Chap 8
She was in the field under the full moon. The tall trees reaching for the sky. At least she had clothes on this time, she was wearing the soft blue pajamas she'd gone to sleep in. It covered her body from the gaze of the great silvered wolf in front of her. Her eyes could not see anything else. It crouched low to the ground and bared it's sharp teeth. Was it trying to... smile at her? Elizabeth didn't move as the beast edged its monstrous body towards her. The breeze on her skin felt so real.
Elizabeth waited for the wolf to move inch by inch closer to her. And as it did so she felt herself excited with anticipation, Elizabeth wanted to feel the wolf's fur. Would it be as soft as it looked? She lifted her hand out towards the animal's snout as it had come to stand just within her arms length. The wet nose fit inside her palm. This creature was beautifully breathtaking, it towered over her, massive even on all fours. It radiated power from all around and Elizabeth could feel just a little of the power flowing into her hand where it touched the wolf's nose. They were connected. Her and the wolf. She didn't know how, but she could feel it's heartbeat through the flowing energy. It beat in time to her own. Thud, thump.
She wasn't scared. It was giving her power over it by bowing it's head down and letting her rub the pad of her thumb across its cold wet nose. Elizabeth moved the hand up the snout and between the glowing eyes looking up at her. The beast didn't move his head but the eyes that had been closed in a concentration now watched her face as her hand finally felt...
Elizabeth groaned. She woke up to a head smacking into her forehead. But at least the head was small and furry, and it was purring really loudly.
"Beetlejuice!" Elizabeth sat up and cuddled the cat to her chest. The cat's white face rubbed itself against Elizabeth's chin and the cat's white paws kneaded themselves into her chest. She was happy to see Elizabeth, too.
"Good morning." A glance at the digital alarm clock on the bedside table; 2:23.
"Afternoon." She corrected to the cat. Elizabeth placed her next to her on the bed and absently scratched the cat between her ears. The cat's striped tail wrapped its self around its black body. Elizabeth yawned, stretching her arms over her head. It hurt to move them like that but it was a good kind of hurt.
Elizabeth continued to stretch her body while stepping out of the bed. She needed a shower. Elizabeth hurriedly walked in the direction of the bathroom, a nice long shower sounded perfect.
When she entered the bathroom, it was just as amazing as the bedroom. The shower was separate from the tub. It was enclosed by a see through glass and had a bench seat in the corner, Elizabeth could see four shower heads facing the center of the shower stall. The tub was a big enough to fit up to four people and looked more like a hot tub sitting in the middle of the room on a platform that had a small set of stair leading into it. A his and hers sink was up against the wall across from the shower. And an open closet that she could step into was next to the sink. Elizabeth walked over to the closet and into the small room where she gathered two fluffy white towels and some vanilla smelling shampoos that looked expensive. The room was stocked with everything a bathroom might need, complete with bathrobes and bath salts.
She grabbed a jar of the bath salts. They looked homemade with herbs that she couldn't place, but it smelled better than the vanilla shampoo with just a hint of pineapple and cinnamon. Elizabeth wanted to test out the tub, the jet pumps on the inside of it looked like it would do good for her muscles. Beginning the tub water took a moment for her figure out, she had to press a button on the wall next to the light switches for the water to start. The bottom had a dial on it that for time. Elizabeth turned the dial to 120 minutes and began to undress. Beetlejuice meowed from the sink, her blue eyes staring at the water and she meowed again before dashing down from the sink to the herbs Elizabeth had placed on the tubs platform before finding the dial.
Elizabeth glanced at her naked self in the giant mirror above the his and her sink. Her body had several bruises from where the goons had made their mark before she had made her. That sense of satisfaction filled her tummy and Elizabeth felt pleased of the squishiness that she saw there and she was proud of the thighs that jiggled just little because those thighs had run for their life after her kind of flabby arms had hit that goofy goon over the head with a small mirror. Served the dick right. He'd been the one who told her he couldn't hurt her and then did it anyway. Her body had gone through the impossible. It had been beat on and that was really scary.
Beetlejuice meowed again before tipping the somehow opened jar into the water. The herbs swirled into the water turning the water a pretty yellow and steaming the room with it's citrus scent.
"Beetie! Out! You spilled the whole jar into the tub." Elizabeth hurried up the steps and into the tub. A sigh slipped past her lips and she momentarily forgot she was going to get the jar out of the water. It was just a jar that could probably be replaced easily. It was a part of the hotel contents. Beetlejuice purred from her spot on the platform. Elizabeth giggled and found the empty jar at the bottom of the tub. Taking it out and placing it next to the cat, Elizabeth stretched her legs out along the tubs seat and leaned her head back into the water. She stayed that way half floating half resting with her hair floating around her head.
The aches in her body evaporated into the water and her body felt light floating in the hot tub. Without opening her eyes Elizabeth reached for the shampoo she'd set next to her towel and the jar of herbs. She lathered her hair with the vanilla liquid through her hair. Rinsing her hair under the hair, she did the same with the conditioner. It felt nice to wash her hair, it was something she didn't want to take for granted again. Something about this motion helped make her feel alive again. All of this was therapeutic and healing to her. She was ready to officially move on from that nightmare in the tunnel. A dig came and the jets stopped swirling the water around her.
Elizabeth seriously contemplated restarting the dial and shriveling away to nothing in the swirling jets. But the idea of putting on a pair of pants made her happy, so she crawled out of the tub and wrapped the towel around her middle. Then she flipped her hair over and wrapped a towel in her hair. With a smile on her face, Elizabeth left the bathroom the tub draining the last bits of the warm water. She wondered over to the wardrobe and opened the doors. Inside she selected a pair of jeans and a navy blue sweater that wasn't too heavy for the fall weather.
She found a hairbrush from the vanity and combed through her hair. While sitting at the vanity brushing her drying hair, Elizabeth noticed the bruise that had been on her cheek was completely gone. Just last night it had been purpled across her cheek and sore to the touch. She touched the spot where the bruise had been now and the skin was pink from her bath. It didn't hurt to press her finger into the skin like it had last night. That bath really did do her body some good, Elizabeth was pleased with her hair and stood up dropping the towel that was wrapped around her body. She stepped away from the vanity to inspect the rest of her body.
Between the mirror from the vanity and mirror on the wardrobe Elizabeth saw that all of her bruises had disappeared. The ones she had seen on her body from the hits she'd taken were gone. Elizabeth smiled and dressed herself in the jeans and sweater. Her stomach growled, making her want to find the cafeteria that her dad had told her about. Elizabeth walked out of the hotel room and into the hallway. She went towards the direction that would be bring her to the front desk. Mrs. Rooney was sitting behind her monitor.
"Good Afternoon, Ms. Jones. Did you sleep well? I hope Quade Night is treating you good." The older woman's smile was bright and she stopped her typing to give Elizabeth her full attention. Elizabeth flicked her eyes towards the doors that she'd gone through last night. Was he behind those doors right now?
"I slept great in that bed, and the jacuzzi tub in the room is amazing for aches and pains." Elizabeth was excited to tell her.
"I can see that your face is healed up good. Did Theodora leave you salves in your room? She makes bath salts and lotions for healing aches and pain." Mrs. Rooney asked Elizabeth. And Elizabeth made a mental note to ask Theodora what she put in the bath salts, because the salts helped her feel so much better. Honestly, she felt good as new after her bath.
"Yes, she must have. I did find some homemade looking bath salts. My body feels good as new after using them. Can you tell me how to get to the cafeteria? I'm starving." Her stomach growled loudly and she grabbed her middle with a small laugh.
"No problem dear. It's on the 16th floor, go to the elevators directly over there. You won't need to use the key pad, you're already on this half of the building. Mr. Quade did instruct me to tell you, if I saw you, to not go below the 16th floor. Only- members are allowed to have a passcode. You won't be able to come back to your room without the code." Mrs. Rooney held a tight smile and Elizabeth got the vague feeling that she wasn't being told everything she needed to know.
"Ok, no problem. Is Mr. Quade going to be in soon?" Elizabeth couldn't help but to ask the question.
"Mr. Quade is out for his afternoon run. When he arrives, he will find you." Elizabeth blinked and nodded not knowing what to say to that strange comment. She waved her hand and turned towards the elevators. Standing in front of them was two people, one was a woman she'd never seen before and the other was the man Elizabeth knew to be Quade's brother. She couldn't remember his name right now.
She observed that both were very tall. The man had short brown hair styled in buzzed at the sides. He looked young and strong. She could see the family resemblance between Dashiell and him. Elizabeth blinked at the involuntary use of his actual name even if it was just in her head. The woman next to him was the same height with dark curly brown hair that was pulled into a neat twist on her head with curls pinned to her scalp. She looked to be maybe in her early forties and had an extremely trimmed physique in a light blue dress suit and matching jacket. The two must have heard her approaching because they turned to face her and she stopped just within their reach.
The man's face turned as red as tomato, probably because he recognized her from her store and their first encounter being him coming to rescue Quade. Elizabeth glanced away from his face because the encounter had left her feeling hot all over like a freaking school girl. The man leaned into the woman's ear and whispered something that Elizabeth couldn't hear, but whatever the man said made the woman gasp.
Elizabeth was then pulled into a hug that knocked the wind right out of her by the nicely dressed woman in front of her.
"It's you! My future daughter-in-law! It's so lovely to meet you, my dear. We have so much to talk about!" The woman was holding onto Elizabeth tightly with her long arms and she could only repeat what the woman had said over again in her head. Future Daughter-in-law. She needed to get as far away from this kind of crazy, like now.
"You have to be confused. I'm just a guest here." Elizabeth tried to unentangle herself from the woman's grasp.
"There's no confusion, my dear. A flame is a magnet to its other half. Natasha Quade. When did you arrive, dear?" Elizabeth was surprised the woman stopped to let her talk, so she quickly replied.
"I arrived last night after being through an extremely rough week." Elizabeth gritted her teeth and told her mostly the truth.
The door behind the woman dinged and opened. She held onto Elizabeth's elbow as she walked onto the elevator making sure that she wasn't going anywhere from her sight. The man followed onto the elevator before the doors shut and Elizabeth was now stuck behind shut doors with a woman who thought that she was going to marry her son. Matching maker hell.
She felt like she couldn't lie to this woman but she also didn't know who she could trust right now and the man behind her back gave her the creeps. She peeked a look behind her and saw him looming over her and staring down his nose at her. Elizabeth turned her attention back to the woman named Natasha. She was pressing a button past 16 and the she quickly pressed a number pattern into the keypad.
So much for staying on the 16th floor, Elizabeth knew that at this point she had no choice but to be dragged wherever this woman was taking her. She just wished she had stopped to put a little mascara on before she had decided to go get food. And maybe she wished she'd paid just a little more attention to her outfit choice. She looked down at her sneakers, jeans and navy blue sweater she was wearing compared to the woman and man standing next to her. He was in a tailored suit that fit his tall body, she noticed that he wasn't as fit as his brother or his mother next to him but he was still a mostly nice looking man.
Natasha though was beautiful. She had long legs with pant hoes covering them and she had white pointed kitten heels that gave her an inch or two advantage over her son once Elizabeth was standing between them. She felt out of place next them. They gave off a very powerful aura similar to the feeling to had last night surrounded by the extremely tall beautiful men that had been in Quade's office. Elizabeth noticed that Natasha's face had perfect makeup, mesmerizing chocolate with coal lined eyes and her lips were full and lined in a pink lip tone color. She had diamonds in each ear with a gold chain that had a small Q hanging from it.
"My son is terrible at telling me anything. Actually all of my son's are terrible at telling me information, as if I didn't raise them. The Heathens." She winked at Elizabeth before exaggerating an eye roll at her son behind her. He shifted on his feet and scratched his head, averting his brown eyes away from her.
"What is your name?" She pulled her elbow just a little closer. Elizabeth didn't want to be rude but this lady really needed to let go of her.
"Dear, are you okay? You don't need to be embarrassed. You can completely trust me. If my son hurts you, tell me and I'll give him a good wallop. Just because he's my boy doesn't mean he still doesn't need a lesson from his mommy." She was wagging her eye brows at Elizabeth and smiling big. Elizabeth wanted to laugh at the expression coming from such a well put together woman. Another peek at the man behind her and she saw his cheeks and ears turn red from his mother's banter.
"My name is Elizabeth Jones. I own a book store named A Likely Story, we have a book club Adventures in Bookland every week. I met your son in my shop almost a week ago." Elizabeth watched the buttons glow past six.
"Aw that's so sweet. An entrepreneur you shall fit in perfect. Are you hungry, Elizabeth?" The doors opened to let them off the elevators.
"I'm starving. I could eat a horse." Elizabeth grabbed her grumbling stomach.
Natasha laughed the sound high pitched and dragged out. "Have you ever hunted a horse to eat it?" She stepped through the doors, her hand had moved from Elizabeth's elbow to her back to move her along with her. The man followed behind them, but when they moved forward he hesitated.
"Randall, don't keep your mother waiting. It's rude, and I don't like to wait." She straightened her jacket and smoothed her hair that wasn't out of place.
"Sorry, mother, I was just checking the time." Randall said walking forward to meet them. Natasha flicked her eyes over her son.
"Don't lie to me. Where do you suggest we eat? Maybe something Italian." Natasha was looking at Elizabeth as she spoke but was speaking to her son who quickly approached them and was tugging at his own suit jacket.
"Italian is great. I could really go for some garlic bread." Elizabeth smiled and linked Natasha's elbow with her own. Natasha slightly raised her eyebrows, but quickly changed her expression to a small pleased smile.
"Randy, have the car pull up to the front." Natasha looked down her nose to her son. And Elizabeth thought she saw the tall man bend his neck to the side before walking away and pulling his phone free. Elizabeth glanced around and noticed that they were in the lobby she had walked through with Mikey. It was busy today with people sitting at the tables and waiters bringing drinks and food. Everyone in the room was dressed in expensive looking clothing. Everything was very designer, making Elizabeth feel more out of place in her simple jeans and sweater.
"Should I maybe change my clothes?" Elizabeth tucked a blonde strand behind her ear.
"What is wrong with what you're wearing?" Natasha took a moment to look Elizabeth over.
"I think you look very refreshed. Are you comfortable?" She smiled with her question.
"I- yes, I'm comfortable." Elizabeth didn't know how to explain that she felt under dressed. "I do feel pretty refreshed, I had an amazing bath in my room. The hotel is great."
"Great, there's Randy waiting over there. The car is ready for us outside." She pointed to the front and started walking with her head held high. Elizabeth was quick to follow trying to keep up with the woman's longer legs. Randall was standing in front of the doors leading out. And he was staring at her, she didn't like the way he was looking at her either. He didn't have any reason to hate her, she didn't do anything to him.
Together they walked through the swirling glass doors, and into a big black SUV waiting outside on the street. Elizabeth was seated in the back with Natasha and Randall got into the passenger seat next to the driver who was wearing an all black suit with dark shades. They drove to an Italian restaurant that Elizabeth had never been to before even though she lived in the area. Inside they were almost immediately seated, the head waiter seeing Natasha and seating her right away. The whole time he was seating them he was showering Natasha with compliments that Natasha graciously said thank you for each.
She ordered the table a bottle of red wine telling Elizabeth that is was something she drank here often. Then Natasha made an order for the restaurant's bread basket with an oil and red sauce side dips.
"Elizabeth, I just arrived this morning. I would have arrived with Evander days ago, but Dash would not answer my calls. I haven't seen him yet to give him my piece on the matter." Natasha frowned and rested her chin delicately onto stretched out finger tips. Elizabeth noticed that Randall didn't talk much during their encounter. He wasn't even looking in their direction he was more interested staring over at a table of two pretty women.
"Randall didn't answer my calls either." Natasha's voice clipped gaining the business man's attention.
"I've been caught up in business and" a glance at Elizabeth, "family matters. It's not like I was ignoring you for fun. Or I'm Dash and I'm ignoring you because I don't want to tell you what's going on in-- family matters." Randall scowled.
"Both of you were ignoring your mother." She said pointedly glaring at him as the bread and sauces were placed infront of them. There was a pause in Natasha's interrogation as the waiter took their orders for the meal.
The waiter then filled each of their glasses with red wine. He left the bottle behind when he left to place their orders. Natasha sipped her glass and watched her son over the rim. He had taken a bread slice and placed it on his plate, but was again staring at the young women at the other table.
"Randy, what aren't you telling me?" Natasha sipped her glass again. Elizabeth took a sip of her own drink. She wanted to know the details, too.
"Mother, it isn't the right time to discuss the family stuff." Randall took a drink from his wine glass and scowled further. He took his attention away from the women's table.
"Elizabeth, tell me more about you. How did you and Dashiell meet?" Elizabeth sputtered on her wine at the question. How do you tell someone that the first time you met their child it was in their birthday suit? The food came with two waiters to set it all out. She had ordered spaghetti with meatballs, the meatballs were big meatballs. Natasha got a seafood Alfredo meal with a side salad and Randall got a rib rack with rice. The waiters brought more bread and sauces to go with it.
"Well, we met at my shop." She swirled some of the pasta on her fork and then took a big bite to avoid answering more throughly. Natasha had already taken a bite of her food.
"Your shop must have made an impression for Dash to stop in." Natasha smiled and sampled her salad. Randall snorted.
"Do you have something to say Randall?" Natasha arched an eyebrow without looking at him. Randall turned red and shook his head.
"Mr. Quade made a very strong impression." Elizabeth bit into a meatball.
"Mr. Quade? Why do you call him that?" Natasha paused in taking the last sip of her wine.
"Uh, well, we aren't exactly best friends yet. We are still very formal." She took the last drink of her wine and offered her glass to Natasha who was filling her glasses.
She filled Elizabeth's glass then looked over the rim. "It's not hard to call someone by their given name, Elizabeth."
It seemed like something so easy but to Elizabeth she wasn't so sure. If she decided to call him by his name then it would make them less strangers and after this week she wasn't sure she was ready to just start using people's first names. Especially since they seemed way more interested in her than she did in him.
"Uh well no, it's not. But we only just met, ya know?" Elizabeth tried to offer as an explanation.
"I see." Natasha flagged down the waiter who had served them. She paid the bill and thanked him kindly.
"Yea, I uh, don't know anything about him." Elizabeth said. Actually, they hadn't even gotten to have a real conversation.
"You know his name, right?" Natasha asked with a wink. Elizabeth nodded her head slightly. She did know Quade's actual name. She just didn't want use his name. It was like accepting a silent invitation and she didn't know what the invitation was for. It just made her uncomfortable to be that close to Quade. It made things more personal.
They finished their meal mostly in silence. Elizabeth did answer a few questions about her life such as about where she grew up and her parents. Natasha told Elizabeth how she believed it was so sad for children to loose a parent at a young age, and that her own children had all experienced death very young. Natasha talked about Stephen, her late husband. Elizabeth listened to her talk about him with admiration and she watched the woman's face light up with adoration as she told a story about a time the boys had convinced their father to throw the football around outside, but Randall refused to play because Stephan wouldn't put him on Dash's team. It was easy to see that Natasha loved her family and she loved her husband even though he died when her oldest boys were graduating high school.
It hadn't occurred to Elizabeth that Quade had any other siblings other than Moody Randy. She got the feeling he didn't like her very much. Any time she replied to something his mother said he would scoff or she would catch him rolling his eyes, but he always spoke politely when he was directly spoken to and needed to reply. Elizabeth sat back against her seat with her hands resting on her stomach. She was full for the first time in days. It was full of good food. Natasha had suggested a good restaurant, when she got back to a normal life she would have to come back.
"I'm stuffed, the food was delicious." She patted her bloated belly. Elizabeth felt drowsy enough from the food to want to take a nap.
"You look tired. Do you need to rest?" Randall asked Elizabeth with a sneering smile on his face. It was the only nice thing he'd said to her during the meal!and even then she didn't feel like he was really being nice.
"I actually am a little tired after all the good food. I feel like I haven't had a good nights sleep all week." Elizabeth joked to herself, they had no idea the week she'd truly had. She really could use the extra rest.
"Mom, we should take Elizabeth back to the hotel. I'm sure she's tired from her... trip." Randall suggested to Natasha. Natasha barely concealed her arched brow before neutralizing her reaction.
"Good I'll be able to corner one of your brothers at the hotel." Natasha stood from the table and Elizabeth followed after her and Randall.
They drove back in silence, Randall was brooding out the window and Natasha wasn't being subtle with watching him. However once they arrived at the hotel, she turned her attention back to Elizabeth. Randall told the driver to park the car.
"I have to go mom, I have a meeting with a couple friends. Nice to meet you more officially Elizabeth." Randall said as soon as they walked through the swivel doors and held out his hand which she took. He applied just enough pressure to her hand for her to feel the strength he didn't look like he had.
"Likewise." Elizabeth took her hand back with frown that she tried to disguise with a smile. Randall gave his mother a quick peck on the cheek before leaving them.
"I'm not sure what was his problem at lunch." Natasha said only once Randall was completely out of earshot.
"Oh you mean he's not usually so quiet." Elizabeth asked walking towards the elevators with Natasha.
"Something like that. Randy likes talking about his work at the hotel. And he loves getting his brothers in trouble." Natasha laughed.
"My younger sister was the same way when we were kids. I mean she would find the smallest stuff to get me in trouble over." Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"We don't see much of each other since our mother died."
"Family is important. They're your strength and your weakness." Natasha said getting onto the elevator. Elizabeth followed, she didn't know how else she was going to get past the 16th floor without her.
"My dad and I are close and always have been. She's not close with him like I am. And mom died, so she didn't have much of a reason to stick around." Elizabeth shrugged. Catherine reached out with a phone every couple months sometimes more. They were only a year apart, so Elizabeth tried not to worry about it. People grieved in their own way, so she allowed her sister her time.
"Time will tell, won't it? Elizabeth, it was so nice to have lunch with you." Natasha said as they reached the top floor and the elevators were letting them off in the same spot they had met just a few short hours ago, "we will be seeing more of each other, I promise." She reached out to give Elizabeth a hug before she turned and headed straight towards Quade's office doors. She didn't even give Elizabeth time to reply to her goodbye.
Elizabeth waited long enough to hear Mrs. Rooney's voice greet Natasha before she turned towards her side of the hallway. That big fluffy bed was calling her name. She was just opening the door when Beetlejuice ran out and into the hallway. It was sad that even the cat had found freedom in the hotel that she just didn't feel. The bed had been made and there was a basket left on the coffee table since she had been gone this afternoon. Elizabeth sat down on the couch facing away from her bed and picked up the basket. It was cute with a small white bow tied to the top.
There was a card on top with little white butterflies flying on it. She opened the card and it simply said thank you. But there was a hand written note scrawled on the other side, that said:
Good Evening, Elizabeth.
I had Theodora help arrange this basket for you.
I hope to see you tonight.
We have lots to talk about.
~ D
Lots to talk about, she felt like she had talked about herself lots today already. She didn't get the chance to talk about what was really on her mind though. The Tunnels. During the lunch today, she kept finding herself wanting to discuss what had truly happened to her this week. Maybe that was why she felt like she needed a nap, not because of the food but because she was still on edge from being taken. It was still a lot to wrap her mind around, she felt herself trying to live a normal life today and last night she was being abused by strangers for insane reasons. Quade was right, they did have lots to talk about.
She first looked through the basket, inside there was another yellow herb jar and a matching green jar, the green being tied in cheesecloth. This time Elizabeth did notice writing on the jars, the yellow one read : Bone Aches; the green one read: Negative Energy. There was a bottle of white wine that she didn't recognize. It was something she could try later. She liked cheap wines from Walmart, so this would be something new to her. Elizabeth didn't know who had picked out the snack foods but she was happy with the potato chips and the mini Reese's cups. Salty and sweet, a yummy combo. At the bottom there was a wrapped object.
Elizabeth pulled it out and unwrapped it. The Princess Bride: S Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love & High Adventure was written in gold on a red cover, the book was beautiful. She flipped through the pages and saw that it had artistic drawings throughout the story. It was the most thoughtful gift she'd ever been given. And that was saying something considering he was mostly a stranger. She loved it. Taking her new book over to the bed, Elizabeth tucked herself under the covers and read the first line: This is my favourite book in all the world, though I have never read it.