Creatures of the Chase - Richard. L. M. Ollie
in a restaurant in the city, although the name escapes me at the moment.’ He smiled as he remembered that evening, and her. ‘You were seated at a table close to mine although my view of you was, for the most part, obscured by one of your two companions. I believe she was celebrating a birthday.’
‘Penny,’ Sarah whispered.
‘What was that?’
‘Penny ... Penny Mossman and June Brownling. We grew up together, went to the same high school, were best friends, I guess. I, ah…’ Her lips began to tremble and she felt cold. ‘Will I ever see them again?’ She asked, on the verge of tears.
When she looked at him he was staring at her fixedly. ‘I believe I have mentioned before that I do not wish to discuss this particular subject further. I have satisfied you, I trust, in answering your initial question and that is all I am prepared to say on the matter. Come here.’
‘I am not biddable, Mr. Develin,’ she replied, openly challenging him despite the fresh tears that welled up, clouding her vision.
‘You will be,’ he snapped. ‘Do as I ask, Sarah, before I become angry. I have apologized to you once; I will not do so again. You have exactly thirty seconds.’
‘You’re nothing but a bully and I hate you!’
‘Twenty.’
She almost succeeded in leaping from the tub before he caught her and pulled her to him. ‘Please let me go. I promise I won’t say anything. I ...’
‘Understand this, you are mine and you will remain mine until such time as I choose to release you.’ He pulled her roughly from the tub. ‘Put this on,’ he ordered, handing her one of two terry cloth bathrobes.
Trembling with fear, unable to see through a blanket of tears, she fumbled with the garment until he moved forward to help her. ‘Sarah, I forbid you to cry,’ he said almost tenderly.
‘Do you?’ she choked. ‘Well I’m sorry, but I … I can’t comply with that request, sir.’ Exhausted, frightened and confused, she dropped to her knees. ‘Let me talk to my father, please … tell him I’m all right. He’ll be …’
‘No!’
‘Please, I’m all he’s got now. Please, please, he isn’t well!’
‘I’ve said no, now get up!’ When she refused him, curling up instead into a ball as if to protect herself from him, he backed away. ‘All right, I will give you time to sort through the options you seem to think are available to you. However, I should caution you, I am not a patient man.’
He returned to the bedroom and sat in a chair by the window, waiting.
It didn’t take Sarah long to sort through her options - she had none - and she was wise enough to know it. But, just as she was sufficiently composed and resigned to the situation to go to him, she remembered something Seefan had said. Something suddenly very significant - he had no heir.
Well Sarah, maybe you have an option or two after all.
*****
She knelt down at his feet and looked up straight into his eyes. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve caused you any distress. I shall endeavor in future to … to. ...’ Her resolve evaporated beneath his level gaze. ‘Oh God in heaven, help me!’
He leaned forward and stroked her hair. ‘You may write to your father.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied, her voice shallow and breathless.
He took both her hands inside his. She trembled as he pulled her closer to him. ‘Sarah, I don’t want to hurt you again. What I am asking of you is difficult I know, but I am committed to a course of action. There is nothing you can say or do that will in any way alter what must be. Do you understand me?’
Sarah nodded, fighting back the tears.
‘Good. Now, there are two very different and distinct ways in which we can go about this. Since, as I have said, I do not wish to hurt you or in any way degrade you, I think it best if you allowed yourself the opportunity to explore a new facet of your life; one which you have already been introduced to now in any case.’
She looked away then tried to draw back.
‘No, Sarah, listen to me.’ He gripped her tighter, forcing her to focus. ‘I want you and I shall have you, one way or the other. It remains for you now to make a decision. You are no longer a child but a young woman, and unless I am very much mistaken, you know exactly what your needs and desires are despite your inordinate attempts to suppress them.’
‘Do I?’ she asked in a whisper as she gazed deep into his eyes.
‘Oh yes,’ he said smiling as he stood, pulling her up with him.
The first time he kissed her she held back, uncertain and afraid, but by the second and most certainly the third, she reached for what he offered her willingly and without reservation.
*****
She stood knee deep in water, black as ink and cold as death itself. A savage wind tore at her hair, screaming in her mind while the tide pulled relentlessly at her, clawing at her feet, undermining the sand on which she stood. She swayed, too terrified to move. On the shore stood her mother, dressed in a gown of purest white, crowned with a bridal veil caught in a diamond tiara.
‘Mother, help me!’
‘Find happiness child; find love,’ her mother whispered as she slowly drew back, away from the water’s edge.
‘Mother, please don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave me again. I need you.’
‘I will always be with you my darling ... always ... always.’
Sarah gasped as she tore free of the dream and woke to utter silence.
The small bedside light glowed still, its soft pinkish cast illuminating the massive bed in which she lay trembling as the dream receded. She froze. Hesitantly at first she moved, expecting to touch him, to find him beside her.
‘Did I wake you?’
She spun around. He was standing by the window dressed in a pale blue shirt, open at the neck, grey pants and a navy blue silk robe.
‘No, I, ah…’ Words caught in her throat as he moved towards her.
‘I have work to do, but when I … Do you know, you are as extraordinarily beautiful asleep as you are awake.’ He sat down on the edge of the bed. ‘Are you in pain? If you are, I can get you some …’
‘No … thank you,’ she whispered, her voice thin and anxious.
He nodded. ‘You are welcome to stay here for the rest of the night. I would prefer it, if you don’t mind. You won’t be disturbed.’
He reached out and touched her hair, gently pulling the loose strands out and across the pillow. His fingers trembled. ‘Quite beautiful,’ he whispered almost abstractly as he watched the light play in her hair. He frowned. ‘You are not a whim on my part, Sarah, but something very, very special to me. No matter what happens, I want you to know that.’
He leaned forward and gently kissed her brow. ‘Good night. Sleep well.’ He rose abruptly and left the room.
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