House of Syn Ch. 03

Chapter 03: Tragedy of Syn

There is a haze of incense smoke that drifts ghost like around the rooms. Foggy sad little wraiths of smoke.

I can smell other types of smoke under its sandal wood smell. I know a few of my guest make use of the little side rooms for more than a few stolen kisses. I have even been given warnings by the local police about what they will do to me should they come here and find such.

Let them come. I know what guests do what and I have ways of hearing about such things before they happen. They will find nothing.

Walking past the leather room I stop and look at the whipping horse. A top has his sub draped over it and is administering slow lashes. I watch then move forward. I smile at him as my hand catches his wrist. He may be the master between them but here in my club I'm the master of all. I adjust his grip just an inch or so and step back out the way. When he swings again I see the look on his face. The understanding that follows.

He was giving pain without need. The lash lands with every bit as much force but the angle is better. The smack louder.

Her pleasure more. I can see it on her face.

I leave the room. I'm in far too dark a mood for it. I would be dangerous to a sub tonight.

Stepping into the chapel I see 'The Daughter' at the bar talking to one of our regulars, Divine. Probably not her real name but then there is a lot of that going on here. The bulge in the front of her pants gives claim to her desire for satiation tonight.

The women of the club tonight however don't seem interested.

I run a hand up her back, my fingers caressing those powerful muscles that years in the gym have give to her. The corded bands of strength that might give even my bouncers pause.

"Papa Syn. I was just telling Daughter here that I may have to go down to the Gilded Lilly. I can't seem to find anyone wanting to play with me tonight." She says with a pout.

I curl my fingers into the back of her neck.

"You didn't ask me yet." I say grinning.

Divine smirks.

"You know better Syn. I love cock so long as it's not original equipment. I'm an aftermarket kind of girl." Her drink, straight whiskey, makes a clink against the large men's ring on her hand.

"Oh I know that...But I would love to change your mind." I tell her teasingly. I look to Baethny and see a faint smile grace those black lips. She would love to play with this powerful woman.

Divine gives a chuckle and looks to Baethny.

"What is it with guys and lesbians? Everyone of them thinks that all it takes is one night with them and we will flip." She chuckles and sits her glass back down. I see the bottle as the Daughter fills it unasked. She has expensive takes in whiskey, good taste ...but expensive.

"With him...you might." Says Baethny with a smile that is pure lust for those those know what to look for. "If nothing else he would simply watch as you played with me."

I can see her hesitate looking from the Daughter to me and back. A snort then a slight shake of her head is proceeded by a grin.

"Let me think about it. I have to say the Idea of a guy watching as I do his ...wife...has crossed my mind." Divine turns to me and runs a hand across my chest then catches my chin in her powerful fingers. "Who knows I get bored with her I might do you for the fun of hearing a guy squeak."

"You would have to be a lot more powerful than you look" I stop and slowly grin "...to get bored with her. But if you do well ...we will see who does what to whom at that time." She gives me a smirk for a half-second then looking into my eyes it slowly disappears.

Leaving the bar I head for one of the tables to talk to a friend I'm half way there when I hear my name being called.

"Syn!"

Looking toward the small side door that leads to my office I see Gregory holding his hand beside his head his thumb at his ear finger at his mouth.

I nod and turning to look back at Bethany I catch her attention. To her quirked eyebrow I make the same gesture after point to my chest. She nods under standing. Stepping into the office my ears ring as the door closes. Two inches of cork under the paneling. The second smartest investment in the whole club. Silence can be a hard thing to find here at times.

Sitting down in the soft black leather chair I pick up the phone and hit the button.

"Sanctuary, Syn speaking."

"Ah...I asked to speak to a Todd Mercer?"

The voice is hesitant unsure of itself. But under that is a professional quality. That feeling of a person that's on the phone a lot.

Also a sense of authority rings through.

"That would be me." I say after a second. I had to answer to my name here. It feels like I'm lying.

Syn is many things but a liar isn't one of them.

"Mr. Mercer this is sergeant Wilks at the east precinct. I'm calling to ask if you can come to Montclair hospital...there has been an accident. I understand from a number we found in her purse that you were married to a Frances Moore. Both she and her daughter are here in ICU."

"I'm on my way."

The phone misses the base as I grab my coat off the wall hook. The thunder of the club washes over me as I cross the distance to where Baethny is talking to one of the customers. She doesn't notice me, her back is to me.

I catch her arm as she goes to move towards the bar.

For a half second I see her fire, then she sees my face.

"Angel and Frances are at Montclair."

She nods her eyes going wide.

"Go." She says softly.

As I tear out the front of the club past my startled bouncers I ponder on the fact that those were the first words we have ever spoken to each other in the club. Some how that something from my past brought it about isn't a surprise.

The old T-bird awakens from its slumbers with a grumble that would do any old man proud. I kick the gas and leave the parking lot with a bark of the tires.

My Angel.

The red lights between the club and the hospital are meaningless hindrances to me tonight. Somewhere, someone must have been watching because other than one blown horn none protest their displeasure.

The engine gives pops almost like it's panting as I jump out the door. As I cross to emergency I see a security guard come to attention. I have no time for his nonsense tonight I don't care what I look like.

He's holding up a hand to stay me as I come through the door.

"My daughter was brought in, I was told by a Sargent Wilks that she is in Intensive care. Some kind of an accident." My voice hits him with an authority me must only hear from his captain. I see his eyes go wide. The 'Dom' is so very close to the top tonight. I feel like I could make a god kneel just by telling him to. "I'm Todd Mercer."

It takes him a half-second to check on a computer screen then he gives a nod. When I start forward he stops me again.

I know my eyes must be lethal.

"All metal object in the basket please."

I drop my keys and phone into the red plastic.

"It's still going to go off." I tell him as I step into the arch.

It buzzes like a pissed off bee.

I watch him take a wand and start to run it up from my feet. The buckles on my boots. The grommets on my leather pants, the piercings I put in tonight. He stops it by the middle of my back. The wand keeps warbling.

"A bullet." I tell him to his quirked eyebrow. "The piece the doctor couldn't get out with out risking paralysis. Now can I go please?"

He nods after a second. My key drop back into my pocket

The elevator rumbles as it rises. A hollow sound. You would figure in a hospital the elevators wouldn't be haunted.

Again a look from the nurses at the desk. I guess they have never seen a man who looks like me either. As I walk towards the desk my boots hitting the floor with a pop I see her hand go to where I'm sure a security button is.

"Angel Mercer.... And Frances Moore?"

My fingers contact the desktop with a tap from the heavy black polish on my nails.

"And you are?" she asks me with a quaver to her voice. I have no time for this.

"Todd mercer. Angel's father. Frances is my ex wife."

I watch her check something. With a building sense of frustration. Her lack of urgency though finally calms me.

If my daughter were dying she would be moving faster by now.

"This way if you please." I look up at a large male... nurse, orderly, caregiver, or whatever he wishes to be called. As I walk and he keeps looking back at me to make sure I'm following I realize his title should be keeper. That seems to be his function.

The room has that smell that the whole place extrudes, but under that I catch a hint of a soft perfume. As I cross to the bed I look down into the face of my daughter.

She has her mom's face, thank the gods for that one. My features on a woman would be too harsh to be called beautiful. Her head is wrapped in a bandage around the crown and I see her arm is in a cast. Her leg as well. There is an overall bruising to her features that gives a hint to the force of the wreck that put her here.

She looks. Okay. My nerves settle slowly.

I look to my Keeper.

"Her mother?"

"She's across the hall."

It feels like a betrayal to leave my daughter's side to go to the woman who took her from me but I do it non-the less. Out the corner of my eye I see a tall man in a long white coat coming down the hall. A police officer is next to him, keeping pace.

I guess they think my keeper might not be enough.

Frances looks...not okay.

The tube in her mouth is taped to her cheek. Her head is also wrapped and her leg is also in a cast. But there are differences. Her leg is in traction. There are signs of extensive bruising around her neck. The right side?

I turn to the doctor as he steps into the room.

"She wasn't driving?"

"No. Mr...Moore?"

"Mercer." I correct him as my eyes go to the officer trying to look casual outside. His eyes meet mine and I give him a calm nod. I see him visible relax. "What happen?"

"A car crossed the median and struck them on the passenger side. Your daughter appears to have hit her head on the window. She has a fractured arm and a broken ankle. There were also some minor lacerations. We think she has a concussion."

"You think?" I ask an edge to my voice. I can't stand 'practitioners' of medicine. They need to come to the club and let me show them how to talk to people with a bit of confidence in tone.

"No Mr. Mercer. We know, to the best of our ability. We will know for sure when she awakens. Now Your wife here..."

"Ex wife." Was the difference in name not enough for this fool. I do hope he's a better doctor than he is a public speaker. "Frances and I divorced about fifteen years ago."

"Yes. Well she was more severely injured. Her side of the car sustain a much greater impact force."

I feel a slight twitch make my eye want to jump.

"She has some internal injures from her impact with the seat-belt and the side passenger airbag. Her head hit the car door at least once. Her leg was crushed when the car crumpled. At the moment we have her in a medically induced coma while we see if the swelling in her brain continues to go down."

I slowly nod.

"Your daughter should recover fully we are really just waiting for her to wake on her own. If she is coherent we will probably transfer her to a private room and keep her for observation for a few days. Ms Moore will have a more extended stay but I have full hopes for her recovery as well. Now if you have any questions Mr. Mercer I will be here for about another two hours then a Dr. Graves will be on call. Simply ask at the nurses station."

"Thank you Dr.... Clay" I read off his name tag The fool was too nervous by the way I look to even give me his name.

When the doctor leaves I turn and look down on my ex wife. So many memories. I haven't seen her for a decade. She told me to never come around the last time I was in her presence. The names she called me then.

I do note she never sent back the child support checks. No matter how she felt about me.

Leaving the room I stop seeing the officer still standing there.

"If I promise not to go down to maternity and bite the newborns...or their mothers will that help?"

He chuckles after a second.

"I know what I look like ...but right now I'm just a father with a daughter in the hospital."

He gives me a nod then walks away talking into his mic clipped to his front pocket.

My Angel. I look down on her then pull up the chair and sit down next to her. Her hand looks so small in mine when I take it. I remember when it looked even smaller. When her little fingers looked no bigger than grains of rice and they could hardly curl around my pinky finger.

As the tears start to fall Syn gives me a pat on the shoulder and walks away leaving just Todd. A worried father holding his daughter's hand.

**********

My motorcycle cranks with an evil purr. Behind me the lights of sanctuary go dark as I leave Gregory to close up.

The air bites at my skin as I head towards the hospital. I can see the dawn coming not far off. The stars are beginning to fade ever so slightly. Someone not as familiar with the night as myself might not notice them dimming.

My thoughts are on my husband as I cruse through the nearly empty street. On him and on the life I know he once had.

The shattered pieces of a man I had to glue back together after that life fell apart.

I know it's from that time that his life now was shaped but still...if not for the daughter I wish he never would have contact with that woman ever again. It's not jealousy that guides that feeling. He had women before her...I've even had a few of them since then. But her. She broke my husband so very badly. She took a man reeling from the loss of family, gave him one, and then took that one away as well.

Her I could easily hate.

But the daughter? I've seen her only in pictures.

The cool air tells of the coming winter the days ahead when I will have to leave my beloved bike at home. I have often thought about moving south to escape the time of white.

But I hate the heat even more.

Pulling into the parking lot I see his old black car sitting like some chained beast among the little hybrids. Small cars that only the anorexic could ride in comfortable yet every one sing their praises.

I park my bike between his car and a Prius. I figure it's the only way to keep the T-Bird from eating it.

I can feel the guard's eyes on me as I walk towards the door. He sits up and watches with a not quite Lear. Those looks of lust that I can inspire in fools that couldn't handle me without a whip and a chair.

If I though they knew how to handle a whip I might even give them a half a chance.

As he runs the metal detector wand up me I watch, with a fell look to my eyes, his expression. One quirk, one grin at where it goes off and I might do something I will have to explain to Syn.

Not regret, just have to explain.

I shiver hearing the ghosts in the elevator moaning their loss to me.

The nurses give me a strange look as well but I leave them unharmed, I'm feeling generous tonight and my mind is on my husband.

I find him by his daughter's bedside. His head lying pillowed on one arm, on her bed, his hand holding hers. I can see that sleep took him just a short time ago.

Looking up the hall I see a security guard walking towards me. He also has that look of boyish lust. It stops at the look in my eyes.

Baethny steps to the side as I walk into the room. Unlike Syn she never really leaves me.

I don't think I could stand it if she did.

"Todd?" I give his shoulder a shake.

My husband awakens quickly and looks from me to his daughter.

"Go get you some coffee. I'll watch her till you get back."

He nods. I steady him when he stands. I can see the weight of the world has settled back around him again. I pull him to me for a quick hug then send him after what he needs.

Sitting down I look at the little Angel. I've heard her called that so many times by him over the years.

She looks like her mother. It's no blessing; her mother was no ravaging beauty. Still there is a bit of my man around her cheekbones. Enough that I can't dislike the daughter as I have her mother.

Her eyes open.

Seeing this I wish I hadn't sent him to get coffee. He should be here. I don't know what to say.

Her eyes go to me then open very wide.

"Who are you and.... Is it Halloween?"

A grin splits my face.

Her father said almost the same thing to me so very long ago.

"I'm Beth...I'm your wicked step mother." I say then bite the tip of my tongue to show I'm teasing. "How do you feel?"

"With my fingers. Is my Mom alright?" the confusion of a person drugged is there but I can hear a humor that puts me in mind of the father.

"I just got here but I can check for you. The last I hear about her she was in stable condition."

Getting to my feet I start towards the door.

"Wait. Step mother?" she asks blinking and looking at me with widening eyes.

"No my dear. Wicked Step mother." I smile and step out the room. I see my husband returning down the hall. He has a cup of coffee in each hand. I take one from him reveling in the warmth it brings to my cold fingers.

"She's awake.' I tell him simply.

If I hadn't stepped to the side he would have knocked me down getting past. Baethny flares at that but I tell her to calm down.

Crossing the hall I pull the chart from the door and look over it. I don't look at her, I'm afraid if I did my hatred of her would get the better of me. I have little pity for her injuries.

She caused at least this much damage to my husband. The only difference his scars don't show.

I cross back to Angel's room.

"She is still stable." I say.

"What does that mean? Is she going to be boarding horses? What's wrong with her?"

"Easy Angel." He tells her his voice a soothing whisper.

The one he often comforts me with when the pleasure of being whipped is long past and only the pain remains.

"Damn easy! Where is the doctor and why are you here?" I see she tries to pull her hand from his but doesn't have the strength.

I turn my head when a man in a coat and a tall orderly walk into the doorway.

"Visiting hours don't begin till seven. And even then it's immediate family. Now I will have to ask you to leave as your disturbing my patient."

I read the name tag on his coat.

"Dr. Graves? The mother is unable to make decisions and she has no stepfather. By what consent to you plan to do anything if not... her father's?" I gesture to my husband.

Looking to Todd I swallow for a half second when I see Syn behind his eyes looking back at me. A very dark and angry Syn at that. Slowly I see Todd come to the forefront again.

"Doctor she has just awoke and is confused form the drugs you have given her. I was about to tell her about her mother when you arrived, if you wish stay. You can clarify anything I miss.

**********

It feels strange to ride to the club from my day job knowing Syn wont be there. But then it felt the same for the last two nights. The thousands of question that I've had to answer from people, the overwhelming concern from people we know only through... play. It warms a part of my heart I thought long dead.

Hope is just as strange to me at times.

I see the black T-bird in the lot with the door just opening as I pull around the corner. I bring my Ninja to a stop just in front of my husband. From the look on his face I guess wrong.

"Your ex awoke at last?" I ask lifting my visor.

He shakes his head.

"What are you doing here then?" I ask shutting down the bike.

Todd not Syn takes a deep breath.

"She told me she doesn't want me to come back. Angel. She told the doctor to call me when he needed to get consent but that she didn't want to see me."

My husband...a man like any other. He can be a tower of strength unfazed by things that tear the world apart around us and yet. He can break so very easily. I can even now see the little spider web like cracks in the glass that is his heart.