Love Can Move You

by Sunhawk

Author's Note: Fiction is the name of the game, my friends. The thought of me owning anyone is a laugh. This is just a bit of mind-candy i thought you would all enjoy. And no, this is not about me, if case you were wondering. Steal my work and suffer destruction at my gryphon's claws.


This story is dedicated to *LiLu* - thanks for letting me borrow your silver city :)

~*This is written to the rhythm of "Love Can MoveYou." Turn it up full blast for full appreciation*~

**********************



  My room is quiet. Nothing moves, not even the trees out my window. I wait in the darkness. Wait for my release. This room is my prison.
I've given up staring at the door. Staring like my eyes were the key. I lay in the corner, arms on knees, head on arms. My eyes are closed but I do not dream. I am merely listening to the music inside my head.
The music helps me drown out the murmurs from downstairs. My mother's fearful voice. Cringing. It makes me sick. And him. The awful invader. I will not call him "father". I can hear him yelling. It makes me even more sick.
I turn my head to the side, remembering my bruises. Wounds he gave me.
"Pea-brained bastard." I mutter.
Then I freeze. I raise my head and stare at the window. The trees are swaying. I straighten out and walk to the open window. The air is moving. Caught in an invisible dance. I cock my head to the side, straining to hear the wind. It whispers. Sings.

.....Come to the city....


It is a seductive suggestion. I can see it in the distance. The silver city. Glimmering in the sun's dying light.
I stare at it unseeing, thinking furiously. I can hear the TV blaring downstairs. Maybe they won't hear me. Maybe I can escape. Maybe.
I turn away from the window and slip on some clothes. Full of colors: blue, black and red. Faerie garb.
I hesitate as I pick up a glittery red top. Will it betray me on the lawn?
I look outside again. Getting darker. I think I'll chance it.
I ease myself out of the window, stick my feet in long-made steps of vine. They are used to my weight. I climb down. Drop to the ground. Look furtively around. Scamper across the yellowing grass. Then I freeze, suddenly uncertain if this is worth the pain I will surely receive later.

.....Come to the city....


I shiver as a breeze twines around me. The voice in my head now seems male. Decidedly male.

.......Come...Come...We are waiting....


I start moving again, bespelled by the wind. I reach the nearest car and climb in. My hands reach for familiar wires with studied practice. I could do this with my eyes closed. Don't need any keys.
The car quietly roars into life and I shrink into my seat, carefully watching the house. No reaction.
Before I can lose my nerve, I shift gears and spin out of the driveway. In my rearview mirror I can see a figure run out of the house, his roar matching the engine. But I'm gone.
I quickly slip through the streets that twist like a maze. Labyrinth. And I want to get out.
I escape the suburbs, like a fish sliding through a hole in a net. Dive into the heart of the freeway. Surrounded by fast-paced, shiny cars. Faster, must go faster.


I can see the city even better now. Brilliant lights flickering on. Urban diamond. I watch the sun approach the horizon. Let it get closer to the ground. There's more lights to come.

.....Almost there....


I reach the outskirts but then my car begins to cough. It sputters. I manage to pull it off the road before it expires. I climb out and curse, kicking its side. Dammit, why didn't I steal the good car?

.....Forget your worries....come to the city...


"Yes, yes, I'm here. Where do I go now?" I mutter impatiently, leaning against the dead car. I'm so close I can hear the song of the city. Sirens singing. Cars screaming. The pulse of the people.
I notice a sign ahead of me. Subway. What an inviting idea.
I walk away from the broken Honda without a backwards glance. Maybe it'll be there when I get back. I really don't care.


I cautiously creep down the tunnel steps, into the underground darkness. My steps echo hollowly. I look around avidly as I walk. The walls are covered in posters. Kaleidoscope of words and pictures catch my eye. But one kind keeps standing out. I stop in front of the closest one. Two men. One blond, one jet black hair. Their eyes stand out the most. It's the kind of picture where the eyes seem to follow you wherever you go. Very unnerving. I don't like having their too-wise eyes watching me. I back away slowly. Begin to run. Racing past the many copies of that poster, all their eyes following my flight.

.....We are waiting....




Flee into the subway. Into its belly. Belly of a serpent. Creeping. Crawling.
I'm not sure what I'm doing here. Where should I go next? I glance around me, looking for some clue. Any clue.
Stops go by. Most full of dim lights and drab posters. Except for one. It glitters all gold and blue. I scramble out of my plastic seat, out of the steel snake. The doors snap shut behind me, like jaws.
I peer at the ad sparkling in the buzzing fluorescent light. It says:

Meet your Destiny.


An arrow points towards a staircase. I follow it. Of course I follow it, who wants to mess with their own fate?


I reach a tall grey building. Eye it doubtfully. How could such a pretty poster mean such a boring building? But then my gaze catches upon something glittering. I walk closer.

Welcome to the Universal


Such a tiny sign. Almost missed it.
I can hear that voice inside my head again. The one I thought was the wind. Whispers in my mind. Murmurs. Coaxes.
As I stand and watch, people stream in slowly. One, two at a time. Strangers in wild colors. Feathers. Leather. Sparkles. Shine.
I sneak behind the newest pair. Through metallic silver doors. Past a strange little man who, despite my efforts to remain inconspicious, spots me. But he merely smiles. Says nothing. What an odd doorguard.


I get caught up in a flow of people. Pulled onward by a human tide. At the end of a long hallway I can hear a beat. Drum beat. Heart beat. Guitar yowling like a feral cat. Helpless, I am pushed through a set of plush, purple velvet doors. Into music that throbs through my body. Into rainbow lights. Smoky mist.
I slip between the throng of moving bodies. I need to find a wall. Need time to think. Sort this out.
Eventually I find myself a nice, flat wall to lean on. I scan around me, trying to take it all in. But the music is getting to me again. I'm drawn back into the crowd, following their rhythm. For a while, I let myself get lost in the dancing. Then a whisper of something causes me to turn around.
I'm being watched.
There. Across the room. Sitting in black leather chairs. Two men. One dark, one light. Exactly like the posters I saw. Wise eyes and all.
I'm tangled in their gaze. Frozen to the spot. Faint smiles grace their fine features.
They stand up in mirroring movements. Move towards me with feline smoothness. Bright leopard and dark panther. Stalking their prey.
I manage to break out of my trance and I turn to flee. But he's there in front of me. Blocking my path. All dark hair and sapphire eyes. I twist around but his tall companion has closed in behind me. I'm surrounded by twin demons.
Mouth dry, I spin around again. Find myself face to face with those bottomless blue eyes, his full lips not a handspan from my own. My breath catches in my throat. He must have seen the startlement in my eyes because he chuckles. A deep, throaty, sexy chuckle. I feel my knees go weak. And then he's got me, holding me up by my elbows. But that also brings me closer to him. I don't even know who he is.
"What's your name?" I whisper, breathless. Trying to ground myself. He smiles at me. Dazzling smile. He leans forward and whispers in my ear
"Darren."
I shiver as his breath tickles me. God, what a voice. He gives lust another name. His name.
He moves his head back and grins at me, drowning me in his heady blue gaze. Before I realize what's going on, Darren leans forward and brushes his lips against mine, feather-light. Terribly sweet and shocking.
He moves back but I don't notice, feeling stunned. Then I notice a tugging on my hand. Darren is trying to pull me into the center of the dance floor. I resist, not sure what's going on.
He pauses, looking at me with one eyebrow quirked upward. He drops his voice to a seductive murmur.
"Don't you want to feel amazing?"
I watch Darren for a minute. Then I muster my courage, pull myself together. I give him a gamine grin.
"Baby, you know I do." I reply, letting the dark-haired one pull me back into the throbbing crowd.


He pulls me close as we fall victim to the music together. I briefly close my eyes, breathing in the scent of him. The dizzying smell of his cologne. I can feel his arms around me, warm and well-muscled. That warmth begins to tingle through me.
I search out his gaze again, regardless of the danger. The risk of getting lost again.
And it happens as I lock gazes with my pale demon.
Time seems to slow.
His look surrounds me like a cloud; a sweet, soothing mist. I realize it's an expression I've been waiting for all my life but never really seen. Both foreign and dear to my heart.
It's love.
It takes my breath away.
He loves me, regardless of how long he's known me, for it feels like I've known him forever.
And deep in his eyes I can see that what I feel from him is just a drop from the thunderstorm.
Merely a taste.
My knees go weak at the thought.
Darren seems to read my mind, for he smiles that dazzling smile again. Then he moves his head closer to kiss me again. Not feather-light but deeply. Dizzyingly.
I close my eyes and let the sweet warmth from his kiss flow through my veins. The music around us seems to grow louder. A fierce joy floods through me as I realize I share the emotion that Darren has shown me.
I love him too.
I can feel Darren's smile in our kiss and he shifts his head back to look me in the eyes.
He knows.
The love in his eyes grows stronger.
He pulls me close. So close we could be one person.
It feels like we are one soul.
I lose my battle with reality and succumb. To the music. To the emotions. To Him.
I'm drowning in a kaleidoscope ocean of sensations, my body and spirit overwhelmed and the intense feeling of loneliness banished and a giddy happiness is the last thing I remember...


I awake, blinking slowly.
Where am I? I wonder, gazing around.
But my surroundings are very familiar. With a sinking heart, I discover I'm back in my room. Alone again.
Did I merely dream it? Just a dream? A crazy, wonderful dream?
But no, I'm still wearing my sparkling clothes. And when I sit up, the scent of his cologne envelops me like a ghost embrace. Like a ghost of him. A memory.
But I don't want only a memory.
I want him back. I want to go back.
Why did I ever leave?
My eyes fill with tears that do not fall, making my vision blurry and distorted. I'm nearly flattened by a dark despair at the thought of losing Darren. The feeling grows until I find myself curled up, whimpering soundlessly.
Eventually my thoughts go slower and slower. Quieter. Calmer, until I feel so empty of everything that I echo with silence.
My whole world is so silent.
Then I hear it.
The wind is whispering again. Singing a soft song I know so well. Lifted by a lightening heart, I walk to my window.
There, sparkling in the dawn's rosy glow, still lies the silver city. And the wind still calls me in that voice I now recognize. Remember.
It is my demon prince, still there. Still waiting.
I know I can escape anytime.
And I know I'll do it, no matter the distance or the cost.
After all, love can move you.


~fin~  


other fics to be read


~return~