Cool Shade/Erotic mystery Itching for some new scenery, disk jockey Maddie Smith figures a trip to Nebraska to see what's going on with her flaky, estranged sister is as good a plan as any. It seems that after a brief encounter with sexy reclusive Eddie Berlin, baby sister vanished without a trace. Now it's going to take every last one of Maddie's wiles feminine and otherwise to get close enough to Eddie to find out what happened...and to resist his inexplicable allure, which may just be as dangerous as it is enticing.

Beginning of this tale

SEARING THE WOUNDS part-2
©_February 20, 1999___Ann Logan
1, Last

"Really thank me," I asked? "Let me enjoy the many ways."

I reclined on a sleeping blanket, gazing at the flames. As my safeguards dropped, my daydreams began:

> It was the night rewritten. My door burst open with Xena the Amazon storming inside. As I gazed into her vague crystal eyes, her bloody sword scratched the gruff of my throat.

She ordered,"take off your clothes."

In a brief delay, I removed my woolen garments. As I stood naked in my living room, she wouldn't hide her wanton study- a thing many women shy from doing. But not her. No, Xena stared at all I was, as if I were all she wished.

She'd toss off her cloak, still holding her long silvery sword to my throat. "Be still," she'd whisper. "Lest you find my harshness."

Dotting my head in acknowledgment, I watched intensely. Slowly, she lowered her weapon then drop it briskly aside. With wide calculated steps, she'd neared my vulnerable body aching for her touch. Her licked lips pressed firmly against my own. Oh the splendor of my rising my manhood!

She kneeled. Yes, the mighty would need to kneel to please me.

My door creaked open letting the storm swirl within my home. Snatching the warrior's sword, I faced the meek intruder who froze in place.

"Who goes there," I shouted?

A young woman spoke with a quaiver, "I'm not armed."

"Stay there!"

I lit a small lantern then stepped closer. She was a small woman covered in melting snow. Shaking her shoulders, she dusted off her beige hooded cloak and pushed the door closed.

"My name is Gabrielle," she said.

Cautiously, she peeled back her hood. I was pleased to match her friendly grin.

"Are you alone," I asked.

She was a flaxen hair youth of twenty years, shivering from the harsh trek she had taken. Her bluish cheeks held brief dimples and a rosy narrow nose that twitched like a rabbit for a hint of a free meal.

"Hungry," I said. "Help yourself to my stew."

"Thank you."

Slipping off her cape, she revealed a blue long-sleeve frock. A leather satchel draped from her shoulder. She patted its bottom jingling with coins.

"I'll gladly pay for lodging."

"No need." I lowered the weapon, resting the lamp on an oval meal table.

"It's very cold."

"Warm yourself, please." I retreated to a chair kept by the fire. The little woman tested each step, moving to a clean bowl on my mantle. As she served herself stew, I wondered about her story. She didn't carry a dagger. The fool! Her boots were common to villagers from Argos. Maybe she was a slave-trader's deceit.

"I'm looking for a friend," she said. "A warrior princess."

She sat by the fire, slurping her stew while warming her fanny. Her eyes repeatedly glanced at the sword I held on my lap. She had seen it before.

"She's been calling for you," I said. "I dressed her wounds and . . ."

Gabrielle snatched my lamp and abandoned her meal, rushing around my cottage till she found my bedroom. I followed slowly with the sword. Now on the bed stand, my lamp illuminated Gabrielle surveying her sleeping friend.

In the small of Gabrielle's left-hand, I spotted an Amazon tattoo. The hurt warrior woman had none. Some tribes were like that. I leaned on the doorway, quietly observing. They seemed a mixed-matched friendship or this was a well-planned vendetta.

Gabrielle never glanced to judge my proximity. She stroked her friend's hair.

"Are you a friend of Xena's," she asked.

"We are strangers," I said.

Tears glistened a small canal down her cheeks. Gently, she kissed beside the seared wound on her friend's shoulder. I smiled in remembrance of my wife's tender gestures. No, I won't do this to myself. I watched Gabrielle whispering to her friend. How close a friend could she be?

The little one removed the covers on the warrior's cleansed bodice. The fulsome breasts heaved under the lamp's dim light. As I watched the view grow brighter. With large brown eyes, Gabrielle gazed at me, pulling ties of her blue garment then playfully letting it fall.

Her youthful creamy skin glistened in a perfect feminine silhouette. She turned to the warrior opening her sparkling gaze. I kept by the door. Slowly, their fingers twined in a brief hello. Then, Xena kissed the little one's lips, gingerly on the corners. I knew what she felt, wanting to sustain to absorb as much as she could.

With a swift roll, Xena pinned Gabrielle on my bed. This was not their first. Her suckling lips nestled on a favored spot on Gabrielle's neck. In prolonged temperance, she descended to Gabrielle's pouting breast. I stepped closer to enjoy Xena's teasing skill- flowering the seemly virgin.

Xena said to me, "Don't keep us waiting."

I fumbled out of my clothes, never a party to disappoint. Gabrielle's sparkling brown eyes floated in a flood sensual pleasure.

"Are you all right," Gabrielle asked with a worried tone.

I awoke from my daydreaming, still leaning at the door. Blocking my alert mid-section in a shadow, I spied Gabrielle sitting on her open, grey cape set on the floor beside the bed. She was fully-clothed in her blue, long-sleeve frock, staring at me while holding the Xena's hand. Xena still unconscious.

I cleared my throat. "Why do you ask?"

"You were growling or something," she said.

"It's my way." I kept in the shadow of the doorway. "I was thinking, you might prefer my spare room, Gabrielle."

"Xena's my responsibility, now."

"When she wakes, she'll step on you," I said.

The little woman chuckled like a tuneful child. "I've survived worse," she firmly stated. Then, Gabrielle gazed at me, briefly squinting. I turned my back to hide my arousal.

"Are you alone here," she asked.

Sidestepping out, I said, "Be back in a moment."

Hurrying outside, I let the winter curb the heat of my wicked wiles. Then, I strolled to an extra bed chamber fetching three knitted blankets from dry, dusty shelves. In the middle of the oak-plank floor, 12 stacks of flour, 2 barrels of legunds, and 6 satchels of seed partially covered a new trap to the slave-trader's escape tunnel.

Snow billowed up from the cracks in the floor. The other side was opened to the sea. Shifting grain bags to disguise the trap, I looked for more betrayals to my hides. A private escape is not something to share with strangers. Despite their collective enchantments, Xena and Gabrielle would soon be free to roam my home.

When I returned with blankets, Gabrielle snored twice as deep as her friend. She was curled on her side, determined to be the warrior's comfort. I left the blankets by Gabrielle's feet then crept into the living area. Survival needed help.

If this storm was the same as days before, sunrise would lend no help. I periodically awoke to keep snow mounds from blocking my way. No more strangers were coming, tonight. Considering the pelting gusts, I figured Gabrielle's trail was long buried.

Lying by my fireplace, I remembered a wish for a dog to fill the place. A big dog to hunt by my side. What a fool I was. How would I survive his death then the others who would replace him? No, no dog deaths for me. I folded my arms to cradle my head. It was best to be alone. It was easier. Sometimes, less comfy yet often a bit silent. No problem.

I itched my scalp and turned on my side. Foolish waste of ideas, these self-pity taunts.

My eyelids danced with the murky view of crackling flames. Even as I guessed the time of sunrise, the wintry gusts rocked the walls facing the ocean. All was dark except the billowing, amber glow. Over moments, silence absorbed the rythmic hiss of my warming companion.

First through the doorway, Xena, the warrior woman, quickly shed her bearskin cloak. By her order, I stripped to bare skin, then waited. She was dressed in layers of colorful veils floating across the room. A vision of femininity. I leered at her progressive striptease. Woman, all woman for me.

Her shoulders emerged bare, unscathed and soft. Yet, well out of reach. Tossing the last veil, she revealed a raven web-like frock that barely covered her black feminine triangle. Her wild eyes were dark and sparkling, fixed on me, her perceptive prey.

But, the door flew open, interrupting our wiles. The second figure strolled inside. Small but swift and oh so determined. Wearing a spring gown, Gabrielle slightly blushed as she viewed my sleeping manhood. She didn't shy as virgins should, only flinched then smiled. Raising in confidence, she smiled that smile, she shared with her friend from before.

"What is to be done with me," I asked?

The warrior ordered, "Kneel."

I grinned in defiance. Hushed steps told of the little one circling to my back. Her petite fingers smoothed the hot horizon of my stocky shoulders, then glid within my straight brown hair, gently stroking all with small unpredictable circles. She watched for cues from Xena and abruptly stopped.

Slowly, Xena kneeled before me, using her skillful fingers to probe my sensitive thighs and clenched buttocks. As Gabrielle rejoined her tender message, a rich groan escaped my building craves.

"Good," Xena said. Keeping to her site, the warrior licked a tender cirlce about my navel, then suckled and teased with nibbling teeth.

"Do it," I huskilly begged.

Gripping my buttocks, the warrior held me firmly. Her lips hovered over my pressured organ. I shivered, feeling her first hot breath finally moistening my hungered pubic realm. Then, her slender tongue toyed with my testicle hairs.

"Do it," I shouted!

"Patience," she whispered.

My penis stretched with pangs for affection. Yet, Xena playfully teased around it. Within moments, my body quaked with adrenaline fervor.

"By the gods," I said.

"Not yet," Gabrielle added.

Pulling me to my knees, the two worked their turns. Gabrielle snatched my thirsty kisses. And, the warrior pushed me further to the floor. Her tongue lagging along my shaft. Oh, Zeus, what a team! Holding Xena's shoulders, I squeezed to be pleased.

"Xena," I cried in desperation!

"Sh," Xena said.

She moved from me to Gabrielle whose soft thick hair tickled my face. As Xena pulled her back to share a savoring kiss, I watched Gabrielle's bare, pink chest emerge from her pulled garments. Feeling the warm of my fire, the nipples peaked like radishes.

Xena guided her lower for my tongue to stretch. Mine, all mine.

"Shepherd," Gabrielle said, instantly awaking me.

Thank the gods, I was buried under my blankets. "What is it, woman?"

"Xena doesn't sound good," she said. "I tried arrowroot but still she wheezes."

"By the gods." I charged to see my patient for myself. Though the covers were pulled, Xena perspired heavilly. The bedding was soaked through 3 blankets. This was bad, looking worse. I checked the seared wound with a firm, baked scare holding firm. Good.

Gabrielle said, "When we met Pathos' guardians, Xena sent me off and fought out of an ambush, alone."

I looked for a second reason for this new infection. Turning the warrior's head, I spied a dark scratch at the edge of her hair line.

"Fetch my lamp," I said. She stood to long for my zeal. "Now, woman!"

Gabrielle hurried the lamp then dashed again for filled wash basin and clean linen. Using my dagger, I gently shaved a small section, finding a dart puncture. It was purple without discharge. Perhaps the warrior pulled it out in time.

Stepping back from the bed, I let Gabrielle wash the area. Then, I tied a blanket around my neck. It was time to go outside.

"Is that what causes the fever," she asked?

"Perhaps," I said. "If your friend is strong, she should be fine. Stand back."

Lifting Xena, I marched outside, using the winds to cool the heated body. Gabrielle didn't need to know, I hadn't the remedies to counter dart poison. It was up to the gods to save the woman warrior. The woman warrior - my Xena. Blast!

After a brief visit in winter, I returned Xena to the comfort of my bedroom. Gabrielle wiped snow off her body. Gently, I rested Xena onto clean bedding then stood back and watched. Quickly, Gabrielle tucked the sheet corners. She seemed weary and depleted and too young for a death.

She whispered, "I'll keep watch of her."

Removing the cold blanket, I headed to the doorway, asking, "When she awakes, would not she be please to see your rested eyes of comfort?"

"I can't," Gabrielle said with a wavering pitch. "Is there nothing more we can do?"

"Faith is an avid miracle, Gabrielle."

"What is your real name, Shepherd?"

I smiled at her beaming with curiosity. "My father named me after Thesis. But, I value many friendships with the local Amazons. One called me, Shepherd. It suits."

"Okay, Shepherd," she said. "I'm Amazon, too."

"I know." Looking away, I left for the comfort of my dreams, again.

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1_||2_||3 NEXT: Conclusion March 9,1999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sliver/ Sharon Stone Stone plays it drab and quiet as a successful career woman on the rebound from a bad marriage who moves into a mysterious Manhattan high-rise. Once there, she discovers that she has a few admirers: a hunky and enigmatic neighbor (Baldwin), a popular writer of crime novels (Tom Berenger), and someone who seems to enjoy watching her every move on the building-wide surveillance system. And is one of them the serial killer who's stalking the comely female tenants?