Path: newsspool1.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!newsread.com!newsstand.newsread.com!POSTED.monger.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: From: "Richard Schultz" MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: Repost: FFF: "Hotel California" 1/1(Uber Voy: Uber Janeway,Torres,7)NC-17 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Lines: 1765 Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 03:55:32 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: monger.newsread.com 1104206132 209.198.142.218 (Mon, 27 Dec 2004 22:55:32 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 22:55:32 EST Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:86395 X-Received-Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2004 19:55:39 PST (newsspool1.news.atl.earthlink.net) New FFF: "Hotel California" 1/1 (VeryAlt.VOY: Uber J/T/7)NC-17 Title: "Hotel California" Author: R. Schultz (cousindream@msn.com) Fandom: Not inspired by Star Trek Series: Nor VOYAGER. Rating: NC-17 for violence and graphic sex. Pairing: Both M/F and F/F love mentioned. Disclaimer: Paramount owns Trek. This ain't Trek. Paramount can go=20 take a hike. I write for fun. Scr*w ViaBorgCom. Summary: The newest voice on the car radio is a hillbilly named=20 hosts "Death Valley". That's in their world. There is another=20 world here. 12,400 words, January, 2004. Written for the FFF, before being posted to the ASCEML. May be=20 archived elsewhere if permission is requested first.=20=20 Comments to: R.Schultz at (cousindream@msn.com) HOTEL CALIFORNIA By R.Schultz On a dark desert Highway Cool wind in my hair Warm smell of Colitas Rising up through the air Up ahead in the distance I saw a shimmering light My head grew heavy, and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night -The Eagles- The gravel crunching was loud in the non-silence of the cold desert=20 night, as my Buick rolled to a stop. There weren't many lights on=20 at this Motel; just something to say the office door was right here,=20 in case the lights inside didn't tell you. The dashboard clock said=20 it was after eleven, but there was no way I could make it all the=20 way to Yuma tonight. Or even if I was going the right way. Not like there was any urgency to my getting to Los Angeles,=20 anyways. So I sat there, letting the night chill make me shiver.=20=20 When the white tunic clad Apache came up to me, it was like a ghost=20 suddenly appearing. It was night, but there were some lights about. This was western Arizona, so a man with long black hair and a=20 decorated headband had to be an apache, right? The tunic was so=20 white I assumed he was staff here at this hotel, motel, whatever it=20 called itself. "Are you all right, Sir?" he asked. I nodded a yes, and he must have seen, for he straightened up and=20 somehow assumed the stiffness and grace of a doorman. I looked=20 around and realized he was not alone. Another white tunic-clad=20 person was vaguely seen in the shadows by the other side of the door. "Are you staying the night, Sir? Would you like some help with your=20 bags? You may leave the car here, Sir, and we'll move it nearer=20 your room once you've checked in. "Will anyone be arriving to meet you?" It had taken a minute for me to orient myself, but I finally managed=20 to unlatch the door and grab my keys. Another younger version of=20 the doorman was suddenly there, and his hand was out for the keys. "A few suitcases in the trunk=85" I began. Suddenly another ghost in a white tunic and long black hair was=20 there, and he took the keys back to the trunk while the other one=20 slid behind the wheel. The first one, the doorman, was opening the=20 door for me, inviting me to enter and register. The way was not quite blocked by another sudden apparition of the=20 night. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D There she stood in the doorway I heard the mission bell And I was thinking to myself This could be Heaven or this could be Hell =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Even in the uneven light I knew her for a beauty. Short dark hair,=20 spaghetti straps on an off-the-shoulders dress, she was a pure white=20 ghost in muslin. Curling black hair carefully shaped to be a round=20 cap on her head; she had the "Roman Holiday" Audrey Hepburn look.=20=20 Possibly she was a smaller person than myself; No =96 just petite. For a few moments I wondered if she might awaken me again to my=20 losses, my pains, my despair. Then an older woman in a checked=20 man's flannel shirt and blue jeans swam into view beside her. One of the Apache appeared again in my eyesight, prompting my=20 forward movement with a slight motion of his hand. The women backed=20 slightly and I moved into the anteroom. Tiles underfoot, tiles on=20 the lower parts of the walls, chill in the air. I booked a single=20 for the night, trying not to be amazed at the frank curiosity of the=20 young brunette. She leaned against me to watch me sign in at the=20 book. So did the older gal. "Lankowski," the older woman said. "Good Irish name." A small joke=20 to break my tension. I paid a ten across and got change back, for=20 the overnight. I'd feel better if I could jibe and tease back. The=20 girl is all but rubbing against me, and the older woman doesn't seem=20 overly protective.=20=20=20 I could have had Jenny more than that one time. My going-away=20 present. What do I know about women, or about sex? What use am I? That had been long ago and far away. Today I didn't respond. The older woman introduced herself as Kathryn, and the girl was her=20 niece and ward, Belle Anna. She said she owned this place, and she=20 hoped I'd enjoy my rest. "I was about to enjoy a small cordial at the bar," she=20 probed. "Would you like to join us? Relax with us a little before=20 hitting the sack? On the house. Or have a Coke, or a beer, name=20 your poison." The words to evade were almost on my lips when a surprise sprang up=20 to one side. She was a tall blond, stacked like you wouldn't believe, obviously=20 well built even in the man's tuxedo she was wearing. Her hair was pinned back in a severe style, very Aryan Super Race in=20 her features, an unmeant smile on her lips. She laid a long=20 fingered hand upon Belle Anna's thin cream-colored dress, and gave=20 me a look that's guaranteed to make the usual man back off. She=20 might as well have been wearing a sign that said she was a pervert.=20=20 That tux on a woman was a bit of a clich=E9, and had been ever since=20 Marlene Dietrich. It wasn't that backwards in suburban Michigan I=20 didn't know what a lesbian was. "Belle Anna?" she asked. That was all. Looking from the object of=20 her affections to me and back again. I looked to the older woman to=20 judge her reaction to the blond, but her gaze was unwaveringly=20 focused on me. So I took up Kathryn on her offer of a beer, and noticed the=20 disciple-like closeness this Annika woman maintained with regard to=20 Belle Anna. Seriously smitten, was my guess. Kathryn didn't seem=20 in the least fazed by things, so I decided to lean back and let=20 others play their Romeo games. Like I could play Romeo. The surprise was Kathryn. She was cordiality and smile and a breast=20 accidentally brushing against my arm. She said I could get a beer=20 in cold, or hurts-your-teeth cold, or just cold in a frosty glass.=20=20 Tap or in the bottle. Being full of white teeth and physically=20 close all the time.=20=20 The Apache who had welcomed me slid behind the bar, definitely being=20 a man of many talents. He said my bags were in Room 14. He slid=20 the key across to me as he popped the top on an Olympia. I'd chosen=20 the bottle, so I could drink out of it and preclude any possibility=20 of anyone thinking I had any class. I was just another Hamtramckt=20 polock and would never improve. "Corridor to the left, to the end where it makes a corner. Your=20 room is there, and we've already laid on fresh linen. My name is=20 Zachary and I'll be glad to help you any way I can." He slid a small cellophane-wrapped candy to me. "We're not European=20 here, we don't put candies on your pillows, but have a peppermint=20 anyways. We do keep a bowl of toffees by the bedstand for those of=20 our guests with a sweet tooth." Not a bit of reservation Indian to his accent or style of delivery. Kathryn by then was being closer than I anticipated she would be. I=20 ached with desire as her breasts caressed my arm for another few=20 moments. If only, I thought to myself, if only. She'd taken another Olympia instead of a cordial. She clinked beer=20 bottles with me and asked me where was I from? She'd already noted=20 the blue-and-white Michigan plates on my five-year-old Buick. No=20 grass growing under her feet. Where was I going? Had I seen the=20 Petrified Forest or the Grand Canyon? Hoover Dam on my AAA plan?=20=20 Come through Colorado? Was I going to meet my wife further on? She was making all the little steps towards a seduction. Stupid as=20 I was I knew that. Bitterness flavored my cold beer. Little did=20 she know how wrong a tree she's barking up on. Somewhere along the way Belle Anna had accepted her role as also- ran, and backed off from her pursuit of the new male. I admired the=20 civilized manners on her. Kathryn made a claim and the younger more=20 beautiful woman relinquished hers. Just like that. Women were=20 supposed to be the emotional creatures, always cat fighting,=20 possessive, cloying and jealous. As if I knew anything about women. And here's me. The booby prize. Belle Anna leaned back into the shoulder of Annika, a wry little=20 mouse's moue' on her lips. Annika protectively caressed Belle=20 Anna's collar bone, and smirked at me. She had the physical prize,=20 she might as well have bragged out loud. I had the mother. Or whatever. If I wanted her. Kathryn. As if I could do something with either one of them. Maybe if the=20 beauty.. No. I'd had beauties in my bed since they discharged me out of the=20 Allen Park VA. The hopeless little boy lost must show in my face,=20 and I guess some women like that. Beautiful women did as little for=20 me as a watermelon with a core hole cut in it. Kathryn looked like she would be nice. She reminded me a little of=20 a neighbor lady who used to parade around in her bathing suit when I=20 was working in the back in the yard. With the perspective of a few=20 years I wished now I'd jumped the fence and had that desperate old=20 woman. She'd probably have been about twenty times more passionate=20 than Jenny and her goddamned whining `You SURE it didn't break or=20 leak none?' when it was all over. That old woman would have given me some memories to treasure. Today=20 all I had were my memories and damned barren they were. Kathryn and I danced with words for another half hour, until I had=20 finished my beer and was woozy on my feet from fatigue release and a=20 single cheap beer. She said and did nothing to make me think she=20 was unhappy at my patently rejecting her, but she backed off after a=20 while, accepting my coolness with grace. She had enough class that instead of guiding me to my room and maybe=20 fondling me into a little hoped-for sex (and the inevitable=20 catastrophe of my non-response), she asked Zachary the Apache to=20 assist me enough so that I got to my room okay.=20=20 She took a lighted candle with us, and once there patted my pillow.=20=20 She and the Apache lit a half dozen candles around the room. I'd=20 never before been in a motel where candles were used for lighting.=20=20 I laid down on the bed and both the woman and the Apache pulled off=20 my pants and shoes, no hanky-panky. Then threw a sheet over=20 comatose me for the night's chill. Unfortunately I had my usual night. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Then she lit up a candle And she showed me the way There were voices down the corridor I thought I heard them say: =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D It's always so cold. I hate the cold. Then I get warm. I hate the warm too. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Is it 1951 yet? I shivered at the sound of Chinese bugles in the night, knowing the=20 godawful hordes of Chinks were still all around me, thousands and=20 thousands of them. As I'd drifted south, trying to hook up with=20 anyone, anyone at all, they'd paced me and left me scared and cold=20 and frightened and cold. Especially cold. I lived for three years in the Yoop, the Upper Peninsula of=20 Michigan. It'd been cold there in winter, real cold. All through=20 basic I'd made fun of those guys who'd never encountered REAL cold=20 before. The ones who didn't know you could have thunder storms=20 during a snowfall. Who'd never burrowed through the snow two=20 stories deep on a street rather than try to shovel. But I'd never been really cold before. I knew that now. Now I was=20 cold and warm hands that didn't feel brittle, feet that didn't feel=20 like lumps, that was a fantasy, a dream, it never happened. Cold=20 was real. Cold HURT! Warmth was the lie. I needed to get warm. If I surrendered I'd get shot. I'd seen them shooting supply=20 echelon they over-ran. They were down in that little valley, when I=20 was trying to get over that steep bare little ridge. Wasteful of ammunition, I thought. You did it with one bullet to=20 each head. Not a few hundred rounds for twenty or thirty=20 ragamuffins in thin olive green OD's, and then the officers still=20 had to go around and head-shoot the ones still moving and=20 screaming. I'd heard the screaming up where I was. But it was so cold. I needed warmth. It was the cold and the=20 desperation and the hate that gave me a solution of sorts. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Welcome to the Hotel California Such a lovely place Such a lovely place Plenty of Room at the Hotel California Any time of year Any time of year You can find it here You can find it here =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D I awoke to my usual panic, I awoke to one of my continuing=20 nightmares, the daylight one in this case. There was a body with me in my bed. I grabbed it, about to drive my bayonet in his body before I=20 realized it was a woman and I didn't have a bayonet. A bayonet is a terrible weapon to cut anything with. No one really=20 keeps it sharp enough, I didn't, and it required tremendous amounts=20 of effort to really open a human body up. The most astonishing thing was the smell of fresh blood. I became erect. For the first time in four years I got a hard-on. I managed to segue from nightmare to nightmare to holding a woman=20 against me, the need to plant my seed in her utterly overwhelming. She, whoever she was, she rolled on top of me. My shorts were open=20 enough so that my erection was out and usable. She rolled on me=20 further, and I knew she was shedding her nightgown. Always there was the smell of fresh blood strong in my nostrils. Then she accepted her role, my need, her need, whatever we were=20 doing, we needed it. She put a hand back, and adjusted me into=20 herself. It hurt terribly at first, where we joined. I didn't know you could=20 get it in and still not have it right. Because I discovered the=20 angle was still wrong, and we were forcing me to bend and enter at=20 the same time. I hadn't known I could get pain from entering a=20 woman. She then moved again and suddenly I was completely buried=20 inside a woman. I was surrounded with warm, the warm was=20 overwhelming, the wet was devastating, the inside of a woman were=20 worth dying for.=20=20 I'd never understood that before. Wanting a woman so bad, needing=20 so bad to bury your thing in her so bad you'd kill for it. I didn't=20 remember the warm from Jenny, not like this. Jenny was forty=20 degrees colder than this wondrous woman and I meant that in a number=20 of ways. I could smell the sea of blood and I was surrounded by=20 warm, no, hot wet woman and I had entered paradise. I came almost immediately, and she felt it, she cried that crazy=20 little cry I'd been told and read about where how women do when=20 they've been well and truly had in that way and they enjoy it. She continued the motions of sex, her hands finding my nipples and=20 my heavy blond body hair. "Stay with me, laddie," she clearly said. "Keep doing it, you=20 handsome young piece of goddamned fucking male. I think you're good=20 for another one real easy like here." I didn't like the profanities, not at a moment when I was one with=20 the saints like I was right then. I felt my hairs swimming in my=20 own jism, I marveled at the sound of her wet body impaling itself in=20 a strong up and down and back and forth metronome. She was in what=20 we kids once called the Mother Superior position, and even without=20 words I knew she was enjoying herself. My experience was zip, but I=20 knew somehow she was enjoying herself. Bored women didn't make her=20 kind of noises. My Uncle Ladislas said my Aunt Margery, she never enjoyed herself=20 for one second, thirty years of marriage, and she never enjoyed `It'=20 once, not once. He told me never get married. My body found her, this stranger. My fingers found the layer of=20 sweat building up on her skin, my need caressed the large swinging=20 breasts she had. In the darkness I was not sure who I had, or even if it was a=20 complete stranger. But she wanted me, and I wanted her, and Miracle=20 of Miracles, I was a man again. Four years since Korea, and I was a=20 man again. This stranger, this unknown woman had given me back my manhood. I came again. We'd all bragged and lied, back there, back then, but=20 I'd never really believed no one but Clark Kent could do it two=20 times in a row. She slowed slightly, sweat dripping from her chin onto my neck,=20 sweat dripping from her breasts onto my belly. Her hands fluttered=20 over me constantly, her head dipping to give me endless kisses. Long hair. The auburn-haired older woman. It didn't matter, not then. Sure, she was twice my age, but she was=20 my savior, my Mary of Prayers, Saint Barbara, Mary Magdalene,=20 forgiveness, my redemption in the desert, my salvation after my=20 penance. She'd just licked my chin, brushing my face with her hair like a=20 caress of an Angel's wing. "I do believe you're still stiff," she chuckled. The voice of one=20 of the Seraphim crying aloud to the throne on high. She shifted=20 herself up and down a few times, letting me feel the tight clenching=20 grasp of her body. A velvet glove, I'd read that somewhere. She=20 had a hot wet velvet glove and she was caressing me with its=20 tightness. I still slid within her despite her cinching down. I=20 could feel her flex her muscles there and realized another legend=20 I'd doubted was actual fact truth. Women could tighten themselves=20 down there. I groaned in pain and amazement as she tightened her sexual muscles=20 yet again. She began the rhythm once more. She was still doing all the work,=20 her hands were slapping my spasming body still whenever I tried to=20 lunge upwards to meet her downwards strokes. She wanted to do all=20 the work and wasn't shy about letting me know it. She stayed tight=20 and I had to groan with the pleasure and agony. She had been squealing through most of our loving, so it was=20 difficult to be sure when she enjoyed herself as well. Excepting=20 the last time. She froze and spoke in a few unknown languages. The Biblical=20 speaking of tongues, I was sure. She shivered, and then I felt the=20 warmth of a flood of liquid running down my erection and into my=20 already soaked groin hairs. She began the stroke again, trying to stay tight around me as our=20 liquids made us a sloppy fit.=20=20 Call me Superman. I came again. When I had come again there was nothing left to give, so that it=20 hurt, deep biting pains within my balls and up into my bladder. She sat on me for the longest time, sweat constantly dripping off=20 her onto me. "Lady," I began. She leaned down for a kiss. "Kathryn," she reminded me. "And you're Peter." "I love you," I blurted. In the darkness I wished one of the candles were still burning so I=20 could see her more clearly. But from desert light coming in through=20 the windows I could see her lean her head to one side. I think she=20 was smiling wide. "We'll reassess that statement in the morning," she said. My sex goddess lifted herself off me with a strength that I in no=20 way could match. She wiped herself with a bit of the bedsheet, then=20 twisted to prayerfully coddle my shrinking manhood with her hand.=20=20 She slid it into her mouth. For the first time in my life a woman took me into her mouth, and=20 yet another legend was proven true. Women did that. At least this=20 one did that. Gave blow-jobs. "I don't think I can get erect again," I half said, half begged. She took it out of her gorgeous mouth and played with it in her hand=20 for a minute or so. "That may be true," she chuckled. "For now." I was frightened I might not be able to repeat my new skill, but she=20 popped me back into her mouth and produced strange fleeting tingles=20 in me. I could feel her teeth, her tongue, how wet and warm her=20 mouth was. How tight her lips could be when she moved her head up=20 and down on me. It was truly wonderful, her mouth on me. I think I babbled. "Come with me," she ordered. She slithered off the bed, my hand in=20 hers. I'd never before actually thought what a slither actually=20 was, but now I knew. She took me into the john. "Could we turn on a light?" I asked. "I=20 can't see in the dark." I was covered with blood. The stench of blood. It was what had driven me awake. In the mirror I saw more blood on her chin. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I get nosebleeds, and I think I bit=20 the inside of my cheek. No, I KNOW I bit the inside of my cheek." She caressed a small tear in my throat. "And I seem to have=20 scratched the hell out of you. Here. Let me put some=20 merchurochrome on it. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." She ran her fingers over the giant `X' the surgeons had cut in me,=20 looking in my eyes while doing so. Big question in her eyes but not=20 on her mouth. That exquisite mouth. "Accident," I said. She accepted my non-answer. And it WAS an=20 accident. Sort of. For once I had zigged when I should have=20 zagged, and I'd wound up on a MASH unit table. My fault. She washed off the blood, and then she sat on the toilet and=20 lovingly washed my sex parts clean with warm water and a soapy=20 washcloth. She wiped it clean and then took it back into her=20 mouth. Her wonderful hot wet mouth. I looked down in amazement at myself as I got a half a hard-on for=20 her. It wasn't just a fluke. I could do it again. She leaned back against the pure white tank, grinning into my eyes.=20=20 She spit on me, somehow it was done with love. Her hand worked on=20 me, up and down, up and down, and with twistings thrown in. It=20 stayed almost stiff. She took it in her mouth again. She stared at it from a distance of an inch or so and asked me a=20 question. "Mister Superman, I think you're about ready for another spate of=20 loving. You're certainly up to the challenge. What do you say?" "Please,' I begged. I begged something. But I nodded. I am a male=20 and I can be Superman for the right woman. I think I just found the=20 right woman. If she wasn't already married. She got up, one hand=20 firmly clasped about me. She turned off the light, and guided me=20 back to bed. "If it hurts, and it probably does, maybe I'll just suck on it a=20 while. That might ease the pain. You wouldn't mind that would ye,=20 laddie?" =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Her mind is Tiffany twisted She's got the Mercedes Bends She's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys That she calls friends How they dance in the courtyard Sweet summer sweat Some dance to remember Some dance to forget =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Her getting out of bed woke me up this time. Day was begun, and I=20 could already feel the night coolness leaving in the crisp of the=20 sun. I took hold of her arm, asking where she was going. Don't leave me now, I hoped, I silently cried. "I've got a business to run, my bucko. I'm not going anywhere, I'll=20 probably be up front by the desk, being important and efficient. "Care to join me for a little breakfast? The orange juice is from=20 frozen, but it doesn't taste too bad." She was holding her nightdress in her arm as she exited. A tall=20 cadaverous appearing man miraculously met her as she went through=20 the door. European from his clothes, a quarter century out of=20 date.=20=20 His voice buzzed with happiness, his gestures were those of a man=20 who had found the Holy Grail. He quickly kissed my naked Kathryn on=20 both cheeks, snaring a hand and keeping it to him. He reversed=20 direction, and the two went out of my line of sight, their voices=20 singing in a Latin language. Not Spanish, I don't think. Kathryn hadn't even attempted to slip her nightdress on. I had the empty feeling that I was dealing with a woman much too=20 sophisticated for a dumb polock kid like me. I looked down at myself, running a hand through my crotch hairs and=20 playing with a completely limp penis. I was sticky and smelly and=20 needed a bath. They had a shower. As I soaped down, I tried to be philosophical about it. For most of my life, sex had been the great adventure, the vast=20 unknown. There had been Jenny, who couldn't wait for me to get back=20 from Korea. And there'd been a few girls since. For all the girls=20 I'd been a vast disappointment. Now, there was..=20=20 I was a little tender yet. I'd never understood before all the=20 jokes about how tight some gal was. Now I knew. It had been wonderful beyond words of description. I now understood=20 why so many men would do so much, put up with so much crap, would do=20 anything for a spell inside a woman. But I was still a little sore. Nonetheless warm water and good soapy lather and my strong right=20 hand proved to me that I could perform an encore of last night's=20 loving. If necessary. I was still perpetually amazed to find=20 myself functioning again. And what the hell was that dog-and-pony show about cutting me and=20 biting her cheek and nosebleeds? I'd already woken up with the=20 scent of blood strong in my nostrils. It didn't come later. I=20 could smell blood as I woke up. Blood I knew the smell of. I'd reacquainted myself with the stench=20 every time I went to sleep. Which reminded me I'd slept with Kathryn and I hadn't awoken with my=20 usual nightmare choking me awake. Real sleep, not a nap. I'd been=20 exhausted, sure, but that hadn't prevented me from having nightmares=20 before. The only thing I knew for certain was that I wanted more sex with=20 that extraordinary older woman. That maybe I wanted a great deal=20 more. But I knew the score, or some of it. Young guy, older woman,=20 met by chance. Formula for a hillbilly song.=20=20 Yet. Yet.=20=20 For her I would kill. Again. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Some dance to remember Some dance to forget So I called up the Captain Please bring me my wine He said; We haven't had that vintage here since 1939 And still those voices are calling from far away Wake you up in the middle of the night Just to hear them say; Welcome to the Hotel California! =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D True to her word, Kathryn was waiting for me when I made it to the=20 front desk. She was behind it, doing arcane bookkeeping things with=20 a clunking adding machine and ledgers. I approached her with some fear. I'd heard about getting the bum's=20 rush, the good-byes, the it-was-fun-but. I was half her age, and=20 maybe she was already through with me. There was that tall European with the white wing shoes and spats=20 still gabbing at her. He looked like he'd walked out of Dachau, and=20 maybe he had. There were Apache warriors on every hand. There must=20 be new strangers daily. Strangers who would enjoy a few hours with=20 a nice looking broad who was willing and didn't seem too worried=20 about getting knocked up. I supposed older women learned how to prevent things like that. Los Angeles and my sister still awaited me, if I had to sneak out=20 with my tail between my legs. But I would leave as a man again. She raised her head, and a smile lit up her face. Just like in the=20 novels. It lit up her face. It really did. She abandoned everything and was around that counter faster than I=20 would have thought possible. Then she was snuggling her head into=20 my chest, and her arms were around me and I could smell something=20 flowery and wonderful and sharp to her. I cried. I had to. My fears were for nothing. "Peter," she breathed into my shirt, "please spend a few days with=20 me. If you can. I'd like it if you could." She raised her head,=20 her breasts hot pads against me. "I know I'm way too old for you, and I'll try not to use words=20 like `love' and `forever'. But please =96 I'm asking you please =96=20 find a way to spend a little more time with me." She raised her=20 head and closed her eyes and I somehow knew this was the point in=20 the movies where Cary Grant made a little humorous reference and=20 kissed Ann Sheridan. So I kissed her. The feel of her tongue tip at the entrance to my mouth so surprised=20 me that I jumped back in reaction. She was surprised, and I leaned=20 forward again, hoping I hadn't just appeared a total oaf for=20 spooking when she tried to French kiss me. Ohmygod. I was being=20 French kissed. We kissed again and a hand went to the back of my head. Pinning me=20 in place. Then this woman did a slut-like thing by reaching down=20 and massaging my crotch. She left her hand there as I went into a panic and turned to boiling=20 steam and began to get hard in her hand. Then she took pity on me=20 and let my instrument alone. Damned if she hadn't given me a feel! I'd always thought the stories of `hot' women were mostly locker=20 room fabrication. Now I wasn't so sure. She wasn't a slut, I=20 couldn't think that, it wasn't my place to make judgments especially=20 since I didn't know her and she was treating me so wonderful. Could=20 she really honesty have the `hots' for me? She was the legendary `hot' woman, though, of that I had no doubt.=20=20 I've seen no husband around. No ring on her finger. Maybe he died=20 with a smile on his face though. If my theory wasn't pure hogwash. Belle Anna was leaning against the front desk, almost purring as she=20 watched me fumble about. She was gorgeous in a dark blood red silk=20 dress, and she leaned back against the tall blond length of Annika.=20=20 The lesbian was in jodhpurs, knee boots, and white blouse, with her=20 pale blond hair in a gauzy scarf. Her eyes lurked behind large=20 sunglasses, her hands were hidden in fine black gloves. Belle Anna approved, that was obvious. Annika reached down a hand=20 and gently massaged Belle Anna's nearest breast. She also=20 approved. Annika licked the brunette's neck and stared at me. Yet=20 with Kathryn's arms around me, her previous hostility to my male=20 presence seemed totally vanished. She also approved. I couldn't be the answer to Kathryn's prayers just like she was to=20 mine, could she? =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Welcome to the Hotel California! Such a lovely place Such a lovely place (background again) Such a lovely face They're livin' it up at the Hotel California What a nice surprise What a nice surprise (background again) Bring your alibis =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Doing nothing was supposed to offend the hard-working American in=20 me. Obviously they'd never had to work like a dog for most of your=20 life past the age of thirteen just to pay the bills. I adapted to the life of being Kathryn's lover just swell. Of course at the moment I was trying to get the Motel's Cadillac=20 purring sweet. And back at the owner's quarters there was a few=20 builder's gross of red roof tiles in crates. And Kathryn was=20 trying to get me to ride a horse. And there was another pile of=20 horse manure back of the stables to trundle down in the wheelbarrow=20 to the newest compose pit downhill. Two more of Kathryn's and Belle Anna's friends went by, on a pair of=20 the Hotel's horses. They had been on the circuit. Or at least=20 everyone called it that. No cover out in the desert, but there was=20 the little spring-fed stream to follow and the scenery to enjoy.=20=20 Rocky cliffs, cactus, scrawny jacapento. More than one dawn me and Kathryn had been out there, lying naked=20 and swadled in blankets and enjoying the night creatures doing their=20 scurrying. Little creatures would come to Kathryn's hand at a moment like that,=20 and Coyote too. The Road Runner birds would come close and drink=20 hesitantly at the meager stream, eyeing us. I hated the cold in the morning, but I stood it for Kathryn's sake.=20=20 She liked making love in the desert at night, so if her back could=20 stand the stones and my knees could stand the stones, we'd do it.=20=20 But she liked being on top. It felt normal by now if I felt the=20 stones in my back hours later. As if I'd ever had any experience in the other way. One time I lay on top and still in her one time and a big rattler=20 was staring me in my face. Kathryn said they were attracted by the=20 moisture of our sweat. She waved at it and it went away. She had that power.=20 Looking around, nothing for miles but stones and the sun. I liked=20 it here. No schedules or deadlines here. I could reflect on things=20 if I wished. Or watch Belle Anna with her two new girlfriends, or=20 guests, or whatever they were.=20=20 Time to get back to work. Got to do something for the four new=20 blackwalls Kathryn got for me to put on my Buick. The Cadillac=20 didn't need new tires yet. A shadow came near and I saw it was Zachary, the Apache doorman.=20=20 He'd been on Pelieu. Zachary'd left on his horse before dawn,=20 making a short-cut over to the car dealership in Prescott. I made a=20 small wave at him, gazing at the stuffed panniers on his saddle. Zachary had shown me how to grab a copperhead back of the head and=20 then shake it and break its neck. Some of the Apache legends were=20 true. I was acquiring quite an education. "Get `em all?" I asked. The radiator was across the horse's rump. He reached back and handed me the boxes of plugs and wires first. I=20 went to the other side and lifted the radiator, waiting for him to=20 unhook it from the saddle. In a second I was gingerly laying it on=20 a raggedy blanket I was using as a parts sheet. "Forty-eight dollars that thing cost brand new from the dealership,"=20 Zach said. "White man getting greedy again." I ran my hand=20 approvingly over the box square of Detroit craftsmanship. I'd=20 passed by a few times the place down on Jeffries where this thing=20 was made. "How's the tiling going?" I asked. He was re-doing the public rest=20 rooms up front by the desk. No more flaking painted plaster when he=20 was through. "It's coming. I wish I could take off like a white man and go to=20 town to get likkered up and see strange nooky. But I'm Indian and I=20 got to get back to work." "Give me a hand mounting the new one in?" "Tomorrow morning, early, if you can tear yourself away from the=20 fire-haired woman at a decent hour.=20=20 "You white people. All you think about is poontang and money. You=20 ought to be like Apache. Fast for five days, take only a mouth of=20 water all day, and then seek truths from the wandering spirit=20 guides. They will find for you all the paths that you must take in=20 order to fulfill your destinies. Spirit guides will give you=20 truth.=20=20 "Give you seven to one odds they will." "What if the spirit guides tell me my destiny is to die in bed with=20 a smile on my face thanks to the fire-haired woman?" "The truths of the spirit guides are not always easy to=20 understand. If you must die like a warrior, so be it." He just sat=20 there giving me his inscrutable Apache routine. "Spirit Guides responsible for bringing me here?" "Certainly. I mean, Ugh, White man. Spirit Guides brought you from=20 Far Minnetonka and brought Fire-Haired woman all the way from=20 Ireland, across the great water." "Gitchegoomie," I corrected. "And Sabine Pass, Texas," I replied.=20=20 Though I'd been surprised to find Kathryn was a southern belle. The=20 accent was more Irish Coleen than hillbilly girl more often than not. "Ireland. Texas. A few miles off. Close "By the way, Johnny Law coming," he added. He pointed towards a=20 small faraway cloud of dust coming up State highway 89. Then=20 Zachary chucked at his horse and he proceeded on towards the stable. Be another quarter hour. Plenty of time. I finished getting the=20 old plugs out of the big V8, and started hand tightening the new=20 plugs into the block after I'd gasoline-rag cleaned the threads. Sure enough the black State Police Chevy swung around the cabins and=20 came in back towards me. One of the State Troopers was Chuck,=20 Officer Stamp.=20=20 Chuck was okay. He'd been rear echelon back in Seoul, never got to=20 the shooting, but we could talk together as men. He didn't much=20 seem to notice he was damned near a foot taller than me. He'd have=20 made a fine Texas Ranger on a horse.=20=20 The other officer was older, pot-bellied and quite an important=20 figure, at least by his own estimation. I waved at the blanket spread out with auto parts scattered across=20 it. "Mind my parts," I warned them. "Don't want them kicked all to=20 hell and gone." I got out from under the hood for them. Chuck had come looking for=20 me my first week here. My sister had filed a missing persons report=20 when I hadn't shown up on her porch on Vermont street in Los=20 Angeles. He'd been polite and tried to hide a smile. Kathryn lit into me right and proper as soon as Officer Stamp was=20 going down the road. Nothing genteel about this Texas belle, when=20 she had a mind to sound off. How dare I let my sister fret and=20 worry about me like that? Now I used Kathryn's phone twice a week to let Monica know how=20 things were out here. She didn't know what was going on, but I=20 didn't either, to tell the truth. She knew I had a woman, and she=20 was a little older, and nice, and so forth. I didn't mention some=20 of my other thoughts. She'd have just worried. Zachary brought out=20 a Polaroid the Motel owned and took a few little black and whites=20 for me to mail to Los Angeles. Monica had been hopeful I'd be inviting her and Griffin out for a=20 wedding soon, and still were. Especially when she heard the woman=20 was Irish and therefore obviously a good Catholic girl. She knew about my condition, after Korea, her and Griffin. She'd=20 been bouncy and gleeful when I finally hinted enough over the phone=20 that it wasn't a platonic relationship. Her first sentence was that=20 God loved all children, in or out of wedlock. Sisters. Belle Anna had carefully explained to me once that Kathryn and=20 Officer Stamp had a previous history, as she put it. "Like you to meet Lt. Stafford," Officer Stamp said, waving towards=20 his superior officer. The bigger taller man touched the brim of his=20 trooper hat, taking in the blond runt. I'm not much to see, I=20 guess. Just tall enough to get drafted, not very muscular, really,=20 and a good collection of obvious scars on face and hand, thanks to=20 Korea. But no tattoos. Just another poor polock kid from=20 Hamtramckt. Behind them I could see Kathryn bustling our way, slipping a dress=20 over her nudity. I might never get accustomed to seeing adult women=20 running around without a stitch on. It was nice, mind you, I wasn't=20 complaining, but it was confusing sometimes. Belle Anna was cut from the same cloth, and I had a strong notion=20 the relationship between her and Kathryn wasn't familial or=20 platonic. Kathryn wanted me now, and I had to accept what was past=20 was past and not to worry about it. Belle Anna was a gorgeous=20 petite woman, and more than once we both knew I'd gotten stiff=20 viewing her aggressive nakedness. Woman was an absolute pistol. The biggest recent surprise was finding Annika absolutely starkers=20 one morning before sun was full up, out in the back courtyard, doing=20 ballet or something like it to the tune of a portable record player=20 and something long-haired classical. Stone cold naked, and her=20 audience about twenty Apache of both sexes and a few generations=20 difference. She was graceful enough to take my breath away. Beautiful enough to=20 take my breath away. And not a stitch on. Belle Anna said something to Annika at the end of the dance, and=20 Annika noticed me for the first time. The records were changed. All=20 the Apache looked at me stone-faced, and Belle Anna had slipped out=20 of her sun dress. I'd never ever thought of two naked women doing the tango together,=20 but the type of music would probably forever after that moment in=20 time make me erect. I didn't tell Monica about the sunrise dance recitation and never=20 would. Or the large numbers of Europeans who came special just to=20 stay at the Hotel California, all friends of Belle Anna and Kathryn.=20 Special friends, a lot of them. There was no telling how long they=20 and Kathryn (and Belle Anna) had known each other. Annika I figured=20 was someone new to everyone in Kathryn's old tribe of friends. I went searching for Kathryn right after the tango music was over=20 and both women had left. Kathryn had acted surprised when I pulled=20 her away from her egg on toast, but she'd squealed with delight like=20 a twelve-year-old when she realized what our destination was. Our=20 bed and my needs. You don't tell your sister things like that. "Morning, Officers," Kathryn politely said. Pointedly moving=20 immediately to my side and laying a fine small hand on my=20 arm. "Problem?" "Afraid you got another counter-suit writ on you. Another cease and=20 desist, from the Appeals Court in Tombstone." He handed an envelope=20 over.=20=20 "I'll send it to my lawyers today. Legal fiddle-faddle. I try not=20 to get upset at anything lawyers do. "Now that you've passed over Bertram's latest effort, why waste the=20 morning?" she invited. "Come on Jesse, Mr. Stafford, you and Chuck=20 here sit with me, and have a cup of coffee out of my fancy coffee=20 machine and tell me how Brenda's doing, and you, Chuck, you can tell=20 me how that new Palomino of yours is doing? Got blueberry muffins=20 and thyme honey for the toast?" Lt Stafford was uncomfortable, and I knew immediately all wasn't=20 beer and skittles between Kathryn and him. He scowled at me, and=20 shook his head. "Sorry, ma'am, official business calls. It always=20 seems to call. I also wanted to have a look at your newest young=20 friend here." I think I was just insulted. Polite like, but still insulted. Also=20 warned. Meaning I shouldn't get my hopes up too much. There'd been=20 young men before this in her bed and they were nowhere in sight now. I'd seen cats bridle and get spitty and fur standing up and all=20 that. Kathryn didn't bat an eyelash, not this southern belle, not=20 her, but she got her fur up instantly. "Another time, Lieutenant," she purred, her words thick with=20 Southern Plantation like I'd never hear it before. "Bring your=20 appetite and manners and we'll be genteel like for a spell."=20=20 Meaning she didn't think he had his manners right at that moment. I=20 may be a dumb kid from the streets of Detroit, but I can see some=20 things sometimes. They left. Cadillac work done for the moment, three hours later I wandered over=20 to the covered courtyard Kathryn had put up between the stable and=20 her own building. Her own private nudist camp, I called it in my=20 own mind. The sinful thoughts I've had watching a few of her special guests=20 back there. Everyone ignored the Apache, but I'd noticed Zachary=20 admiring one hefty bronzed English girl being oiled up by her=20 girlfriend. Girlfriend as in the Belle Anna and Annika sense of the=20 word. Zachary'd winked at me. Inscrutable Apache my ass. Belle Anna was applying another layer of Coppertone to my naked=20 redhead, and looking herself like she'd just bathed in the stuff.=20=20 Annika wasn't around, and I'd been informed long ago that her skin=20 didn't respond well to direct sunlight. I could understand that. But mirrors and Garlic didn't faze her=20 none, though, that or crosses. Maybe it was a factor of time in=20 grade. I should ask Kathryn, but I didn't think it polite. No matter how Kathryn worked on her tan, all she did was make a few=20 million more freckles pop up. I'd never known you could get=20 freckles in some of the places she had them. Real Irish girl. Belle Anna put her hand where girls shouldn't to each other, and=20 Kathryn made a warning noise at the young brunette. They both knew=20 I was on my way. After all, their hearing was really fantastic.=20=20 Belle Anna had also given me a warning today with that little hand- play of hers. Don't think me and Kathryn can't ever get together=20 again, she'd said. Like me and Annika. Like I said, past had to be treated like past. I had no idea how=20 long, how many generations, Kathryn and Belle Anna had been close.=20=20 Or if those were their names. Sitting on the edge of the lounger, I pulled off my blue work shirt. "And just what the hell was that all about, you and the copper?=20=20 Writs? What's up?" She turned over, enjoying my drinking up her nudity even after all=20 this time. She might have thirty years on me (or three hundred),=20 but she was all woman even so. I got my dirty hand smearing a=20 little lotion on her belly. She saw the condition of my hands and=20 scolded me for a second. Tissue cleaned it up. All that woman gleaming with oil. If the guys from High School or=20 Korea could see me now. Those of us who were still alive. "You see my spring, right?" she asked, negligently waving in that=20 direction. Beautiful little spring flowing right out of a wrinkle=20 in the rock. "When I bought this place after the War (her war, not my Korea), I=20 realized the spring was being fed from somewhere. "I bought me the services of a Geology man from UCLA and five of his=20 oil prospecting buddies and they sounded this area. "Their dynamite and seismic sensors showed this whole big slug of=20 rock here was on top of a lake. The lake was umpteen thousand feet=20 down, but there. "Every inch of it under Reservation land. I went to the Tribal=20 Council and after some heming and hawing they let me drill right=20 down through this big assed plate of rock to the lake underneath. "Mouth, Kathryn," I said. She ignored me for the moment. "There's two holes down now, and a system of pipes providing fresh=20 water to most every Hogan or house on tribal lands." Without saying I figured Kathryn had a hand in that too. She and=20 the little Apache reservation here were real tight like. "News of the discovery of water spread, and this Bertram fellow=20 decided to drill for the Apache water. "Seems the important judges in Washington let the State of Texas=20 drill into New Mexico land and steal their water for El Paso's=20 purposes. So he figured he had a right to steal that water. He=20 went up to some Federal land alongside the reservation and had a=20 drilling team drill at a slant until he tapped into that lake=20 underneath the Indians." She was sitting up now, and making hand gestures to indicate where=20 this or that was happening. "Water's the big thing here, darlin'. We're also in a drought here,=20 and Bertram's place is hurting mighty bad with the State restricting=20 how much water he can take from the Colorado and our local streams.=20=20 Apache water would have been a Godsend. "Unfortunately for him I thought his stealing Apache water was not=20 proper. So I sued for the Apache. The State put an injunction on=20 his well, and we've been in court since, squabbling back and forth.=20=20 I got no hate for Mister Bertram, but he was stealing Apache water,=20 even if he thought it was legal-like. "It got worse, real nasty in words to my face and by lawyers in=20 court. Bertram don't figure it's anything but God's will for white=20 men to steal from the Indians.=20=20 "Then, surprise of surprises, Washington associates of my Phoenix=20 lawyers found original documents in the many dusty drawers of the=20 Bureau Of Indian Affairs. "The original reservation was about three times the present piss=20 poor stony worthless land the Apache have now. "Bertram's grandfather stole most of his present spread from the=20 reservation, at the same time the copper miners shoved their way=20 into the Shining Lady." My ignorance must have shown. "The Shining Lady was a copper mine up yonder. The Ghost Town is=20 still there. Abandoned after the best veins were all worked out.=20=20 The Army Engineers investigated the mine back during the war when=20 copper was scarce, but never reopened it. "It appears the mining operation was strictly illegal. The Indians=20 had filed counter-claims back all these years ago, but the Bureau=20 has never ever been much of a mind to pay any mind to Indians.=20=20 Bureau was originally set up to rob the Indians, not protect them. "Ignoring the claims was a mistake on someone's part. Now the re- discovered and filed claims have to be reviewed in Washington, and=20 it's taken the efforts of two U.S. Senators to keep the Bureau from=20 outright giving the Apache back most of what they wanted back. They=20 think Bertram's a good honest white man and the Indians are just=20 Indians. I've talked to both Republicans and they weren't nice=20 about me creating this racial trouble. "You see, now we're arguing that what has been presumed to be unused=20 Federal land has never stopped being Apache Reservation land, and=20 thus Bertram's little drilling operation belongs to the Indians.=20=20 Not to mention a good hunk of his ranch. No mistake, either. Back=20 then they'd shot a few Apache and squatted on the land and that was=20 that." "Didn't they make a movie out of this starring Randolph Scott?" She smiled sweet and gave me a kiss. "This isn't any Hollywood=20 script though. The legal fight is costing a fortune, but I figure=20 if it brings a little justice back to this corner of the Old West,=20 it's worth it. Mister Bertram is far from happy over the unexpected=20 direction his water theft has gone, as you might guess. "I met the man personally a few times. He's a tall man in big boots=20 and wears a big ten-gallon hat, with big peacemakers on his hips.=20=20 Considers hisself a Real American and me an Apache whore. His=20 words. His view is no real white person should object to the Injuns=20 getting the shaft again. Instead he's suddenly fighting hard just=20 to keep what he had before.=20=20 My lawyers say he could have worked a deal with the Apache when he=20 realized there was unrestricted water in Reservation land. Cost him=20 a little, but he'd be sitting pretty while the rest of the state=20 burns to a crisp. Dealing with Indians wasn't in his nature,=20 though. Now he's swallowed up by the lawyers and still no water.=20=20 Man should have left best alone, my view. "This can take years and Bertram hasn't got years. Sometimes I feel=20 like giving up, though.=20=20 "You see, there's more to it than what I've just told you. My=20 lawyers took me aside once and told me it's likely the Government in=20 Washington will one day say since the Apache didn't object to the=20 land stealing back then, all that land went to the public domain.=20=20 They'd steal it again, all legal and proper. The Apache objected=20 back then, all right, but the Bureau will pretend the filings were=20 botched and thus not meaningful. Sad prospect, isn't it?" "It sounds all so..", I began. "Ionescu," she replied (the European I saw that first morning) "says=20 it sounds just like what they used to do in Romania whenever the=20 Nobles wanted someone's vineyard. They still do things that way in=20 his homeland, he says, only now it's for the People and the State. "It gives me a bad taste in my mouth," Kathryn complained. Suddenly=20 her eyes lit up and she patted the lounger. "What say you get=20 undressed, darlin', and I'll fill my mouth with something I find=20 much more to my taste?" "It's broad daylight,' I weakly objected. Already I was=20 responding. Was this what honeymoons were like? "Good," she smirked. "I like seeing what I'm doing." =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D The blood smell drove me awake. There was a body half on, half off me, and a face, a head, was=20 nuzzled against my throat. I could feel a rivulet of hot wet slowly=20 winding its way down the side of my throat.=20 The body above me froze, and I knew then it was Kathryn. Dearest=20 wonderful Kathryn. It was okay. "Shhhhh," I whispered. "It's fine." My hand rose up on my side and=20 I placed it lovingly against her soft fragrant skin. I slowly=20 caressed her back, making soothing noises in the darkness, trying to=20 calm her. She must be like a startled bird at this moment. "Take what you need, Darling,' I cooed. "As much as you need. Take=20 all of it if you need to do so, just take what you need and know I=20 love you. "I've died once already and I ain't afraid of going again." My other hand crept from between us, feeling the shivering tension=20 of Kathryn's body. I could almost feel the million freckles=20 adorning her skin, for a moment I could almost taste her need. My=20 hand cradled the back of her head and I tried to prompt her to=20 return to what she needed to do. "Drink deep," I said. "It's okay. I know, it must be hell to be=20 surrounded by what you need and always have to do something else.=20=20 Drink deep. Take my blood. As much as you need. "If I die it's while I'm in your arms and that's enough reason for=20 me. Drink." "Peter, dearest Peter," she began, but I interrupted her again. "Drink first. We'll talk later, if you mean to let me live. Can=20 you do that? I guess so, I hope so. "And if I live through the next few minutes, I want you to know I=20 love you and I've got a stiff one for you like you wouldn't=20 believe. Or maybe you would, seeing as how it happened between us=20 like this once before." Her beautiful hand found my erection and caressed it with her usual=20 remarkable care and love. "Yeah. Yes. You know where to find me.=20=20 You always did have the most wonderful touch to you. "Do you think you could do something about that problem once you're=20 finished?" =20 =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Mirrors on the ceiling Pink Champagne On Ice And she said We are all prisoners here Of our own device =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D It was virtually a replay of our first night together. After our=20 lovemaking she took me in the john and began cleaning me. Only=20 difference this time she was skittish, a little shy, afraid, never=20 quite meeting my eyes. And there was only a little blood spill this=20 time. For my part I was completely amazed to find this hesitant female=20 replacing the autocratic and outgoing Kathryn who'd been my gorgeous=20 lover these past few weeks. All I did was let her know her secret=20 wasn't so secret after all. I got my jeans and jacket on, and she put on a robe, and we went out=20 into the cold desert. We could sit on a stone bench she'd had=20 lugged out there and admire the fronds of her six imported date=20 palms waving in the sometime whippish air. We didn't stay in our=20 rooms, not Kathryn. Kathryn maybe felt she needed the room to start=20 straight-out running if she needed to. "You knew," she said. "How come you never mentioned it to me=20 before?" "You never brought the subject up. And besides, maybe I was=20 mistaken, and I didn't want to offend you." She burrowed into my arm, whispering; "Thank you. "Thank you for everything." "Next time you need my blood, just let me know. No need to slip me=20 a mickey finn like you did that first night. Gives me a headache=20 like you wouldn't believe." She clutched me a little harder and shook. "You okay?" I asked. She burst out laughing. I wasn't entirely sure what the joke was=20 about, but it was a great release of tension. I joined her, and we=20 both held each other and laughed our fool heads off. For long=20 minutes we'd come up with sentence snippets and be unable to finish=20 them. Each "I thought=85" or "You never=85" would set us off roaring=20 again. Belle Anna and Annika sudden appearance from the side surprised me,=20 so did their nudity, though that didn't surprise me as much. Not=20 any more. Kathryn waved at them. "It's okay," she managed. "We're okay. No trouble that can't be=20 managed." "Annika and Belle Anna are like you, aren't they?" I asked. That question brought a silence. "Vampires, I mean?" I think the desert held its breath. "I don't mean that Bram Stoker garbage. And not monsters like my=20 grandmother used to tell me tales of from the Old Country." "Can you handle it from here, dear?" Belle Anna softly asked. Kathryn waved and the two naked females became streaks of movement=20 and were gone. Oh wow. So some of it is true. Sort of. The old legends. "How- Where- Why- DAMN YOU!" she screamed, and hit me a good one on=20 my arm. I'll have a bruise there tomorrow. So I explained to her that I have a thing about the smell of blood=20 and it drove me awake that first night. Before we made love. Being=20 raised for the most part by Old Country people I'd heard all the=20 legends at my granny's knees. I react to the smell of blood. I react catastrophically. Nice long=20 word that. It sort of made what happened to me scientific instead=20 of so terrifying and so much a disaster to the rest of my life. Kathryn listened to me, prompting me with a nod or a short word when=20 necessary. She took me back inside when the sun got higher, to cook=20 me a breakfast. It was a very unhealthy breakfast consisting of=20 lots of crisp bacon and an over easy egg on buttered toast, with a=20 Pepsi so cold the frost formed the minute she took it out of the=20 floor icebox. Who ever heard of a Vampire frying bacon and eggs? =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D He was lost, just like me. Only difference he was firmly lost on a=20 road and he was trudging along it with a certain amount of purpose.=20=20 At the end of this road he might run into some of his oriental=20 buddies from across the Yalu. He might run into a village, and that=20 might be a lot better, because he could hole up a bit in a hut and=20 survive. He might even get captured by Americans or South Koreans,=20 and that'd be an end to his problems also. He'd get shot, or=20 captured and sent to a POW camp. One way or another his problems=20 would be over. I could understand his thinking. At some point you start thinking=20 you just don't give a damn anymore. You just want it to end=20 somehow, all the cold. I hadn't got quite to that point yet and didn't intend to. Big trouble was he had a rifle over his back and I didn't even have=20 spit in my mouth. But one thing Korea ain't never short of is=20 rocks. So I picked one up and rushed him. He wasn't looking around=20 him in the least bit and I didn't much blame him. He was alone in=20 his misery and soldierly things were pretty much beyond either of us=20 right then. He fell without another word beyond a grunt when I hit him. He went=20 down and I hit him a few more times. It seemed a good idea. He looked like he was a hundred and ninety pounds in those clothes=20 of his, but really the chink was just another runt just like me.=20=20 But he wasn't like me. Maybe if I hadn't been so cold I'd have had a better plan. But the=20 plan I had was the ONLY plan I had, so I took my bayonet in gloved=20 hand. I could have kilt him with my bayonet. I'd had that all=20 along. You can't think straight when you're so cold. Anyways I pulled him over to the ditch, unbuttoned his jackets, he=20 had wire things that slipped over big hooks sewn hard to the jacket,=20 no buttons. I undid him and tore his pants open and his shirts and=20 gutted him. The blood sprayed me. God, it was heaven! All that warmth in my=20 face so suddenly! I tore the gloves off my hands and plunged them deeply into the=20 innards of what once was an enemy soldier. Not really human. An=20 enemy. Once I could feel again, once my hands had been saved from immediate=20 frostbite, I fumbled my own boots off. Then I stuck my feet into=20 his guts. It was heaven. I never wanted to leave my refuge, but I knew he'd cool soon enough,=20 out here on the ass end of nowhere. His big padded jacket came off, his padded thick winter boots, his=20 shirts and whatever else I could take off him to use to clean my=20 feet and hands. The whole of me was covered with blood, but that=20 didn't matter. I got his boots on. They were a good fit, especially without my=20 blood drenched socks. His padded jacket was loose, but damn it was=20 warm! His cap and his rifle and his ammo belt. I stood up, again functioning. I knew the way south and decided to=20 keep on this road. It was so cold that despite my new hope, I=20 really didn't much care where this piss-ant road wound up at. I was=20 going to use it. I'd had enough of fighting my way through forests=20 of scrub. I'd die if I went back off the road. Before morning I found myself three Chinks going the other way.=20=20 They waved me over, no doubt thinking me another of the "Volunteers"=20 that had swept MacArthur's presumptions and his army away. I shot them, not caring about the noise. I used them, warming my hands and feet past critical again. Then I went walking some more. I was dead, I knew it. My luck wouldn't hold, I knew that. But I continued walking down this frozen cow-path. I had nothing=20 better to do, not really. Bloody boots cut my feet up some, so I changed boots off another=20 four gooks I shot in daylight, at some sort of checkpoint. They had a kind of burrow that was heated with a small US Army cook=20 stove fed with alcohol tabs, and had turned it into an area warming=20 device. I burned my wrists embracing the heat. I stayed in the burrow until the fuel ran out, changing boots again=20 with one of the checkpoint guards. I had a burp gun now, and a real=20 US Army fur hat, the kind they gave to officers. I decided to climb off the road just in time. Glancing back I=20 watched a truckload of Chinks find their guards slaughtered. US=20 Army truck. They got real mechanized off of us. I'd gotten off the=20 road just in time. I forced my way through the inevitable forest of=20 hillside scrub, and down into another valley. At the end of the=20 valley I found another road and took it. I almost had hope I'd make it. Three days later I ran into a column of mechanized infantry on White=20 half-tracks. They shot me, thinking I was Chinese. They identified me as American, and then they rushed me back,=20 trucked me to a MASH unit eventually, and saved me. On the table I=20 was diagnosed as having Typhus, the dancing disease. Not to mention=20 gangrene in my arms from the burns I'd gotten off that cook stove. It was a month before I was conscious again, in Japan this time.=20=20 They asked me how I'd gotten so covered with so much blood. I'd=20 been covered with it head to toes and at first they'd thought it was=20 all mine, in which case I was dead already. I told them. They sent me back to the States. They took pity on me and didn't=20 use the words `Section 8'. They shipped me from hospital to=20 hospital for a few more months and then they discharged me for=20 medical reasons. They gave me the Army Commendation and the Bronze=20 Star with V and a few other trinkets as going-away presents. Sister=20 wound up with my medals, what with both Mom and Pop having passed on. A few weeks later I knew for fact that I couldn't function as a man=20 anymore. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Kathryn hugged me to the back of the kitchen chair and let her hands=20 wander over me. She bent down to caress the giant `X' scar I had in=20 my belly and I heard sobbing. "I don't need pity," I softly said. "I'm not giving you fucking pity, dammit," she whispered. Who ever heard of Vampires crying real tears and hiccupping in their=20 grief? Sharing grief with ordinary humans. I'm going to have to try to do something about Kathryn's dirty=20 mouth, though, if we stay together. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D And in the master's chambers They gathered for the feast They stab it with their steely knives But they just can't kill the beast =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Kathryn scrambling out of bed was what woke me up. Two candles were=20 lit, strictly for my sake. Kathryn could see in the dark like a=20 bat, and so could both of the ladies she was talking to. Annika and=20 Belle Anna were already dressed. I think I saw one of the Apache in=20 the back. I was up, putting on boots and jeans, before clearing the whuz out=20 of my head. "What the heck?" I asked no one in particular. "Bertram's went and opened up the waterline from that hole he had=20 drilled. Illegal, I think, probably, but terrible manners at best.=20=20 The fact that he's doing it in the middle of the night doesn't make=20 me think he has a proper writ for the water." "He has four men with him," Annika added. It was not hard to think=20 for me to think of her as a Vampire, for some reason. Nor Belle=20 Anna, for that matter. Maybe not as a Vampire four thousand years=20 old, but she had an air of menace to her at odd moments. Kathryn was the surprise. A thousand years, however, didn't make me=20 think of her as old, though. After thirty or forty years older, a=20 thousand more didn't have any impact on me. At least she WAS Irish. "The Apache say they're all armed," Belle Anna added. "And do what?" Kathryn asked. "This isn't during the first term of=20 Teddy Roosevelt and you can't just go around shooting people, even=20 Apache, without good reason." She noticed me staring at her magnificent full breasts, and spared a=20 moment and a smile for me. She hefted them for me and blew me a=20 kiss. "Men," she said. With a smile, remember. Kathryn phoned the State Trooper post in Prescott, but was answered=20 by some man who didn't seem thrilled to get her complaint. She stared at the phone after she'd hung up and came to a decision. "Best we go out there and show Mister Bertram his little operation=20 isn't passing by unnoticed." "I'm coming with," I said. She stared at me for a moment, then=20 acquiesced. "We'll need something other than a regular coupe to get=20 up that road," she pointed out. Annika suggested one of the pick-up trucks of one of the guests.=20=20 Probably another of Kathryn's special friends. Belle Anna and=20 Annika said they'd get there overland. They were coming also. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Coming up the bad grade we saw a regular automobile had made it up=20 the crummy road anyways. It was a State Police car. I presumed the big tall one was Bertram. The one beside him I=20 knew. Lt. Stafford. There were three others revealed by our=20 headlights, doing something by what had to be the wellhead. Kathryn got out, bold as brass, and trudged up towards Bertram and=20 the policeman in uniform. I followed, a little behind, and not=20 pushing myself forward. But they all knew I was standing near to my=20 woman. "Evening, Bertram. Lieutenant. Bit late to be out breaking a=20 governmental seal, isn't it?" "I got a cease and desist," the big man said. Kathryn went closer,=20 taking the document extended to her. She read it easily in the bad=20 light from our headlights some distance away. "This thing's out from Santa Fe," she said. "Santa Fe got no=20 jurisdiction out here. So this strikes me as just another gimmick=20 in a long series of gimmicks." She waved a hand negligently. "We'll have our lawyers look at it,=20 and make some more money jabbering away at each other. You go ahead=20 and enjoy your stolen water for a little while. If need be I'll=20 have a U.S. Marshall out from Phoenix tomorrow who'll come down and=20 re-afix a seal. "Must cost like the devil, those lawyers of yours. I know mine=20 cost, and no conclusion from any of them." What she was going to say next I never knew. Bertram swung up the barrel of the choke shotgun in his hand and=20 shot her in the middle at a range of a yard or so. I saw great=20 spats of her blowing away out her back. Then he pointed the gun at me.=20=20 I didn't die immediately after I'd been shot, the dispersal pattern=20 was greater at my distance. Facing the dark sky I could smell the=20 blood again, and knew this was my final dying. I heard Lt. Stafford and Bertram arguing. Bertram was saying to=20 dump our bodies down the Shining Lady's mineshaft. Nobody looked up. I watched Annika and Belle Anna fall into their=20 midst from on high. Death came to them from above. This time my pain wasn't too bad. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D Last thing I remember I was running for the door I had to find the passage back to the place I was before Relax said the nightman We are programmed to receive You can check out any time you like But you can never leave. =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D At moments like this I hated my choice of professions. Being a=20 policeman had once been my dream. Sometimes, like today, I=20 regretted my choice. I'd come from a confab up by the water pipeline wellhead, and didn't=20 like anything about what had happened or was happening. Kathryn was taking a brush to a horse's tail when I came into the=20 stable area. At least she wasn't nude this time. "Chuck," she smiled, not letting up on her strong careful=20 strokes. "Glad you could drop by." She switched to the mane. She=20 climbed onto a little grooming platform first. Such a precise=20 beautiful little woman. "Got a few problems for you." I just stood there with my hat in hand. Not really knowing how to=20 say this. She spoke first. "Peter's gone off somewhere, and I hope you'll be on the lookout for=20 him. If he's just wandered off into the desert the Apache will=20 probably find him, eventually. They're out looking for him, just in=20 case. "Speaking of Apache," she continued, "they tell me Bertram broke the=20 seal on the pipe we been arguing about, and turned the water back=20 on. I hope you can go investigate that. Man who took my report=20 last night wasn't terrible helpful." "Kathryn," I said, hurriedly, in a rush. "We've found Mr.=20 Lankowski, out by the water point, and he's been shot dead." She stood there for some minutes before continuing to unsnarl the=20 horse's tangles. "How did he die?" she asked. She wouldn't look me in the face. "We don't know for sure, but I personally think Bertram shot him=20 when he ran across what they were doing at the pipehead." "Have you arrested Mister Bertram?" she asked. I could feel the=20 iron in that sentence. "Not much need, Mrs. Janeway. Bertram's dead, and Lt. Stafford, and=20 a few of Bertram's hired hands. "We think." "That's a strange way to put things," Kathryn said. Still not=20 looking me in the eyes. "We think its Bertram and Lt. Stafford. It's kind of hard to tell=20 since only Mr. Lankowski still has his head attached to his=20 shoulders. We don't know where any of the other heads are." =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D But you can never leave -------------END ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: