Chapter 1

I sat in the chair nervously twirling the ring my Grandfather had given me years ago. Waiting for the end of the auction, waiting to see if anyone would out bid me this time. If nothing went wrong now, I would be the winner of the house for an amazing $115,000.

Staring into the deep red of the ruby as it sparkled in the light, I started to wonder if the rumors going around had caused the ridiculously low price for the house I just bid on. Finding the body of the young man, the same young man that had bought the house only a few months earlier, had definitely caused a ripple in the community. What was really strange was the cause of death. Undetermined. The medical examiner couldn't find anything wrong with him. It was as if someone had reached out and just shut him off. They could not find wounds of any kind. His organs were in perfect condition for a 23 year old, which he was. Nothing was wrong, yet he was dead, and found less than a half mile from his house.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Sold to number 252 for one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars. The next house that is up for bid is on plot number..."

I tuned him out again as I got up and headed for the table with my certified cashiers check for $50,000, which is how I had registered for the auction. The ad had read that the $50,000 was the first requirement, plus the remainder to be paid within 72 hours. These requirements were more than OK with me, as it had cut down on the number of participants. I had seen at least a dozen that had been turned away from the auctioneers table after I had arrived.

I handed the lady my bidding number and the check. As she looked up at me from the table she smiled and said, "Congratulations Mr. O'Casey, we hope you enjoy your new house."

Stammering I replied,"T.T.Thank you, I'm sure I will, it is a beautiful place." I hated stammering when I talked to women. "If you will give me the bank and accounting numbers I'll have the remainder transferred to the account in just a few minutes. I'd prefer that we get this completed as soon as possible."

She raised her brows in surprise, "Of course Sir, here is the information you'll need to do that."

With that I took the paper and started slowly walking away so I could call my lawyer in a little privacy. When he answered, I quickly gave him the information and the go ahead to have the remaining money transferred.

After I walked back to the table, the woman looked at me expectantly. "We should be done in a few minutes. Here is my lawyer's information, I would like to have this completed quickly please. I'm staying in a hotel for now and would like to move in as soon as I can."

She smiled again, "Yes Sir, we can do that. Everything from our end was taken care of before the auction. We will contact your lawyer and we should be able to close this tomorrow afternoon at which time you will receive the keys."

By now I was smiling also. "Excellent, I'll be there. Thank You." With that I turned and departed the auction, I had a lot to do before moving into the house. It was fairly well furnished but I still had a few things to buy and have delivered later tomorrow.

As I left my lawyer's office with the keys to the house I was ecstatic. My first house. Granted, I wasn't rich or anything like that. I still had to work for a living, but to have a house, let alone a house totally paid off before you're 30, was nothing to sneeze at.

It took me 2 days, but I was pretty well caught up on everything in the new house. I had the master bedroom all set and had placed plastic sheets in the other bedrooms. If anyone visited I could slip them off and put a full set of linen, from the linen closet, on in a few minutes. Speaking of the linen closet, now that was a strange little room. I'd seen it a hundred times as I'd walked by, but each time I looked into the room it still seemed just a little strange.

As a linen closet it had to be the smallest one I'd ever seen. It was only about two feet deep, a 30 inch door, and a few shelves in it. It was almost as if you were meant to walk in, turn around, and then walk out. I had even checked to see if there was a secret passage behind it, but since it was on an outside wall and it was such a shallow room it just wasn't possible. Oh well, it was getting on supper time so I had to put these sheets and stuff away and then make myself something to eat. I'd been so busy I had decided to skip lunch and now I was starving.

I pulled a couple of the linen sets out of the box I had them in and walked toward the linen closet. As I walked in I saw my ring brighten out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly I felt a slight disorienting sensation and I was standing in a bright white room. Looking around, all I could see was a table and a couple of chairs. Everything was so white it almost hurt my eyes to look at them.

OK, what had just happened to me? 'Where on Earth am I?' As I looked at my ring, I couldn't help but wonder; why did it brighten? "Hello? Is anyone listening?" I waited a couple of minutes to see what would happen, if anything. Nope, not a thing. "Would someone please answer?" Still nothing. I decided to investigate the room, but it didn't seem as if there was anything here except a table with two chairs and plain walls. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, 'Finally, something is happening, ' I thought. I turned and saw a door that I hadn't noticed before start to open. 'Hmmm, that door was not there a few minutes ago, I'm absolutely positive I'd have seen it if it had.' As the door opened my apprehension skyrocketed. Instantaneous movement from one room to another, if that was all that had happened, was impossible, on Earth. That left too many alternatives to even think about, let alone contemplate with any seriousness even if I had the time, which I didn't.
I'm not sure who or what I was expecting to come through that door but the creature that did walk through was the last thing on my mind, I'm sure of it.

"Holy Shit" I slapped my hand over my mouth. 'She is fucking beautiful!' I stood there stunned. I had never seen anyone that beautiful before in my life. I'd of course seen some Penthouse and Playboy models in the magazines, and they were close, but with all the makeup and ways to manipulate photographs available it just seemed they were only close.

She looked me over quickly with her somewhat lavender colored eyes as she motioned me toward a chair, "Please be seated Adventurer, I am Chris Hostess. May I ask your name and then we can continue with the interview?"

"I am extremely glad to meet you Chris, my name is Dallan O'Casey, and what do you mean interview and why did you call me Adventurer?" I continued to remain standing until she had seated herself on the other side of the table.

As she bent over to pull the chair under herself, her bodice opened. Since I'm a firm believer in "if they show it, it is OK to look at it" I looked down her top. Oh shit, three tits, count-em boys and girls, one, two, three of the most breath taking breasts anyone had ever seen at one time, on one woman, were there for my inspection. I inhaled quickly, afraid I'd screwed up by looking too long. When I glanced up to look at her she was looking at me. She smiled and stayed in position as I looked back at her tits. After a few seconds I looked back to her face. She finished sitting and I bowed slightly, "Thank You."

Her smile widened and she, bowing slightly in return said, "You are welcome Dallan O'Casey. It has been many years since an Adventurer has been through a portal from Earth. We knew nothing had happened to Earth since here on Crossroads others have been through the portals for other worlds. But none have been through for those of us from Val."

"Other worlds? Crossroads? Portals? Val?" I finally sat down, almost slumping, I felt tired and drained and starved. "Uhh, Chris? Could I get a bit of something to eat? I was just getting ready to make myself something to eat when I found myself here. I haven't eaten in hours. Just a sandwich or something with a glass of water would be fine. Please?"