Darque Wants (79 page)

*****

The following Monday couldn’t come quick enough for Thena. The weekend had dragged, with thoughts of Dorian Quinn plaguing her mind, to the point where she’d completely forgotten to ring John as she’d promised. She didn’t even know what it was about the guy; she just couldn’t get him out of her head, and for the first time in a long while, she’d worn make up to go to work, as if she was trying to impress him. She didn’t even know why she’d done that either.

Mr Princeton called her through to his office almost as soon as she’d arrived.

“Ah, Athene…” He glanced up briefly from his work then did a quick double take at her change in appearance. “Looking very smart.”

“Thank you.”

“You obviously did a very good job with Mr Quinn on Friday. He’s given thousands to the collection. And he’s specifically asked for you to assist him this morning with his inspection of the artefacts.”

Thena was surprised. “You’re…letting him touch them then, like he asked?”

“With the amount of money he gave us, I could hardly refuse,” chuckled Mr Princeton. “He’s assured me he will be extremely respectful, and you will be there to ensure that he keeps his promise. The Exhibition will be closed for the next two hours to allow you both some time.”

And that was that. Ten minutes later, she found herself seated next to Dorian at a makeshift table that had been set up in the heart of the Exhibition, with a dozen of the artefacts out in front of them.

“It’s good to see you again,” Dorian was smiling that special smile of his.

“You too.” Thena felt like she was blushing.

“You look absolutely stunning.”

He was staring right at her. She felt practically naked under his gaze.

“Th-thank you.” She tried to concentrate. “What was it in particular you wanted to look at?”

“Everything.” He was still looking at her as he said it, and Thena imagined there was a certain double meaning to the word, particularly with the way he let it linger in the air before continuing with, “But these will do for now.” He moved his hand to pick up one of the objects at random – an old ladle.

“I looked you up on the internet,” she suddenly blurted out, unable to help herself.

He retreated his hand, his smile fading a little. He looked uncertain.

“No, no, it’s OK,” she quickly reassured him. “I um…the thing is…”

“You’re psychic too.”

She gasped. “How did you know?”

He bit his lip and looked down at his lap, his eyelashes fluttering. “I felt a certain connection when we shook hands yesterday.”

“So did I!” she cried excitedly. “I saw something too.” She eagerly told him about the visions and he listened intently, without a shadow of disbelief ever crossing his handsome features. “I must admit, I was so excited to find out that you were one too,” she gushed. “I’ve never met anyone like me before. Sometimes I wonder whether I’m just…crazy.”

He laughed. “I’ve wondered that about myself on more than one occasion too. Don’t worry, Athene, you’re not alone.”

“Please, call me Thena,” she smiled. “All my friends do.”

“Am I your friend already?”

“I don’t know. Are you?”

“I think so.” He held her eye contact for a good few seconds.

She looked away first. “How does it…um…how do your…skills…manifest themselves?” she asked, intrigued.

“From items and objects, when I touch them.”

“Mine is from people, mostly. And sometimes I get bizarre dreams that I can’t explain. Is that why you wanted to do this?” she asked, indicating the artefacts in front of them. “To get visions?”

He nodded. “I’m looking for something.”

“Anything in particular?” she asked light-heartedly, then blushed. “Sorry if I’m asking too many questions.”

“It’s alright,” he laughed. “You have a right to. It probably seems very odd my just coming here like this and…essentially buying access to the collection.”

“A little,” she admitted. “But I don’t mind.”

He hesitated, as if considering whether to let her in on a secret or not, gnawing gently on his bottom lip with his top teeth as he looked down at the items. He picked one up at random. A cup. He closed his eyes.

A moment later, he opened them up again.

“I saw a man drink from it, then pass it to a child. The child shook his head. He didn’t want any. The man forced him anyway.”

Thena shuddered. “That’s a little disturbing. What was in the cup?”

“I don’t know. My visions are usually very quick and quite mixed up. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what’s going on exactly.”

“Same.”

“But you believe that I have them?”

“Of course I do.”

“If I touch it again, I might get the same vision more developed, or I might get a completely different one, from a different time period. What I’m actually hoping for,” he explained. “Is to see visions from when these artefacts were recovered. From the people who were at the tomb in 1922, because…I’m looking for the man who murdered my grandmother.”

The words hung heavy in the air.

Thena didn’t know what to say, how to respond appropriately. “Your…grandmother was murdered?” she stammered.

Dorian nodded. “I have this necklace,” he told her. “It used to belong to my grandmother. It was made from one of the artefacts of the dig. She always wore it round her neck.”

“Is this like…Curse Of Tutankhamen stuff?” Thena asked, her eyes shimmering with excitement.

Dorian gave a soft laugh. “No, no, I don’t think so. I said ‘man’, not supernatural force of evil.”

Thena joined in with the quiet laughter and blushed. “True but…you know, I thought you might believe in that stuff, being all…paranormal…”

“Ha. I know, I know, but I don’t really believe in the Curse. I suppose that may seem slightly odd considering my love for the paranormal but…there has to be a line drawn somewhere.”

“Yes, indeed,” Thena agreed. “So, was your grandmother part of the dig? Was she on Carter’s team?”

“No, she wasn’t. I’ve done some research and I know for a fact that she wasn’t. She was just…very interested in history. I don’t know where she got the artefact from, or whether it was already a necklace when she got it or whether she herself made it into one. All I know is, it was from the dig. It was from the tomb.”

“Whoever it was shouldn’t have taken it.”

“Quite right,” Dorian agreed. “But they did, and my grandmother apparently couldn’t resist owning it.”

“So…she was murdered?” Thena asked, not wanting to push him to talk about something so horrible, but obviously incredibly interested none the less.

“I believe so, yes. Her death was ruled as natural causes. She was old. Old people die all the time. I never thought anything of it myself until I got the necklace in her will and touched it for the first time. Then I saw something.”

“What?” she asked eagerly. “What did you see?”

“I saw my grandmother’s face. Her face as it when she died, not when she was younger. She was definitely old in my vision. She was sitting in her rocking chair at the nursing home. The same one I used to see when I visited her. But her face…she was frightened. She was looking at someone and she was scared of them. That was it.”

“Did you touch it again?”

“I’ve touched it again many times. I either see the same thing, again and again, or I simply get flashes, small visions. They’re more like senses than anything else. Emotions. Fear, betrayal, blood. Those are the vibes I get from it, generally. But…well…I feel like my closeness to the object and the subject is clouding my judgement and vision.”

Thena nodded sympathetically, wondering whether there was any way she might be able to help him. She was certainly fascinated by his story, and the whole thing only made her even more drawn in and attracted to him as a person, her desire to get involved rapidly increasing. Perhaps this was the adventure and excitement she’d been looking for.

“Well, feel free to take as much time as you need with the artefacts, and if there’s anything I can do…maybe I could try touching the necklace,” she offered. “I don’t normally get visions from objects but…it’s worth a go.”

“Would you?” He looked up at her with hope in his eyes. “Would you really?”

“Of course. I don’t mind in the slightest.”

“That’s very kind of you, Thena,” he smiled and somewhat impulsively reached out to touch her, then quickly withdrew his hand again. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s OK,” she laughed.

“I didn’t want to force another vision on you.”

“Ah, I don’t mind.”

“Do you think we’d be able to do this every day?” he asked. “I mean, it was very kind of your boss to arrange this for us but…there are so many artefacts here, I’m worried I won’t be able to get through them all in the time we’ve been given. Like I said, sometimes I need to touch them more than once to really get the information I need, and I don’t want to risk missing anything that could be important. Maybe if we could…arrange a time slot…an hour or two a day, in the morning? If it’s not too inconvenient.”

She nodded. “I’m sure that’d be fine. I’ll speak to him about it. I mean, as long as it’s only a couple of hours, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Then we can open up the Exhibition and resume normal visiting hours.”

“Exactly. It shouldn’t be too disruptive.”

It only took a short conversation with Mr Princeton and another extremely large check to be written out by Dorian for the matter to be cleared up, and the pair were given a one hour slot every morning that week to look through the collection. With Dorian promising to bring his grandmother’s necklace in with him the following day, Thena expected she’d be in for another sleepless night that night, the excitement keeping her awake.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur, and she’d all but forgotten about poor John, who she discovered was waiting for her on the steps of the museum when she’d finished her shift. “Been busy today?” he asked, falling into line beside her as she walked. “I thought we were going to meet up for lunch.”

“Did we say that?” She couldn’t remember.

“And you never called me over the weekend.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” She did actually feel quite guilty, especially after what Deme had said about leading him on. She decided to try and make a concerted effort to improve their relationship. “Do you want to stay at my place tonight?”

John seemed both surprised and delighted at the prospect. “You sure? You not too tired?”

“No, no, I’m fine. It’d be nice.”

They both knew that him staying at her place meant sex and sure enough, almost as soon as they were through the door and in the privacy of her small but comfortable flat, John was tossing off his coat and leaning in to kiss her clumsily.

“Just give me a minute,” she laughed, locking up behind them and putting the keys down on the side. She put down her bag, took off her coat and hung it up along with his hastily discarded one, whilst John impatiently waited, hopping about from foot to foot as if he was ready to explode with sexual tension.

She turned and he was instantly on her again, pushing her back against the door and pressing his lips to hers. He’d never been the greatest kisser in the world and now wasn’t particularly any different. He always seemed too eager, too in a hurry; messy and sloppy. She did her best to kiss him back, and to try and slow him down a little too, but he grabbed hold of her hand and started dragging her through to the bedroom, desperate to get down to it.

In the heat of the moment, she got a little carried away with the excitement too, and the pair of them were giggling quietly to themselves as they stripped off each other’s clothing, continuing to kiss as best they could in between each removed item.

John was already hard and ready. He always was. He was much more into their sex life than Thena had ever been. She was barely even wet, but John never allowed time for foreplay. He was always far too eager.

After fumbling around with a condom for so long that Thena felt like nodding off to sleep, he clambered above her again and leaned over her.

“Ready?” He didn’t actually wait for any kind of response before he snapped himself forwards. She felt his cock penetrate her somewhat painfully. She gasped and raised her hips up to meet his, leaning up to bite down on his shoulder and suck the skin up between her teeth.

Soon enough, he was thrusting repeatedly inside of her, and with each movement she began to get a little more into it, until at last she found it was a pleasant enough experience. This was fairly standard for their sex life. She never really felt like doing it until they were already doing it. Then it was acceptable.

She wrapped her arms round his neck and kissed him, wanting him to know she appreciated him, hooking her legs round at the same time.

“More,” she whispered.

He sped up. She knew it would be all over soon anyway. John could never last very long once he got going. She clenched and unclenched herself around his cock, the sensations rippling upwards and beginning to hint at her own orgasm.

She closed her eyes.