I was starting to feel like I owned the road now.
Whereas before, a few twists and turns ago, I was still a part of the long, long locomotive of lorries, semis, and cars barreling through the asphalt tracks. After a while, I seed to have uncoupled from the rest of the freight.
The road ahead stretched vast and empty into a horizon gradually becoming less and less unobstructed by man-made concrete. So it really was like the highway was mine alone to own and rule over, save for the occasional visitor that I permitted to whiz past because I'm just nice like that.
Yeah, It really wasn't hard for the mind to wander to delusions of grandeur like that especially when you got no one to talk to, or even worse, soone who seed to not want to talk in general.
Irene was a mute. In the way one would be when they simply had too much to dwell on about to even speak. I could sense her thinking behind , her gaze glazed, burrowed deep within herself.
For a long while, things remained that way. Then the road narrowed, the skies funneled in an overhead of tall trees and branches, and Irene spoke.
"Far enough, I think. There should be a trail sowhere on the left soon, a place to park. People used to hike and camp there."
"Used to?" I asked.
"Probably still do. But I doubt anyone would at this ti, this season. Any loud noises, disturbances, can just simply be chalked up to bears and wolves. Small risk of anyone stumbling in on us."
"Um, bears and wolves?"
I saw her peek at through my rearview mirror, her visor poking out from my shoulder, "Are you worried?"
"Should I be?"
"I'm not," she said coolly. "Keep driving, not long now."
We passed by a billboard that attested to just that. An oaky, rustic board with life-sized squirrels clinging to its sides, dim bulbs spotlighting words, as well as a cartoon bear midway through devouring a logo. Seed we were about to be using a nature reserve as our training grounds.
The entrance was highlighted by a long line of fences, and two large pillars of wood holding up a sign suspended in the air by a sturdy string of rope. I drove in slowly, feeling every small bump and jolt of loose pebbles and dirt grinding against the tires.
I glanced around briefly, seeing what there was to see, so benches, more trees, a notice board tacked in abundance with various notes, posters, and maps of the general area stood prominently beside a cabin with its seemingly sole occupant sitting within a small booth tucked in glass panels.
"Find sowhere to park," Irene ordered, disembarking first and dumping her helt onto my lap. "Need to have a word with the reception first."
It wasn't that difficult to find a spot. I an, I only had the entirety of the place to pick from. When I did eventually narrow down my infinite choices to one, I joined Irene at the front of the cabin, hanging back to not intrude, but close enough to be able to eavesdrop.
And what I did hear, had absolutely shook to my core.
"Co on, won't you? Please? There must be sothing you can do. I know there is. That badge of yours ans you're in control here, doesn't it? You give the orders. In a way, I suppose you can I'm at your complete and utter rcy, aren't I? My sadness, or my happiness… all at your whim."
It was like honey given life, given sound, a voice… a whisper, an addictive drug to the ears. Every word Irene spoke lingered thoughts, intentions, implications stirring in your head even if there were none really there.
"I-I'm really sorry, but, uh…" the man behind the glass stumbled over his words, fiddling with the collar of his uniform, the hat on his head threatening to slip off with the way he kept squirming. "It's… it's like I said, the park's closed at this ti. Visitors aren't allowed. But we, um… but we open again in a couple of weeks. You're welco to co back then, um, Miss…?"
I watched her move, like perfection in motion, the subtlest sways, the smoothest arc of her back as she leaned closer to the counter. And she spoke again, waves of exhilaration rippling from the curves of her smile.
"Irene. Just call Irene."
The man gulped, murmuring garbled noise under his breath. And honestly? Sa, dude. Sa.
"And I completely understand where you're coming from," she went on, sweet, sympathetic, and sexy. "There are rules. Rules to uphold. Rules that they are to protect us. And I'm sure you're only turning away out of the want to protect too, am I right?"
"Y-Yeah," he said weakly, eyes straight and trembling. "Exactly…"
"You're too sweet, you know?" she said with a simper, giggle. "I'm glad you are. It makes feel safe, secure… knowing I can trust you with my well-being."
"I... I suppose you can... Ma'am..."
"Irene," she reminded him.
"I-Irene, yes," her na stumbled out the tip of his tongue, like a parched dog reaching for a bowl of water. "That's... that's what I'm here for."
She was working him, stringing him like so helpless bug ensnared in her web of sweet, soft words. I rembered this happening before too, a whole lifeti ago. When I needed a temporary place to stay when a particular vampire trashed my apartnt, she wooed her way into a free room in so rundown motel.
That was the first, and debatably the only ti I've seen egregiously promiscuous. And watching her here now… I had almost forgotten she could be.
"But, listen, hear out, won't you?" Then it happened, a sudden drop in her voice. I could hear her smile fade. The damsel in distress has co out to play. "It's getting late, and and my friend, we've been out on the road for a long, long ti. We're awfully tired, and this place, your place. Heard you rent cabins. I thought it might be a good spot to stop and rest for a while, you know?"
The man took a breath, and blinked hard, mustering the remaining bits of composure left in him for her to just simply devour.
"Well, you're... not wrong about that. There's a lot to see, a lot to just take in, enjoy the sights. The stars get pretty at night, very uh, they get.... they're very pretty...."
Sothing definitely was pretty, alright. And I don't think it was the stars.
"Ah, I'd love to see that," Irene said with yearning. "City life, the only lights you see at night are street lights, headlights. It's... exhausting. That's why I wanted to get away from it all for a while, see new things, et new people... people like you."
"Ah..." He laughed. Sounded like he didn't even an to laugh. "That's... that's nice."
"So, it's alright, then?" She quickly pounced at the question, voice high with anticipation. "You won't mind making my day a little brighter? See those stars you were talking about? Maybe you can even find a good spot to watch them from."
"That's, Ma'am, I…"
"Irene," she reminded him again, reprimanding him with the equivalent of a caressing feather.
"I-Irene," he corrected himself, struggling to even continue. "I… understand your situation. Bad luck, it sucks. But like I said, we're closed for the rest of the season, it's just not…"
"Possible?" Irene said, and I could hear, really hear the poignant resignation, disappointnt in her voice. "Okay, that's okay. I'm sorry to push, really. I was just thinking… you know... I was... no, never mind..."
Her words trailed, leaving a trail, a scent for the man to follow.
"What?"
"Just a thought I had, after talking to you," she said, shaking her bashfully. "That the safest place to be, for the ti being, the best place to be… might have been with you."
I could almost feel a tremor, sothing rattling through my legs. It might have been his heartbeat. In which case, what number did that reach on the Richter scale?
Irene leaned away from the counter, pacing back, each distancing step a surge of regret and desperation filling the man's eyes more and more. He looked ready to jump at her, just any mont now… any second…
"But rules are rules, I suppose," she said to him, still as kind, still as sweet, the tragic damsel playing her part. "I'll leave you alone now."
Then before she could turn an inch, before she could even begin to swerve her feet. A chair screeched, toppled. The man was upright, a trembling, hunched figure of nerves and hormones.
"W-Wait!" He called out, not even asking, but begging. And he was like a ravenous zombie the way he began to fiddle his hands through his pockets. "Follow , I'll…" the man breathed, his lips hung ajar, and thirsty, desperate for more, he slowly pulled out a jangling ring of keys. "Just for a while, right?"
Irene looked back, and I caught a small fleeting glimpse of the expression she gave him. The softest look in her eyes, the glimr of satisfaction, of delight, the type you knew you caused, you granted, that just simply engulfs your mind.
"Perhaps even for longer too," she told him, sounding hopeful, but not too hopeful. "That is if you're willing to put up with for just a bit more."
The man was silent and still for a long while. I actually wouldn't have been too surprised if he had fainted at attention. Seed only natural to .
Eventually, though, his soul returned to the land of the living just in ti to exit his glass cubicle in a stumble and promptly lead us along the nature trail. He clung close to Irene like a dog on a leash, bombarding her with questions and chatter that she was more than happy to oblige.
I didn't say a word throughout, didn't dare risk sabotaging her ploy in any way. So I just played my own part as the bizarre, non-existent third wheel watching them, watching her … how she'd laugh rrily, almost sincerely at his jokes, the way her gaze was tethered to his, staring so deeply, fondly… don't rember if she even looked at once all the way through.
It was almost frightening how convincing she was with her affections.
Finally, deep within the reserve, the ranger handed Irene a key, and reluctantly waved her goodbye, leaving us before the closed door of a large log cabin. One of their more finer lodges, he claid.
As soon as the man went out of sight, so did the lovely, bubbly woman who was once beside .
"Chatty," Irene huffed, staring out at the empty space where he disappeared into, her sweet smile quickly turning bitter. "I hate it when they're chatty."
"Held out pretty good there, though," I said. "You even almost had believing otherwise."
"Thank you," she said flatly. "Now, c'mon, before it gets dark, alright? At least so fundantals before the day's over."
Instead of the lodge, Irene turned in the opposite direction, following the trail deeper into the verdant greens of trees and rocks.
"Even deeper in?" I asked, following after her. "What's wrong with training right here?"
"Not the place I had in mind," she replied. "Too cluttered, and worse, he might co back for more, to talk more, and I really, really don't want that. No, we're walking."
"You have an exact place in mind?" I paused, thinking back to all she had said so far. "Starting to sound like you've been around to these parts before."
"Just once."
"Once," I repeated back. "Alright, and when was that?"
"When I first ca to this realm with Ria," Irene answered simply, whirling around to find stunned in place. "Now march already, will you?
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