My Beloved Enemy

Book One: A Time to Live and a Time to Die

Chapter Two

The Deal

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Lora frowned- though she was still somewhat locked in slumber, she'd revived rather groggy and uncomfortably warm. She tried to shift her weight a little but something kept her from doing so. Being groggy as she was, the peace and blackness of sleep calling her back to its wake, she didn't pay it much mind.

Such a strange dream, she thought to herself, it blending into the hum of other thoughts and memories it all becoming one mass blur. It had been a strange dream, a nightmare really. She'd been cold as ice, if not more so, the entire dream, not to mention frightened and rather alone. Now that she thought about it, it had been quite possibly the worst dream she'd ever had. Something against her moved, slowly dragging her to consciousness.

Two brown eyes fluttered open, her brow scrunching together as she tried to force her mind to work properly. Her thoughts reeled because, as her vision cleared she grew more perplexed and confused with her surroundings. Her eyes padded across the deep emerald evergreen, moving around the makeshift den and snatching a glimpse of the blinding white snow laying outside the foyer. It moved again, whatever had drug her from the serenity of sleep, it shifted again, something wrapping tighter around her waist. Lora turned, her nose brushing against a very large rusty iron cage.

"Shit!" she hissed and made a mad dash to sit up, her head colliding with the dirt ceiling, "Ow!" The creature just smirked and let out a small chuckle, but did not open its eyes, nor loosen its grasp. Perhaps it was cruel of her to think of him as a creature rather than a man, which he was, but she could not help herself. A knotted black mess of hair mingled in with the rusted iron cage around his face, scars and cuts down his cheeks, his teeth sharp and yellow like canine fangs. He certainly didn't look human. She pushed back some but he kept hold, her eyes narrowed angrily and she heaved a sigh. "Let go," her voice was thick and stern but he didn't move, nor did he speak – just lay there as if he slept. "Oh don't pull that bullshit," she jeered, "I know you're awake. Let go."

"Why would I do something stupid like that?" hilarity shown clearly on his face and he laughed again. He opened an eye to look at her, it was apparent she wasn't as amused as he was. He'd just have to change that now, wouldn't he?

"Let me go or I'll-" in one quick motion he pulled her directly on top of him so that she was forced down upon him by the roof of the den. He snickered and stretched a bit, her voice muffled against his neck. She was not pleased with the situation but he found this funny. She was a rather annoying girl- prissy, faultless, and apparently forgetful when it came to thanking those for rescuing her. That's what annoyed him, that and the face she considered him beneath her. He'd change that too, in a moment. He'd get her riled up first.

Seeing that screaming wasn't going to get her anywhere, Lora made an attempt to calm herself. Taking a few deep breathes she turned her head so that he may at least understand what she was saying. He laughed again, her hands loosening there grip from his jacket and her body becoming less tense.

"Would you please," her teeth were clenched, "get me off of you and let go." He grinned brashly and it broadened slightly as he arched his body upward, forcing her against him even more, every part of her stiffening and her face turning red in both anger and embarrassment.

"Oh," he lowered himself again, "now you want to be polite, hum? Right when I have you where I want you, you decide you'd like to form some manors?" She was NOT happy with where she was at. She was pressed up against places that she didn't even want to THINK about this creature having, let alone her pelvic bone being pushed against it. Grimacing she heaved a sigh.

"I'm sorry," she started but he cut her off, pushing her off of him.

"No you're not," he scoffed a laugh, his eyes becoming angry, "you just say that because you think it's what I want to hear and I'll leave you be." She realized then that this… creature she was dealing with was very temperamental. He was easily angered, and was obviously ruled by his… lower half. She didn't seem overly afraid, weary maybe but not scared. She looked as if she was trying to figure him out, like she was trying to read him. "What are you gawking at?" he hissed.

"You don't like that on, do you?" her voice was barely above a whisper. He frowned, not understanding at first but she gingerly brushed her fingers across the cage.

"Why?" he eyed her dangerously.

"I could take it off if you want," she nodded slowly, "I'm sure you-"

"Be quiet," he hushed her, the pupils of his eyes widening, engulfing a great portion of his yellow eyes. She fell quiet and looked back at the entrance of the den, and soon heard the crunch of snow underfoot. She looked back at him in awe, amazed that he could have such excellent hearing. He put a finger to his lips, almost seductively, but then again, most of his motions were- perhaps he didn't even realize it anymore. Two black eyes peered in through the entrance and Lora scrambled back away from it. She screamed as she was yanked backwards and reached out to grab anything in her wake. Which happened to be Ryan's cage. "Fuck!" he hissed, the back of the cage banging him in the back of the head. "Let go!"

"No!" she yowled, while the massive ghost tried to cart her body from the burrow. His claws dug into the sides of the den, him pulling back when he could and his eyes burning holes into her own.

"Damnit bitch, let go!" he growled but she closed her eyes and kept her grasp firmly on the bars, though he could see even now that they were cutting into her flesh.

"He'll kill me!" she insisted and the creature snapped at her heels.

"You're already dead!" he growled at her, "now let go of me!"

"Do that thing you did the last time," she whined, her eyes brimming with tears as they were slowly dragged forward.

"Yeah," he laughed, "that'd do a lot of good. I'd just faze him too. He's touching you." He clawed his way back, one of his nails breaking completely off and blood seeping from the wound. "Great."

"Help me," her hands loosened there grip on the cage and her eyes became panicked. He'd seen many horrified eyes in his time, all of them because of him- but never had someone been pleading for his help, that he was the one to relieve that terror. The pain shooting up his claws now forgotten he grimaced and he dug his nails firmer into the surrounding soil.

"Grab hold of my neck," a low growl emitted from his throat. When she hesitated he snarled at her to hurry up and she quickly obeyed. As her arms wrapped firmly around his neck and her body tried to enfold itself around him as well as possible, he found a small sense of irony. Moments before she was trying to scramble away from him, and now she was fighting to stay attached. Damn fickle women. The creature pulled again, drawing them closer to the entrance. Ryan let go of the side of the walls and slashed violently at the attacking creature, his remaining claws digging into soft flesh, blood splattered and the creature howled in fury and let go its grasp.

Quickly, Jackal hauled himself and the girl to the very back of the den. She buried her face in his chest as the creature looked menacingly back into the hole. It snarled and gnashed its teeth, Ryan just looked at it blankly, it was nothing but a scare tactic. Fear did something to people, makes them think funny, makes them disoriented. It paced outside of the den for a while, Lora whimpered.

"Hush," he calmed her some, "he can't get in here." It wasn't that he didn't like her scared, he lived on fear, it was something he enjoyed, but she was just so damn pathetic. She gripped hold of his jacket like she wanted to crawl into his very being and hide there. Though he'd admit, some huge creature that HE couldn't even beat, wanting to take you back to a dingy circus ground so people could pay good money to see you get raped by some demonic looking clown was slightly unnerving. Hell, he figured that if given the choice between that and himself taking her to some remote location and fucking her there, and then letting her go, he'd take himself over the demon clown any day.

"Thank you," she whispered, her body shaking yet. He nodded and then inspected his nail.

"Fuck," he grumbled softly and she looked from him to the now absent nail.

"Lemme see that," she took hold of his hand and brought it closer to her face. The pain immediately stopped and slowly a small black nail started to emerge from the fold of his skin. He flinched and pulled back, as did she. "How'd you do that?"

"I didn't," he blinked, "you did."

"Me?" she shook her head, "I don't know how to… I don't even know what the hell that was!" He looked at the half grown nail and held his hand out to her again.

"Do it again," he eyed her.

"I don't-" she started but he growled at her. "Okay… sheesh." Taking hold of his hand it started to grow again until it was as long as the rest.

"You healed me," he muttered dryly.

"Now if only I could heal myself," she looked down at her own torn hands. Blood gushed through the lashes and Ryan watched as slowly the cuts fused together, leaving only blood on her hands. "Well then…" she wiped her hands on her jeans and looked up.

"We need a place to stay," he nodded slowly, "we can't just hide in here. He'll eventually figure out a way to get in." He paused and cocked an eyebrow. "If I faze again are you going to pass out?"

"I hope not," she grumbled. He took hold of her and they both vanished.

Lora stayed rather close as other ghosts drifted by. Ryan walked on, both glad she didn't pass out yet still hoping she'd had.

"OoO," a young blond haired woman giggled, "you got a new toy Ryan?" There was a large hole in her throat, as if it'd been torn out and Lora looked away. He didn't answer, only smirked and walked on. Lora turned around, starting to walk in the opposite direction but he grabbed her arm and kept forward. She grumbled under her breath but knew better than to run from him, it wouldn't do her any good and she'd come to terms with it. They entered into a small ragged house and he strode into the living area, practically tossing her onto the couch.

"Nobody touches her," he growled, "or I'll rip there throat out." With that he managed to crawl into the back bedroom and curl up in a bed. Lora tried to keep her eyes to the floor but was getting an array of unnerving smiles.

"Aw," the blond girl fazed in, "leave her alone you're scaring her." She sat on the couch and stroked Lora's hair. "What's yer name doll?"

"Lora," she said softly.

"I'm Kat," she gave a wink. One of the men sitting across the way (who looked as if he'd been hung) smirked at her and she paled (if that's even possible). "Oh don't worry you're pretty little head," she smiled, "you're under the protection of the Jackal."

"The what?" she blinked.

"The Jackal," she giggled only to receive another blank look. "Ryan silly."

"I-is that his name?" she asked.

"Well gosh," Kat laughed, "you're sure confused, ain't ya? Yeah, that fella you came in 'ere with, that's Ryan."

"The jackal…?" she nodded slowly.

"Uh huh," she humored her, "that's kinda like… a nickname."

"Has he fucked 'er yet?" the male crackled and the others howled with laughter.

"Cool your jets Ron!" she hissed and turned back to Lora with a smile. "That's Ron, he's a little…blunt."

"Is that why he saved me?" she whispered, "so he could…?"

"Save you?" Kat's smile widened, "I never heard of him going THAT far to screw someone, but yeah dolly, that's prolly why." Lora could see the muscles in Kat's throat move as she swallowed and she shivered. "You haven't been dead long, have you?"

"I…" he paused, "I'm not…" A hysterical laughter emanated from the rotting men sitting together across the room.

"Shut up!" she snapped at them but giggled some herself. "Dear," she sighed, "you're really confused, aren't you?" She didn't get an answer, only Lora walking out of the house and out into the snow.

Moments later Ryan stormed out of the house, following the scent of the young girl who'd managed to run away. Perhaps Kat shouldn't have woken him and explained that his current interest had walked out the front door.

"Damn her," he growled, "I swear when I get a hold of he I'm going to but some marks on her that she won't be able to heal!" He snarled again, inwardly promising himself to fuck her until she begged for forgiveness, to keep thrusting until she swore to do everything he asked. He smirked, anger forgotten for the time, what a fun idea. Looking up he found that she was standing right before him. He blinked. "Don't run and I won't-" she bolted. "Nevermind…" It wasn't a long chase really, she got a yard or two and he'd managed to tackle her, her body collapsing into the snow.

He turned her onto her back, her buttocks resting over his legs, and he took a firm hold of her by the neck. Taking one of the leather straps from his straightjacket he whipped it hard across her backside and she yowled. Roughly she tried to fight him off but he whipped her six more times before she managed to pull from his grasp, only to have him flip her over onto her front. She had tears down her face from the sting, but lord knows the kid needed a good whipping, probably never got one in her life.

"You're not my father," she growled.

"And you're a brat!" he hissed, "someone has to teach you, now don't they?"

"You have no right!" she raised her hand to slap him but he took a firm grip on it.

"I have plenty of right," his voice was harsh and low, "and the only reason I don't fuck your brains out right now is because I'm tired. I want to sleep, but I have to track your happy ass down because you think it'd be fun to runaway."

"That's not why!" she pulled back, "I was scared."

"You're under my protection," he hissed.

"Not from you I'm not!" her words echoed loudly and they both fell into a silence. "I have to get home," she whispered, "I can't stay here I've got to get home…"

"You're dead," he shook his head, "why can't you understand that? Are you dense!"

"I'm not dead," she insisted and he sighed.

"I tell you what," his eyes softened some, "I'll get you back to you're home, and if you are indeed alive I'll leave you alone. If not, from then on, you belong to me and I do whatever I wish with you." Seeming convinced that she was indeed alive she nodded.

"But you can't hurt me until I have proof either way," she eyed him.

"I won't rape you," he nodded.

"Good," she smiled. He smiled too, only he was smiling because, there was other things he could do to her without it being considered rape. No matter, soon enough she'd be his to do what he liked with, and there'd be no screaming or her running away. She'd take him in openly, whether she liked it or not.

Author's note: Was it okay? I hope so. I'm glad that you guys like it so much so far! Now, I know you might be all confused and I'll explain a bit now (and there'll be an explanation in later chapters). Lora heals because her mom owns a pharmacy and she used to work there, and in my story ghosts take on certain attributes from when they were alive (such as, Ryan has claws and animal-like senses, hence, the Jackal).

Lora is kinda a bitch at first. She's kinda prissy and mean to everyone at first (not to mention confused) which holds a lot of tension between her and Ryan.

Why Ryan isn't fucking her brains out. In this story you'll see Ryan is tired of people screaming and crying when he rapes them, he wants someone to take him because they want him (or at the moment, make them pretend like they'll take him like they want him) which is his motivation for the first book. Book Two is going to involve Lora's killer and her home life, along with coping with being Ryan's. –giggles- Anyways, please review!

DeadlyMizzTrashy- No begging required my dear, I shall update just because you are gracious enough to give me such a wonderful review.