her gaze was penetrating, full of curiosity and innocence.

Her request was voiced in a lyrical French, and he could place it somewhere near Marseilles, maybe slightly farther north. "Grandmére, I mean the Lady, is to see you in the Blue Room," the child had stuttered, her lower lip trembling in fear as he laughed. He knew the cooks well, for they served him his dinner, and they each talked endlessly of their offspring, and the generations which originated in their blood. So he went.

He followed her into his rooms, down the hallways, up the staircase. A left, another left, and a right. She stopped and smiled brightly, her dimples sinking in on both sides of her smile. He smiled in return, and she opened the door, scampering in ahead of him, disappearing around the first corner.

The room was blue. But it wasn't empty.

[End Part III] next update: 08.23.02