"Devon, I want to be with you again." She finally said, stifling her approaching tears before they could spill down her cheeks. She wouldn't let him see her cry. She knew how much that hurt him.
"What's the matter?" he asked softly as his warmth engulfed her. "I can see that you're upset."
She paused beside a sapling and enjoyed a cool summer night's breeze as it wrapped around her, teasing her senses as it mingled with Devon's warmth.
Devon's unwavering warmth. . .
No matter what, she knew that he would always be there for her. Not even the fire could stop him from finding his way back to her three years earlier. She looked down and shook her head.
She wanted to fix it. . .
She wanted to stop it!
Waves of intense heat pushed her back; pushed her away from him. Still down on one knee, Devon was unable to move fast enough to save them both. The hollow, echoing taunt of his offered ring hitting the floor chilled her heart as he stood and planted himself protectively in front of her.
They'd found her.
Those flames had been meant for her.
But that didn't stop them from taking him instead.
"Serena, I love you, always."
His last words, spoken moments before the fire had started, were already growing cold with grief as he'd used the last of his strength to push her into the tugging hold of the fleeing crowd. There was no pulling free from the combined force of the group as they unknowingly dragged her out of the ballroom, crying and screaming as the roof collapsed behind her and taking her happiness with it.
She blinked, still feeling the phantom flames burn through the fabric of time, and wiped away the tears. She couldn't stop them that time around. Not that she wouldn't have tried, but it was useless. When the memory surfaced, her awareness sank. Devon's aura, knowing and sympathetic, was already wrapped tightly around her. And though it was comforting, it wasn't enough for her.
Approaching footsteps sounded from the clearing and instinctively brought out the fighter in her, the trails of tears drying up on cue.
There, standing and watching her with those wonderfully mismatched eyes, was her attacker.
Though his face didn't show it, his slouched body, weighed down with agony, was in so much pain that it hurt her to see him. Frowning, she looked away, realizing then just how much damage she'd inflicted.
"What do you want?" she made no move to fight, having no strength or desire to do so.
He stayed quiet for a moment and the breeze from earlier came back, colder than before. She frowned at the sudden chill; Devon and his warmth had disappeared, leaving her alone with the vampire.
"I w-was watching” he said, partially choking on the pain as he did. Something about it made him seem honest now his voice was softer.
She looked up, daring to meet his gaze. His face was still filled with the same confusion she'd left him with and his aura sagged around him, mirroring his beaten form.
She had thought he had been there to arrest her, but she could see now that that wasn't the case.
"You need to come with me." He said, "You'll be safe."
Despite the confusion she felt from his words--and from the voice that carried them--she was surprised to find that she believed him.
Against every instinct she'd ever learned, she stepped towards him, still staring into his eyes.
More than anything else she needed Devon. But, feeling a whole new type of warmth emanating from those eyes, she realized that she needed something else. Something more than just warmth.
"Serena." the vampire called to her, his voice no longer his own. She took another step, driven by that voice and the promises behind it, something in that voice made her want it all the more. "Serena!" he called again, the tone and pitch cutting through the haze of arousal and startling her with the now-obvious truth. . .
She faltered, nearly collapsing, and stared with wide eyes at the suddenly rigid vampire; his once mismatched eyes now shone with the bright green of her former lover.
"Devon?"
The vampire's face twisted for a moment, experimenting with its own expressions before settling with a wide smile and nodding.
"But. . . how?" she stammered, still staring.
"His guard was down." he explained, "The gate was open so I. . . I just took it. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold it, but for now. . ." he bit his lip and blushed; his flood of emotions assaulting his stolen body's cheeks.
Stolen or not, she rushed to him, wrapping her arms tightly around the broad back of the stranger that now housed her lover. Despite everything, with her eyes clenched and buried in the body's chest, she could feel him there.
Her Devon!
Even in a different body, it still felt right. Large hands met her face and lifted her chin, a flood of his classic warmth and that of the new body's natural heat seeped into her as he brushed her cheeks and she closed her eyes to savor the feeling. Devon lifted her face further towards him and pressed his new lips to hers. Ignoring the subtle differences, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, turning the kiss from an exploration to a fierce, passion-filled attack.
She'd been so damn starved for it that the first taste had awakened a hunger she'd long since forgotten.
She forgot how to breath then, but soon found it as he trailed kisses down her chin and a desperate gasp ripped from her burning lungs. Lips still wet with their combined moisture brushed down her neck. Another, weaker gasp seeped out, reaching a peak as a breathy whimper as his tongue ran across her collarbone.
Her senses grew more receptive to everything as their auras collided and mingled, creating a bright and pulsating wave of multicolored light that expanded and contracted rhythmically around them. Devon eased her to the forest floor, the gentle-yet-firm hold the same as she'd remembered it. He pulled away then, beginning to peel the shirt from his borrowed torso, and she reached out to trail her fingertips across the strong, tattoo-covered chest as it emerged. She wanted to reach past the flesh and into Devon, feel everything with him. Even after all those celibate years their passion proved strong, and she was willing to look past the flesh to once again experience who they had been when they had become one.
He began to explore her body all over again, clearly reminding himself of the dips and curves he had not traveled in so long, and she gasped and arched against the static shocks that lit up her nerve endings with each inch he took. Pressing his every essence into her, they once again became one.
Serena explored the new body, rubbing her hands across his entire being as he continued the dance above. The bliss was too much for her and soon her climax reached. As the sounds of her cries filled she felt his body release as well, together finally.
As their bodies entangled on the forest floor, their cries sounded together as they climbed their way to pure ecstasy.
***
"What the hell?"
Serena blinked at the outburst, shaking the sleep from her system as she sat up in a daze. For a moment she was reminded of the previous night as the body heat from her partner's naked body seeped into her own. Then, as her eyes finally met his mismatched own, she was thrown off of him and onto the dew-coated grass. She cried out as the chilled moisture assaulted her bare skin.
"Ow! You asshole!" She glared, trying to ignore the burning of her cheeks as she realized her situation.
"What did you drug me with?" He rose to his feet and began snatching up the clothes that lay scattered all over the clearing and throwing what didn't belong to him in her direction. "God dammit!" he snarled, yanking his pants up, "Where the hell is my belt?"
"Probably in the tree where you threw it last night, you dick!" Serena lifted her clothes and began to slip into them, keeping her eyes on his chest and the large tribal designs and fresh scratches littered about thereon. Only when his glare returned with laser-focus on her did she avert her gaze, "And for the record, I did NOT drug you!"
The vampire glanced skyward, his shoulders sagging as
he spotted the length of leather dangling from a branch. Trying to remain intimidating, he hid his growing sense of defeat, failing to control his aura's all-too-clear reaction. "Then why, pray-tell, am I waking up NAKED with you? Why can't I remember anything from last night?"
Serena clucked her tongue, unsure of how to explain the situation without sounding like part of a strange, ghostly date-raping.
"Look, call me 'old fashioned', but I make it an effort to remember how I come to be naked with somebody!" He gave up on retrieving his belt and ducked into his shirt, a growl emerging from his throat.
"Oh? I'm so goddamn sorry to have interfered with your obviously detailed and intimate list of skanks and whores!" She countered, "I'm sure it's very confusing to wake up in this sort of a situation and not have to PAY your partner!"
"You bitch!" he bared his fangs, "I am only that way with women I respect and care about! Neither which include you or undignified wretches like you!"
Serena's breath caught in her throat at that and she bit her lip, looking down.
He paused, his enraged features softening as he took in her reaction. After a silent moment, he cleared his throat and calmed his tone, "So, did we. . .?"
"We. . ." Serena blushed and dared a glance at him, seeing his confusion and understanding his apprehension. She nodded once, "Yes. We did."
"Dammit!" He rubbed the back of his neck and turned away from her, "this was not supposed to happen!"
"I. . . I'm sorry." The sincerity felt strange to Serena. "If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't exactly planned."
A morning breeze began to pick up and the vampire looked over to meet her apologetic gaze; a gaze she had a hard time maintaining. She had no right to blame him for her not reaction. There she stood, still smelling like him and not even knowing his name!
"Zane." He said with a sigh.
Her eyes shifted back towards him, "Wh-what?"
“My name. It's Zane. It's only right that you know that much." He frowned at her confusion, "You were wondering-"
"How could you know that?" she blushed, feeling strangely violated.
Zane frowned and glanced towards the shadowed depths of the forest, frowning.
"We're not alone."
Serena turned in that direction and squinted against the rising sun. "I can't see-"
At that moment, four unnaturally large, glowing-red wolves leapt into the clearing and raced out towards them.
"Shit! They've been possessed! Keep your guard up!" Zane warned, his familiar energy flaring up in defense.
"Right!" Serena nodded, mimicking the action with her purple energy and taking a fighting stance.
The nearest wolf chose a target and pounced, targeting Zane and coming down in a vicious arc with its unnaturally large fangs parted and hungry. Serena gaped as Zane calmly pulled back his hand--his fingers locked and elongated like a blade's tip--and drove it into wolf's throat. As the beast's momentum forced it downward, Zane's hand sank deeper into its core and Serena watched in horrified awe as it collapsed to the ground with her ally's arm buried inside it to his elbow. Slowly, Zane withdrew his hand, now clutching the fallen demon's black and still-beating heart. Appalled by the image, the vampire threw his prize to the ground and brought his boot down on it with a crushing force. The wolf, still writhing in pain, collapsed at that moment--finally dead--and the two watched as a shrieking demonic aura tore free from the corpse and began to drift away.
"Not that easy!" Zane growled as he lifted his hand in its direction and wrapped his own aura around the fleeing demon. In the grip of Zane's power, the evil aura dissolved and then, with ease, he threw his opposite hand out in the direction of the other wolf-demons and dissolving them all at once.
Serena stared a moment longer as Zane drew in his energy and let out a breath.
"How did you do that?"
"Because," he looked over, his mismatched eyes shimmering brighter than ever before, "I'm not what you think I am."
To be continued...Look for Megan J. Parker’s full-length
novel “A Scarlet Night” in Winter 2012
Empty The Bones For You
by
Char Hardin
Twilight closed her curtains as the last of the sun’s rays faded away. I found myself all alone, now that my family’s last car had gone. While Death misted her recently departed perfume throughout The Pearly Gates Cemetery, the gravedigger’s task was handed over to the funeral home attendees. Gently they lowered me down into the Earth’s dark, damp, bug-infested womb. Clumps of dirt filtered through the flowers blanketing my casket, in haste to chase after me. The pelting against my coffin finally ended with a loud thud. The dust clouds settled and I was laid to rest.
Hours passed slowly as the full moon rose into the sky. I imagined, the Man in the Moon wept at my passing. It was tears from another being, which was more distraught at my passing that I heard. Her tears fell from the heavens, great big dollops of silvery tears dripped-dropped, dripped-dropped, and dripped-dropped down through the freshly turned dirt, to land a-top my casket. The angel’s anguish turned to anger that roared like thunder and caused those silvery tears to fall harder and slashed the ground with her pain. I heard her and yet, no one heard me.
I lay in my casket and remembered early this morning, during my wake, I had screamed! Terrified and alone, I yelled for help and no one came to my rescue, so I just screamed and screamed, “I AM HERE, HEAR ME! HELP ME!” I begged until, I was hoarse and my throat hurt. Something I found to be a bit ironic, that I could talk and feel pain, when everyone else, saw me as DEAD.
Lovely flowers graced my wake and followed me to the cemetery. I couldn’t make them hear me. I felt my mother press her warm lips to my cool ones. I felt her tears fall on my skin only to scald me with their finality. I heard my father cry. It broke my heart, to know, that he was in pain.
“Oh, Daddy, I beseeched, “This wasn’t supposed to happen to us…to me!”
I had heard my Aunt Ida as she talked to my cousin Ella-Claire. “I think Miss Celia did a wonderful job with your cousin’s hair. I know Elaina would have been pleased with the care given by Miss Celia.” Aunt Ida gushed on-and-on about how natural, my hair and make-up looked.
“I agree Aunt Ida. It’s…just so spooky how life-like Elaina looks, as if she were only sleeping,” whispered Ella-Claire.
“That child looked like at any moment, she would rise up and get out of that coffin.” Aunt Ida replied with a shudder.
“Oh Aunt Ida, IF Elaina had sat up, I would have fainted dead away!” Ella-Claire responded in horror.
I heard the whole conversation; while I willed, with my whole heart, for my eyes to open so that they could see, I was not dead, asleep or anything but ALIVE as they were before me!
Family from all over the globe came to bid their farewells. Something I found ludicrous, that the only time our family came together was either for a marriage, a funeral or of course the reading of a will! I knew my twin sister mirrored my angst at the family’s hypocrisy. She knew that I would have hated an open casket. She knew I would find it hypocritical that “NOW” people wanted to see me. Why not while I was breathing?
Hours passed slowly, until just before they closed my casket, an odd scent reached out and tickled my nose. Citrus topped with notes of sandalwood. It could be only one person … Zane. He came!
I would be rescued, Zane wouldn’t let them close me up forever, I knew he would come and deliver me from the endless line of family torturers.
“My beloved Zane…Zane, I am here, help me,” I cried out, “See me, release me, Zane!” I pleaded.
He passed through the line. I heard him. “I’m so sorry Barbara,” Zane leaned over and embraced my mother. Then he stood up and shook hands with my father, “Jack, I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Something was wrong with Zane. His tone sounded forced. His tone sounded HOLLOW? Where was his PASSION? Who was this indifferent person? Where was my loving Zane?
“NO! He
can’t believe I’m dead … I AM NOT DEAD! Zane, HEAR ME!” I commanded his attention and yet he ignored my begging.
His scent grew stronger; he stood over me. With delicate tenderness, I felt him reach down and brushed his fingers against my cheek. Cool to touch, I know, but there was a fire beneath, if he would have just trusted his heart, and reached for MY light. My torch burned so bright.
“Zane, please,” I begged “Help get me out of this hell!” A lone tear slipped down and landed on my cheek. I wracked my mind for a way, to reach him; to let him know ‘I am still here,’ but he pulled back suddenly and a stab of dread washed over my stilled heart.
My sister, Eileen had come to stand next to Zane. She put her arms around him and told him those soppy things people say when someone dies. Anger surged through my useless veins and threatened to erupt. Emotions roared with turmoil and yet, to their human eyes, I was as still then, as I when they first arrived.
My sister’s whispered words of comfort, felt like daggers of betrayal aimed straight at my heart. There was alien warmth in her voice, one I had not detected before. She cared for him, but not as a future sister-in-law should.
Damn it! Why didn’t I see this before! She had been at me constantly over the last few months.
”Zane has been unfaithful,” Eileen had told me on more than one occasion “and that Zane is a…well there just isn’t a kinder way to say it, Elaina. Zane is a WOMANIZER! Honey, you really should really re-think your engagement.”
“Oh Eileen, that is not true! And you know it. Where is all this coming from? I thought you liked Zane?” I questioned her.
“It is true. I only want what is best for you. I love you sis.” she sulked.
“Eileen, Zane is my soul mate. He is my perfect match. Don’t worry, you’ll see.” I replied with a hug.
It was as if Eileen thought…no… feared that after Zane and I married, we would move away and not remain close to each other.
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