BEYOND THE RAINBOW

CHAPTER SEVEN - BEYOND THE VORTEX

No sooner had Tanouie's fairy slippers touched the cave floor than she became aware of the drawing thrall. It was a doorway to another dimension. It didn't last long and it didn't disintegrate her. But it did tumble her through a spinning vortex and she literally fell out. Of an elevator. Onto a soft carpet of red and gold swirls, and into a world far from her expectations. She hauled herself up onto the nearest structure and sat there, staring.

"Oh my......" Tanouie looked around at the ultra modern opulence of what appeared to be a lift foyer, opening into a huge gaming hall. A glittering, bright pink neon sign drew her eyes to where it hung from a vaulted ceiling . THE PARADISE PLAYGROUND CASINO it declared. She was sitting beside metalic lift doors in a small cul de sac. Beyond it, was a loud, busy place full of merrymakers. Above the internal din, she could hear outer traffic of honking horns and the street noises of milling people! There wasn't a ghoul in sight.

"It can't be..." Ordinary people in bright, summer weight clothing were strolling in from a street entry, a few yards away and beyond a shallow set of steps. Some looked her way, with amused smiles, as they passed by. Even as her body morphed to match the time and place, and her brain whirled with comprehension updates, she was too stunned to smile back. It's not possible! But their collective auras were unmistakeable. There were at least a hundred mortal, human's enjoying drinks, in a sunken lounge setting with an island bar. Another flashing neon sign above the bar declared it to be THE PIT. The incongruity of it, warped her brain. It had to be a cruel joke.

"Some pit..." she muttered. "Am I hallucinating?" The internal noise level was that of human chatter, tinkling glasses, laughter and clamouring jackpot bells. There was someone playing a piano in the bar area. It was all fascinating, but that was not what now had Tanouie's attention, as her eyes zeroed in the other direction. Beyond the glittering array of neon signage and poker machines, a wall of plate glass gave a panoramic view of an azure blue sky. It was reflected in a sparkling pool of rippling water, surrounded by fountains, palm trees and more people relaxing on sun lounges. Sunshine! They were bathing in it. Oblivious of the lift doors swishing open, Tanouie expelled an incredulous breath.

"I'm on Earth!"

"Decidedly closer to it then you should be for this time of day. Do you always sit in pot plants?"

"Oh."Tanouie looked behind her. She hadn't noticed the palm growing out of the black onyz container, her eyes being too drawn to the ones outside. The first green trees she had sighted since her last incarnation. Things had certainly changed. Knowing of it and experiencing it were, as always, two very different aspects. She searched her brain to speed up the genetic imprint of her surrounds in order to fit into it, while her overruling thought was What am I doing here, Kaltazar?  Her eyes rolled with the effort to contact guidance. There was no reciprocal communication other than the functional blueprint, she was on her own. She became aware that the owner of the voice had not moved on.

"An all nighter, was it?" The cynical drawl came from a good distance above her head. Tanouie's gaze travelled up muscular thighs moulded in black jeans, past a torso equally well displayed in a black polo shirt, to an arresting face. Jet black hair brushed back from a high forehead, only to fall forward in an errant lock that made her fingers itch to right it. And those sensuous lips had a decidedly lethal impact on her senses. His bored expression was belied by the watchful glitter in dark eyes that took in every detail of her dishevelled appearance.

"Here, let's get you off there. You need to sober up." Her world became the circle of his arms as the stranger in black bent to take possession of her shoulders.

"Oh." Tanouie gasped as their contact sent little shockwaves straight to her nether regions. Strong hands with long fingers closed around her upper arms and hauled her to her feet. She was well below his chin, and her eyes literally feasted, on the virile breadth of his chest and the tanned column of his throat. Black whorls of chest hair peeped from the vee of his shirt. And the man scent! She had never smelt anything like it. The scent of him turned her innards to sweet, molten desire. For something way beyond her experience. His draw awakened her woman parts.