The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
AFFLICTION
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
56 |
CHAPTER 57
Tea leaned against Todd as they passed the island of Aiyina and headed toward Aaron Blackmoor’s island. Todd stared at the Greek map on the instrument panel of Jorgo’s boat trying desperately to remember the coordinates that Jorgo used to find the island last night.
“I think it was this way...I seem to recall passing that cove over there,” he said, half to himself.
“I didn’t know you could drive a boat, querido?”
Todd smiled at her.
“I didn‘t either. I just watched Jorgo, yesterday. Actually this thing sort of drives itself...but...I gotta warn you, I don’t know how to park it.”
“You mean, dock it,” laughed Tea.
“Yeah...whatever. When we get there we’ll have to take the launch in or we‘ll crash into the pier.”
They hadn’t spoken much during the journey, only held each other quietly as the boat cruised along the blue Aegean quickly taking them to the end of their journey...to their destiny.
As the island came into view, Todd heard Tea gasp and felt her body tighten and tense against him. Pulling her closer and kissing her forehead tenderly, he headed toward the long pier that jutted out in front of the house cutting the engines some distance from it. When they had come to a complete standstill, he put his hands on Tea’s shoulders and turned her to face him.
“Tea...you understand what we have to do, right?”
Tea looked away.
“I know that as long as he lives....I’ll never be free. But, Todd...I don’t want to murder him in cold blood. I don’t want us...to be like him.”
“There’s no other way, Tea...it’s us...or him.”
“Perhaps...we can talk to him...reason with him.”
“He’s psychotic...there’s no reasoning with him. I think deep down...you know that.”
Tea nodded and pulled away from him walking toward the stern of the boat, letting the cool ocean breeze clear her troubled mind and sweep away thoughts of their murderous mission. She felt Todd’s arms slip around her from behind pulling her close, enfolding her with his strong, warm body.
“Todd...are we going to die?” Tea asked quietly.
“No fucking way! Maybe Aaron Blackmoor thinks this is all some goddamned Greek tragedy...but...that’s not how it’s going down, Delgado. Look at me,” he said, turning her toward him, his mystical, green eyes locking with hers. “You and I are going to live...we’re going to live like fucking hell,” he said assertively, kissing her forcefully, so deeply it left her breathless and she had to hold on to him to keep from collapsing in his arms. “It’s going to be you and me...and Starr...and that little hybrid of ours that’s living and breathing deep inside you. Tea...my life has mostly been hell, a fucking misery...finally...I know what it’s all about....and I’m not giving that up...not to ghosts from my past, not for Blair, and certainly not for Aaron Blackmoor.”
Tea reached up, pushing his windswept hair out of his eyes and smiling.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me? How much I love you? It’s the most pure and powerful thing I’ve ever felt...the single most significant thing that’s ever happened in my life,” she whispered, tears glazing her dark eyes. “I just don’t know what I would do if I lost you...I know it’s a sin, but, I don’t think I’d want to live without you, Todd.”
“Me either,” he said, closing his eyes and holding her close. “Everything is pointless without you... nothing makes any sense to me unless your there with me, Tea. That’s just how it is...I need you...I love you.”
Tea wiped her tears and kissed his chest through his shirt over and over.
“I love you...I want you...I wish we could make love again...right here, right now,” she said, her hands caressing his back.
Todd smiled.
“Well...there is a bed down below.”
“It’s all I want...to feel you inside me one more time...touch your soul to mine...touch our baby...but,” said Tea, turning away sadly, “Jorgo...we need to free him from this nightmare. He’s an innocent in all this and I don’t want him paying for my mistakes...my lack of judgment in marrying Aaron Blackmoor.”
Tea looked up at the house, her eyes filled with fear and apprehension.
“He reminded me of you, you know...that’s really why I married him. Not in the way he looked...but in his loneliness...his mystery...his darkness. I guess that’s why I asked so few questions about his life...and his past...I really didn’t want to know him that well because the more I knew about him...the more real he became...and the less he became like you. Does that make sense?”
Todd nodded slowly touching her face as he spoke.
“I married Blair because she’s nothing like you...and didn’t remind me of you at all. I didn’t want to remember...I couldn’t bare the pain of remembering you....how your skin felt against mine...how good you smell in the morning...how you whispered my name in the dark,” he said, kissing her softly, letting his lips linger on hers, feeling their silky skin against his own. Pulling away from her he looked up at the house on the cliff. “Actually...I see a lot of myself in him, Tea...a man trying to run from the mess he‘s made of his life. I think...we both want the same thing...salvation of some kind, I guess. I’m not sure either of us deserve it...or you.”
Tea turned and took Todd’s hand, pressing her face into its palm.
“You’re so wrong, amor...you deserve forgiveness...and love...because...you have a beautiful soul...even if you don’t see it. But that’s why I’m here...to see it for you...and help you heal it...and love it as I do.”
Todd’s hand caressed her face, touching her full lips delicately....wanting her.
“I think we’d better stop talking like this because my...uh...soul is getting totally...uh...uplifted,” said Todd smiling, leaning against her, desire weakening his resolve. “God I want you,” he whispered, “I want to feel that feeling when we come together...like right after it happens, Tea...it‘s so good...it’s like...absolution. I’m reborn in that moment with you every time. The things we do together...the stuff we do to each other...I can‘t believe that’s me...that I can feel that close to someone...that exposed...and the more I show you of myself...the better it feels. I’ve spent my whole life hiding from everyone and now...with you... all I want to do is cut myself open and show you my flesh...my blood...my scars...reveal more and more...let you see every part of me. I’ve never felt like this before. I want to get closer.... to be a part of you...for my blood to marry yours...I want my body bound to yours forever. I want to love you more...get closer...if that‘s even possible.”
Tea smiled and touched his face, seeing his eyes welling up with tears.
“But querido...you’ve already done that. Your blood is in me...it’s in our baby,” she said looking down at her body. “I feel it...your love...your body. I feel you in me every moment because our child is in me.”
Todd’s eyes misted and he began to cry as he leaned against her. Tea slipped her arms around him and comforted him, held him tightly for a moment knowing he was overwhelmed with both love and guilt for this child she was carrying. Emotionally spent they leaned against one another for a long time before Tea finally broke the spell and turned away.
“Let’s go, querido...I’m ready.”
Todd took a deep breath and wiped his face before walking to the side of the boat and releasing the levers that lowered the launch into the water. Helping Tea down the stepladder, he looked up at the house on the cliff and noticed Aaron Blackmoor’s tall, brooding figure watching them before disappearing inside. Todd felt for the gun beneath his shirt, its cold, sharp metal cutting into his flesh, then quickly climbed down the ladder, pulled the engine cord and headed toward shore.
The rubber launch raced along the water sliding quickly across the choppy waves. As they got closer to shore Todd stopped the engine and used a paddle to bring them the rest of the way in and jumping out, pulled the raft and Tea onto the sand easily. Todd reached out his hand to Tea but she just sat on the outer tube of the launch, frozen with fear, her arms tightly around her...remembering the months of terror and captivity on this floating prison.
“Hey...come on. I’m not leaving you here, Delgado...don’t be afraid, okay? Trust me.”
Tea finally took his hand and jumped out onto the sand, feeling the familiar softness of her step on its grainy surface...uneasy and unsteady. They headed toward the house but when they reached the bottom of the steps leading up to the marble terrace Todd stopped. Removing the gun from beneath his shirt he dug a hole in the sand and buried it right by the bottom step, placing a rock on top of it to mark its location.
“He’ll probably search us when we get up there...better leave it here for now,” he whispered as they started up the stairs. The closer they got to the top the more sluggish Tea’s steps became but Todd pressed her hand reassuringly till finally they reached the hard, cool floor of the marble terrace and approached the French door which was partially opened.
They braced themselves for a moment, then entered the livingroom of the house.
As they entered the stark, sterile livingroom they noticed Aaron Blackmoor immediately, dressed in white linen, leaning calmly against the white marble mantle of the fireplace, holding a gleaming golden gun in his hand and looking at his watch. Beside him, roped to a chair, was young Jorgo, his face battered and bruised, his glossy, black curls soaked with blood..
Jorgo looked up, trying to see through the thin slits of his raw, swollen eyes as Todd and Tea entered though the doorway and stood together, their beautiful silhouettes hand in hand, framed in the doorway by the afternoon sun.
Noone spoke for a few moments, they were players in an endgame, each in their own space, fixed and erect, like the last remaining pieces on a chess board.
“I’m so sorry, my friends,” said Jorgo, looking up at Todd.
“Oh no, Jorgo...it is we who are sorry,” said Tea, leaving Todd in the doorway and approaching him. Tea threw Aaron a hateful look as he stared at her coldly. Walking quickly to the bar across the room she returned a few moments later with a wet cloth and a glass of water and leaning down beside Jorgo she wiped his bruised, bloodied face gently and gave him some water which he drank desperately.
“You coward...how could you do this to him? Jorgo had nothing to do with this,” said Tea indignantly.
“On the contrary, my sweet, he was a willing accomplice...a co-conspirator in your abduction. He is no innocent...I never hurt the innocent...unlike Todd Manning who only preys on those weaker than himself.”
Tea stood up before him.
“I’m here now...this is what you wanted, right? Now...let him go.”
Jorgo watched Tea curiously. He had always noticed her obvious physical beauty from a distance...but only now did he see the real woman up close...her bravery...her kindness...her substance. The way she wiped his face...with such compassion and tenderness...the way she stood up to Aaron Blackmoor in all her womanly delicacy, soft, yet, unarmed and unafraid, as he waved his gun in her face. He realized that this woman, a virtual stranger, had returned to this island for the express purpose of saving his life, perhaps at the expense of her own....and her nobility overwhelmed him. She was indeed beautiful...earthy and brave...sensual and strong, possessing all the qualities of some ancient heroine. Jorgo observed her admiringly, her face natural and unadorned, her hair, wild and windswept, her slender body lost in Todd’s clothing, and yet, looking every inch the goddess that these two men both wanted to possess. She was filled with something indescribable and mystical...a passionate power...a womanly essence...perhaps, it was love. It suddenly occurred to him, in the middle of all this mayhem and madness, that he wanted to fall in love...to be swept away by it...lost in it...to love a woman the way Paris loved Helen of Troy, the way Todd Manning loved Tea Delgado...with his entire being...a love worth dying for. Yes...he wanted to live...and to love....
“She’s right, Blackmoor. This is between us. Jorgo knew nothing about this...I only paid him to use his boat...so...just let him go,” said Todd from the doorway.
“Such compassion, Todd. Who could have anticipated that an amoral rapist could show such mercy for the life of a mere plebe.”
“Please, Aaron...let him go,” said Tea quietly. “Your battle is with us...not with him.”
Tea shuddered as she watched Aaron pull a large knife from his belt and raise it quickly into the air above Jorgo’s head. He brought it down swiftly as Tea gasped and watched the knife disappear behind Jorgo’s chair, cutting the ropes in an instance. Jorgo moaned as he felt his arms fall limply to his sides and he rubbed his red, swollen wrists in obvious pain.
“Get out of here. Walk down to the pier and stay where I can see you or I’ll shoot you. I have never missed my target, Jorgo...so if you want to continue living stay where I can see you,” said Aaron, his eyes on Todd.
Jorgo got up, his legs stiff from sitting for hours as he walked unsteadily toward the door. Before leaving he looked at Todd and Tea, who stood side by side, their hands clasped together.
“Thank you,” he whispered before walking out.
Aaron walked over to the door and watched as Jorgo walked across the sand and onto the pier, then he turned and stared directly at Todd.
“Now...you go. Get the hell out of here and go back to Llanview. Go back to your wife and your family...where you belong,” he said.
“I am with my wife...and I’m not leaving without her,” said Todd, looking him straight in the eye.
Aaron stood still but Todd noticed his jaw clench and the muscles of his face twitching with restraint as he waved his gun in the air and walked back toward the mantle keeping a wide distance between them. Suddenly he turned, lifted his gun, aimed and shot at Todd.
The loud, sharp sound shattered the silence and Tea gasped turning quickly to Todd who just stood there unflinching. The bullet had hit the marble floor a quarter inch beside Todd’s foot leaving a deep gauge in the floor.
“Go away, Manning...get the hell out of our lives...or I‘ll kill you, here and now.”
“I’m not leaving without Tea.”
Tea slipped her arm around him.
“Aaron...I’m not staying here. I want to be with Todd.”
Aaron raised his gun and shot again. Todd cried out as he felt a sharp, burning pain slash the side of his face and warm blood running quickly down his neck, into his collar.
“Oh, God...” said Tea, as she placed her hand against his ear in an effort to stop the bleeding.
“Don’t worry, my dear...its only a minor flesh wound...just the tip of his earlobe...one sixteenth of an inch...a small abrasion of the skin...nothing more.”
“YOU SADISTIC BASTARD...STOP THIS! I’m not coming back to you...hurting Todd won’t make me love you. It will only succeed in making me hate you more.”
“DO YOU WANT HIM DEAD, TEA...BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF HE DOESN’T LEAVE US” he yelled, glaring at her trying to maintain his composure. “My darling, this man is unworthy of you...he is a rapist...preying on the innocent...”
Tea looked up at him in disgust.
“Preying on the innocent? You’re a murderer! You kill for money...for a living! You killed Ben Davidson...you killed Mikos...they were innocent people! It is you who prey on the innocent!”
“Innocent? Ben Davidson saved the lives of mobsters who killed more people than I ever could in a lifetime and Mikos...he was a hired gun who killed for the price of a drink. I don’t kill the innocent...I rid the world of diseased and unworthy animals... I am a noble hunter...an executioner of the guilty. I am a liberator!”
Todd lunged toward him angrily as Tea struggled to hold him back.
“Do you want to compare your sins to mine, Blackmoor...is that what we’re doing here? You call yourself a liberator, ha? Well...what do you call a man who murders his own mother, Klaus...you soulless bastard!”
Aaron’s face became pale and stony, his lower lip quivering with silent rage as he raised his gun and shot at Todd once more. This time the impact of the bullet sent Todd flying across the room, crashing into the wall behind him.
“NO!” screamed Tea as she ran to him. Todd clutched his shattered arm as the pain sent him reeling and he fell to the floor. “Oh my God...querido...querido...”
“I’m okay,” whispered Todd, wincing in pain as he clutched his arm.
Tea looked up at Aaron, his blue eyes darkening with fury and madness, fixated on Todd as he started to aim his gun again. She leapt up quickly, remembering the gun they had buried in the sand, and started running toward the door but as she reached out to open it she heard a loud shot as an explosion of glass shattered the door in front of her, falling all around her in a million crystalline pieces.
“TEA!” shouted Todd as he struggled to get up, leaning against the wall for support.
“DON’T MOVE, TEA,” yelled Aaron, his gun pointed at her back. Trembling wildly, she turned slowly and faced him.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME...I CAN’T LOVE YOU!” she screamed, running back to help Todd, his blood running down his sleeve making crimson streaks of red along the white wall as he moved along it.
“I need you, my love. Stay with me...or I’ll finish him off right now, Tea. Tell him to go,” he said, pointing the shiny barrel of his gun at Todd’s head.”
Tea placed her body in front of Todd, shielding him from Aaron as Todd tried desperately to push her aside with his other arm, but she didn’t budge, only pressed her body more firmly against his, looking at Aaron Blackmoor defiantly.
“Tea...don’t do this,” said Todd, but she wouldn’t budge.
“GO AHEAD! SHOOT! The only way you’ll kill him is through me! DO YOU HEAR ME? SHOOT! You stand there...so proud of yourself, so proud of your perverse version of innocence and justice that allows you to kill without conscience...but...if you kill me...you will be killing my innocent child. I’m pregnant...I’m pregnant with Todd’s child...an innocent baby. So...if you kill me...you kill my baby...and you will be damned to hell,” she said.
Aaron’s mouth opened slightly, his piercing eyes narrowing into icy slivers as he slowly lowered his gun.
“YOU’RE LYING! YOU’LL SAY ANYTHING TO SAVE HIM!”
“No. I’m not lying. I’m pregnant. Aaron...please...let us go. I can’t give you your soul back...but maybe...it’s not too late for you. Let us leave...let my baby live. Prove to me that you can be merciful...that there is something decent, something human left inside of you. Show me that you do indeed have a soul by letting us live. Please...I love Todd...and he loves me. All we want is to be together...” she cried softly. “I’m so sorry that I betrayed you...and hurt you...that I can’t love you. But...please...let me go. You say that you love me...if that‘s true than show me...let me be happy with the man I love. And let my innocent baby live...”
Tea walked over to Todd, drained of everything inside her, burying her face in his chest as he put his arm around her, closing his eyes and kissing her hair softly.
Aaron Blackmoor watched her as she sobbed into her lover’s body, disappearing into the intimate world of love that he would never be a part of. Their tragic beauty overwhelming him as he paced quietly, glass fragments crunching beneath his feet as he walked back and forth, his finger twitching on the trigger of his golden Desert Eagle Magnum, his madness wrestling with his reason. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to them, his face a cold mask as he lifted his gun and aimed it directly at them, the barrel quivering in mid air. Tea and Todd held each other more closely and closed their eyes.
“I love you...” whispered Todd.
Aaron Blackmoor stood still.
“Go,” he said quietly, lowering his gun and walking away from the door.
Tea opened her eyes and looked up at him slowly, then up at Todd who looked confused and suspicious. They didn’t move.
“GO...GO!” he yelled, turning his back on them.
Todd moaned at the excruciating pain shooting up his arm as he pulled Tea to him. At first they moved slowly, backing away cautiously toward the door with their eyes fixed on Aaron, afraid he would shoot them from behind, but as they got closer to the door they quickened their pace and headed for the stairs that lead to their freedom. As they hit the sand they started running toward the launch as Jorgo stood up on the pier and started rushing toward them.
As they all reached the launch they stopped, hearing a strange, piercing sound in the distance. It was the sound of sirens and as they looked across the water they could see a stream of red and blue lighted police boats heading toward the island, the ghostly sound becoming louder and louder as they got closer.
Tea looked back up at the house and noticed Aaron had come out onto the terrace and was watching the boats as they approached the pier. Looking down at Todd and Tea he raised his gun high in the air, it’s golden barrel gleaming brightly in the afternoon sun as he placed it against his perfect temple and shot himself.
to be continued...
2002 Copyright by Trog
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