The Devil's Playthings (13 page)

Unbidden her hand moved to the necklace. It was a gorgeous collar, but a collar all the same. Would this mean when he owned her he would treat her as a slave?

“No, Emma, don’t think that. I will never treat you any different than I treat you now. You will not be my slave. You will be my queen.” He could see it was too much for her. “You don’t have to answer tonight. Just think about it.” He opened the champagne, and then they danced as they did that first evening.

“You know, it’s been just over two months since that first dance,” he whispered in her ear. “I have done everything in my power not to hurt you. And I swear I will continue that forever.”

“Forever?” She wondered aloud.

“Do you think I will ever allow you to grow old
, or to die
? No, my beautiful girl, you will be mine, just this way, forever.”

She had more than enough champagne to relax her, and when they went to bed it emboldened her.
Whether it was the champagne, or the proposal she wasn’t sure, but when he began to pleasure her with his hands and his mouth, she attempted to do the same to him.

He allowed her hands to trail over his skin, he allowed her mouth to follow down to his stomach. And when she tried to unbutton his pants his hands found their way to her hair. His fingers wrapped around the golden strands, and held her there.

“Allow me,” she pleaded as one hand moved to push her hands away.

“Nooo,” he growled, but she didn’t stop trying. Her lips found his swollen member through the fabric of his pants, and he inhaled sharply.

“Please,” she begged, “you always make me feel so good.” Her tongue came out, pressing against the outline of his large
phallus
.

“You must remain a virgin until the ceremony,” he groaned. “You must.”

“I will,” she whispered, and her hand moved back to his zipper.

“No,” he cried out this time like a wounded animal. He jumped from the bed, and in an instant he was gone.

That night she tossed and turned in her bed. Six am came very early that morning, and
she showered and dressed slowly. She wore a pretty plaid scarf around her neck to hide the necklace. She didn’t have the heart to remove it. He waited on her in the dining room. “Coffee please, Rosa,” he asked when he saw her. She could only nod.

“I didn’t sleep last night,” she complained. “I’m sorry for what I did.”

“Don’t be,” he growled. “Just be warned, when you are joined to me I will finally take all the pleasure I have denied myself these months. But not until you are mine.”

Rosa poured the coffee, and he handed her another beautifully wrapped package. It was another black velvet box, just like
the one from the night before but smaller. Round diamond earrings, at least as big as a penny were inside.

She took them out and put them in her ears silently. She pulled her hair forward to hide them, but he wouldn’t allow it.

“Are you hiding my necklace under that scarf?” His voice was playful. “It’s okay.” His lips brushed her cheek. “Go on to school now. It’s your last day before break, right?” She nodded. “Solstice is in three days then.”

The words followed h
er throughout the day. At
practice that afternoon she had to try on the dress she would wear for the play. She was not ashamed of the necklace, although she knew it would be
questioned, so she tried to remove it but found the clasp difficult. She tried to take it off in the dressing room, but one of the girls walked in on her. After that there was no way she was leaving it in her bag, even if she could get it off.

Father Peter’s eyes grew wide when he saw it. He didn’
t say a word during rehearsal
, but after
she changed out of the costume
he pulled her aside again. “That is an expensive necklace,” he stated. “Are you sure everything is okay with your guardian?”

“This is a fake,” she said. “He thought it would look good with the Juliet costume, but when we got it on we couldn’t get it back off. I think it’s stuck,” she complained.

She pulled her hair up to show him. In some ingrained manly reaction to a woman in distress he walked up behind her. Uncomfortably he walked closer still. Then his fingers fumbled with the necklace, rubbing against the soft skin at the back of her neck.

She gasped, and so did he. He realized he was too close when he rubbed against her rear.
And by then it was too late. She felt he was aroused. He tried to step back but she moved with him, allowing the physical connection between them to continue. He felt it too, and he reached down slowly, so slowly
with his lips toward her neck
.

“Emma, what’s going on?” The pseudo-New England accent startled her more than the voice, but Father Peter was more startled than she.

“It’s the necklace,” he fumbled. “I tried to take it off…” And then he realized how close he got to kissing her. “Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry.” He couldn’t hide his erection, or his embarrassment.

“I explained the necklace was a fake for the Juliet costume, and we tried to remove it,” she said in her hushed tone.

“I reminded you we were going to the jeweler after practice,” he said sternly. “I didn’t expect you to make me wait so long,” he gazed down at his watch. She’d never seen him wear a watch.

She had seen him take this shape before, though. And at this moment she detested it. And Father Peter could see it.
In his empathetic way he could tell that she was uncomfortable. He saw her lower her gaze to her hands.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and hurried toward him.
Father Peter resisted the urge to call out her name, or reach out to her. In his embarrassment he could not even turn to watch her leave.

“It’s okay, we just have an appointment,” he stated. “Let’s go before we’re late.” Faded blue eyes stared at Father Peter before he turned to leave the school theater.

When the car door closed he changed again, and he clapped his hands with delight. “I though
t he might piss himself from fr
ight,” Luc said. “That was priceless.”

She remained silent and fingered the necklace. She wanted to be with Luc, but she didn’t want to have to hurt Father Peter to do it.
She had started to care for him.

He grabbed her wrist, not tight but it got her attention. “There is not room in your heart for me and anyone else,” he hissed. “You are mine alone.”

“Yes, Luc,” she whispered. “Yes.”

His grin was wide as he grabbed her and hugged her close to him. “Yes!” He called out. “Yes!”

That evening at dinner she received another gift, a bracelet to match the necklace. And after dinner he gave her more wine and more dancing.

“Your scent, your face, your hair, your skin,” he sang to her as they danced. “He was about to kiss you and I understand why. You are irresistible, beautiful.” He kissed her with abandon, with glee, with passion. “You said yes,” he reminded her as he kissed her. And up in the bed more one-sided pleasure, just for her. “In three days you will give me the pleasure.”
It sounded almost like a warning.

The next day was Saturday, and she awoke with him playing with yet another box. This one was black velvet also, and inside was a
very expensive watch surrounded by diamonds.

Another b
ox at dinner held two platinum bracelets
,
each with a single platinum circle
. And after dinner another box contained matching anklets. She started to feel afraid. She remember
ed
the times her grandfather tied her down to her bed, and she woke in the middle of the night screaming.

“It’s Luc,” he soothed her. “It’s Luc, I’m not going to hurt you,” he
said, but the ropes on her
wrist
s
and ankles said otherwise. And although they were made of platinum, they were ropes all the same.

The next day, Sunday, they again went ice skating. He seemed to love the outdoors as much as she did herself, even though it meant interacting with humans who didn’t understand who he was, or didn’t want to understand. She bought popcorn this time, and ran to the birds to feed them, but they went into a frenzy fighting each other to get away. And several of them flew into buildings. She dropped the popcorn anyway and ran back to him, back into his waiting arms.

That night the gift was not jewelry, but a set of keys. “You’ll officially be 16 in less than a month, and so you deserve a car that suits you,” he stated.

They went to the elevator, down to the front of the building, and she found a stunning platinum Mercedes convertible. “Get in,” he said when she stood outside it. He opened the driver’s side door then slid in the passenger side.

“I don’t know how to drive,” she admitted as she
climbed
behind the wheel of the sporty little car
.

“It’s easy,” he said and touched her hand. Immediately she knew just what to do, started the car, and took off. She didn’t know where she was going, but she was driving.

They had to stop and fill up the car with gas, but he didn’t mind. There was nowhere else he wanted to be. He saw the blue lights before she did. He must have known they were being followed, and didn’t warn her. “You were having too much fun,” he sighed.

The officer stepped up to the car, and Emma rolled down the window. “License and registration,” the officer ordered. He didn’t even say hi.

“I don’t think you need to see her ID,” Luc said.

“I don’t need to see your license,” the officer replied.

“Everything’s fine here,” Luc continued.

“Everything’s fine,” the officer parroted. “You have a nice evening.”

“You do the same, officer,” Luc called after him. Emma’s response was to drive faster. After a while she was tired of driving, and Luc took over to get them home. He seemed to make it in no time at all. And Emma couldn’t complain
. S
he was tired.

“Tuesday night you will be mine,” he whispered as she went to sleep. This night, he connected in to
the Akashic field, for the sole purpose of watching Father Peter masturbating to fantasies about Emma, then praying for forgiveness.
It gave Luc such joy to see Father Peter suffering over his desire for Emma, who lay beside him in
her
bed. She would be his, after all, and Father Peter could do nothing about it.

The Ceremony

The next day was Monday, and that day he took her shopping. But fear filled her as soon as she stepped into the shop.

“Come,” he bid her with crooked finger, and she followed; past the black candles, past the crystals and the
Wiccan
stars, past the
tarot cards and incense. They walked past rooms occupied by mediums telling fortunes, then dow
n a flight of stairs. Every
room
they walked past the occupant felt compelled to stand and kneel. Most called out “Master,” but he just shook his head to them.

“You live with the Devil every day, and you’re afraid of a shop,” he taunted her. She lived with the devil, she thought. And the thought was like a punch in the gut. She stopped, and grabbed the rail for support.

“You have the power to turn around and leave the shop,” he said. “You have the power to go back to your life before
me
. Say the word and it will be done,” he reminded her, and not in a nice way.

She felt for the first time his real energy. Perhaps it was magnified by all the crystals, or stars, or believers in the building. But she felt it, like a static electric shock on every one of her nerve ending.