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More Than Life	By : Psnoo17 Category: M through R > Once Upon A Time In Mexico Views: 1900 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time in Mexico, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-More Than Life
- 2-1
- 3-2
- 4-3
- 5-4
- 6-5
- 7-7
- 8-It Begins
- 9-Double Agent
- 10-10
- 9
- 10
Author�s Note: hey, I am very pleased to see this chapter
out before a month passed between postings.
I swear, I�m getting worse and worse at
this. I�m just glad that I still have a
few reviewers. ^_^
Author�s thanks at end.

************************************************************************

Even the biggest rooms grew small if one was forced to
spend too much time in them. Tess paced
back and forth, through the bedroom, small study, and bathroom that made up her
suite. She was getting cabin fever �
she�d read about that in Treasure Island � and it was
interesting. She was starting to hate
the sight of her room and everything in it.
Not that there was much to see in the murky twilight. Her instruments had been confiscated, the
power to her room cut, the windows covered and there was a man in the courtyard
below watching to make sure she didn�t creep close to any of them. She hadn�t seen another person for five days,
hadn�t eaten in three, and hadn�t made any sound at all in two.
What had she done
wrong this time? The grown Tess couldn�t
remember. It could have been
anything. A missed note at a private
recital. Something less than perfect on
a worksheet. Drawing attention to herself at the wrong time.
Invisible, she
thought. I was invisible. And
she was still invisible for the most part.
Carlos saw a cousin who had something he needed. Neva saw a girl who�d
been too terrified to talk to her own family without permission. The men in the compound saw the girl who was
the bastard daughter of their deceased leader.
The government saw an invalid that they could bully into doing their
will. Sands . . . she wasn�t sure what
Sands saw in her. He was too
complicated. A past threat, a current
tool, and a semi-agreeable diversion.
Perhaps twas was it. Perhaps she
was way off base.
In a fit of
desperation, in an act to gain some sort of attention, young Tess picked a
table up off a lamp and threw it against the front door to her room, an angry
scream muffled in her chest. This was wrong.
Why did they treat her like this?
What had she done wrong?
The crash had been
satisfying, but it wasn�t enough.
Twirling, the twelve year old ran to a nearby wall, one that was
occupied by an enormous mirror. She was
poised to bring it crashing down in a spill of silver glass splinters, but she
caught sight of herself. It was
something she avoided doing most of the time, but this time she couldn�t, and
she was horrified by her appearance. If
Father saw her like this, she�d pay for it dearly. Her hair was a wild bush around her head, her
clothes hanging loosely off her body, her eyes wide and desperate in a small
face . . . and as blue as the sky outside must be. �No,� she whispered at those eyes. �I never asked for you either.�
The disapproving
image of her father appeared in the mirror over her own reflection. The only thing his likeness didn�t obscure
were those eyes. �You�re in my house now, Teresa Adame. My house.
My rules. You will listen, or you
will suffer. That is how it�s always
been, that�s how it will always be . . . .�
As he spoke, the
reflection shifted, and mercifully the eyes changed. But despite the new face, and the new eyes,
the voice was the same.
�. . . listen or risk your life. I am the one in control. I call the shots. I throw shapes and set them up . . . or if
they don�t listen, I watch them fall.
And if you ignore me, I�ll leave you here to rot, ni�a. I�ll leave without a second glance.�
�But I gave you
your eyes,� she whispered in her defense.
�I saved you, helped you, returned you to your
home.�
�No,� Sands
disputed. �You gave me Tess.
And I�ll use you as I see fit, in the field or in my bed. You owe
me. You will listen to me. You will obey me.� He frown at her. �I don�t hear you agreeing with me,
az�car.� Sugar.
What choice did
she have? �I will listen. I will obey,� she whispered. And with that, the dream ended.

************************************************************************

She woke with a start, unable to
breathe. There was a gloved hand over
her mouth and nose, suffocating her. She
struggled to free herself, but sleep and a lack of air fogged her mind and her
hands were soon caught. Unable to do
anything, she tossed her head, feeling the room go black. It was too soon. She�d just gone through this,
she didn�t want to do it again.

The hand shifted, and she found she could breathe through her nose, and
while this wasn�t enough to satisfy the demands of her body, it was enough to
keep her alive and to help her mind clear.
And once she could think straight again, she realized that someone was
talking to her in a voice quiet enough to be drowned out by the rustling of
bedclothes.

�Just calm yourself, sugarbutt.
The last thing I need is for you to scream and bring the guards outside
your door in here. That would definitely
crash the little party I�m trying to plan.

Sands. Tess collapsed into the bed, relief soon
swept from her veins by anger and irritation.
What the hell is he doing here? If he�s caught he�ll end up dead, and
possibly me as well. But irritated
though she was, she couldn�t help being a tiny bit glad that he was here. He was a constant in a world of ever-changing
variables, and she appreciated that more than she�d imaged a few weeks ago.

Why don�t you just admit that you�re hot for him, and pull him into
your bed. It�s
not your childhood bed, but it�s good enough.
Bite me, she told her voice impatiently. She didn�t need him. She couldn�t let
herself need him. Not here. It was too dangerous here.

Sands noticed when Tess relaxed under his hands. �Good girl.
Now, don�t say anything when I let you go. Don�t even get up. I need to get a chip out of your computer and
install a few things, and then I�ll be out of here. But I�d prefer it if your guards didn�t hear
two sets of footsteps.� His mouth was
close enough to her ear that she could feel his breath stirring the loose hairs
against her neck. �Savvy?�

She nodded, and he let go of her.
But when he turned to get to work, she grabbed his arm.

Sands frowned, and turned back to Tess, anticipating some sort of silent
female drama, but he let her pull him down so she could whisper in his
ear. �What are you installing?�

He shook his head, then
mimed making a list, then pointed at her laptop. She nodded, understanding that he�d sent an
untraceable e-mail to her private account.
The account had been set up by some of the best in the business so that
if someone tried to open it without the right password, every message would
immediately be erased and the part of the hard drive that back-ups were
normally stored on would be locked.

Lost in these thoughts, several seconds passed before Sands cocked an
eyebrow at her, looking down at the hand on his arm. I need
to get to work and get out of here, he was telling her.

Reluctantly she let him go, watching him as he moved around the
room. In his dark clothes, he melted
into the shadows. As he worked, she
found herself reminded of the fantasy that�d over taken her as she�d watched
him � then a black-clad stranger, dying and fighting in the streets . . . She could have sworn he was one of the
ancient Olmec shamans, a man who could change into a jaguar at will; a human,
but more cat than man. The ease which he
now moved in the shadows did nothing to dispel that imagery, neither did the
fact that he�d snuck into the compound and
her room without one of the many guards noticing. She�d never seen a man who had such natural
grace, and that this man did, only
added to his allure. His forbidden
allure. She had to remember that,
and let the past be the past.
He leaned forward and planted a soft kiss
just above her forehead.
Tess waited in
silence as he left. When she heard the
door shut behind him, she slumped in her chair.
�I hope you heard that,� she muttered to whoever was at the other end of
the microphone in her necklace.

Shaking her head, she got up and went
back into her bedroom, climbing under the covers. She was suddenly feeling exhausted and
extremely maudlin. Wanting to do nothing
more than to sleep, she arranged her pillows more comfortably and settled
against them, the blankets pulled up to her chin. But even as her eyes started drifting shut
under the weight of her fatigue, her mind asked one last impertinent question.
If you�re wearing a bugged necklace, and
glasses that have tiny video cameras in them, then why the
hell did Sands feel the need to but up surveillance equipment in your
room?
Tess had no way of
knowing that Sands had asked himself the same thing.

************************************************************************
Quotes: Tolkien, LotR; Edgar Allen Poe; and Dean Koontz, The
Book of Counted Sorrows.
- 9
- 10
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More Than Life