Chapter 14

Yulia has been waiting by the old statue in the park for an hour now and still there has been no sign of Curtis. She pulls the hoodie down over her face just a little more and peaks around the corner once again. This time she doesn’t see the set of police officers. Most likely it was just a random patrol, but even then she is certain they are on the lookout for her nonetheless.

“A cold night to just be hanging around,” a young voice says from behind her. Yulia nearly jumps and quietly chides herself for getting distracted.

She turns to face none other than Sabina. “What are you doing here?” she almost snarls.

“You’re so full of hostility,” the girl returns. “I thought living here was bad with the place full of hostile people.”

“You have been here barely weeks...”

“No, I grew up here,” the girl corrects, cutting Yulia off quickly enough. “I only had moved to Russia a few weeks before we met.”

Yulia’s face scrunches up with distaste and confusion. “What you mean by this?”

“You recognize me when you were chasing after Erlos,” Sabina says, counting off her fingers. “I was there when your partner died...”

“Killed...”

“Whatever...” Sabina smiles at the other woman. “You and I fucked nearly every day...”

Laughing, Yulia says, not taking the bait, “That is a good one.” “I do not have sex with those I chase.”

“Dragostea înflorește ca o floare de primavera,” Sabina chants, ending with a smile bigger than before.

Yulia feels a wave of euphoria and dizziness over her in an instant. She blinks several times as if her vision was suddenly clear and she was seeing the world for the first time in a long time. “Sabina... ?”

“Yes... ?”

“What happened to you?”

“The night I left after our argument I was taken by some men,” the girl says solemnly. “They took me to a lab and...”

“I searched for you,” Yulia says, hope rising in her voice. She wants to take a step forward and just grab the girl up into her arms and shower her with kisses. “I never gave up.”

“But you did,” Sabina contradicts. “You found a new purpose, a new focus, a new obsession.”

“I ... I got caught up...” Yulia truly doesn’t know what to say about the accusation. It is true, yet she doesn’t understand herself why it happened that way.

“It’s not your fault,” Sabina quickly says. “Erlos has that effect on people.”

Suddenly at the mention of the beast’s name and chiding herself once more, this time for falling for this trickery, Yulia growls, “You have been aiding that bastard. Alexei is dead because of it. You are a murderer.”

Sabina doesn’t look at all shock about the accusations. In fact she doesn’t betray a single emotion to her former lover. “What happened was not my fault either,” she explains. “I was taken to that lab for the purpose of being his breeder. Erlos was created using the DNA sent by aliens to the government. There was only enough to make him and they needed him to breed.”

This is not at all what Yulia expected to hear. In fact she had prepared herself to hear any excuse other than something like this. “What about taking his blood?”

Sabina cracks a smile for the first time since the accusations began to fly. “That is the funny thing about the alien DNA, it doesn’t work like that.”

“So that is why they needed you,” Yulia offers.

“Yes,” the girl agrees, almost hissing her response with urgency and eagerness. “But Erlos didn’t like being there. He had a purpose to change the human race, but not as a weapon. Where he comes from they lack sex organs and so they do not enjoy that pleasure. They observed us and wanted to take the best parts of themselves and us to create a new race.”

“So he wanted to escape and take you with him,” Yulia surmises.

“That is what he told me,” Sabina agrees. “He promised his plan would be carried out to do that.” She suddenly drops her head as well as her voice. “But once we escaped I was under his control. I learned he wanted to rule this world instead.”

“By killing people?” Yulia asks.

“It is fun for him,” the girl says gloomily. “But he only kills those he doesn’t believe belong in his new world. He calls it culling the sheep.”

“Why have you not fought him?” Yulia questions, her mind suddenly a tornado of thoughts and questions. “Why have you not tried to contact me?”

“I couldn’t,” the girl puffs. “I wanted to, but he would not allow it.”

“Why are you here now?”

“Because I am supposed to take you to him,” she admits. “He didn’t see her error in sending me like this. He didn’t know his spell over me would weaken. But together we can kill him.”

“This is some kind trick,” Yulia accuses.

For the first time Sabina lets her emotions show, and this time she looks genuinely hurt. “I wish I had turned back sooner,” she says. “I wish I never left that night. I have wanted to tell you how much I love you, but the bastard wouldn’t let me ... but now ... now he wants to have you all to himself and he wants me to watch and suffer...”

Some chord inside Yulia is struck with that. She had no idea what the beast had planned, what kind of game he was playing, but she is not going to be part of it. She is not going to be controlled by him, nor is she going to be a puppet used to torture her former lover or herself. “What we need to do to kill him?”

“I can get you close to him,” the girl says. “But I cannot help you kill him. He will know before it happens. He will be prepared and he will kill you.”

Yulia frowns and then nods. “Get me to him and I will kill him.”

Sabina smiles, her eye lighting up. She closes the distance between them. Their eyes meet and Sabina holds out a hand and starts to caress Yulia’s cheek. It is a tender touch and the woman just melts into the girl’s hands. Sabina pulls Yulia toward her until their lips touch. It has been so long ... far too long...

After a few moments they pull apart and look deeply into one another’s eyes. Their feelings are so intense and the attraction that was once there is still there. It never left, it was just hidden, blocked, kept away from Yulia this whole time. “I have a safe house,” the girl says. “The streets are not safe right now. When it gets dark I’ll take you to him. It will be harder for the police to recognize you.”

Yulia agrees with that. She knows how hard it is to spot someone she is chasing in the dark of the night. Sabina leads her out of the park to the street where the girl flags down a taxi. Once inside they sneak another kiss. Yulia feels as if she is floating on clouds and doesn’t want to come back down just yet.

The car comes to a stop in front of a large brownstone building. Yulia walks up behind Sabina, her eyes darting from side to side looking for signs of possible trouble. She was caught off guard once already today; she is not going to make that mistake again, even if she is lust-crazed at the moment. Reaching for the keys in her pocket, Sabina lets out a soft moan as she feels Yulia’s hands wrap around her waist from behind. Nestling up close against Sabina’s neck, Yulia takes in the fragrant smell of the girl. It is a long forgotten smell that floods her senses and takes her back to their first time together.

Feelings are stirring and they need to get inside quickly. By now Sabina is breathing hard as she tries to get the key into the lock, nervously dropping it to the ground. “I can’t get this damn key in right!” she almost shouts as she bends down to pick up the key.

Yulia grabs the key and unlocks the door. Sabina feels a blush of heat across her cheeks and Yulia simply smiles at her reaction. “I remember when I could not get it on first night. You stuck it in and our night began.”

Inside, Sabina is up against the door as she feels Yulia’s body on hers. Their lips are locked and hands are exploring. Kisses are gentle at first, but then the flame of desire, of longing and forgiveness is so great that it explodes into lust. They melt together and a surge of pure electricity ignites within them. Yulia’s hands caress Sabina’s breasts and the girl lets out a soft scream. Squeezing them so gently and lovingly, Yulia makes her way down, kissing the girl’s neck while moving her hands to Sabina’s thighs.

In this moment Yulia begins kissing her way down to Sabina’s chest. Their outer garments of warmth are shed and Yulia attacks the girl’s chest in full force. She undoes the buttons of Sabina’s blouse, opening it to hold both breasts with both hands. The girl’s nipples are hard. Yulia puts one in her mouth and sucks it gently. This makes Sabina moan as she pulls Yulia’s leg up to her crotch and starts grinding on it. She has her arms around Yulia as her nipples are sucked on. Sabina takes Yulia’s hand and slowly leads it down to her crotch. Immediately Yulia can feel the heat coming from the inside, and she knows her old lover is just as aroused as she is. Sabina arches her back as she feels a wave of ecstasy engulf her. The grinding that began with Yulia’s leg continues right into her hand.