(This series is a collaboration with my good friend Sanchez. His ideas, I ran with it. We will see how it evolves. He has a sound concept, and characters, I'm primarily piecing it all together and seeing how it plays out. We hope you enjoy our efforts.) _________________________________________________________
MIDNIGHT Episode 026: HEcATe
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The borrowed beach house of Nick Sanchez, birthday boy.... his secret.
"So, my taking the chance on keeping the GoGo boots paid off? They do look sexy when that's all I'm wearing."
"They do." Nick circles the luscious Lillian Dawn Bearpaw checking out every tight little facet to her perfectly organized muscle structure. "Tom kept you fit."
"I kept myself fit... for Tom. No bikini in the way speaks volume, doesn't it?" She puts her arms in the air and snaps her fingers to perform a dance without music. Beguiling Nick with sparkling eyes she hadn't even noticed Midnight Amador on top of the dinner table surrounded by plates and a bowl of spaghetti. Seeing her perfection now, Nick regretted making carbs. Garlic bread did not help. Ordinarily he himself would not deviate too far from his protein regiment but spaghetti sounded good. Until now! His birthday, his favorite meal.
"Do I detect garlic bread?"
"Warding off vampires."
"Shoot! I rather hoped you might enjoy my neck."
"Oh, I'll get there. Let's eat while it's hot. Dancing like this comes afterwards, to work off the meal."
"I'll hit the Rez gym tomorrow before I drive to the Shoals. Meaning the exercise room at the Civic Center."
"I need to get back into my own workout routine. I'm usually good for a five-to-eight-mile morning run, but with getting Harbinger in shape that comes first. I can't stay here forever, sooner or later my buddy Marcus will come home for a break between deployment." He guides her by the small of her back into the dining room, Dawn now seeing Midnight silently face down with cuffs on her ankles and wrists.
"Oh wow! I remember those kinds of positions. Tom used to stick flower stems up my ass and use me as a vase."
"I'll remember that next time, I buy flowers."
"For me... or for Midnight? Hello Midnight." She smiled and dared to pat her on the ass. "You look lovely tonight." Not a peep. Not a twitch.
"She does not exist at this moment and time. Sit!" He pulls her chair out for Dawn. Seating herself she thanked him for his gentlemanly approach in scooting her chair in then taking a clothe napkin and laying it over her lap. "Water or beer?"
"I get a choice?"
"This is a date. At least for now. Enjoy my quiet side, it won't last."
"Shouldn't Midnight... sorry Sir." His look of anger stabbing at her she immediately recalled Midnight not existing. "The food smells delicious. Good thing I didn't eat before I left Grandpas. Oh, the Sage girls dropped by to talk with my grandmother about making them dresses. They told her you suggested her. Grandmother told me to tell you thank you for the added business."
"You should talk her into starting that new business venture I mentioned. Irene Amador could use a job now that she doesn't have Esteban to support her." Hearing him Midnight smiled beneath her long mane of black hair, Nick did care. As long as she knew her mother was taken care of Midnight would devote herself to this man the rest of her life. The pain, the numbness in her limbs could be restored. She did not exist so now she tried her best not to think. Easier said than done but oh she tried. Meditation at best!
Nick served Dawn with spaghetti and garlic bread in moderation, then himself. "Beer or water?"
"What kind of beer?"
"Heineken."
"That sounds good." She watches Nick head to the kitchen to the fridge. While his back was turned, she stared at Midnight's ass and spotted the gold buttplug. Head tilting a bit to read the engraving she realized it was written in Kanji. Tempted to ask Nick what it meant she realized that meant Midnight existed. She would look it up. Historian she was. Research her bag!
Bringing back two beers Nick took both ice-cold bottles and placed them against Midnight's ass cheeks just to see if she reacted. Not so much as a whimper or a start, she resisted emotion and sensation with an unexpected ease. Nonexistent indeed! Well done! Resting the bottle by Dawn's hand until accepting it, he toasted her, "To one of the most beautiful women I have ever met."
"Wow! Thank you, kind Sir. Okay... just Sir." She fluttered her lashes at him. "Tom drank Heinie." She clinked her bottle against his just as he returned to his own seat. "Sometimes it feels as if you knew him. You know... letting Tom go earlier... I don't think I succeeded. That was so bizarre when Lukas sang that song that he used to sing to me, usually just before I was tied up, flogged, and destroyed." She giggled holding her beer bottle to her lips. "I'm not certain I can let go of what he had. Notice I didn't say what I had?"
"I did. He owned you. You were a possession, nothing more."
"Exactly! I loved being the object of his needs. I didn't want anything more really. He insisted I keep my job because he knew I loved it; it was something we shared. Really the only thing, otherwise I was his and what he demanded. His...story...!"
"Eat!" He took his first bite. Setting her bottle aside Dawn sampled his home cooking. Instantly acknowledging the taste, she noted garlic even in the spaghetti, along with cheese. "Meatballs even, I'm impressed."
"Inner meaning?"
"Such as what you asked of me concerning Tom's vanity plate?" She observed his nod, "Meatballs? I don't know... before the night is over, I'll meet your balls?"
"There is that possibility. Dig deeper."
"Eat within mEAT? All in bALLs? Eat it all?" She was stretching, not certain what his logic was aiming for. "Meat sauce? Your sauce? Eat your sauce? Me eat your balls?" She giggled, "Sorry I'm just not sure what you're asking me to search for."
"What's in the sauce?"
"Umm? Tomato paste?" Eyes flaring, she posed her fork in the air. "TOMato?"
"Everywhere you look Tom will be there. Right in front of you."
"Are you... wanting to take Tom's place? Control me?"
"Guardian angel at best. I own a slave even if she only exists when I want her to. There is room at my table... on my table. Short periods of ownership. One word... you come."
"Come or cum?"
"Is there a difference?"
"Guess not. So... you do want me?"
"In moderation. You live your own life but know who owns that life in the end. A careful balance just like spaghetti and the meatball. It has to complement one another to succeed."
"That's deep."
"Dig in."
"Dig deep? I think I get it now." She chuckled, silence to eat without interference Nick wolfed his meal down, she less ferocious in her appetite, mind reeling at this man's strange charisma.
Standing and using his napkin he tosses it on Midnight as if offering her something of his. Ignoring her otherwise he goes to a stereo in the living room and plays a record. Old school charm! To Dawn's surprise it was lovely. "You like jazz?"
"Grew up on it. My dad plays the sax." More info for Midnight to absorb without tuning it out. Being nonexistent was not so simple when you constantly wanted more from her Kami. This was her dinner more so than the urinal cakes she ate earlier. Cornbread glazed with Kami's urine. Tasty! Not so much but she endured it with class. "You dance Bearpaw?"
"On stage." She giggled, "Tom took me to a club in Charleston called the Peacock. He made me strip for hundreds of horny men. When I say strip, I mean every stitch. I loved making Tom happy."
"And the hundred men?" He stepped to her side and took her hand bringing her to her feet. Drawing her into a chest-to-chest dance, his left hand holding hers, his right hand on her lower back. He was aiming for ambiance. Who was this guy? One minute he was dark and murky, the next charming and sweet. Split personalities?
"Tom often threw me off the stage into them. Hands on! Lips on! They fed on me until he ordered them to stop. Somehow, they listened. On a dime even without arguing."
"Sex?"
"Of course! When he allowed it, selecting whom he considered right for me. It was exhilarating. Tom... knew exactly what I wanted."
"Which was?"
"What he wanted of me."
"Good answer. I'm going to use you Bearpaw. You will obey."