Chapter 12
When we went to lunch we found Maria had prepared it. John told me quietly she'd appeared shortly after Rolf had escaped from the secret stairs.
"She's going to show me the passages after lunch," he remarked. "Turns out she's the one who opened the entrances to the stairway for your boy. She was where she could hear me when I shouted to Blaine about Rolf's being missing."
"And she let us go on worrying?"
"We had a little chat about that, Maria and I."
But my anger melted when I saw the way she looked at Rolf. Her eyes wide and suffering, she seemed to envelop him in her gaze. And before he left the dining room she managed to pause at his elbow.
"Rolf? Are you all right, Rolf?"
He nodded and grinned. "Sure! Great!"
"God! I'd die in the dark that way!" She studied him and her voice was tender when she asked again, "You're sure you're all right? Rolf I wish I could make it up to you."
"You'll have plenty of chances," he promised. There was such a note of certainty in his voice I felt sure he knew exactly how. And I suspected I could guess what he had in mind.
Maria did show us the passages. Each of the sitting rooms on the second floor, including mine, had a set of controls for certain of the secret entrances. And every entrance was capable of being operated by at least two controls. One of the switches in Maria's apartment worked the openings for the stairway. But there was a control for those entrances in my sitting room, too.
The control assemblies were cleverly set into the mantels of the fireplaces, covered with inlaid panels that wouldn't have been suspected under any kind of scrutiny. The library and the living room downstairs had similar control centers, although they were more complete.
On the landing of the stairway, a well-concealed door opened into a separate passage that led directly into the library. And there was a branch of that passage Maria merely said led outside to a point well away from the house. Since her part in the kidnaping I'd suffered hadn't been mentioned I decided not to say anything yet, but I privately suspected that outside tunnel emerged inside the de Vasca crypt.
Curiously, the passages she showed us were all short and separate. Each led from one room to another, but there was no overall accessibility. I had a vague sense of dissatisfaction, as if I'd watched a puzzle put together only to find it had no pattern.
I excused that sensation on the basis of exhaustion. I was badly in need of sleep to replace the energy I'd spent under the firm direction of my son. And when I admitted that I was ready to collapse on my feet, nobody objected to my slipping away to my room for the sleep I desired so intensely.
I was confident I wouldn't be disturbed. Rolf had gotten more sex from me during the morning than he'd expected to get all day. The others were trying to reorder their concepts about the house on the basis of the passages Maria had shown them and weren't going to need me. Even in the protection of the thick-walled house, the heat of the day was appreciable and I was thankful to rid myself of my clothes and step again into the shower. After I'd toweled I threw myself on my bed and fell asleep.
I remembered thinking fleetingly about the "haunting". Maria hadn't admitted any of it, although her knowledge of the passages seemed conclusive to me. But nobody had openly accused her, either; my own intention had crumbled in the face of her concern for Rolf's well-being. So that issue had yet to be faced.
I more than halfway guessed the men had spoken with her about my experience in the snake compound, but even that was ignored while we'd looked at passages. The result was essentially that the one mystery I'd thought would clear up all the others had contributed hardly anything to the general solution.
When I awoke it was dark and cool. Nobody had come for me and I'd slept through the end of the day. A quick glance at the luminous numerals of my clock assured me it wasn't really late, though. They would all be moving about. I gave myself a few more seconds of lazy comfort before leaving my bed. And as I became more clearly aware of myself and my surroundings I stiffened in terror. Between my sprawled legs and tightly pressed to my pussy was a bulky, scaly mass that moved. Its slow, continuous slithering against the warm flesh of my twat and the dry friction on the inside curves of my thighs convinced me instantly it was a sizable snake. And the unmistakable shape of the blunt wedge that rested between my twitching pussylips established it as a rattler.
For an instant, fury throbbed in my veins at the thought anybody would bring one of the snakes from the compound into my room for such a grisly practical joke. Even as it formed, though, the notion evaporated. I knew my employers far too well to believe them capable of such a boorish action.
Either the rattler had reached my bedroom-and me on my bed-by itself through accident, or somebody had maliciously introduced it with something besides a joke in mind. Stop beating around the bush! I told myself. You know damn well who did it! That goddamn Maria is so locked-in to the Lolita legend she brought a rattler here to kill you! I hated myself for leaving such a deadly enemy the freedom of choice for such a vile trick. I should have faced her with my accusations!
But regrets and fury weren't going to get rid of the snake. He was real and he was a killer. Maria wouldn't go to the trouble of bringing a defanged rattler to my room. After my experience in the compound I wasn't likely to get very upset by a single member of that collection. No! She'd have brought a deadly creature from the desert. And she'd be counting on my moving enough in my sleep to provoke it into a fatal attack or, failing that, to panic at the realization of my peril and accomplish the same result. In either case, she'd be rid of me and the threat I posed in connection with John Jacob Duncan.
With infinite care, I extended my arm beyond my head toward the switch for the night light. I prayed silently that the sudden illumination wouldn't aggravate my bed partner and twisted the switch. The broad, flat head left my slit momentarily while yellow eyes stared at the lamp and the thick, black tongue flicked back and forth. But the beast evidently dismissed the thought of danger. It nudged its head back into the wet crevice, thrusting my pussylips apart as it did so. And the nose bore against my vagina.
The sudden violence of the physical pleasure the action aroused terrified me. My hips had flexed involuntarily at the pressure and friction and all my awareness of danger hadn't helped me forestall the reaction. I gritted my teeth and whimpered.
But I had apparently failed to close my sitting room door. I could hear voices coming through it-and through my bedroom door-in ordinary conversation. One of the voices was Blaine's.
"Hell, I'd like to help you, baby, but I can't. Not right now."
"Blaine! I always count on you! Why can't you?" It was that deadly bitch, Maria!
"Fact is, I caught that rattler I was after this morning. Just got it into the compound when John gave his rifle signal. Didn't have a chance to get the fangs out. I forgot this afternoon, but he and Don Juan-"
Maria uttered a startled shriek. "BLAINE! Jesus, Mary and Joseph! You didn't!"
"Huh?"
"You left a fanged rattler in that compound?"
"Well, I mean, when that rifle went off-"
"OH, NO!"
Maria's racing footsteps burst into my sitting room and she sprang into my bedroom. My attention was on the quiet brute at my pussy and I didn't stir a muscle in response to her abrupt entrance. When Blaine appeared behind her in the doorway, I paid as little attention to him.
"ANNE! OH, ANNE! YOU'RE ALL RIGHT!" Maria looked ghastly with fright. "Don't move a muscle, Anne! Oh, Christ, Mrs. Kelig, don't even breathe!"
She seemed to glide toward the bed. I saw instantly she was placing herself in deadly danger. Moving, she'd draw the rattler's venom if he became alarmed. But she whimpered and came nearer.
"Oh, Anne!" She was whispering now. "Oh, Anne! Love of God, I didn't mean it to be real! Don't move, Anne! Please don't move!"
I think Blaine dragged his mind off my nakedness and onto Maria's actions at about the same moment as I realized what she meant to do.
He hissed at her urgently. "Jesus Christ, girl! You can't! Not with your hands!"
She lunged as the snake lifted his head. Her hands closed around the rattler's neck at the base of its jaw. Even as she grabbed, she threw herself onto the bed in a twisting fall that swung her arms into the air above her and placed her on her back, her head on my belly.
"Oh, shit!" Blaine flung himself forward and grabbed her hands in his. His forearms bulged with effort as the snake threw two coils around my thigh and jerked against the offending grip.
But with his knee now braced on the bed, Blaine thrust himself backward and heaved at the rattler. The coils slipped, then slipped further, and little by little Blaine and Maria pried him off me. Blaine's effort raised Maria to her feet and they faced each other, the heavy body lashing between them, then coiling and uncoiling around their arms. I rolled convulsively off the opposite side of the bed and crouched while I stared at the awesome struggle.
Blaine and Maria gazed into each other's eyes and Blaine's complexion turned suddenly gray.
"My God!" he whispered. "We've been had!"
The awful truth hit me as he spoke. His hands were closed like a vise around Maria's. It was she who held the snake, not he. And her strength was clearly no match for the fury of the rattler. The moment Blaine relaxed his grip the beast would twist in her hands and sink his fangs into her. If she tried to slip her hands free of Blaine's grip the same thing would happen.
Ignoring my nakedness I raced to the door, jerked it open and screamed. "JOHN! ROLF! JOHN! ROLF! QUICK! QUICK!"
Rolf burst out of his room and rushed toward me, his eyes bulging as he saw me. And I heard John shout to me from across the court.
"Mom!" Rolf reached for me. "What's wrong?"
"IN THERE, SON! IN THERE!"
He shoved past me and gasped. "MARIA! JEEZ, BLAINE! NO!"
The great, triangular head jerked from side to side. Its mouth gaped and two vicious fangs gleamed in the dim light. Rolf scooped my bra from the dresser, thrust one cup inside the other and leaped to the struggling figures. He slammed the cupped material onto the points of the rattler's fangs and onto them, the wicked weapons piercing the heavy material instantly. But he ignored them and hooded the massive head, closing the rims of the cups behind the bulging jaw and whipping the loose ends of the band around the head with sure strokes.
While Rolf clamped his hands on the back of the rattler's head, Blaine gritted his teeth and slid his hands off Maria's to grip the snake immediately behind her grip.
"Got him?" he asked Rolf with a grunt.
"Yeah! Tight!"
"Maria! Let go, NOW!"
Maria released her grip and threw herself back out of the way.
"Rolf! I'm going to shift my hold. You tell me when." Blaine gulped for air.
After a moment's silence, Rolf nodded. "Now!"
The snake gave a convulsive heave as Blaine's hands loosened, jerked upward and tightened again. The lean man sighed heavily.
"Got him, Rolf! Tie that band. Draw it as tight as you can!"
Rolf caught the ends of the band and slipped one over and under the other, then tugged fiercely, snugging the loops at the base of the mighty, hooded head. Without relaxing the tension, he completed another half hitch and jerked it tight. The bra-hood was on to stay. Only when Rolf fell back did I register the fact he was as naked as I. What struck me at once was that the exertion had stiffened his cock; it wasn't a full hard-on, but it was swollen and half-erect. And Maria stared at it with the unblinking, wide-eyed fascination of a woman who's never seen a cock before.
John ran in from the arcade. "What?" He saw the situation. "Oh, God! Need a bag, Blaine?"
"Yeah! In our sitting room! One of the big ones! Rolf, see if you can quiet this bastard a little while John's getting the bag. Get hold of his body."
The action seemed not to diminish. I had to fight myself to keep free of hysteria; I expected to see my son struck by those protruding fangs at any moment. But John returned panting with the bag and he and Rolf began stuffing the writhing body into it. The last of the drama was Blaine's quick thrust, driving the head into the opening and jerking his hands out of danger at precisely the right instant. Even as his hands emerged, John heaved the drawstrings tight and the snake was safely imprisoned.
Maria began to tremble violently. She sagged toward the floor. But Rolf caught her and pulled her tightly to him. She clung to him, sobbing wildly.
"Omigod!" she exclaimed through her sobs. "I nearly killed her! I-I brought him up here from the compound and let him loose in her room! I thought he'd been defanged!" She shuddered and pushed herself against the powerful, naked body, her face buried against his chest. "Oh, God, Rolf! I was wicked! I didn't want her to take John away! I wanted her to be so scared she'd rim! I had to make her think Lolita's ghost was angry at her!" She tipped her head back to look into his face. Her voice was low and clear when she continued. "Rolf, Rolf! I'd have lost you!"
He gulped and brushed her eyelids with his lips. "You didn't," he said softly. "And when you found out it wasn't defanged you were ready to let it kill you so it wouldn't kill Mom. I heard you and Blaine. I didn't know the snake was in here, but I heard you. And that's what you were talking about."
She nodded slowly. "I would have been a murderer. Murderers haven't any right to live."
From where I stood I could see how hard her belly was pressed on his cock. I saw the sudden tremor that seized her hips and the convulsive jerk against Rolf.
She stared into his eyes and a smile touched the comer of her mouth. "Rolf, will you let me go to your room with you?"
"Huh? You mean that?"
She nodded. "Now?"
He thrust his mouth onto hers and they swayed with the ferocity of their kiss. When Maria finally drew back she looked radiant.
"You're naked," she said in a low, vibrant tone.
"Huh? Yeah! I am!" He sounded genuinely startled.
"Rolf, darling, I will go with you the way you are. I'll be that way, too."
With her gaze fixed on the floor, Maria quickly undressed. Her dark skin gleamed, flawless and smooth. Full breasts swung gently with her movements. A tiny waist and rounded buttocks and long tapered legs quivered before Rolf and she finally looked up again.
"Quick, Rolf! I want you to have me!"
She leaned against him and he put his arm around her. The nineteen-year-old virgin and my fifteen-year-old son slipped quietly from the room. The two men sighed.
"By God, she's ready!" exclaimed Blaine under his breath.
John peered quizzically at me. "How about you, puss? You feel like a full member of the tribe?"
"Is Maria really ready to give up Lolita?" I asked hesitantly.
John grinned. "Know what? As far as she's concerned you can have all you want of me. She's just discovered it's going to take a while to get as much as she wants for starters of Rolf!"
"Did she do all those haunting things?"
He nodded. "Every damn one. She carried the lantern in the garden. She wore the chain and key and made that thump you heard by accidentally letting one of the secret doors bang. She even had a vial of a scent Lolita used to use. Nobody but Lolita knew what it was-she had it imported from Mexico City and wouldn't share it-but Maria put it in an atomizer. And one spray with that gave you something to sniff every time she had the ghost do anything."
"John, what happens to the conquistador when the door to the stairs is open?"
He chuckled. I felt a hard thrill to see he and Blaine were getting out of their clothes while he was answering my questions. "There's a section of the floor that's on a turntable. Whole thing revolves."
"How do you know all of this?"
"She told me right after supper. She didn't say anything about the snake, but she seemed confident you'd be leaving in the morning. And she wanted me to know she'd done the things to make you go. That was part of the role she thought she wanted to play."
"She's the one who took me down to the compound and left me there?"
"Yes. That branch passage from the library goes to the crypt. When she came out of it she saw you waiting outside. She came back for a snake bag and stuff to tie you with. She didn't know those snakes were quite as thoroughly trained as they were. She thought it would simply scare hell out of you to be out there until morning."
I sighed. "But she's all over that now."
"By the time she comes out of Rolf's room she'll have something else to keep her mind occupied. Wouldn't you say?"
"Yes, I would."
They were going to take turns with me, I decided. They both had magnificent cocks; looking at the two of them at the same time made me wish I could have both at once. But John had flung himself onto the bed and lay looking up at me. He was going to take me first. I was glad he was, since they were both there. I did love him so intensely!
I lowered myself over him, kneeling astride his hips and snuggling my cunt over his cockhead. Slowly, savoring the delicious sensation fully, I sank onto his cock and let him pull me to him. For a time it wasn't necessary to fuck; I could just lie on him with his cock buried in me and be happy.
The bed sagged and Blaine knelt behind me, his knees wedging between my calves and John's thighs. His hands closed on my buttocks and I wiggled and made a happy crooning sound. He was one in a million to caress me that way when John already had me on his cock. Something huge and round and incredibly slippery poked into the crack of my ass and pushed against my anus. I gasped and jerked, the truth suddenly, frighteningly clear.
"No, Blaine! Jesus God, Blaine, NO-NO-NO!"
"Easy, sweetheart," whispered John. "We wouldn't do anything to you, you wouldn't like."
I trembled violently, but John's arms held me tightly to him and Blaine's knees prevented me from straightening my legs or bringing them together. The great bulb nudged my rectum open and burrowed in. I shrieked at the agonizing, burning distension of my sphincter, but Blaine's knees had lifted with the terrible force of his slow thrust and he let me shove my legs back so they lay extended along John's. And my ass was abruptly relaxed and full and throbbing with pleasure.
Between the two men, their body heat shutting out the coolness of the night, I yielded to a new, glorious kind of fucking that left no sense unstimulated. My mind buzzed with the giddy swirling of my delight and I contentedly let myself float in a sea of undiluted excitement.
I'd found a home. My son had found a home, too. And in that home we'd found each other. What the future might hold, I didn't know. But it would be built on a present that was deliriously happy.
"Ooooh!" I whispered. "Ooooh, I do love you, John! And Blaine makes it so much closer a love!"
And John squeezed me and grunted. And Blaine grunted. And between them, I grunted loudest of all.