June lost control and kicked out as she struggled to free her captured arm. He twisted her arm behind her and she fought him with all her strength. She kicked and pushed and somehow they ended up on the floor with Dmitri straddling her as she lay on her back with her arms crossed over her chest and held down by his hands. Her chest was heaving from the struggle as Dmitri sat there calm as the breeze.

"Unhand me, you lout!" she screamed, as she tried to get her breath back.

"Calm yourself, woman!" he said forcefully. June stayed still for a few moments as her captor made no move to release her.

"Okay, all I want is my phone!" she pleaded to the monster holding her down.

"I will release you only if you promise to behave yourself." He responded calmly.

Did he think she was a petulant five year old, who needed to be corrected? June wanted to explode but one look at Dmitri's face prevented her from doing so, so she held her tongue in check and said meekly,

"I promise as long as I get my phone." He got off her and stretched out his hand to help her get off the floor. She scrambled to her feet totally ignoring his hand.

He walked down the stairs and she followed him silently wishing she could give him a swift kick in the derriere and see him rolling down the stairs; the thought brought a smile to her lips as she descended after him. If only she wondered, she did not know what happened to her but her foot was raised and she just kicked him then and there. Dmitri stumbled forward but regained his balance quickly as he clutched to the banister. June was smiling wickedly, he so deserved that a pity though he was not flat on his face. Her captor turned around with eyes full of fire. June straightened her shoulders and just brushed past him saying,

'You know you deserved that!' as she sprinted down the remaining stairs.

She spotted her phone on the sofa next to where he had probably been seated until she had called him upstairs. The television was showing the weather report so she attuned her ears. The weather man stated that the storm would soon be over and advised that only a few scattered showers were possible tomorrow. 

'Great,' she said turning around to see Dmitri casually leaning on the banister.

'I will be out of your hair tomorrow, sleep well!' she sang sweetly as she swept past him and bounded up the stairs.

She liked having the last word and the fact that he did not follow her showed that he had relaxed enough to accept her presence. She bolted her door and sat Indian style on the bed to call Jay.

'Hello,' he answered groggily.

'Jay, are you asleep it's barely 10 pm?' she inquired

'Just tired,.....June? Where are you? I have been waiting all afternoon?' he demanded

'My wonderful Jay, I am stuck in Spakane and from the look of the weather; I will not be coming out until late tomorrow morning.' There was complete silence on the other side of the call.

'Jay, Jay you there?' she asked worriedly.

'June, the meeting is at 9 am tomorrow, you have to be here!' his voice was high pitched and he seemed to be shouting.

'It seems I won't be so you will need to start of the proceedings I—'

Jay cut her off rushing in to add, 'No, no, June I can't do this on my ownthis is your baby!'

'Breathe a minute Jay, you can, in fact you have to, we have no other choice, I am stuck here.'

 She could hear the panic in her assistant's voice as he rumbled on decrying their present situation and his impending 'promotion'. He was a good worker but in the seven months that they had worked together, he had never led a meeting of such a magnitude but he had the ability. He was timid but very forceful in a small group. If she had not seen his potential she would have had him relocated to another department months ago. Now, he had to shine and she would be screwed if he failed.

'Come on Jay, you can do this.....' her voice trailed off as he sighed for the umpteenth time.

'Oh no June, I need you here, can I send a helicopter, a private jet? Please don't do this to me now I am not prepared!' he was hyperventilating.

'Be a man Jay!' she spoke strongly as she got off the bed and walked to the window, it was still pouring outside, and she hoped the weather man would be correct for her sake and her job.

'If I believed that you could not do this then I would have told you to cancel; now you listen and listen well.'

'But June, I can't do this, it's your presentation, oh no!' she heard a plopping sound and figured that he had rather ungracefully flopped onto the bed.

'Now listen, you have the presentation notes right?'

'Yes' came the soft reply

'Plus we went through the presentation yesterday and there no glitches right?'

 'I need a drink!' Jay finally said defeatingly.

'No Jay you have to be level headed......... it all depends on you now.'

'I don't want it to!' his voice was resigned but she knew he had made the decision to take this on. He was now trying to fight it like a man hanging onto straw.

'Okay, listen to me, we have been working on this for two months now right?'

'Yes!' came the feeble reply

'Good you know every step as well as me, 'kay?'

'Yeah,'

'Great, so now all you need to do is go over the presentation tonight, everything is on the pen drive, you have a copy plus there is a back up CD so just go through it, you will do fine Jay, I have the utmost confidence in you.'

'You really think I can do this?' he asked softly

'I know you can, Jay you are my assistant if you weren't good you would not be working with me.' She said confidently knowing that he valued her opinions greatly.

'Thanks June, that means a lot to me.' He accepted sounding a bit more calm.

They went over the presentation twice; she gave him tips on where he should pause and how he should maintain eye contact especially with the Chairman. Jay was brilliant and she knew he would do a fine job on her behalf.

'Good now just shape up and go over the presentation tomorrow, go to bed now and have a some good sleep. I know it will be okay just explain the reason for my absence on the weather situation and I will join you later.......okay.' she tried to be reassuring as possible.

'June, I will not let you down.' His voice was beaming now, with renewed confidence. June smiled, art least the presentation was one less worry she had to deal with tonight.

'You had better not,' she said jokingly 'I know you have the ability to do it, so be brave and have a good night's rest, I will see you tomorrow.'

'Oh June you are indeed the best, see you tomorrow.'

'Goodnight Jay.'

'Night June.'

She closed her phone and stared out at the stormy night, this was an important meeting but she was positive that Jay could do a good job. It would be the first time in her five years at the company that she would miss a presentation., she was pretty hands on and liked to do her work herself but she was forced to release it because of the weather, what it had in store for her she did not know but she hoped that it was a positive sign.

She had not had a vacation in two years. Not because she could not but she had not wanted to go anywhere. Her work was her essence; it completed her and made her feel important. She would sleep and hope that she could leave here by six a.m., she did not want to be to late for the presentation. She trusted Jay but it was still her baby, she had fought had for the deal and when it had come her way she had relished in the fact that she was the youngest person: woman or man to be working on such a deal with Gyrish Incorporated.

June finally conceded that she could only do so much tonight. The rain would stop and she would be on her way out of here tomorrow. However she still had to deal with the host from the crypt.

She needed to be alert for Dmitri, he had not ascended and was probably still doing a background check on her.  What would he find, she had a modest two bedroom flat in Bershire, a nice suburban place. She lived alone and was a workaholic with no boyfriend or husband. She was stuck in a rut, no a drought. Her work had been her number one priority and looking back she had not had time to date or even entertain a guy.

The last person she had been out with was two years ago and he had been an upcoming attorney. Grant Patterson was pompous and egotistical. His only reason for dating her was that 'she was from good stock'. She had dumped his behind as soon as he had uttered the words. He wanted a wife to improve his image since he was vying for partner in his firm. The louse was handsome but cold and calculating. He had told her that he was the best man in town that she would ever find and her response had been to tell him that if he was the best then the town had to be surely disappointing.

She changed into her night clothes and snuggled under the lush satin sheets. Whoever had furnished and decorated this place has very expensive tastes was it his lover, wife? She wondered about him. She stilled her self that she had to stay awake but as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast sleep.

The next day she could not move, she was cold all over and her throat felt closed up. She tried to speak but her throat was so raw she could not, she tried to open her eyes, but they were too heavy. Her whole body ached.

Was she dead?

Did Dmitri kill her?

She could feel a warm cloth on her forehead and a voice was telling her to open her eyes. It sounded strange she could not focus because she was hurting all over what was wrong with her? She felt her head being lifted and some liquid was being pushed inside her mouth, she could not swallow because her throat was like a scorching desert. She felt herself being sucked into a vacuum and she was too weak to resist it. 

Dmitri stood staring at the woman on the bed below him. She had been like this for the past two days. Her fever had been over 100 degrees. She had been having cold sweats and coughing profusely. It seems her trudge through the woods in the rain had done her in. Luckily, he had checked on her about nine the previous morning, and found her writhing on her bed.

He was still unsure why she had not gone toward the little village, which was nine miles in the opposite direction. Instead, she had fallen onto his doorstep to disturb his tranquillity. His guards had found her ancient truck yesterday morning, lodged in mud and in thick brush.  His body guards had said that the plates belonged to a gas station owner from the previous town. His men had found the owner and it seemed that she had exchanged her rental car for the old truck because she needed new tyres.

In essence she had been telling the truth. He knew she was who she had said she was, but in his position, he knew the lengths people had gone through to penetrate his life. He could take no more chances, once was lesson enough.

He had gotten a private physician to visit. It was confirmed that she had a cold but her body was tired and it was struggling with the infection. He had moved her to his room because he wanted to take care of her. He could have hired a nurse but this spitfire had turned him on from the first night they met. She had been spunky and on fire. She needed a soak in the tub to relieve the heat within her body.

Her body was exquisite. She had full ripe breasts, just longing to be suckled by him. Her hips were well proportioned. She was by no means skinny but full everywhere. He had never been attracted to women like her before but holding her, bathing her he knew that how supple she would be in his arms. Her legs were long and she had pretty ankles and such beautiful toes. Her hair was short and black. If she let it grow, she would surely be a catwalk model.

He knew she was a professional from his one phone call he got all the information he needed about her. She came from a close knit family was the eldest all three girls who were all named after months of the year. He wondered why? She moved onto her side exposing her left breast. He had left her naked under the sheets because she was sweating so much. He had never had a woman in his bed without having sex with her but June Stapleton was a first, she had barged into his life and taken it over.

No one had ever stood up to him but she had and seemed very unafraid to face him. Most people were afraid of him because he knew his demeanour was unapproachable plus his 6  ft 4" height did little to aid matters but June had stood up to him from the onset. Something flittered in his gut. He wanted her and he intended to have her. After all, he was nursing her back to good health. He fixed her sheet and left to get more warm tea for her to drink.