Watchtowers : Water Page 9

  “You’re so wet, il mio cuore. It would seem you enjoy oral pleasure.” He laughed, a soft intimate sound.

  Keely moaned again. “Yes.”

  She closed her eyes, giving herself over the sensual electricity. Unexpectedly, Zion entered a finger into her heat. Her eyes flew open even as she squeezed around the digit. “Oh, yes.” She grasped the top of Zion’s head pumping against his tongue and finger.

  He sucked harder, whipping her to a frenzy with his tongue. A second finger entered her, stroking her creamy center. He reached up and caressed her breast, lightly flicking her nipple. In her core, she felt the trembling of her impending climax. She pushed harder against his hand, wanting to encourage another digit to enter her.

  Abruptly, he pulled away. “Oh no, not yet.” His fingers withdrew from her heat. Zion stood and pressed his erection against her.

  Glancing at his rod, Keely sighed in frustration. “You didn’t let me come.”

  He smiled at her, held a pair of fingers to his nose and inhaled. “Your lust tastes as wonderful as it smells.”

  With a slight bend at the knees, he grasped her around the waist and threw her over his broad shoulder. Keely shrieked with delight, playfully swinging her free hand at his back while the other held on for dear life. Without her feet on the floor she was deliriously off balance. “I didn’t know you to be a Neanderthal.”

  Zion laughed again, louder this time. “I didn’t know you to be such a hell cat either, il mio cuore.”

  “Il mio cuore, you said that before,’ she gasped. “What does it mean?”

  He stopped at the edge of the bed and caressed her butt.

  Keely shuddered in delight. His touch was wonderfully wicked and sensual, so light it nearly tickled, so hot she felt her body readied for his possession.

  Without ceremony, he dumped her onto the bed. His impressive erection jutted from between a thatch of blond hair. A primitive look of raw sexual hunger fired his blue eyes.

  Heart hammering, Keely nearly forgot to breathe. So this is what its like to be a deer caught in the headlights. She opened her arms to him.

  Zion responded to her invitation by covering her slight body with his muscular one. His mouth covered her nipple, teasing with licks, bites and gentle pulls. His erection nudged against her slit.

  She spread her thighs further apart, splaying wide her nether lips with her fingers. Her own essence drifted to her nostrils. Hot bolts of urgency shot through her. “Please, Zion,” she heard herself beg.

  He lifted his lips from her breast and captured her mouth, his tongue darting in with wicked little strokes. He glanced down between her legs. His large hand covered the fingers she used to hold herself open for him. Taking her forefinger, he guided it with his own into her heat.

  Her breath hitched. Both their fingers in her needy cleft working in and out. His thumb grazed her clit. “You’re so wet. Do you want me?” he teased. “Come, my heart, show me. Touch yourself. Let me watch your passion.”

  Gods had such flowery speech. She was much earthier. Her nipples tightened further, tingled with anticipation. She reached her other hand between her legs, rubbing her clit with slow movements, making sure to caress his erection with each pass. Sheer, sizzling fire jolted through her, making her clench around their fingers. Hot juices coated them as her muscles continued to tighten and release. Keely grabbed Zion’s rod in her hand.

  “Fuck me,” she moaned, and lifted her hips to shove his cock deep into her.

  Zion groaned, grasped her hips and lifted them slightly, pulled out, and then slammed back into her welcoming core. His balls slapped at the sensitive skin between her vagina and anus.

  She lifted her legs to brace her ankles on Zion’s shoulders. She needed more of his touch.

  As if he could read her mind, he leaned forward on a thrust, capturing her mouth with his lips and tongue. Another hand played with her breast, teasing the nipple with electrifying flicks.

  Ecstasy hovered at the edge of her awareness. Flames danced on her skin, shivers of delight running through her body.

  Zion shifted slightly and his cock began stroking the mass of nerves within her. Beneath him, she writhed, teetering on the edge of an explosive climax. Her nails raked his back, her hands stopping on firm muscle just below the curve on his hips. Beneath her fingers he felt strong and virile. Hers, Zion was hers, as she was his.

  Keely bucked up, and the angle allowed his length to hit more of her sweet spot. Chills stole over her arms and her back arched. He drove into her heat, faster and faster, swelling within her tight passage. Her body trembled and she tried to bring him deeper into her.

  Spasms of passion loosed themselves, racing through her body as if they were convicts trying to escape. A hand lifted, seemingly of its own volition, and she slapped his ass with a resounding smack.

  “Oh,” he groaned, pounding into her with a renewed flurry of energy.

  Her insides constricted, squeezing around him as if she could meld their bodies into a single unit. As if that unity would make them one, keep them from ever being apart. “Zion!” she screamed as her orgasm exploded through her body in wave after wave of exotic pleasure.

  Her muscles continued to clench his length. Glancing into his face she could see his eyes were glazed in a haze of passion.

  “That’s it, baby,” she gasped. “Come for me.” She raked her nails down his back, delighted to feel his flesh pebble with goose bumps.

  On his next thrust home, he groaned, filling her with his hot seed. He collapsed against her breasts, careful to keep his full weight off her.

  Keely cradled him in her arms, trying to memorize the texture of his hair, his skin, the pattern of his breathing, the sensation of holding him. Domnu only knew when she would next have this opportunity.

  *****

  Zion left.

  She’d walked with him to the beach, shared an emotional good-bye, and watched him swim deeper into the blue water of the Atlantic. Neither of them knew how long he’d be gone. She wanted to give way to tears. She didn’t. If this were to be a pattern of the future, she couldn’t break down each and every time.

  That was yesterday.

  Today welcomed in a new and fresh start. Life without Zion for an undetermined amount of time required her to remain independent. It only made sense to continue her work both in and out of her office. She’d resume communication attempts with Lotis and the pod and apply herself to honing her water manipulation skills. The first order of business though: determine the extent of damage in the dungeon and replace any equipment not functioning.

  Work would make the time pass faster. Wouldn’t it?

  *****

  The damage sustained by the office was total. Save for the data she’d stored elsewhere, all the information in the dungeon had been damaged beyond use.

  There were large pieces of equipment needing replacement. Drives, chips, and other components corroded from the seawater needed exchanging. Keely scribbled a list on her palm, uploaded the information to her pc link, and sent the information to the shop in St Stephen’s Green. Scheduled for late evening delivery, the teleshipped hardware would have her back transcribing her notes within a day. Domnu knew how long it would take to reacquire the information destroyed.

  Keely spent the remainder of the morning on the placid water, searching. Logically, she sought the Rossi’s. Emotionally she looked for some sign of Zion.

  “This is ridiculous, pining for…” she couldn’t bring herself to finish. The ache in her heart was too real to deny Zion’s existence.

  She was getting nowhere. “I might as well see what I can do on my own.” She brought her replacement vessel into dock, loaded her recording devices onto the jet bike, and took off.

  Road bots continued clean-up efforts. The green hills, dotted by colorful oaks whose leaves were changing from green to reds, oranges, and yellows, appeared nearly untouched by the tsunami.

  Her destination was not Doonbeg River, but a rather small l
ake just southeast. Nestled in a gentle swell, the tiny body of water would be perfect. Keely would practice and the results, good or bad, would only impact a limited area.

  Parking the jet bike under an oak, Keely leisurely walked to the lake’s edge. This was big, attempting to move the water without Zion. She held her hands straight out in front of her and concentrated. Just as the first time, she saw no effect from her effort. What had Zion told her? Feel the power inherent in the water?

  Yes, something similar to those words. She closed her eyes. A slight breeze lifted the strands of red hair loose from her tie and blew them away from her face. The touch of wind reminded her of Zion, his gentle caresses of her features, the insistence of his hands on her body when they’d nearly made love.

  She sighed, an exhalation rife with promise and happiness. More than that though.

  Love.

  She loved Zion. His strength, his gentle way, his instinctive understanding of what she needed to do to be strong herself. Love surged through her veins, oozed from her pores. As long as she had the memory of Zion, she’d be able to call upon these feelings to aid her.

  Around her, Keely felt the vibrant thrum of life. From the smallest insect to the large oaks, the river of energy hummed. Stirrings of power encouraged her. Energy coursed through her, and gave her confidence. This time she’d move the water on her own.

  The natural forces gathered around Keely like armor. She flexed her wrist up, her hand facing the lake. The stream of power collected in her palm and shot from her body. She jerked open her eyes.

  In front of her, a wall of water still formed perhaps a half dozen meters high and growing. Fish flopped into the muddy residue. Her mouth opened in a wide gape. Domnu! She was killing them. Quickly, she covered her mouth with a hand.

  Half of the water dropped into the lakebed with a loud splash. Keely jumped back from the shore a nanosecond late, her feet soaked by the cold water. The remainder of the water wall collapsed.

  Control. She must learn control to prevent the destruction of aquatic life. “Okay, let’s try this again, shall we?”

  The chirping of birds, the rustling of dry leaves, all the sounds were filtered from her mind until she became aware of only the water and how she communed with it. Peace flowed over and through her being.

  Opening her eyes, Keely bent her wrist upward with slow, deliberate motions. As she did so, the water eased upward forming a low hedge. With equally deliberate movement she relaxed her wrist and watched as the water returned to its normal state, nary a ripple out of place.

  Success! Pride swelled within her. She actually moved the water as Zion told her she could. Calm down. This is small. Nothing compared to the wall of water Amidurah slammed into Ireland and the rest of the world.

  Over and over, Keely practiced, refining the motion of her hands to match what she wanted to do. Each time became easier and drew less energy from her body. But an afternoon of manipulations left her exhausted.

  She collapsed onto the grass near the shore and sat staring at the water. A week ago, she’d no idea she commanded this marvelous ability. She lay back and stared at the blue sky, the sun above warming her. The grasses tickled her exposed skin. Only one other thing would let this day be totally perfect. Zion.

  Easily, she recalled his touch on her cheek, the way he wrapped her hair around his fingers, the possessive kiss of his lips.

  The heat of the sun disappeared. Damn. A cloud must have covered Sol. She opened her eyes to check on the weather and felt them widen in shock.

  “Stephen, what are you doing here?” She pushed herself to a sitting position, and then stood.

  “Looking for you.”

  His features, despite a glistening sheen of sweat were devoid of emotion. He was supposed to be in custody. His arrival at a spot she didn’t even know she was going to terrified her. Fear gripped her. A chill raced over her skin with the fury of a mid-winter ice storm. “How’d you find me?”

  Doubilet pulled his brown Aran sweater over his head and began to unbutton his shirt. Pulling the tails from his trousers, he opened the shirt wide, the breeze billowing it further open.

  Across his chest were ugly, red welts. Keely gasped. “What happened?”

  “An electric cane.”

  “The Sentries?”

  He shook his head and snarled with what sounded like pride. “My boss.”

  “Your boss? Why would you work for someone who does something like that?”

  He took a step nearer. “He’s the most powerful man in the world. Serving him faithfully provides me with a position of influence in his New World order.”

  Keely shrank back from him, toward the shore of the lake, her stomach clenched in alarm. Zion mentioned a New World when he spoke of Amidurah.

  Oh, God. Stephen was one of Amidurah’s spies. Anger and fear mingled in a powerful cocktail. She’d see that Stephen was punished somehow for his part in the desecration of Ireland and other areas of the world, the murders of her parents and countless innocents, but she had to get away from him first.

  There was nowhere for her to run. Fast thinking, faster talking was the only thing to save her now. “I don’t know anything about a New World order.”

  A sadistic smile creased Stephen’s face. “Amidurah has seen the poison wrought by our greed for more. He’s cleansing the water, the air, so there will be a better world for those whom he chooses. I am one so chosen.”

  If there were a remaining doubt in her mind, he’d erased it completely by mentioning Amidurah’s name. In his eyes there was a fervor reserved for those slipping from reality. Stephen’s mind had been poisoned by the rhetoric of an ancient sorcerer.

  She shivered and glanced around nervously. Her heart thumped in her chest. Panic clawed at her. She couldn’t escape Stephen. No one would hear her if she screamed. Allowing her panic to break free would only weaken her for whatever Stephan had in mind.

  What did he have in mind? “Stephen, you haven’t told me? Why are you here? How did you find me?”

  He gave her the creepy smile again. “His Grace felt you, and alerted his nearest trusted follower, me. I was on the Doonbeg Road, headed to see you already.” He grinned evilly. “Repay the last kindness you showed me.”

  Stephen paused as if he wanted to let that last fact sink in to scare her.

  “He wants you. Your power is like a beacon to him, it pinpoints you precisely with more accuracy than a homing device.”

  Keely took a step so the water was on one side of her, Doubilet on the other. To an outsider the view would appear as one of acquaintances in discussion, two people enjoying the last of a beautiful fall day. “What does ‘His Grace’ want me for?”

  “He’s heard of your abilities.”

  Her eyes widened with surprise. “You are joking?”

  “I assure you not.” He stalked closer, grasped her hands in his. “Your abilities to communicate with the dolphins and your power with the water interest him greatly.”

  Jerking free, she shook her head, and stalked further from Doubilet. Fingerprints from his grasp marred her flesh with white, and then red marks. Beneath the cultivated exterior he’d sold her with when he offered to bankroll her studies laid the heart of a violent man. No wonder Amidurah recruited him.

  She pointed at his exposed chest. “I want nothing to do with a man that treats his loyal followers with caning.”

  The grass rustled behind her. He wasn’t giving her the distance she craved. “You didn’t find what you wanted in the Castle. That’s why you’re really here.”

  He grabbed her again. His touch made her skin crawl and she shook him off.

  “He sent me to make sure you were okay.”

  She narrowed her eyes at his statement. “You didn’t need to sneak into my home and rummage through my office to ascertain my well-being.”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “What you do or don’t believe is no longer relevant. Amidurah wants you. I won’t fail in bringing you to him.”


  Keely straightened her shoulders with resolve. Her stance provided her additional fortitude. No one was taking her anywhere without her approval. She strode toward the shore. “I’m not going with you Stephen.”

  He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around. “You’ll go wherever I say you will.”

  Pointed directly at her, Doubilet held a Sig. Not a deterrent weapon. She recognized the six hundred year old artifact. The deadly gun had been in the news vids just before the tsunami struck. Lifted from a Dublin museum, the weapon favored by snipers had been responsible for hundreds of thousands of political assassinations.

  Her breath hitched and she trembled. Fear coiled like a tight spring in her stomach. She’d never been held against her will with a weapon. Keely flicked her wrist, twisted her arm around and around, and prayed the water would respond.

  Stephen grabbed her and threw her to the ground.

  Her cheek struck a gnarled tree root and the top of her head slammed into the trunk. Blood rushed from the side of her face and ran in rivulets through the fissures of the rough bark.

  She pulled her hand back and called the water to her.

  Not far from shore, the water gathered and spun, its force disturbing the air. It grew taller and advanced.

  Someone screamed. The sound scraped her nerve endings, added another irritant to her exhausted spirit, and battered head. Belatedly, she realized the scream was that of Stephen Doubilet.

  With the last of her resources, she lifted her head and watched the water strike him with its spinning, full of fury. The spout lifted him from his feet and threw him into a tree like a stuffed animal. He hit with a sickening thud of breaking bones.

  Doubilet slid lifeless down the trunk of the oak. The water receded and returned to the lake.

  Her world turned black.

  Chapter Eleven

  The warm salt water sluiced over Zion’s skin, beginning the rejuvenation process being topside necessitated. Energy seeped into his exhausted body. Complete restoration of his flagging potency took days. He cursed his weakness. He belonged with Keely.