A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Lots of thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed the last couple of chapters, it's very much appreciated. Here's the next chapter. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think.
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## UNAUTHORIZED USER LOGON @ 10:00 PM 9.17.92
SENT MESSAGE @ 10:01 PM 9.17.92
redqueen: I'll be there.
UNAUTHORIZED USER LOGOFF @ 10:02 PM 9.17.92
* * *
Alice's Mirror.
Heavy techno beats. Dozens of bodies, jumping, twisting, moving to the rhythm. Lights blinding and dazzling your eyes. And drugs everywhere, drugs to entice all the senses. This was the Mirror.
I was wearing a black corset and the tightest pair of leather pants I could find. Eve, midnight prowler. Or some shit like that. Billy Yong, who ended our relationship when he put a bullet through his skull, always said I had a daytime persona and a nighttime persona. But tonight there was no hacking, no computers. Only Eve, wearing Trinity's personality like armor.
So it was with a certain level of confidence that I strolled into the club, looking around with a 'here I am' expression. No one looked back. God of dreams wasn't showing himself, not yet. I slid through the crowd, searching.
I saw a club regular, Julio, as he saw me. He grabbed my arm. I didn't like the appraising glance he gave me. "Looking good, Eve," he said smoothly, wrapping his arm around my waist and locking our hips together. "Wanna dance?"
"I'm meeting someone, Julio."
"Yeah? Your new lover?" He reached for my hand and slipped a pair of pills into my palm.
"I told you–"
"You're meeting someone and he's probably doing it too. Can't hit the club without the ex. Try it, babe."
He passed me a drink. The little pills slid easily down my throat. I felt the music pounding through my chest like a drum and moved away from Julio, melding into the throng of shifting, morphing bodies.
I caught the beat, and my body swayed serpentinely, one with the crowd and the music. My hands moved over my breasts, smoothing down the front of my torso to my thighs, raising into the air above my head. Someone brushed behind me. I grinded back into his–no, her–hips. She wrapped her arms around my waist and guided the motion, placing a kiss on the nape of my neck.
The confusion, the doubt, the shit of every day life was gone. I was gone too, lost in the dance. The music changed, thrusting a heavier beat. We changed to accommodate it with more bobbing, stomping, grinding. It was mindlessness, happiness. The woman behind me ran her hands through my black hair and murmured something sexy. I didn't know or care what. All that mattered was the moment.
Then the nausea welled inside of me again, faintness too, and I swooned, fighting a losing battle for consciousness. It was just lack of air. I shook off the girl's hands–she gave a moan of disappointment–and ran for the exit.
I barely made it to the alley behind the club before I fell to my knees and threw up. There wasn't much to vomit; I hadn't eaten in days. I climbed shakily to my feet and fished in my purse for a cigarette and lighter. My head was still swimming, my hands shaking so hard I could barely hold the lighter. I stuck the cigarette between my teeth and tried, unsuccessfully, to light it.
"Shit." The lighter dropped from my trembling hands, skidding across the blacktop. I dropped to my hands and knees and scrambled after it. The lighter came to rest against the side of a brown shoe. A nice shoe made of shiny leather. The kind of shoe that'd get you mugged around here.
A brown hand reached down and picked up the lighter. I stared up, and up, and up into a pair of very reflective sunglasses.
"Hello, Trinity."
I liked the voice. Rich and warm, each word spoken with a sort of slow, precise deliberation. I stood and looked at him again. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and a bit heavyset, his skin a warm golden-brown. He wore a leather duster over a very stylish brown suit, and was as bald as an egg.
He flicked on the lighter and offered me the flame. I let him light the cigarette and took a long, slow drag, trying to calm the pounding of my heart. It was beating rapidly and there was a roaring in my ears that wouldn't go away.
"Who are you?" I asked breathlessly. "Are you the god of dreams?"
"Yes. My name is Morpheus."
"How do you..." I couldn't finish the sentence. My legs shook so hard they threatened to give way. My vision blurred. The cigarette dropped from my lips.
"Trinity?"
I heard the voice but could not make sense of it. "Fuck." The word came out in a half-sob. "Oh God, help me...someone help me..."
The world spun around me, and I fell into a pair of strong arms.
* * *
I woke, and couldn't make sense of my surroundings. I was lying in a bed, the covers tucked to my chin, in the middle of a very average, unremarkable bedroom–a hotel room, my groggy mind told me. Seated in a chair beside me, gazing quietly before him, was Morpheus.
"NO!" I shrieked, bolting upright out of the bed. Eve, the stupid bitch, she'd let me be caught! I would not be caged, not be raped, not be murdered by this man!
Instantly he had my shoulders in a surprisingly strong grasp and pushed me flat on my back on the bed. I fought him wildly, bucking and kicking, scrabbling at his arms, and screaming all the time.
"Bitch! It's your fault, you let yourself be caught! Let me go! I'll kill you, dammit, I'll kill you!"
"Trinity!"
His voice, commanding and calming at once, cut through the madness. Slowly, slowly, I began to relax. I was sweating and shaking, my chest heaving as I gulped in air.
"Calm down, Trinity," Morpheus went on serenely, brushing hair away from my damp forehead. He continued to caress my forehead, smooth back my hair, as if I were a little girl who'd just woken from a nightmare.
I turned onto my side away from him and began to cry. Morpheus rested his hand on my heaving shoulder and waited through my sobs.
"Are you calm now?" he asked me when I'd cried myself dry.
"Yes." I sat up. I was still dizzy and slightly nauseous, but the sensation was bearable. I hugged my knees to my chest.
"Who are you?"
Morpheus smiled. "You asked me that question already."
"I only know your name."
He nodded. "That is true. But you are not ready to learn more."
I rubbed my hand wearily over my eyes. "Then why am I here?"
"You fainted. You realize you are hurting yourself, do you not? Unless you stop, you'll die."
I checked the sudden urge to wrap my hands around my throat and choke Eve to death. "That wouldn't be so bad."
"Yes, it would." Morpheus gripped my chin and forced me to look at him. "You cannot die, Trinity. I need you to live."
"Why?"
"That is something I cannot explain." He let me go. "Not yet."
"Then how can I trust you?" I asked bluntly.
Morpheus was silent. I waited, listening to the ticking of a clock on the wall.
"That is something you will have to decide for yourself," he said at last. "I must leave. Stay here and rest as long as you like. We will meet again."
I opened my mouth, but he added, as if reading my thoughts, "Don't worry about payment. It's been taken care of."
I watched this extraordinary man get up, leave, and close the door behind him, all with the sinking feeling that I would never see him again.
* * *
To be continued.