Aftermath

Aftermath

By ABs and Donna

Robert Dudley went back to Rodzin, a mighty chip on his shoulder. The first person he encountered was . . . Melissa Valentine.

"You're back early," she said. "Have fun?"

He stopped. Her tone was sarcastic; all this had obviously hurt her. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage? "No, as a matter of fact. It was all so . . . disgusting, really. To be one of twenty-odd men to make love to the same woman?" He shuddered. "As I said, disgusting."

"Yeah," she agreed. "It must be."

Dudley looked at her and smiled. "And am I not fortunate, to come back and find you all by yourself? Perhaps you and I could keep one another company."

She flushed before looking to see if Brenda was around. Dudley saw the motion and it aroused him terribly; he was frustrated from the earlier debacle but it looked like there was still hope. If he could only get her somewhere alone. . .

Not surprisingly, Melissa agreed to go back to his room with him. She had been wanting this ever since she had come to ER, and now she had her chance. It didn't really matter to her which of the guys it was; she just wanted one of them!

***

Simon Thornton was brooding. Why had he been left out of the little orgy over at the hotel? He knew why. Amanda.

The bitch. He really needed to make her life miserable. And if he got to fuck her senseless, so much the better. She wasn't a Medallion Lady; she was not protected by Rayden's magic.

Amanda had an luxurious apartment attached to her *House of a Thousand Pleasures* that she and Mosby shared. She was proud of her girls and the *service* they did for the unattached men of Emerald Realm. The men didn't pay for the girls' services, per se, but they did pay a hefty *membership fee* to be able to use the facilities of her house. As she came into the main office, she paused. On the desk was a huge bouquet of roses.

She smirked, saying, "Charlie," to herself. Cochrane was known to sweeten the pot with flowers. He was always wanting favors, and thought this was a good way around it. But when Amanda looked at the flowers and found no card, she was slightly concerned. It wasn't like Charlie to forget a card. More than anything, he wanted to take credit for it.

She questioned all the girls sitting in the parlor, but no one admitted to seeing anything. Curious now, she decided to ask Mosby. He had his moments, too, where he could be depended on to do something sweet or romantic.

"Flowers? No, sugah, I didn't. Why? Did you prick your finger on the thorns?"

She swatted him playfully on the shoulder, which led to an extended petting session on his lap. It was getting a little heated when one of the girls cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Madame, but this was just delivered for you," she said, handing her a wrapped package. Tearing into it like a child at Christmas, Amanda found a book of erotic drawings and poetry, and a typewritten note telling her that *his* favorite scenario was on page 38.

"Who the hell is 'HE'?" Amanda asked, her mood completely broken. Mosby took the book and frowned over it.

"I don't like this, Sugah," he said. "Someone's playing a game with you."

Especially when they opened the book and found that the scenario he had picked out involved some pretty heavy duty S/M, with the girl as the victim. She ripped the book out of his hands and tossed it into the trash, but then, having second thoughts, she gathered it, along with the note and wrapping paper, up. "I'm going to take this to the cops. They help protect my girls, after all."

"Good ideah. I don't know what they can do, but don't we pay their salaries?"

Leaving Mosby in charge, she charged out of the house, carrying the book and wrappings in a bag. One of the stable lads she had hired to tend to her customer's horses jumped to his feet and immediately hitched up the little cart she used to run errands. As her fancy little hackney pair trotted down the road towards town, her survival instincts kicked in. She was sure she was being followed! She didn't hear or see anyone in the darkness behind her, but she knew without a shadow of a doubt that someone was there. Pulling the team to a halt, she paused to listen more closely. Was that an echo of hooves? But no, the only sound that came to her was the crickets.

"Crap and double crap," she growled, clucking at her horse. If she had been thinking, she would have had one of the stable lads come with her. She knew one thing though. Whoever was following her was not an immortal like she was.

Deep in the shadows, Thornton hushed his mount. It was all he could do to contain the chuckle that wanted to come tearing from his throat. As soon as she was out of earshot, he'd turn and go back home. And there was no way they would find him.

As her horses' hooves clattered over the bridge leading over the river and into Maidenhead, Amanda heaved a sigh of relief. She was safe now that she was in town. Turning right onto the main street, she followed it past the open-air market and to the long building that contained, not only the Ministry of Justice and flat where Ashe lived, but also the police station. Leaving her team hitched out front, she stormed into the latter, as upset at herself for being frightened as she was that someone was doing this to her.

Lemieux looked up when Amanda barged in. He was the night supervisor, leaving the days to Ross because there might be more chance of some excitement after dark. Cole was on duty but Peter Dyson, newly back from his honeymoon, was also there because Ashe was over at the studio, trying to limber up.

"Hey Amanda!" called out Cole. He was a regular visitor to her place, not necessarily as a customer, but just because he liked to hang out with her bouncer Dani, supposedly to keep him out of trouble. "What brings you here?"

"This," said Amanda, depositing the bag containing the book. "Some sicko has got it into his head that I'm *easy*."

Dyson exploded in laughter, then contained it. Cole looked at his friend, then back at Amanda. "Well, you do run a whore house," he said lamely, trying to defend the outburst.

She threw the book at him in disgust. "I don't entertain any of the men! And you know that. To top it off, I'm sure someone was following me. At least until I got to the bridge."

The two men gathered around to look at the book. No one touched it, at least not at first, so Amanda grabbed it and opened it to the page mentioned in the note. The men made disgusted noises that Amanda didn't buy for a minute.

"Alright," came Lemieux's voice. "What is going on?" Amanda sighed in relief. The Captain was too serious of a cop to not take her seriously. She explained to him about the roses, the book and the note, and then how she felt she had been followed. As Amanda spoke, she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing how silly she must sound.

"The thing is," she finished, "no one is admitting to leaving the flowers, and what about this book? And someone *was* following me!"

Lemieux nodded. "Whoever it is thinks he is smart." He slipped on a plastic glove and put the book and the rest of the evidence in protective bags. "We will fingerprint this. But with so many *doubles* around here, all we can do is hope to narrow it down to a specific type. Has anyone except yourself touched the note?" Amanda shook her head. "Good. In the meantime, I want one of us to escort you back to your place. I don't want you on the road alone at night."

"Oh, thank you," said Amanda flirtatiously. "Which one of you men will escort me? I wish I had my sword with me but as you know, Rayden would not appreciate it. So I guess I really am helpless!"

"Cole will," Lemieux said with a smile. "He will be going off duty at midnight anyway. If you get anything else, don't touch it if possible. If we have to, we can station one of the men at your place."

Dyson put up his hands. "Don't look at me! I'm a happily married man!"

Amanda cooed in appreciation, making a big show of thanking them all. As Cole took her out to her buggy and the two of them drove off into the night, the CLim police captain shook his head. It may be nothing, but he wasn't the type to take any chances.

***

Melissa looked around. "I've never been in a man's room before."

"Of course not. You are too well bred. I expect that even on Earth you were unsullied by man?" Mel blushed. If he only knew. "I thought not. Not like that other . . . trollop." Mel felt badly that Constance was being called that, but it gave her a lover, and she didn't want to start an argument just yet.

"Well, I have been watched pretty closely by the headmistress," she complained. "She must think I'm jail bait!" Although she had a British accent now, Melissa still thought in American terminology.

"Jail what?"

"Underage," she explained.

"In my time, you would be considered a Spinster. Not that I had any problem with women past their prime. I was very fond of Elizabeth Rex . . . the Queen of England? And she," he said immodestly, "was totally enamored of me."

Melissa knew the story; she'd watched the tape. There was some talk that Dudley had his wife murdered so he could become King. But it had backfired when he was suspected.

"Well I . . ." She wanted to say she was not overly "enamored", and he was just one of many she "liked", but that would never do. "I guess I need a man with experience," she said at last.

He seemed pleased. "Ah yes! I am that, my sweet, innocent flower. And after tonight, you will be mine and mine alone!"

Now just a dog gone minute here . . .

Before she could object, he took her round the waist and pulled her toward the bed. "Let me sample your sweetness," he said hungrily, pulling at her clothes. Melissa thought about it and decided she could always give him the boot after he took her virginity. After all, there was that old saying about the barn door . . .

She let him undress her. Even pawed at his strange 17th century clothing before he assured her he could manage quite well. She had only to lay back and enjoy it.

Right.

Unfortunately, he was much too anxious to give much thought to foreplay. And when he mounted her she became frightened; this was a big step! Maybe they should discuss it more? At least kiss a little?

She started to fight him but he would have none of it. "Oh, I shall have you, my Lady," he said, heavy between her legs, "and you shall do me the honor of bearing my son!" He took her quickly, while still she struggled half-heartedly. This was, in a manner of speaking, what she had wanted, and she had come to the room expecting it. She had just hoped for a bit more romance.

It did not take him long to complete the act - something for which she was eternally grateful. She didn't like him much by the end, and made herself several vows. One, she'd never go near him again. Two, she would not carry his son in her body, and three, she would use this busted hymen to sample as many of the other VIMs as she possibly could - behind Brenda's back!!