And beside the tree was the stone structure, the Turret. Here it was completely separate, standing alongside the tree but not touching it, extending high up into the branches. It looked like nothing Felicia had ever seen before: not purposefully made, yet not natural either.
The Pixies lead her to the base of the tree and started walking upward. Felicia was startled at first, but then realized there was a series of small branches that acted as steps. She put her foot tentatively on the first one and found it to be firm, and as she took a few steps forward she was surprised to find that, despite their organic nature, the branches felt almost exactly like a regular flight of stairs. She followed the Pixies as they slowly circled the trunk and soon found herself in the tree’s canopy, surrounded by branches and leaves. It was much darker now.
Thankfully, I haven’t lost my night vision. I might not be drinking blood, but I’m still a Vampire.
That thought brought a hollow, heavy feeling to her chest. I’m still a Vampire.
Then she looked up at Tulip, who was just a few steps ahead, her wings shimmering in the dark, casting a pale blue light on her pert bottom and bare legs. The heaviness in Felicia’s heart evaporated leaving a suggestive warmth behind.
Nothing like looking at a Pixie to cheer you up.
They continued upward. Soon the stairway separated from the trunk of the tree to meander through the thick branches, often splitting in different directions, left and right, up and down. They almost always took the left and upward paths, but even so, Felicia felt quite lost and knew that finding her way back to the ground would be a challenge. Fortunately, Mint was leading the way and appeared to know exactly where she was going.
At one fork they took a rare right turn, and Felicia looked up the path to the left. There, for a moment, she saw another Pixie.
Her heart fluttered. Was that Winter? She was beautiful, but was she the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen?
Probably not.
Yet, a part of her wasn’t so sure.
“Who was that?” she said, her voice coming out as a whisper.
Tulip stopped and a moment later Mint did as well. “Who?”
“The Pixie, down the other path. Was that Winter?”
“Where?” Tulip asked. “I didn’t see anyone.”
“Me neither,” Mint said. “What colour were her hair and wings?”
Felicia had to think about it. The Pixie’s face had drawn so much of her attention that she hadn’t even noticed. “Red, maybe deep pinkish.” Even though she could see well, colours were difficult to distinguish in the dark.
“Huh,” Tulip said. “Well, it definitely wasn’t Winter; her hair and wings are such a deep black that they’re almost blue.” She pursed her lips in thought. “As for red… there’s Dash, but I haven’t seen her in months.”
“What about Cinnamon?” Mint suggested. “Isn’t she still here?”
“Yes, and she’s a rusty colour, almost red.”
“No,” Felicia said. “It was more than ‘almost’ red.”
“What about Clover?” Mint said. “She has red hair sometimes.”
“No, she’s been purple for a while now.” Tulip looked closely at Felicia. “What made you think it was Winter?”
Felicia shrugged. “She was beautiful, and you said Winter was beautiful.”
“Oh,” Mint said, “is that all?” She suddenly spread her wings and flapped them dramatically, radiating bright green sparkly light on everything around her. Then she looked directly at Felicia and gave her an inviting look of such intensity that the Vampire took an involuntary step forward.
“I think,” Mint said as if correcting a child, “you’ll find that every single one of us is beautiful.”
Tulip gave Mint an amused look then faced Felicia. “She’s right, but don’t worry; when you see Winter, you’ll know who she is.”
Felicia didn’t say anything, but nodded her understanding. The image of the pink-haired Pixie was still floating in her mind.
How much more beautiful could Winter be?
Turret
HIGHER AND HIGHER they travelled, still choosing left at almost every fork, gradually spiralling up around the tree. The stone structure was nowhere to be seen, lost in all the leaves, but Felicia assumed that it was always nearby, somewhere close to the trunk.
They encountered three other Pixies. The first was a purple-winged girl with long blonde hair. She was working her way downward, and stopped when she saw Mint and Tulip.
“Hi,” she said to them, but really only the initial ‘huh’ sound came out as she saw Felicia.
“Hi Daffs,” Tulip said brightly as if nothing was amiss. “This is our friend Felicia.”
The Pixie just stared at the Vampire with wide, gorgeous eyes.
“Felicia, this is Daffodil. She’s normally very chatty. I’m not sure what’s wrong with her.”
Felicia briefly considered giving Daffodil a big smile that would show off her fangs, but decided to play nice and instead just gave her a friendly wave. “Hi, Daffodil.”
Daffodil didn’t seem prepared to say anything.
Tulip stepped closer to the new Pixie and whispered something into her ear. Daffodil’s eyes widened even more and her gaze slipped to Felicia’s lips. Then she averted her eyes and started walking again, quickly moving past Felicia, keeping her distance as much as the narrow path would allow.
“What did you say to her?” Felicia asked when blonde Pixie was out of earshot.
“Nothing really. Something about teeth and nipples.”
“What?” Mint said, confused. Evidently, Tulip hadn’t shared any details about her encounter with Felicia’s teeth.
Tulip giggled. “I happen to know that she likes to have her nipples nibbled.” She gave the Vampire a very serious look. “I’d take it as a personal favour if you make her beg for it.”
“Uh, okay,” was all Felicia could think of to say.
A few minutes later two other Pixies, walking hand in hand, hurried past them. The pair said hi to Mint and Tulip, gave Felicia a couple of giggles, and were gone.
“Minuet and Meadow,” Tulip said. “In case you were curious.”
“And yes,” Mint added, “you’ll probably need to have them both at the same time. There’s not much that can separate them.”
Finally, they reached a fork that was different from all the others. To the right, the path continued up but at a steeper angle. To the left was the stone structure and a moderate sized opening. Not a doorway, but a tall, narrow window. Mint and Tulip wrapped their wings around themselves and slid through with a minimum of difficulty. Felicia turned herself sideways and followed. The window was a couple feet taller than her, but just barely wide enough, and she scraped both her heels as she passed through.
“Ouch!” she complained when she reached the other side. They were standing on stone stairs that curved down to the left and up to the right. She inspected her feet and was relieved to find only minor abrasions. “This is what I get for leaving my shoes behind.”
“We’ll find some for you tomorrow,” Mint assured her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’ll be fine.” Felicia looked up the stairs. Along the outer wall were shallow sconces, each holding a flickering candle. They were spaced about ten feet apart, so she could see two of them and a hint of a third before the stairs curved out of sight. “Please tell me that we’re not still going up!”
“Sorry,” Tulip said as she started walking. “It’s not much farther though.”
They circled upward. At first there was no way to tell that this was the same structure that had looked so haphazard on the outside. From the smooth stairs to the curved walls and the arched ceiling, everything was perfectly crafted. Dwarves must have built it; no one else could work stone in such a manner, with every block flawlessly bonded to its neighbour and no sign of mortar or any suggestion of gaps.
Then things got weird.
It began with a subtle twisting of the entire pa
ssageway so that the steps were no longer horizontal, their tilt forcing Felicia and the Pixies to hold onto the inner wall as they climbed. Then, after another twenty steps, the passage took a seemingly unplanned sharp turn to the left. The stones here were stretched and warped, almost as if they had melted at some point. Then a few steps later everything looked normal again.
Now they started passing wooden doors on the left leading toward the centre of the structure, and more of the narrow windows opening outside like the one they had used when they first entered. These, however, didn’t seem usable as pathways back out to the tree.
And then, after way too many steps, they emerged into an open area: a large circular room furnished with a large table, several chairs and a long couch covered in an array of colourful cushions. The stone stairs ended here, but in the centre of the room was a metal staircase that made a tight spiral up to the floor above.
Tulip sat at the table and gave a relieved sigh. “We can rest here a bit,” she said, grabbing an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table. Mint followed suit.
Felicia suddenly realized that she hadn’t eaten since early in the morning on the other side of the world. She sat across from the Pixies and grabbed an orange speckled pear that looked delicious. “Is my room upstairs?” she asked, then took her first bite, revelling in the explosion of tangy juices.
“No,” Mint said between bites of her own. “That leads up to the top of the Turret.”
“And Winter’s room,” Tulip added.
“Yes, that too,” Mint agreed with a hint of reluctance. “Your room’s down there.” She pointed at the far side of the room where there was another stairway leading down that Felicia hadn’t noticed. It was made of stone similar to the one they had just climbed, but was much narrower. “Be careful the first time, there’s a bit of a…” and she paused, seemingly unable to think of an appropriate word.
“Discontinuity,” Tulip supplied. “I won’t try to describe it; you just need to try it once.”
Felicia smiled. “How often have you said that to a woman? You just need to try it once!”
Both Pixies laughed.
“Actually,” Tulip said, “I don’t think I’ve ever said that before.” She gave Felicia a look that managed to be both intense and shy. “I’ve never tried anything just once.”
Now Felicia laughed. “Or just twice, I imagine.”
Mint cocked her head to the side. “Someday you two are going to have to tell me what happened back at the curtain.”
“Someday,” Felicia agreed quietly, distracted by the thought of having one of Tulip’s nipples between her teeth, squeezing just enough to take the Pixie’s breath away, and then a little bit more.
As pleasant as that thought was, it still made her worry. Could biting, even playful pretend biting, trigger a return to her old ways?
She pushed that thought vehemently aside. No! I’ll never want blood again. Never!
The though of biting Tulip’s nipple lingered in her mind. She gave the Pixie a knowing, seductive smile.
Biting? No!
But nibbling… Yes!
Winter
“HELLO,” said a new voice, very softly. Felicia turned her head, for some reason expecting to see the pink-haired Pixie. Instead, standing at the base of the metal staircase, was Winter.
It had to be Winter; there was no doubt that this was the most beautiful woman in the world.
And Felicia was disappointed.
Yes, Winter was beautiful, even more so than Felicia had imagined possible. With straight, glossy black hair to her shoulders, pale white skin, silver coloured eyes and soft lips that just had a hint of red to them, no single feature was spectacular or without flaw, yet in combination they formed a face that was ridiculously perfect.
She was also slender and tall, maybe even taller than Felicia herself, and dressed in the manner of a hunter or a thief, in dark clothing that seemed to be made entirely of a dull brown leather. The outfit made every attempt to hide her body, there was no skin visible below her neck, nor was there any hint of feminine curves, yet somehow it managed to be provocative, amplifying the need to see what was hidden.
Yes, she was beautiful. Impossibly so.
And Felicia was disappointed.
Disappointed that Winter wasn’t the pink-haired Pixie.
Felicia became aware of how much time had passed, that for as long as she had stared at Winter no one had responded to the new Pixie’s greeting. Without looking she could tell that both Mint and Tulip were watching her, waiting for a reaction.
Expecting my eyes to bug out, I expect.
It seemed that any introductions were up to her. “Hello,” she said.
The Pixie gave a little bow. “Welcome. I’m Winter.”
“Yes, I know,” Felicia said, then realized that sounded odd. “I mean, Mint and Tulip told me about you, that you lived upstairs.”
Winter smiled warmly. “Yes, I live on the top floor, which is completely wonderful, except no one ever comes to visit me.”
Felicia found that surprising. Considering the way Mint and Tulip had spoken, she had expected a constant stream of Pixies would be ‘visiting’ Winter’s room.
“You get visitors,” Tulip corrected, finally speaking up, although she didn’t for a moment take her eyes off Felicia. “I come here all the time.”
“Yes, but you don’t exactly count as a visitor, do you?” Winter didn’t explain, but the meaning was somehow clear.
Felicia studied Winter’s face, trying to see whether she was serious or not, then looked back at Tulip. “You live here?” Felicia asked, unable to hide her surprise. “With Winter?”
Tulip sighed dramatically, as if this was something she was tired of explaining. “I do not live here,” she said. “I have a workshop in the basement, that’s all.”
“That’s right,” Mint said, with exaggerated emphasis. “Her room is back in the Tree.”
“Exactly,” Tulip agreed, although she appeared suspicious that Mint was on her side.
“And when was the last time you actually visited your room?” Mint asked.
“Yesterday, I think, or maybe the day before.”
“And the last time you slept there?”
“I don’t know,” Tulip said. “Why does that matter?”
Mint shrugged. “I just thought that Felicia might want to know where she could find you, in case she got… lonely.”
Felicia realized the game Mint was playing. “Yes,” she said, “If I get… lonely, where will I find you?”
Tulip glared at Felicia. “You too?” she said.
Felicia tried to look puzzled that Tulip would say such a thing. It was very apparent that the Pixie spent most of her time here, but it was also unclear why she didn’t want to admit to it.
Winter joined the fun. “Sometimes I get… lonely. It’s too bad that Tulip’s never here to comfort me.”
Tulip shifted her glare to Winter, who looked back at her with the barest hint of a smile on her lips.
“And even if you did find her in her workshop,” Mint said. “There no way you’d convince her to lie on her workbench and spread her legs.”
“No,” Winter agreed. “She hates it when you make her come on her bench. She’d never let you make her come so many times that she has to beg you to stop.”
Tulip had given up glaring at the other two Pixies. Instead, she picked up an apple and bit into it loudly, giving it her full attention.
Felicia pondered the interchange. The effortless and casual way Pixies discussed sex amazed her. She herself had rarely spoken in such a way to anyone, and only with a lover as a preamble to actual sex. The Pixies though, they talk about fucking each other as easily as I would talk about what to have for breakfast.
Beyond that, several things about the conversation puzzled her. Mint had said that she disliked Winter, but there was no sign of that now; the two of them had teamed up to tease Tulip with an ease that would have left Felicia assuming the three o
f them were friends.
And again, why didn’t Tulip want anyone to think that she lived here? Was it because Winter lived here too?
And most importantly, why doesn’t Winter have wings?
Felicia studied the Pixie. At first she hadn’t noticed the lack of wings, mainly because Winter’s odd, un-pixie-like clothing, not to mention her rather exceptional beauty, had distracted her. Now, however, she found the missing wings disconcerting, like seeing someone without arms.
The Pixie noticed her staring. “Is there something wrong?”
“Uh…” Felicia said, not sure if Pixies considered it rude to mention a wing deficiency.
“She thinks you dress weird,” Tulip said, not looking up from her apple.
Felicia felt a surge of relief. The Pixie’s attire was a little strange, and would explain why she was staring. Thank you Tulip!
“Oh,” Winter said, looking down at herself and her clothing. “Yes, well…” and she gave Mint a questioning look.
“Go ahead, tell her,” Mint said. “Ariel said to tell her everything she needs to know.”
Felicia couldn’t help notice the phrasing. Everything she needs to know.
Winter nodded, then addressed the Vampire. “I’ve been looking for the First Door.”
“The First Door?” This was the first Felicia had heard anything about doors.
Winter arched an eyebrow toward Mint, who just shrugged. “There are a few things we haven’t told her yet,” Mint said
“And our quest?” Winter said. “She does know about that, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, Ariel told me,” Felicia said. “She was a bit vague on the details though.”
“Our Goddess does like to keep her secrets,” Winter agreed. “In any event, Ariel has given us each a task. Mine is to find the First Door. Mint’s job was to find you. Tulip’s is to find a way to open the Doors.”
A Raspberry in the Dark - Tales of a Lesbian Vampire (The Pixie Chix) Page 2
