Chapter Two

 After dinner, with their bellies full and the storm worsening the members of the Jackson family decided to retreat to their separate areas for the remainder of the night. Colleen retired to her room with Lilly sleeping away next door. Nicholas and Annie withdrew to their basement hide-away letting the storms’ energy heighten the ecstasy of their lovemaking. Calla and Daniel lazed about by the fire in their bedroom.

Standing in front of the dresser and gazing at his Wife in the mirror, Daniel took off his wristwatch, kicked off his shoes and started to undress. “Something wrong, Kitty?” She was staring out through the glass doors watching the storm.

“No,” Calla said but didn’t turn around.

“You seem…a little…distant tonight.” Daniel remarked continuing to undress and gauge her reaction in the mirror. As he took off his shirt and started to undo his slacks Calla turned around to look at him. Their eyes met in the glass and she turned away again.

“Do you still love me?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“An honest one.”

After all the hell they’d gone through now she was going to stand here and ask him something so inane. “You know I love you.”

Keeping her back to him and the looking glass she sighed. “Then why don’t we make love anymore? You haven’t touched me since we found out about the baby almost a month ago. If you still love me then perhaps it’s your desire for me you’ve lost?” Turning around once more she found and held his stare through the glass. “I know I’m getting a little flakier by the day,” a fact which greatly dismayed her. The last thing the university needed was a spaced out Art Department Head. “ And that I’ve gained a little weight and maybe I’m not ….”

“Yeah, what all of four pounds? Hoo, that’s a lot of weight, Kitty.” Daniel said in a condescending tone and immediately chastised himself, he shouldn’t have said that. In the glass, Calla turned her back on him again. He wasn’t angry with her and he shouldn’t take it out on her, he knew she’d begin to feel rejected and that sooner or later the question would arise he just didn’t know how to answer it. “It’s not you, Cal.”

“Then what?” She shot at him, as she turned on her heels to look him eye to eye. “You’ve a girlfriend again? Is that it, Daniel?”

“N—No, I do not have a girlfriend or a mistress or anything like that.” He answered in the same angry tone and tried to choke it back. It was probably natural that they might both be a little suspicious of each other for some time to come. His track record was worse than hers in this department. “I think you’re beautiful and desirable and I love you beyond compare.”

“Then what is it? You don’t want this baby, you do think we’re too old. Is that it?”

Daniel let out a heavy sigh and ran his hands through his hair. “No,” he whispered in a soft bothered voice, “that’s not it.”

“Are you going to stand there and make me guess all night or are you going to tell me?” Calla demanded.

“Why don’t you just read my mind?” Daniel volleyed. He shouldn’t be this cross with her but he didn’t want to explain himself to her either. Daniel hated it when she pushed his back up against a wall.

“Because you detest it when I do that!” Calla shouted. “But if you insist,” she rolled up the sleeves of her robe and stared at him with hard determination.

“Ah, wait, stop, just wait,” he stammered and held his hand out in front of his body. “Just hold on.” Daniel either couldn’t find the right words or he couldn’t get them out he wasn’t sure which it was. “Oh, god, Calla, sit down.” The rising frustration was clear in his voice as he pointed to the edge of the bed.

Feeling as though she were about to be told she had three months to live Calla settled on the edge of the bed without taking her eyes off him. “What is it?”

Daniel sat down next to her and took her hand with a sad smile. “You know I love you and our kids and our family.” He stopped and watched her nod felt her grip tighten on his. “I wouldn’t ever do anything to mess that up…not consciously.” Another pause, another nod and her little hand got a little tighter. “I don’t know maybe it’s because I wasn’t here when you were pregnant with Nick and Cole.” His voice was soft and melancholy. “You went through so much alone and you shouldn’t of had to do that. You were so sick, Calla I remember how ill you were.” Her pregnancy drained her of almost every ounce of energy. Her pretty auburn hair turned silver and her little body withered, she was so damn weak and afraid that she tried to kidnap David and keep him hostage—only it turned out to be him, Daniel, she had tied to that bed in the basement.

“Look at me, I’m not ill, Daniel. I’m healthy and so is our baby.”

“I want you to stay that way.” He returned. “The baby too.”

“What are saying?”

“I don’t want to hurt the baby.” There he said it, it was out and now that it was it sounded a bit ludicrous even to his own ears. The tight grip she had on his hand eased off as she pulled back from him and reddened.

“You think making love with me will harm the baby?” She asked as her eyes grew wide.

“Maybe…I mean…..what?” Daniel asked when he saw the way she was looking at him.

“Why my Husband, I’ve never known you to be prone to such bouts of self flattery.” Calla’s lips broke out in a wide smile and she covered her face with her hand while she giggled.

“Yes, well, hum,” Daniel cleared his throat, “thank you so much for easing my mind I knew I could count on you.” Daniel chastised them both. He thought this display of humor was very inappropriate and did not appreciate the back-handed comment regarding the size of his lonely manhood.

“Any time, my love, any time.” She cooed. Looking at him with the glint of uncertainty in his blue eyes, she thought perhaps she should ease his mind. “You know better, Daniel, you’re more rational than that.”

“Yeah, well, I thought I was.” He mumbled. “I mean, what if….” Daniel’s voice trailed off and he shook his head from side to side.

“What if what?” She coaxed. “You can tell me, I swear I won’t laugh again.”

Yeah you will. He griped inside his head.

“No, I won’t.” Calla said softly as she took his hand in hers. “I’m sorry I laughed before, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Please tell me.”

“I know it’s stupid and it’s not rational, ok? But…but…what if something does happen? What if….I’ve never made love with a pregnant woman before, Calla, what if….”

“What if…what….the baby can see?” She finished for him in a joking manner then saw by the look in his eyes that she was right. Though the blood rushed into her face so swiftly the warmth brought about a light bead of sweat Calla did everything she could to hold back the laughter rising inside her. Daniel was so tender and sincere she just couldn’t let it go that would be cruel.

Still there were several images in his head that she found incredibly funny, she didn’t mean to go looking for them and read his thoughts they were just so bright in his mind that she couldn’t not see them. In the first, they were riding though a long tunnel in a car with the new baby in the backseat and the baby was terrified as the lights overhead went by making it look as though they were going off and on. In the second, they were making love and little hand reached out to grab hold of Daniel’s cock. It yanked on him very harshly—especially for an embryo—and wouldn’t let go. In yet a third the baby was born with a large divot in his forehead where Daniel’s cock had repeatedly pounded the soft tissue while he was buried deep inside her. It took every ounce of energy and self-control that she had not to burst into fits of uncontrolled laughter. Putting her hand up to her face to cover the smile she couldn’t hold back any longer she said in as reassuring voice as she could muster “The baby can’t see. He won’t know…”

“He?”

“Just a generic term,” she said easily, Daniel previously stated he didn’t want to know the baby’s gender until he or she arrived and so Calla had kept that information from him. Grabbing hold of herself and continuing in a more solid voice she went on “The baby won’t know, Daniel, he won’t see or hear or feel anything. He won’t be traumatized by it, honest.” That worried look in his eyes reminded her of just why she loved him so much. “I know, it’s odd for both of us, isn’t it? It’s odd for me having you here when last time you….well…you were so very far away.” She admitted. Tiptoeing around the issue of when she was pregnant with the twins hadn’t been easy for her. Daniel did not like to be reminded of the time he’d spent chained to the bed in the basement and Calla wasn’t sure if he considered himself to be there at all or if he thought of himself more as David during that long week. Nevertheless, as David he had engaged in sex with a very pregnant woman but it was clear Daniel would rather forget that and so she would not remind him. “And….Before…..”

Daniels’ hand tightened its grip as he looked over at her, he didn’t need anyone to tell him that there was a capital ‘B’ on that word and she was going to say something about his Royal Majesty.

“Well, Before….” She stopped again and gave a wane smile, “it wasn’t… like now. Naganti Kanan treated me very…unkindly...when I was pregnant, he never wanted my children, you know that. I’ve never shared this experience with a man who was happy about it, Daniel. A man like you, one who worries and frets and puts me and our child before his own wants and needs. I don’t know what to do and I respond badly sometimes, I know, I’m sorry. I don’t know how to let you help me and I don’t know what to do when you get worried like this so I try to lighten your mood. Sometimes if I could make Naganti Kanan laugh then he…well…he….”

“Wouldn’t hit you,” Daniel finished.

“Yes, well…I’ll do better. I’ll be more attentive to you.” Calla raised his hand to her lips and brushed her lips across it. “I promise, my love, you won’t hurt the baby. Everything will be all right if we make love. But if you don’t want to that’s all right too. I understand.” Now she rested her cheek against the back of his warm hand. “I’m just glad you don’t have a girlfriend.”

“You don’t have to be more attentive to me, Kitty, there’s no other woman.” Daniel kissed her cheek. “Thanks for being so understanding and so…honest.” The last surprised him, she hated to talk about Kanan but he was glad that she opened up and shared that little bit with him.

“I’m sorry I laughed I didn’t realize how serious you were.” Naganti Kanan never showed any such concern in fact upon learning she was pregnant he always went out of his way to make sex as rough and uncomfortable as possible. Indeed, the night he forced her to spend with his Guard she was three months pregnant with Orion but she wouldn’t tell Daniel that either. Well, not just now anyway.

“That’s ok, it is silly of me I know that.” Yes he did, he did know that damnit! If she were further along maybe what he was feeling would make more sense and to be honest, Daniel didn’t know how he was going to feel about making love with her a few months or even weeks from now. However, Daniel did know that right now she was still as sexy as ever, even with that cute little belly, and she wanted him, not only that but he was growing very tired of taking it in the hand when he was alone in the shower. “Are you sure you and the baby will be all right?”

“Positive,” she smiled for him. “Do you want to try…” Calla opened the sash on her robe and let it fall off her shoulders to reveal her perky little breasts, “or I am so hideous already that…..?”

“Oh shut up,” Daniel leaned forward and laid a full kiss on her waiting lips. “I think we can do better than just… trying.” No doubt about that one, the old Johnson was way ahead of him there. It only got harder when he pushed the robe away from her he did enjoy undressing her so very much. Bending his head, he took her nipple into his mouth, Calla’s hand clamped on to the back of his head. Simultaneously letting out a sigh and drawing in a breath Calla lie back on the bed. Daniel followed her down without losing the cherished little nub in his mouth and eased himself over her. His lips sucking her bare breasts as their bodies pressed skin-to-skin and her hands dancing over his back, he couldn’t remember why he was holding back from this. The baby would be fine nothing would hurt the baby, certainly not this.

Callas’ hands stopped wildly roaming his back and buttocks to plant themselves on his upper arms and pull him toward her. “Kiss me, please.” Her breathing was deep and raspy while she pulled on him.

Daniel stopped suckling and looked up at her with devilish eyes it was his turn to tease. “What do you say?”

“I love you.” Calla whispered and her own eyes glowed with desire. “Please kiss me.”

“Oooh, very nice,” he taunted with a grin, “very nice indeed. I like it.” Daniel slid up her body as she wanted. “Kiss you, huh? Like this?” She turned toward him to accept the kiss but he went around and planted a peck on her cheek. “How’s that?”

“No,” Calla sighed, “not like that.”

“No, huh? Hummm.” He pursed his lips. “Well, let’s see, how about this?” Daniel’s soft lips lingered on her forehead over her Third Eye. Below him Calla let out a little quiver and he grinned she always did like it when he kissed her there. “Better?”

“Getting there,” she encouraged, “try a little lower.”

“Ah, lower. Got it.” A peck on the chin and he thought, well, while he was down there, Daniel’s tongue slid along the nape of her neck. Calla sucked in a breath and her hands seized his ass. Yeah, she always liked that too. “Better?” he whispered against the sensitive flesh of her throat.

“Very nice,” Calla sighed heavily. “Yes, yes, very nice.”

Without warning, Daniel took his lips away and gazed down at her. She liked that a little too much, which as evidenced by the little whimper she let out when his lips departed her neck. “We’ll get back to that in a minute.” His tongue flicked out to moisten his lips. “How about this? I think I got it now.”

“Show me.”

Daniels’ head bent forward and hers tilted up to receive him. Soft waiting lips brushed against each other in one last taunt before took either side of her head in his hands and parted those sweet cherry lips with his tongue. Yeah, that’s what she was looking for. Callas’ hands clamped down again, one at the back of his head and the other over his left butt cheek, her thighs wrapped around his and pinned them together while her whole body arched up to greet him. The space between her legs was hot and wet and it growled like the storm outside when his hardness brushed against it. There were still those pesky khakis between them keeping what she wanted most away from her even though it too was hungry for her. The hand at his ass moved around to the front to undo them and push them out of her way along with the underwear. Moved away from his waist and past the reach of her hand, Calla used her feet to push them the rest of the way off him, and onto the floor. She didn’t let go of the back of his head or let his lips slip away from hers. Now that his hard cock was free Calla tried to move him inside but Daniel wouldn’t go.

“You always know just what you want, don’t you, Kitty?” He asked breathlessly as he pulled away from her. No frills tonight, no extras, it had been too long since the last time and as always she wanted to get right down to the business at hand.

“Sometimes,” she purred, “I even know how to get it.”

“Most of the time,” he corrected, “in fact, now that I’m thinking about it….you always get your way.” Below him, she grinned but offered up no argument only the smile and that wonderful gleam in her eyes. “What am I gonna do with you?” He sighed and shook his head.

“Well, if you’re really stuck, I have a few ideas.” Calla suggested gliding her palm across his back.

“I bet you do.” Daniel said thoughtfully. “But ya know, I got a few of my own.”

“Do y—ahhhh,” his lips closed down around the nape of her neck and she broke out in goose bumps as she quivered below him. Her long finger nails sunk into the soft flesh of his ass they pulled him down while her hips tilted up and he slid inside. “Hummmm,” she moaned, “What do you say?”

“I love you, Kitty.” He whispered against her neck.

Calla latched on to him with her arms and her thighs while her mouth explored the area just below his left ear. Daniel moaned with delight and let out a little shiver as his hips found a slow rhythm. All around him she was ready and hot from the lip sucking his neck to those drawing him further into her that waiting box she wanted him.

All around them the storm raged on. A harsh bolt of lightning struck it crackled through the air and through them making the fine hairs on their intertwined bodies stand up a booming crash of thunder followed hot on its heels. The lights flickered and went out leaving them with only the fire’s light to see each other by. Below him she stopped sucking his neck and nuzzled her head against it. “Shh, it’s all right, Kitty.” Daniel soothed while he made love to her. With the lights gone, he could clearly see the storm’s fury. A great mixture of snow, ice and hail whipped around out there. “Don’t worry.” She didn’t answer him but she didn’t stop greeting him and pulling her further into her that hot little box either. Daniel forgot about the storm and concentrated on his wife.

Calla soon forgot about the storm, wrapped up safe and warm in her Husband’s arms even the blizzard faded away from her thoughts. Lost in the utter bliss of their lovemaking she was brought out of her daze when he tried to move away and bear his weight on his own arms. Calla wouldn’t let him go, she wanted him where he was. “Stay,” she whispered, “please.”

He didn’t want to stop he just wanted to get his weight off her but if he did that then she wouldn’t be able to use those hard thighs of hers to push and pull her lower half so expertly up and down his shaft. If she couldn’t do that she was less likely to let go when he wanted her to if at all. Still, he didn’t like laying on her, not now. She thought that she had him pinned down to her and she was right so when he rolled over she went with him and suddenly she was on top and he was on the bottom. “You do it,” Daniel said, “show me what you want.” He already knew, shoulders squared against the bed he raised his forearms and opened his palms so she could use them the way he liked her to. In a few minutes she’d latch onto him with those tight thighs again and while she rode up and down on him she’d cum.

Calla didn’t want to be in the dominant position tonight and instantly dismayed to find herself there. She liked it when he was over her and it had been a long time since she’d last him inside. Since his little trip to Bacchus’ kingdom Calla always felt inferior when she was the one on top. She was always trying to gauge if she were measuring up to those women and pleasing him the way they so obviously had. Always figuring she was failing miserably.

This time it wasn’t Daniel’s fault, Callas’ thoughts and the images going through her mind just popped right into his head as he lay there looking up at her and waiting for her to take his hands. “Kitty?” Daniel whispered in a voice that was disbelieving but to her sounded patronizing.

Too late Calla realized he’d seen her thoughts she tried to shield them from him. She started grinding on him but she didn’t take his hands, they hadn’t done that either—which is why she wasn’t doing it now—so he must not like that.

In his head, an iron curtain slammed down and the image was no more. But he still heard her voice. “I like it a lot,” Daniel whispered. “I love it when you make love to me.”

Not knowing what to say to that, Calla took him at his word and grasped his hands. As he’d predicted a few moments ago, her tight thighs clamped down on his flanks, she used the strong muscles there to suck on his cock and push herself upward. She used her arms and his for purchase and a bit of resistance, she liked it when he pushed back, pushed her down, further, deeper, onto his hot throbbing shaft. Cascades of auburn fire shrouded them in a silken tent shutting out the night and the storm around them as she bent forward and over his hands to kiss him. She could do the most incredible things with her back, things that changed her insides in the most delightful ways. Daniel never failed to take note of them or to enjoy them to fullest. This was definitely one of those moments, hovering over him her lips on his with her tongue exploring the back of his throat. She was using the leverage he provided she ground down on him in a figure 8 pattern, up around, down, around and back up again until he thought he was going to blow a gasket instead of a load. Every time she came up or around his arms pushed her back down. The further into her he slid the tighter and hotter she became.

Suddenly she knocked his hands away from her and pinned his arms down to the pillows. Calla swung her legs forward until her ankles were over his shoulders. Lacing them together behind his head, she took his hands and put them on her hips. Now as she made love to him there was no up and down motion, in this position she couldn’t raise herself up and down. Using her thighs and calves and the those little feet at the back of his head, she pulled herself forward and pushed herself back, rocking on him and he was as deep in her as if he were behind her—a place he dearly loved to be but she was never so fond of.

In this position the full musky scent of her wafted heavily into his face, so thick and so close he could almost taste it while he fucked it. Daniel’s hand tightened on her hips as they slid her back and forth on his throbbing cock. That slippery little cunt slid back and forth on him as fast and as hard as he could pull her. Over him, Kitty’s hair whipped around like the snow outside, it cooled the sweat that was breaking out all over his taught body and turned him on. It was so good, it had been so long since he’d had her to begin with and now, to just use her the way he wanted turned him on. It wasn’t long before he was yanking her forward and shoving her back like a life sized blow-up doll. His hands hard as claws gripping and sinking into the soft flesh of her thighs, while he pushed and jerked her on top of him thrusting into her with growing rabidity from below. Bringing his knees up behind her to plant his feet on the bed and get better leverage, Daniel started to cum and, as he always did, reached out for her through that Connection only to find that she wasn’t with him at all. Somewhere the heated passionate lovemaking they had been engaging in turned sour and cheap. Calla wasn’t moaning or groaning or making any sound at all. Her head bowed and her hair flying wildly creating that softly heated breeze as he moved her on him, he couldn’t see her face.

That iron curtain in his mind rocketed upward from behind it came a flood of round objects in shades of red, green and gold bringing with them the unmistakable aroma of autumn. Coming toward him in a great wave he could even say what kind they were; MacIntosh, Granny Smith, Roma, Delicious….

…Apples.

No, she didn’t say it but he heard it just the same and it meant that didn’t make it any easier to stop. So close to blowing his load just a few strokes away and she didn’t actually say it.

“Stop,” At the sound of his own voice Daniel took his hands off her hips. On top of him Calla stopped then again she hadn’t been moving in the first place, he had been moving her—propelling her back and forth on him-- for how long he didn’t know but she was as limp as a rag doll and even quieter than that.

Brushing the hair away from face, her eyes and her jaw clenched tightly shut. Her little body was shaking and somewhere along the line, she’d brought her hands together in front of her body and was holding them there as though bound with a leather strap. The first thing he did was to pry them apart and lay them over his heart. He wanted to bring her down to him but Kitty wasn’t a rubber band. “I’m sorry, Kitty, I got carried away.” It seemed like a good thing to say at the time and indeed it was, what he didn’t realize was how true it. He would have just kept going on like that until he came. Oh, hell yeah he would have. Just kept going and going. No longer grasping her hips, his fingers started to tingle as the blood flow returned to them. “Honey, look at me.” With a little whimper, her green eyes opened and she looked down at him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered again. “Kitty?”

“Please,” the woman who wasn’t made of rubber said as she bent forward and kissed him. “Come down now?”

Not stop or you fucking son of a bitch how could you do that to me, no that wasn’t Kitty. “Yeah, you come down here now.” Swinging her legs back, Calla rolled off him and Daniel’s hard cock popped out of that hot little hole he was so enamored with. What the fuck was that? Why did I do that? A nasty thought entered his head as she looked up at him with those waiting eyes. Davy? Daniel watched her closely trying to find out if she heard his thoughts or not. Calla didn’t blink, she didn’t flinch and she didn’t say anything. Davy!? There was no answer just cold silence ringing in his head. It would be very convenient if he could blame David for that little incident but it didn’t look like Daniel’s luck was in tonight and whatever that was it was in him. Laying there next to her, the heat of the fire, the fury of the storm and the passion of their desire between them she was waiting for him. Somewhere reflected in those deep emerald pits he recognized that feeling as being one he never thought to experience again. Though his thoughts were turning dark, his cock did not fall flaccid it was just as straight and hard as it was when she was riding him.

“Daniel?” Calla asked softly but he didn’t answer her. She held her arms out to him. “Make love to me, my Husband?”

“I don’t want to hurt you...again.”

“It’s all right,” she encouraged, “I trust you.”

Well that made one of them. Still she was waiting, she did ask so nicely and his dick was standing at full attention it would not go quietly tonight. Bringing himself over but not settling on her, Daniel drew in a breath, buried his face in the nape of her neck and entered her for the last time that night.

Outside, the storm raged and cold winds whipped the snow and ice around like a child’s toy. Inside, that Darkness crept around the back of Daniel’s mind while he thrust in and out of her waiting body. It was there but it wasn’t intruding, wasn’t trying to take over, it was just…..watching. The sensation that at any moment it could leap from its hiding place and turn him into some snarling beast added to the heat between them. The element and the hint of that danger made his heart race faster and his cock linger a little long while it pushed a little deeper and then a little faster in and out of her. Calla wasn’t complaining in the slightest, no now she was flying right beside him. Her legs clamped down over his thighs, her little hands grabbing a good hold of his firm ass she pulled him to her every time he pulled away.

“Umm,” she cooed, “umm, Danny,”

Every time she said it he felt seventeen again. It was the best feeling in the entire world, to be fifty-four and still get it on like a teenager. His pace and his pulse quickened and her hips kept time to greet him. “Cum, Kitty,” Daniel said, “come on.” He was so there he couldn’t keep it back if she didn’t let go soon…

“Danny, Da—ny,” the hands on his butt, those sharp nail sunk into his flesh as her breasts heaved against his chest and a mighty waterfall of fresh juice soaked him from the tip of his cock, down the shaft, over his balls and soaked his inner thighs.

Yeah, that’s what he was looking for. “My girl,” Daniel whispered, “I love you.” The quickening pace of his full thrusts slowed to half speed so he could have the full effect of the moment. Daniel let out a deep growl as he let go of the hot load and climaxed with her. Calla tightened in his arms while he grunted and growled but she didn’t stop cumming or moving below him.

Kissing her deeply and sweetly Daniel pulled out of her and wrapped his arms around her. “All right, Kitty?”

“Yes,” she said easily almost conversationally. “Thank you.” She did her best to hide the fact that she was having some mild cramping and her insides felt a little sore. Daniel never meant any harm and he had seized control of himself when he felt he’d gone too far, there was no need to weigh his mind down further.

“You’re welcome,” he returned and kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you get some rest now? I’m gonna stoke the fire and check the house.”

The news that he was leaving the bedroom rather than cuddling with her was distressing. Perhaps he was disappointed that she’d called a halt to what he was doing. Maybe she didn’t please him well enough. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Ok,” Daniel slid out of the bed and into his robe. Stoking the fire in the bedroom and adding a few more logs with his back to her he asked, “Are you sure you’re all right? I didn’t mean…”

“I’m fine, Daniel. The baby is fine.”

The exasperation in her voice made her words sound more like fuck you than anything else but Daniel let it go just then. “I’ll be back in a little bit.” He closed the bedroom door as he left.

Stumbling down the stairs with his heart beating rapidly in his chest only one thought kept going through Daniel Jackson’s mind;

The Darkness.

That’s what it was and that’s what he called it until he found out that the Darkness was caused by Psyche’s Curse upon Calla. The Gods said it was broken, the curse was gone and he hadn’t felt that horrible pull in years. Still, tonight, there it was and it was just as bright and forceful as it had been way back in the beginning when she first came to him from Kanan’s keep. Back when he had to physically fight the urge to hold her down, to bend her, to twist her in anyway he saw fit.

The Darkness, the Curse, whatever you called it, it was what kept Kanan’s anger so alive and him so ready to beat her into submission at the slightest wrongly uttered syllable. It was what called to Eros and drove him to rape his Sister. It was what spurred Ares on eventually sparking that bargain—one that was not cheap at twice the price by any means. Perhaps it was Eros (disguised as Ares) who’d brought David onto the scene. Still, it was The Darkness that forced him to take full advantage of his instincts and of the fear and loathing that drove Davy for most of his life. Davy did just that, he took every bit of anger he had toward Daniel and life in general out on her. To some extent, in some perverted way, it was that Darkness kept calling to David and keeping him here in all in incarnations. Andrew Fucking Hartley, Daniel was sure it called to that bastard and Michael Blood and all the rest of them. All of whom gave into it.

The last time he felt a sensation like that they weren’t even on this planet. He and Calla were far away with the Mohun and Steffen Omar—another snake in the grass. Daniel gave into it then somehow it was more lust than darkness then but still the sensations were the same. Before that, yes, he had felt this in between those two events. That night in the cabin just after Christmas so many years ago. And one more time, oh yes, let’s not forget he felt it when he was tied to that goddamn bed for a week. On all of those occasions Calla had been weak.

When he first took her from Kanan she was severely neglected and abused and although she could manage to raise those protective and healing powers of hers she couldn’t do much else. On the planet with Omar Ares said there was Xerinium and that the metal suppressed an Olympians powers. In the cabin, well, he didn’t like to think about that night and so he did his best not to besides that night meant nothing if you didn’t take the week he spent chained to that bed into consideration first.

Sitting alone in the dark because he’d checked all the doors and the windows, still he had a hard-on that just wouldn’t be satisfied and he was afraid to go back upstairs. Daniel tried to stop the nasty thought running rabid through his mind. I love my Wife. I will NOT do that to my Wife. She’s pregnant. She loves me. She trusts me. Oh God, what the fuck is wrong with me?

His little inner voice tried to reassure him, tried to tell him it was a very minor incident. So, he’d lost control for two minutes (or more) so what? He got it back and Calla didn’t seem to mind. He couldn’t get the vision of all those tumbling apples out of his head. Well, thank god for small favors like safety words, without it she would have just let him keep going. In fact, even with it she would have done the same. Even then, she didn’t say ‘apples’ she only thought about them. Why didn’t she say it?

Daniel’s dick was still standing straight up and he had to pee. No sense using the toilet in this condition. The storm was bad but maybe the cold would be good, maybe it would shake him out of whatever this was. He opened the kitchen door and stood on the back porch with the wind and snow whipping all around him. If nothing else the bitter biting cold should cause a vast amount of shrinkage and make the hard-on go away but it didn’t. Doing his best to point the stiff tool away from himself, Daniel shot a long hot stream or urine into the cold and snow. When he was done, his bladder empty and feeling better but still hard as a rock, he shook the remainder of the urine off him and tucked the robe around his body. His hands were wet and sticky from Calla. Back inside he turned on the kitchen light to wash his hands and felt his heart drop to his knees when he saw the blood on them. “Kitty.” Daniel ran for the stairs. “Kitty!” Throwing open the bedroom door he half expected to find her curled up a corner and crying but she wasn’t. Calla was dosing on the bed under the covers and she sat up while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” She asked as she sat up in the bed.

“Are you all right?”

“Wh…” in the light of the fireplace she looked up to see he was holding his hands out to her. “What is it?”

Daniel looked down at his clean hands. He hadn’t washed them in fact he left the water running in the kitchen sink. “You’re bleeding.”

“No, I’m not.” She said surprised and gazed at her hands, arms, chest. Daniel snatched the covers away from her. “Oh!” She cried out and reached for them but he wouldn’t let her have them. “Daniel! It’s cold!”

“You’re bleeding,” he said through tight lips. Kitty brought herself up into a little ball when he snatched the covers away, Daniel yanked on her ankle to stretch out her legs and then parted them. No sign of blood. Not on her or the sheets.

“What is wrong with you? Did you fall asleep down there or something?” Calla accused and this time when she reached for the blankets he let her take them. She brought them up and around herself with a little shiver.

“No. There was blood, Kitty, I saw it…I felt it….”

“There is no blood, Daniel.” She kicked the covers aside on her own, got out of the bed, walked over to the hearth where the light was better and turned around for him. “See? I’m fine the baby is fine.” Calla took his hand and put it on her tiny tummy. “Just fine, I promise Daniel. I wouldn’t lie about such a thing.” No, she wouldn’t outright lie about something so important, however she had those cramps…but they were going away now and she felt much better. Daniel was upset enough there was no need to add gasoline to the fire.

“No…I…” Daniel stuttered. She was right, there wasn’t any blood there were, however, two sets of bruises one on either thigh. Looking down at his hands and seeing them clean he also saw how well his fingers matched the patterns of purple and black on her white thighs. “No,” he whispered again. “If I asked you if I hurt you would you lie to me then?”

Calla ignored his question. It had been a while since they’d been together and he’d been spirited away for a while, big deal. It was nothing. Nothing at all. “You must have fallen asleep downstairs and had a bad dream.” She soothed with a smile and cupped his cheek in her hand. “Come to bed, I’ll keep you safe and warm.”

Downstairs. The water was still running down there. No matter what she said he hadn’t been sleeping. “I’ll be right back.”

“That’s what you said half an hour ago.” She protested and watched him sprint out of the bedroom. “Oh, really.” Calla grumbled and climbed into the bed. “What a Nervous Nellie, what am I going to do with him?” She asked her little belly. What could she do? Calla sat up waiting for him to come back. Ten minutes later he did just that. “Everything all right now?”

“Yeah, it’s fine, Kitty, you’re right. I must have fallen asleep.” That was what she wanted to hear so that’s what he told her. However, it was not the truth. When he returned to the first floor a few minutes ago, Daniel walked out the back door into the cold and found a bright stream of yellow snow, he hadn’t dreamed that part. The kitchen faucet was running warm water, he hadn’t dreamed that part either. Still there was no blood on him, not on his hands or his cock or his thighs and there was none on her. “Go to sleep honey. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

When he awoke the next morning, Calla sleeping snug and peacefully in the crook of his arm Daniel couldn’t help but notice the scant few stray white hairs at the back of her head mixed in the mass of auburn.

End of Chapter Two
The Cradle Will Fall
Continue to
Chapter Three