by Dana Piazzi
One by one, they popped open and she smiled as she moved on. She wiped the glass on the cases as she passed and waved to them all, feeling a distant affection for each one. They were all handsome in some way and had attracted her by their uniqueness. Now, they all lived here, belonging to her, until she no longer needed them. All the tanks were full of men of various ages: some looking like young men, some in their fifties, and some older, almost geriatric.
Elena stopped at the last tank and tapped it hard. The man inside opened his dark aged eyes and growled at her. She smiled wider because he had been her first in New York. He’d lasted longer than she’d imagined he would—five years now—and he’d just now reached an age where he was no longer useful.
“Ah, Simon…” She sighed wistfully as she looked at his wrinkled skin and hunched stature. He’d been only nineteen when she’d taken him, and now he looked seventy. Her withdrawals from him had barely still held the power to sustain her beauty about a year ago, and she’d known his time was almost over.
She had been at this a long time, taking youth from men to sustain herself, but she loved the modern age. No one was afraid of witchcraft; they embraced it. It had almost become a popular thing to do, to play with. Too bad none of them had her power. Too bad none of them knew of what she was capable, what she had done.
She tapped the tank again and she saw him mouth the word Bitch. She laughed aloud and admired his spirit, even now after everything.
She put her hand against the tank, making it glow a sickly green. “This will be your last time, Simon,” she whispered with a sick smile. “Let’s make it a good one.” Sparks shot from his eyes before he started convulsing. The Power rushed over her through her fingers and she felt it wrap around her and into her very DNA. Her skin began to burn and tingle, and she felt the last year begin to slip away again, bringing her back to her normal youth. He collapsed against the glass as the green glow faded and she smiled.
She pushed the button at the top and the fluid inside drained out. She whispered the spell to release him, and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, unable to rise. His breathing was shallow and Elena could see the specter of death hovering near. She’d given him a lot of business the last five hundred years and couldn’t have been happier.
She leaned down and lifted Simon’s chin with her cool fingers as he shivered and gasped. She stroked back his white hair, remembering the long, black Italian hair that he’d had when he’d first come to her. It seemed like yesterday, but now his time was done.
“Goodbye, Simon,” she said softly. “It’s been fun.”
With a gentle shove, she rolled him over onto his back and ran her hand over his eyes. The chip of her magic mirror that she used to control him slid out onto her palm, and she motioned for her guards to take him away. He tried to scream, but it came out as a dry, papery gasp. The men lifted him up as if he weighed nothing more than a feather.
She didn’t even watch as he was dragged away. He would end up on the streets, another homeless old person, unable to be identified, who’d died in the chill of the winter night. She’d made sure he wouldn’t be identified by melting his fingerprints off with acid. It was a little severe, perhaps, but a necessary evil to preserve her.
She sat down across from the remaining tanks and turned on the light on her vanity table. The light shone brightly, caressing her perfect features. She had long, black hair that hung to her waist stick straight, thanks to her Native American father, but she had the Iris green eyes of her mother. Her features were an exotic blend of Indian and Celtic that had served her well over the years since she’d first began taking life. She’d never lacked for men glad to follow her to a certain doom, even if they didn’t realize it.
She smoothed her hair and grinned as a seventeen-year-old face and body stared back at her. Not bad, she thought to herself as she looked into the mirror. She’d been seventeen for five hundred years and planned to be that age forever. Her eyes flashed in the mirror, a haze of shadow drifting over them, but she ignored it. She knew that shadow was her madness manifesting itself, but she’d learned to embrace it; she’d learned to like it.
She turned back and studied her tanks. Two were empty now, Simon’s and her pet who’d died earlier. Now she only had three men, and she needed five. She slid her hands down her shirt and unbuttoned it, allowing her ample breasts encased in their lacy red bra to show. She adjusted her skirt, making sure that the length was short enough and showed her thigh and grabbed her purse. It was time to go hunting.
The soft hiss of air on her cheek woke her and Tess smacked her hand at it, praying that it would stop so that she could go back to sleep. The air blew harder and she opened one blue eye, glaring at the perpetrator. Her brunette hair stirred again and she growled. Ian smiled down at her, stopping his blowing on her face with an innocent smile. If he hadn’t been so sexy, she might have hit him.
Ian smiled as he pursed his lips again and blew harder. His green eyes smiled down at her, and even though she wanted to kill him for waking her up, his rumpled, blonde hair glowed in the early morning light, making him look like an angel. Tess opened her other eye and growled again, but he only smiled. His crocked smile did what it always did: made her forgive him.
“I don’t think anyone would blame me if I killed you, you know.” She moaned grumpily as she pulled a pillow over her face. “I think I could hide your body and no one would ever know,” she mumbled as she pulled the pillow over her face, as much to block him out as to stop herself from grabbing him. They’d been friends since they were five, but she’d loved him from the moment she’d met him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know she was alive that way. It broke her a little every time he ignored what should be obvious.
Ian pulled the pillow off her face and smacked her with it. She covered her head with her hands and tried to burrow under the blankets. She wondered if she ignored him if he would go away, or if she would suffocate first while waiting for him to leave.
“Oh, no you don’t, lazy ass! Get up,” Ian said, pulling the covers off with a quick yank, leaving her in only her tank top and boy panties. She screeched as he slapped a large hand on her butt, making it sting. She flipped around and kicked his leg, hard, causing him to land on the bed. She didn’t move fast enough, and he landed on top of her.
A loud “OOF “escaped her lips as the air was squished out of her. Ian smiled as she pushed at his weight, but found himself frozen, the smile slipping slowly from his face, as he became aware of her body underneath him. Ian had always thought that she was cute, and had even tried to set her up with some of his friends, but it had never worked. He’d always been protective of his relationship with her, and now, looking down into her blue eyes with her chestnut curls tickling his face, he wondered if he sabotaged the set up’s on purpose. Ian’s brow creased as the realization of what that meant and what his feelings really were hit home … and it freaked him out.
Ian scrambled off her and faced the window, trying desperately to control the urges that he was doing his best to ignore. She fell silent behind him, and he almost dared turn to look at her. He never got to, because the swish of air reached his ears a moment before her pillow hit him and knocked him off the bed.
A tousled brown head appeared over the side of the bed and her blue eyes sparkled with mischief as she looked down at him. Ian could barely breathe as he looked up at her. He tried telling himself it was because she’d just hit him with the pillow, but he knew better.
“Well, lazy ass,” she said with a wink as she repeated his words. “Maybe you’re the one who should get up.”
Ian thumped his head on the floor and growled at her bad pun. She smiled again and jumped off the bed, giving him an excellent view of her tiny boy shorts as she walked to the bathroom. He thumped his head on the floor again, wondering what he was going to do, now that he realized he was in love with his best friend.
Tess closed the bathroom door with more nonchalance than she felt. She breathed heavily and put h
er hand to her heart as she leaned against the door. She felt the grain digging into her back, but almost didn’t notice it. She closed her eyes and relived, again, the feel of him on top of her and how he’d looked at her with that lazy, sexy expression.
She’d been in love with him since the day they’d been made table partners at preschool, and now she wondered what she was going to do. He played with her like she was just another one of his friends, and it killed her. She hated watching him date other girls. In fact, she wanted to scratch their eyes out, but she wasn’t sure what to do. For a moment, she had considered opening the door, walking back out to the bedroom, and pushing him back onto the bed to make him see her as more than just a friend.
The bathroom door shook under her back and she jumped at Ian’s voice on the other side of the door. “Hurry up, or we’re going to be late for the movie! You know my mom is too cheap to give me enough money for anything other than a matinee!”
“Maybe you should get a job!” she shouted back. “You are seventeen now, you know.”
“But when would I have time to satisfy all the ladies in my life if I had a job?” Ian’s voice sounded cocky, but somehow, she knew he was irritated at her continued needling about a job.
“What ladies?” she asked with a snarky laugh.
“Hurry up,” he growled again, “or I might leave you here and go find someone who appreciates me.”
Tess smiled and caught her own eyes in the mirror. She knew that look and that, where Ian was concerned, she was in trouble. She shrugged and reached for her jeans and T-shirt, then hurried to get ready.
Ian and Tess got to the movie theater in time for the previews, which was the best part, as far as Tess was concerned. They were seeing Divergent, and Tess couldn’t wait. She’d gone on and on about Theo James and how hot she thought he was, and Ian had just made puking sounds in response. They walked past a café beside the theater when a strong wind blew up. Ian sneezed and rubbed his eyes, and then stopped in his tracks. Tess’s words died on her lips as she saw the direction of his gaze.
The woman was stunning. Even Tess could admit that in a totally non-lesbian kind of way. Her long, straight black hair and green eyes were a startling combination. But even though she knew she was pretty, Tess sensed something dark in the woman, even from this distance. Something about her was too perfect, as if she was trying too hard to appear normal and nonthreatening. Tess shoved Ian’s arm and tried to pull him away, but all he could do was stare.
“Ian, what’s wrong with you?” she hissed, poking him on the chest. “Stop staring! You look like a stalker! We’re going to be late for our movie.”
Ian shrugged her off, as if she didn’t even exist. Tess jerked back as if he’d just slapped her. Ian had never ignored her like that before. She tugged his sleeve again, waving a hand in front of his face, but he just blinked, turning to look at her as if he had just realized that she was standing there. “I…I’m sorry,” he muttered softly. “Why don’t you go get us two seats?”
“Excuse me?” Tess sputtered, and punched him hard in the arm. “Who do you think you are? I am not your slave!”
Ian jerked and shook his head as he rubbed his arm. “Oww!” he said grouchily. “You have a nasty right hook! Remind me never to get on your dark side.”
“Move,” she said with mock severity as she grabbed him and pulled him away. She plowed ahead and didn’t look back, not noticing that he did.
Elena smiled and winked at the blond staring at her. It had been so easy. Maybe too easy, she thought to herself as she looked across the café at him. She’d known that he was the one the minute she’d seen him, but the feisty little brunette hanging on his arm gave her pause. She’d conjured the wind and sent the crystal, anyway, because this boy was amazing.
The crystal embedded within him perfectly, and he looked at her in astonishment. She smiled and tried to reel him in, but the girl got in the way. She pushed with her mind and saw him shrug the girl’s hand off. So, she leaned forward, showing more cleavage, but the girl got his attention again, anyway.
Elena frowned and tried to push harder with her mind, but the boy just walked away. Elena growled and cast a spell to increase her pull. The boy turned and looked back, catching her eyes, and she smiled.
Ian woke in the dead of night and shivered. The silence of the deep night wrapped around him. Normally, he would have gone back to sleep, but something urged him to rise. His eyes stung and he rubbed at them, but it didn’t help. He stalked to the window, pushing his tousled blond hair back, and rubbed at the frost on the window, amazed by it. Southern Georgia hardly ever got snow, and now here it was coming down in large flakes.
Ian laced up his shoes as the need to be outside compelled him to leave the house. He’d never done anything like this before, but somehow, he couldn’t resist. Stepping out into the snowy darkness, he opened the door quietly and stepped out into the unnatural quiet of the night. The moon hung low overhead, full and red.
A hunter’s moon, he thought to himself as he stared at it and marveled at its light. His eyes flickered to the quick movement at the end of his driveway and then he saw her.
She was dressed all in white; a white lace shirt, long white skirt slit up to her thigh, and a long white duster, which reached her feet. The white fur lining the collar highlighted her startling green eyes and long dark hair, making her look as if she were a princess out of a fairy tale. The large, white flakes landed on her hair like a kiss and sparkled like diamonds. She smiled and Ian felt himself moving forward without realizing that he was doing it.
He shivered, but wasn’t afraid. The smile that reached her green eyes made him feel safe. He moved toward her as if in a trance and stopped in front of her. He reached a hand out for her, but hesitated, as suddenly, Tess’s smiling face appeared in his mind’s eye. He shook his head as sanity returned with his awareness of the cold.
“What the hell am I doing?” he asked in a sleep-husky voice as he began to shake. “Who are you?” He tried to back away, but suddenly, he felt his body lockup as if frozen.
She sauntered toward him, not worried at all. She ran her hands over his face and smiled broadly as she stroked his face and leaned close to brush snowflakes off his hair. “You know who I am,” she said softly as she moved closer, running her lips along his jaw. “I’m your dream woman.”
Ian jerked as if hit. He’d always thought that his dream woman was Tessa, but now, standing so close to this beautiful woman, he was confused. His head swirled and danced and he couldn’t seem to clear the fog inside his head. Her eyes sparked and flashed, and he couldn’t seem to look away. She kissed him gently on the lips. Suddenly, he no longer felt the cold and it terrified him. He struggled to move, but was still frozen.
She smiled and he began to sweat. She moved in again and her lips zeroed in on his. He tried to turn his head, but she smiled at his inability to move.
“Get off me,” he growled, struggling to move away, even though he knew it was useless. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, but stay away from me!”
She laughed softly and stroked her hands over his arms and his chest with a very predatory grin. “I knew you were the one.” She sighed softly as she snuggled against him. His arms moved to encircle her despite the voice screaming in his head for him to stop.
“The one for what?” he hissed as he glared at her.
“For me, silly! You are perfect.” She moved in again and her lips found his, as a bright light flared between them. Suddenly, he felt as if a brush were moving over his mind, sweeping it clean. He forgot everything: his family, his friends, his very life…and only saw her. “Delicious!” She smiled toothily before the world went black.
Tessa woke with a start, her breath coming fast and harsh as she tried to shake the dream. She ran to the window and looked out as a ribbon of cold wrapped around her. She shivered in the night air and couldn’t believe that there was snow falling softly in the moonlight. She rubbed her arms and sighed, knowin
g it was just a dream, but she couldn’t shake the worry about Ian. She picked up her phone and dialed fast and waited. His voice came through a moment later on his voice mail and she sighed. It was two in the morning and he was probably fine. She told herself that she was being stupid.
She curled up beneath her blanket and watched the unseasonal snow fall. But as she watched the white flakes drift down, she couldn’t rid herself of the sick feeling that something was wrong. She welcomed the morning before falling into a fitful, nightmare-ridden sleep.
The pain started to bubble to the surface and Ian screamed as he jerked awake. Then, he did the only thing that he could do: he followed his body’s natural instinct and began to beg for the pain to stop. He jerked and pulled against the fluid surrounding him. His lungs were filled with it and his mind panicked, afraid of drowning, even though he was breathing the liquid.
He arched and screamed again as the all-encompassing pain wrapped around him. He shivered in the thick fluid as its unnatural glow blinded him. He fought, but felt the muscles in his runner’s body tingle as they reached their limit. He realized that it did him no good. The pain continued, hot and fierce, but he could do nothing. The glow began to fade and he slumped down inside the fluid, feeling more tired than he ever had after any track meet.
