Mortal Desire (14 page)

‘What tickles your fancy today Miss Flynn?’

‘Some sort of art I believe,’ she replied.

‘I was thinking the same thing. I am feeling a little European today. Guide me there please,’ I instructed.

‘I’d be delighted to Mr. O’Connell.’

She led me to the west side of the expansive museum where the European paintings were housed, and talked in great detail about each painting.

‘Sarah, who is your favourite painter?’

‘Without a doubt Liam, it would have to be Sir Frank Dicksee. He was such a romantic painter. His work of
Romeo and Juliet
is my favourite.’

‘Ah, the tragic love story. Is it here in the museum?’

‘Unfortunately no, who is your favourite painter?’ Sarah was talking to me face to face, walking backwards again. My hands were behind my back, and my eyes locked into hers.

‘Hard to choose, there are so many. I particularly like Renaissance, and some Impressionism. My favourite piece though is
The Creation of Adam
by Michelangelo.’

‘Have you been to the Sistine Chapel?’

‘Yes, when I was younger—you?’
Actually ... I lived there for one hundred years, one hundred years after Michael Angelo finished “The Last Judgement” on the wall behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel.

‘No,’ she replied, her voice low.

‘You must go one day and be divinely inspired. Hmmm ... does the museum have Van Gogh’s Piece called “
A Pair of Shoes
?”’ I asked to change the subject away from my vast knowledge of the Sistine Chapel.

‘I believe so Mr. O’Connell, this way,’ she answered in her guide voice again.

As we arrived at the painting, Sarah stood with her back to it. She spread out her arms with her palms facing upwards. ‘Mr. O’Connell, I present to you,
A Pair of Shoes
, by none other than Vincent Van Gogh. You will have to tell me about this one as I never worked in this section,’ she explained.

I bowed slightly to her, smiling towards my feet. ‘Well, if you stand about here,’ I placed my hands on her shoulders, turned her around, and stood behind her closely, ‘you can see that there are two hidden pictures in his painting,’ I said quietly into her ear, inhaling her human scent, and bathing in the high that her proximity gave me.

I wanted to expand my blue energy around her to form a bubble; our very own bubble. I wanted to keep her safe, keep her happy. I wanted her to be forever surrounded by my love.

I need the love potion antidote now Albert …

‘I can’t see them Liam. What do they look like?’

‘On the right shoe is the face of a lamb, and on the left shoe is the face of a fox.’

She placed both of her hands on top of mine on her shoulders. ‘You have a very good imagination Mr. O’Connell. I am sure that you are making it up,’ she said.

‘Oh—so you do not have permission to see it then! You should ask for permission someday,’ I said joking around with her.

‘Are you sure that you don’t have contact lenses on today Mr. O’Connell?’ She was facing me now.

I laughed at her comment, and pulled her into a hug.

‘What am I going to do with you Miss Flynn …’ I ran my hand through her hair in a slow manner. It was so soft and smelled of apple blossom.

‘You are the one who is seeing things Mr. O’Connell. What am I going to do with you?’ She stood back from me slightly, lifted her hands and placed them on either side of my face.

She caressed me with her eyes, lingered in my eyes and then on my lips.

Nervous energy bounced around inside me, so I took a deep breath to calm myself. ‘I’m starving Sarah, let’s eat,’ I finally said to extract myself from our close proximity, and the feeling that I was spiralling out of control.

‘Definitely. I know what I want to eat, and it is not food,’ she whispered into my ear.

‘Then we should get some food into you before you decide to help yourself to other things,’ I whispered back into her ear.

She sighed. ‘Liam …’ she whispered.

I looked into her eyes. She was in a dreamy state. Was it my blue energy force, or the halo effect?

I grabbed her hand and took her to the cafeteria. Coffee would fix her for sure. We sat at a table by the garden overflowing with spring flowers, creating their own painted canvas. Sarah looked over the colourful display and then wiped a tear away from her eye.

‘Sarah?’ I asked concerned for her.

‘It’s not working Liam,’ she said with a soft voice.

‘What is not working?’

‘Spending some time with you to make the “halo effect” vanish,’ she replied.

‘It will disappear as our day wears on Sarah. You will see,’ I said, not wanting the “halo effect” to vanish either. I wanted her to love me. No-one on the Earth sphere had ever loved me before. Or, more succinctly—I had never allowed a mortal to love me before.

I reached over and placed my hand on top of hers. I was tempted to send my amnis under her skin and help her to feel better, but I didn’t. That would be cheating.

I ordered our lunch and returned to Sarah at the table. ‘Penny for your thoughts,’ I said, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

She smiled at me. ‘I just had a vision of a painting that I want to create. Just give me a second to commit it to memory and I will return to you,’ she said, and touched my hand.

I smiled coyly at her. She closed her eyes. Her face became the picture of serenity, and of beauty that shone brighter than the sun. I wanted to grab her and hold her against me again.

But I didn’t.

When she opened her eyes, I took her hand in mine and brought it to my lips and kissed it with the gentleness of a paintbrush.

‘Tu sei bella signorina Sarah,’ I said in a quiet voice.

‘Thank-you to whatever you said. It sounded nice ... it wasn’t French was it?’

I shook my head, smiled and looked over at the flowers. I needed to stop charming her so that she could get over me. I had to stop playing this game with her. She was forbidden.

‘What is your favourite colour?’ I asked her as our lunch arrived.

‘Blue,’ she answered.

‘What type of movies do you like to watch?’

‘Oh, vampire flicks, horror movies, anything with immortals in them,’ she said.

I sat back in my chair. I could feel the blood draining from my face.

‘I am kidding Liam. I like chick flicks, romance, some comedy,’ she explained.

‘Oh. That is more comforting. I thought that you were about bite my neck and suck the blood from by body for a moment then!’

Her giggling voice sang to my soul.

What would she think if she knew that immortals did roam the Earth ... and what would she think if she knew that I was one of them?

‘What is your favourite food?’ I asked.

‘Raw red meat,’ she answered.

I nodded my head. ‘Drink?’

‘Blood,’ she answered.

‘Figures. I’ll do well to remember that for when I order for you next time,’ I said.

Sarah smiled at me. She leaned over the table towards me and kissed my forehead, the side of my face, and then my lips.

I drew back from her and placed my hand over my chest. My heart was beating fast and my head had begun to spin. ‘That will not help your plight Sarah,’ I said to her when she sat back down.

‘You never know ... it depends on what my plight is of course,’ she replied and looked into my eyes for far too long.

We finished lunch and I indicated to the waiter to bring the bill. Again Sarah produced her money.

I looked at her and raised my right eyebrow. ‘Old fashioned remember,’ I said in a low voice.

She was just about to protest when I placed my finger over her lips.

She grabbed my hand. ‘Thanks Mr. O’Connell, but times have changed. I am picking up this bill!’ she said between gritted teeth.

‘I believe we should duel it out with scissors, paper, rock,’ I commented.

She giggled at my suggestion. ‘Challenge on,’ she replied.

Without further ado, we broke into scissors, paper, rock. I timed my delivery slightly later than hers to ensure that she won, and so could pay the bill, just to make her feel better about our “date”.

‘Well Sarah, we have done something that I wanted to do today. What do you want to do this afternoon?’

She looked over the flowers while she thought. The colours of the petals reflected on her irises creating an absolutely stunning display.

‘Let’s go and climb some rock walls!’ she replied.

I blinked hard and raised my eyebrows at her before I ran my fingers over the table in thought. ‘Okay …’ I said with uncertainty. I stood, pushed my chair in, and waited for her to join me to leave the cafeteria.

The streets were crowded. We seemed to be walking against the flow of people and became separated more by the overcrowded walking space a number of times. I had to stop and look for Sarah. We I found her I took her hand in mine. That way we couldn’t be separated. She looked down as we started to walk.

‘What?’ I asked her, frowning.

‘Holding hands is ... I love the feel of your hand around mine,’ she said.

‘Or, it is a way of stopping you from falling behind as we walk Miss Flynn,’ I suggested and cocked an eyebrow at her.

‘Point taken,’ she replied.

We went different ways when we entered The Rock Club to change into suitable climbing attire. I waited for her at the viewing deck as soon as I had changed. I turned around when I felt a light punch on my arm. Sarah wore a snug white lycra tank shirt and fitted black shorts. Her body was toned and she appeared very comfortable in her own skin. My breath hitched and she hit me on the arm again. ‘You can stop looking at me now Liam. You are making me feel self-conscious,’ she said, and she rested her hand on my shoulder.

‘You just ... you surprise me Sarah. I never took you for a sports chick. Which room are we entering?’ I asked, changing the subject.

‘Well, I’ve done the wall, the boulder cave, the roof climb. I have never done the team event. What about you?’

‘None. I have never rock climbed.’

‘And yet you agreed to come here with me?’

‘Yes—why not. You only live once.’

‘Okay, let’s hit the wall since you are a novice.’

‘Yes Ma’am,’ I said.

We entered the Hang Dog Stadium. An instructor wrapped me in a harness.

‘Mmmm, wish I could harness you up Mr. O’Connell. Which gym do you go to?’

‘I don’t.’

Sarah looked hard at me and blinked several times. The instructor finished checking over the harness and then broke into a spiel of instructions.

‘Let’s climb,’ I said, when the instructor had finished, and walked off towards the wall.

‘Liam I suggest that you start to the left.’

I cast my eyes to the left and saw a heap of kids off in that direction.

‘No. I’m good. Ladies first,’ I said, and then watched as Sarah mounted the wall. She reached out with her arms here and there, and positioned her long legs for balance. Then she moved one limb at a time while she scaled the wall with ease.

I followed her example, and was ready for the next challenge, and the next. The last wall that we climbed was exhilarating. It was also the last wall that we climbed. Sarah clashed with another climber, and spiralled to the floor, caught up in the ropes and landed awkwardly. She sat on the floor and held her ankle, and rocked to and fro with her eyes squeezed shut.

I descended the wall at speed and knelt beside her. I ran my hand down from her knee to just above her ankle. It was swollen already. ‘Let’s get an ice pack on that.’ I picked her up in my arms and carried her to a chair nearby. I raised her leg on a free standing cushioned seat as the ice arrived.

Sarah held both of her hands over her face, covering the pain that she was in.

I placed the ice pack around her ankle with care.

‘Please Liam, take me home. I want to go home,’ she said. She looked into my eyes, pleading. Tears ran down her face.

I kissed her forehead, then picked her up once again and carried her to a cab outside. I slid in beside her after gathering our belongings and held her hand in mine. She laid her head on my shoulder, and I felt the coolness of her tears soak through my shirt.

I kissed her forehead once again. ‘I guess this means no dancing tonight,’ I commented to cheer her up.

I felt her smile against my chest. ‘I will have to take a rain check on that Mr. O’Connell.’ Then she winced in pain.

‘You know I took dancing lessons when I was a kid,’ I added.

‘You did?’ she said, her voice a little brighter.

‘No.’

Sarah hit me in the arm.

‘I just wanted you to hit me again,’ I said, smiling at her before I got lost in her eyes.

I carried her from the cab into her building and then entered the elevator.