Chapter 8

“How are you feeling, honey?” Mark asked.

“Fine. I don’t feel much different. Or, well I guess maybe I do, but I don’t know if it’s because of what I did or other, internal stuff.”

Mark thought for a moment. He did feel different. Just in the last few days, his senses were sharper and his thoughts had become more focused and fluid. He felt a stronger connection to his inner self, as if he were peering into the depths of his own potential.

Julia sighed. “Well at least that part is over.”

They were back from their trips, having greeted each other sheepishly in mutual acknowledgement of what they had both now done. The weight of what they’d embarked on was settling in, and Julia couldn’t help but wonder how their lives would be altered after this stage. She communicated her concern to Mark.

Mark reached out and took her hand, offering her a reassuring smile. “It’s going to make us better — everything about us including, especially our relationship.”

Julia managed a weak smile in return, grateful for Mark’s support. She squeezed his hand tightly, drawing strength from their connection. Deep down, she still wondered whether they had made the right decision, and the uncertainty of what lay ahead remained unsettling.

“I think it’s pretty much a cruise from here,” Mark said.

“Was it very ... difficult?” Julia asked tentatively.

“Actually, no. I pretty much followed the ... or did everything Vivian told me to do, and it ... went ok. We’d both had a lot to drink. How was it for you?”

“Fast. And ditto with the alcohol,” said Julia. “I did exactly what Charles said. And it was over almost as soon as it began if you know what I mean.”

Mark laughed. “Good!” he said. He still had great difficulty imagining Julia and her father having sex.

They talked more about what was to come.

“So, it will just be Vivian who does Stage 3,” said Mark. “She said Charles might not be there depending on the exact date. But he doesn’t really need to be there — just Vivian.”

“Yeah, that’s what I gathered. Charles said he’d be there the next day, and that we’d stay with them during, I guess, the recovery period.”

“Right. It sounds like it’s unclear whether or not we’ll have a reaction that requires oversight, but they’re being careful.”

“Girls are more likely to, is what Vivian told me. I guess it figures. We have that one more change.”

“Mmmm — orgasm-generator!” said Mark.

Julia laughed. “You’ll get tired of it after a while. It’ll just become ho-hum.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” Mark said, moving over to kiss her. “Not based on what I’ve experienced so far. And, besides...”

He was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

They looked at each other. “Clara,” Mark said. Their hallway neighbor was a frequent, if not always welcome, visitor. Mark stood up.

As Mark started to open the door, it swung violently toward him. As he staggered back on his heels, a man and a woman burst into the room, slamming the door behind them.

“What the hell?” Mark said, angrily, holding his arms out to block them.

With stunning speed and force, the woman seized his shoulders and hurled him backwards onto the couch. As he slammed against the back of the couch, he could see the man behind Julia, his hand over her mouth, stifling her attempts to scream.

“Stop!” he yelled. He started to get up, but the woman effortlessly pushed him back. She sat next to him on the couch, one arm across his chest, pinning him against the back of the couch. Her arm felt like a steel bar.

The man forced Julia over to the couch, his hand still over her mouth.

“Who the hell...?” he started to say.

The woman silenced him with her hand over his mouth. As he tried to wrestle from her iron grip, he felt a sharp, needle-like pain in his upper arm. He looked down and saw the man’s palm against his arm. He watched it travel up to Julia’s arm. She let out another muffled cry. What was he doing?

They sat in silence for a long moment.

The woman slowly released her grip on his mouth. She moved swiftly toward the door and retrieved a black gym bag from the floor.

As he watched her open the bag, Mark felt a sudden heaviness in his body.

“What have you...?” he began but, in a flash, her hand was over his mouth again.

Mark looked over at Julia. Her eyes were unfocused, her body strangely relaxed given the circumstances. He felt his own eyes losing focus. He was dimly aware that the hand was no longer on his mouth. The woman was pulling something from the bag – a roll of something. He tried to speak, but no words came. He started to go down ... down.

____________________________________________________________ Mark awoke in pitch blackness. He couldn’t lift his arms. Something was over his mouth – the woman’s hand? He started to panic and then forced himself to relax for a moment to bring himself under control. He noticed for the first time the drone of an engine, and sensed movement. Was he in a car? He could feel something against his face – as he moved his head back and forth, it felt like heavy, rough cloth or canvas. He realized from the sensations when he tried to move his mouth, that it was taped shut. He tried to move his arms again without success. They were either tied or taped to his sides. He lifted his knees without restriction and pulled his lower legs up against his thighs. Then he pivoted to the left and realized he was able to roll. His knees touched something soft.

“Mhhhhh, mhhh,” he heard and recognized Julia’s voice. Julia was next to him.

He responded with his own muffled cry. He straightened his legs, rolled onto his left side and sidled closer to her. From what he could feel, she was on her back, but squirming, trying to get closer to him. When she felt his body against hers, she stopped. He felt her begin to shake and heard muffled sobs. He tried to move closer to her, to comfort her, but there was a limit to what he could do. After a few moments, she stopped. He could feel her try to press against him. He pushed under her leg with his left knee, encouraging her to turn onto her side. He felt her struggle, then turn. Her body spooned against his and she relaxed slightly.

How long they lay like that Mark had no idea. His mind was befogged by whatever drug they’d injected. After a while, he drifted to sleep. When he woke up again, his mind was racing. But it was all a jumble – he couldn’t think clearly. He forced himself to go over the events of the evening in his mind. He had a hard time with the details. What came flooding back was the rapid burst of activity through the door, the stunning force of the woman’s shove, the extraordinary strength of the arm pinning him to the couch.

Who were these people?

The realization hit him with a sickening jolt. They weren’t people. They were Dacians.

He tried to think about everything Charles and Vivian had told them about the Dacians, about what they were likely to do. But his mind was still clouded, fuzzy. He tried to relax and clear his mind. From Julia’s even breathing, she appeared to be sleeping. That, at least, was a blessing. He tried to slow his breathing to match hers. He felt sleep coming again. He drifted off.

__________________________________________________________ Mark awoke with a start. He realized a car door had just been shut. There was no longer any engine noise or sensation of movement. He heard the click of a latch, the sound of a big door – the hiss of hydraulics – opening. Suddenly, he felt Julia’s body rapidly pull away from his, heard her muffled cry and then she was gone. He felt something grip his ankles – hands, immensely strong hands – and felt himself being pulled sideways and then downwards, felt himself being lifted up in the air, draped over something – a shoulder, which he could feel pressing into his belly. And then the sensation of walking, the sound of footsteps on gravel. He was being carried like a sack of potatoes.

Then the sensations from the movements changed. They were going up some stairs. The footsteps sounded different – a wood or tile floor. He could hear voices, becoming louder, but couldn’t make out the words. Then, a sudden, panic-inducing moment of freefall until he felt the back of his thighs and buttocks hit something soft followed by the same sensation against his back. He was on some sort of couch.

He heard the sound of a loud zipper. Light appeared, and then suddenly his head was free. He looked around. Julia was next to him, a terrified look in her eyes, her mouth taped, her arms bound to her sides by a salmon-colored gauze or tape. They were seated on an overstuffed couch. The man was now pulling down off Mark’s shoulders what was obviously the bag he had been placed in, which he could now see was made from heavy canvas. He lifted his hips, and the man pulled the bag away.

Mark looked up. Across from then, in a lounge chair, was a stunningly beautiful brunette in a cream-colored blouse and black skirt, one shapely leg draped elegantly over the other, gazing at him. In her eyes was an expression he’d seen before -- a mixture of amused interest and appraisal. But where? He struggled to recall. Then it struck him – Vivian had had the same look as she stood in the doorway that first day.

Mark glanced rapidly around. A man sat in the chair adjacent to the dark-haired woman. He was slightly older – good-looking; professorial. The pair that had burst into their apartment now stood by the door.

The woman spoke:

“Look at you. Trussed up like chickens. Miles, do something about that.”

The man identified as Miles shrugged and walked over from the door. He leaned down, reaching along the side of Julia’s face.

“Slowly,” the woman said.

Miles pulled the tape slowly from Julia’s mouth. She took in a huge breath through her mouth, as if starved for oxygen. Miles reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Mark saw a flash of steel – a knife or scissors. Deftly he sliced through what Mark realized was medical gauze of some kind in which both of them had been wrapped. Julia lifted her freed arms with palpable relief.

“Thank you,” she said, and the woman gave a short laugh.

Miles came over to him and, with surprising gentleness, removed the tape and gauze.

“Now that you’re untrussed,” she said, “you’re undoubtedly wondering why you are here. But, wait, how rude of me. I haven’t even introduced any of us. I’m Lilith. This is John,” she said gesturing to the man in the adjacent chair. “And you’ve met Miles and Roxanne.”