Falling for Kindred Claus Read online

  “We do have to be getting back to the Mother Ship of my people,” Asher remarked. “But I am certainly looking forward to the feast and festivities tomorrow.”

  “Yes, me too,” Lisa said, smiling politely.

  “Your clothes and some provisions in case you get hungry or thirsty have been laid out on the sitting tables,” Lambada said, gesturing to several low tables at the opposite end of the large room. “And of course, there is a necessary chamber located there.”

  She pointed to a set of steps which led down about five feet into a small space with a narrow black door. It looked ominous to Lisa—like the set of basement steps you see in a horror movie and you just know the monster is on the other side of the door. Creepy!

  But creepy or not, she knew the minute Lambada left, she was going to go lock herself in the “necessary room” for as long as it took to try and wash the oil off the backs of her thighs again. She had been trying to ignore the burning, stinging sensation but it was only getting worse. Maybe if she could scrub her skin thoroughly she could finally get rid of the pain.

  She hoped.

  “Well then, Natillus and I will see you around noon tomorrow,” Lambada said, making her farewells.

  “Goodbye—thank you!” Lisa called, trying not to shift from foot to foot as she waited for the door to their bedroom to close. The minute it did, she made a B-line directly for the creepy downstairs bathroom—she had to get some relief for her stinging thighs now.

  Asher watched her go in some surprise. She must have really needed to use the necessary room, he supposed—no wonder she had been shifting around so uncomfortably.

  He went around the room, examining it in more detail. The low tables where their clothes and carry-all cubes were situated also held several heavy stone bottles of liquid and some wrapped packages which smelled like food.

  Asher set them all aside for the moment and put on his night clothes instead—a pair of simple black sleep pants made of a soft, satiny material which was very comfortable to sleep in. He was about to open one of the bottles and sniff its contents to try and determine what kind of food and drink the Chorkays had left for them, when he heard a frustrated moan coming from the fresher, or “necessary room” as Lambada had called it.

  Frowning, Asher wondered if he ought to go to her. But the fact that she had shut herself into the fresher—what humans called “the bathroom”—seemed to indicate that she wanted privacy.

  There was another moan and then an exclamation—almost like a surprised shout. Then the door began to rattle, as though she was trying to open it and couldn’t.

  Asher couldn’t wait anymore.

  “Lisa?” He went down the short set of stairs leading to the underground room and rapped lightly on the narrow door. “Is something wrong?”

  Frightened panting was what he heard on the other side. He tried the door himself but with no success.

  “Lisa—unlock the door!” he called, twisting the latch until the door rattled in its frame. “Lisa? Lisa!”

  And then he heard her scream.

  Thirty-One

  The Chorkay version of a bathroom was a bit odd, but that was to be expected, Lisa supposed. There was a sunken tub—large and square, about the size of a hot tub back home, she thought—as well as another, smaller door which probably held the toilet. But it was the sink she headed to—or at least she assumed it was a sink.

  It was a round half-circle cut out of the wall beside the door, about the size of half a beach ball. At the top of this semi-circular indentation was a metal spout and at the bottom half of it was a drain. So it must be the sink, Lisa reasoned.

  She was moaning in frustration by this time—the backs of her thighs really hurt! She had to get some relief—even if it was only cool water to put on her stinging cuts.

  She stuck her hands into the semi-circular hole in the wall…and the lights abruptly went out.

  “What?” Lisa exclaimed. She reeled backwards, blind in the sudden darkness. Oh God, she didn’t like this—didn’t like it one bit!

  Okay, take it easy—stay calm, she told herself, trying not to panic. It’s all right, everything is going to be all right—you just have to find the door, that’s all.

  Taking deep breaths, she felt along the walls until she came to the narrow door. She grabbed the cool metal latch in one hand and tried to turn it—but it seemed to be stuck. She twisted it again…and it came off in her hand.

  Her heart began to pound. Oh, no—this was bad. This was really bad.

  And then someone knocked on the door and a deep, male voice said, “Lisa? Is something wrong?”

  The voice should have been familiar but it seemed distorted and muffled by the door. Lisa stumbled backwards, away from it as it began to rattle in its frame. She fell over something and found herself in a small, confined space while the door rattled on its hinges.

  Alone in the dark—trapped!

  Last Christmas Eve suddenly came back to her full force—the memory didn’t just pop up in her head—it enveloped her whole.

  Seeing Cameron take that one drink of eggnog at the party and feeling that sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach…knowing what it was going to start…

  Watching as he took another drink and then another, getting more and more belligerent. I wanted to leave but he had the car keys—he always had the car keys.

  The drunken ride home—thank goodness it was only two blocks. Even so, he hit a mailbox—plowed it over—though he just kept driving.

  Getting home and watching him go straight for the scotch. Knowing I had to get out before he got any drunker…any meaner. Sneaking the car keys out of the bowl by the door and slowly turning the knob…

  But Cameron had heard her—of course he had. Drunk or not, he had the hearing of a freaking bat—especially when it came to Lisa trying to sneak away from him when he got drunk and violent.

  Just as she had been easing the door open, a big hand planted above her head had slammed it closed.

  “Going somewhere, my dear?” His voice always got extra polite and upper-crust right before he got really mean, Lisa had found. It was a warning to her—a sign that he was just on the edge of massive brutality.

  She had turned, trembling, to see Cameron with a cruel smile on his handsome face.

  “I just…I thought…” she stumbled, trying to find the right words—the words that would keep him from hitting her again. She had never found them yet but she was still hopeful they were there—that there was something she could do or say to escape the inevitable beating.

  “You thought what?” her husband sneered. “Thought you could get away from me on Christmas Eve? Is that it?”

  “I just…wanted to go get your Christmas present,” Lisa said, having an idea at last. “It’s out in the car but I didn’t want you to see it before I wrapped it. Please, Cameron—just let me get it.”

  “Oh, is that right? You just want to get my present?” He’d snatched the keys from her hand in a swift, unexpected move. Lisa tried to hold onto them but he was too fast—too strong. He snatched them away and dealt her a hard, open-handed slap with the other hand across her face that made her ears ring.

  “Please,” she repeated, her eyes tearing from the blow, but by now she was losing hope.

  Cameron had leveled a finger at her.

  “I’m going to go check the car, Lisa my love,” he said in that cruel, cultured voice of his. Scotch fumes hung heavy on his breath—a smell she had come to associate with pain and violence. “I’m going to go check the car and if I don’t find a present—if I find you have been lying to me, well then…” He shook his head and made a tsking sound with his tongue. “Well in that case I’m afraid we’ll have to have a punishment.”

  That word—punishment—set off all the alarms at once in Lisa’s head. Cameron only used that word when he was feeling especially brutal. The last time he had used that word she had ended up in the ER.

  She had been intending to wait until he opened