Disclaimers found in Chapter 1.
Touching Steele
By
Posted
12/10/2002
Chapter 4
Sarah woke the next morning, feeling even more
confused than she had on the day before. She didn’t understand Steele’s
venom. The dark woman teased her at
breakfast; then was mean and cruel when she returned to the mansion to sleep.
Sarah washed up with the water and soap that Polly
had left for her the night before. The
old cook had also left a short pullover for her to sleep in. Sarah was grateful, even though sleeping in the
nude was extremely comfortable, and if she would admit it to herself, a great
deal more exciting, knowing that Steele seemed to prowl around the house at
night.
The comfort around her, reminded her once again of
the place she had escaped from. Sarah
couldn’t believe that the people on the plantation accepted her so
readily. She had to admit that even to
her own ears, her story didn’t make much sense. She stroked the tattoo
underneath her breast. People just didn’t joke when it came to the Center. To put a permanent mark on someone’s body
that looked like the Center’s insignia; well, that was just never done.
“I have a feeling that many of these people have a
story,” the little blonde thought, as she pulled on clean clothes. She remembered a time when she was still in
the Center.
‘Tell
them,’ the voice urged Sarah.
“But they’ll
think I’m crazy,” Sarah hissed aloud, oblivious to the fact that she was
talking to herself.
‘Tell them,
or you will be punished, Sweetie!’ the
voice urged.
“But how do
I know it’s the truth?” muttered Sarah, again to herself.
‘At this
moment, it doesn’t matter. Just tell
them!’
Sarah
looked around the room. She knew the
Commander was watching. Even only being
there two weeks, Sarah knew that you were always watched in the Center.
The blonde lifted
her hand to run through her hair, but was stopped short when the restraints
pulled her arm back. She was chained to
the wall.
“All right!
All right, I’ll tell you!” Sarah shouted to no one, but soon heard the lock on
the door turning.
In sauntered
the Commander, smiling, pleased that Sarah saw things her way.
“The rebels
are hiding in the mountain range about 55 miles south of the Canadian boarder,”
Sarah said, with barely any emotion.
“The
boarder stretches many miles,” the Commander whispered as she kneeled in front
of the trembling blonde. The woman
leaned in close to the frightened woman.
“Tell me, little one.”
“North
Dakota,” Sarah squeaked.
“Mmm, very
good,” the Commander whispered into the woman’s ear, “You are on your way to
becoming very valuable to me.”
The blonde
tried to smile, tried to be pleased with herself, but the idea that she could
have given away the location of freedom fighters upset her.
“But Steele,” she continued, “She knows I’m not
all that I claim to be. She knows. I don’t know how but she knows.”
~*~
“Good morning, again, Polly,” the blonde said as
she entered the warm kitchen. She had
bumped into Polly earlier the same morning, when she had to been walking
through the hall toward the bathroom.
“Good mornin’, child,” the matronly woman smiled,
“I’m still cookin’ away. It’s a big
deal when a boy turns thirteen.” Polly
pointed to the plate on the table. “Some biscuits for you, but be sure you
leave some for Master Steele,” Polly reminded the blonde.
Sarah got several biscuits and some honey, and sat
down at the table to enjoy her breakfast.
She poured some coffee from the carafe, with another reminder to leave
some for Steele.
“Polly, I think I’d better find another place to sleep,”
the blonde said thoughtfully, picking at her food.
“Why, Sugar?” Polly asked, as she continued to
stir her cake batter.
“I don’t think Steele really wants me here,” Sarah
tried to smile, but failed.
Polly looked up from her task. “Oh, now don’t cry, Honey,” Polly put an arm
around the upset woman, “Sometimes, I don’t think Master Steele knows what she
wants.”
“She was nice to me yesterday morning, then I got
back here and she just sneered at me. It was as though she were trying to kill
me with just her stare. I don’t know, Polly,” Sarah sniffled, wiping her eyes
on her napkin. The stress from the last
week caught up to her. She just didn’t
understand the mysterious woman, and it hurt her heart to know that Steele
didn’t trust her.
“Shh, Baby, it’ll be awright, you’ll see,” Polly
crooned to Sarah, “I know you’ve had a rough week, but you’ve landed in the
right spot. We’ll take care a’ you.”
“All this emotion in the morning turns my
stomach,” Steele muttered from the doorway.
“Hush up now, Master,” Polly patted Sarah’s
shoulder once more, “Can’t you see the girl’s upset?”
Steele snorted, and Sarah sat up, composing
herself. The dark woman reach for a
biscuit and poured herself some coffee.
“There’s a meeting here in a few minutes, Polly,”
Steele stated, “Can you be outta here for about fifteen minutes?” Steele asked through a mouthful of biscuit,
staring straight at Sarah who sat quietly across from her.
Sarah just nodded, feeling tears well up in her
eyes. She was determined to not cry in
front of the icy woman. The blonde got
up, almost running out the back door, coffee and biscuits, forgotten.
“You tryin’ to run that girl off, Master?” Polly
asked, concerned, though there was no bitterness in her question. Steele often
did things with out explanation, and Polly learned to not question her Master
on such things. The very fact that the
cook asked now, showed Steele the other woman’s concern.
Steele eyed the ancient woman for a few seconds,
wondering for the millionth time why she ever allowed Polly to get so familiar
with her. Finally she answered, “I’m
not trying to run her off…I’m just trying to figure out what she’s covering
up.”
“Who? Her?
We thinkin’ of the same girl?” questioned the cook. “Why she one a’ the
most purest souls I know.”
Steele glowered at her long-time friend.
“Now don’t you get intimidating with me, young
lady,” Polly said, waving the wooden spoon at the tall woman, “I just calls ‘em
as I sees ‘em.”
Steele just shook her head trying to fight back a wry
smile. Only Polly could get by with
talking to her like that.
~*~
It was only a few minutes later when the group
that Steele had called together began to arrive in the kitchen. Lucy and Garth arrived first, followed by
Sandy and Josh who arrived at virtually the same time. Steele noticed that, but didn’t make any
commotion over it.
Polly wasn’t a member of the inner circle of
trust, but Steele didn’t have a problem with her remaining in the kitchen. She had proven herself to be faithful on
numerous occasions, and Steele didn’t have to worry about their talking about
anything she overheard.
The group spent a few minutes discussing a few
ongoing matters, and then Steele brought up the real reason for calling the
impromptu meeting.
“I got an interesting communiqué from the Center
yesterday,” she said finally.
She made sure she had everyone’s attention, then
held up the piece of paper, which held the coded message from her contact at
the Center.
“What is it, Steele?” Sandy asked finally, not
liking the feeling of dread that was sinking through her stomach. She had a feeling she knew what this was all
about, but didn’t want to think it.
Steele stood and began to pace the room, circling
the table. “It seems like there’s been
a lot of chaos at the Center lately,” she said finally. “The Commander has been up in arms, since
the escape of a young woman who was to be a lifelong resident and was worth a
great deal to her.”
There was a simultaneous release of exhalations
from around the room, and Steele noticed that each and every person seemed much
relieved by that news.
“However…” she continued, holding up the paper,
“my source tells me there’s something else going on…”
“Something else?” Garth asked, leaning forward in
his chair. “Like what, Steele?”
Steele let a wicked smile melt across her divine
features. “Like my source has reason to
believe that the Commander is just putting on an act and that the ‘escapee’ is
really a very well-trained and very convincing spy.”
~*~
Sarah didn’t really have any idea where she was
going. She just knew she had to get
away from Steele’s inconsistent and unpredictable attitude. Steele was a
hard nut to crack, and even Sarah, who usually had a great deal of patience,
was at her wits end. Sarah wasn’t
feeling at all welcome on the plantation, and Steele’s remarks showed her
feelings clearly to Sarah.
The little blonde ended up in the barn, which was
surprisingly empty. Dylan and Sandy
should have been hard at work in the building, but then Sarah remembered that
it was the boy’s birthday, and they both had the day off.
She climbed to the highest floor and tried to hide
herself behind a giant hay stack. Here
she finally let out her pent up emotion.
Sarah cried hard, mourning the loss of a somewhat normal life, the time
she spent as a prisoner of the Center, and her subsequent escape from her
captors.
She wept for all those that were still there at
the Center. She wept for the woman, no,
a girl really, who she shared a room
with. She cried for those people who
never knew and probably never would know freedom. But mostly she cried for herself, feeling that she would never
find a place she felt welcome, even in this ragtag band of misfits.
Sarah was so busy crying that she never even heard
Dylan approaching her.
“Sarah?” he asked softly, so as to not startle
her.
The blonde sniffed, and wiped her eyes with the
backs of her hands.
“Why are you cryin’ Sarah?” asked Dylan, who sat down next to the
distressed woman. Sarah just looked at
Dylan, not sure of what to say.
“It’s Steele, isn’t it?” he asked softly.
Sarah’s breath hitched, and she continued to weep,
but more softly now.
“You think she doesn’t like you, but she
does. I just don’t think she trusts you
right now,” the boy explained.
“You’re right,” Sarah answered, “But she won’t
give me the chance to make her believe me.”
“Oh, you might be surprised about what Steele
believes,” the boy answered back, and slid his arm tentatively around the
blonde.
“She thinks I’m a spy,” Sarah whispered.
“You just need to tell her the truth,” Dylan said
matter-of-factly.
Sarah eyed the boy, but didn’t respond.
“She wouldn’t send you away,” Dylan said, “Steele
hates the Center. She’d never send
anyone back there.”
Sarah wiped her head around quickly. “You know I…”
“Steele saved me from the Center a long time ago,”
the boy explained, “The doctors said I had very advanced brainwaves, and my Mom
was supposed to bring me to the Center, but instead she ran away. She found Steele, and Steele said we could
stay.”
“You’re like…”
“I’m like you were,” he said softly, a touch of
sadness in his voice.
Sarah sobbed again, knowing that he was speaking
about the voice she once heard, the mysterious force that seemed always to be
with her. “ My only hope went away… she
left me. She promised she’d never
leave…” Dylan held the woman as she
wept.
“Tell Steele how you escaped,” Dylan whispered.
“She’d never believe me.”
“She might,” he reasoned.
“No one escapes from the Center; she’s right to
think I’m a spy.” She quietly
wept. “She’ll send me back,” the woman
continued, as she tried to dry up the last of her tears.
“She won’t send you back, Sarah, I promise,” Dylan
answered, as if he had read her thoughts, “She wouldn’t ever do that to
anyone. If anyone knows about reasons
for escaping the Center, it’s Steele.”
Sarah took a long look at the boy, who was so wise
for his years. He was great at
comforting her, knowing just what to say.
However, now he looked uncomfortable, as though he had said too much.
“Ok,” she resolved, letting him off the hook for
now, “I’ll tell her. But I think that I should move out of her house. I don’t
feel very welcome there…”
Dylan smiled.
“She’ll understand, you’ll see,” he answered, and helped the blonde
descend the ladder.
~*~
“You’ve returned,” Steele stated a while later,
when Sarah reentered the kitchen.
Steele was making herself another cup of coffee.
Sarah took a deep breath, and nodded.
“Got all that emotion worked out?” Steele asked casually, almost sounding
sincere.
Again Sarah nodded, and poured herself a cup.
“Look, Steele,” Sarah began, but was immediately
cut off.
“No, you look, you little bitch…” Steele snarled, suddenly rocketing out of
her chair and getting right in Sarah’s face.
“Let’s get something absolutely clear.
The only reason you’re still here is because Sandy, Lucy and the others
seem to think you are exactly who you say you are. They took a stand for some
godforsaken reason to make sure I didn’t get rid of you.”
Sarah could only stare, shocked by the ferocious
animosity, rage, and extreme sexual charisma flowing from Steele directly into
her. Her body’s reaction to the power
and anger Steele was exuding shocked her, but she stood her ground.
“Look, I’ll be out of your hair all right?” Sarah sighed, “I’m sure someone will let me
stay with them.”
“I don’t want you out of here,” Steele replied,
even as her inner voice was arguing, “Of course you do, what are you
thinking?”.
“I can tell… when I’m not welcome, Steele,” Sarah
said, too confused about her feelings to look at the beautiful, but
dominating woman.
“I just want to know what the truth is,” Steele
said, eyeing the little blonde. Steele
was weary, tired of feeling always on guard around Sarah.
“You’d never believe me,” Sarah replied.
“Try me,” Steele said, almost sneering.
“I…” she paused, deciding that she would just
blurt it out, “I escaped from the Center.”
Steele burst out laughing. She laughed hard and long while Sarah turned
away from her. The blonde’s cheeks grew
red hot, and she once again felt tears coming up. But instead of sadness, these were ones of anger.
When Steele finally got a hold of herself she
replied, “Sure, you did.” The dark
woman wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
“Good one,” she laughed again.
“Come on, what’s the REAL truth?” Steele asked again.
“I just told you,” Sarah said, and made for the
kitchen door, intending to leave before her temper got the best of her.
“Were are you going?” the taller woman asked.
“I’m getting the few things I have, and I’m going
to find a place to stay,” Sarah explained, “Then I’ll work for a few weeks, to
earn some supplies, and I’ll go.” The blonde looked straight at the cynical woman,
and sighed, “You’ll not see me again.
I’ll go.”
“Go where?” Steele asked, still maintaining a bit
of indifference in her voice.
“Anywhere,” Sarah answered, then muttered under
her breath, “It’s not like you care.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“There’s nothing around here for a hundred miles,”
Steele said, once again sitting down at the table.
Steele looked at the blonde. It was true that Sarah was almost fully
recovered. Her feet were nearly healed,
and Steele knew that she hardly coughed anymore. The fact that the woman felt better was probably one of the
reasons she was being so feisty today.
And Steele had the feeling that Sarah had just enough stubbornness to
make good on her threats.
“I don’t want you to leave,” Steele finally
managed to say, “I just want the truth.
I want to know where you came from, and where you were going in such a
hurry.”
Sarah sighed yet again. “I told you. I escaped from the Center,” she paused here,
remembering Dylan’s words, “I’m looking for the Furies.”
“The Furies?” Steele choked on her coffee.
“Yeah, word has it that they are a band of freedom
fighters, willing to fight for those who can’t help themselves,” Sarah
explained.
“I know who they are,” Steele said, annoyance in
her voice again.
Sarah looked at Steele one more time. “I’ll just go now.”
“I put some clothes for the party on your bed,”
Steele said, “You can have them if you want.”
Sarah looked at the perplexing woman. One moment she was making scathing remarks,
the next, she was almost nice. Sarah
knew that Steele was sincere, but the kindness confused her even more.
~*~
It was the perfect kind of weather the night of
Dylan’s party. A harvest moon, mild
temperatures, and clear skies helped light up the group of people gathered
round the campfire. Dylan had opened
all his gifts, and had been a gracious little lad as he accepted the various
items he received. Most of them were
handmade as the people of the plantation had little money of their own, but
Dylan was always tinkering around on machines, and he would put the various
homemade tools he’d been given to good use.
Steele had taken him around the back of the barn
to see her gift to him. He had been
thrilled and amazed to find a small gasoline burning engine, and a full can of
fuel nearby. Petroleum was unheard of
around those times, but Steele promised Dylan that she would be able to supply
more when he had used up the amount in the can.
Genuinely surprised by Steele’s generosity, Dylan
had thrown his arms around the tall woman’s waist, thanking her over and over
again for her gift. Steele allowed the
boy to express his gratitude for a moment, ruffling the boy’s hair
affectionately, then finally pulled away.
She engaged him in a lively conversation about what he would attach the engine
to, as they made their way back to the party.
Sarah had been racking her brain trying to think
up a gift for Dylan, the young man who had been the most encouraging to her of
all. She had no money, she had no
belongings, and she had nothing. Dylan
gave her a hint that afternoon when he had seen her using an old stick to
pummel a bale of hay senseless. Sarah
had possessed an extraordinary skill for staff-handling ever since she could
remember. She wasn’t allowed any such
weapons at the Center, of course, but now that she was free, she wanted to
loosen up her muscles.
Dylan was excited about Sarah’s offer to teach him
to staff fight, and gave Sarah the same response he had given Steele. Steele couldn’t help watch as Sarah returned
the hug, not looking uncomfortable at all by the boy’s affection.
~*~
The party continued long into the night. There weren’t very many occasions to
celebrate on the plantation, so the people took advantage of the opportunity
while they could. Dylan was tucked under
Sandy’s arm, but was nodding off fast, as the dancing began. He should have been in bed hours ago, but
had argued with his mother that a thirteen year old “man” should be able to
stay up as late as the others.
One of the village’s residents approached her, a
little bit hesitantly. The shorter
brunette smiled at Sarah, sticking out her hand.
“Hi,” she said somewhat cheerfully, “I’m Onyx,
this is my roommate Tonya.” Onyx turned
to introduce the other woman, only to find the space empty. She turned completely around but Tonya
wasn’t there.
“Oh, uh, well she was here,” Onyx said, somewhat
embarrassed.
Sarah smiled somewhat distractedly, patting the
space beside her. “It’s ok, it
happens.” And the two women made small
talk well into the night.
Sarah sat on the far side of the campfire,
watching some of the dancing, but mainly watching Steele out of the corner of
her eye.
The tall beauty was sitting on a log by the fire,
and certainly wasn’t suffering from lack of attention. Sarah watched as several different people
approached her, including Josh and a couple of other almost as handsome young
men. Sarah wondered if they were asking
Steele to dance, for she saw the dark woman shake her head several times.
After a while though, Sarah realized they were
inviting Steele to do more than dance.
She saw more than one of the men and women reach down and touch Steele’s
face, and a couple of the braver ones even touched Steels’ breasts. In a couple of instances, she saw Steele
returning the touches, in a very provocative manner. Sarah averted her eyes each time, but more than once caught the
mocking looks Steele shot her. It
infuriated her, but she tried to not let it show.
Sarah begged off the offers she had to dance,
making a myriad of excuses. She found
herself floating off into a dream state, leaning back against a tree trunk and
watching Steele flirt with just about everyone but her. The woman had such a natural grace and
erotic quality, even when she was in her most foul-tempered mood, which Sarah
seemed to see the most, and it made the little blonde find her thoughts
wandering to touching Steele even now, at this most inappropriate time.
Like now.
Sarah was seriously considering leaving the party and responding to the
messages her body was sending her. As
much as she hated to leave the music and the food, the constant sight of Steele
flaunting herself was too much, and Sarah stood to make her escape.
She gave a little wave to Sandy, who nodded and
waved back. Turning on her heel, Sarah
suddenly found herself flying backwards to land on her ass a few feet from the
fire. Both sets of her cheeks burned as
she heard the people around her burst out into a laugh.
She looked up to see who had knocked her over, and
Tina stood, hands on her hips, smiling sweetly at Steele. Sarah noted out of the corner of her eye
that Steele had a look of amusement on
her face. “What was that?” she asked
Tina, good—naturedly.
“Didn’t see her there,” the confident blonde
replied to Steele. “She’s so tiny and
all…”
Steele laughed and then turned back to tasting the
tonsils of some guy Sarah had never seen before. Embarrassed and enraged by the overflow of unfamiliar emotions,
Sarah stood back up and glared angrily at Tina.
“Listen you dirty whore,” Sarah hissed, in a voice
so low no one else would be able to hear her.
“I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, but you had better stay out
of my way. I’m getting sick and tired
of your catty little remarks and little tricks to try to get Steele to notice
you.”
Tina smiled a tight-lipped smile. She leaned in and repeated in a voice at the
same level. “Steele has already noticed
me, My Dear,” she replied. “She’s
noticed me, and has fucked me more times than I can count.” Her smile widened when she saw Sarah’s eye
blaze at that comment. “So you’d better
just get any ideas you have about her fucking you out of your empty little
mind…” She reached forward and grabbed Sarah’s chin with her hand, “Cause
Steele’s mine…”
Something inside Sarah snapped…it was the weight
of all she had been carrying the last few days…the threats…Steele’s
resentment…the fear..”I…” She hauled off and caught Tina’s right temple with a
fist, “don’t…” This time it was a left
jab. “want…” Another shot from the left
hand and something gave in Tina’s nose. Blood spurt out everywhere. “Steele!”
Sarah finished the statement with a left hook that left Tina reeling.
“Goddammit, that’s enough!” Sarah didn’t even realize Steele had
approached, until she felt strong fingers digging into her neck and wrenching
her back. Steele stood there looking
shocked and irritated, shooting knives at Sarah with her fiery blue eyes.
She threw Sarah back a few steps, and then turned
to huddle with Tina, who was bent over trying to contain the blood that was
flowing out of her nose and mouth.
“What the fuck was that all about?” Steele growled at Sarah.
“She started it!” Sarah barked in return. “She’s been doing nothing but trying to
cause trouble for me ever since I got here.”
She was relieved to see some of the others around her nod their
agreement.
Steele didn’t look convinced. She released Sarah though, and took Tina’s
head gently in her hands. “Lemme look
at that, “ she said softly, beginning to examine the damage Sarah had done.
“She started it!” Sarah yelled again. “Aren’t you going to do something about
that?”
“Yes, I am,” Steele replied through clenched
teeth. “I’m going to find out whether
or not you broke this beautiful girl’s nose.
She may have started it, but I’d say you finished it, at least for now.”
Sarah absently rubbed a cut knuckle into the palm
of the opposite hand, while she watched Steele tenderly look at Tina’s face.
She was actually crooning to the other woman, offering whispered words of comfort. She continued to glare at Sarah from time to
time, and the longer Sarah stood there, the more disgusted she became with the
whole situation. Finally, she gave a
final “harrumph”, turned on her heel, and took off in the direction of the
woods.
Steele barely indicated she saw her go, but she
was very well aware of the very second Sarah left the party.
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