Read Michael Zane

(Legal stuff, This book is fiction, names, characters, places and incidents are either products of my imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead is completely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.)

Chapter 1

Slowly he lifted his hands, meeting his index fingers at his smirking lips, folding the rest of his fingers together. His eyebrows lifted at the ends, the sensual lips under his mustache and beard tilted to one side. His dark eyes pierced through her.

“What am I going to do with you?” He said in a teasing, deceptively soft voice.  

Raina started to tremble. She tried to make her mind work, but she felt wrong, off balance. “Please…” She started, but his enigmatic face changed. His hands dropped. While his eyebrows lifted further into dark upside-down checkmarks, his lips parted slightly and his whole face became hard.

Raina dropped her eyes and nodded timidly. Something was so wrong.

His finger gently lifted her chin, the smile was back. “Yes, what will I do with you?” The tender, breathless quality in his voice was more terrifying than the anger. “I understand you must be very uncomfortable sitting in this hard chair, but some discomforts are necessary. I assure you, that as soon as you tell me what I need to know I’ll let Diana take you to your new room.” His voice had become matter of fact; almost comically so.  He turned and picked up a file off of the table.

“Your guardian is Red Westridge, correct? Just nod if yes.” He held the file open in his left hand, lifting his finger to his lips. “Hmm, you lost your parents a year ago, just as you finished your first year of college?” He looked up and met Raina’s eyes as she nodded. “You were already living with Red and his wife, because they were in the same city where you were attending college?”

Raina shivered at the seemingly benign questions, knowing it couldn’t all be this simple or she wouldn’t be here. Why was she feeling so vulnerable? She was strong, that she was sure of. She remembered being strong. She nodded again and wished her parents were still alive.

“All right Diana, take her to her room.” Raina stiffened. Why was she here? Why had he taken her?  Is that all he wanted? Her face had given away her incredulous thoughts.

His gaze became hard his eyebrows lifted again and he leaned in very close to her, his breath brushing her cheek. “Do you want to say something, Raina?” She shook her head with small jerks, trying to back away.

                Raina had awakened earlier in the dark room. It was taking her time to remember anything. She couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t move. She tried to lift her arms and legs, but nothing happened. Her head seemed all jumbled and confused. She could hear music. Sometimes it seemed far away, then it was close. It was unsettling music. She couldn’t describe what made it so, but it caused her skin to crawl.

                The door had opened and she observed her captor for the first time. His presence immediately took her breath away. He was so cold. He wore a black turtleneck with a tailored black jacket and slacks. He had his hair cut short, but she could see the curls smoothed into control. Raina noticed a cropped beard and a mustache that joined at the sides of his mouth with sideburns cut to just below his ears.

His eyes, his eyes made her shiver, as they were hauntingly familiar. She listened to his shoes clip to the beat of the music, that unsettling music, as he approached her across the room.

He leaned over her and unbuckled the straps holding her down. It had never occurred to her that she was restrained. She just lay there gazing at him. He didn’t speak; he just smiled to himself, a very pleased expression on his face. He met her eyes once but didn’t acknowledge her presence except to finish freeing her. She could see his eyes were a deep green. He stood and left the room. He shut the door, and it was completely dark once more. Why hadn’t she spoken? Raina realized he was the person her nightmares were made of, they all encompassed him. It was him.

                Raina tried to sit up, but nothing happened, so she just concentrated on moving her fingers. She might as well have been still strapped to the bed. She struggled inside, pushing away a terror that was creeping up from the foot of the bed. She knew in her mind that it was unreasonable fear, the kind she’d never before had to fight with personally. Her uncle had taken her to horror movies since before she could walk, so nothing scared Raina Devear. She knew that, but she was trembling from fear. Something was coming for her. Something had her.

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Michael Zane

 

 

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