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"No! Stop!" I cry as I'm being tied up. How could this be happening?

"Marcus, please," I beg, tears running down my face. Is this really happening?

"You want her first, or should I?" Marcus asks, stony faced as he finishes tying my wrists to the pole. Marcus. My friend.

Or so I'd thought.

"I'll take her first," the other one says. He was a creepy guy who'd gotten us aside and lead us here. I didn't recognize him, but Marcus was going along with it, so he must know the guy.

How did tonight get to this?

*****

I pace in front of the house, waiting. Marcus is late. He was supposed to pick me up at six. It's six-ten. He's late.

It's not a date. We're just going to hang out. Catch a movie, maybe get something to eat, sure. Just hanging out. But since it's not a date, can I complain about him being late?

Six-fifteen. He rolls up in a little red convertible, top down, and beaming ear to ear.

"Sorry I'm late," he says, hopping out of the car without turning it off. He runs around the car. "I had to get gas."

"It's all good," I reply, slightly put out that I can't really complain about it anyway. "I had time."

He laughs. "So you trust me, then?"

"What?"

"Well, you're about to get into my car--alone--with me. We've only known each other for a little while, you know." He grins. "I mean, I'm a likable guy and all, but ..."

I cut him off. "Should I not trust you?"

He chuckles. "I promise not to bite--unless you ask, of course. You're safe with me."

I smile back at him. "Then let's get going."

*****

The movie was good. I'd wanted to see it for a while anyway. The Cabal. A pretty awesome story about the powers that can tie families together forever. And how to break them when they sour some six thousand years later.

We're sitting in this Italian place a little while later. The place--Cibo Fata, whatever that means--is pretty popular. Good food, good service, good pricing. All around good place to eat at.

Marcus and I've only known each other a month, so we spend most of the meal learning about each other and talking about the movie.

"So you've lived in Ersatz for two months?"

"Right," he answers. "I've pretty much floated around for the last few years."

"So where else have you lived, then?"

"Oh, all over, really. New York, California, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy," he lists on for a bit, counting places on his fingers as he goes. " ... Australia, Egypt--did I mention Italy?"

"You did," I answer. "Does that mean this food's not good enough for you?"

"On the contrary," he grins. "This's a lot better than most of the food I ate there."

"So why'd you pick here next?" I ask, but he's looking distractedly out the window. I see why a few seconds later. Some blond walking by in a tight beige blouse. Definitely not a date.

"So's she your type, then?" I ask casually.

Marcus looks back at me, confused. "Sorry, what?"

"That girl. She was cute. I saw you staring. So ... is she your type?"

Marcus looks confused for a moment longer, then realization clicks. "Jealous?" he asks with a sly grin.

"Me? Of course not," I say. I'm not. Really. "Just curious. You don't seem like the type to stare at every skirt that goes by."

"I'm not," he says. "And I wasn't. The guy she was with, though. Did you recognize him? He looked familiar to me."

I hadn't even noticed a guy with her. "No I didn't. Why, is he your type?"

He laughs. "No. Hardly that. But I would like to meet him at some point, I suppose. I guess I'll just have to wait."

"You know," I say, "you're crazy."

"A real lunatic," he agrees with a laugh. "Better watch out, it's catching." He waggles his eyebrows at me mock-menacingly, and I almost shoot water out my nose.

*****

"That's so weird," Marcus says for the forth time. "I just filled the tank, and everything should be fine. So why'd it just die out here?"

He was driving me home and the car just shut off. Died.

I live just out of town, so we're just outside the city limits. Twenty minutes walking either way in the dark. But he's tinkering around under the hood, playing the worldly man able to do anything.

Except, of course, fix the damned car.

I stand behind him with the flashlight. "Shouldn't we just call for a tow or something?"

"Are you kidding? By the time they got here, I'd have this fixed. And besides, do you know how much that costs?"

"Stingy!" I chuckle as he pulls his head out from under the hood.

"I'm not--Oh!" He looks surprised. I turn around to see what Marcus sees, and there he is. This rough looking brute in dirty clothes. I feel surprised I didn't smell him. He reeked of booze.

"Well now." Marcus steps between me and the guy. "What can we do for you?"

The guy snorts. "Well how about giving me a lift home? It ain't far."

"I would, but the engine's dead. Can't go anywhere with it like this."

"May I?" The guy asks, moving to the engine. He looks in, mutters a few words, bangs around in a way I don't see being helpful, then pulls his head back out. "Give it another shot."

Marcus gets in the car, and it starts perfectly. Slightly glumly, he lets the guy and I in and starts off once more.

We drive a short way, then the guy in the back says, "Take the left up here."

"I was gonna drop Kara home first," Marcus answers.

"Don't worry," the guy says calmly. "It's only a short distance."

I'm a little surprised to see Marcus take the turn, then two more. We stop fifteen minutes later in front of an old barn the guy says is his place. He gets out, and immediately the car stalls again.

"Crap!" Marcus yells. "I can't believe this! The car's not that old."

A knock on his window shows that the guy hasn't left yet. He's starting to creep me out. Marcus rolls the window down to see what the guy has to say.

"I've got some tools inside if you want," the guy volunteered. "Come on in and it'll be faster finding them."

Both of us get out, but Marcus tries to wave me back into the car. "Three sets of eyes are better than than two," I argue, and he lets me follow.

Once we get inside, though, something changes. Marcus grabs me, one hand over my mouth, and drags me deep into the shadows. The barn smells of old hay and rot. It must have been abandoned a while ago.

"Tie her up," the guy says. "It's time for some fun."

I try to resist, try to fight back. But Marcus is stronger than me.

*****

"You want her first, or should I?" Marcus asks, stony faced as he finishes tying my wrists to the pole.

"I'll take her first," the other one says.

"Alright," Marcus says, stepping out of the way. The other guy moves in on me. I'm suddenly glad I opted for jeans over something more 'date-ish'. I can at least fight back as he tries to take my pants.

The guy reaches for my belt, and I squirm a bit. I can't fight too much, though. I'm tied up by my wrists, and he's straddling me. Though the weight doesn't seem to be making my wrists hurt.

The guy pulls out a knife when I start to squirm too much and reaches out to just cut my pants away.

"Oh," Marcus says from behind the guy. "I almost forgot."

The guy turns his head back and says, "What is it n--"

Marcus clocked the guy across the face hard. Really hard. The guy's head snapped around so hard the rest of his body follows through and he falls away off of me. "You can't have her."

Marcus comes over to me and starts untying me. "Sorry about that," he says quietly. "The guy has a gun. Once you're loose, I want you to run back to the car, got it?"
I nod. "What about you?"

Marcus gives me a grin that reminds me of a rabid wolf. "Gotta make sure this guy remembers to play nice from now on."

"Are you crazy?" I ask, hearing the guy start to rouse himself. He's got a gun! Let's just get out of here."

"No can do, babe. Car's busted, you know. He'll just come back out, shoot me, and take you." Marcus' face goes stony again. "And that just won't do, kid."

"But it's dangerous. You could get hurt." He finished untying me and I rolled loose. The guy behind Marcus was on his knees, shaking his head.

"I'll be fine," Marcus says. "I'm a lunatic, remember?" He spins around from where he'd been kneeling with me and snapped the guy in the face with a kick strong enough to flip him onto his back. He looks back at me. "Go on, I'll take care of this."

He tosses his keys to me and I run out to the car. I hop in, lock it up, and hide down low. A few seconds later, I hear gunshots. Bang! Bang! Bang! A pause. Bang! ... Bang!

I wonder if I should try to start the thing and drive off, but look up front to see it's manual. I can't drive stick! I frantically look back toward the barn, and see someone walking out. In the dark it could be either of them.

Tears flowing down my face, I see that he's got the gun. The guy just killed Marcus, and now he's coming for me! I open the back door, thankful that no light flickers on as I do so, and bolt into the field away from my attacker.

"What the ... get back here," he yells as I run. He takes the chase and soon we're both in the field. But he's faster than me. It doesn't take him long to grab my shoulder and spin me around. As I'm spun, I lose balance and start to fall, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back upright.

"Stupid," he says. "Calm down, it's done."

"Marcus?"

"Who else, silly? I told you you were safe with me."

"But ... the gun?" I start to calm down, but something still seems wrong.

"Yeah, he shot at me," Marcus chuckled. "Drunk idiot couldn't hit a bus, much less me. I took it so I could turn it in to the police."

"Oh. Okay. That makes sense." Marcus leads me back toward the car.

"Can you believe this guy? Get's a big friggin' revolver, but doesn't realize it's only a five-shot. If it'd been six, he'd have hit me. Got the barrel under my ribcage and pulled the trigger. Click! No ammo.

"You should have seen his face!" Marcus held the door open for me, then went around to the driver's side. Sitting down, he tossed the gun into the back and tried the engine. It turned over twice, then died.

"Oh yeah," he says. "I forgot about that." The proud look that had been on his face sours into one of frustration. "Gimme a sec."

He gets out and looks under the hood. "What the ..." I hear three thudding noises, then he shuts the hood. "Look at this," he says, tossing something to me as he climbs back in.

There's some little gizmo in my hand. I don't know what it is, but Marcus seems to recognize it. "What am I looking at?"

"It's a power breaker, so to speak. I don't know the technical term for it but, basically, it just lets whoever has the remote cut power to whatever it's attached to whenever they want."

"Like a light switch?"

Marcus laughs. "Sure, why not. Ready to go home?"

"Definitely. This has been the worst date ever."

"I thought you said it wasn't a date," Marcus says, starting the car up and spinning it around hard. We head back the way we came.

"Did I say that?" I ask. "I guess it wasn't. Which means you really owe me for getting us into this."

"Hey!" he says. "I got us back out, didn't I?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I guess you did. Too bad it's your fault it started."

"How was I supposed to know someone tampered with my car like that?" he mock-whines. "It's totally not my fault. The guy was after you, after all."

I shudder. "Thanks for reminding me." We roll up to my place, and he gets out to walk me to my door.

On the porch, Marcus stops me. "Hold on a sec, Kara." I face him, and his hand reaches toward my face while he looks at me as if he's really concentrating. I close my eyes, expecting--I can't believe I'd let it happen.

A tug at my hair a moment later opens my eyes back up. "Hay," Marcus says, holding up the offending item. "We don't want your parents getting the wrong impression."

I thank him, slightly disappointed, and he laughs. "Another time, then," Marcus says with a wink. He pulls my hand to his lips and brushes my knuckles with a kiss. And then he's off back down the porch and heading back to his car.

"Yeah," I say as I watch him drive off. "Another time."

Description
"No! Stop!" I cry as I'm being tied up. How could this be happening?

"Marcus, please," I beg, tears running down my face. Is this really happening?

"You want her first, or should I?" Marcus asks, stony faced as he finishes tying my wrists to the pole. Marcus. My friend.

Or so I'd thought.

"I'll take her first," the other one says. He was a creepy guy who'd gotten us aside and lead us here. I didn't recognize him, but Marcus was going along with it, so he must know the guy.

How did tonight get to this?

*****

I pace in front of the house, waiting. Marcus is late. He was supposed to pick me up at six. It's six-ten. He's late.

It's not a date. We're just going to hang out. Catch a movie, maybe get something to eat, sure. Just hanging out. But since it's not a date, can I complain about him being late?

Six-fifteen. He rolls up in a little red convertible, top down, and beaming ear to ear.

"Sorry I'm late," he says, hopping out of the car without turning it off. He runs around the car. "I had to get gas."

"It's all good," I reply, slightly put out that I can't really complain about it anyway. "I had time."

He laughs. "So you trust me, then?"

"What?"

"Well, you're about to get into my car--alone--with me. We've only known each other for a little while, you know." He grins. "I mean, I'm a likable guy and all, but ..."

I cut him off. "Should I not trust you?"

He chuckles. "I promise not to bite--unless you ask, of course. You're safe with me."

I smile back at him. "Then let's get going."

*****

The movie was good. I'd wanted to see it for a while anyway. The Cabal. A pretty awesome story about the powers that can tie families together forever. And how to break them when they sour some six thousand years later.

We're sitting in this Italian place a little while later. The place--Cibo Fata, whatever that means--is pretty popular. Good food, good service, good pricing. All around good place to eat at.

Marcus and I've only known each other a month, so we spend most of the meal learning about each other and talking about the movie.

"So you've lived in Ersatz for two months?"

"Right," he answers. "I've pretty much floated around for the last few years."

"So where else have you lived, then?"

"Oh, all over, really. New York, California, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy," he lists on for a bit, counting places on his fingers as he goes. " ... Australia, Egypt--did I mention Italy?"

"You did," I answer. "Does that mean this food's not good enough for you?"

"On the contrary," he grins. "This's a lot better than most of the food I ate there."

"So why'd you pick here next?" I ask, but he's looking distractedly out the window. I see why a few seconds later. Some blond walking by in a tight beige blouse. Definitely not a date.

"So's she your type, then?" I ask casually.

Marcus looks back at me, confused. "Sorry, what?"

"That girl. She was cute. I saw you staring. So ... is she your type?"

Marcus looks confused for a moment longer, then realization clicks. "Jealous?" he asks with a sly grin.

"Me? Of course not," I say. I'm not. Really. "Just curious. You don't seem like the type to stare at every skirt that goes by."

"I'm not," he says. "And I wasn't. The guy she was with, though. Did you recognize him? He looked familiar to me."

I hadn't even noticed a guy with her. "No I didn't. Why, is he your type?"

He laughs. "No. Hardly that. But I would like to meet him at some point, I suppose. I guess I'll just have to wait."

"You know," I say, "you're crazy."

"A real lunatic," he agrees with a laugh. "Better watch out, it's catching." He waggles his eyebrows at me mock-menacingly, and I almost shoot water out my nose.

*****

"That's so weird," Marcus says for the forth time. "I just filled the tank, and everything should be fine. So why'd it just die out here?"

He was driving me home and the car just shut off. Died.

I live just out of town, so we're just outside the city limits. Twenty minutes walking either way in the dark. But he's tinkering around under the hood, playing the worldly man able to do anything.

Except, of course, fix the damned car.

I stand behind him with the flashlight. "Shouldn't we just call for a tow or something?"

"Are you kidding? By the time they got here, I'd have this fixed. And besides, do you know how much that costs?"

"Stingy!" I chuckle as he pulls his head out from under the hood.

"I'm not--Oh!" He looks surprised. I turn around to see what Marcus sees, and there he is. This rough looking brute in dirty clothes. I feel surprised I didn't smell him. He reeked of booze.

"Well now." Marcus steps between me and the guy. "What can we do for you?"

The guy snorts. "Well how about giving me a lift home? It ain't far."

"I would, but the engine's dead. Can't go anywhere with it like this."

"May I?" The guy asks, moving to the engine. He looks in, mutters a few words, bangs around in a way I don't see being helpful, then pulls his head back out. "Give it another shot."

Marcus gets in the car, and it starts perfectly. Slightly glumly, he lets the guy and I in and starts off once more.

We drive a short way, then the guy in the back says, "Take the left up here."

"I was gonna drop Kara home first," Marcus answers.

"Don't worry," the guy says calmly. "It's only a short distance."

I'm a little surprised to see Marcus take the turn, then two more. We stop fifteen minutes later in front of an old barn the guy says is his place. He gets out, and immediately the car stalls again.

"Crap!" Marcus yells. "I can't believe this! The car's not that old."

A knock on his window shows that the guy hasn't left yet. He's starting to creep me out. Marcus rolls the window down to see what the guy has to say.

"I've got some tools inside if you want," the guy volunteered. "Come on in and it'll be faster finding them."

Both of us get out, but Marcus tries to wave me back into the car. "Three sets of eyes are better than than two," I argue, and he lets me follow.

Once we get inside, though, something changes. Marcus grabs me, one hand over my mouth, and drags me deep into the shadows. The barn smells of old hay and rot. It must have been abandoned a while ago.

"Tie her up," the guy says. "It's time for some fun."

I try to resist, try to fight back. But Marcus is stronger than me.

*****

"You want her first, or should I?" Marcus asks, stony faced as he finishes tying my wrists to the pole.

"I'll take her first," the other one says.

"Alright," Marcus says, stepping out of the way. The other guy moves in on me. I'm suddenly glad I opted for jeans over something more 'date-ish'. I can at least fight back as he tries to take my pants.

The guy reaches for my belt, and I squirm a bit. I can't fight too much, though. I'm tied up by my wrists, and he's straddling me. Though the weight doesn't seem to be making my wrists hurt.

The guy pulls out a knife when I start to squirm too much and reaches out to just cut my pants away.

"Oh," Marcus says from behind the guy. "I almost forgot."

The guy turns his head back and says, "What is it n--"

Marcus clocked the guy across the face hard. Really hard. The guy's head snapped around so hard the rest of his body follows through and he falls away off of me. "You can't have her."

Marcus comes over to me and starts untying me. "Sorry about that," he says quietly. "The guy has a gun. Once you're loose, I want you to run back to the car, got it?"
I nod. "What about you?"

Marcus gives me a grin that reminds me of a rabid wolf. "Gotta make sure this guy remembers to play nice from now on."

"Are you crazy?" I ask, hearing the guy start to rouse himself. He's got a gun! Let's just get out of here."

"No can do, babe. Car's busted, you know. He'll just come back out, shoot me, and take you." Marcus' face goes stony again. "And that just won't do, kid."

"But it's dangerous. You could get hurt." He finished untying me and I rolled loose. The guy behind Marcus was on his knees, shaking his head.

"I'll be fine," Marcus says. "I'm a lunatic, remember?" He spins around from where he'd been kneeling with me and snapped the guy in the face with a kick strong enough to flip him onto his back. He looks back at me. "Go on, I'll take care of this."

He tosses his keys to me and I run out to the car. I hop in, lock it up, and hide down low. A few seconds later, I hear gunshots. Bang! Bang! Bang! A pause. Bang! ... Bang!

I wonder if I should try to start the thing and drive off, but look up front to see it's manual. I can't drive stick! I frantically look back toward the barn, and see someone walking out. In the dark it could be either of them.

Tears flowing down my face, I see that he's got the gun. The guy just killed Marcus, and now he's coming for me! I open the back door, thankful that no light flickers on as I do so, and bolt into the field away from my attacker.

"What the ... get back here," he yells as I run. He takes the chase and soon we're both in the field. But he's faster than me. It doesn't take him long to grab my shoulder and spin me around. As I'm spun, I lose balance and start to fall, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me back upright.

"Stupid," he says. "Calm down, it's done."

"Marcus?"

"Who else, silly? I told you you were safe with me."

"But ... the gun?" I start to calm down, but something still seems wrong.

"Yeah, he shot at me," Marcus chuckled. "Drunk idiot couldn't hit a bus, much less me. I took it so I could turn it in to the police."

"Oh. Okay. That makes sense." Marcus leads me back toward the car.

"Can you believe this guy? Get's a big friggin' revolver, but doesn't realize it's only a five-shot. If it'd been six, he'd have hit me. Got the barrel under my ribcage and pulled the trigger. Click! No ammo.

"You should have seen his face!" Marcus held the door open for me, then went around to the driver's side. Sitting down, he tossed the gun into the back and tried the engine. It turned over twice, then died.

"Oh yeah," he says. "I forgot about that." The proud look that had been on his face sours into one of frustration. "Gimme a sec."

He gets out and looks under the hood. "What the ..." I hear three thudding noises, then he shuts the hood. "Look at this," he says, tossing something to me as he climbs back in.

There's some little gizmo in my hand. I don't know what it is, but Marcus seems to recognize it. "What am I looking at?"

"It's a power breaker, so to speak. I don't know the technical term for it but, basically, it just lets whoever has the remote cut power to whatever it's attached to whenever they want."

"Like a light switch?"

Marcus laughs. "Sure, why not. Ready to go home?"

"Definitely. This has been the worst date ever."

"I thought you said it wasn't a date," Marcus says, starting the car up and spinning it around hard. We head back the way we came.

"Did I say that?" I ask. "I guess it wasn't. Which means you really owe me for getting us into this."

"Hey!" he says. "I got us back out, didn't I?"

I laugh. "Yeah, I guess you did. Too bad it's your fault it started."

"How was I supposed to know someone tampered with my car like that?" he mock-whines. "It's totally not my fault. The guy was after you, after all."

I shudder. "Thanks for reminding me." We roll up to my place, and he gets out to walk me to my door.

On the porch, Marcus stops me. "Hold on a sec, Kara." I face him, and his hand reaches toward my face while he looks at me as if he's really concentrating. I close my eyes, expecting--I can't believe I'd let it happen.

A tug at my hair a moment later opens my eyes back up. "Hay," Marcus says, holding up the offending item. "We don't want your parents getting the wrong impression."

I thank him, slightly disappointed, and he laughs. "Another time, then," Marcus says with a wink. He pulls my hand to his lips and brushes my knuckles with a kiss. And then he's off back down the porch and heading back to his car.

"Yeah," I say as I watch him drive off. "Another time."