Charmed to the Tenth

Prologue

The doors slid open allowing the woman to step inside. As her left foot crossed over the threshold of the elevator compartment, she briefly glanced toward its only other occupant. Her eyes registered her shock. The other occupant mirrored the expression and it was in that second a tenuous connection was made.

The man watched as she turned away, noting her embarrassment and apparent nervousness. He studied her from behind wondering: Who she was? Had they met before? Would they meet again? Should he say something, if so what? All those questions came into his consciousness as his brain noted what his eyes observed and his cock, his great and powerful barometer of a woman's worth, registered its approval.

She had very long legs for a woman her height. He longed to run his hand over her back side, marveled at the way her jeans seemed to lift and separate her cheeks. Standing with her legs together she had a small triangle of space right at the junction of where he really wanted to explore with several parts of his body. A wide black leather belt encircled her hips and her waist, he noted, was just wide enough for perhaps three of his hands to wrap around. He glanced back down her elegant legs and saw the very tip of a spiked heel sticking out of her pant leg. He was intensely curious about how tall that heel was, how long her legs really were, how would that ass look naked while she stood in those heels. He'd never really fancied himself an ass man before, but this woman could possibly make him a convert.

As she reached for the console to push the "door close" button, he noted a fact about her. She was impatient. Smirking to himself he indulged in a momentary fantasy about getting stuck in here with her and being forced to find a way to distract her, calm her, keep her occupied. But he couldn't complete the image because he hadn't noticed her breasts when she walked in; just her eyes. They were an electric blue lined in thick long lashes. When he concentrated on that seconds old memory, he again experienced that shock. Only now he felt such a visceral pull toward those eyes, it mesmerized him. He felt something from his lungs to his groin, most pointedly in his chest area. He'd never experienced that before and he spent another moment wondering what that meant.

The elevator stopped again and in walked an old woman gripping a tissue to her nose and sniffling. Coming from the oncology floor it seemed more likely she was weeping, rather than dealing with a case of the sniffles. The old woman paid no attention to the other occupants as she entered and turned around to obediently wait out their descent.

He noted how the unwritten rule about occupants not interacting with the each other, seemed especially true in any hospital setting. But then he saw her turn toward the old woman. He saw her eyes in profile and felt the deep sorrow she showed through her eyes. She reached out to the old woman and gently rubbed her back while murmuring, "I'm so sorry, so very sorry."

The old woman glanced at the young one in shock and then she sort of collapsed into the arms of the younger one.

"Do you have anyone here with you? Is there someone we can call for you?"

"My son. I have to call my son."

"You're here by yourself?"

The old woman nodded and sunk her face deeper into the chest of the young one. The man, who did have a sense of sympathy for this bereaving woman, wasn't happy about this new posture. It prevented him from seeing her breasts. He loved breasts, the bigger the better, simply couldn't get enough of them.

"Was there no one upstairs who helped you?"

Ah, he had gleaned another fact about her and this time it was something they had in common; she too had experience in the realm of hospital-based death. They never let the bereaved leave without making sure they have some sort of escort.

"They didn't know. I haven't told anyone yet."

"What?" The young woman said at the same time the man thought the word.

The old woman pulled out her cell phone and after pushing some buttons read out loud; "Princess got out. Can't find her. Where do you keep the doggie treats?"

"She's so old, she can't see too well and can't hear either. I don't have any hope of finding her alive."

"Princess is your dog?"

"She's my baby." The woman wailed. "Got her before she even had her eyes opened. The bitch rejected the whole litter and they all had to be tube fed. She's my baby."

The man put enormous effort into not laughing, not snorting and to keeping up the pretense of being deaf. Until the young woman glanced around the elevator, obviously wondering what she should do next and no doubt cursing herself for getting involved in the first place. And that is when their eyes met for the second time. And that is when his fate was sealed.

Chapter 1

"Oh yeah Jeff, perfect."

"You like that huh?"

"Umm, you are the best."

"You know it. I am the man. You should call me Master."

Jeff got up from the table to refill Kate's wine glass. As he sat down again he noted she wasn't touching the asparagus. But the tissue thin slices of flank steak had disappeared. He had marinated that steak for two days, then flash grilled the sucker and served it up rare to medium rare, just how his little sister preferred her beef to be grilled.

Today was Kate's twenty-seventh birthday. They usually went out to dinner for each other's birthdays. She wasn't in the celebratory mood and so he made this dinner for her, instead.

"Yvonne loved it when you grilled for us. Damn it, why can't I stop thinking about her?"

"Cause you have an obsessive personality and you're horny, and she did have a mighty fine rack."

"Ummm, that she did, for sure, for sure." Kate fell into a dreamy silence for a few seconds then huffed out a breath. "I don't know how to deal with this. I don't want to obsess about her. I want to hate her. I want her to love me and come back to me. How am I supposed to get over this?" Kate began to cry again.

Jeff mentally calculated how long he should allow the silence to stretch before he consoled her. He hated doing this. He hated doing emotions and sticky things like that. He had been under the impression that lesbians would be better at relationships. Seeing as how they're both women and they get each other's moods. But damn, these tears were just ruining it.

"Kate. God damn it snap out of it. Man up for Christ's sake. You gonna let that bitch ruin your whole year? You've got to find another horse to ride as soon as you get thrown. You don't sit around and lick your wounds and get all teary and shit. You get up, get out and find another woman with a bigger rack."

Kate stared at Jeff; first in shock, then in bewilderment, and then she began to laugh. She laughed and laughed until it became a distinct possibility that she had gone off her rocker. Jeff had no idea what to do next.

"Oh my God... Jeff you... You know what? You absolutely suck in the consolation department. I mean really, you are horrible at this. I have to thank you. That was the best I've felt in two weeks."

Jeff threw Kate the New York Salute and heaped more steak onto her plate. Jeff never gave much thought to relationships or friendships, he was happy with his own company.

Jeff had never really had a relationship that involved feelings beyond the bedroom. He rarely spent more than two months with any one woman before he would tire of her attempts to make things more exclusive. Although there had been a few who agreed with his philosophy and so he continued to see them on occasion. He had friends in college and friends in high school but they seemed more friends of convenience, a shared activity or location. When the common interest was over, Jeff rarely gave them another thought.

He had his sister and they got along great. They both liked women and they both liked the same things in women, very large breasts. They both hated the Yankees and wore their Raven's caps to Steeler's games in Pittsburgh and Steeler's caps to Raven's games in Baltimore. Kate liked to bake, Jeff liked to grill. They both lived on the water and both hated dogs.

Then there was the incident that they never referred to; they had that in common as well.

At the time, Jeff had been in college, Kate a senior in High School. On a Friday afternoon, Jeff got a call from his Dad asking to meet up for lunch. During the lunch Jeff was given all sorts of instructions about where to find what paperwork, how to fix the automatic garage door opener, even how much to tip the sanitation crew at Christmas. Jeff pretended to listen as he eyed the waitress standing at another table; she had a very pronounced bust line.

After they paid and got up to leave, Jeff's Dad did something else that, in hindsight, was very odd. He hugged his son and told him he loved him. They walked out toward the car; his father dropped to the cement sidewalk and didn't get up.

Meanwhile, Kate was out shopping with her mother. During the outing, Kate was being bombarded with all sorts of fashion advice, advised on the importance of virtue—Kate understood this to mean virginity—and informed as to where grandmother's jewelry could be found. Kate was told how to pick out a prom gown and how far is too far for good girls on the second date. Kate rolled her eyes at her mother, and then spotted a girl from her school who had a very pronounced bust line.

Kate called out to this girl; but, when she turned around to tell her mother she wanted to go see her friend, she watched her mother drop to the tile floor and not get up.

Kate and Jeff stared at each other as they both got on the same elevator to take them to the same floor in the hospital where both of their parents had been taken, still alive but only just.

"How did you know?" They said in unison.

"Dad." Jeff said.

"Mom." Kate said. The elevator door opened into a very hectic emergency room waiting area. Jeff and Kate held each other's hands as they walked to the counter and asked for the update on their parents. It was then that they each learned what had happened to the other. It was then the hospital staff came to understand the highly unique and unlikely coincidence that both Mr. and Mrs. Vasily and Raya Andreavitz had been bussed in, under the same life support measures from different parts of town.

Jeff and Kate were directed to the waiting room while someone was fetched who could bring them up to date on the status of their parent's health. Shortly after being seated, a man and a woman wearing hospital scrubs were pointed in their direction. Kate nodded to Jeff and they stood up to greet the pair; doctors as it turned out.

After having been taken to a small room off to the side, Kate and Jeff were informed that Vasily and Raya Andreavitz had both suffered a cranial aneurysm and were in a coma. Awaiting the results of some tests, the doctors said they would be able to better predict their likelihood to awaken in an hour or two.

Kate and Jeff sat at the table, in the little room off to the side and waited for news of their parents. During that time frame, several nurses came into the room to see if the siblings required anything, see if they had any questions or requests. Then the nurses who came in seemed to want to stay with them. They sat with Jeff and Kate and they waited with them.

Before long, there were several nurses in the room and both Jeff and Kate were becoming uncomfortable managing their sexual thoughts. Unbeknownst to Jeff, Kate was eyeing the same three nurses that Jeff was. Unbeknownst to Kate, Jeff noticed two of the nurses eyeing each other and then eyeing Kate. The sexual energy in the room was escalating at an alarming rate and the nineteen year old boy had little experience upon which to draw that would help guide him through this situation.

The pair of doctors came back to the room, frowned at the gaggle of nurses, and asked if such a large support crew was necessary.

Two of the nurses began to cry and begged to be allowed to remain with the gifted children. The other nurses all stated they were off the clock and staying to support on their own time. The two doctors looked at each other and silently agreed to leave things as they were, this certainly was a unique situation and it had drawn attention from all over the hospital in a very short time span.

The female doctor held up two MRI films and clipped them onto the read out board. She then pulled out a pen and proceeded to explain just how unique this situation really was. Vasily and Raya had each suffered an aneurysm in the exact same spot in their brains. Furthermore, each aneurysm was the exact same size. As best as they could tell, it seemed both aneurysms burst at about the same time. The prognosis for Vasily was identical to that for Raya, no hope for recovery. They both were brain dead, neither having any electric movement what so ever. They were currently being kept alive on a ventilator. The doctors recommended that life support be ended.

The male doctor asked the children if there was a relative or trusted family friend nearby who could be called upon to assist. There was no family in this country and their parents stayed to themselves. There was no one either Jeff or Kate could think of to call. Jeff, being nineteen a legal adult, was then burdened with the heavy task of signing on the dotted line that stated he wished to end his parents' life support.

Then Jeff and Kate were solemnly escorted, while surrounded by the growing support crew, to a hospital room that seemed to be set up for just this purpose, the ending of a life. But in this case, it would be two lives. The beds had been rolled together leaving no gap between. This seemed normal to Jeff and Kate but the doctors were not happy about being denied access to their patients and when they attempted to rearrange things, all the nurses began to protest. It was then that the doctors noticed that Vasily's huge right hand had been pulled out to his side and it encircled the small and delicate hand that belonged to Raya. No one admitted to having done this, and the orderlies who had wheeled the stretchers into the room, insisted they had merely pushed the beds together to make room all around. They vehemently denied ever touching either patient; this was an offense for which they could lose their jobs.

More whispering from the support crew was heard. They had grown in number again. Several were in tears. Neither Jeff nor Kate had any idea what to make of the scene that was developing. They felt that something important was happening, something that was meant to be. What they didn't feel, and what they didn't know they were supposed to feel, was the grief, fear and desolation a child faces when losing a parent. But that would come later.

Jeff and Kate were encouraged again to call upon a neighbor or someone from church, perhaps. When the doctors received more blank looks from the pair, they stated they would have a social worker come to the room and explain what would happen and what steps they needed to take in order to arrange burial and/or services.

Numbly yet effectively, Jeff and Kate listened to all that the social worker explained, made decisions where they should, and finally all was in place for the life support that kept Vasily and Raya alive, to end.

A hush came over the room as the two doctors moved forward. A hush came over the hallway outside where dozens of hospital workers had assembled. A hush came over the floor where people could feel something important was about to happen. A sense of impending something fell over all the occupants in the building.

But Jeff and Kate remained unaware as they prepared themselves to see their parents move onward into the Next. Jeff grabbed his father's hand while Kate grabbed her mother's. In between the siblings lay Vasily and Raya connected to machines that beeped and whorled and dripped. In between them, the large hand that engulfed the small hand lay perfectly still.

Kate began to hum as she stroked her mother's cheek. Jeff heard her tune and picked it up in harmony. The tune was beautiful; it reached deep into the soul. Those who could hear it were instantly familiar with the tune and those in the room, closest to the couple, began to add their whispering voices to the chorus. The new voices stayed low and insistent. The quiet strength of the new voices seemed the foundation upon which Kate and Jeff's tune was based. Those who had been weeping were now silent and still, absorbed in the melody and, on a fundamental level they would never come to understand, felt at peace.

The doctors nodded to each other, indicating all was ready for the proverbial plug to be pulled. The woman doctor stood near Vasily, the man doctor stood near Raya. They turned off the ventilator, turned off the machine that beeped and then the one that dripped. Except for the quiet humming, the room went silent.

Raya and Vasily Andreavitz continued to breath, but this was to be expected. Slowly their brains would continue to shut down and the last remaining neural connections, those that kept the heart beating and those that kept the lungs expanding would then end.

The humming continued and ever so slowly, so slowly no one noticed it happening, the humming grew in volume. Those in the hallway, who hadn't been able to hear the humming, now could. They added their voices to the chorus.

Neither Jeff nor Kate had been aware of the passing of time. They held their parents' hands and they hummed the tune. Finally both doctors moved forward and bent over their patients. They put their stethoscopes in their ears and applied the other end to the chest of their patient. They waited and listened. They glanced at each other and nodded their heads in unison. It was done.

Both Kate and Jeff felt a rush of heat as feelings and memories flooded their brains. Instinctively they knew not to alert anyone to what was happening. A moment ago they both felt oddly empty. But now they both felt full, ready to burst with feeling and emotion. Kate allowed her tears to fall but Jeff kept his expression stoic.

As the voices of those assembled grew even more, Jeff looked at Kate and Kate looked at Jeff. They nodded and agreed.

Kate laughed and threw the gesture for Up Yours right back at Jeff as she waited for him to put the last remaining slices of beef onto her plate. Not caring that she was receiving the lion's share of Jeff's special Hanger Steak.

Jeff ignored Kate's gesture. He went to a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a small box wrapped in brown paper. He placed it on the table in front of Kate and waited.

It had already been opened so Kate knew it wasn't a birthday present. She hid her childish disappointment as she reached for the box. First she pulled out a letter folded up in a most peculiar way. She glanced at Jeff in puzzlement when she noticed the letter was written in Cyrillic. She put the letter aside and removed the cotton batting to find two charms. They were identical and looked like a curlicue intertwined with another, in the very center was a red stone. She had no name for this kind of design. Sort of Celtic and Roman and Greek she just didn't know how to describe this set of golden charms.

"I've seen this design before? Haven't I?" Kate held out one of the charms to the light examining it closer.

"Yes. But before I go into the charm and the letter I have to ask you something. Do you remember when Mom and Pop died?"

Kate gasped at Jeff; this was something they never ever discussed.

"What do you remember? Tell me exactly everything you remember?"

"I was in the mall with Mom when she fainted. I was in the ambulance and then I walked into an elevator and saw you. We waited in the waiting room and then the doctors took us to another room where they told us they'd each had something happen in their brain and they died."