(no subject)
REQUIEM: Victoria comes back, and Ray's worst nightmare comes true
Ben listened to Victoria climb the stairs, and stopped working on his bonds as he watched her reappear above the edge of the floor. She carried a suitcase in one hand and placed it under the table, then scrabbled in her handbag for the mobile phone. Dropping the bag on the table, she set the phone down beside it and smiled at him.
"That didn't take too long did it?"
Ben eyed the suitcase. "What's in there?"
"Our future."
"Victoria, what do you want from me?"
"What I've always wanted."
"I'm sor-"
Her fingers against his mouth stopped the words. "Don't."
Touching him proved to be a serious mistake as the memories crowded in on her. Memories of the way he had used his mouth to protect her fingers from frostbite, of how he had repeated the gesture that first night in his apartment.
The money she schemed to possess all those long years in prison had been lost when he betrayed her to save Vecchio. Yet as the train pulled away from the station, she hadn't given the diamonds scattered on the platform a single thought. All she had wanted was for Ben to come with her. She hadn't been able to master her passion for him then, and one touch was all it took to know this time would be no different.
Her free hand rested on his shoulder for balance as she leaned over him and stroked one finger across his top lip. With her head tilted in concentration, she traced the curve of his bottom lip with the increased pressure of three fingers.
When she reached the corner of his mouth she paused to consider her options. At that moment, Ben turned his head, caught her fingertips between his teeth and clamped down hard enough to prevent her instinctive attempt to pull free.
Victoria expelled the startled breath lodged in her throat and scraped the thumbnail of her trapped hand lightly along his jawline. She smiled as she felt his uneven exhale across her fingers, taking comfort in the need he couldn't hide.
Her smile faded as her own need drove her to lay her mouth against the edge of his. His skin flavoured her tongue as she murmured, "I wasn't going to do this. I was not."
Without warning, Ben released her fingers and captured her lips with a greediness that flooded liquid fire through her veins.
Resentment flared as the only control she wielded over him slipped away. In retribution, she punished his bottom lip with her teeth. She took pleasure in the muffled sound of his pain before she gripped a fistful of his hair and forced his head back far enough to break the kiss. Locking her gaze into his, she willed him to struggle--the futility of that would prove beyond doubt who was in charge. Instead he remained still, his eyes dark with desire as he silently waited for her next move.
And that desire proved to be her undoing. A soundless groan spiralled through her as she surrendered to it, and ravaged his mouth with fierce intensity. From there she traced savage kisses along his cheek, and whispered harsh promises into his ear as she slid across his lap. Pulling his head back even further, she savoured the taste and texture of the skin under his jaw as she lingered on the pulse hammering there.
"Victoria." Her name was a ragged plea, vibrating against her lips and dissolving the wildness in her.
"Shhhh." She placed soft, moist kisses down the line of his neck and pressed her face into the curve at the base of his throat. He laid his cheek against her hair and she luxuriated in his scent. Crawling under his skin was the only way she could get any closer than she was now, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
In spite of the record Austin summers, she hadn't once been warm since the night she thought she had watched him die. Until now. Now he burned in her blood until her very bones were in danger of being melted by the heat.
She laid a hand over his heart, and the rhythm thumping against her palm echoed of the beat sounding in her ears. An annoying buzz intruded on the edge of her consciousness, and it took a concentrated effort to identify the noise as her mobile phone.
Victoria seriously considered ignoring the summons until all the reasons to answer it forced their way into her mind. Cursing under her breath, she pulled away from Ben just enough to reach around him and grab the phone from the table.
"What!" She listened briefly, then snarled, "Can't you get anything right?...Yes, yes, I'm coming!"
Slowly, reluctantly, she disentangled herself from Ben and stood. She didn't look at him once as she shoved the phone into her handbag then slung it over her shoulder.
"Victoria"
She silenced him with a consuming kiss, then trailed one finger down his cheek. Still without speaking, she turned and walked away.
"Victoria!"
At the head of the stairs she paused. With one hand on the newel post, she looked back and smiled. "Don't go anywhere, will you?"
Then she was gone.
Fingers of light stole over the city as Victoria wearily climbed the warehouse stairs again. Nights like this were almost enough to prompt a serious career change, and make her settle for the boring predicability of an honest job. Almost.
Soon, it would all be over. And by then she would have persuaded Ben to come with her--
She halted with her foot on the last step, disbelief pounding through her. "NO!"
Her furious denial echoed through the room as she hurried to the empty chair, and examined the ropes tangled on the floor beneath. With an inarticulate cry of rage, she hurled her bag at the wall. It landed in a satisfying clunk and she sucked in a deep calming breath.
Fists clenched, she stalked forward to retrieve the bag. She needed to get out of here fast--
When she turned and saw Ben standing in the centre of the room, she almost dropped her bag again in shock. Recovering, she measured the distance to the stairs and tried to calculate her chances of escape as she demanded, "Why are you still here?"
"Because I knew you'd come back."
"So now what, you arrest me again?"
His voice was bleak. "I don't know."
She stepped forward eagerly. "Ben, come with me. You were going to last time--"
"It's not that simple any more."
"Why not? You know we belong together."
"Where are we supposed to be together Victoria? Your world will destroy me, and mine will lock you up in prison for the rest of your life."
"Don't say that!"
She broke off as a movement on the stairway caught her attention, but by then, it was already far too late. Price stood at the top of the stairs, with a man on each side of him, and all three carried automatic weapons.
"Well now, isn't this convenient. Remember me, Mountie?"
Ben nodded. "The diamond smuggler."
Price smiled faintly. "I told your partner there wasn't anywhere you could hide if I wanted to find you. And after the trouble your little stunt caused me, you can bet I wanted to."
"You kill a Mountie and they'll hunt you to the ends of the earth," Ben warned.
"I've already been hunted by people a lot tougher than your mob will ever be." Price looked at the man on his right, and jerked his head in the direction of the suitcase. "Check inside it. We don’t want any nasty disappointments later."
The man moved to pick up the suitcase and set it on the table. Opening it, he quickly counted the neat bundles of hundred dollar bills stacked inside.
"It’s all here Boss."
Price smiled then, a lean, feral smile without any trace of humour. "Then I'll consider that a little bonus on top of the pleasure of killing you both."
Victoria threw herself at Price, her fingers curved to claw at his face with her nails. And Ben didn't have a chance to protect her.
Pain. Slamming around inside his body and shooting stars through the darkness behind his closed eyes. Bright multi-coloured arcs of light which disappeared from his field of vision, to explode at the ends of nerves he hadn't realised he possessed. He knew it would be a thousand times worse if he moved, and it took all his courage to begin.
Ben concentrated on the herculean task of forcing his eyes open a fraction at a time. The wooden floor was rough against his cheek, and dust prickled at his nose. Blurred shadows leered at him, mocking his efforts to clear his vision.
As he lifted his head the warehouse heaved violently, spinning him to the edge of unconsciousness. Grimly he hung on to his senses, Victoria’s name a litany against the pain-free temptation of the darkness. And when the world steadied again, he found her.
He estimated the distance between them to be less than three metres. The logic of that measurement self-destructed under the exquisite agony each centimetre cost him.
Her breathing was shallow, her eyes closed. He brushed the hair back from her face, and panic shafted through him as he felt how cold she was.
"Victoria?"
Her lids fluttered open. "It hurts."
"I know. I'm sor--"
She placed a shaking hand against his mouth, her bloodied fingers damp and slick on his skin. "Come with me."
"Lie still. I'll get help."
Her hand dropped. "Come with me."
"Victoria!" Somehow he found the strength to shake her, a feeble defiance against the power of Death. "Stay with me!"
"Too cold..."
He wrapped his arms around her, desperately trying to warm her with his body. "I will not be without you again!"
"Then... come...with...me..."
How simple that solution.
"Ben....?"
Forgive me Ray.
"Yes." He laid his head over her heart and felt his own match the slowing rhythm beneath his ear. A smile curved his mouth as he watched the snowflakes drift around them, and he began to recite the poem Victoria had once used to save his life. "Dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon...in his riding...and blue-bleak embers...gash gold-vermilion..."
The sigh of her last breath. "Beloved."
He closed his eyes, took her hand and walked with her into the light.
To Be Continued
Ben listened to Victoria climb the stairs, and stopped working on his bonds as he watched her reappear above the edge of the floor. She carried a suitcase in one hand and placed it under the table, then scrabbled in her handbag for the mobile phone. Dropping the bag on the table, she set the phone down beside it and smiled at him.
"That didn't take too long did it?"
Ben eyed the suitcase. "What's in there?"
"Our future."
"Victoria, what do you want from me?"
"What I've always wanted."
"I'm sor-"
Her fingers against his mouth stopped the words. "Don't."
Touching him proved to be a serious mistake as the memories crowded in on her. Memories of the way he had used his mouth to protect her fingers from frostbite, of how he had repeated the gesture that first night in his apartment.
The money she schemed to possess all those long years in prison had been lost when he betrayed her to save Vecchio. Yet as the train pulled away from the station, she hadn't given the diamonds scattered on the platform a single thought. All she had wanted was for Ben to come with her. She hadn't been able to master her passion for him then, and one touch was all it took to know this time would be no different.
Her free hand rested on his shoulder for balance as she leaned over him and stroked one finger across his top lip. With her head tilted in concentration, she traced the curve of his bottom lip with the increased pressure of three fingers.
When she reached the corner of his mouth she paused to consider her options. At that moment, Ben turned his head, caught her fingertips between his teeth and clamped down hard enough to prevent her instinctive attempt to pull free.
Victoria expelled the startled breath lodged in her throat and scraped the thumbnail of her trapped hand lightly along his jawline. She smiled as she felt his uneven exhale across her fingers, taking comfort in the need he couldn't hide.
Her smile faded as her own need drove her to lay her mouth against the edge of his. His skin flavoured her tongue as she murmured, "I wasn't going to do this. I was not."
Without warning, Ben released her fingers and captured her lips with a greediness that flooded liquid fire through her veins.
Resentment flared as the only control she wielded over him slipped away. In retribution, she punished his bottom lip with her teeth. She took pleasure in the muffled sound of his pain before she gripped a fistful of his hair and forced his head back far enough to break the kiss. Locking her gaze into his, she willed him to struggle--the futility of that would prove beyond doubt who was in charge. Instead he remained still, his eyes dark with desire as he silently waited for her next move.
And that desire proved to be her undoing. A soundless groan spiralled through her as she surrendered to it, and ravaged his mouth with fierce intensity. From there she traced savage kisses along his cheek, and whispered harsh promises into his ear as she slid across his lap. Pulling his head back even further, she savoured the taste and texture of the skin under his jaw as she lingered on the pulse hammering there.
"Victoria." Her name was a ragged plea, vibrating against her lips and dissolving the wildness in her.
"Shhhh." She placed soft, moist kisses down the line of his neck and pressed her face into the curve at the base of his throat. He laid his cheek against her hair and she luxuriated in his scent. Crawling under his skin was the only way she could get any closer than she was now, and it still wouldn’t be enough.
In spite of the record Austin summers, she hadn't once been warm since the night she thought she had watched him die. Until now. Now he burned in her blood until her very bones were in danger of being melted by the heat.
She laid a hand over his heart, and the rhythm thumping against her palm echoed of the beat sounding in her ears. An annoying buzz intruded on the edge of her consciousness, and it took a concentrated effort to identify the noise as her mobile phone.
Victoria seriously considered ignoring the summons until all the reasons to answer it forced their way into her mind. Cursing under her breath, she pulled away from Ben just enough to reach around him and grab the phone from the table.
"What!" She listened briefly, then snarled, "Can't you get anything right?...Yes, yes, I'm coming!"
Slowly, reluctantly, she disentangled herself from Ben and stood. She didn't look at him once as she shoved the phone into her handbag then slung it over her shoulder.
"Victoria"
She silenced him with a consuming kiss, then trailed one finger down his cheek. Still without speaking, she turned and walked away.
"Victoria!"
At the head of the stairs she paused. With one hand on the newel post, she looked back and smiled. "Don't go anywhere, will you?"
Then she was gone.
Fingers of light stole over the city as Victoria wearily climbed the warehouse stairs again. Nights like this were almost enough to prompt a serious career change, and make her settle for the boring predicability of an honest job. Almost.
Soon, it would all be over. And by then she would have persuaded Ben to come with her--
She halted with her foot on the last step, disbelief pounding through her. "NO!"
Her furious denial echoed through the room as she hurried to the empty chair, and examined the ropes tangled on the floor beneath. With an inarticulate cry of rage, she hurled her bag at the wall. It landed in a satisfying clunk and she sucked in a deep calming breath.
Fists clenched, she stalked forward to retrieve the bag. She needed to get out of here fast--
When she turned and saw Ben standing in the centre of the room, she almost dropped her bag again in shock. Recovering, she measured the distance to the stairs and tried to calculate her chances of escape as she demanded, "Why are you still here?"
"Because I knew you'd come back."
"So now what, you arrest me again?"
His voice was bleak. "I don't know."
She stepped forward eagerly. "Ben, come with me. You were going to last time--"
"It's not that simple any more."
"Why not? You know we belong together."
"Where are we supposed to be together Victoria? Your world will destroy me, and mine will lock you up in prison for the rest of your life."
"Don't say that!"
She broke off as a movement on the stairway caught her attention, but by then, it was already far too late. Price stood at the top of the stairs, with a man on each side of him, and all three carried automatic weapons.
"Well now, isn't this convenient. Remember me, Mountie?"
Ben nodded. "The diamond smuggler."
Price smiled faintly. "I told your partner there wasn't anywhere you could hide if I wanted to find you. And after the trouble your little stunt caused me, you can bet I wanted to."
"You kill a Mountie and they'll hunt you to the ends of the earth," Ben warned.
"I've already been hunted by people a lot tougher than your mob will ever be." Price looked at the man on his right, and jerked his head in the direction of the suitcase. "Check inside it. We don’t want any nasty disappointments later."
The man moved to pick up the suitcase and set it on the table. Opening it, he quickly counted the neat bundles of hundred dollar bills stacked inside.
"It’s all here Boss."
Price smiled then, a lean, feral smile without any trace of humour. "Then I'll consider that a little bonus on top of the pleasure of killing you both."
Victoria threw herself at Price, her fingers curved to claw at his face with her nails. And Ben didn't have a chance to protect her.
Pain. Slamming around inside his body and shooting stars through the darkness behind his closed eyes. Bright multi-coloured arcs of light which disappeared from his field of vision, to explode at the ends of nerves he hadn't realised he possessed. He knew it would be a thousand times worse if he moved, and it took all his courage to begin.
Ben concentrated on the herculean task of forcing his eyes open a fraction at a time. The wooden floor was rough against his cheek, and dust prickled at his nose. Blurred shadows leered at him, mocking his efforts to clear his vision.
As he lifted his head the warehouse heaved violently, spinning him to the edge of unconsciousness. Grimly he hung on to his senses, Victoria’s name a litany against the pain-free temptation of the darkness. And when the world steadied again, he found her.
He estimated the distance between them to be less than three metres. The logic of that measurement self-destructed under the exquisite agony each centimetre cost him.
Her breathing was shallow, her eyes closed. He brushed the hair back from her face, and panic shafted through him as he felt how cold she was.
"Victoria?"
Her lids fluttered open. "It hurts."
"I know. I'm sor--"
She placed a shaking hand against his mouth, her bloodied fingers damp and slick on his skin. "Come with me."
"Lie still. I'll get help."
Her hand dropped. "Come with me."
"Victoria!" Somehow he found the strength to shake her, a feeble defiance against the power of Death. "Stay with me!"
"Too cold..."
He wrapped his arms around her, desperately trying to warm her with his body. "I will not be without you again!"
"Then... come...with...me..."
How simple that solution.
"Ben....?"
Forgive me Ray.
"Yes." He laid his head over her heart and felt his own match the slowing rhythm beneath his ear. A smile curved his mouth as he watched the snowflakes drift around them, and he began to recite the poem Victoria had once used to save his life. "Dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon...in his riding...and blue-bleak embers...gash gold-vermilion..."
The sigh of her last breath. "Beloved."
He closed his eyes, took her hand and walked with her into the light.
To Be Continued