All your doubts and fears
And if you look in my eyes in time you will find
The reason I am here
Mark Collie
“You gonna make me wait an eternity, Darlin’?”
A question was asked, and a hand was offered.
Ororo had no had time to speak before Nate and Scott did it for her.
“Excuse me sir, who are you?” Scott asked as he rose from the table.
Nate followed him and stood beside the stranger who had walked over to them.
“You’re that guy,” he said, furrowing his eyebrows, “the one from the diner.”
Scott’s eyebrows rose high up his forehead. “You mean THE guy?’’
Nate nodded. “Didn’t get your name.”
The stranger hadn’t turned toward them yet, he just stood there still with a hand offered to the woman sitting in front of him.
Nate did not like being ignored. “Look, pal, I appreciate greatly what you did, but we were kind of in the middle of something.”
The stranger’s head turned a bit toward the voice. He raised his head and fixed him with a gaze.
Nate was a big man. He easily pushed six-five or six-six, and almost three hundred pounds of hard work induced muscle. The stranger was half his size, at the very least.
But then why did Nate feel all of his bravado seep from him like water from a cracked pipe?
The stranger lowered his hand and took a step forward. It took all of his fortitude for Nate not to take a step back.
Scott stood by Nate’s side, despite Emma’s silent urging for him to sit back down. Not a small man himself, he, too, had to gaze downwards at the strange man who had come to their table.
The stranger’s hands slowly folded into a pair of fists, his knuckles cracking loudly as they did. His eyes switched slowly back and forth between the two taller men.
Hank had been in the middle of fixing a batch of his specially made fried Twinkies, when he had stepped out from the back to get a few bottles of chocolate syrup from the dessert bar. Then he saw what was happening.
No stranger to bar fights, he knew what scene would promise to come if he didn’t intervene.
He stood over by the register where he kept the sawed off shotgun hidden. He knew Scott and Nate were good guys, but this new guy he had never seen before, so better safe than sorry. It wasn’t even loaded, the shells were kept in a small compartment. The sight of a shot barrel twelve gauge was usually enough to break up any altercation.
“Gentlemen, I would trust that if you have business of a rough-housing nature, you would have the good foresight to take it outside,” he shouted over from across the bar.
Ororo stood up and placed a hand on Nate’s large shoulder. “Nate, please, it’s no big deal.”
He turned his eyes away from the stranger’s (something he was thankful for, to his secret relief) and breathed a bit steadier. “But Ro…”
She smiled at him and gestured for him to sit back down. ‘It’s ok, guys, really.”
Nate was not easily convinced but sat down all the same, as did Scott. Their eyes spoke volumes of concern as they watched Ororo take the stranger’s hand finally, and they began a slow walk to the small dance floor.
The band had just started a new song. The regular singer had given way to a young woman, one of the waitresses actually, Allison. She took the microphone and began singing as the rest of the band played a slow melody.
Where did you come from, out of nowhere it seems
Maybe an angel is smiling on me
I know it’s crazy, you have taken my heart
I’ll never leave you,
You’re my missing part
He put an arm around her waist and held her hand off to the side. And they began to slow step to the music.
Yes I will die for this dance
To hold you, and talk of romance
Never been lucky, but got to take a chance
Caught up in some kind of trance
Yes, I will die for this dance
Ororo was caught up in the strange feel of his arms, they were strong and a bit rough, and they were cold. She still remembered the feel of his body, hard and cold like a statue of ice. It was not unpleasant, though, and that she could not quite understand.
He was looking at her, and it was so hard to meet that gaze.
“You certainly know how to make a scene, don’t you,” she said, hoping to take away the nervous feeling all the way down in the pit of her stomach.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, just watched her a bit longer before he spoke. “I’m real good at that.”
She smiled, hoping he would mirror it, but to no avail. “I really do appreciate what you did for us.”
He nodded, but said nothing.
“The cops didn’t find any bodies,” she said.
He didn’t answer, he only held her just the slightest bit tighter.
“You don’t think they got away, do you? I mean, after what you did to them.”
“Wouldn’t worry about them anymore Ororo.” he replied.
The way he said her name frightened and excited her all at the same time. “You know, it’s really not fair that you know my name and I don’t know yours.”
The corner of his mouth rose ever so slightly. “Take a guess.”
She laughed a bit. “It’s not Rumpelstilskin, is it?”
He said nothing, that corner of his mouth still arched a bit.
“Um…James?’ she asked.
One of his eyebrows went up at that.
“Ok sorry.” She said. “Guessing games are not my area.”
Ororo moved her hand down his shoulder a bit. “You could just tell me.”
His face inched a bit closer to hers. “Do you really need to know?”
Her eyes fell into his. All around her she stopped hearing the music, stopped seeing the few other people dancing around them. She was not even sure she could hear her own heart beating anymore.
The lights seemed to wane, and fade into darkness, but his eyes, oh God, his eyes were still so clear.
They pierced her like a cold wind. They were like a pair of hands that simultaneously tore her body apart, all the while giving her rushes of pleasure like she had never felt before.
He inched a bit closer, his breath as hot as the heat of a roaring fire. Their bottom lips touched ever so slightly. She opened her mouth a bit and shared his breath, it was so hot, and yet it sent chills up and down her spine.
“Oh, God, who are you?” she thought she heard herself ask.
At that moment the entire world came back into being. The lights of a thousand suns flooded back around them, and the sounds had suddenly become deafening.
They were still as close as before. His breathing was steady, but hers had become fast and shallow.
Their lips were still barely touching.
“Thanks for the dance,” he murmured and then walked away towards the door.
Ororo felt as if she was naked as he left. She followed him toward the front. “Wait.”
He stopped slowly at the door and turned a bit to look at her.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
She was not sure if it was an illusion of the light, or if she saw his lips turn into the faintest hint of a smile.
He brought his hand to his hat and tipped it to her. Then he was gone out the door, leaving Ororo feeling like a child lost in the woods.
She did not even feel Nate’s gentle hand on her shoulder, nor the words he was saying to her. She was entranced by the retreating figure in the windows that was mounting a motorcycle and speeding away.
Highway 40
The roar of the engine shattered the sounds of the night. He pushed it hard and fast, tearing the motorcycle down the asphalt. He left a trail of smoke and fire in his wake.
As He rounded a corner he came to a sudden halt on a long empty stretch of the highway. He revved the engines loudly as he just sat there. They were all around him again. Their stench and sound flooded his senses.
One of them leaped in front of the motorcycle. It was a tall one, the size of a man and so shaped. It grabbed hold of the handlebars and leaned its grotesque face forward and screamed in his face. Its large pointed and misshapen teeth dripped foulness and gore. The stranger held its gaze and never flinched until he reached up and gripped it around the throat. The thing struggled under the iron grip and thrashed about, trying to break free.
With one quick movement, its neck was snapped. He hurled it away just as its horrid body began melting away into an oily essence.
A new smell came to his nose then. Something even more foul than the horrors that surrounded him. He knew someone else was here.
“I love watching you do what you do,” a feminine voice told him, and he instantly recognized it.
He turned to see a tall and undeniably beautiful woman standing just to the side of his motorcycle. She wore something that would be considered indecent in public; it left very little to the imagination. Her red hair hung low over her shoulders and ran down the front of her ample chest. Her green eyes did little to hide the maliciousness behind them.
“Madelyn.” He didn’t bother to hide the irritation and disgust in his voice.
She smiled, revealing perfectly shaped teeth. “I love hearing you say my name; you just don’t know what that does to me.”
He lit a cigar to cover up the stench she gave off. “You ever hear of a fucking shower?”
She threw one of her long and shapely legs over the cycle and sat down in front of him, pushing her hips into his. “Would you join me for one?”
He blew a pillar of smoke in her face, to which she inhaled deeply. She placed her arms around his shoulders and licked him along the ear. “You taste better than ever.”
“What do you want with me, Madelyn?” he asked, growing tired of her games.
“Do you even have to ask?” she said as she slipped one hand down to the zipper of his pants and slowly undid it. Her gloved hands went inside and she instantly found what she was looking for. “All you have to do is tell me how you want it.”
“If you don’t get your talons off my dick, I’m gonna see how far down a road you have to drag a body to peel all the skin off of it.”
She smiled at him and withdrew her hand.
“You really know how to turn me on.” She leaned in to kiss him.
He pushed her away none too gently.
“Cut the shit, Madelyn.”
“It’s been so many years; don’t you miss me even a bit?”
He said nothing; he just kept that hard gaze on her.
“Time really doesn’t change anything, does it?”
“You should know that by now.”
She leaned back against the handlebars still in a seductive pose and a pout on her lips. ”Always business.”
“Always.” He shrugged.
She sighed and realized now was not the time. “Very well, then, to business.”
She eased her way off the bike, still rubbing all of her body over his, and she stood up to her full height.
“Have you made contact yet?”
“With one of them, but not your boy.”
“Time is a factor…”
“Heard that already, don’t need a fucking echo.”
She smiled; she really did love his gruffness. “Ahh, I see. So the Other ones have made contact with you, too, I thought I smelled them. Who is it this time? That little pansy, Warren? I figured it would be him, but I know he’s not alone.”
She leaned forward. “I’ll bet that little bitch is with him, you know the one, that other little redheaded cunt that…”
“It doesn’t fucking matter now, does it?”
She shook her head, her hair like fire in the wind. “I just don’t want to see your favor go towards that side.” She walked around him and touched both of his shoulders. “Especially when I could offer so much more.”
He shook her hands off his shoulders. “I do my job, Madelyn.You should know I don’t give a shit which side wins in the end, as long as I get what’s coming to me.”
“Why settle for that, when I can offer you more than you could ever imagine,” she said, walking around to the front. ‘We will have the one that is marked for us, but if the other one could fall into our ranks, then can you imagine the shift in the balance of power.
The world and everything in it could be ours.”
He actually laughed. “What the fuck ever, Madelyn.”
“What do you think is going to happen to you when our side finally does win, have you considered that? You need me whether you want to admit that or not; it would be good to have a… ’Friend’ in the higher ranks.”
She walked away into the darkness a bit.
Think about it.” She blew him a kiss and then faded away into the night.
He sat there a long while, with only the cigar smoke moving in the otherwise still night.
Twenty five miles outside of town
Clint Barton lit another cigarette and took a long deep drag. The ride from York was killing him. The sitting was a bitch; he needed activity, something to keep him occupied on this trip. Lester sure wasn’t a great source of conversation.
When Big Boss Fisk had assigned him to this fucking baby-sitting job of that little prick son of his, he had assured him he could handle it on his own.
Not one to take chances, though, Fisk had given him a partner. And of all the fucking people…
Lester “Bullseye” McManus.
What a fucking idiot.
He had damn near begged Fisk for any other partner.
He dropped names like Wade Wilson, William “Sand” Barker, or even Cletus Cassidy.
But Big Boss Fisk never changes his mind when it’s set.
So here he was out in the middle of nowhere, with a fucking lunatic for a partner, for a shit job that was way below his standards.
The fucking things he did for money.
He pulled out a small knife and began running it along the pad of is fingers. A small line formed along where the knife ran, and blood started flowing out. He licked it up and leaned back into the passenger chair, closing his eyes.
The taste of blood still strong on his lips, he smiled and fell into a light sleep.
Later that night
The wolf stalked the house in a wide circle
Its coat like midnight incarnate
Its eyes like pools of burning oil
Its teeth obsidian shards of steel.
It bent down low and its hackles rose to the sky
It charged into the front door and splintered it into a thousand pieces
It smelled the air and its ears rose at the sound of the crying
It moved as a shadow escapes daylight
Moving up the stairs and into the room where the cries came from
In front of it was a small crib with a blanket hanging off the side
Slowly it eased its way forward
Until it reached the edge
Inside the baby stirred and whined
Lips pulled back over horrid fangs
It rose its head and howled
And then it struck
Ororo bolted up from her bed and held her pillow close to her heart.
The nightmares were getting worse.
Nate stirred a bit, but did not wake up.
She looked over at him and breathed out a slow breath.
They had made love that night.
It was an unexpected and unintended thing.
But after tonight, she did not want to be alone.
She was afraid
She didn’t even know why, exactly.
The nightmare was horrible, she would not lie.
But that was not it.
It was something else.
She did not know if it was the sense of foreboding she had that was hanging over her head like a thundercloud.
Or if it was the fact that Nate’s face was not the one she had been seeing tonight when she had made love.
In her mind, she had seen hard features and heard a gruff voice say her name over and over again.
And she saw those eyes again.
Watching her the whole time.
And she did not know why that scared her so.
But also, why it excited her just as much.
