The Gift She Gives Ch. 10

"Vesper, maybe we should-wait...what's going on?" By the tone of his voice, he knew that there were people missing from the room, and the knowledge that he had known cut her to the quick, but Vesper refused to lose her composure again.

"I have paid them off and they are no longer in the spa. I assume that it is the people he had tied up in here that you are asking about." She muttered as she went to stand in the middle of the room.

"You sent them away?" He asked, his eyes wide still as he shook his head slowly and walked farther inside himself.

"Yes. He shouldn't need them. I should be-I should..." Vesper bit her lip and turned away from him and walked towards the window. Looking down, she saw that they were above a grassy area that was large, but otherwise empty below them.

"Vesper, he can't-." He stopped when she turned to him with a disgusted look on her face.

"Please do not stick up for the fact that he did this. He promised, he PROMISED me that he was being honest." She opened the windows wide, happy that, like in her room, there were not screens on the outside.

"Vesper." He frowned, watching as she walked towards him and grabbed a basket filled with satin bondage ropes.

Vesper took the basket over to the window, and then dumped the contents, and then the entire basket out of it to fall to the grass below. As he watched for several minutes, she grabbed several more baskets and did the same thing with them. Eventually, she paused and looked at him.

"Some of those things," She swiveled her head around at the random and strange pieces of furniture, "look really heavy. Could you please help me get them through the window."

"You're planning to empty the room then?" Samir did not immediately do her bidding, she was playing with fire, and he knew it.

"Yes." A basket filled with dildos smashed to the ground.

"And then what?"

"I intend to go downstairs and light a fire." She frowned at him as he cocked one eyebrow up at her.

"You're sure this is what you want to do?"

"Yes. Please, help me." She nodded, her fury more than apparent on her face.

Samir sighed and nodded, going to a device made of metal and wood, and he picked it up and threw it out the window. Without a word, the two of them quickly emptied the room, and Vesper was somewhat surprised that no one had come upstairs to find out what was going on. No one was in the yard watching, either, to see the growing pile of sex objects that was being piled up below.

"There. See. It looks so much better in here." Vesper said breathlessly a short time later as she looked around her at a now empty room.

"You're still going to burn everything?"

"Yes."

"Let me go outside and do it. You may want to go hide in your room for...ever." He frowned at her as she looked up at him.

"I'm not afraid of him anymore, Samir. I'm not scared of anything he could say or do to me." She shrugged her shoulders at him.

"Vesper, he isn't going to like this."

"I don't like this."

"He wasn't trying to hurt you-."

"Don't."

"Fine." Samir breathed out slowly and then walked over to the window. Climbing onto the sill, he jumped, turning into his giant form before reaching the ground below.

Vesper walked over and watched as he pounded his hands down into the pile, smashing things apart so that he could gather it all into a tighter pile. Then, turning into his human form, he walked over to where there was a grill set up near the patio. Grabbing a container of lighter fluid and a grill torch, he walked back over to the pile they had made and poured the bottle of fluid over the top of it, spreading it around so that the burn would be more equal. Finally, he looked up at her and then lit the torch and put it to the pile. It didn't take long for the fluid to catch, and soon, the whole pile was in flames.

Thankfully, it was far enough away from the house that she wasn't worried about the spa catching on fire, though that would solve certain problems, she supposed. If this horrid monstrosity burned to the ground, would its hold on her go away? Would she be able to leave? Would not having a sex spa make Mr. Hughes see that he could live a different way, that he could BE a different way?

Vesper watched the fire below as it destroyed all of the physical evidence of Mr. Hughes' betrayal to her. Her eyes were so focused on the fire that she didn't notice that while Samir stood below watching the flames, other workers on the grounds had finally come out and were watching the pile burn, confusion on their faces as they looked from the pile, up to where Vesper stood in the window, tears running down her face. It wasn't until a pair of dark gray, stormy eyes were looking up from below that she finally removed her gaze from the flames and met the look of a violently angry Mr. Hughes. Frowning, she shook her head at him and turned and walked away from the window.

She left his room at a brisker pace than when she had entered, and had just closed and locked her bedroom door when she heard footsteps stomping heavily down the hallway towards her. The pounding force with which Mr. Hughes knocked on her door made her jerk back a moment, and then Vesper moved to her dresser and shoved the heavy wooden piece of furniture to sit in front of the door. She knew it could take a beating, but Mr. Hughes was extremely strong, she had seen him use his muscles before, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he got in the room.

"Vesper, open up this bloody door this instant!" His angry shout boomed through the doorway and she felt a nervous shiver work up and down her spine.

"I am indisposed, Mr. Hughes. I will speak to you tomorrow."

"You will speak to me right now, Miss Lynch. Right now!" He was furious, beyond furious, so angry that she didn't know if there was a word to describe it.

"I have nothing to say to you. Please, Mr. Hughes. Leave me alone." Vesper knew her voice was breaking and she knew her cheeks were wet again as she shifted the twin bed to push it up against the dresser, she was starting to hear splintering in the door frame.

"Vesper, please." He said just as loudly, but this time it was more of a pleading sound.

She walked backwards to stand near her window and watched, wide eyed, as the door finally split and half of it was pushed down and over the top of her dresser. In the hallway, she could see Mr. Hughes, face red, chest heaving from exertion, and his eyes, his eyes were black and focused on her the moment she came into view. Yes, she had definitely gotten his attention.

"What did you do with them?" He asked, looking to his left for just a moment and shaking his head a moment before looking back at her.

Vesper frowned, "You're more concerned with what I did with your play things than you are about the fact that you've lost me?"

He tensed, taking in a harsh breath and holding it for a moment before he responded to her, "Lost you?"

"They weren't clients that you were preparing for someone else to have sex with, Mr. Hughes, they were there for you to have sex with. You kept a room of-a room of-." She shook her head, damn him for this.

"I just want to know where they are." He stayed where he was in the hallway.

"They're on their way to the airport. I've paid them all. They're gone." Vesper told him as he frowned at her.

"You should have come to me."

"Why, so you could have lied to me again?" Vesper arched a brow at him.

His face reddened just a bit more and he put his hands on the door, close to climbing through it. "I could have explained."

"Explained? How do you explain the fact that you were having sex with other people while we were in a relationship, a relationship that you said was based on trust. On honesty. You are a liar." She hissed at him and backed against the window when he pushed up with his arms and maneuvered himself over the door and down the remains of it and her dresser to stand on the floor close to the wall.

"Vesper," He sighed, his hands fisted at his sides as he glared at her, "you don't understand. You have to let me explain."

"Was it your room?"

"Yes."

"Were you having sex with the women in there, with the man?"

"Yes."

"Since we met?"

"Yes."

"Did you think that I would ever be okay with it?" Vesper knew her voice was shaking, and she was terrified he would move towards her, she couldn't handle him causing any more pain for her right now, she was in enough.

He frowned at her, his eyes were finally starting to lighten a bit as he sensed how very upset she was, as he sensed how much pain he had caused her, "I cannot touch you, Vesper, I wish I could, with every part of me, I do. But I cannot touch you, and there are things, there are things that I am compelled to do, that I need to do that I cannot do to you."

Vesper tensed and widened her eyes at him, "Do not play the 'a man and his needs' card on me, Mr. Hughes. I am an equal part in this thing between the two of us. Do you not think that I have needs, as well? Do you not think that I would like to be touched and held and kissed, and made love to? I've spent 87 years with only my mother for companionship, the vast majority of those years, she wouldn't even hug me, or hold my hand. Can you imagine that? A nine year old girl walking down the street with a mother who refused to hold her hand? I ache to be touched, I burn for it. But I love you, you stupid stupid foolish man, and I am trying to live with the fact that I may very well never be able to touch someone intimately for the entire rest of my life. And not once, not once, did I ever consider looking for intimacy somewhere else, with ANYone else."

His eyes were a very light gray at this point, and he looked quite a bit paler than when he had first broken down the door. "Vesper," his voice was a low whisper and he took a step towards her, "I am not used to this. I have never...dated someone before. I have never felt the attraction that I feel with you with anyone else. I've never been monogamous. I am not sure how to."

"Step one would be not having sex with other people." Vesper spat out and scooted a little closer to the window she was near.

"Vesper, I am scared to do to you what I do to them. I am afraid that you will find me repulsive and that you will leave me." He said, his shoulders slumped a little as he watched for her reaction.

"You will never know now, will you?" Vesper shook her head and gasped when he grew angry again and took another step forward.

"Listen to me, Vesper, this doesn't have to-." Mr. Hughes stopped when she started laughing coldly at him.

"I have been listening to you for months, and in all that time, you never brought this up. Not one single time. You thought I would find you repulsive for cutting off your wings, I didn't, you thought I would find you repulsive for not having a penis, I didn't. I continued working on a relationship with you even though I know you can never give me what I want. I have listened, and you haven't told me the truth." She put up a hand to warn him off when he began walking towards her a little quicker and when he suddenly stopped, as if something else had forced him to, she arched an eyebrow and tilted her head.

The angel looked surprised and he looked down at himself and it seemed as though he was trying to move but was unable to. Vesper knew her eyes widened a moment at the realization of what this all meant, and she couldn't help the little smile that came to her face as she continued to meet his gaze unwaveringly.

"Vesper, don't." He gave the short order and frowned, his eyes going white as he waited for her next move.

Fear. Vesper realized that was what the color, or lack of it, in his eyes meant. He was afraid. Afraid of losing her, afraid of what she would do to him. Well, he should be. She'd had enough of what he was putting her through. More than enough.

Biting her lip, she took a deep breath and turned her hand sideways, flexing the fingers inward sharply and was rewarded with the sight of Mr. Hughes slamming into the wall just shy of the bathroom door. As the plaster around him buckled and crumbled, she heard Mr. Hughes roar with anger and she frowned. Apparently getting him to stop talking was going to take more practice.

"Stop, Vesper." He huffed as he slowly stood up straight, his suit ruined, covered in plaster dust.

"Mr. Hughes, you don't get to rip out my heart and then tell me what to do. It doesn't work that way." Vesper shook her head, again holding him where he was as she opened the window of her room.

"Please, don't." She heard him say sadly just before she turned from him and jumped out the window.

She'd been practicing secretly since that first day on the roof, so when she jumped, Vesper was able to slowly fly herself towards the grass of the yard. When she landed, she looked around to see that there were workers in the yard now picking up the burnt remains of the pile that she'd made, and others were spraying the smoldering items with water to ensure the fire was out. Looking up, she didn't see Mr. Hughes at the window, and she figured he was racing down the staircase to catch her, she could almost sense his desperation to stop her. Biting her lip, she turned towards the woods and started to run, not caring at all that she'd been unable to get within the trees more than a few feet before she started feeling pain.

Sure enough, as soon as she made it to the trees at the edge, she could feel that burning warmth creep up her feet. It rose quicker because she was running, and by the time she was ten feet within the thickening forest, it was at her knees, making them a bit wobbly, but she refused to slow down as she weaved between the trees. When she heard Mr. Hughes shout her name from somewhere near the back patio, the pain was to her thighs and her head was starting to pound a bit. Vesper felt tears fall from her eyes and wondered how she could possibly have any left to shed. She'd been crying since she woke up, practically.

When the pain hit her stomach, it was like being hit there with a sledgehammer, and Vesper groaned and doubled over for a moment, her steps faltering as she reached out to touch a tree for balance. She knew he was getting closer, gaining on her easily because she was in so much pain, but after taking a deep breath, Vesper started again, desperate to get away, not caring that she was going farther into the wild, away from an actual road. She knew she was headed towards the mountains, where she had learned Cynric and his herd lived, but she just didn't care, she needed to get away from him. She had no choice. Pushing off of the tree, she went about ten feet before a sharp stinging sensation slammed into her chest and made her cry out, sure her heart had somehow stopped beating. She was breathless, in a panic, and she looked around her, terrified now of what would happen, either direction she chose to take.

She saw Mr. Hughes now, he had stopped walking about ten feet behind her, anger in his eye, but fear too, and he was breathing hard, watching her for what she would do next. He wasn't alone, either. Samir was standing slightly behind him. Frowning, she shook her head at both of them, the pain going through her body was excruciating, but she was done. She wanted this over once and for all. Turning away from them, she looked into the forest.

"Vesper, don't do this." He pleaded with her and it was all she needed to start walking again, ignoring the way her body slowly filled from bottom to top with needles of pain.

"Go away." She breathed, not sure if he could even hear her, not sure if she cared either way.

She walked on, feeling her throat tighten, it was hard now even to swallow. Her head was pounding, but she ignored it.

"I love you, Vesper, please don't do this. Please, I can't lose you." His voice called out again and it sounded foggy, like she was underwater.

Vesper groaned and took another few steps, her skin burned, her teeth ached, then a few more made her eyes seem to dry up and sting.

"Vesper, please. Stop." He begged again, his voice now scratchy with emotion and Vesper felt herself shiver slightly, angry that his plea could still affect her, even through all the pain, and then she took one more step and she saw a flashing bright light fill her eyes and she felt as if her entire head exploded and suddenly, all of her muscles gave way and she fell in a small heap on the forest floor.

~*~*~*~

Mr. Hughes couldn't move, he didn't dare, worried that if he were to move any farther from the spa, it would only exacerbate whatever was happening to Vesper as she tried to flee from him. She was most definitely fleeing from him, he had hurt her in the worst possible way, and he had been completely aware that it was a possibility that she should find out about his room. He should have known better, he did know better. Domino had been telling him to get rid of his 'playthings' as she called them for several months, and he had just been unable to do it. He kept telling himself that he would eventually, that he would find a way to deal with the compulsion. Well, eventually had never come, and now it looked like he'd ruined things between himself and the ayperi. He saw no recourse as to winning her back.

"Stay there, I'll get her." Samir muttered, his voice filled with the irritation that he had for his employer.

Samir walked past Mr. Hughes and he watched as the giant reached the girl and knelt down beside her. He put a hand to her neck to check for a pulse, and then looked back at the angel who hadn't moved a muscle since he'd stopped the last time.

"It's weak, but she's got a pulse."

"Get her back to the spa, maybe we can revive her there."

"And if we can't?" Samir sounded angry, and he didn't care.

Mr. Hughes looked at Samir with a frown on his face, his eyes showed his need, his panic-driven need for her to be okay, and the giant nodded and picked Vesper up in his arms, holding her close against him as he walked with her towards the spa, but far enough away from the angel that he didn't compound her current state. Mr. Hughes watched them walk, intending to step into movement behind them after enough time passed, but he suddenly felt air move behind him and a strange whistling sound that he only ever heard when an angel was nearby.

Sighing, he turned and saw that Fezekial was standing rather close to him.

"I believe your exact words were 'I'm the oldest living nonhuman on earth, and I know everything.' Did I get that right?" Fezekial asked with a smile on his face.

Mr. Hughes frowned and turned away, walking slowly towards the mansion, he couldn't stay so far away, it would not help Vesper. "What are you doing here, Fezekial?"

"My arrival surprises you?"

"It's a little coincidental."

"Did you ever consider that your hubris is getting in your own way?"

Mr. Hughes glared at him with darkened eyes, now, "I am not trying to defy Him. I have never tried to defy Him. I just can't be the killer that He created me to be."

Fezekial smirked a little and continued to walk beside the fallen angel towards the edge of the wooded area.

"She is immensely beautiful. Possibly the most divine of all of God's creations. Isn't she?" The favored angel was looking now at the woman who had been placed on a padded lounger near the patio. Shi and Faeron were both beside her, as well as Samir, who was putting a damp clothe on her forehead. She hadn't quite woken up yet, but she was stirring, and that was a good sign.

"Why would He send her to me?" Mr. Hughes stopped walking and turned to the angel who had once been his closest companion.

Fezekial chuckled, "Who said that He sent her?"

Mr. Hughes stiffened and looked over at the woman in question. No, no there was no way. Lucifer's quarrel was with God, and he was not in His good graces. Mr. Hughes would not be used in a spat between the two. It would get neither of them anywhere.