Chapter 38: Love Divided

That night, a weather front came through and a headache firmly planted itself into Sonja's head. After a few hours of listlessly staring at the television, Sonja headed up to her mother's bedroom and tried to go to sleep.

After an hour of twisting and turning, she realized she couldn't sleep without the familiar presence of her lover. She grabbed the thickest blanket and headed downstairs, her bare feet going from the carpeted stairs to the comforting icy wood of the basement.

Slipping into her bed, she sank into the icy sheets and pulled the blanket tight to her chest. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scents of Meris and sex. She smiled and snuggled against the pillows and closed her eyes.

Sleep refused to come.

She tossed and turned, but her eyes only ached more and her head throbbed. A brief attempt at masturbating didn't help. A brief visit upstairs got her a couple pain killers but, even thirty minute later, it did nothing for her headache or her discomfort.

Disgusted with herself and aching for Meris' arms, she continued to roll over.

The phone rang out and she cracked open her dry eyes to peer at the clock. It took a moment for her eyes to focus on the hour, one in the morning.

The ringing continued to assault her ears. She groaned and levered herself out of her bed, mumbling under her breath as she forced herself to plant her feet on the ground and stagger out of her room.

By the time she made it upstairs, the ancient answering machine in her mother's office picked up the line. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and strained to listen to the message; her heart beat faster hoping it was Meris.

“Sonja? This is Rick, Meris' father. Have you seen her? I've---”

Suddenly awake, Sonja sprinted up the stairs and snatched up the phone. "Rick! Rick?"

"Sonja." He sounded tired and frustrated. "Have you seen Meris?"

The remains of the sleep that almost caught her burned away in a second. Outside, a thunderclap rocked through the house.

“Uh, no. Why?”

“We had a fight and she was upset. I started to... I thought she went to bed, but when I checked on her, the window was open and she was missing. The cops haven't seen her and you are her only friend. Is she over there?”

Sonja began to worry, “No, I haven't seen her since she headed home earlier today.”

“Good.” Sonja felt a tiny brush of annoyance but didn't say anything.

Rick grumbled for a moment. “Listen, if she does come over, please send her home. I,” he hesitated for a moment, “know she likes to stay over, but not tonight, okay? This is important, very important.”

The prick of something wrong rose up, but she lied to him anyways. "Of course I will."

Rick sounded like he barely trusted her, but there was a strained tone to his voice. She promised to send Meris home and he finally hung up.

Outside, the thunder roared again, then rain came crashing down on the house. Hard slamming pellets of water ricocheted off the room, a drumbeat that quickly turned into an endless resonance against her aching head.

Sonja worried her lip and returned down the stairs. She stopped in the kitchen and looked at the gaping door. The pitch darkness inside was both comforting and terrifying. She knew there was something down there waiting for her, something besides her last victim.

She padded down the stairs, turning on the lights as she went. Her bare feet felt the splinters on the steps, a familiar feeling after so many times going up and down the stairs. She continued down the hall and into the back room. She found the switched and flipped on the lights.

In the corner, shivering from the cool air, Betty hung from the wall.

Sonja padded over, looking her nemesis over from head to toe.

The blonde's body still had the grace and power from before, but something had changed. There was a dullness in her eyes, the same look that Theodora had before the end.

When the red-rimmed eyes peered back at her, Sonja cocked her head slightly. “You look like hell.”

Betty glared at her, a bit of the fire returning. The muscles in her stomach and leg tensed up and Sonja could tell that she was preparing to kick.

With a grin, Sonja stepped forward and pressed her crotch against Betty's knee, pinning it down as she rested her breast against Betty's. She whispered to her, her voice hoarse after too many hours awake. "Don't fight, Betty. You've made things already bad for you, fighting now is just going to prolong this."

Betty's eyes didn't lose its fire, but the tension between Sonja's legs relaxed.

Sonja pressed her palm against Betty's stomach, feeling the cool flesh underneath. She trailed her fingers along Betty's perfect, firm skin, enjoying every curve from the cheerleader's hips to her stomach and then up to the breasts and her arms. Without a word, she reached up and undid the gag. She twisted it slightly and pulled it out of her perfect lips.

Betty groaned as Sonja worked it out, then licked her dry lips.

Sonja looked up at her with a serious expression. “Now, I'm going to leave this out of your pretty little mouth, as long as you promise to keep silent.”

Betty shook her head before speaking in a broken voice. “I won't promise that.”

Sonja gave her a tiny little smile, “Then I'll put it back in after we are done.”

Betty glared at her, “What do we have to talk about? It's not like you'll ever let us---” the blonde paused for a moment, choking on her word, “let me go.”

Sadly, Sonja shook her head. “I'm sorry, at this point, that would put me in prison for the rest of my life. Wouldn't it? You've already said that and I believed you.”

Betty glared at her.

“More importantly, Meris would also be there and I couldn't live with that. I told you before," Sonja pressed her knuckles against Betty's throat, "I won't let anyone hurt her."

Betty frowned, tears forming in her eyes.

Sonja reached up to brush the tears from her face almost tenderly. “I couldn't ever live with someone hurting my Meris.”

Her prisoner's frown deepened, “Is that really what all this is for? Because of Meris? You were that serious about that?”

Sonja nodded, “Yes, I love her so much.”

“How can she be worth that much?”

“What? Your life? You've been such a bitch, I don't consider it that much of a price.” Sonja smiled. She could feel Betty's breath against her lips when she spoke.

Betty licked her lips again. “What are you going to do to me?”

“I don't know. I guess it's up to Meris.”

“But, you seem to be the one making all the decisions.”

Sonja pondered for a moment.

Betty watched her, eyes searching while they spoke. Their bodies molded against each other, soft breasts lined up and their hips ground together. It felt good but it wasn't Meris.

“You are going to die, you know," Sonja said.

Betty nodded, a weakness trembling through her body. “Yes.”

“Are you going to fight it?”

“Will it help? I've seen enough spit muffins to know how this ends. Struggling makes everything words and you plan on making me suffer, don't you?”

“Yes, it will hurt.”

“Why?”