The Tempting: Seducing the Nephilim. D. M. Pratt

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СКАЧАТЬ stood impatiently in the main kitchen, the smell of fresh paint and wood oil polish filtering in from the main house. The combination suddenly made her feel dizzy. The room shifted, moving around her like the horizon on a ship at sea. She laid her hand on the cool granite counter and reached for her glass of water, dabbing a bit on her neck as she watched the installation of their cumbersomely large, brand new Traulsen freezer and fridge, a monstrous, yet beautiful pair of monolithic, stainless steel boxes, the fridge with glass doors and industrial shelves. The freezer was simply a wall of stainless steel. The workmen finally finished hooking up the ventilation system and filter, connected the electrical plugs, and fired up the motor of the mechanical beast. The motors added a low hum to the room making their presence known to all who entered.

      Job done, the three burly men turned to face her. Each man was tall, well-built and fit, each smelling of sweet spice and tart musk, each sweating rivulets through the dirt that stained their faces and very muscular arms. Their similar skin coloring and the shape of their eyes and noses made Eve guess they were brothers or cousins. First and second cousins had been marrying each other for generations in Louisiana so the possibility of a little inbreeding played itself out in their features. Skeeter, the youngest of the three men, couldn’t take his eyes off Eve, especially her full, ripe breasts. He’d had an erection bulging beneath his jeans since she walked into the room. Eve politely ignored it and his lascivious stares. She gave them water, signed the paperwork, tipped them generously and started to say good-by as they stepped out onto the back sun porch. The other brother walked away, but Skeeter turned.

      “Thank you, gentleman. You have a great day and …” Eve started.

      Skeeter interrupted her, “Uhm … Ma’am,” he started to say.

      It was that Southern term, Ma’am, that made her feel older than she was.

      “… well, I just want you to know, if you ever need some help with anything at all, you can call me direct. It would be a real pleasure to help someone as lovely as yourself … well … do anything.”

      “Well, thank you,” Eve said, pretending she didn’t remember his name. “You just call me… I’m Skeeter and I’ll come right over and … fix you up. You know?”

      He smiled with a horny eagerness that almost made her burst out laughing. Eve couldn’t help but notice how young he was … sixteen or seventeen at best. And the already extremely large bulge rising in his pants said everything his words and eyes did not.

      “I do understand, Skeeter. I’ll remember your kind offer if I ever need anything fixed,” she said, smiled graciously and closed the back door, making sure she turned the lock hard enough to be heard.

      Finally they were gone. Still woozy, Eve walked back inside and crossing the kitchen, found herself staring curiously into the fridge’s empty shelves. Have to keep that organized, bummer, she thought. That’s when she noticed her reflection in its thick green glass doors staring back at her. She look tired, more tired than she remembered ever looking before. Eve pushed loose strands of hair back from her face and tucked them into her rope of honey hair. She touched the dark rings that hung like little grey ghosts beneath her eyes and sighed.

      “Cora, how can you always look so damn perfect,” she mumbled to herself.

      Just as she was about to walk away, her image shifted, wavering like heat rising from a street on a hot summer day. It faded, blending into … into… Cora standing on the stairs in her house in New Orleans; no… not standing… running, panicked, terrified, racing through the upper hallway of her house. Cora, her eyes wide with terror, tore down the curved stairway that anchored the house. The fear etched across her face intensified as she glanced back at what was chasing her. Eve stepped closer to the glass as if to look deeper into this other world. A shadow, large, dark and foreboding, pushed out of the darkness that cloaked the upper floor. It leaped on top of Cora, wrapping around her, dragging her into its folds of blackness. A huge hand with long, sharp fingernails jutted out, tearing the stairwell wall fabric with the preciseness of five, perfectly formed razors wielded with superhuman strength. Eve watched as it tore at Cora’s body, her arms, her neck, her face. Blood gushed from Cora as she screamed and fought for her life.

      Eve struggled to pull herself out of the daydream. Was it a wish? A prophesy? A memory? Was this real? No. Impossible! Had it been real Cora would have been left horribly scarred.

      “Miss Eve, are you alright?” a young woman’s voice said, piercing through Eve’s vision, startling her. Eve screamed, knocking her glass to the floor with a crash.

      “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to give you such a start but …” the voice stopped. “Oh, my, Miss Eve, you should sit down.”

      Eve gasped, feeling the girl’s hands guide her to one of the oak Windsor chairs that circled the kitchen table.

      “Let me get you some water.”

      Eve looked at her savior, but a dizzying haze covered the details of her features. She turned back to look at the fridge. It too was now a haze of grey. When she looked back again she saw Aria reaching for a glass and pouring water from a pitcher that sat on the counter.

      Aria was the young nurse from the hospital. Eve had known her mother, but for the life of her Eve couldn’t remember why or from where—just only that she had. The young girl handed Eve the water. Her smooth features and long tight curls were braided into two braids that hung down to her shoulders, making her look even younger than she was. Aria could see Eve’s hands were trembling as she handed her the glass. Eve drank, taking long, deep swallows, feeling the cool liquid wash down her throat and soothe her body. When she stopped, she gasped and caught her breath, forcing herself to slow down. She held on to the wooden arm of the chair with one hand until the trembling slowly subsided.

      “Better?” Aria asked.

      Eve wanted to say, yes, and shake away the images she had just witnessed, yet she also wanted to remember every detail. This was the most complete version of the terrifying fragmented visions that kept plaguing her thoughts day and night since awaking from her coma. Again, she turned back for one last look. There it was, a glimpse, wavering in the glass, of the shadow’s hand cutting through the air and ripping into Cora’s face. Eve squeezed her eyes shut and drank another series of long sips. She sat back and steadied herself against the smooth wood of the oak table. Aria looked from Eve to the massive refrigerator.

      “My, my, it’s pretty gigantic for a fridge, but if you don’t like it, I say send it right back,” Aria offered, her Louisiana accent thick and slow, as she continued her study of the Traulsen that seemed to be the focus of Eve’s tormented expression.

      “It’s fine,” Eve said.

      Eve touched her own neck and thought of the small scar on Cora’s chin and neck. She’d seen it. Of that she was sure. When she first awoke in the hospital she had noticed the wisp of a scar crawling out from under Cora’s chin; a jagged piece of some forgotten past, but she couldn’t remember if Cora ever mentioned where it had come from. It battered Eve’s memory. Desperately, she tried to blend the visual of the terrifying images that skittered across her refrigerator with a piece of a memory. A time and place that didn’t fit anything she could remember doing. Eve struggled to focus on the truth of what happened to her when she hit her head. Getting knocked out wasn’t what came to mind. She woke in the garden alone, she thought. But how? When? How could she determine the correct answers when she didn’t even know which questions to ask? She’d tried more than once to talk to Cora about her visions, but Cora said she had no idea what Eve could possibly be talking about, waved her hand as if to brush away an unwanted fly, abruptly ending every such СКАЧАТЬ