Chapter Twenty-two
Wesley had gone in search of Fred to see if she had managed to get unpacked. He found her staring at the crates. "What's wrong, Fred?" he asked.
"Ah . . . Ah just don't know," she answered hesitantly, "where ta put 'em."
"In my lab, of course! Sorry I couldn't get back to you before now. I figured you'd just find it on your own. I should have sent one of the guys to show you to my lab. Come on; I'll show you the way now," he said as he reached down and picked up a crate.
"Are . . . Are ya sure?" she asked shyly. "Ah mean, Ah'd love ta work with ya, Wesley, but Ah don't want ta be a bother."
"You're not a bother. It'll be great having a partner, and there's plenty of room! Xena is very generous; she gave me a room and supplies any of my needs."
Her head snapped up to look at him in wide eyes even as she gasped softly. Her mouth hung open in a small circle for a moment before she managed to speak again. "Your -- Your needs?" Did she even want to know?
"Yes. She gives me an allowance to buy test tubes, chemicals, or anything else I might need for the lab. I'm always working, trying to find some kind of cure or answer to a prophecy. She counts on me. I was kind of surprised when she gave me a whole room to myself, but I've just about gotten it filled up. There's still plenty of room for your stuff, though," he quickly assured her.
Fred was gazing at him with eyes full of admiration as they walked. She knew he believed he was lucky to have his own room and such money for his equipment, but she also knew that he was not the luckiest one. "She's very lucky," she spoke quietly, a light blush tingeing her cheeks, "to have such a smart man as yourself to rely on."
"Well, she doesn't always understand what I'm trying to tell her," Wesley admitted, "but she does have respect for my work. You don't know how important that is. Even Captain Jack has taken an interest in my work, and believe me, he doesn't know what's going on. He gets a kick out of watching the bubbling of the test tubes, though. I try to figure out what's in his mind when he's watching them."
"I'm surprised he hasn't gotten me to try to make him some rum yet. He still hasn't found any. It's mysterious. I wonder. We had some on here, and even it's gone. I can't imagine who would have taken it, but I'm glad they did. It's the Devil's own drink and is no good for any man."
"Or woman," Fred agreed. "Ah've seen what it can do too, but ya're wrong about one thing. Ah do know how important it is ta have respect." Her eyes were saddened as she added in a small voice, "Mah father nevah had any."
"Your father?" Wesley repeated, setting the crate down as he turned to look at her. "Was he a scientist?"
She nodded but did not elaborate. Instead, she only added, "That's the reason why he's no longer here an' also kind o' the reason why Ah ended up with the Witches."
"Want to tell me about it?" Wes asked, sympathy showing in his eyes. It had been so long since he had had any family except for his shipmates that he could barely remember what it felt like.
"Mah father's birthday was just a few days away," she whispered to him, trusting him but not wanting any others to overhear their conversation, "an' Ah'd gone away to pick up some presents for him in town. Momma an' Ah had been working all that year on gettin' him a new lab set, because his old tubes were in such a mess. But when . . . when Ah got back, Ah found that our home had been burned down." Tears were shimmering in her eyes now, and she was having trouble keeping them from falling.
Wesley listened to her and then reached out and pulled her into his arms. He stroked her back reassuringly even while telling her in a quiet, gentle voice, "Go ahead, Fred. It'll do you better to get it out and tell some one about it. I won't tell any one. I've got a really good ear for listening."
She nodded against his shoulder. She didn't know why, but she trusted him. Perhaps it was that she knew he was a scientist like herself and was the first one she had met in years. Perhaps it was that he and his crewmates had rescued her and the others from death, or maybe it was the feelings that he invoked in her, making her heart flutter every time he touched her or looked at her with that special gaze he had about his breath-taking eyes. She didn't know, but she knew that it also did not matter.
"When Ah couldn't find them, Ah flew to town. Ah was hopin' that they'd escaped somehow an' were there, but they weren't." She shook her head, and her arms laced around his waist even as her tears began to fall. "They'd killed him, Wes," she cried, sobbing openly now, "an' Momma wouldn't leave him so they'd killed her too!"
"I'm sorry, little one. The world is full of a bunch of no-good sorry people, and that town is one of the worst places I've ever been for terrible people."
She shook her head. "It wasn't Port Royal. It was Breton. That's where Ah grew up, but that was why they'd killed them. The idiots didn't understand science an' thought he was a Witch!"
"And so they burned him. There are a lot of innocent people out there who've been killed for the same thing, Fred. I would like to get vengeance on all of those who did the killing, but all we can do is pray for the souls of those who died." He breathed heavily. "If you ever feel like talking, feel free to tell me. I'll always be here for you." He released her, reached into his pocket, pulled out a white handkerchief, and handed it to her. "What happened after that?"
Their fingers brushed as she took the hanky and began to dab at her tears. "Well, Ah couldn't stay there," she said, shaking her head. "Ah . . . Ah know Ah should've done something to 'em, but Ah've nevah been able ta . . . ta do things like that. So Ah left. Ah moved around a while before comin' ta Port Royal, an' that's where Ah ran into the Halliwells an' Miss 'Ro."
"They're your family now," Wes said. "Don't worry. We'll take care of you and make sure you're safe. You're part of my family now." He took the handkerchief from her and very gently wiped the tears from her face. His thumb drew accidentally across her soft skin, and his hand froze even as he became instantly lost in her eyes.
Her eyes seemed to mesmerize him, and before he realized what he was doing, he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her gently. He was not prepared for the feelings that shot through him. They were feelings that he had never felt before, and he wasn't sure he was ready for them. He released her and backed up. "I'll show you the -- the rest of the lab," he managed to stutter out.
She had never been kissed before, but she had read about it in many books and often dreamed of it. She had known it would be a wonderful thing with all kinds of fantastic feelings, but of all the things she had imagined, none had ever even started to come anywhere close to the red-hot emotions that shot through her every cell as Wesley's lips gently touched hers. She had stepped closer into his arms and was returning the kiss when he suddenly pulled away, and her heart fell as she saw the fear in his eyes. Her own eyes widened at the sight. She wanted to ask him if he was all right but feared the answer. What if he had not liked the kiss? She would simply die if that were the matter!
"You'll have to forgive me for that, Fred. I did not mean to take advantage of you, but I won't say I'm sorry." He turned back around, looked at her, and smiled. "I enjoyed it too much, but we're not ready for that even if you're willing. We have just met, and we'd best take it slow. I'd like permission to court you."
His admission had made her face light up, but his request that was spoken so humbly floored her. She had never thought that any man would ask permission to court her. Why, she wasn't beautiful or anything like that! She was the quiet, shy type that every one overlooked, and yet here before her stood the smartest, most handsome man she had ever met wanting to court her! "Ah -- Ah know you're right," she managed to speak finally, her voice quivering. "Things like -- like this do take time, but -- but Ah liked it too," she admitted with a shy smile.
Wes tried to pretend his words had not slipped out of his mouth as he realized that he would have to give her time to trust in her own feelings. "Come, Fred, and I'll show you the lab." Picking up the crate, he led her the rest of the way to his laboratory. When they arrived, he held the door open for her and only entered after she had walked in.
"There's another room over here where I sometimes sleep," he said, walking over to a second door and opening it to reveal a cot. "I would like to offer my room to you for your sleeping chamber. It will be right off the lab, and you can be free to work whenever you want to." He looked at her questioningly, hoping she'd say yes. He did not want her to be in the sleeping quarters with the others and be exposed to any of the vulgarity that went on in there at times. She was too much of a lady for that.
"But," she asked, confusion creasing her brow, "where would you sleep?"
"In the sleeping quarters, of course. So will you take the room? We can move your things in right away."
"Ah -- Ah'd like to, but Ah don't want ta run you out."
"Fred, look at me," he said gently. When she had done as he had requested, he continued, his eyes shining with the truth of his words, "I want you to take the room. I'm giving it to you freely, no strings attached. I know you'll be safer and happier in there than you will be in the regular sleeping quarters. There is just too much that goes on there that you don't need to be exposed to."
She blushed at his words as all kinds of thoughts ran rampant in her mind. Despite their good hearts, they were still Pirates, and she had heard some awful things about Pirates. Did they . . . Might they actually do that in front of others! She nodded quickly even as a deep crimson filled her face at the thought.
"Good. Then let's fetch your things and get you set up." They headed out together to fetch Fred's things, their minds still awhirl and their hearts still pounding at what had happened between them.
Xena had always been a wild woman in the bed, but she had also always tried to be gentle with Gabrielle. Now she was the gentlest she had ever been as she set out to prove the truth of her words of love to her beloved. She had never wanted Gabrielle to doubt her love, but though she had, Xena swore silently to herself that she would leave no doubt in her lover's mind just as there was no doubt in her heart as to how she felt for her.
Her fingers ran through Gabrielle's long, blonde hair as she deepened their kiss, her tongue thrusting further into Gabrielle's sweet mouth. Her eyes stayed open, gazing down into her beloved's green eyes and shimmering with all the love she held for her alone. Her hands ran all over Gabby's body, lovingly caressing each inch of skin they could find.
Xena gently lifted her lips from Gabrielle's and began a trail of kisses down her lover's body. Her lips rained over Gabrielle's neck first. She licked her at the base of her neck before moving across to her shoulder. There, she began to slowly undress her, pushing the short sleeve of her bodice down and kissing each new inch of exposed skin as it became available to her.
She made her way to Gabrielle's right breast and pushed her bodice down around it. Her tongue ran over the soft flesh before she took her breast into her mouth. Even as she suckled her breast, Xena began to unlace the rest of Gabrielle's bodice. When the last lace loosened, she raised her head and gently pushed the bodice off of her lover.
Her lips recaptured Gabrielle's again, but the kiss was short and sweet and Xena soon moved back down. She again took her right breast in her mouth and sucked on it again, her tongue licking the soft skin. She continued there for a while, Gabrielle's moans of pleasure caressing her ears, before slowly drawing her mouth down her breast. Her teeth gently caught and nipped her nipple before releasing her breast and moving over to give her left the same treatment.
Xena slowly worked her way down Gabrielle's body, continuing to kiss and lick each inch of skin she came across as she progressed over Gabrielle's stomach to her skirt. Xena's hands ran down the sides of Gabrielle's body, caressing her lightly, before beginning to push her skirt down. Xena drew the skirt slowly down Gabrielle's legs, continuing to kiss and lick her as she made her way downward. Not a single inch of Gabby's body that Xena came into contact with went untouched.
Jack wished he had had the rum. He needed it for its strength. Now that he was here, he did not know where to begin, but he knew he had to silence the Governor as his mouth opened to call for his guards in final desperation. He whipped his sword across the Governor's Adam's apple in a fine thin line.
The Governor's mouth opened but no words came out. His eyes bulged as he pressed a hand to his throat and brought it away covered with blood.
Jack began to cut away at the Governor slowly, first cutting the backs of his legs where Will had been cut so that the Governor fell to the floor again. Jack had to still his nerves. He had to do this right, because he wanted the Governor to die slowly.
The Governor was wild, crawling on the floor in his frantic attempt to get away from Jack, who began flaying away like a madman. Blood flew around the room, splattering the bed, the dresser, the walls, and even Jack himself. Finally, with his booted foot, he kicked the Governor over and sliced down his body, cutting his clothes off.
The Governor's mouth kept coming open in silent screams. The minute Jack got his clothes all the way off, he sliced his member off. Sheathing his sword, he reached down and, biting back a grimace at the thought of having to touch such a disgusting thing that had probably never seen water in all of its years, picked the Governor's member up. He used his free hand to grab the Governor by what was left of his throat and force his mouth open; as the Governor's lips parted, Jack shoved his member into his mouth. He forced it as far down as he could, and the Governor began to choke on his own sword.
Jack knew it would take the Governor a while to die, but he had done all he could to punish him and knew there was no way that he could be saved. He locked the door to the chamber, blocking it with a chair under the doorknob. He then pushed the armoire over there, as well, to make sure that if any one did try to rescue the Governor, they would have a Hell of a time getting into the room.
Glancing at his sword, he saw that it was covered in blood. He walked over to the bed, grasped the coverlet, and used it to wipe his sword clean before sheathing it.
He quickly looked around the room one more time, trying to figure out if the Governor had been lying about the chest. The one place he had not looked was under the bed. He looked there and found a sack. He pulled the sack out. It held a small chest which he opened and saw that it was indeed filled with rubies and gold. He put it back in the sack and added the other two sacks and weapons he had found, as well. He then ran to the window and exited, looking back one time where the Governor lay still on the floor. He knew the bastard was not dead yet, but he would be soon enough.
She slipped into the store behind a much older woman and headed immediately for the aisles. She stayed to the back of the store, meandering around the clothes, while she listened and waited for the place to empty. She only began to draw closer to the cash register when she knew that the last customer was there. It was the same woman who had entered ahead of her, and Faith's ears burned at the words she heard.
"I just don't know who did it, Mitch," she confided in the storekeeper. "I don't know who would help such horrible beasts escape, but we'll get them! The men have already spanned out, and once they're found, they'll be burned right along with those daughters of Satan that they helped!"
Faith's hands tightened around the shirt she had picked up. She had heard about the rescue the others had pulled off that day shortly after getting back to the Witch and knew that the woman was unwittingly talking about the people she lived with. They may not be her family or even her friends, but she still did not take nicely to the thought that some one wanted them dead. I'll show you how to burn, she thought.
Her dark eyes bore into the woman's back, and she barely managed to silence the growl that rose in her throat. Although she'd like to feel the woman's neck break in her hands, she knew she could not. She had to stay there and focus on the prey that she had originally came after. She had to teach Dawson's father the error of his ways.
A grin flickered over her face as she thought of how she would make the bastard scream. If she'd allow him to live, he'd never dare to even think about harming another living being, let alone a kid as innocent as Dawson, but there was no way he was getting out of what he had done alive. No; rather, she was going to send him straight to the Devil that he believed in.
"I'll see you at church Sunday." Faith was not at all surprised at the woman's words as she headed out. She did not know why the biggest assholes always seemed to gather at churches but knew it to be so. Better to hide among the sheep, I guess, she thought with a shrug of her muscular shoulders.
It was then that she realized that she was indeed the last customer in the store. Looking up, she found Mitch's eyes openly roaming her body. She moved in without hesitation, sliding up to the counter one hip at a time. "Can you help me?" she asked him in a low, seductive voice.
"Of course, ma'am. What do you need help with?"
"I need to know what size this shirt is," she laid the shirt on the counter, lifted its tag up, and slid her chest forward over it. Her large, doelike eyes looked up into his as she admitted embarrassedly, arching her breasts upward underneath his gaze as though they were as eager to be had by him as she could tell he was to get a taste of her, "You see, I simply can't see anything without my spectacles, and the darn things broke just yesterday."
"It'll be my pleasure to help you, madam," he told her, his fingers brushing hers as he gripped the tag, "and I could probably order you some new spectacles." He started to look at the tag, but just as he did, he caught the change that fell over her face. Gone was the embarrassment and shyness, and in their stead was a grim face with lips drawn tightly together and eyes hardened and blackened with fury. "M-Ma'am -- ?" he started to ask but never got the sentence out as Faith's fist connected with his face. The punch sent him spiraling back, knocking him to the hardwood floor where he lay still, unconscious.
Jack hoped Faith was having as much good luck as he had had with his prey, but he did not go to check her out. Instead, he turned to head for the dock but stopped as he thought of Elizabeth. She would need clothes and maybe even had a few personal things she would want if given the chance. He figured that her room was probably one of the fancy rooms next to the Governor's that he had seen earlier.
He returned to a window that was next to the Governor's room and tested it to see if it was unlocked. He had to use his knife to pry it open. He slipped inside what he thought was Elizabeth's room and walked over to the closet. It was filled with frilly dresses that he knew she had no use for. He closed it and walked over to her armoire.
He had to smile when he uncovered three pairs of pants and shirts. He wondered when she was wearing them. Had she planned to wear them for Will? He pulled them out and put them in his bag. He looked around and saw several pairs of shoes and a pair of boots. He took one of the pairs of shoes that had no heels and the boots and added them to the bag.
There was a chest of drawers. He opened it and found the undergarments. He picked them up gingerly with his sword and dropped them in the bag. He did not want her to think that he had played in her drawer. Underneath them, he found a book of piracy and a tiny chest that he did not open. He dropped those in the bag and then left by the window, not bothering to close it.
He sauntered slowly toward the dock, trying not to draw attention. He noticed that there was still activity going on in the center of the town square. He thought that they would have fits when they found out that their prey had escaped them and that there would be no bonfire that day.
Once Gabrielle's skirt and boots were free, Xena began to undress herself, but Gabrielle suddenly sat up and stopped her by placing a gentle hand on the side of her face. Gabrielle's eyes sparkled with love and unshed tears of joy. "Gabby?" Xena asked, uncertain as to the cause of the change that had come over her lover.
"Xena," she said with a smile, "that's my pleasure."
"But I want to make love to you," Xena answered in a gentle voice. "I want to show you how much I -- "
"Sh," Gabrielle hushed her, brushing her fingers gently over Xena's lips. "Xena, you already have," she explained, "and I never should have doubted you. I just couldn't think of any other reason why you wouldn't want me as your second-in-command, but I understand now and know what a fool I was. I know you love me," she told her. "I do, just as much as I love you." Her fingers ran up, moving from Xena's lips to caress her face and then stroke her hair. "I want to make love to you as badly as you want to make love to me, but love isn't a one-way street in any respect. Let me undress you and you finish undressing me, and then we'll make love together."
Xena's eyes were also shining now as Gabrielle's words had touched her so deeply. She silently nodded her consent as Gabrielle's hand moved down to cup the back of her neck. This time, it was Gabby who captured Xena's lips in a kiss so passionate that fire swept through both.
Gabrielle began to undress Xena while never breaking off their kiss. She unfastened Xena's bracers and slid them off followed by the bracelets that were higher up on her arms. Her hands caressed Xena's body through her armor as best they could as they moved downwards, seeking out her weapons one at a time and placing them in the growing pile. Xena's hands had returned to caressing Gabrielle, but one paused in its caress to withdraw her scabbard and sword from her back and toss it to the pile.
Gabrielle's hands again moved up Xena's body, her fingertips sliding slowly over her bare skin before reaching her shoulders. There she began to unfasten her armor, working the pattern she knew by heart while continuing to kiss Xena, their lips only parting for the fresh breaths of air that their lungs demanded from time to time. Gabrielle soon had the first layer of Xena's clothes ready to come off, and she ceased kissing her to pull the armor off. She then pulled off Xena's leather undergarment, as well.
She kissed Xena again before sliding her hands back down over her lover's body. This time, she slid her bare breasts down Xena's body, as well; Xena's sighing moan of pleasure added to Gabrielle's delight. Coming to her boots, she pulled them off and then gazed up in admiration at the woman she loved who now stood before her in all her fantastic glory. Rather clothed or unclothed, Xena never failed to steal Gabrielle's breath away.
Gabrielle stood to meet Xena, and Xena cupped her beloved's face in her hands. As Xena kissed her, Gabrielle returned the kiss in full and stepped further into her lover's embrace. Their bodies were almost one as their kiss deepened, but Gabrielle's underwear still stood between them. Xena brushed Gabrielle's hair lovingly even as she lifted her lips from the bard's.
Xena ran her hands over Gabrielle's body. She caressed her breasts. They arched in eager ache for more of her attention as she did so, but Xena's hands traveled further. She knelt before Gabrielle even as her hands reached her underwear. It was not her fingers that picked up the hem of Gabrielle's panties, however, but rather her teeth. She began to pull them gently down, her hands giving Gabrielle's rear a gentle squeeze as it was slowly exposed.
Jack came to a merchant's tavern and entered. He bought several cases of rum and asked them to be delivered to the Sea Witch. He thought a minute and asked if the merchant also sold water. He said he did not but that his brother did. Jack ordered ten barrels to be delivered to the Sea Witch.
"The faster you can get it there, the more money you'll get for it," he said. "We are about to take off for the West Indies. I can hardly wait! There's money to be made, and I never have enough!"
The merchant was more than eager to please. "We will have it there within the hour, sir."
Jack shook his head. "Gotta do better than that. We'll be leaving before then. Fifteen minutes."
"I'll do me best, sir."
"See that you do," Jack said and headed back out the door. He could hardly wait to get out of this stinking town and back on the ocean where he could breathe.
As he reached the Sea Witch, he was almost knocked down by men toting cases of rum and rolling barrels of water. It had not taken the merchant even fifteen minutes but closer to five. He had to smile. Money talked, and the merchant had not even been paid yet. His pockets were empty. Xena would have to come up with the money, and she was even harder to get money out of than he was.
Faith dragged Dawson's unconscious father to the backroom of his store and then stood, looking around at the room's furnishings. There wasn't much except for crates, and they wouldn't work to keep him tied against. She looked up at the rafters, then, nodding to herself, headed back into the store's front room. Seconds later, she returned with three strands of thick chains hung over her shoulder.
Kneeling next to him, she snatched his boots off before standing again. Unsheathing her sword, she quickly cut the rest of his clothes off of his body. She was not surprised to find that he was not wearing any undergarments for she knew that he had wanted to be able to quickly whip out his disgusting member and embed it into his son without a moment's hesitation. Now that he was completely naked, she returned her sword to its sheath and, picking his arms up once again, began to drag him up into the rafters.
Once she reached her destination, she wrapped one set of chains around his arms and tied them to a board above where his head hung down. She wrapped the second around his feet and chained them to another beam. Once she was certain he was secure, she stood again. Without even bothering to glance at the floor below her, she leapt to the next rafter. Her booted feet hit it smoothly but started to slip. She grabbed the board above her head and steadied herself before releasing it and turned back to face the bastard she had just chained up.
She had one chain left, and now she whipped it out, hitting him again and again until finally she was rewarded with a scream of pain and his eyes flying open in panic. She grinned malevolently at the sound even as he demanded, "What the Hell are you doing, bitch!"
Her dark eyes met his. She was glad to see the fear that shimmered therein but knew that he had scared Dawson even more. "Giving you exactly what you asked for," she replied in an even voice, "when you tried to rape your son."
"Tried to!" he repeated, and she could hear the real surprise in his voice. "Whatever he paid you -- "
"Kid didn't pay me."
"So you're here to take the money he owes you out of me!"
"He didn't pay me, because he didn't need to. I'm not doing this for money."
"Then why!" he demanded. "Don't tell me you care about him!"
"Ain't gonna 'cause I don't," she returned. "I'm doing it, because somebody has to make bastards like you pay for torturing their kids and I'm just the bitch to do it."
"That isn't it," he said, shaking his head. His eyes narrowed as they seemed to bore into hers. "You care about him. You must've been the whore he paid today."
"Whore?" she repeated, quirking an eyebrow at him.
"I knew somebody had been on that son-of-a-bitch from the way the bastard was glowing."
Without another word, she leapt back across the beams. This time, her feet did not skid, and she whirled steadily around, dropping to her knees and grabbing his jaw before he even had time to realize where she had gone. "Your son's a good kid. He's an innocent," she informed him coldly, "and there's not too many of those left these days. You tried to take that innocence from him. You sold him; you probably raped him, too. There's no damn telling where he would've ended up at if I hadn't found him, but that's where you screwed up. I'm going to give you a taste of what you did to him now," she told him, squeezing his jaw so tightly that he thought it would break, "but I'm not going to listen to you cuss him."
His eyes were wide and wild with fear, and she knew he was wondering what she was going to do. She released his mouth so that he might ask the question that was on his tongue, but even as she did so, she silently pulled her knife from her boot. She was ready the instant his mouth flew open, and he never got a single sound out as she slashed his tongue off. He screamed in the back of his throat, but she could still hear the splatting sound his severed tongue made as it hit the floor far beneath them.
He was still screaming. The sound echoed in the room, but she knew it would not reach the street. She returned to the beam directly across from him. As she turned back to face him, she could see the fear, panic, and pain that filled his eyes and face, the blood spilling from his mouth and running down his naked chest, and the rest of his body that struggled helplessly against the chains she had bound him with. "Now the real fun begins," she quipped casually at him before snaking her chain back out and hitting him again.
She hit him repeatedly, her blows raining across his chest and arms. He screamed every time she hit him, but she only hit him harder the more he screamed. Even as she struck out at him, however, she could not help wondering how many times he had made Dawson scream. His surprised comment earlier had told her that Dawson had not told her everything, but she did not hold that against the kid. Indeed, his incomplete trust of her only made her think him smarter than she'd originally thought, but she could not help wondering just how badly the man before her had hurt him. He would pay, she silently swore yet again, he would pay for everything he had ever done to his son.
No clothes stood between them now as the lovers again laid down, Gabrielle stretching out underneath Xena and Xena gently laying down on top of her. They kissed her again before Xena's mouth left Gabrielle's to suckle her breasts instead. Gabrielle's skin grew even harder in her mouth until Xena thought she could stand it no more, but the bard surprised her as she rolled her gently but forcibly nonetheless onto her back.
This time, it was Gabrielle's mouth that took Xena's breast. Her tongue ran over her breast first, tasting only hints of its sweet nectar. She circled Xena's nipple in a series of seductive licks before drawing her into her mouth, her teeth gently grazing her skin as she did so. Xena's moans of pleasure played teasingly on Gabrielle's ears as she gave first one breast and then the other the attention it so sorely needed and deserved.
She was still suckling Xena's breast when she reached the point that she could no longer stand still not being inside of her lover. With the same gentle force that Gabrielle had used on her moments before, Xena rolled Gabby back onto her back. Gabrielle was not surprised when Xena flipped up into the air and changed position before falling back to her. She caught herself with her hands and feet on either side of Gabby so as to keep her pressure from hitting her lover and had barely landed when she began to lick her beloved's honey pot.
They licked one another in unison, each gently nibbling and chewing the other even as they arched ever more tightly against each other. Xena's tongue was the first to find Gabrielle's secret hole, but seconds after she joined Gabby, she felt Gabrielle join her. Their hands continued to caress each area of one another that they could find and their tongues to lick each other's delicious cream as they rose steadily and then shot into the stars together.
It was only when bruises and blood filled every inch of Mitch's torso that Faith finally let the blood-stained chain fall to the floor. Questions flashed in his wild eyes, and she knew he was wondering if she was done with him. She shook her head. "You're not getting off that easy," she told him even as she pulled her sword from its sheath.
She twirled the sword in her hand for a moment, thinking of how special its blade was. One side would cut just enough to draw blood but not do any other damage; the other would slice through nearly anything as smoothly as a knife through butter. She had had it built especially for a certain being from her past and had only meant to use it on him. This was a special case, however, and she was just as happy to use it on Dawson's father as she would have been for the man it was intended for.
Turning her mind back to the present and the screaming man before her, she reached out and ran the lighter side of the sword over his legs. Streams of crimson appeared in the wake of her blade. She slashed both sides of his legs before slicing his knees. She then flipped her sword around and used its other side to cut deep gashes into his thighs. Blood poured from there, and his screams grew louder even as she trailed her blade slowly upwards.
She had almost reached his groin when she flipped her sword around again. His panicked struggling changed to quivers of absolute terror as she ran her blade softly across his groin and the three items therein. She did not press down enough to actually cut his skin the first time, but as she drew her sword backwards along the same path, she cut a small trickle of blood. She continued the pattern, cutting one layer away at a time and letting his severed skin fall, before finally flipping her sword around again.
A fatally dangerous smile played over her dark lips. He was whimpering now instead of screaming, and she knew he would have been begging for his miserable life long ago had he had a tongue to do so with. "You took your son's," she told him. "Now I'm gonna take yours." The words had barely left her mouth and he had scarcely started to scream again when she took one final swipe with her blade, cutting off both his testicles and his member. They started to fall, but she sheathed her sword and jumped after them. She caught them in mid-air and started back up toward him as soon as her feet touched the ground.
He still had not stopped screaming when she returned to him. She grabbed his jaw again with her free hand and forced it open. Once she had it open, she shoved his parts into his own mouth. She pushed them as far back as she could before finally releasing him. He had already began to choke and tried desperately to spit them out. He succeeded in getting only one out, and the testicle shot out and across the empty air, hitting the beam she had stood on minutes before, before falling back down. She glanced at it before ignoring it completely and jumping back to the floor herself. She could still hear him choking as she walked away and back into the front of the store.
What she had just done did not even appear to phase Faith as she went through the store, walking with the same natural seduction to her saunter as she always did. She headed first to the cash register. She found a large bag behind the counter and emptied the register's contents into it. She then added the shirt that she had left on the counter before heading deeper into the store. She walked the aisles one at a time, filling the bag with anything she could find that might be of help. It did not take her any time at all to fill the first bag, and she had to return for a second one.
She had barely began to fill it when she hit the row where she had gotten the shirt from. She began to glance over it but stopped, thinking of Dawson. The kid had nothing other than the clothes that were currently on his body. She didn't owe him anything other than a shirt, but it wouldn't hurt anything for her to get him a few more clothes and give them to Jack to take to him wherever he had sent him to before they took off. She told herself she didn't care where the kid was as long as he wasn't around her, but he could use the clothes. With that thought in mind, she quickly filled half the bag.
She had one more row left, and she found it to be full of fruits and vegetables. She finished filling the bag with a variety of what was there. Then throwing both bags over one shoulder, she snatched up an apple and headed for the door. She unlocked it, walked out, and took her first bite of the apple even as the door swung shut behind her.
To Be Continued . . .
