Chapter Seventeen
Watching Peter falling through the floor nearly stopped her heart while Cassandra reached for the handle of the silver blade sword when her fingers wrapped around the handle and she lifted the handle of the silver blade sword off the floor. Jessie didn't have time to move when Cassandra slammed the handle of the silver blade sword against the side of Jessie's head and Jessie screamed, rolling over onto her back and looked up at Cassandra. Blood rolled out of the gash on the side of her head as Jessie growled and Cassandra stood up, holding the handle of the silver blade sword on her hands.
"Die, Bitch!" Cassandra shouted as she held the silver blade sword over her head and placed on foot on Jessie's chest. Pointing the silver blade down toward Jessie's chest, Cassandra looked down at her while Jessie arched her eyebrow and smirked.
"You can't do it, can you? You're no killer," Jessie said when Cassandra roared then slammed the silver blade down and the round, black diamond sailed across the floor after she severed Jessie's hand at the wrist. Pulling the silver blade out of the floor, Cassandra looked at Boe, who was sitting at the edge of the hole, and stamped down hard on Jessie's chest. Whistling, she motioned for Boe to come to her when Boe stood up and walked to her. The tiger stood next to her when Cassandra looked at Jessie and smiled.
"Sit!" Cassandra said when Jessie's eyes went wide and the tiger sat on Jessie's chest. Walking to the hand, Cassandra picked up the gold chain then looked at the round, black diamond and wrapped her fingers around the gold chain. "Frank, how good of a shot are you?"
"Pretty good," Frank said while Stephanie shined the light on the round, black diamond and Frank took aim with the rifle, pulling the trigger after Cassandra tossed the gold chain into the air. The round, black diamond exploded as Jessie screamed and Cassandra turned to her, flipping her off. Slowly walking to the hole, Cassandra looked down at the dark hole below as she sighed and folded her arms over her stomach.
"Peter," she said while Wiktor walked to her, gently wrapped his arms around her and Cassandra placed her face against his chest, the tears rolling freely down her cheeks.
"Well, isn't this just fucking wonderful?" Peter thought as he fell through the darkness and held his arms out while kicking his legs back and forth with hope of slowing himself down. He had lost sight of D'yar'nath and Peter closed his eyes, trying to remember what he was told about falling. He knew that falling in a dream was considered dangerous because crashing to the ground and dying meant a person dies in real life. He wasn't sure if Cassandra had sent Cross to rescue him as Peter sighed then grunted and felt something solid under his feet. He fell onto his bottom when he smelt something like rotten meat and sulfur and Peter opened his eyes, seeing what looked like long fingers in front of him. The sound of fire crackling and moaning filled his ears as Peter tried to stand, but could only get onto his knees and felt the soft, gray ground under his hands.
"What?" Peter asked as he poked the soft ground then saw what looked like cracks in the soft ground and Peter slowly crawled forward. He stopped when the long fingers bent toward him and Peter sat down on his bottom, looking up. "Oh shit."
D'yar'nath looked down at him as Peter slowly crawled toward the edge of the soft ground when he realized he was on D'yar'nath's hand and looked down, seeing flames flickering below him. Crawling quickly the other way, Peter sat down on his bottom when he sighed and blinked his eyes a few times.
"Ok, calm down. He wouldn't really hurt me. Would he? I saved his ass, but he could have left anytime. And Jessie still has his necklace. That means she still controls him and that means I'm fucked," Peter sighed when he noticed that D'yar'nath was shrinking and the hand slowly tilted until Peter was standing on the ground. D'yar'nath titled its head to one side as Peter noticed that the arm that had been severed had grown back and D'yar'nath flexed its fingers. "Right, about that, it wasn't me!"
"Yes, I know that you were not the one that cut my arm off," D'yar'nath said in a growling voice and Peter's eyes widened. "Why are you surprised?"
"I didn't know you spoke English."
"I speak a wide variety of languages."
"And you saved my life because I saved yours?"
"Well, technically, I could have left at any time. But, yes, you did free me."
"Which makes us even, sort of," Peter said and D'yar'nath nodded its head. "Mind if I ask where we are? I know we're in your realm, but I expected more than some fire, rocks and moaning."
"This is roof of my castle. If you want to see the rest of it, just step over there," D'yar'nath as it pointed with its hands toward the edge of the roof and Peter sighed, folding his arms over his chest.
"I'll think I'll pass. Mind sending me home?" Peter asked and D'yar'nath smiled. Peter watched while D'yar'nath raised a hand then snapped its fingers and everything went black.
"Peter?" a faraway voice asked as a soft beeping sound filled his ears and Peter slowly opened his eyes. The ceiling was bright and fuzzy while he blinked his eyes and sighed. Something soft touched his lips while he half closed his eyes and felt his chest rising and falling. Soft fingers moved through his hair as he moved his fingers on the bedding and opened his eyes again. Cassandra smiled at him then kissed his lips again when the door opened and the nurse walked in the room, walking toward the bed.
"He's awake," Cassandra said as the nurse stood next to the bed and Peter looked up at her, softly smiling. "Eyes front, Casanova."
"You're…no….fun," Peter whispered and his voice sounded like he had swallowed glass. A few minutes later the nurse left the room as Peter watched her bottom swaying under her short skirt and Cassandra smiled, rolling her eyes. Placing her finger on the side of his nose, she gently moved his head to face her and he softly smiled at her. "Mind…telling…me…what…just…happened?"
"I thought you could tell me. We found you unconscious on the floor in the basement and Detective Kincaide had to perform CPR because your heart had stopped," Cassandra said and softly stroked the soft chest hair, being careful of the wires.
"I…" Peter said then coughed and Cassandra gently tilted his head up to help him take a sip of water. Swallowing, Peter laid his head back on the pillow as he sighed and she stroked his hair. "I was in Hell."
"Really?" she asked with a smile and Peter arched an eyebrow.
"Yeah, but it wasn't like I thought it would be," Peter sighed and reached his hand up, watching her wrap her fingers around his fingers. "Then again, I was on the roof of D'yar'nath castle. He did say that I could go take a better look, but I didn't because I thought he would kick me off the roof."
"He told you? You mean D'yar'nath can talk?"
"Of course I can talk," D'yar'nath said as she turned around and her eyes widened. "There is no need to fear. I will not harm you."
"You mean like when you came to our bedroom the other night?" Cassandra asked while Peter looked from her to D'yar'nath and blinked his eyes a few times.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" he asked and Cassandra gently kissed the top of his head.
"My captor had sent me to kill you, but I refused. It had nothing to do with your familiar. I sensed that you had the power to end my captivity," D'yar'nath said then looked at Cassandra and softly smiled at her. "I am sorry that I frightened you."
"Anyway…." Peter sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands and looked up at Cassandra. "What happened after I fell through the floor?"
"Well, I grabbed your sword, smacked that bitch on the side of the head and cut her hand off," Cassandra said and Peter's eyes widened. "Boe sat on her while Frank and I destroyed the…." Cassandra looked at D'yar'nath then sighed and D'yar'nath softly laughed, shaking its head.
"It is alright if you had to destroy my amulet. I have others," D'yar'nath said and she nodded her head.
"I retrieved the necklace and tossed the necklace into the air. Turns out that Frank can shoot really well in near dark. The black diamond exploded and that's when we saw this red light coming from the hole. We went down to the basement and that's when we found you on the floor," Cassandra said and kissed the top of Peter's head. "Detective Kincaide said you weren't breathed and performed CPR. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later, but your heart was beating by the time the EMTs showed up."
"What about Doctor Forest?" Peter asked.
"That was the odd thing. When we went back up to check on her, she was gone. Detective Baker had handcuffed her to the radiator, but we only found the handcuffs," she said as D'yar'nath softly laughed and they gave D'yar'nath a confused look.
"Let me guess," Peter said with a smile. "She's now your prisoner."
"You are correct," D'yar'nath with a nod of its head as Peter sighed and half closed his eyes. Cassandra stroked Peter's hair when D'yar'nath walked closer and she looked at D'yar'nath. "May I have a word?"
"Sure," she said while D'yar'nath leaned closer and whispered in her ear. Watching as D'yar'nath snapped its fingers then disappeared, Cassandra smiled then leaned over and kissed Peter's lips, making him smile. Half opening his eyes, Peter reached up as she took his hand and kissed his knuckles then wrapped her fingers around his fingers.
"What did he whisper in your ear?" he asked then sighed, closing his eyes again.
"He said that you don't have to worry. You will never go back," she said and he opened his eyes, giving her a confused look. "In other words, you're not going down."
"I'm not sure I'm going up either," Peter sighed and she softly laughed, kissing his knuckles.
"Oh, I don't know. It may be tarnished, but that halo of yours is still there," she teased and he closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep. Careful of the wires, Cassandra slid onto the bed then snuggled close to him and placed her hand on his chest, just feeling the gently beating of his heart.
(Three weeks later)
The doors opened while the young women, Cassandra and Peter walked in the lobby and Cross gently purred inside the cage. After Peter was released from the hospital, they had performed for a week at the New York Hard Rock Hotel then spent two weeks in the Greek Islands after going to Athens for Zoltar's funeral. Tanned and relaxed, the young women walked toward the lift when Peter whistled and they stopped, turned and looked at him.
"Alright, you have ten minutes to get your mail and messages, unpack then get your asses in the showroom! We have a performance tonight!" Peter half shouted while clapping his hands and the young women glared at him.
"Fuck you," one of the young women said then walked away and Peter's mouth fell open while his eyes slightly bugged out.
"Disrespectful, the lot of them!" he said as he waved his hands in the air and Cassandra softly smiled at him. "Well, at least YOU will listen to me!"
"Fuck you," she said as she turned to walk away then yelped as Peter gently grabbed hold of her and turned her around to face him.
"I'd rather fuck you," he said as he slid his arm around her waist and they headed down the hallway while Cross softly made a sound that sounded like a laugh.