The Keeper

©2000 Madz aka Kinetica

Genre: Romance/Mystery/Action/Drama

Sex Content: NC-17

Violence Content: none (maybe some to come)

Language Content: some cussin' ;)

Characters: Original Females, X-MEN characters

Chapter 1

Scott dozed on the couch in the large den area of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. He was utterly bored and the book he was reading below a spectacular glass skylight was not sparking his interest. Jean was busy with a mutant boy who had hurt himself with his own powers in the lower levels and he was thus left alone.

He sighed deeply, the stagnant evening leaving him cold and wishing for excitement. His eyes peered over his book and for a few seconds he watched the patterns of moonlight that were colored by the glass above. A lamp at his side was turned on only slightly so that he could still enjoy the natural light the moon provided. Hearing a noise on the skylight above he looked up from his book and cast his eyes hidden by rose-quartz sunglasses upward. Not hearing another sound he went back to his book.

The loud, crackling sound of glass shattering made him look up quickly and spring to his feet. Shards of stained, broken glass rained down on him and he buried his face in his arms waiting for the sharp shower to end. It ended with him hearing a thud and realizing it was something dropping onto him. He fell to the glass covered carpeting with a painful grunt and someone sprawled on top of him.

Scott pushed the person off of him slowly and carefully removed the pieces of glass and debris out of his hair and clothing before studying the person. Small cuts that now were bright with blood shown allover her body and Scott stood shocked. The girl was unconscious on the floor after a thirty-foot fall through glass and was still breathing.

He swept up the girl into his arms and ran down the hallway, his footsteps echoing in the oak-laden walls. Jamming the button on the hidden elevator leading down to the lower levels. It opened and he jumped in, waiting for it to take him below the school.

“There you go, you should be fine now, just come see me in two days to have the stitches removed.” Dr. Grey instructed the young man who had accidentally bitten into his finger instead of his sandwich while eating with his razor-like teeth and nearly taken off the tip of his finger.

“Jean? Jean I have something for you, get the table cleared,” Scott yelled as he entered the sleek lab that Jean was usually found in. The intelligent redheaded woman took a few things off the steel table and aloud Scott to lay down the girl he held in his arms.

“What happened?” Jean asked, puzzled by the frazzled appearance of her lover and the tiny cuts allover this strange girl’s body. “She fell through the skylight,” he paused, chuckling a bit, “fell through the skylight and landed on me.” Jean let out a muffled laugh as she looked over the girl.

“Oh my god,” Jean whispered, her fingers running over an intricate tattooed design on the girls forearm. She frantically searched around the lab, opening drawer after drawer and throwing papers everywhere. “What are you looking for?” Scott asked, watching her sweeping around the lab like a hurricane. “Sh, just hold on a minute,” Jean sounded aggravated and Scott kept his mouth shut.

“Ah! Here it is,” Jean exclaimed, holding up a leather-bound book that was thick with yellowed pages. She quickly leafed through the book, landing on a specific section. Jean turned a few more pages and then leaned over the girl again, studying the tattoos and then turning back to look in the book. “Oh my god, Scott,” Jean looked up at her boyfriend from across the lab table, “it’s her…it’s the One.”

Scott narrowed his eyes at Jean through his sunglasses, looking at the girl on the table who was still except for her chest rising and falling with her breathing. Her hair was cut very short with blue, red and pink highlighting her naturally golden hair. A vibrant spike of red that looked like a tattoo ran through her left eye, cheek and eyebrow and small red dots lined the inside of her right eyebrow.

A column of hieroglyphic tattoos ran down the side of her neck and a block of them had been tattooed to her forearm where Jean had first gotten the inclination to find the book. “The one what?” Jean rolled her eyes at Scott and looked at the girl affectionately, “She’s the One…the prophesized Adam and Eve of mutants. If what I’ve been taught is correct then we have in our possession the strongest mutant that has ever lived. She’s a reincarnate of the very first mutant—more powerful than Professor Xavier or Magneto or any of us. She lived in Egypt, for centuries, she gave counsel to Ramses, Tutankhamen and even Cleopatra. Look at this tattoo on her shoulder.” Jean instructed him, lifting the girl up a bit for him.

Scott studied the seemingly meaningless symbols and nodded, “What does it say?” Jean smirked, letting the girl back onto the cool table. “It’s her name, Aray, it means the Keeper in Egyptian. When this girl wakes up she may be able to tell us stories of Pharaohs and Queens and rulers from ancient Egypt. Scott this is the most important relic and/or artifact on the planet.”

Professor Xavier and Logan were speaking quietly in the professor’s office when there was fevered knocking at the door. “Come in Jean,” the professor called out. Dr. Grey opened the door, a broad smile displayed on her face and proudly announced, “Professor Xavier, it’s the One, she’s here—Scott’s in the lower levels with her.”

Xavier shut his eyes momentarily and then opened them quickly, “I can’t believe I didn’t sense her presence, but then again she most likely knows a thing or two about going unnoticed.” He chuckled to himself while Logan looked on with a bemused expression.

Xavier was leaving with Jean when Logan followed them, “Mind if I come see this One person with you?” He was given the go-ahead and he, Jean and Xavier headed for the elevator.

When they came to the lab Scott was sitting on a chair next to Aray, still unconscious on the table, leafing through the book of Egyptian Hieroglyphics that Jean had been using earlier. He looked up and smiled at his good friend and mentor Xavier and at Jean as well and became a bit smug when Logan appeared behind her.

Logan approached the table and stood by her feet, studying the strange looking girl with great interest. “Funky hair,” he mumbled under his breath, chuckling a bit at the colors in her hair. “So who is she?” Logan asked, looking to the professor who was studying her tattoos.

“Hetepet Iry,” the professor paused after saying her full name that was displayed on the back of her shoulder, “translates to Keeper of the Offerings…of gifts…of our abilities.” Logan became even more confused, not understanding where this girl came from or why she looked like an Egyptian raver gone wrong.

Jean took over, wanting him to understand the importance of this being. “Logan, this girl is the reincarnation of the very first mutant. Her powers are that of the mutant that knew Ramses and Cleopatra. This girl,” Jean touched the motionless girl’s arm gently, “is the most powerful mutant on the planet.”

Logan chuckled as he looked at the simple beauty of the girl. “If she’s Egyptian then why is she so pale?” “Because she’s simply the reincarnate of the Egyptian, she could be from the United States, or anywhere on Earth. These markings must have manifested recently, they look fresh and she herself looks to be about fourteen or fifteen.”

“Can’t you read her mind?” Logan asked expectantly, eyeing the professor who sat in his wheelchair near the left of the girl’s head. “No, no one can, I can try, but her mind is sealed-off completely from me and every other telepathic mutant.”

“Wow,” Logan fingered the soft cotton of the clean, white wrap skirt she wore that tied in a knot traditionally worn by ancient Egyptians. A cropped, white tank top with blue edging concealed most of her upper body and intricate silver and gold bangles decorated her ankles.

“These tattoos on her arm,” the professor touched the skin that had been tattooed in jet-black ink on her forearm, “it’s a passage from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. As is the column on her neck.” Scott watched on from behind Jean with his arms folded across his chest, “So what can she do?”

As if to answer her question, there was a loud snap as the girl sat up and the tiny wires that had been attached to her skin with electrodes broke easily. She reached out lightening fast as she slid forward with her feet gripping the table and grasped Logan’s neck. The surprised man struggled for breath and choked slightly as her amazingly strong grip tightened.

Her intensely blue eyes began to glow slightly as her mouth moved with Egyptian words, “Heb re, so bin ma par.” Logan’s lips parted immediately and the translation of her phrase followed, “Send us light, there is an evil man in the house.” She let go of Logan immediately after he finished speaking and looked in turn at each of the mutants around her. Logan coughed a bit and felt his neck, happy nothing was broken and maybe only bruised.

Her furtive eyes took in every inch of the room and her head moved with quick, jerking motions. She looked at Jean suddenly and paused, her head tipping to the side slightly. Her movements reminded Logan of a bird’s, quick and staccato, as though grace would slow her down. Aray reached out and grabbed Jean’s neck this time, speaking again in her Egyptian tongue.

“Ink nadas iker, dad ma ref, ir ma hepes-fa, sohasef newet-fa raf,” she waited while Jean’s lips moved involuntarily with the English. “I was an astute individual, who spoke with her own mouth, who acted with her own strong arm, and who kept her town at a distance form herself.”

Xavier was confused, not understanding why the girl was telling them this. Aray continued. “Sehem debahat-hetep: taw, seneb, nen maa, inew nen-a , ii heray i-sew.”

Jean spoke once more, “But I need those with these abilities: One with wind, one who heals, one who cannot see, one who can bring gifts without arms and one who comes in the sky with wings.” Aray let go of Jean who gasped for air and backed away from the table into Scott who held her tightly against him.

The girl then sat quietly, her eyes blinking shortly every few seconds and her hands placed palms-down on her thighs. She looked statuesque, as though someone might be painting her portrait a she sat on a thrown. Logan exchanged a glance with the professor and was told in his mind that this girl was in need of mutants and their gifts.

“If I remember, she needs wind, healing, no eyes, gifts without hands and wings. That would mean Storm, myself, Cyclops, Jean and…Angel? But Angel doesn’t work for us anymore,” Logan worked out the phrasing of the girl and looked to Jean and Cyclops who stood still. The silence was evident but it didn’t seem to bother Aray who still sat quietly on the table.

She glanced around the room a few more times before her eyes landed on the heavy book of Egyptian to English translations. Telekinetically the book rose up and Aray brought it over to herself. She opened it and then peered over the top of it at the others in the room still watching her. “Sodah,” Aray commanded sternly, growing angry when no one understood her. “Sodah!” She said louder, her hand flying up and the doors to the lab crashing open violently.

“Call me crazy but I think she wants to be alone,” Logan said slowly, backing away from the table. Professor Xavier nodded, leaving the room with Jean and Scott following. As Logan approached the doors she swung them shut, nearly making him slam his face into them. “Whoa now,” he grumbled, spinning around to see the mysterious girl staring up at him with a blank expression.

She motioned for him to come to her and he did so, slowly. As he approached the table a chair moved into position so that he could sit down. Logan took a seat, running his hands through his thick black hair and down over his sideburns as he watched the girl. Aray was silent, flipping through the dictionary quickly, her hand hovering above each page before she turned it.

They sat for nearly an hour as she leafed through the thick book and Logan watched, still mesmerized by her. Her skin was incredibly pale, as though it had been sculpted from pure alabaster or white marble. Her features were soft and feminine though her haircut was short and boyish with spiky colored chunks sticking up allover her head.

Finally, she shut the book and looked up at Logan who was still sitting in the chair at the end of the table. She jumped off of the table with catlike agility and walked over to him. Logan glanced down at the winding, tan leather sandals that only covered the bottoms of her feet and then tied and winded around her ankles and toes.

He looked back up into her face and she smiled slightly, “I’m sorry if it hurt when I grabbed your throat.” Logan smiled broadly, happy to hear she had learned English and no longer needed his body to get her point across. “I’m Logan,” he said, sticking his hands into his back pockets awkwardly.

“I’m Aray, Keeper of the Gifted, daughter to strangers and lover of the unique. I need you and your gifts…as well as some of your friends.” Logan nodded slowly, biting on his lower lip as he watched her. There was something very strange about the way she held herself, almost regally though she was in a completely foreign atmosphere. Her eyes revealed her timorousness; they were almost shy and apprehensive as she gazed at whatever interested her.

Logan noticed that most of the cuts that had been on her body from the fall were simply scratches now and he remarked in his head that she must have powers similar to his. “No, Logan, I’m nothing like you,” she whispered, stepping closer to him after reading his thoughts without even a hint of the action on her face. “I was the handler of deaths in Egypt and around. If an associate of mine wanted someone to die, it was I who would end the person’s life. My enemies were my people—they knew what I was and wanted to make me a Goddess, but I wouldn’t have it. I’m a person, I would not be forever damned to be painted on walls and put into books as a god.”

Logan soaked in her words like a sponge, loving the way every word rolled off of her tongue with a smooth and slightly exotic accent. “Where were you born? I mean you, not this Aray person.” She sighed, her eyes fixed on his, “I am Aray, I became her when I turned sixteen. This is me,” she touched her hand with rings winding around almost every finger to her chest and then put her other hand onto Logan’s flannel-clad chest, “just, as you are you.” Her hand felt unnaturally warm and vibrant, even through the material of his shirt and he nodded…deciding that her origins would have to wait for another day.

“What do you need my friends and I for?” He asked, watching her take her hand back from his body. “There is a great amount of evil in this modern world. Evil that will harm innocent people—evil that will come for me and that I will not be able to stop on my own.” Logan nodded, feeling a tinge of sadness for her, “You must feel very lonely being the strongest mutant on Earth.”

She shrugged, it was such a casual motion that it seemed out of place with her. “I don’t think about it, I use my abilities when I need to and my heart more often.” Logan felt deeply attracted to her. For the first time it wasn’t simply that she was beautiful…but because of her mind. Even if she was lying about everything she had said, the way she spoke and the harmony he felt coming from her were like nothing he had ever felt before. He was also disheartened; knowing inside that the most powerful girl on Earth would most likely want nothing to do with him.

“I need to sleep,” she put her hand to her forehead and clenched her eyes shut for a moment. “Tell the professor that I will take a room with you,” she said sternly, leaving no room in her words for argument. “But how did you know he was the…” Logan stopped speaking abruptly, remembering who he was speaking with and smiled, honored that she wanted a room with him. “I’ll let him know.”

Chapter 2

Aray sat on the cot that had been set up for her in Logan’s room silently. Her eyes fluttering a bit as she stared ahead of her—completely still. Logan came into the room from getting ready for bed in simply sweatpants and stopped, not wanting to disturb whatever she was doing.

He watched her for a few moments, his furtive eyes soaking in the calm that seemed to seep from her pores. Walking towards his bed slowly he found her sitting with her legs crossed in a seemingly awkward way and her hands placed on her knees. A sound began to come from her throat. It was quiet at first, soft and lilting in its own sad way. Soon it was a hum and then singing as her voice climbed over notes that hinted at sadness and loss. There were no real words that Logan could make out, only sound…but it spoke more than the most direct lyrics could ever portray.

He sat on his bed and flicked the towel that he had placed over his shoulder off, setting it down on his oak dresser. Aray’s singing stayed constant, a Middle Eastern range of contrasting, exotic sounds that made Logan completely mesmerized. He looked closer at her shimmering complexion and watched as a single tear bubbled and rolled over the lip of her eye. The tear meandered down her cheek and dropped off of her face silently.

She seemed completely unshaken by the tear and continued to sing, her mouth opened only slightly as the sounds holding such conviction rang and echoed in the spacious room. Finally, with only one tear shed, her singing grew softer…soon to a hum and then to nothing at all.

Aray’s eyes snapped open as her feet untwined themselves from her legs and her hands removed themselves from her knees. She immediately looked up at Logan who was still engaged in her presence. Without a word she lay down on her cot and crossed her arms over her chest.

Logan watched her lying there and saw her eyes shutting. He thought she could pass for a corpse with the way she was positioned and the stillness that had engulfed her form. Getting up slowly from his bed, he went to the door and flicked off the lights. Walking back over to his bed with the moonlight on the floor to help him.

As they lay there in silence, he felt suddenly compelled to speak, he was unsure if she was awake or already sleeping. “Why were you crying?” Aray’s eyes remained shut as the words reached her. She had been expecting him to ask why had she been singing but ignored the notion.

“Because I wish this reality I’m in now was something different. I once had a life rich with colors and culture. I would wake up some days when I was traveling to the whining sound of the pipes in the Arabian mosques or to the gongs of Buddhist monks. I would take breakfast with Ramses. I would wake up in the bed of one of Akenaten and Nefertiti’s sons. This noisy, metal infested, image obsessed culture is nothing compared to the richness and delicacy of what I used to live.”

Logan listened intently, wanting to hear more of her stories. “Can I ask you one thing?” “You may.” “Was that Pharaoh’s kid any good?” Aray laughed heartily, her eyes opening slightly to gaze over at Logan who was lying on his side watching her.

“He was indeed, though I’m sure there are better,” she replied, her voice touched with happiness and almost laughter as she spoke. Logan found himself thinking ‘yeah, me.’ And heard Aray laughing once more. “You think you are better than a pharaoh? Bold thinking.”

Logan felt himself blushing, forgetting that she was the most powerful mutant alive and was indeed telepathic. “Well what do you think? I mean can’t you just read my mind and find out if it’s true?” Aray smirked, her glowing blue eyes constantly in Logan’s view.

She couldn’t hide her curiosity and she turned onto her side, gazing at him thoughtfully. “Do you really think that’s a wise idea?” Logan shrugged, his bare shoulder poking out from under the jersey knit sheet he had thrown over himself.

“It’s your call, Keeps.” Logan replied, hoping that she would indeed agree to do it. He was beginning to feel comfortable with her. A feeling of calm and almost emotional shelter came with her presence and he was feeling it completely. Aray thought carefully, not knowing if this was something she should take on—this was a world she was not acquainted with.

On the other side of the argument she also knew that if she didn’t try to acclimate herself with the mutants around her she may never succeed in earning their trust, friendship and ultimately their help. Finally, she decided to go ahead with it—knowing that this mutant would be a good one to befriend…he could help her with her problems

Aray sat up, sitting with her usual good posture and looked directly into Logan’s eyes. “I will in fact read your thoughts, but may I suggest that you should think only what you want me to know—by you inviting me into your head I will have complete, unguarded access to all of your thoughts and emotions.” Logan nodded slowly, knowing that if he tried he could keep her from knowing things she shouldn’t about him.

She sighed, climbing up onto his bed and asking him to sit up. He did so, and sat cross-legged with Aray directly in front of him in the same position. Logan tried to relax, then spoke up, “can I have a moment to think all of it over?” Aray nodded, smiling a bit at the seriousness with which he approached this small interaction.

Logan nodded to himself, thinking over quickly in his mind what this girl might enjoy as far as sexual endeavors. She looked eager and adventurous and rather seasoned in the ways of love. Hell, if she had gotten into the bed of Nefertiti’s boy then she must know what she’s doing…Logan wasn’t extremely good at history but he had definitely heard of her.

Oppositely, she was also extremely important and if what he showed her wasn’t impressive then he would be massively embarrassed. It was decided, exciting and intense yet still with a sense of composure and direction…sex without a purpose wasn’t sex at all in Logan’s book…at least not good sex.

“All right, I think I’m ready,” he whispered, looking up into her phosphorescent blue eyes. Aray nodded calmly, taking two confident hands and placing them on Logan’s face slightly covering his ears. “If you don’t invite me in I cannot see exactly what you want me to see.”

Logan smirked at the words and gave her a serious yet deliciously carnal look, “Come on in and make yourself comfortable.” With that Aray was blasted into Logan’s head. A swirling void of tenacious thoughts until she was given some direction with the appearance of herself and Logan on the very bed they sat on then.

His world echoed horribly and the sound was painfully loud and devoid of comfort until finally Logan became a bit calmer and the sound subsided to a slight ringing. Aray knew that by him inviting her him it aloud her to feel exactly what he was feeling and understand the sensations of what he wanted to take place on a much slighter level than reality.

Aray slipped herself into the appearance of herself in front of Logan and became her for the time being. She looked through her own eyes but in Logan’s world into his suddenly handsome face. Before that time he had seemed plain and a bit dirty to her with the facial hair and ripped clothing but now there was something grippingly attractive about him.

His mostly black eyes peered back at her with lust and power and she could see his intentions almost immediately. -FLASH- Logan had pinned her to the bed and was already beginning to remove the T-shirt Jean had given her to wear. For a second Aray was shown an image of Jean smiling but it soon vanished when Logan realized that Jean entered his thoughts at the moment that he looked on the T-shirt.

-FLASH- Logan’s thoughts were moving disjointedly with little in the way of actions leading up to the compromising positions Aray was finding herself in. She now realized she was without any clothing and Logan was the same.

He lay on his side next to her still body letting his hand wander up and down slowly, letting his mind memorize her body with his hands leading the way. She could feel the warmth that his fingers brought and goose bumps were popping up all over her body.

Logan’s gaze never strayed from her face as his hands explored her and in another flash he was looming over her. Lowering his hands to her quivering stomach that was riled with nervousness he aloud his knees to find their way in between hers and slowly spread her legs wider in anticipation for his entrance.

Aray cursed him for his slowness, the men she had taken were fast and greedy and wanted only self-satisfaction…but men had changed, she supposed. She was wrong, it was simply Logan’s undying strive to bring happiness to other people, happiness that he rarely felt but gave to his sporadic lovers in such high amounts that it almost damaged him…men were still pigs even after thousands of years.

Her eyes were downcast as she lay back on the bed; her head embedded into the pillow and her fingers clutching the sheets under her. Logan lowered his head quickly and licked a trail of saliva from her belly button up to her neck, stopping briefly at her breasts to taste those as well.

In reality, and not in Logan’s head, Aray flinched from the sensation and clutched Logan’s head with increased strength. Back in the vision of them together he was sucking at her neck contentedly when he felt her leg wrapping around his in an attempt to bring his lower body down to hers.

His lips stayed on her neck as he indulged her only in the pleasure of his chest meeting hers. A slight moan escaped her lips as she felt their flesh burning at the places where they touched. “I need you,” the cliched words left her lips and she regretted them instantly because of their common use. “What’s stopping you from taking me?”

Aray smirked, enjoying the fact that he wasn’t going to give in easily to her attempts at reeling him in. Logan ignored the exchange and lowered his head so that he was teasing her nipples with his slick tongue. “Ah,” she cried out slightly, not having felt pleasure from another person, human or mutant, in thousands of years.

Logan smiled into his deviations, knowing exactly what he was doing to her and her ardor. But he himself was feeling the obvious effects of his teasing and pleasuring and he knew that if he didn’t work a little faster he wouldn’t perform at his very best even in the fantasy world he was creating.

He retracted his face from her body and stared down into her eager eyes for a moment before scooping her body into his arms and lowering himself into her. Aray cried out in response and her arms flew around his neck, her fingernails embedding themselves into his smooth skin.

The slight pain only increased Logan’s desire to prove to her that he could outdo any prince or king with both arms tied behind his back. Putting his palms to the bed and lifting himself up slightly he showed her exactly the kinds of sensations that he could provide, rubbing the head of his length against her aching center.

Aray felt it was almost too much for her at that point but she endured it, beginning to shake violently with the desire to feel him fucking her brains out. As she felt liquid that had seeped from him coating her burning clit he whispered, “Want more?” His tense, rugged voice was only loud enough to be heard over her labored breathing and the grunts that resumed coming from him when he stopped speaking. She moaned in response and dug her sharp fingernails into his shoulders more. “That’s not good enough. Do you NEED more?”

Her response was her legs wrapping around his body, keeping him close without any chance of him getting away. “Good answer,” he replied gruffly, avoiding the exterior pleasures he could continue to give and pushing as far into her as he dared.

A shrill scream ripped from her throat and she swore that she had never felt anything so sinfully gratifying and yet painful in her life. Logan knew that he was going in the right direction, pumping himself into her with a fury that he didn’t know he could harness outside of a fight.

Aray opened her eyes for a moment only to see sweat gleaming on his deliciously toned body and his strong arms bulging with the weight he was putting on them. A vein was visible on his forehead as his mouth twisted into a snarl that represented the exertion the motion required. Nothing compared to the sensations Aray felt in reality at that point, she didn’t need Logan inside of her to feel the connection that had been established.

Logan was going too easy on her, even with his hard body pummeling hers there was something lacking and with that in mind he pulled out almost completely…making Aray’s legs tense in an attempt to keep him locked into her completely. But he denied her that great pleasure and instead let himself hover at her entrance. His glistening eyes ran up her sweating, gorgeous body to her face that looked calm even in the seductive cloud of passionate heat surrounding them.

With a final reassuring look of love Logan jammed himself back into his former place and received a high pitched moan of satisfaction in return. Resuming his previous speed he could feel himself tensing, but he had to hold out—she was the first priority. But it wasn’t long before she joined him in that spot, tensing around him and Logan finally sent her over the edge. He had reached between them and located her clit, massaging it roughly with two of his fingers.

A burst of energy came from her body as she emitted a scream that nearly tore her throat and Logan’s ears to shreds. Simultaneously she heard a quick rushing sound of metallic ejection that made her spine tingle and realized Logan had unsheathed his claws directly into the mattress from the efficacy of the orgasm she had given him. The sound and action sent a surge of pain through his body that effected Aray directly when she felt the flow of his juices into her intensify for a glorious second and then the stimulating sound of a long, pained moan coming from his throat.

There was a still moment of reflection as they stared into one another’s eyes with Logan still positioned in between her legs. Aray gasped for breath with a blank yet shocked expression on her face. Logan glanced down at his hands as his chest heaved with surprise and then quickly retracted his claws as a few pieces of down shot up and then floated surreally down to the mattress.

The air was still around them, a gentle blanket of gratification and euphoria coating their still glistening bodies. Logan pulled himself from her slowly and lay down next to her, scooting closer to her body and catching a glimpse of her still undulating chest. His lips found hers and she pushed her tongue into his mouth eagerly as she tasted the spicy bite of the cigars he loved so much.

Pulling away he looked into her eyes with increased interest, knowing that those eyes had only minutes before been staring up at his in utter deliverance and pleading for release. “No more dreamland,” Logan insisted reluctantly.

Aray snapped her eyes open, looking into Logan’s face immediately. She realized how tightly she had been gripping his head and she took her hands away, a bit embarrassed. She avoided his gaze for a moment, struggling to find composure. Logan took one of his hands and tipped her chin up so that she was looking at him.

“Satisfied?” He asked gently, his eyes glinting and revealing how much he had enjoyed the vision. Aray was still a bit stunned but she managed one word as she wiped the back of her hand across her forehead to wipe away some of the sweat that had collected, “Immeasurably.” Her voice was bound by sadness, a longing that Logan hadn’t heard from anyone but is own himself…usually when he spoke of wanting his memories back.

“What is it?” He asked with equal gentility. His eyes had transformed into vessels of care as she looked up into his face and a small smile brightened her stony features. “I, I just wish that it was real. All of that, it was just a fantasy, but somehow I felt it…like I’ve never felt anything before.” Logan smiled, wishing that he could know just how much it had satisfied her…she couldn’t explain to him just how much with words.

In repayment,” she whispered, leaning forward and bringing her real lips to his. Logan was shocked at the motion but accepted the kiss gratefully, shutting his eyes and opening his mouth to meet her prying tongue. They played a gentle tug of war with each other’s tongues as they deepened the kiss into a meaningful few moments of bliss before pulling away. “I think we should sleep now, we’ll discuss what happened later.” Aray suggested. She aloud a cool finger to linger on Logan’s gently indented chin before she climbed nimbly from the bed and onto her humble cot. She instantly pulled her body into its position that was fit for a corpse or vampire. Logan watched her, thinking of her in that instant as a goddess, maybe those damn Egyptians just didn’t explain it to her right, he thought. Logan smiled slightly as he watched the moonlight moving across her slender body. Hoping that she was asleep he nodded slowly to himself, lying down and pulling the sheets up to his chest, “I will have that pleasure some day, Keeper.”

to be continued...