Authors: Michelle Love
ALYSSA
I turn slowly, trying not to act afraid even though clearly terrified, looking down at the ground as I walk. I glance up to see how far away I am from the ladies’ room then turn to look behind me to see how far I am from Eden and Kyle. They’ve gone into the men’s room.
Supposedly they will intercept Stiles before he comes into the restroom.
God, please don’t let him hurt me. Don’t let something go wrong, please!
I turn back around, looking down again. Dirty brown dress shoes come into my vision. I look up, slowly. There’s a red, chubby, round face with sweat dripping off his forehead.
It’s Stiles!
Suddenly I’m slammed through the ladies’ room door as he pushes me in, then follows me.
Only a little girl and her mother are in there, and they run out quickly. He slips a small metal bar through the door handle, locking it closed. I move as far back from him as I can.
“I’ve missed your beautiful face, Mrs. Fontaine,” he snarls at me.
“Look, Mr. Stiles, my husband will come looking for me in here. Please, just open the door, and nothing bad will happen to you, I promise. If he has to break the door down to get you, I can’t say I can protect you then.” I let him know.
He laughs. “Like I need you to protect me. You’re nothing but a damn girl. Useless, except for one thing,” he tells me as he moves closer to me.
I scan the room for anything I can use to protect myself with, but find nothing, as the room is just bare concrete walls. There are two bathroom stalls which are closed. One sink with a plastic mirror is one side of the room. I’ve positioned myself across from the only door that leads in or out of here.
A syringe full of clear liquid he pulls from the pocket of his tan slacks. The most disgusting look forms on his face, and he says, “I might not make it out of here alive, but I sure as hell plan on getting you to go with me. After I take you right here on this floor I will kill you. We can land on the other side together, bird lady. Never thought about making it with a bird before, but now that’s all I can think about.”
“Let me guess, morphine?” I ask.
He stops and looks puzzled at first, then begins to come towards me. “Your little birdie senses must be tingling. Right you are, Mrs. Fontaine. I can’t have you making it out of here before I get a taste of that tender white meat. I sure wish I could see you turn into a bird, Mrs. Fontaine. How about you do that for me?”
“I’m quite afraid you’re mentally unstable, Mr. Stiles. People can’t turn into birds,” I say with a chuckle. “I don’t know where you got the idea I could turn into one from. It’s funny really.”
He stops coming towards me. “You can turn into a bird. Don’t lie to me. I heard them talking about it. How you flew out and saved a plane full of people.”
I laugh. “You must be a lot crazier than I thought you were, if you believe that.”
He begins to move forward again, as I back away from him, staying as far from him as possible. “You’re trying to distract me from my purpose, Mrs. Fontaine. It doesn’t matter if you’re a bird or not, I just want to see your skin turned red after I slap you over and over again, all over your body. I want to watch your blood drip down from your mouth, after I bite your lip,” he tells me, trying to get into my head to make me break down.
I’ve felt so weak, and insecure for the last month. When I first transformed I felt different, so full of power. Kyle left, and I lost that confidence.
I’ve been so worried about my damn feelings for him, and how to make my life work loving both, Eden and Kyle, it’s taken something from me. Yet as I listen to this man talk, I’m getting it all back.
This monster who stands before me means to hurt me, kill me even. He’s hurt his daughter, a soul which was entrusted to him. Our Creator is with me, and will help me to take this creature away so he can do no more harm.
With a newly found strength I smile at the filthy, immoral, and corrupt being which holds the needle poised to pierce my skin, and take me from this world.
“Well, you really have talked quite enough, Mr. Stiles. I can see you believe you’re going to drug me, then beat, and rape me. But you aren’t.” I wink at him as I lace my fingers together and push them from me to loosen the joints. “You are fixing to get the beating of your life, and when you wake up in the nut house, you can tell everybody it was a useless girl who kicked your ass.” I let him know, just before I run at him.
I hit him square in the chest as hard as I can. He flies back through the air until he hits the cement wall. The wall was quite a ways behind him and the thud his body makes as it connect is loud.
Wow! That was a pretty great shove if I do say so myself!
I hear a gut wrenching smack as his head hits the wall. I almost feel bad about causing him so much pain. Then I remember what he’s done to his daughter, and that feeling goes away.
“I hope you enjoyed your flight,” I tell him.
I walk towards the door to unlock it. Amazingly, he starts to come at me again, trying to stop me from getting to the door. I don’t stop my progression until he’s about three feet away from me. He reaches out to punch the needle into me. I take a quick jump, and kick him in the chin with my foot, splitting it open, and making him fall back as he clutches at it.
“Save yourself the pain, Stiles. Stop trying to hurt me. Our agents will take you to a nice place to live under sedation the rest of your life. It’s much more compassion than you’ve ever shown anyone in your life,” I say.
I move towards the door again, only to find he’s regained his footing, and still comes towards me. I look at the sink I’m standing by. A bar of soap rest on the side of it. I pick it up and hurl it at his forehead. It strikes him, but it only seems to make him mad, not hurt.
His voice a growl as he says, “Fucking bitch. This is going to feel so good when I take you down!”
He’s on me before I know it. He has me pushed up against the cold cement wall with my back to him. Pushing his body up against mine, he presses me up against the wall. I feel his hot breath on my neck. The smell of cigarettes and whisky almost choke me. I close my eyes and throw my head back as hard as I can.
I hear the thud of my skull hitting his. The pressure is off me as he falls back, stumbling and falling across the room away from me. I take the chance to get out.
The walk to the door isn’t that far and I begin to remove the small iron bar he used to lock it. The door opens, and my Eden’s face is right there.
My, he’s a handsome and welcome sight!
He grabs me, then I feel a pain in my shoulder. Almost immediately I feel cold rush through my entire body and start to feel like I’m falling asleep. Eden picks me up. I hear him yelling, “You son of a bitch, what did you give her?”
I hear Stiles say, “A lethal dose of morphine. Say goodbye to your little birdie.”
Kyle’s voice fills me ears. “You piece of shit,” he yells, just before I hear a smacking sound. “There you go guys. You can carry his ass out of here now.”
Then everything goes black.
EDEN
My mate lies nearly lifeless in my arms. Her heartbeats come slower and slower, her breaths shallow with long lapses between them. I wasn’t fast enough to stop this.
We follow one of our protectors who works at the zoo to an empty stable once used for giraffes. Kyle runs by my side, holding Alyssa’s hand in his.
He looks almost as bad as I do.
My father and Alyssa’s follow close behind. The agents have taken the asshole, Stiles away. We’ll never be seeing him again, thank The Creator. Large doors open, and I take my mate inside the dark area.
Placing her body on the ground, I look around at those who surround us. “I have to get her to transform. That’s the only way her body can beat the amount of morphine he put into her.”
Kyle steps back, and says, “Do it.”
I wish it was that easy!
“I don’t know how to change her. I can only change myself,” I say. “You and I both have telepathy with her. We must use it to try to get her to picture herself as the bird. I don’t know about you, Kyle, but I can’t see a thing moving in her mind.”
Kyle frowns as he looks down at her. Kneeling beside her, he places his hand on her forehead. He looks at me, and I kneel of the other side of her. I place my hand on top of her head.
Nothing!
“Maybe her heart will feel us,” I say, and place my hand over half her heart, leaving room for Kyle’s.
His hand touches mine as we hold them to her chest. Light thumps pulse beneath my hand. “I saw a flash, Eden,” Kyle says.
I nod. “I saw it. The clothes are constricting her. They have to come off.”
I turn back to look at my father and hers. “You may want to turn away. We have to remove her clothes.”
Her father, David raises his eyebrows. “You sure about that, son?”
I nod and turn back. Kyle removes her shoes as I unbutton her blouse. I press my forehead to hers, trying to send her pictures of herself as the bird. Pushing the shirt off her shoulders, I turn her to take it all the way off. Kyle steadies her as I pull at it, then unfasten her bra.
She’s going to be so embarrassed!
“Just hurry, Eden. I’m not scoping her out or anything. Let’s just get this done, and her transformed,” Kyle says, as he quickly unbuttons her shorts, which I pull off her.
I look up at him. My wife is lying on the ground, bare chested. Nothing is left on her but a small pair of lacy black panties. “I beg you not to look below her waist once I remove these,” I say to him.
His hand clasps my shoulder. “You have my word.”
I pull them off and stand up. Kyle holds her head up, cradling it in his lap. “Maybe you should change, Eden. Maybe you can get to her mind in that state. I’ll work on this end, and you on that,” he says.
It might work!
“Cover your ears,” I tell them all.
I picture myself as the bird, and suddenly I’m seeing things differently. I open my mouth and a loud shriek comes out. Fluttering my wings, I push air past my mate, as I call to her with my mind.
Please let this work!
ALYSSA
I feel wind blowing in my face. The beating of wings fills my ears. My eyes open to see Eden in front of me, but he’s in his bird form. His emerald eyes look at me.
“What happened to me?” I ask, but all I hear is a shallow shrieking sound.
I must be in bird form too. I move my arm and feel the wind ruffling my feathers. I stand up but feel a little wobbly. Eden walks around me. I keep my eyes on him, and then I see Kyle standing next to me. I look right at Kyle, who’s smiling like crazy at me.
Eden moves out the large doors which lets in the only light into this dark thing we’re in. He sends thoughts to me, telling me to follow him. Then he shoots up into the sky, shrieking at me as his mind says, ‘Follow me.’
I stumble out of the barn thing, the light in the sky nearly blinding me. Moving my arms up and down, my feet lift off the ground, and I’m in the air.
The wind on my face helps me to wake up. I feel groggy, but every flap of my wings seems to clear my brain a little more. Eden leads me very high up into the evening sky.
The sun is beginning to set over Lake Pontchartrain as we fly over it. The colors are so brilliant.
The mansion comes into view. I suppose we’re going there as Eden begins to fly lower and lower until our feet hit the ground.
I’m surprised to see we’re both birds still. I take a few steps, then I see Eden looking at me. He blinks his eyes a couple of times. Then I hear his voice in my head, ‘How do you feel?’
‘I think I’m okay,’ I send back.
He sends, ‘Picture yourself in human form, and you’ll turn back.’
I close my eyes and try to see myself as a human again. I feel a change. I can feel the breeze on my skin. I open my eyes slowly, to find my husband standing in front of me. I’m engulfed in his embrace right away.
“Thank God, Alyssa. It worked. I was so afraid. I love you. I love you so much. I’m so sorry this happened to you,” he gushes.
“I’m okay, Eden,” I tell him, as I laugh a little.
As he pulls his body away from mine I notice the breeze on my skin. My entire skin. Looking down at myself my mind goes blank. “Why am I naked?”
Instead of answering me, he laughs. “How do you feel, really Alyssa?”
“I feel okay, I think. The fact I have no clothes on is problematic though. What happened, Eden? The last thing I remember I saw your face and then heard Kyle knock that freak out. What happened to me?”
Eden takes my hand, leading me to the house. He pulls his shirt off and puts it on me, barely covering my ass.
“Stiles stabbed a syringe full of morphine into your shoulder just as you opened the door. I can’t believe he had the strength to do that, after what I heard you do to him in there,” he tells me.
“I know! Like, I knocked him about six feet through the air into the wall, and somehow he kept coming. Then I kicked him in the chin, splitting it open,” I say. “Then he pinned me against the wall, so I head butted him. I thought that was enough but I guess I should’ve knocked him all the way out before I turned my back to him.”
I find we’ve made it to a side door I’ve never been in before. Eden opens the door, revealing a set of stairs. He leads me up them, and we come up to find a door at the top of the staircase. He opens it, and we’re at the back of our suite.
Once safely inside, Eden leads me to the sofa, and motions for me to sit down then he kneels on the floor in front of me. “I’m so sorry this didn’t work out as well as I hoped it would. He should’ve never been able to lock you away like that. My mind was frantic at the thought he might hurt you, and then he did. I wouldn’t blame you if you never forgive me for that. For the whole thing. This was entirely my fault,” he tells me, sadly.
I have to stop him. “Eden, you stop that right now. I’m fine. I don’t know how I’m fine, but I am. Things happen. We made it through this without the ending being terrible. Now please enlighten me about what you did after I passed out.”
The skin crinkles around his eyes as he grimaces. “You really want to know, Princess?”
I nod. “Of course I do.”
He proceeds as he looks down at my legs, rubbing them as he says, “Just as you passed out from the morphine, I was given a flash of what I had to do to keep you alive. The scene played out super-fast in my head. I had to get you into your bird form. I guess that, since you’re so much larger as a bird the morphine wouldn’t be a lethal amount to you if you were in that form,” he tells me, then pauses for a second.
“Go on,” I coax him.
“I felt your breathing begin to slow to almost nothing, and your heart beat was taking longer and longer between beats. Alyssa, please believe me when I say there was absolutely no time to waste,” he says, with a sense of urgency in his voice.
“Why do you say it like that, Eden?” I ask, finding myself nervous about hearing the answer.
“You’ll see.” His eye twitches. “Well, one of our people work at the zoo, and he took us to a closed off area they don’t use anymore. It used to be an enclosure for the giraffes I think.”
“Okay, that’s not too bad,” I say.
“Um…. Let me see, how should I tell you this part?” he asks himself. “You know how sometimes people who get drunk pull their clothes off? Well it’s because they feel constricted by them. The clothes actually make it harder for them to breathe. So, as you might have guessed, which I see by the blush on your face that you have, I had to undress you. I also had to ask Kyle to help me.”
“Wait a minute, I was lying on the ground, I assume. And I assume you covered me with something. So how much did he see?” I ask him.
“Okay, back to that then, huh? Like I said time was of the essence, and it became quite clear to me we had to hurry. So, there was no time to go looking for something to cover you with. He saw everything, but I have to say he was a gentleman, and didn’t ogle you,” he says.
“Oh God,” I say, sitting up and leaning over. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
Eden stands up. “Should I take you to the bathroom, Alyssa?”
I sit back. “No, please continue, don’t let my devastating embarrassment stop you,” I say, somewhat sarcastically.
He sits down next to me, taking my hand in his. “Well, as embarrassing as it is, everything worked. I transformed, then I was able to get you to come out of the drug’s effects pretty quickly after I got into your head, and got you to change too. Then I used my wings to blow air in your face, waking you up,” he tells me.
“And now we’re back home, and all that’s left to do is hide away from Kyle forever,” I whine.
Eden laughs a little. “If it makes you feel any better at all, I was embarrassed too. I never thought I would have to get my wife’s ex-boyfriend to help me undress her, so we could turn into birds together and fly away,” he says.
I have to laugh a little as well. “We’re some messed up people, Eden. That’ll probably scar Kyle forever,” I say.
“He didn’t seem to mind,” Eden tells me, as he laughs.
I blush seven times harder than before. “Eden, don’t tell me that!”
He smiles and stands up. “We need to get cleaned up and dressed. I bet everyone will be here soon,” he tells me, as he pulls me up, then leads me to the bedroom.
He opens the door to our room. I’m pleased to see the glass on the balcony door has been replaced. It looks like nothing ever happened in here. I find I missed this place and my beloved Jacuzzi tub.