Prey (standard:mystery, 4429 words)
Author: Sam Spade	Added: Jan 24 2003	Views/Reads: 3754/2566	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
She is his only way out of his insanity.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

an approaching car. His smiled disappeared and his anger began to whirl 
inside of him. 

The car completed the curve off the road and pulled into the area coming
to a stop just in front of his car. The driver put his car into park 
and then turned on the dome light. 

Within the car He could see that there was a man' and a woman sitting in
the front seat. The silence was broken with the conversation between 
the unexpecting intruders. The driver's door of the car opens and he 
got out of the car. 

"I'll be right back, ...I...I have to go see a man about a horse." He
said obviously drunk. "A horse? Don't you mean a pony?" The woman joked 
just as drunk as her friend. "Very funny." The man replied looking down 
into the car. He closed his door and stumbled around the back of the 
car toward the trees to take care of his business not realizing he was 
heading into his direction. He was like a spider waiting for his prey 
to be caught in his web. "Hurry up, already! I don't like it here. It's 
scaring out here." The woman said breaking the silence of the night. 
"Brad, Brad are you coming?" 

As Brad continued his trip, the clouds covered what was left of the full
moon making it even harder for him to see where he was going. He walked 
right pass the grave without noticing it. The young man stopped walking 
when he reached the next tree not knowing that the killer was behind 
him. The young man unzipped his pants and started to relieve himself. 
Sweating and with his heart pounding, the killer thought up a quick 
plan to get rid of his intruders. He heard the echo of thunder off in 
the distance. It no longer sounded like ice being tossed around in a 
crystal tumbler, but in his head, he still heard the whip like cracks 
rolling around his skull. He felt them. Small flashes of lightening 
flickered in the valley below. 

He watched the young man named Brad. The decision to terminate them came
easily. They were intruders and  witnesses. He had a brief moment of 
what he thought remorse might feel like. Brief. Life had always fed on 
death, survival of the fittest. 

He realized from spilling his first blood that to satisfy his
ever-present emptiness he would first have to fulfill his primal needs 
and pleasures. He knew every one possessed the killer instinct. After 
all, since the beginning of time wasn't it necessary to preserve 
oneself and possessions? He slithered out from behind the mass of trees 
and came within inches of the young man, still protected by the 
masquerade of greenery. He never sensed his presence. His recent lust 
for blood metamorphosized into a dark rage. He clenched his fists 
together tightly, straining to withhold the scream that was threatening 
to emanate up from somewhere deep in the pit of his soul. His empty 
abyss would soon be satisfied. A scream so terrible, so undomesticated, 
if released would erupt from him with a thunderous roar, like an 
avalanche rumbling down a mountainside, Deafening. He squelched it, Got 
with the program. He grinned as he moved out of the pines. Reaching for 
his knife, he didn't think of his prey. Not even for one brief moment. 

CHAPTER 1 

In her dream, Hilary Scott was trapped in a room with many doors and
windows. She knew she had to get somewhere important. She freed herself 
from the faceless fearful presence that beset her. But somehow, she 
knew she was doomed to taking the wrong path. And the doors were wrong; 
One would lead her to a maze; One would take her back the way she had 
came, and so on, for every one of them. 

Beginning to panic, she spun around in the room. Surprise him, she
thought. Do something he would not expect. Something completely 
different, Eyeing a tall window, she took in its long, velvet drapes, 
spilling chaotically over the floor base. Steeling her resolve, Hilary 
ran to the window and flung open the French doors. Beneath her a 
beautiful fountain splashed musically among marble statuary. She could 
smell humidity of a greenhouse: Looking up, she could see that the 
ceiling was composed of panes of green glass. Delicate tendrils of ivy 
swayed gently in the sweet air. Somewhere a parrot cawed. Quick, now, 
Hilary told herself. Don't let him see you thinking about it. Just go! 
Everything will be all right. There's nothing that can follow you down 
there, and once you reach the floor, you'll be safe among the statues. 

She grabbed the long drapes firmly, took a deep breath, and jump into
space. Expecting to slide down the drapes to safety, she found herself 
unable to let them go, and instead she swung back to the wall below the 
window. In the terrible logic of dreams the drapes now pinned her to 
the wall, imprisoning her between the soft material and the hard, cold 
wall, The more she struggled, the more tightly she was held immobile. 
Now she couldn't move her arms at all. 

A panicked frustration welled up inside her. She had to free herself! In
trying to escape, she had bound herself more firmly than she would have 
been, had she allowed herself to be captured in the first place. 

Fear and self-reproach made her body tense and shake. Abandoning herself
to her terror, she tried to scream, but nothing came out of her mouth. 
She began to flail violently, doing whatever she could to get out of 
the clutches of the soft curtains that held against the immobile wall 
beside her. She wanted to cry. 

Suddenly something hit Hilary's face, and she jolted awake. Her heart
pounding fast and hard, sweating, her mouth dry, she found herself 
wrapped in a blanket smash against the wall. At first, she had no idea 
where she was, but anything was better than her dream prison. She 
slowly loosened her grip on the blanket and relaxes. 

She realized that there was a hand resting on her head. Hilary's
eyebrows scrunched together in confusion until she realized that hand 
was supposed to be there in bed. As she woke up fully, she also 
realized where she wasn't in her apartment, in her bedroom. It was a 
small bedroom. Hilary rolled over carefully to see Tony sleeping beside 
her. Ever so slowly, she moved his arm so that it was resting along his 
side. He was sprawled out over the bed. Tony's head twitched and he 
rubbed his nose against his pillow, but he didn't wake up. Stifling a 
giggle, Hilary watched him, with no shirt on and only a sheet covering 
him from the waist down, as he slept. He looked adorable, cuddle up in 
the light blue sheets. 

She could just lie around and run her hand over his perfect chest for
hours. He must have pushed her against the wall and she gotten tangled 
in the flannel blanket. Her heart slowed to a normal pace as she began 
to calm down. Putting her hand to her damp forehead, she reviewed the 
night's events and groaned inwardly. 

Moving gently so she wouldn't wake Tony, Hilary pulled her body into a
half sitting position. Then, with a gymnast's dexterity, she eased one 
leg over his prone figure to the floor and shifting her weigh slowly, 
raised herself to her feet beside the bed. Her naked skin gathered 
goose bumps in the dawn chill. Outside the window the early light 
played among the buildings of East Lansing, Michigan. The campus of 
Michigan State University was deserted, but the birds were flitting 
from tree to tree, and squirrels were dashing among the bushes, dodging 
the papers that swirled in the breeze. 

Hilary reached for her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. She couldn't
find her underwear. After careful search of the floor, she reasoned 
that they must still be in the bed, where Tony had pulled them from her 
the previous night. Hilary searched with her hand around the sheet that 
lay in a jumble at the foot of the bed. 

She had meant to keep clothed and to leave after a little while. But it
was a special occasion and his persistent tugging at her shirt had 
convinced her what the harm? To remove it. His delicate touch on her 
breast, first through her bra and then under it had persuaded her to 
let him take it off. But she was going to keep her pants on! Nothing 
blow the waist! So much for good intentions. 

She had enjoyed his touch, but that wasn't the main force behind her
acceptance. It was more the security she felt in giving him what he 
wanted. When he touched her thighs and then more intimately, first 
through her pants and then under her waistband and then daringly, 
seductively, unbuttoning and unzipping, she had felt a sweet delight 
and comfort in the very fact of his desire for her. The slowness with 
which he moved, the way he continued to kiss and caress her, constantly 
providing her with pleasure and warmth. 

The strangeness between them the fact that they hadn't really talk about
much of anything except for superficial things faded into obscurity as 
their physical communication brought them closer and closer on a 
nonverbal level, a plane of physical intimacy. And as they lay close 
together, Hilary had come to feel such a deep affection for Tony, such 
a placid sense of ease and lassitude, that she had just come to accept 
him as he was, to accept what was between them as meaningful, as right 
as true. 

When he lay on top of her she took such pleasure from his pleasure, such
sweet delight happiness she knew she could give him, that she wanted 
him to go further, wanted to take him all the way. She wanted him; 
there was no doubt about it. It wasn't like she was in a loss of 
conscience. At some point, he was giving her a chance to say that that 
was enough, she had decided, had really consciously decided that she 
wanted him completely. She had taken his chin in her hands and asked if 
he had a condom and of course, he had. 

Hilary finally located her underwear among the twists of the discarded
sheet. If she could only get dressed quietly, she could get out of 
there before he woke up. She would leave a little note and get herself 
out of there to thing about what she had done and what she was going to 
do next. 

"Whaddaya doin'?" Tony's unexpected words froze Hilary in place. She
turned and smiled at him. 

"I have to go," she said putting on her shirt and buttoning it up. Tony
propped himself on one elbow and reached his other arm out toward the 
foot of the bed, where Hilary was standing. He looked at her. She 
looked sexy in just her underwear, shirt, and socks. 

"No, don't," he whined, flicking his finger to beckon her toward him.
Hilary pursed her lips jokingly. "What am I, your servant?" she asked 
putting her hands on her hips. 

A wide grin spread across Tony's face, making Hilary's heart flutter
like a moth. "May you are." He said. Before Hilary could move a muscle 
Tony lunged for the end of the bed and grabbed her wrist. Hilary 
squealed as he pulled her back down with him, cradling her in his arms. 


"You're not going anywhere," he said with a grin. He brought his lips to
hers and kissed her deeply. Hilary lost herself for a moment letting 
him run his rough fingertips down her bare arms. 

Finally she pulled back and he kneeled in front of her. "No, I have to
go," she said rubbing her nose against his. 

"No, if you're my slave, you have to do what I tell you. And I'm
ordering you to stay." He brought his lips toward her again, but Hilary 
ducked away at the last minute and taking him by surprise, managed to 
break away from his arms. She pushed her hair back from his face. 

"C'mon, Hil." Tony said patting his pillow and looking up at her with
puppy dog eyes. "Don't leave me here all alone." He reached out and 
took her hand. Against her conscience's will, Hilary inched closer to 
the bed never taking her eyes from Tony's. He brought her palms to his 
face and kissed them gently. 

"I'll make it worth your while," he whispered in his deep baritone
voice. Hilary closed her eyes as he trailed kisses up her arms. She 
didn't even realize she was leaning toward him until she felt his mouth 
softly caressing her neck. Unexpectedly, Hilary steps back from him. 
She leans in toward him. 

"You already have made it worth my while. I'm sorry but I have to go."
She whispered Tony let out a groan of frustration as he falls back into 
bed landing face down. He punches the mattress three times. 

"I'll call you later." Hilary said as she grabbed her purse and exited
out the door. Disappointed and frustrated Tony finally gets up and 
switches on the television. 

"This morning we have mostly cloudy skies, with a ninety percent chance
of rain this afternoon," the TV weatherman chirped. "It's the perfect 
day to stay in bed if you can." 

"I agree completely." Tony said to the TV as he rubbed the sleep from
his eyes. But he decided to get anyway and go to the bathroom. "Thanks, 
Stormy," the anchorwoman said. "Now for today's top story- a second 
woman has been found stabbed to death, this time in a secluded area 
less than a half a mile from the Gang buster Saloon, where she was last 
seen. So far, the police have no leads. They're asking anyone with any 
information at all pertaining to the case please contact them 
immediately." the newswoman said. 

* * * 

Hilary slowly opened the door to her apartment. She didn't want to wake
up her roommate and best friend, Lauren. Once inside she quietly closed 
the door and heard the sound of the shower running, was already up.As 
she took off her coat and laid her purse down on the table, she heard 
her stomach growling and was suddenly aware that she was starving. 
She'd been so wrapped up in Tony yesterday she hadn't really eaten 
anything. 

“Cereal,” she chanted as she padded into the kitchen, “toast, coffee,
juice, and condoms . . . . Condoms!” Hilary froze with her hand on the 
refrigerator door. What had made her say Condom? Slowly her eyes 
focused on the shining white enamel in front of her. There were the 
usual magnets and notes on the door. And taped right in the center was 
a page from a magazine. A young couple, obviously in love and obviously 
very happy, was smiling at her. 

Above their heads in large, bold letters was the caption: SEX: IF YOU'RE
GOING TO HAVE IT, MAKE IT SAFE! CONDOMS ARE FOR YOU, TOO! It was 
incredible. Incredible. Lauren was still in the bathroom, and already 
she was getting on Hilary's case. Hilary snatched the clipping, tossed 
it into he garbage, and wrenched open the fridge. This day was going to 
be even longer than she'd thought. 

"Have a nice day yesterday?" Lauren asked, squeezing past her to start
the coffee. Hilary kept her head in the refrigerator. "Very nice, thank 
you." 

"And the night before?" Lauren went on. "Was that nice too?" Slowly and
carefully, Hilary loaded bread, butter, milk, and jelly into her arms. 
"It was perfect, " she said, matching Lauren's flat, polite voice. “ 
Absolutely perfect. " 

Lauren noisily emptied the coffee filter. "Your mom called three times
yesterday. She seemed upset. Where were you last night?" Lauren snapped 
finally. Her exhausted face looked halted, angry, and relieved all at 
the same time. "I called Julie. She said She hadn't seen you at all 
last night. So I thought maybe you went to Tony's. But nobody answered 
at his place." Her voice rose with mounting anger. "I've been frantic!" 
Lauren glanced at the clock. 

"I was actually going to called the police. " 

Hilary's mouth fell open. She was driving back from Tony's parent's
condominium in a fog of happiness, confusion, doubt, elation, anxiety, 
and all the other five thousand emotions that went along with falling 
madly in love with him. She'd been too preoccupied to concoct an alibi. 


"Hilary, what's going on? One minute you're lying in bed. The next
minute you're gone all night. You disappeared without warning. 

"I'm sorry," Hilary said. "I didn't feel like sleeping or talking so I
just . . .drove all night. " 

Lauren's brows rose in disbelief "You drove all night?" She looked
Hilary up and down and seemed to suddenly notice Hilary's ruined 
sweater with the bloodstain and her scraped forehead. Her face 
immediately registered alarm. 

"If you drove all night, what happened to your clothes and your face?"
Her hand gripped Hilary's shoulder. “Hilary, tell me the truth. Did 
anybody do anything to you? Did somebody threaten you or try to rough 
you up?" 

Hilary turned away and began peeling off her clothes, which were still
damp from the storm last night. 

"I Promise I won't say anything to anyone." 

"Come on. Of course, nothing happened to me. It was raining when I ran
out and slipped and scraped my face on the pavement. It's not that big 
of a deal. I had a lot on my mind. I didn't feel sleepy. So I drove the 
highways all night," 

"Are you problems with Tony?" 

"No," Hilary said. "I'm sorry, I guess, I wasn't thinking very clearly."


"Please, don't ever do this to me again. You have no idea how worried I
was. 

Hilary lifted her head and smiled at Lauren. When she didn't smile,
back. Hilary felt a flicker of worry .Had she noticed the pink flush on 
her face? Did she realize that she was being less truthful? A moment of 
silence passed by the two lifetime friends. "Ok, next time call me." 
She noisily poured water into the coffee machine. "I see you got my 
message." 

Hilary straightened up. "If you mean the rather crude advertisement that
you stuck on the refrigerator, yes, I got it. " 

"And what are you going to do about it?" Lauren asked, her eyes meeting
Hilary's for the first time. 

Hilary swung her brown hair over her shoulder. "I'm not going to do
anything about it. " She glided past Lauren and put the food on the 
counter. "It's not any of your business, of course, but for your 
information, Tony and I are not having sex. The only use we have for 
condoms is if we decide to have a party and we run out of balloons. " 

Hilary didn't like lying to Lauren. But she was in love. It was the kind
of love that made people do terrible things. Hilary would steal for 
Tony. She would die for Tony. She rolled her eyes at Lauren's concern 
and laughed. 

"You're funny, Hilary," Lauren snapped. "You're very funny. But it won't
be funny if Tony gets you pregnant or gives you AIDS or some other kind 
STD." 

Hilary stuck two pieces of bread into the toaster. 

"We're not sleeping together, Lauren," she explained again with
exaggerated patience. "He can't give me anything." 

"You spent the night with him, Hilary. Maybe you didn't sleep with him
this time, but that doesn't mean you won't next time." 

Hilary felt her neck go cold. She wished Lauren would stop acting like
her mother. "But it doesn't mean I'll sleep with him, either." 

Lauren sighed. “Hilary, get real, will you? I've seen you two together
before. It was like Romeo and Juliet meet The Wild One." 

Hilary reached over Lauren's head for a bowl. "I have kissed people
before, you know," she said, jerking the cabinet open. "My boyfriend 
Sam and I were very passionate and we never had sex. 

"You and Sam were in high school, Hilary," Lauren snapped back. "You
were both kids. And at least one of you was sensible. But this isn't 
high school, and you and Tony are not kids. " She reached up and 
slammed the cabinet shut again before Hilary could. " And quite 
frankly, Ms. Scott, I don't think you're being very sensible now! " 

Steam hissed out of the coffee machine. Hilary concentrated on pouring
out her Cornflakes.  "I know what I'm doing, Lauren." 

"Do you?" Lauren snapped. 

"Yes." Hilary answered between gritted teeth. "I do." 

Lauren came over to her. "Well, just in case you don't know what you're
doing as well as you think you do, Juliet, let me give you this with my 
compliments. " 

She pulled something out of her pocket and dropped it into Hilary's
cereal bowl. "My advice is, don't leave home without it."  Hilary 
looked down as her roommate sailed past her. Sitting on top of the 
Cornflakes was a packet of condoms. 

"Trojan condoms extra strong.” Hilary rolled her eyes. "Thanks a lot,
Lauren." 

Hilary snapped backed to reality. She suddenly realized Lauren was
right. Now, she was just going to have to figure this one out for 
herself and it wasn't going to be easy. For a moment, she almost 
panicked, feeling lost and abandoned in her suddenly complicated world. 



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