Winter's Blade (Hide)
The rain was on the rampage again, hammering roof and flooding downspouts, drowning ears with a sound like TV static, overcome occasionally by walls groaning with the gusting wind...
...and punctuated with soft cries and slapping flesh.
"Oh yeah, baby. Yeah, baby. Yeah. Just like that. Yeah. So good! Yes, there! Mmmh Mmmh Mmmh Mmmh..."
The sexy elf leaned forward and bounced several kisses on her faux-eskimo's salty bald head; he tried to bite her nipples as they did jumping jacks near his chin.
"Hey!... Watch... the rings!..."
She leaned back, her gloriously fake orbs shifting in formation like fleshy oranges between the hanging halves of her little green felt vest. She found the angle she was looking for, and with a brief shudder settled into a more serious staccato.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!"
Sweat poured from his pits underneath the oppressive parka, and the acrylic fur trim itched like hell, but Chester didn't care. His naughty little elf was giving him the fuck of a lifetime, and after the shitty week he'd had, he damn well deserved it.
"Ngh! Ngh! Ngh! Ngh!" He slammed up hard against her, the office chair squealing with every thrust, wheels digging two-inch tracks in the cheap carpet. They'd almost bounced right off the chair earlier, but Chester had the groove now, and as long as the fucking seat didn't break they could ride it all the way home.
"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Erh! Erh! Erh! Erh!"
Chester liked the way the pale white light of the emergency lantern made Jovie's sweaty skin glow like some kind of fucking angel.
Hey, maybe next time he'd buy her an angel costume...
The little white pom-pom on the tip of her hat flew madly foward, back, over left, over right... she was gonna cum again. Which meant Chester could finally stop thinking about Jeter's defense and give Jovie what she came for.
Jovie started wailing like an ambulance.
Chester's hands bear-trapped her hips as his dick tried to blast a hole out the small of her back.
"Rah! Rah! Rarh! Rahngh! Oungh! Oooommhh! FFFffuuuhhkh..."
They heard bells ringing.
The bells hanging on the front door.
Fuck!
Chester wrapped Jovie up to make her be still.
"You didn't lock the door?!" he hissed.
"I thought it locked itself!" she said in her normal bubbly voice.
Chester clamped a hand over her mouth. "Shit! Be quiet! Get under the desk!"
Jovie pulled away from Chester's hand. "I'm not getting under the desk!" Her voice echoed off the rafters.
Chester's eyes bulged. "They'll hear you," he mouthed.
"So?" she said, even louder. Chester generally thought her little-girl voice was cute, but right now it was ear-piercing. "It's probably just my boyfriend."
"Hello?" came a male voice.
"You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" Chester said in a failed whisper. He clawed at his ankle for his pants, but he could only get them up so far with Jovie still on his lap.
"Ex-boyfriend, actually," Jovie corrected. "Though he has a problem with the 'ex' part."
"Oh, that's just great!" Chester shoved Jovie off his lap; she stumbled, her ankles tangling with the chair's casters. She fell back on her naked ass with a dull thud.
"Ow!" she whined. Chester managed to get his pants up, though he still hadn't stuffed everything inside when a man in a very wet black T-shirt and black cargo pants appeared in the office doorway. One hand was behind his back; another shorter figure in what looked like a tent-sized poncho creeped up behind him.
"Is this 399 Franklin?" the man asked.
"Who wants ta know?" Chester said, tougher than a guy with his package hanging out of his drawers generally should.
The man pulled the other figure out from behind him. The pale light of the lantern caught the face of a young woman.
A face Chester knew well.
"Emmeline Winter," the man said.
It was a tense moment for Alex -- and not just because he'd barged in on a bald guy with his business blowing in the breeze.
He didn't really know why they were here. Em had said but two words after hanging up the phone back at Denny's: "They're gone." And then she'd retreated, her eyes vacant, her face expressionless. He'd tried to talk to her, tell her she'd get through this, tell her he wasn't going to let anyone hurt her, tell her he'd take care of her and not to worry... and she looked at him once, with an empty stare that made his heart ache, but then she looked away, out the window at a nothingness a million miles away. And she let him hold her hand, even now, but it was slack and would fall away the moment he let go.
So he knew nothing of this place, or this man before him, or what would happen next.
But he knew he wasn't letting go.
There was a rustle and a thump from behind the man, and a girl stood up. "Chester, who's she?" The girl couldn't have been more than twenty, tallish and sinewy like she exercised too much, not a curve in sight except for the great big pair of unabashedly engineered breasts.
The pale blue-green light of an emergency lantern made it hard to tell what color her comically-undersized vest was, but based on the hat, Alex guessed she was supposed to be a Christmas elf. She realized he was staring and quickly ducked down, plucking up a felt napkin to hold over her crotch. No, wait, it was a skirt.
"I could use a towel," Alex said. He gave the pair a look up and down. "So could you."
"Lucky for you I brought extra," the big-breasted girl said, leaning over and fishing through a large shiny handbag under the desk. She threw a faded pinkish towel over the man she'd called Chester; Alex snatched it out of the air with his free hand. The girl had another one in her hand and gave herself a quick wipedown all over before tossing it on her partner's head.
"So?" she asked. "Who is she?"
Before Chester could answer, Em spoke.
"I've seen you."
Chester looked uncomfortable. "Yeah."
"At the office. The suite across the hall. You drive a blue Accord."
"That's right."
"And the restaurant, where James took me. And across from my apartment building. You've been following me."
Chester shrugged. "It's my job." His eyes narrowed. "You're not supposed to be here."
The girl looked cross. "You said you were a documentary filmmaker!" She didn't stumble over the words, but somehow they seemed too big for her anyway.
"Just get dressed, Jovie," he snapped. To Em: "You're supposed to be at the company Christmas party."
That seemed ages ago now.
Alex took a protective half-step in front of Em. "Her grandmother sent us. Didn't she call you?"
Chester had by now managed to get everything closed up and presentable -- for a man wearing nothing above the waist but a heavy parka. He jerked a thumb toward the ceiling. "No power, no phones." He shrugged off the parka, grabbing the towel and wiping his armpits. "I don't get it. I thought if her dad didn't show up then her grampa was gonna do it."
"They're dead," Em said flatly.
Somehow, even in the ghastly light of the lantern, Chester's face turned pale. "Oh, fuck. What happened, plane crash?"
Em still had that thousand-yard stare. "Elves."
Chester blinked. "Elves? Can't be. They won't manifest for another half-dozen years, at least. Who told you that?"
"We *saw* them," Alex said emphatically. "They attacked Emmeline. Five or six of them, in her apartment. They were gonna--... They took the axe."
Jovie piped in. "You mean like midgets?"
Chester gave her a stern look. "Quiet, Jovie." To Alex: "What'd they look like?"
"They didn't have eyes." That was really all that had to be said.
Chester turned white as a sheet.
Jovie looked at Chester. "What's he mean, they didn't have eyes?"
Alex stared at her. "I mean, there was just a wrinkle where there should have been eyeballs. Three feet tall, skin like sandpaper, no nose, no mouth, no eyes."
Jovie gave Alex a doubting look. "What have *you* been smoking?"
Chester snapped. "Jovie, shut *up*! In fact, just go home."
"I can't go home, you brought me here."
"Then call a fucking cab! This is a fucking... I need to fucking *think*, okay?" Chester started to pace, then stopped. "Wait. Don't go. We don't... we don't know what's gonna happen when--" He gave her a look; Alex caught concern in the man's eyes. And fear. "Just be quiet, all right? I need to think." Chester put his hand on his forehead, closing his eyes, as if running through an imaginary checklist or set of instructions.
"Do you think you might have been followed?"
"No." Alex had gotten off the freeway one exit early and taken the back way, just in case.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"How long ago did you talk to Mrs. Winter?" He meant Em's grandmother.
Alex checked his watch. "Almost half an hour."
"And what time is it now?"
"Quarter to nine."
"At least that's still plenty of time to get out of the city. They should have figured out whether they want us to go north or south by now." Chester stepped around Alex to the desk, picked up the phone, then put it back down. "Jovie, I'm gonna need to borrow your phone."
"Don't use up the battery," she said suspiciously.
Alex blinked. "Wait a minute, get out of the city?"
"Yeah. It's gonna start here. We can't afford risking exposure." He'd figured out Jovie's phone and started dialing.
"Hold on," Alex said. "What's gonna start here? Exposure to what?"
"I don't know. We won't know until after."
"After what?"
Chester held up his hand; he was on the phone. "Yeah, it's Chester. [pause] I know, it's my girlfriend's cell, the power's out here. [pause] 'It is their blood that binds.' [pause] Nineteen fifty-six. --I just found out. [pause] No, she's here. [pause] Elves. [pause] I know, they said they saw 'em. [pause] Yeah, I believe 'em. [pause] Yeah, some guy."
Chester put his hand on the phone. "Who are you, anyway, the new boyfriend?"
"I'm Alex Hayden..."
"I've never seen you before. How do you know Miss Winter?" He gave Alex a suspicious look.
"He saved my life," Em said. "Twice."
Chester blinked in surprise, but his suspicion returned. He went back to the phone, never taking his eyes off Alex. "Miss Winter says he's with her. [pause] Yeah." Hand on the phone again. "You'll have to stay behind. Nobody's checked you out, and we can't risk it."
"He's with me," Em said.
"Miss Winter, I know he brought you here and all, but--"
"I'm not leaving him." She fixed Chester with a determined stare.
It seemed to spook the man. On the phone again: "She says she's not leaving him. [pause] *You* tell her. [pause] Look, it's fine. I'll keep an eye on him. [pause] I know. [pause] Yeah. [pause] My pop's from Texas, what do *you* think?"
Chester lowered the phone and reached into his desk drawer. Out came a pistol; he pulled the slide back, then reached down, grabbed a clip, and snicked it in place. "I even *think* you're workin' for him, I'll paint a Pollack with your frontal lobe."
Alex put his hands up. "I don't even know who 'him' is."
Chester was back on the phone. "So what's the plan? [pause] Yeah. [pause] Yeah..."
Alex felt Em squeeze his hand. She was standing next to him. "Don't worry," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I won't let them hurt you."
They waited for Chester to finish. "I need to bring someone else. [pause] She's okay. [pause] Yes, I'm sure. I just checked her. [pause] Well it was supposed to be my night off. [pause] I know. [pause] Yeah, me too. [pause] We can hope."
Chester looked at the phone a moment, then found the "end" button and stabbed it. Jovie stepped forward to take it, but he slipped it in his pants pocket.
"Hey, that's my phone," she whined.
"I know, baby, but I'm gonna need it for a while."
"Well I need it too..."
"Then you shouldn't have stepped on mine with your killer heels."
"You shouldn't have left it on the table when you asked for a dance."
Chester gave Jovie a "not in front of the guests" glare. "Quiet, Jovie."
He turned Em. "I'm supposed to take you to a compound up north; you'll be safe there. It's in the redwoods. You'll have everything you need. It's probably an eight hour drive, so we should get going." He turned around. "Jovie, I need you to go in the other office; there's some bottled water next to the fridge, and a box of ammo in the desk. And I need you to pull all the leather binders off the back shelf and put them in file boxes. Take Em with you. I'm gonna go bring the Suburban around back. You, uhh, Alex, I need you to help me with the roll-up door, it doesn't wanna stay up."
Jovie grabbed the emergency lantern and moved past Alex to stand next to Em. "Come with me, okay?"
Alex held up a hand. "Wait a second. What about the elves?"
"What about them? It's past that now. You don't understand. She's the last Winter."
Alex got indignant. Em was almost killed -- *he* was almost killed -- and this guy was acting like that was something that should be forgotten? "It's *past* that? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, now's not the time, okay?"
Jovie seemed to smell trouble brewing. "Come on," she said to Em, taking her other hand.
Alex tightened his grip on Em. "I think it is."
Em pulled gently. "Alex, it's okay."
Alex knew Em wasn't herself right now. "No, it's not..."
Em tugged again. "No, Alex... I need to pee."
"Oh." He let her go.
Chester just stood there, watching Em follow Jovie. When they were gone, he fixed Alex with an authoritative look. "If this is gonna be a problem--"
"Damn right it's a problem. All Em knows is that her grandfather asked her to make a delivery for some cult, and since then her whole family's been slaughtered by... *elves*, and they almost killed her too -- and when *you* hear this, you spaz out and wanna run for the hills."
"And they *would* have killed her if it hadn't been for you, right?" There was a snarky edge to Chester's comment.
"Well, yeah, I guess." What was he saying?
"So, what, I should just leave her to you? You're gonna protect her?"
"No! I mean... what about the elves? Are you just gonna let them get away with this?"
"We'll deal with them."
"You'll *deal* with them? And whatever else it is that you're not telling us, you'll deal with that too?"
"Well, yes. That's what we do."
"What about the authorities?"
"Oh come on, man, what are they gonna do? File a report? Tell you to fend them off with a restraining order? Will they even believe you? Maybe you'll get her locked up in a psych ward for a few days -- that'll help." Chester shook his head. "You think a half-dozen elves are deep shit -- after tonight, there'll be more of them. And they'll never stop. And the authorities will be so busy with--" He stopped short. "You have no idea what's going on here." Chester stepped forward, into Alex's space. "Let me ask you somethin', sport. You said 'All Em knows.' How do you know what she knows?"
The question threw him for a moment. But... "She told me."
Chester sneered. "Yeah, okay. You know what's best for her, huh?"
"That's not--"
"Look, I don't know what went on between you two, and I don't really care. You don't know her like I do. Em never wanted to be involved. She doesn't need to know, she doesn't *wanna* know." Chester took a step back, out of Alex's face, gesturing to the next room. "Did you *see* her? She's been through enough already."
Alex shook his head. "You don't *know* her. You'd never even *met* her! You think following her around tells you who she is?"
"You think fucking her does?"
Alex was stunned into silence.
Chester sighed in disgust, and busied himself rifling through the desk. Alex half-consciously shifted his Mag-Lite to give Chester more light.
Chester found a small folding knife and pocketed it. He approached Alex. "Look," he said, "I know this is freaky shit, and you're just trying to make sense of it. And I get that you feel like you owe her something. But don't... don't push her." There was a profound sadness in his voice. "Because it's too much at once, and there's nothing anybody can do about it now anyway."
Alex heard someone in the hallway behind him. He turned around. The broad beam of his Mag-Lite caught Em, looking like a little girl swimming in Alex's overcoat. She was holding something in front of her.
Spread open in her hands lay what looked like a leather-bound scrapbook; the exposed pages held old photographs and typewritten captions.
Tears welled in her eyes.
Alex looked back down at the open book. The images were disturbing.
An old city sidewalk with but a few hunched over people, all holding white masks to their faces.
A woman digging a third child's grave behind a farmhouse.
Two men stacking coffins atop a flatbed truck.
A steam shovel bucket looming over a long pit filled with corpses.
"What is this?" Emmeline asked, her voice trembling. "Is this what's going to happen?" Her eyes welled with tears.
The binding of the awful book shifted in Em's hands, and the pages slowly turned. It settled on very old drawings...
An endless procession of men carrying coffins out of a town.
A skeleton with a snake in its mouth, reaching out to touch a horrified woman.
A looming hooded figure, face obscured but for glowing eyes, long bony fingers gripping the heads of two children, twisting them at unnatural angles from their limp bodies, their sunken eyes rolled up in sightless expressions of anguish.
"When I let them take the axe... is this what I did?"
Alex felt suddenly sick; he yanked the flashlight beam away, but the images still lingered.
Chester collapsed in his chair, his head held in his hands.
"Aww, fuck."