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"Yes, Magda got the energy but not enough! She's stuck in stasis, and she won't get out unless she kills another! Which will mean someone here, in this house!"
The strange female voice spoke then; it was even softer than themale's. Igescu said, "Childe would do it! I had other plans for him, but Ican give themup! We have to find Magda first and get her to Childe! Otherwise...!"
"Dolores?" Mrs. Pocyotl said.
Childe could almost see the baron's shrug. The baron said, "Whoknows? She's X! A dangerous X! If she can do that to Magda, she can do that to anyof us. But I doubt that she could attack more than one of us at a time and I think she'd have to surprise us, just as she must have surprised Magda! So, we'dbetter hangtogether, as...
A shout interrupted him. Footsteps sounded. The group was goingaround the corner and down the stairs to the cause of commotion. More shouts. He swung thedoor wider and peeped down the hall. The only one there was BendingGrass, wholeaned his stocky form against the wall and cocked his head to lookdown the stairway. Then somebody called his name and he disappeared.
Childe ran down the hallway to the only door opened. This was bythe head of the steps, and the group had been assembled outside it. He stuck hishead in. The room was strange, looked more like a movie director's idea of aTurkish harem than anything else. There were rugs and drapes and cushions andottomans and even a hookah and a dresser so low that Magda must have had tosit cross-legged while she looked in the mirror. There was a marble-linedbath sunk level with the floor. It was almost large enough to qualify as asmall swimmingpool. Beyond it was a low marble enclosure which presumably hadserved Magda asa bed, since it was piled with cushions and pillows and canopied withmany silkveils.
Glam's black soft-leather boots stuck out over the enclosure. Childe walked swiftly in, past the bath, which was full of cold water, and lookedover the marble railing. Glam had died with his boots on. Also, his pants. Hehad stripped off his shirt and undershirt and pulled his pants downaround his knees, but he had been too eager to bother taking all of his clothesoff.
There was blood on his pants and much blood on his body. Bloodhad spurtedout from his ears, nostrils, eyes, mouth, anus, and penis. Somethinghad violently squeezed him. The ribs were caved in; the arms wereflattened; the hipbones had been pushed inward toward each other. Not only blood hadbeen expelledfrom every aperture. The contents of the bowels and about six feet ofthe bowels themselves had been pressed out of his anus.
Near the bed, a section of wall stood open. Whether Magda hadtaken this or Igescu had opened it to see if she had taken it, Childe could notknow. But he could not linger long here; his route of escape was suddenly nolonger a matterof choice. Voices a
Before he had taken a dozen steps, he was seized. He groaned witha despairing ecstasy and braced himself with both hands against thewalls while he spouted and shook. Afterward, he cursed, but he could do nothingabout his condition. He walked on. His penis still stuck straight out andslightly at anupward angle, like the bowsprit of a ship. The cone was workingwithin him. God knew how long its effect lasted, how long it would take to meltentirely away.
Almost, he decided to hide in the passageway near, the still openpanel andeavesdrop. But every second he was in this house meant recapture anddeath, andhe was frightened because of what had happened to Glam and of whatthe others had said about Magda. Frightened was not strong enough. He was closeto panic. And this was strange, because the terror should have taken from himany sexualstimulation whatsoever. Under these circumstances, he should havebeen unable to retain an erection.
But there it was, independent of his other feelings, as if aswitch had been thrown to place his genitals on a separate circuit. The cone, whatever it was, must not only be the prime mover of his state, it must also be theprime feeder. It had to be furnishing the energy to keep manufacturing all thisspermaticfluid at such an extraordinary rate of speed. Generally, whenunusuallystimulated, when first in love, or sometimes when the marijuana hithim justright, he could have three or four orgasms within several hours. But, usually, one or two in an hour, and he was done for four or five hours. He hadsometimes twitted himself with being the most undersexed private eye inhistory, without, of course, really believing his self-deprecation. But now, he seemedto be a fountain with a never-ending reservoir. And, of course, he would beso in a situation where it was the last thing he wanted.
Thus, when he thought he was far enough away from the paneling, he turned on the flashlight. And he saw the white figure of Dolores coming towardhim. Her arms were open and she was smiling. Her eyes were half-lidded but bright, andtwo patches of wetness shone on her thighs. It seemed to be hismisfortune to encounter over lubricating women. However, after a century and a halfof enforced abstinence, she could not be blamed.
She barred his way. She was solid flesh enough, no man knew thatbetter than he, yet he hesitated to attack her. The fate of Magda was warningenough. Moreover, there was the chance that if he did what she wanted, hemight work offthe effect of the cone. It was just possible. And he thought that heprobablyhad no choice, anyway. So he put down his purse, turned off theflashlight, anddropped his pants. She pulled him down on her and he put his penis inswiftlyand began to thrust without preliminaries of any kind. He had hopedthat he would come at once, but even though he now had her soft wet flesharound his penis, and though the pleasure was somewhat heightened, he was unableto disengage himself from the automatic effects of the cone.
At length he came and then, when; he tried to pull himself away, he found himself unable to. Her arms looked feminine and soft enough and feltso, but shehad the strength of a python in each.
Thinking of pythons made him think of Magda, and he became evenmore alarmed. If she came upon them now, she would have himhelpless...thosecoils...Glam...He shuddered even as he began to pump again. His skinhad turned cold and his hairs felt as if they were bristling in the static ofterror. His anus was a dot of ice, a bull's eye for Magda if she crawled upbehind him and raised her head to unloose a hammer stroke.
He groaned and muttered, "I must be out of my mind, I'm reallybelievingthat crap!" and then he groaned again, this time because he wascoming oncemore.
It was no use. Lying with Dolores was not canceling or evendiminishing theeffects of the cone. And he was certainly not stupid enough to bangaway at herfor the sheer pleasure of it while his life was in danger. Especiallysince he had had enough of this "pleasure" to last him for a long time.
He tried to break loose. Her arms did not tighten, but they alsodid not relax. He was not going to get out until he had satisfied her or wasunable to keep an erection, and she was not going to be satisfied for a longtime and he did not know how long he would last, but he suspected that it wouldbe for hours and hours.
Remembering what he had done to Mrs. Grasatchow during the fight, he bit down upon Dolores' nipple. His bite did not take the nipple off, butit was painful enough to cause her to open her arms and to scream. He wasout of her embrace and had jumped away to where she could not reach him, pulledup hispants, stooped to pick up the flashlight and purse, and was ru
The noise, of course, would be heard in Magda's room if thepaneling werestill open, and they would be investigating. His flashlight beambounced up anddown and then went off into darkness at a corner. He stopped andprobed around. Apparently, he was at a dead end, but he did not believe it. Shoutsbehind him sent him into a frenzy of tapping and poking against the wall toactivate whatever mechanism moved this section. He felt somebody brush hisshoulder, somebody spoke in Spanish, and a white arm reached past him andtouched a cornice. Another arm pushed in on another cornice. The blank wallbecame a blank darkness in which the thin beam was lost. A hand pushed him onthrough--heseemed to be paralyzed for a few seconds--and then he turned just intime to see the section swing back into place. Beyond, the beam from a largeflashlightflicked into existence.