A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 2 - The Faceless Man

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Madison steadied herself against a nearby tree as she gasped in thick, cool air. Her eyes darted warily, and her bare toes clutched nervously at the cool loam beneath her feet.

How far had she run?

Where was she?

A thin breeze whispered through the trees and stirred the hood of the long red circle cloak she wore against the touch of frost in the Autumn air. Underneath her cloak she wore a flimsy black silk dress barely covered her butt. Without the cloak, her exposed skin would have been chilled by the strained night that surrounded her. Filled with a vague sense of impending danger, Madison held her breath as her ears strained out into the dark foreboding that draped itself oppressively over the dense forest. For a moment all was still.

Was she safe?

Just before she could relax, a twig snapped under a heavy boot and warned her that she definitely was not safe. Madison's breath hitched in her throat as a throaty masculine chuckle stalled her heart and raised goose bumps on her bare arms and legs. Was it the cold or the fear that caused them?

Or maybe something else again?

"Good evening."

His voice vibrated in Madison's ears and chest like distant thunder. Fear and adrenaline shot through her. Her entire being pulled taut and alert as Madison's mind rang with alarm.

How had he found her?

How had he gotten this close to her?

Primal instincts urged her to run, to flee, to escape. Yet something, some odd desire, held her in place. Cautiously, she turned her head toward the voice.

He stood just ten feet from her, a black clad figure that blotted out the tree trunks behind him. In his tall leather boots, he towered above her and a black hood hid his face from view. He chuckled again and extended his right hand, wrapped in a black leather glove, towards her, palm up, and beckoned.

Blood roared in Madison's ears, and she nearly swooned. Her body quivered, and a small, frightened sound involuntarily escaped her lips. It must have been the fright and cold that conspired and caused her to quake and shudder at the presence of this faceless terror. Right?

The faceless man beckoned again.

"Come to me."

The sound of his voice brought a fresh stab of fear laced adrenaline and Madison sprang away from him and tore off into the woods. Her cloak streamed out behind her, while the man's full-throat laugh boomed through the night to snatch at her like a claw of icy fear. Like a frightened rabbit, Madison squealed in terror and ran for all she was worth.

There was no direction to her flight, and Madison took no time to orient herself. The only thought that fixed firmly in her mind was that she had to get away. This man would not just catch her. He would capture her, expose her, and possess her. Madison knew that if he ever caught her out here alone in the woods, even just once, he was too big and strong for her to ever escape him. She was even more frightened by the realization that if he ever caught her, she might not want to escape.

Breathlessly, she rushed out of the trees into a large clearing. An orange harvest moon glided through the Autumn darkness and leaves danced with the breeze in its pale copper light. Again, alarms rang in her head. She was in the open and exposed. She had to get back to the trees. Only in the trees could she avoid him. Her chest heaved and she raced toward the sanctuary of the trees on the far side of the clearing, anxious for the safety they would provide.

And then, impossibly, he stood before her. He simply appeared and blocked her path to safety, almost as if some black magic conjured him in her path. Madison's bare feet skidded on the leaves in a frantic effort to stop, but momentum betrayed her and she bounced off his broad chest with a frightened yip off to a heavy seat on the forest floor. In answer, his laugh again thundered out into the night. Filled with fright, Madison's eyes looked up at the man and glimpsed under his hood.

He had no face!

Madison shrieked and scrambled on her hands and knees to escape, but before she got to her feet, he snared her cloak with both hands and yanked her to a stop. The cloak pulled tight around Madison's neck and choked off her petrified squeals. Desperately, Madison's hands snatched at the cloak's clasp at her neck and released it.

Freed of the hindrance of her cloak, Madison lurched forward only to feel a large, gloved hand harshly shove her from behind. She staggered a forward step with the force of the shove and then sprawled face first to the ground. Before she had time to scramble away, a massive shadow loomed and landed on her back to crush the terrified breath from her lungs.

She struggled breathlessly, but he was so big and strong, and he had all the leverage. Hopelessly pinned beneath him, she dragged in a ragged breath and gasped a single word.

"Please!"

He didn't answer. Instead, his massive hands effortlessly shredded her flimsy silk dress and exposed Madison's naked body to the cold night. A single rough kick parted her legs and Madison clenched her eyes shut with a whimper as his weight settled on her again. He felt huge and strong and... comfortingly warm?

Madison opened her mouth. She expected a scream to issue out, but instead she gasped hotly as the faceless man snatched a handful of her hair and drew head up to place his lips to her ear.

"Say it!" he hissed to her hotly.

Madison moaned with hot tears in her eyes. Tears of fear... and longing?

The Faceless Man crushed her small body to his enormous warmth. Now the Faceless Man was somehow naked too, and where their bodies touched, he warmed her cold skin like a sultry fire. She was naked, alone, and helplessly captured by the Faceless Man and she couldn't escape. She knew she should fight and scream. She should resist him with all her might to the very last. Yet Madison felt what was left of her resolve to resist crumble away. She knew her predicament should have been horrified her, and she was horrified, but not for the reason she should have been horrified.

"Beg me!"

Madison's horror stemmed from the fact that she had never been so turned on in her life. Consumed by his warmth, what should have been a visceral shriek of fear issued from Madison's mouth as a guttural moan of desire. Her body strained back against his, hungry for his touch, his strength, his warmth. The Faceless Man chuckled with delight and Madison sensed that his erection hovered tantalizingly close to her wet and strained sex. She flushed with desire and couldn't wait anymore.

"Please!" she gasped hungrily as her body searched for the warmth of his body against the cool night. "Oh, please!"

And then she felt his touch, gentle and insistent, as a lance of heat from his body that rested on her nether regions. Madison's eyes widened and her mouth formed a circular gasp of ecstasy as her sex lips parted and....

"Oh, God!"

Madison snapped awake with a gasp, swathed in sheets knotted and damp with sweat and desire, and her body sang with unreleased sexual energy. It had been a dream. The Dream. The same dream that had recurred ever since at age thirteen when she had finally gotten her period and realized that there was a dark and secret aspect of her sexuality. Her dream of the Faceless Man who pursued her through a dark forest, captured her, and took possession of her under the moon. But tonight, The Dream was different from all the other times. Tonight was the first time that the Faceless Man had actually... done it.

Madison sighed in exasperation and checked the clock. Three AM. She had to go to practice tomorrow and needed her rest, but steamy sexual desire raged in Madison's body and battered away all thoughts of sleep. She tried to cool her ardor with a flap of the bed sheets above her like bellows, but the air skittered across her skin like little sexy butterflies and did nothing but exacerbate the situation. There was no way to avoid it. Madison needed an orgasm, and she needed it right now.

Her decision made, Madison's fingers searched between her thighs. A single touch made her gasp and squirm, so she knew this would not take much effort or time. Madison bit down on her bed sheets to keep herself as quiet as possible and set to work.

In short order a scrumptious orgasm rose between her thighs. Madison closed her eyes in anticipation and let fantasy carry her back to the clearing where the Faceless Man ravished her naked body with a savage rhythm. In Madison's fantasy each of his thrusts forced a guttural moan out of her mouth while she shoved herself back against him and greedily absorbed every bit of his fury. Not too much later her body bucked as pleasure exploded out of her with a muffled squeal. It took a few moments of post orgasmic deep breaths for Madison to collect her scattered thoughts and when she did the first thing that her mind locked on to was where would she ever find the man who would make love with her like that; naked and exposed to each other and unified by primal desire and love.

"I don't know who or where you are," she thought to the Faceless Man as he faded back into her dreams. "But I know you're out there. Please don't make me wait much longer."