Dark Desires: Deliverance (11 page)

Dinner?
Why the fuck is he having dinner with my woman?
Vlad didn't like the sound of "dinner" or the smug tone he heard
through the line. "If she knew who was asking to speak to her that would
change."

"After
everything that's happened, I believe you're the last person she wants to talk
to."

Vlad squeezed the phone
in his large hands so tightly it was a wonder the screen didn't shatter. He had
driven himself to the brink of insanity with the same thought. What if when he
did rescue her she hated him and wanted nothing to do with him? Hearing it from
someone other than himself, especially her captor - who had done God knows what
to her, was a cold confirmation of his worst fears. "Put.
Her.
On.
The.
Phone."

"I don't follow
orders, I give them." The line went dead.

Something was wrong.
The feeling clawed at his gut like a feral beast demanding to be heard. It was
in the sheik's tone of voice when he spoke about Val and most importantly the
fact that he didn't seem too concerned about the order he had kidnapped an
innocent woman to get his hands on. In fact, the whole conversation had been
centred
around
Val without the man bothering about the
specifics of the delivery. This would not be a simple exchange. He had to come
up with a contingency plan. He hit speed dial for the one person who had been
instrumental throughout this exhausting tribulation.

"Mike, can you
get me an informant in the sheik's compound in Rub' al-Khali?"

"I'm going to
need some time with that one." Mike sat at his PC rubbing his weary eyes.
Vlad had to be the most taxing client he had taken on. These past few weeks he
had become relentless in his needs and Mike was forced to place all his other
projects on hold to cater exclusively to him. "Those who guard the
compound are the most trusted men and women in the state. You could say that
they would die showing their loyalty."

"Do whatever it
takes. Money is not an object. Even if money is not what they want, everyone
has a price. I just need you to find out what it is and exploit it."

This was beginning to
creep into territory that was beyond Mike's
  talents
.
He specialised in hacking and programming, basically manipulating anything that
was run through software. What Vlad was asking for was political espionage and
he did not dabble in either. Groaning, a few people with the required talent
came to mind but he was loath to asking for help. "Again this may take
some time. We have to tread carefully here, traitors face capital punishment.
That means very few are willing to take the risk if it may end up costing them
their lives."

"Fine.
Can you find a way for me to get into the enclosure? It's sealed like Fort
Knox."

This was something he
could do. He pulled up the blueprint and satellite surveillance of the place.
"Fear not, nothing is unbreakable. What you'll need is manpower or heavy
artillery, maybe both. They will spot you coming miles before you arrive at the
perimeter so you have to hit hard and fast."

"What do you
suggest?"

"I'd say we use
choppers to come in from above but again, they'll spot us before we arrive. If we
could get some of their men to fight on our side then we may have the element
of surprise in our corner... I did mention that it will take some time."

"Right,
then start working.
You have forty-eight
hours." He hung up.

Razvan
and Andrei had been watching Vlad during both phone calls and were wondering
what had happened to illicit the use of brute force between the first
conversation and the last. Feeling their questioning gaze on him he told them
what had him on edge.

"He's fucking
with me. I plan to make that
sonovabitch
pay- for
everything."

Andrei stopped what
he was doing and focused on his brother. "Is Valerie okay?"

"I don't
know." The calm man who had organized everything with such purpose since
they left South Africa crumbled as he picked up an ornament from his desk and
threw it against the television set.

Razvan
continued browsing the contents of the PC as if nothing had happened. He knew
the walls would crumble
eventually,
he was actually
surprised at how long Vlad had managed to maintain his cool in the face of so
many fuck ups. "You're haemorrhaging money in this fiasco. What is it
going to cost you with the bonus bribery expenses and the mercenaries you're
about to employ."

"I don't care
about the money! They can have it all!"

"That's not what
I'm asking you. I'm asking if you have enough" he stopped clicking and
looked at Vlad.

"Fuck, if anyone
ever wanted to know how to spend a billion dollars then this would be it."
Like the recluse he had become lately, he left his brothers in his office to
find his centre once more.

Andrei let out a low
whistle. "I think I'm in the wrong business." They had all become
millionaires in the Ukraine. It seemed that Vlad had surpassed them both in
earnings when they parted ways after returning to Russia from their studies in
London.

"You both are in
the wrong business. Now come here and help me figure out how we're going to
keep that hot head from getting killed once we go in."

*****

Keyaan
was trying to deal with the anxiety that was growing alongside his annoyance
with Valerie. She had dismissed his gift as if it were nothing but a cheap
trinket. She had no idea how much that scarf meant to him, how precious it was
above all of other possessions he held. For the second time in as many weeks,
he unlocked his private drawer and pulled out the photo of Ayana.

Seeing the reflection
of her smiling face and windblown hair staring back at him, he attempted to
soothe his rising emotions. He was getting too sentimental by indulging Valerie
unnecessarily. The call from Vladimir was his rude awakening. He was running
out of time and he had to make some very important decisions fast. The conflict
he was feeling right now was because he had allowed his emotions to go
undisciplined to the point that he was finding it hard to distinguish the past
from the present. He tucked the frame back into its sanctuary and locked it in
place.

He leaned back in his
chair and organized his thoughts. Why couldn't he have it all? If he was king and
held all of this power then why did he have to choose between what he was
expected to do and fulfilling his deepest desires? Time was almost up. If
Vladimir had his number, that meant he knew where they were staying. He smiled
at the conclusion he came to. He had to kill The
Impaler
in order to keep Valerie. Over time, she would forget the pretext of her stay
and she would grow to love him.
She will love me!

When Val woke up that
morning, it seemed as if a dark blanket of despondency had settled around her
overnight. She had been keeping a record of how long she'd been held captive.
The various paperbacks and hardcovers were a rough total of the way she'd spent
most of her days, but today was when she counted her thirtieth breakfast. It
has been one whole month and she was still trapped in the palace, and with
yesterday's failed attempt at finding out whether she was any closer to being
set free, she didn't know how much longer she could hold on to fleeting hope's
wings.

She couldn't bring
herself to
eat,
she couldn't bring herself to shower
and get dressed, let alone get out of bed. As she lay there thinking about it
all she gave in to the truth – Vlad was not going to come for her. She hadn't
spoken to him and
Keyaan
hadn't mentioned anything
regarding him either. She would cry if she could, but there was no point, it
would not grant her freedom.

Pushing the covers
off her body, she sat up and walked over to the cart. Today they had prepared
pancakes with an array of syrup choices on the side instead of the usual eggs.
She had grown to love the Arabian coffee blend that greeted her nostrils and
palate with its strong aroma. She struggled with whether to succumb to the
mundane monotony of sitting down and having the meal, despite the fact that she
wasn't hungry. Besides eating, reading, sleeping and staring at the walls lost
in her thoughts, there was nothing else for her to do. Picking up the knife,
she considered slitting her wrists and ending it all. It was a butter knife
which meant that the blade was not sharp enough to inflict any real damage
without the use of force. She gripped it in hand, willing herself to make the
plunge into her wrist. If she was going to do this properly, she would have to
cut vertically so that the chances of being stitched back up again were slim to
none.

Her hands were
unsteady, shaking in a demonstration of the fear she held regarding what she
was about to do. She placed the cool metal against her skin and coached herself
into going through with the attempt. You can do it. It can end today, all of
it. He's not coming. Just do it. She had never thought of committing suicide,
then again, she had never thought that a lot of the things she had already
experienced would happen to her. Things couldn't possibly get worse and that
was a depressing thought in itself. A thought occurred to her, whenever she'd
watched a crime show that showcased suicide
victims,
they were always in the bathtub.

The idea of resting
in warm water while her life blood flowed away sounded poetic. Knife still in
hand, she walked into the bathroom and ran water into the deep tub after
finding the right temperature mix. The mirror image above the bathroom counter
reflected a familiar image but she didn't recognize the woman staring back at her.
Her predicament was frustrating – a bird kept in a gilded cage as the amusement
of a maniacal king and the forgotten lover of a gun runner. She laughed without
humour at the joke her life had become. She knew she probably looked crazy and
that's exactly how she felt.

Picking up the vase
of white roses that had shown up weekly since her first dinner with
Keyaan
, she threw them at the mirror, shattering the image
of herself and everything else it projected. She swiped her arm across the
counter sending the contents crashing to the floor. If felt good to release her
angst in a small way but it wasn't nearly enough to express her inner torment.
She went back into her room and picked up her plate of food throwing it against
the door, followed by the mug and the ceramic coffee pot. Next was the
clothing, she swung the cupboard doors open and ripped apart anything she could
get her hands on that
Keyaan
had given her. She hated
him and everything he represented. She ripped at the satin slips and silk
pants. Clothes she had never asked for but now she understood that they were to
be worn for him, whenever he decided to impose his company on her.

Moe was outside
holding his post. He had requested the overnight guard to cover his shift for
an extra hour since his schedule had run late last night with the longer than
usual visit from the sheik. At first, he had viewed his assignment as the
easiest task of his military career but with the king's volatility where
Valerie was concerned, he found himself wishing that the day she was returned
to The
Impaler
would come sooner rather than later.
If anything were to happen to her, he would be held accountable.

Outside of her door,
he strained his ears to listen to what she was up to this morning. He heard water
running and shortly afterwards the sound of objects breaking from afar. He
wasn't sure whether to go in considering that she may be having a bath. All the
male staff had been forbidden from this section of the palace without the
king's mandate and told to avert their eyes should she cross their path when
she went for a walk on the grounds. The sheik's peculiar behaviour did not go
unnoticed,
however, no one dared to comment on it. When
crashing items sounded against the door, he decided to take a chance and enter.
He couldn't stand by and do nothing in good conscience.

Val was on the floor
ripping at her clothes. Moe looked around the once pristine room that now lay
in shambles. He walked into the bathroom and saw that it hadn't escaped her
assault either. He closed the running water that was close to flooding over.
Going back into the bedroom to find out the reason for her erratic behaviour,
he saw that she had moved onto butchering the bedding. He wasn't sure about
which course of action to take with regards to handling Valerie. One thing was
for certain, the sheik would want to hear about her tirade. Snatching the radio
from his waist clip he addressed Khalil. "Tell His Highness to come to
Valerie's room. She is… not well."

Keyaan
was in his office trying to map out a strategy for tomorrow. Valerie had become
his number one priority as of yesterday, which meant that all his other
responsibilities would have to wait until he had dealt with Vladimir. A knock
sounded on the door. He did not wish to be disturbed and was considering
ignoring it when his personal guard, Khalil, walked in without an invitation.
He raised his brow at the audacity of such a move.

"Your Highness,
Moe says that Valerie is not well. He asked that you come to her chamber."

Keyaan
didn't need any further explanations. He was up and heading for the west wing
before Khalil finished talking. His steps were long and hurried as he traversed
the various stairs and passages that lead to her quarters. When he turned down
the final hallway, he heard her scream and broke into a run. Reaching her door,
he saw that Moe had wrapped one arm around her waist and the other held her
right hand at length. He approached her and pried the knife she held out of her
hand.

"Valerie! What's
wrong?"
Keyaan
asked frantically. He had never
seen her as anything but composed despite the circumstances surrounding her
presence in his home.

"Let me go! Let
me go! Let me go!" she screamed continuously.

Looking at Moe, he
nodded his ascent that her directions be followed. The guard was hesitant but
knew not to question orders. He loosened his hold on her and she crumbled onto
the floor in a fit of tears.

"Leave us"
he ordered. Moe walked out and shut the door behind him. When they were alone,
Keyaan
kneeled on the floor and pulled her into his arms.
Her hair was in a wild mess and fell across her face, some sticking to her tear
soaked cheeks. He tilted her head back and looked at the sorrowful mask as she
cried without restraint. At one point, her breathing became so laboured he
thought she was going to pass out. He didn't understand what or who had put her
in this state. "Who hurt you? Tell me what has you so upset and I will fix
it, I swear."

She opened up her
reddened eyes and looked at him with utter loathing. "It's you!" she
spat. "I want to go, now! I want to go home!"

He didn't respond.
Now was not the time to tell her that that would never happen. This was now her
home. He continued to hold her, letting her shed her remaining despair. When
the weeping subsided, he stood with Valerie in his arms and for the first time
noticed the chaotic mess around him. Instead of putting her in bed as he had
originally planned, he carried her to the next best alternative – the bathroom.
A long shower or soak often helped him ease the burdens of his mind and he
believed it would do wonders for her as well. The tub was already full, so he
undressed her and gingerly placed her inside.

Valerie had settled
into a trance-like state following the meltdown. There was no trace of the back-chatting,
inquisitive woman he had come to know. "Val?" She continued to stare
off into the distance, failing to respond.

Keyaan
took off his
thobe
,
he rolled up his shirt
sleeves and began to wash her using gentle hands and leisurely strokes. He
remembered watching her in this very bathroom as he fantasized about what he
would do were he able to join her. Unfortunately, those illusions were as
shattered as the mirror behind him. When he was done, he let her sit alone for
a while, ordered Mohammed to get the servants to clean up the mess and stood
sentry at the archway until everything was to his liking. 

"What do you
want from me?" she asked in a raspy voice.

Keyaan
looked back at her from his post. This was the first time she'd spoken in over
an hour. Her eyes were no longer glazed
over,
they
were now sharp and focused with their venom solely targeted at him. He went
over to her bedside table and poured her a glass of water. When he handed it to
her, she accepted it gratefully as the cool liquid soothed the throat she had
screamed raw in her hysteria. Thinking back on it, the craze she felt then made
little to no sense now. Things weren't going to change and she needed to make
peace with that. When she handed the cup back to
Keyaan
she realised for the first time that she was naked, with no recollection of how
she'd gotten into the bathroom. One minute Moe was preventing her from killing
herself and the next
Keyaan
was in attendance,
unannounced and as usual, waiting for her.

She pulled her knees
to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. "I asked you a
question."

"Come."
Keyaan
took one of the towels from the stack in the cabinet
and stood in front of her with it open. He had found pleasure in taking care of
her and he wasn't about to stop. She looked up at him warily. Knowing how
stubborn she could be, he begrudgingly answered her, "I want you.
Now let me dry you off, it's not like I haven't seen everything
already."

Val felt nauseous.
While she was literally out of her mind with despair, he had taken advantage of
her in the most perverted way. She got up and attempted to snatch the bath
towel from him but he moved it out of her reach.

"What's the harm
in me doing it?"

"One, you're
violating my privacy and two, I don't want you to." She noticed that his
eyes were focused on her body and she tried her best to block the unwelcome
view by extending one arm to cup her sex and holding her other across her
breasts.
Keyaan
smiled deviously at her, swathed her
in the cloth and carried her to the newly reordered bedroom. She had suspected
that he was harbouring some misguided feelings towards her and his recent
confession confirmed it. Her heart belonged to Vlad even though she had lost
hope that he would return for her. She had to make him see that she was not
interested in him in that way. "I don't want to be with you," she
told him firmly.

"That's what you
think."

"I'm telling you
how I feel."

He lifted his eyes to
gauge her for a moment. He sat down on the bed with Val on his lap. "Give
me a chance to prove it to you." He moved one of his hands in between her
thighs and breached her labia.

When Val looked into
his lust filled gaze, she saw that his dilated pupils had nearly eclipsed the
hazel irises. She needed to put a stop to this before things got out of hand.
She stood up from his lap and quickly walked to the cupboard to find something
that would provide her with more cover.

Keyaan's
desire for Val had started the minute he found himself undressing her. When he
was soaping her delicate skin, he was doing it with a raging hard on. Most of
his arousal came from the fact that he was finally able to touch her
unfettered. He didn't plan on taking advantage of her in her disoriented state.
However, right now she seemed to be back to her regular self which put his
dick's needs at the forefront. He had just touched her in the most intimate way
and the monster that had been growing since the day they met refused to be
tamed any longer. He rushed over to her and pressed his cock against her
voluptuous behind.

"Wait.
Stop."

"I can make you
forget him" he whispered against the shell of her ear. He peeled off the
thick material that had loosened itself from her body. He kissed her cheek and
then her shoulder. "I felt it from the minute I saw you. That spark, that
connection that attracted me to you." He ran his hand across her belly and
trailed upwards to caress her heaving breasts.