Cupid's Dart - 1. Cupid's Dart

Jogging through the park, something stung me on my neck. Distracted, I tripped over a guy crawling out of a gap in the hedge that lined the path. I flipped and landed on my back. Winded.

He knelt beside me.

Sleek bronzed skin. Obsidian eyes flecked with specks of gold. Kissable lips. Curly black hair. Powerful shoulders in tank top. Muscular legs in flimsy running shorts. Delicious whiff of sex.

‘You okay?’

It took all my concentration to nod.

‘I'm Amoretto. What's your name?’

‘Atman. What were you doing in the hedge?’

‘Waiting for you.’

I felt relieved. The thought of having someone waiting for me sounded so beautiful, but I kept wondering why his head kept swelling and shrinking into a mist. Why was there a mist? I rolled onto my side and looked around. I was lying on soft grass beside a circular pool surrounded by slender marble columns. The sky was blue. A tiny temple on a grassy mound bore an uncanny resemblance to a drawing in my old Greek History textbook. Dense forest encroached on all sides, and a statue of an aroused satyr leered from the top of the stone steps behind us.

A gentle hand stroked my thigh.

I gazed into the handsome face. ‘Where are we?’

‘On the other side of the hedge.’

‘Why are we naked?’

‘It’s an insult to nature to cover perfect bodies.’

I tried to think about that, but his stroking was setting my body on fire; burning from the inside. The orgasm felt as if my buttocks were ripped apart, tearing me in two. An agonising ejaculation that drove every worthless thing I have ever thought or done from my body, leaving me pure, calm and fuzzy-headed, until... A rough slap on the side of my head and a timid voice asking if I was awake.

I tried not to be, but eventually nodded.

Then I was floating until the sweet smell of peppermint mouthwash opened my eyes to a dark face with a heavy five o'clock shadow.

‘I’m Dr Medic. Can you focus on my face?’

‘Yes, you are very handsome,’ I replied, surprised at the sound of my own voice.

‘What drug did you take?’

‘The drug of love.’ I laughed loudly.

No one else laughed.

‘What’s that on his neck?’ Another white coat asked.

Doctor Medic took some tweezers, fiddled and pulled, causing a short, sharp pain. ‘D’you know what this is?’ holding up a shiny object.

‘It’s a dart?’ offered white coat.

‘Yes. Delivered by blowpipe. Hollow and filled with tranquiliser to immobilise small mammals. Sometimes humans before a rape. Side effects are hallucinations and a sense of euphoria before blacking out.

‘Cunning.’

‘Very. First time I've seen one in this country. A colleague used to call them Cupid’s Darts.’