The Lost Girl (12 page)

“I know, I’ve been waiting for you to come home so I can repay you,” I said as I walked in wearing a pearly babydoll slip that Tiffany had made especially for me.

The main lights in the room were out; only the shimmering yellow glow from the bedside lamp illuminated the room.

“If you’re planning to give me a free massage, I’m all—” he started to say, but then he stopped.

“I was thinking of something else, but if you want the massage—” I stopped too. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” I grazed my fingers lightly through his hair.

He looked down very slowly and placed both his hands around my waist. “You …”

“Something’s wrong with me?”

“No … nothing’s wrong. I just … want to have a good look at you,” he said, his eyes roaming over my body. “
Baby
and
doll
are indeed the first words that come to mind.” He slipped the lace shoulder strings carefully down over my shoulders. “You … look amazing.”

I looked down at myself, feeling the heat of his stare on every inch of my skin, and smiled, pleased with his reaction. “I take it you like it, then? I thought this would be a good way to compensate you for going to that meeting alone.”

“Oh, it compensates all right,” he stated firmly, grabbing my waist and pulling me closer. “You can compensate me more, if you want to.” He lay me down on the bed and leaned over me.

I was about to give a witty comeback when he crushed his lips against mine. All thoughts escaped my mind. He kissed me with so much hunger that it left me reeling in bliss. His hands roamed urgently over my body while mine grabbed fistfuls of his hair, my fingers sliding through dark locks in my haste to pull him closer. We rolled in bed as if a storm was engulfing us both, taking away all our restraint and leaving only need and longing. Our mouths crashed and merged into one. I dug my fingers into his back, feeling his muscles bulge and strain with every move. As I clung to him fiercely, fighting to breathe him in, taste him, feel him, the heat of his skin burned beneath my fingertips. He finally gave in and lost himself in me completely.

He pushed himself on top of me in wild abandon, his breathing uneven and labored as he let a throaty moan escape his lips in blissful release.

“That … was … amazing,” he said between gasps a few moments later. “Sorry about … the haste. Couldn’t control … myself.” He dropped back onto the bed next to me.

“That’s okay. You call it haste, I call it rampantly voracious.” I smiled, slightly breathless as well.

He pulled me close and snuggled his face in the crook of my neck, his strong arms enveloping me firmly. “You know, I’ve missed being with you,” he said.

“You’re with me all the time, Tris.” I chuckled, grazing my fingers through his hair.

“You know what I mean. I miss being with you, like right now,” he said, trailing his fingers lightly over my hips. “I don’t know … I feel like we are always too busy these days, dealing with work all the time. Life keeps getting in the way. I hardly get to be with you. I mean, really with you. I don’t know if I’m making any sense … We are with each other, but we’re not together.”

“But I’m with you now,” I said, laying my hand on top of his. “Can you feel it?”

“Yeah.” He smiled, interlacing our fingers. Silence surrounded us like a comfortable blanket. After a while he said, “If you’re really with me, let me tell the world you’re my girlfriend. I get that you are not marrying me … yet. But throw me a bone, at least.”

That was absolutely true. Tristan had asked me to marry him many times since we’d started out as a band, three years ago. With respect to his Fifties mindset and old-fashioned upbringing, we should have married soon after graduation. If it had been up to him we would have tied the knot even before that. He didn’t understand what was taking me so long to finally agree to marry him. The first time he’d proposed I had freaked out big time. We were still in our last year at school. The second time, we had just started our careers and there was so much work to do, and so many tours yet to play. We had all the time in the world, I thought, so why did he want to rush into it?

He had been very disappointed the first time I said no,
but he hadn’t given up. He pressed the question year after year. After a while he got used to me declining. I kept telling him it was just not the right time. I liked the way things were. Why mess up something that was working just fine?

“I get it, Joe. You’re not ready. I can wait for as long as you need,” he would say.

But why was I so strongly resisting coming clean about my relationship with Tristan? Seth had done it. Harry and Sam – and even Josh – didn’t care about announcing whichever girl they were seeing. Why were we still hiding our relationship? What was I so afraid of?

For a while I’d told myself it was because of our record label demanding we keep it a secret. But then again, there was always something getting in the way; every time I thought about coming clean, a problem appeared: a busy tour, accidents at bookstores, Harry’s break-up, award ceremonies. There was always an excuse. As Tristan put it, there was always one more problem to deal with. What was my excuse now?

There was no good excuse. But I knew deep down the reason I avoided this so much. Because I knew the next step was going to be marriage. And once we’d publicly announced that we were together, I really would have to say yes to Tristan’s proposals, no matter if I was ready or not. The whole world would be pressuring me then. And I wanted to accept him not out of fear, or pressure, but because of my heart.

So I kept stalling. And left Tristan in suspense all this time. That wasn’t right, either. Maybe it was time to let this secret out. Once and for all. Maybe it was time to face my fears.

“You’re right. I have been stalling for too long. We should tell everybody,” I finally agreed.

“Are you serious?” he asked, stunned.

“Yes. I’m dead serious. Any time you want. You decide.”

I closed our deal with a deep kiss.

At the news of our “outing”, the boys decided to throw Tristan a “bachelor party”. They were treating it as if we were officially getting married now, which annoyed me greatly and also confirmed my deepest fears. My closest friends had already started with the pressure. I could well imagine how the rest of the world was going to behave after they got the news.

Tristan and the boys had gone to a club to celebrate his last day as a “single man”. I’d rolled my eyes at their jesting, but let them get on with their party. Although I suspected that this was just an excuse for the guys to go out clubbing without the girlfriends.

Tiffany had cancelled on me – a job emergency was going to keep her busy all night in her studio – so I was left to celebrate my “last night as a single lady” on my own, which amounted to falling sleep on the couch while watching a stupid reality show.

Yeah. Wild party girl, that was me.

I woke up in the middle of the night to thunder rattling the window panes and with this eerie feeling rising inside
my chest, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up and goosebumps rise all over my arms.

I blinked, quickly switching to full alertness. I knew what those shivers were all about now.

So, tonight was going to be
the night
.

I had wondered how long it would take the sneaky shadow creature to come back to haunt me again … It had certainly taken long enough.

Another rumble of thunder cracked loudly outside. The shadows in the living room danced around me, but this time I didn’t panic, I didn’t run.

I was prepared. I had mulled over this plan ever since after the award ceremony. I was going to catch that devious thing, and tonight was the night!

A floorboard creaked at the other side of the room. This thing could be anywhere! My body screamed for me to run, warning me of imminent danger, but I forced myself to keep still.

Lightning flashed outside like it was trying to scare me too. I looked at the windows and bit my lip. A few drops of rain were splattering over the windows, with the threat of more to come. A summer storm wasn’t going to help me with my plan. But it was not like I could reschedule another meeting with this thing, for when the time was a little more convenient. It was here now, and I had to deal with it, with or without rain.

I needed to remain calm. It wouldn’t do me any good to panic. Creaks and snaps sounded from everywhere in the room; from the corners of my eyes I could see shadows move in quickly, and I swore I could feel something brush lightly over my ankle. But I still didn’t run. Or scream. Or even flinch. It took all my willpower to make me stay still.

Tonight was the perfect opportunity; I couldn’t waste it.

I stood up slowly from the couch and walked to the middle of the room. “You know, you can stop it now,” I called out, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m not scared and this is getting really old, really fast.”

I waited as the noises continued for a while, but I kept my face blank and stood my ground. After a few seconds the noise subdued and there was nothing but dead silence in the room. If it wasn’t for my body telling me I was still in danger, I would have thought the thing had left. But I knew I still needed to be alert. Danger was still afoot.

“Good. Now, how about you show yourself? Obviously you want something from me. I can’t help you if you keep your little spooky show going on. You need to talk to me,” I explained slowly.

There was a soft thump right in front of me and a low, terrifying hiss. I flinched a little, and then cursed myself for reacting. My eyes squinted, trying to focus on the patch on the floor where the thing seemed to be, right in front of me. But I couldn’t see anything.

What if this thing was big? What if it was huge and could eat me in just one bite? What if it had six arms, or claws, or talons? Vigil hadn’t told me anything about its appearance. Focus on the noise; don’t trust your eyes: I remembered his warning.

The hiss in front of me intensified, diverting my thoughts away from Vigil.

“Okay, so, hmm … Can you talk? English, preferably. I don’t understand hissing, sorry.” Yeah, way to go,
smart ass
Joey.

“Yesss, I talks,” it hissed menacingly.

I was really impressed with myself for not flinching
again at that scary voice. The growl that followed was hoarse and guttural, a threatening warning.

“W-what can I do for y-you?” I asked. I was trying desperately to sound brave, but my stammering betrayed me.

“You helpss him.” It hissed out every word like a nervous rattlesnake. “The Grayss. He huntss me, for ever and ever. Never givesss up, never stopss. But he comess for you alwaysss. Whyss?” it asked again, moving closer.

I took a step back. I didn’t want that thing too close. Vigil had said it was only dangerous if cornered, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

“Ah. You mean Vigil. He is only … a friend,” I replied.

“Hmm. You liess … you knowss when I’m near … alwaysss. No one elsess doess that. You iss a ssorceress, you hass powerss!”

“I am a type of sorcerer, yes. You could say that.” I took another cautious step back, walking casually to the glass door that led to the garden outside. I needed to get him in the backyard somehow. That was a very important part of my plan.

“You liess, witch! You helps him; you’re powerful. Liesss and liess, iss all you sssays!” it hissed, following my steps.

Good.
Follow me, wicked little thing.

I opened the glass door, pulling the keychain out with me. I’d had this planned for a couple of days. The small control for the sprinklers was tied to the keychain and was now safely tucked in my hand.

“Youss can help me! Essscape him for good! I can givess you anythingss! Anythingss you wantss! I hasss many thingsss!” it proposed, following me.

For the first time since the creature had started talking to me, I could discern his shimmering form on the grass. It appeared that its cloaking mechanism failed when it came into contact with water, the raindrops apparently short-circuiting his camouflage, making me able to see it.

The thing wasn’t big at all. In fact, it was quite small. I sighed in relief. At least I knew it couldn’t eat me in one quick bite. I tilted my head to get a better look at it. It looked sort of like a cat … a distorted, alien-like cat. It was also the size of a big cat, with a long tail which flipped sideways. The light flickered and I could make out some type of fur. I couldn’t see its face clearly but it had two feral-looking, bright-yellow eyes which stared straight at me. Its black pupils were thin horizontal slits, freakishly scary. I could read its eyes: they were filled with malice, cunning, dishonesty and evil.

The rest of its face blended into the darkness, but I could discern a faint glint of sharp teeth. Scary teeth. A whole lot of them. I shivered just looking at them. Those could bite your hands off for sure.

It noticed I was staring and grinned wickedly. “Sssee this?” it asked, holding up a small leather pouch. “I has many treasuress, sspecial thingss. Magic thingss. I givess you one, you helpss me?” it offered, and then hissed in surprise as a few drops of rain fell on him. Just like a cat, it wasn’t very pleased at getting wet.

“Listen, huh … what’s your name?” I asked.

It was glaring menacingly at the sky, but at my question it glanced back at me, frowning. “Namess? You cannot ssay it. Not in your language.” I could tell it was reluctant to tell me.

“Oh, come on. How hard can it be?” I scoffed.

“Wells, it’ss something like thiss …” and then it gave a sort of screech so horrible and loud that I had to put my hands over my ears to muffle it.

I gasped. It was like hearing nails over a chalkboard, razors cutting glass … a cat dying a horrible death.

“Erm, I guess you were right about that. Please, don’t ever say your name again,” I moaned, feeling as if my skin wanted to crawl away in fear. “I’m calling you Nick from now on.” Sneaky Nick. Sounded just like him. “Listen, Nick, I can’t help you escape from Vigil, sorry.”

The rain started to gain force, falling heavily on us. I needed to act fast. Sneaky Nick wasn’t going to stay out here in the rain much longer. I walked to the middle of the lawn, the remote control still safe in my hand.