Chapter Eight



Lucas came over and sat next to Sami on the couch after throwing the remains of their dinner in the trash. Their legs brushed against each other and Sami felt herself blushing. Lucas had been in rare form that night and it was making her feel nervous and excited at the same time. She remembered what he said earlier that night and blushed even harder.

"What do you want for dinner?" he had asked, "I'll make you anything."

"Lucas....."

"I'm not on the menu, sweetheart. But there's always dessert....."

Sami tried to shake off the words that had left her feeling hot and bothered. Ever since he got back to Salem, it hadn't taken much for him to reduce her to a quivering mass of desire. Now that he was acting even more charming that usual, he was so enticing it was killing her. She brought the cup of coffee up to her lips. As she drank out of the cup, she imagined how good it would be to feel Lucas' lips press against her neck, then move down to cover her stomach. He would continue moving lower until his mouth reached... Startled, she titled the cup too much and spilled coffee down the front of her shirt.

She swore loudly as she and Lucas got off the couch. She went into the kitchen and poured the remains of the coffee down the sink. She couldn't believe she had let those thoughts get the best of her. Her face had to be flaming now.

"I'll go find something for you to change into." Lucas offered and he was gone before Sami could protest. She leaned against

the counter, taking deep breaths to steady herself. She had to stop acting like this or Lucas was going to think she was crazy. A small smile grazed her lips when she realized she was crazy. Crazy about Lucas. He finally came out of her bedroom, holding up a baby pink lingerie set with a mischievous grin on his face.

"In your dreams, Lucas." she snatched the lingerie away from him.

"Actually, that was the black one." Lucas corrected her, "Remember, the one you were wearing when you slept over at my house? I remember that dream well."

"You're such a dork." Sami responded, "I'm going to go find something else. And stay out of my lingerie drawers!"

Lucas pouted, "Do I have to?" he asked, the look on his face making Sami laugh. Before she went back into her bedroom, he reached out a took hold of her arm, "Wait, you still wanted to go for a ride on my motorcycle right? I can take you tonight if you want."

Sami smiled at the idea, "Sure." she went into her room and as she was changing, she thought about how much fun she was going to have. The idea of Lucas straddling a motorcycle was almost as hot as the idea of Lucas straddling her. Damn, she thought to herself, throwing the soiled shirt onto the ground, there you go again, Sami. You have got to stop thinking like that. Still, riding on the back of his motorcycle was the perfect excuse to be able to touch him, to be able to hold on to him. She wasn't going to pass up an opportunity like that.

She and Lucas made their way outside and she shivered despite the thick jacket she was wearing. Lucas turned around and put his hands on her arms.

"Cold?" he asked. She could almost feel the heat from his hands burning through her jacket. She shook her head and the two of them got onto the motorcycle.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked her as he started up the bike. Sami snaked her arms around his waist, pressing her head up against his back.

"Anywhere is fine." she replied, the lack of distance between them warming her to the core. Lucas drove away from the apartment building. He drove for a long time and Sami enjoyed every minute of it. Her hair whipped around her face and she could hear Lucas' jacket flapping in the wind. He finally stopped the bike on a beach and he and Sami both got off.

"Why are we here?" Sami whispered. Lucas wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer to him.

"I don't know. You know, Richard grew up around water. He said he was going to teach me and Cassie how to go surfing and how to water-ski. I bet he isn't going to stay around here much longer. He said something happened at the end of senior year and he doesn't like staying in one place anymore. I wonder if Cassie will go back to Canada with him."

"Are you going to go?" Sami asked him, hoping his answer would be no.

Lucas thought about it for moment, "I don't think so. I think it would be an interesting experience but I still don't think it's going to happen. When I was with them, something was always missing. I had to come back to Salem to find it and I don't want to lose it again."

"What was it?" Sami's voice shook as she asked that. Lucas looked down at her.

"It was you, Sami." he said softly, "The whole time I was out of Salem, I wished you had decided to go with me. I still don't know exactly why you didn't go. I thought that you were as reluctant to let go of me as I was to let go of you."

Sami stared at the ground, the toe of her shoe digging into the sand, "You're right." she responded, "I didn't want to let you go but I felt like I had to. Because I was scared. After saying what I did in the clown car, I was confused. I thought if you left, I would realize that I didn't actually love you. Then you were gone and I realized I couldn't get around the fact that I actually had fallen in love with you."

She felt the salty air sting the areas on her cheeks that had become wet with tears. Lucas stared at her with unconcealed affection and love, "Sami, you don't have to cry. I've felt the same way for a long time. I just wasn't sure if you did. Then after you said you couldn't go with me, I thought I knew that you only put up with me because of Will and that you hadn't meant what you said in the clown car."

She turned so that she could wrap her arms around him, "That's not true. I meant every word, even if I had never meant to admit it."

"Sami." he said in a husky voice, before leaning down and letting his lips move on top of hers. He did it softly, so that she could pull away if she wanted to. But she didn't instead, she deepened the kiss even more. They continued to kiss until they felt the first drops of rain hit their clothes and skin.

Lucas looked around and realized how far away they were from Salem and pulled Sami back towards his motorcycle. He had noticed a small cave a little ways down the beach and he and Sami rode over to it. After parking the motorcycle, outside the cave, he pulled her inside.

"We'll just stay in here until the rain stops." he told her. She moved over to so that she was sitting on his lap. She curled up against his chest and sighed with contentment.

"It could rain all night for all I care." she replied and he smiled, kissing her on the top of the head. The rain began falling faster and Sami and Lucas watched it soak the sand, slowly falling asleep in each other's arms.



Dave and Freddy had finally managed to get an address for Richard and Cassie. They now knew that Brandon was living in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Salem. Cassie was sitting in the car across the street from the house while Richard sat inside, waiting for Brandon to return. He gripped the hammer tightly. This brought back memories. Twisted, bittersweet memories of working with Justin.

Gritting his teeth, he told himself not to think about Justin or anything else that had happened between the two of them. Justin was in jail now and Richard was going to have to keep running for the rest of his life. That was almost punishment enough for killing that woman. But it still hadn't completely made up for it. Richard wanted to believe that by getting rid of this serial killer, it would make up for what he had done.

About fifteen minutes, he heard creaking sounds from the front of the house. Brandon must have come home. He stood slowly, making sure nothing creaked beneath his weight. His hammer was poised and ready. The minute the tall, dark-haired man rounded the corner, he brought the hammer down on his head. The hammer hit his head with a sickening crack and Brandon stared up at Richard dumbly. Richard brought the hammer down again. After four or five more hits, he knew Brandon had to be unconscious.

He dragged the man outside and Cassie pulled up in front of the house. He tried stuffing the body in the trunk, but it wouldn't fit. He finally had to throw it in the backseat, glad the windows of the car Cassie had borrowed from Phillip were tinted. He got into the driver's seat and he drove up to their destination in almost complete silence. Cassie kept looking behind her at the man. Dark purple bruises were beginning to form where Richard had hit him with the hammer. Hatred welled up inside her for the man that had taken any chances she had of having a father away from her.

She and Richard reached the top of a large cliff and they took him over to a tree. Since it was winter, no one came out here. They chained him securely to the tree. As they were finishing off wrapping the motorcycle chains around his legs, he came to. Groaning loudly, he looked up at the two of them.

"I'm glad you're awake." Cassie told him in a voice colder than ice, "Now we can explain what we're going to do to you so there won't be any surprises."

"Surprises?" Brandon repeated, his mind still foggy from being hit over the head repeatedly with a hammer.

"That's right." the hatred in Cassie's voice was so clear and intense it almost scared Richard, "First, we're going to gouge out your eyes with a burning fork. Then we're going to castrate you and make you eat it. We're going to cut off your fingers and toes one by one. Then we'll set your hair on fire. Eventually we'll kill you, but not before we make you good and sorry for what you've done. You will deserve every minute of torture. You killed my father. You killed both of my fathers. You made my father and my brother go to jail for crimes you had committed. Nothing is too harsh a punishment for you after that. Richard and I will go back to Salem to get the equipment we need and then we'll come back. But we'll probably think up some even better ways to torture you before that."

Brandon looked up at Cassie with wide eyes, "You wouldn't." he croaked out but he could sense how strong her hatred towards him really was. She would do it, he was sure of it. And the idea of how painful that was caused him to wet himself, literally. Cassie noticed that the front of his pants were now wet and a very brief smile flickered across her face.

"Shut up." Cassie snapped, "Come on Richard, let's go."

She and Richard walked away, "Cassie, we're not actually going to do all that stuff you said we're going to do, are we?" Richard asked nervously.

Cassie smiled, "Of course not. We're just going to leave him there for the night thinking we are. He'll be so worried about it that he won't get any sleep. Then we go back and just kill him."

Richard sighed in relief, "Thank God. But all that shit you said..... I would feel sorry for the guy under other circumstances. You're evil, Cassie."

"I learned from the best of them." Cassie squeezed his arm and the two of them got back into Phillip's car, starting the long drive back to Salem.