Hotel California

The lady placed her fingers on my leg under the table; I held her wrist, and shook my head when she looked at me.

"But you so enjoyed it earlier, darling," she whispered to me. I ground my teeth.

"Harridan, be careful what you do in company. I will call on you later, perhaps, but for now, behave."

She pouted, an unusual expression on an woman, but was the soul of propriety for the rest of the evening.

"Is there a reason you won't tell me your name?" I leant over to my left, and asked the Captain's wife.

She looked sadly at me, and was about to answer when the Captain looked over.

"Come now, do not whisper at my table."

We were unable to talk again at dinner, but the Captain's wife offered to see me to bed. The Captain gave her his blessing to go, before turning his ice blue eyes on me.

"I have some discipline to deliver. I may be a little late to bed, my dear."

His eyes travelled between us, and they looked all too aware of how things stood, between him and me, but also between his wife and me.

My chambers were amazing at night; lit by the gas lights, which cast floating shadows that wavered, flickering the dimness around. It created mystery, sensuality, where there was none before; given that the Captain's wife was already both of those, the room rendered her doubly of either. Her skin was pale, but in the light she was no longer simply bleached; she was tanned by the firelights, browned and yellowed into their color.

She sat at the divan in the corner, opposite the bed. She leant back, and stretched out, her eyes catlike.

"Why won't you tell me your name?" I asked her again, standing over by the door. I did not trust myself closer to her.

"You know," she said conversationally. "I used to sit in this room, when my parents brought me to this place. This was my room; this was the room when he first came to me, and took from me my purity."

She looked up at me, and she was naked, unhooded in her emotion. Something was broken within her.

"I was twenty one; we were betrothed, and he took my virginity well before our marriage. It was not so much a forceful taking as... well, I would have waited, and while I was not unwilling I was not the opposite, either.

"He has changed, since; he beds the maids, the staff, the slaves, as he would. That whore from dinner, she came here at his invitation; I know you bedded her."

She stood, and walked over to me. "So I ask you, why should I give you my name?"

There was a knock on the door, and as I opened it the Lady Margaret walked through. She reddened, on seeing the Captain's wife, but then walked over to her. Something seemed to pass between them; they turned back to face me as one.

They were both so different; Margaret was almost as tall as I was, and was statuesque; her shape was desire incarnate, temptation born. Her hair fell in golden waves to just above her waist, and her maroon dress and bodice was darkened by the dimness of the room.

The Captain's wife was small, so exquisite; she was a precious stone, a diamond beside a lump of gold. Her hair was so dark, so straight, so perfectly arranged; it was artful, her perfection in appearance, it was effortless. Easy. Her face was so classically beautiful, it appeared almost exotic. But as much as I could see of her, she hid so much more within. The cut of her dress was modest; she showed only the merest hint of bosom and hip; it had the effect of making me ache for more.

They both walked slowly to me; their steps matched each others perfectly. I wanted them both; I wondered at their unison, if it was true.

"I spoke to the Mistress, earlier," the Lady Margaret said softly, as she walked to me. "I wanted to be there, when you first took her. I wanted to see you the first time you lost yourself."

The Captain's wife didn't stop when Margaret did; she pressed herself to me. I was hard up against the door, not to evade her embrace as to escape from a situation in which I had no control, and no desire to truly absent myself.

She kissed me.

My body moved naturally to surround hers; my arms held her to me. My eyes closed as we entered Elysium together, our minds naturally lost.

I felt hands unbuttoning my shirt, as the Captain's wife worked my pants down; I felt Margaret's lips on my shoulder, her hair on my back.

We disolved together, onto the bed. For some reason I was divested of all apparel where the women retained all non essentially removable clothing. I kissed Margaret as the Captain's wife took me into her mouth; I cupped her sex in my hand, as Margaret straddled my head, feeling as my erection entered her between my fingers. We melded, broke; we kissed over and over, we devoured each other's passion.

We lay there, a tangled mass of golden curls and clothing, swimming in bliss. To say that I was disappointed would be completely untrue, but I wanted to know the Captain's wife more, to have her just to me. To make her mine, not to share her even with just another woman.

I think I must have dozed, because I awoke alone, with insistent knocking on my door.

The Captain entered, and regarded me. I felt somewhat odd, the man whom I had just cuckolded within my chambers, but I sat up.

"Tell me, sir, why is it that you insist on entering my chambers without introduction?"

"My wife," he said shortly. "I have yet to see her this morning. I assumed she was still here."

His nostrils flared as I my eyes widened, at least initially- he knew?

"Oh, yes, I know of my wife's predilections. We will discuss this later, but for now, join us for a lite meal. There is a feast tonight; we must be ready."

He left the room; I watched, then stared into the spot he had just vacated. I knew I was a cad, but frankly, I-

And I came back to myself.

*****

I was a fucking dickhead, not a cad. I didn't know what the fuck Elysium was, or what the fuck was happening. I wanted out; I wanted my jeans, so when I found them, crumpled and dirty on the bottom of the wardrobe I put them on, inhaling the only thing that could make me remember properly who I was.

I looked for my leather jacket- fuck, I was dying for some bourbon- but I couldn't find it. I put on the heavy combat boots I wore here, and I walked out into the hallway.

It was as though the eight hours had passed, and it was night already, as I crept down the corridor. The place was deserted; I saw cracks in the perfect walls, broken glass where the windows were. And the wind howled, genuinely howled around the house. The chill I had felt was wrapped around me; every step I took was a chore.

"There he is," the Captain's wife said coldly, behind me.

"Surely you would not be so rude as to leave before the feast? Then, you have displayed a deplorable lack of manners," the whore Margaret said, using velvet clad fingers to emphasise her words. I turned, and looked at them, the two; they were as I remembered them, perfect. But they stood out now, against the hall; they were the only thing here without flaw, the only thing that shone. It hurt to look at them, and I was truly afraid of them.

"Come with us. Come to the Captain's chambers, where we gather for the feast."

I felt a pounding, between my eyes, and I vanished from myself.

I opened my eyes, and I was still me, thankfully, but I lay astride a table. It was stone; everything around was stone. I was tied face up, my body naked and cold.

"How does it feel, sah?"

I craned my head around, trying to find the maid, but I could only see myself. I tried to break the bonds that held me, but I couldn't move an inch.

"I couldn't move either, when my husband had his way with me." The Captain's wife whispered at me, over to my right. "I lied to you, when I said I was willing for that at all."

"Her predilections lay elsewhere. In my direction," Margaret's voice rasped, directly over my head. I writhed then, as something ran across the skin of my stomach.

"So he took me, and hurt me-"

"Just like he did me," the maid interrupted.

"And then he married me, and kept my love as a mistress." The Captain's wife whispered lovingly into my ear.

"Like you did," Margaret said."You are like him; like he was. He wasn't as you saw him; that is rather how we wished he was. But then, you'll see how he is now, soon."

"Would you like to know why? Why we did all this, broke you like this?"

I nodded.

"Because women have suffered at your hands, all your life." Margaret's face appeared above me, the skin too pale, her cheeks gaunt. She was a corpse; I could feel her breath, fetid on my cheek, and I retched.

"And your debts to usssss...sah." The maid said, before they all spoke in unison.

"Are due."

*****

The bonds holding me broke, and I stood, and looked for the exit; the room came slowly into view, dimness blurring into reality.

Then I saw it; the Beast.

I ran. It chased me, charging through walls, savage in its hunger. But, as it pursued me, I could hear cries of pursuit; even as it chased me, thirsting for my blood, so was it too chased, harried.

I stumbled, and it slammed into me, a grand hulking mass of flesh and blackness; it yelped in surprise, before growling. It took me into its claws, and lifted me off my feet; I stared, over its snout, and into the electric blue eyes before I realised.

The maid, the lady, and the Captain's wife followed, and they each had a kitchen knife.

Lined with blood.

It did not just coat the blades; no, it was spotting their clothing, rimming around the corners of their mouths, their eyes. Their beauty eternally marred by the blood that changed them from delight into terror.

They were Terror.

Then we both were running, ever running, stumbling over each other in our effort to escape the women, the banshees of our destruction. I had not known the place was so large, so extensive; now I thanked whatever god was listening that it was, and that the women did not have us cornered.

"This is what you are," the women said, their voices ringing like funeral bells. "To us- to all women- you are beasts, and like beasts you will be purged."

They swooped us, and I felt their steel against me; I watched as the maid licked my blood off her knife.

I screamed.

******

Another night, another dim stretch of road. Eyes really dim this time. Keep slipping off. Air's really cold tonight. Got bits of ice in it. Glad I took that bottle of whiskey, though. Helped dull the pain.

Hang on. Huge building, tucked away into a neat corner, all lit up like a christmas tree without the sanctimoniousness. There was a girl outside. Pretty. Long, flowing hair. Black dress. Kinda looks like that classy chick from breakfast at tiffanys.

I can't remember pulling over. I only remember her lighting a candle, and beckoning me inside. I could hear the wind whistling outside, carrying snatches of words. But this time, I could understand the voice; it was familiar, a song I once heard.

"You may check out any time you like..."

I heard the words, but the rest of the song escaped me as I passed away into deepest unconsciousness, to repeat all of this again.