by P. Mattern
It was dim to the point of semi darkness inside, heavy drapes keeping out the last of the fading sunset. She fell against him, pulling his face down to hers, kissing him ferociously. They kissed uninterrupted for a few moments, and then he couldn’t stand it any longer.
He caressed her breasts on his way down her body to his ultimate destination, squeezing and biting her nipples which were an unusual blood orange color, sucking on each of them in turn. Falling on his knees in front of her, he lifted her skirt to expose the prominent mound of her pussy, and,spreading her vulva apart with his thumbs, began sucking on her clitoris.
She threw her head backward languidly and thrust her hips toward him, spreading her thighs for easier access. Her female wetness soon completely soaked Byrons entire face below his eyes, and he gloried in every aspect of it: the smell, the slick viscosity, the access to her innermost being it provided.
Lilith began convulsing against his mouth and he realized that she must be having a clitoral orgasm. A fresh gush of her natural lubrication poured out of her, and he decided his penis, the decidedly least deferred gratification part of his anatomy, needed its release. He picked her up in his arms and looked around .him.
Spying a low divan, he placed her on it, gently removing her clothing and what remained of his own before he lowered himself onto her, his throbbing cock plunging with force into the depths of her femininity. She was still wet with the nectar of lust, but her passage so tight that he came almost immediately, his groans of pleasure echoing her own.
Afterwards, they lay spent and entwined, the silence closely around them like a benediction. Byron felt that he had been cleansed somehow of all that had upset him earlier.
More importantly he felt something that he’d been searching for his entire life: acceptance. She was a creature also, albeit a creature from a different phylum, but they both were ‘different.’ The fact that she had accepted him, even though he was apparently a half-caste version of a vampire, made him feel accepted.
That, along with the fact that they’d been intimate, caused him to feel a sense of gratitude.
He knew what he was now. It explained a lot to him about the way in which he perceived the world and gave him a new perspective.
After Lilith had taken a brief restorative nap lying in the shelter of his arms, he had an opportunity to ask her more questions.
“Can I turn someone by fanging them? “he asked. “I can smell the blood bouquet you described through the skin of regular humans. Do Dhampirs drink human blood?”
He could hear her soft voice in the darkness.
“You would like it-it will taste much the same to you as it does to full on vampires. But you don’t NEED it in the same way we do. Being a hybrid you are able to get most of your nutritional needs met by eating human food.
But if you did go on a pure blood diet only, it would free you. You would never have to excrete anything. You would never have to blow your nose, or clean it out…you would never be reduced to doing the mundane things humans have to-because you are at least HALF immortal.”
Byron contemplated the information for a few moments. Then asked,
“What’s the down side Lilith? There must be one. Otherwise there would be more like me, wouldn’t there?”
He could feel her growing quiet, as if she wasn’t sure how to respond to his candid question. When she spoke there was a hesitancy and sadness that hadn’t been there before.
“Dhampirs are considered the lowest caste of vampire. Prejudice against dhampirs is rampant. Your kind is spit upon and scorned…
And sleeping with one is considered an abhorrent act-a crime against nature.
Some male vampires will never have sex with a female vampire who has ever lain with a dhampir-they consider that she is ruined, tainted somehow for mating with a dhampir.” she answered.
Byron was shocked.
“But how can they tell? “
Byron felt her guide his mouth gently to hers and they kissed for a brief moment.
“The scent never completely dissipates, it lingers…that’s how they can tell.”
Byron frowned in the darkness, trying to wrap his head around all that he’d become.
“So what do I smell like to a vampire? Is it bad?”
She leaned closely to him and inhaled deeply. Though he couldn’t see her he could feel her smiling in the dark.
“It’s the smell of meadow grass, in the sunlight-what I told you before. It’s a wonderful smell Byron.
I love your smell.” She finished, reaching for his manhood again.
It was the fourth time that Raven had circled the block, her heart pounding. Before she had begun her search for Byron she had checked their room to make sure he hadn’t taken his clothing before he’d left. She’d been relieved that he hadn’t, figuring that he in all likelihood would return at some point to gather his belongings if he were intending to leave.
On the other hand-it WAS Byron, and he was upset. Raven could totally see him never coming back again …not even to get his things.
The wind had picked up and blew away the tears falling from her eyes. She hadn’t realized she’d been crying. And the worst part was that her heart literally hurt in her chest, as though it had somehow been injured or torn from its moorings.
“I’m in trouble,” she thought to herself.”I did the thing I swore to myself that I would never do.
I love Byron!”
Just that thought started her tears flowing afresh, but she never broke her pace. She was headed down to the bar district, determined to locate Byron . She knew that she wouldn’t be able to either eat or sleep until she’d satisfied herself that he was really gone.
The first two bars she’d strolled through didn’t contain the blonde haired young man-but at the third dive she’d stopped into the waitress remembered someone meeting his description, reporting that he’d hooked up with a dark haired girl and left in a hurry.
“Grudge fuck.” Raven thought to herself. Surprisingly she felt a sense of relief-if he was fucking the dark haired girl then he was still in town and hadn’t taken off anywhere. She wondered how long she’d have to wait to see him again. Byron was an adroit love maker-it could be hours, especially if he was as frustrated as she now felt.
Raven couldn’t go back to the apartment. She had to keep walking. The sun was much lower in the sky now and the pale crescent ghost of the moon was beginning to rise as the sun set. Raven watched it ascend over the buildings as she passed them, feeling smaller than usual, and somewhat alone.
She was concentrating on her thoughts when she bumped full on into a man wearing a new smelling black leather jacket.
When she looked upward, frowning, she saw Byron’s handsome face.
Wordlessly she threw her arms around him, almost expecting a rebuff of some sort. Instead he immediately wrapped his own arms tightly around her as well.
For a minute they stood there, embracing with the desperation of two lost children glad to have found one of their own.
Raven pulled away first.
“You coming back?” she asked, followed by,
“Do you hate me now Byron?”
Byron looked down on her pretty uptilted face and realized that she’d been crying, this girl who never wept. That realization touched his heart and he cupped her face in both his hands.
“I’ll come back “, he said. “But I’ve already decided that I’m not staying there forever, Rave. I just can’t, any more than I could ever hate you, silly girl. I guess it was because I’m so naive that I didn’t realize what your “arrangement” with Tansy and Herb is-I thought you were just doing light housekeeping in exchange for your room and board-duh!
You TOLD me-you tried to tell me in the beginning. I just didn’t get it, and it’s not your fault.
But I can’t leave you here.” he finished ,pulling her closely to him, terse desperation in his voice, ”I know I have sex with other females, and I suppose what happens between you and Tansy and Her
b is business too, but it’s not okay with me. And I can’t pretend that it’s not happening.
Am I being a sexist pig? Am I being unfair?” he finished, questioningly.
Raven took his hand in her own small one and they began walking up the street together. For some reason she felt lighter, happier. Happier even than she’d been before the recent incident.
“L’amour.” She said saucily, cutting her eyes at him,”Isn’t that what the frenchies call it? We’re in love Byron. We’re in love enough to give each other the space to be with other people, but we always return home…and our true home is each other.”
He squeezed her hand. It was warm and fit perfectly into his. He couldn’t help but think that for a young girl she was very wise, because he really did love her.
There was a lot of uncertainty in his life-but that much he was sure of.
The next morning breakfast and Herb and Tansy’s was awkward. Byron had no choice but to join them because he, like Kristen and Chaz, was supposed to go over his schedule for the week. He knew he had dates with Mrs. K on Tuesday and Friday, probably would also have a client Wednesday. He didn’t expect to be booked all week however. Usually Chaz and Kristen worked six days a week but Byron had always had ‘light duty’ and it was all that he was used to.
It was immediately apparent that his easy routine was about to change.
“Let’s see here Byron.” Tansy said, looking at him over her reading glasses. In her hand she was holding a computer generated schedule.”You have Mrs. K of course at the regular times, Ms. D will be your Wednesday I think-the rest of the week you’ll be busy with modeling calls-mostly local. An indie publisher that headquarters here is always looking for hunky male models. That should be cinchy for you. We’ll give you directions and cab fare.”
Tansy’s tone was all business, but all Byron could think about was her spread eagled frontal nudity from the previous day. It was unsettling to remember.
Byron found he couldn’t stand the sight of Herb. Intellectually he knew Herb’s ‘arrangement’ with Raven long predated his own involvement with her, but he was still angry. As far as he was concerned, Herb was a child molester. Byron realized that in a sense, so were his female clients, but there was a big difference. His female patrons had seen his I.D. and at least THOUGHT they were screwing someone of age-and also he looked the part, really a full grown man now.
But Raven looked about 14-for all he knew she WAS 14, just a kid. Byron wasn’t sure the fact that Herb and Tansy hadn’t exposed her to street sex made up for the fact that they had kept her for their own sex toy, knowing that she had no place to go.
Raven had her head down, seemingly concentrating on her Honey Nut Cheerios. When she felt him staring at her, she tilted her face upward for a moment to smile at him slightly and give a wink, but her saw worry in her eyes. He realized that she was afraid that he would cause a scene.
Well, maybe he should.
Clearing his throat, he looked first at Tansy, who had stopped talking and was taking sips of her coffee, and then Herb. Looking Herb in the face was a mistake, because instantly he felt his blood pounding in his ears.
“Herb and Tansy, I would like to speak to you privately after breakfast.” He said, trying to reassure Raven by slipping his hand into her free hand. And finished,
“Alone. Privately.”
Byron noticed that Tansy and Herb locked eyes for a moment with each other, as though conferring silently. Tansy spoke then.
“Certainly Byron. If you have any concerns you know that you can always come to us.”
As Kristen departed for class(she was taking some classes toward getting her GED) and Chaz left for an early morning tryst with a well known city businessman in his office, Raven cornered Byron and looked up at him imploringly.
“Please.” She practically whispered, but he knew what she meant: please don’t cause a scene, please don’t get us thrown out.
“Don’t worry,” he said, smiling down on her and bending to kiss her pretty forehead. It was amazing how much shorter she had gotten, given his relentless growth spurt of late. And that was all he had time to say, because Herb and Tansy , who had been conferring in low voices outside of the kitchen, reentered, Tansy motioning Byron to follow them to the small office they’d set up down the hall.
There was no table to sit around there. Herb motion to a seat alongside a large wooden ‘partner’s desk’ that looked to be from a different era. Tansy took a seat on the side of the desk near Byron, Herb pulled a chair away from the wall and sat directly across from him.
“What’s on your mind, Byron?” Herb asked, guilelessly looking Byron in the eye.”I assume this is about the other day?”
Byron kept his gaze steady.
“Only vaguely. I want to discuss our working contract. I’m envisioning some changes to our arrangement.” Byron said, his tone casual and businesslike.
This elicited a chuckle from Herb, who scratched his head in the idiosyncratic way he did when thinking something over.
“Byron you get free room and board. We bear all your expenses. Everything you make from your ‘dates’ is pocket money. I don’t see how we can do any better.”Herb said decisively. Byron gathered from Herb’s tone that he was used to fielding complaints from his working charges-and not giving into their requests.
This time, Byron determined, would be very different.
Byron smiled his slow, lazy, confident signature smile, first in Tansy’s direction, then Herbs. Tansy was looking at him very strangely, as if she might have a premonition of what was about to go down.
Byron shot out of his chair and, elevating Herb until his feet were no longer touching the ground, easily pinned him against a space on the office wall by his shoulders. Byron noted with a sense of satisfaction that the act seemed effortless due to his unusual strength. When Tansy shot out of her seat to come to Herbs aid Byron easily kept Herb against the wall with a single hand pressed hard into Herb’ solar plexus while he held the top of Tansy’s head far enough away so that her flailing arms couldn’t reach him.
“Folks,” Byron said calmly, allowing Herb to slide to the ground.”I see that I have your attention.”
“Sorry about the brute force,” he continued.”I used it only to make a point. It’s one facet of a repertoire of abilities I have. Here’s another.”
As Herb and Tansy stared at him, their eyes widened in shock, Byron let out his repressed feelings of anger at the couple. He allowed himself to think of the damage done to Raven on a soul level, forced in to concubinescence at a tender age, an age when most young girls were giggling about getting their first kiss and applying makeup for the first time.
There was a gasp from both of them when they saw his fangs protrude. Tansy stood and pressed herself against the opposite wall of the office, making low indiscernible noises in her throat.
But Byron had saved the best for last…staring at each of them in turn until his mesmerization powers had effectively kicked in , he spoke slowly.
Tansy sit at your desk and draw up a contract in which I retain 70% of my earnings. Both you are herb are to sign it, as well I.
As far as Raven is concerned, both of you will have the same reaction to any thought of involving her in your twisted sexual scenarios-you will start sweating profusely and become extremely nauseous.
Now get busy!” he finished, giving them each an electrical zap to cancel out any memory they would normally retain of the last 5 minutes.
All was quiet as Tansy robotically typed out a contract, and ran off three copies which they all signed. At the end, Byron shook hands with both of them and exited, smiling.
Say what they would about Dhampirs, being a Dhampir had its perks
“No, WAIT!” Raven said , jumping up excitedly as she took both of Byron’s hands,”Tell me that again! You get a bigger cut from your work AND they said I don’t have to do threesomes again…ever?”
Byron looked down at her fondly, marveling at her newfound enth
usiasm. It was as though she’d been set free.
“They didn’t actually SAY that,” he answered, trying to be as truthful as possible. “But wait and see. They both have some, er, health issues and I think that will be slowing them down, you know?”
Raven giggled happily.
“That’s fine with me!” Her voice grew quieter.
“Byron? Would you ever consider leaving? With me I mean?”
Byron felt a flood of unexpected emotion, and pulled Raven closely into him.
“I’d never leave without you…I can tell you that! “
He pulled back for a minute to look her up and down.
“You are the most beautiful, loving, tough talking little female on the planet. I never want to be away from you for a minute! But we have to be uber smart about this, Rave. Not a word. We need more money. Let’s keep this a secret for awhile, just play along and in a few weeks we’ll have enough to move on and start over, I promise.”
Raven relaxed into his arms again. Holding her had a mysterious effect on him. In some ways he felt the most secure when he was holding her-and a feeling of security was one of the feelings that had eluded him his entire life.
He desperately wanted to tell her about his being “different” at that moment. He was kind of surprised that she hadn’t remarked on how much he’d changed physically even over the course of the past few weeks. Raven definitely looked almost a decade younger than he did. When they were together they appeared to be a man in his mid twenties with a girl in her midteens. But they had a bond-a strong one- and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.
When he held her in his arms, he felt secure and protected himself.
A few weeks later Byron hummed to himself as he walked confidently up the street to the brownstone. He’d been gone the entire day, answering modeling calls from 7 am to 6:30 p.m. He was famished and tired but elated-he’d gotten picked up by a fashion house for a few gigs as well as chosen for a spread in a magazine geared to the local garment district in the city.
