When Worlds Collide
10
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When Worlds Collide Chapter Ten (NC-17)
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Empress of Multitasking, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and
Uberbeta… Finally, lol.
“Get off my
hair!”
“I’m not on
your Goddamn hair!”
“Bobby, I
swear to all that is pure and holy that I will claw your eyes out if you don’t
move!” Belladonna rolled roughly onto
her right side and nearly gagged as her elbow slid in slimy water, soaking
through her thin jacket. “Oh lord, that
ain’t comin’ out…”
Bobby
groaned, his head aching.
“Your big
elephant foot was on my hair, thankyouverymuch,” she
snarled. “Where are we?”
“Dead, I
think. At least it feels like it.”
motion. His body ached, even his hair
hurt. “Geez, it stinks down here!”
“Rotten
vegetation,” Belladonna sighed. “Swamp
water.” She rose carefully to her feet,
trying to ignore the creeping feeling of dread working its way up her
spine. “And we’re not under anything.”
“What’s
that supposed mean?” he asked wearily, feeling more than a little sick to his
stomach. “There’s
walls, there’s a floor…”
She sighed
and then winced as she stepped in something soft, wet and squishy.
lending the insult an almost sensual air.
“These ain’t walls an’ there isn’t any floor.”
Bobby
closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again.
of were not there but rather it was a thick matting of vines and branches,
starlight sparkling between the leaves and stems warily.
to be hard packed earth and pebbles, bits of natural debris left by the
changing seasons. He narrowed his gaze
and tried to focus harder. “We’re
outside?”
“Your power
is stating the obvious, isn’t it?” Belladonna pressed her hands to her thighs
to try and blot the moisture and only served to make it worse. “Oh,
disgusting! I’m soaked!”
“I think we’re
in a swamp,” Bobby said, then groaned.
close by or very sure we’re not going to get far or even get out alive if they’re
just leaving us outside like this.”
“Or they’re
just insane,” she sighed. “You
He raised a
brow at her use of his name. He was
fairly certain this was the first time she had used it rather than an insult or
simply “hey”. “Can’t
say that I have. This is my first
time…” He stood carefully, wrinkling his
nose as his damp clothes clung to his body and the smell of the swamp hit him
full force. “And I don’t see doing this
again in the foreseeable future.”
Belladonna
made a muted choking noise that Bobby took for a laugh, making him grin
slightly. When she finally spoke again,
it was after a long moment of considering silence.
the thin slivers of moonlight through the vines making her seem to glow.
Bobby
blinked. “Are you trying to seduce me Belladonna?”
She rolled
her eyes, her momentarily peaceful expression lost.
it’s own, widdout their help…”
phone, growling a string of swear words under her breath when she came up empty
handed. “My money’s gone, too.
Bobby
patted down his own pockets and came up smiling.
direction, he dialed Remy’s cell phone number.
“It’s ringing.”
She sighed
and began pacing their area. “We need to
make you a cape, Captain Obvious.”
He shot her
a rude gesture and turned his back, muttering under his breath for someone,
anyone to pick up. Ten rings later, he
looked up at her and made a face. “No
answer… now what?”
Belladonna
paused, her head tilted to one side as if listening to something only she could
hear. “Bobby, hang up the phone.
Wordlessly,
he complied, snapping it closed and stuffing it into his pocket without
bothering to turn it off. He moved
silently, albeit cautiously, to stand at her side.
“I was
wrong. We’ve got a visitor…”
about ten feet from them, out in the swamp.
As they stood quietly, Bobby heard
it, the soft hissing, sucking sound of a pirogue
being pushed through the vegetation-thick water towards them.
him, though she did not change position.
He could not put his finger on it, but he knew that she was obviously
ready for something and something bad at that…
“Belladonna…”
“Shhhhhhhh!”
she hissed, not moving a fraction of an inch.
The sound of the pirogue was
growing closer but Bobby could not see anything in the starlight
blackness. Some distance away, miles and
miles and miles he thought, the dim glow of the city rose over the swamp.
water from the hard packed bank and he tried not to think about things with
sharp teeth and a taste for human flesh.
Instead, he edged closer to Belladonna, flexing his fingers.
night caught his eye and he stared hard into the darkness.
splashing, the sound of someone stepping into the shallow water just an arm’s
length from them, broke the night’s stillness.
Bobby felt the crystals form on his fingertips, Belladonna fairly
trembling beside him with restrained energy.
The glimmer resolved it int into a form which became a person.
reaching Belladonna’s chin stepped forward into the thin sliver of moonlight
breeching the tangle of vines and branches.
She was the color of café au lait, her eyes a
surprising clear green in the dark night.
She smiled placidly at them both and held her hands out, palms up.
murmured, her voice so light as to be almost carried
away on the rich breeze.
Belladonna inhaled sharply.
m’dame. We
were brought here ‘gainst our will.”
The girl—woman, Bobby corrected
himself—made hmming noises and then smiled
brightly. “D’accord,
dark.
“What the…”
Belladonna was still tensed but she
seemed more considering. “Follow her,”
she replied tartly. “Anywhere is better
than here.”
name="_ftn1" title="">
"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>[1]
reference to The Graduate: “Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs
Robinson?”
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"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>[2]
a dugout canoe but in Cajun areas, they’re these flatbottomed
boats you push through shallows and swamps with a long pole.
careful and don’t shift your weight too much, otherwise you’re in the water
with the snakes and critters.