by K.N. Lee
“How did you...? I looked, the cupboard was empty!”
Aethelu took her into the cupboard and flicked a switch which made the walls of the tiny room retract, revealing a large room with a billiard table in the middle. As it was an internal room, it was easy to miss the size discrepancy between the inside and the outside of the house. The giant staircase in the main hall had a big part to play in hiding a room this size. Indeed, as Anais looked around, she could see the underside of the steps formed part of the ceiling of the room. Being hidden behind the main staircase, also meant it was lit only by artificial light, in this case, a long rectangular light shade above the huge billiard table in the centre.
As well as the billiard table, Anais noticed the chess set that Aethelu and herself had played with in her room when she was still imprisoned. A well-used dartboard hung on the wall with tiny holes dotting the wall around it proving that the houses inhabitants weren’t all accomplished at everything. She then remembered the hopeless throwing of snowballs by Aethelu and the twins and smiled. She’d have to challenge them all to a darts match someday. Various retro pinball machines lined the walls, lights blinking and long ago won high scores flashing. As Anais watched, Aethelu turned on a switch and a massive jukebox came to life. Its brightness made up for the lack of natural light in the room. A couple more buttons and it started to play. The song was a cheesy disco hit from the seventies. Aethelu held her hands out and waited.
“What?” Anais asked
“Dance with me.”
“Here? There’s not enough space.”
Anais flicked a switch on the wall and a light shone, directed at a mirror ball that Anais had not noticed. Spots of light danced around the room as the mirror ball spun.
It was so tacky, but nevertheless, Aethelu still stood there with her arms open and with a grin on her face.
Anais laughed and moved toward Aethelu, unable to resist.
They jumped around to the beat, Aethelu attempting some seriously tacky disco moves. Anais was amazed to realise she was enjoying herself. She copied some of the disco moves and laughed. Aethelu grabbed her hand and twirled her around. The lights spun around her with dizzying effects.
All too soon, the tune ended. Aethelu had just enough time to catch her breath before the jukebox made a series of clicks and another song came on. The song had been a big hit in the fifties. It was a slow song with a tuneful melody.
Aethelu put her arms around Anais causing her to gasp. She wasn’t sure what she was expected to do now. She was acutely aware her arms were just sort of flopping around at her side. She could either ride out the whole song, feeling awkward with her arms doing nothing, or she could give in to her feelings and put her arms around Aethelu. Choosing the second option, she was surprised at how normal it felt. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but she wasn’t expecting it to feel so right. She rested her head on Aethelu’s shoulder, as they swayed together to the music. Her eyes were closed, but she could still see the small flashes of light that bounced off the mirror ball. She could hear the sound of Aethelu breathing over the song, so close were Aethelu’s lips to her ear, and she could feel the beat of her heart, echoing her own beating rhythm.
She held her breath. Anais never wanted it to end. The fifties crooner belted out the last few lines and the jukebox clicked signalling the end of the song.
Anais was sorry that the song had ended, but the sound of people on the stairs above her caused her to let go of Aethelu and look at her questioningly.
“Dinner time!” Aethelu answered.
Whatever they were all doing, the family always made time to get together for the evening meal in the large dining room. Each evening was a big event with the household dressing up. Heavy silver cutlery was used and champagne was served, as if it was water flowing from the taps. Each meal consisted of three courses and lasted hours, and it was usually followed by more champagne in the parlour. Aethelu assured Anais that they only ate this way over the Christmas season when she worried aloud that she’d not be able to fit into her clothes much longer.
The dining room was probably still in its original decorative state, austere and old fashioned in the same deep red and panelling as the hallway. What made it different though, were the amazing paintings decorating the walls. They were a similar style to the ones in the parlour, but unlike the rainbow of colours, these were more sombre and deep in hues of reds and purples. Like the ones in the parlour, they were abstract, but the longer Anais looked at them, the more she could see. They reminded Anais of the game she’d played as a child, when she’d laid on the grass or beach and tried to find patterns or objects in the shapes of the passing clouds. When she remarked on how fascinating she found the paintings one dinnertime she was surprised to be told that they were in fact painted by Aethelu herself.
That night, after dinner, Aethelu took Anais out of the kitchen door, through the courtyard to the outbuildings they had climbed on during the snowball fight. Whilst Aethelu was searching through her pockets for her keys to one of the outbuildings, it gave Anais a chance to really look at the buildings. They were, obviously, originally built as a coach house or stables, or quite probably both, but now they looked like they had been split into different rooms, two different rooms, judging by the number of doors. They were followed by two double garage doors at the end.
Aethelu finally found the keys she was looking for, opened the door, and had Anais follow her into the dark room. Aethelu flicked a switch, and light flooded the room. The sight that greeted Anais made her take a deep intake of breath. It was obviously an artist’s studio, with art supplies covering the floor, but it was the walls that bowled Anais over; or rather, what was on the walls. Originally painted white, they were now covered, floor to ceiling, with the most amazing paintings Anais had ever seen. Aethelu had experimented with many different styles, from the abstract paintings such as in the main house to portraits, which were so lifelike that they almost looked like photographs. However, they had a surreal quality to them, with many other things going on in each painting. One of Arcadia, for example, had her sitting in a film director’s chair looking poised, her legs crossed. She was smoking what appeared to be a rolled-up $100 bill. Each strand of her hair had been painstakingly painted, but it was not normal hair. Each strand was painted as ribbons, intricately braided. It was also a deep red colour and waved around the painting in perfect coils. Wild birds perched atop her head.
The painting of Andrew had his features but was made up of wire, weaved and coiled intricately into an image of his face.
Anais passed from one to the other, finding the images strangely beautiful and sometimes startling. Each one had hidden images within images, like an enigma. She took a moment to take in the full length of the room. It was a double height room with a split level. A ladder led to an open plan mezzanine floor which had a glass balustrade. There was a big bathtub next to the glass and beyond that, Anais could just make out a bed. On the lower level there was a tiny kitchen and a small room which Anais guessed to be a toilet. The only windows in the room were high up near the ceiling allowing for more wall space on which to hang paintings. If there was an inch of wall space free, Anais was yet to see it. She climbed the ladder to get a better view of the higher paintings. Once at the top, she turned around, and that’s when she noticed the biggest painting of all. She’d had her back to it the whole time, as it was on the opposite wall to the mezzanine. It filled the whole end wall and was a painting of a young girl aged about six or seven. Unlike the other portraits it was not made up of many bizarre images, but it still had a dreamlike quality to it. The brown haired girl was surrounded by light shining from her, and she was looking towards the night sky, which was flecked with thousands of stars. Beautiful flowers surrounded her feet echoing the star-filled sky. It was, by far, the most striking painting there. Anais couldn’t take her eyes from it. She only sensed Aethelu was right behind her by the breath on her neck.
“Do you like it?”
> “It’s Anna isn’t it?”
“It’s how I remember her; beautiful, full of energy. My father described her as a little ball of lightning. That’s how he got the name of his elixir, The Light. It was really named for her, although she never took it. If I’m going to be honest, I can’t really remember exactly what she looked like now. She died before photography was invented and I took up painting many hundreds of years later. I just remember that she was beautiful, like an angel, and that painting is how remembering her makes me feel.”
Anais had never thought of paintings in that way before; not to look like how a person looks, but painted to show how they make you feel.
Anais tingled. She could feel Aethelu’s breath on her neck. She closed her eyes.
“How would you paint me?”
Anais could still feel Aethelu breathing, but she remained silent. After many long seconds, Aethelu moved away. Anais heard movement behind her and then running water. She heard Aethelu climbing down the ladder and then back up again and lots of banging and scraping. When she finally opened her eyes and turned round, she saw that Aethelu had set up an easel. The bath had been filled with water, but Aethelu had added something to give it a gold sheen. From her position on the mezzanine, Anais could see that it was a perfectly round tub surrounded by mosaic tiles. Light danced off the surface of the water, thanks to the golden bath oil and flowers floated on the top.
“Get in.”
Anais stood still for a moment contemplating what she was expected to do. Aethelu sensed her hesitation and smiled. She walked over to the bath and put her hand in.
“Look.”
Anais looked down. Aethelu’s hand was only a couple of inches under the surface, but the gold oil in the bath completely enveloped it so it could not be seen. When she brought her hand out the gold clung to it, so that it looked like she had been painted in gold paint.
Aethelu quickly wiped her hand on a nearby cloth, removing all traces of the gold, and then busied herself in setting up her palate.
Anais checked to see that Aethelu wasn’t looking, and then as quickly as she could, she threw her clothes off and jumped into the tub, sloshing golden water over the sides. Aethelu was still not paying her any attention, so Anais lay back in the water. Great wafts of steam floated up from the surface, and on closer inspection, the flowers she had seen earlier were not real, but lifelike plastic. These too were gold. The water came up to her neck, and something in the gold oil was reacting with the water creating tiny bubbles which tickled her skin and popped pleasantly on the surface. This must be what bathing in champagne feels like, mused Anais, and indeed, the gold oil gave off a most wonderful aroma, akin to champagne and strawberries. She felt wonderful in the hot bath whilst the air around her was still frigid, as the room had no heating that she could see. She blew a couple of breaths which she could still see in the freezing air and which mingled with the steam from the bath. Looking down, she could only see the shimmering surface of the water. It made her feel less naked, somehow, and braver. She lifted a hand out of the water and like Aethelu’s hand had, it shimmered and sparkled with a thousand tiny glittering specks. She lifted her toes out and inspected them. Like her hand, they also glittered in the light. She put her head back and lay in the water almost totally submerged, with just her face above the surface. She was enjoying all the sensations, the heat of the water, the coldness of her face and the light that twinkled out of the corner of her eyes. She almost didn’t notice Aethelu’s face appear above her, nor did she hear what Aethelu said as her ears were under the water and filled with the sounds of a million tiny bubbles popping. She grinned and then brought her head out of the water.
“Sit still, up a bit, shoulders out of the water.”
Anais did as she was told and positioned her arms out along the rim of the bath.
“Perfect, now stay still.”
She sat there, still, for what felt like hours as Aethelu, hidden by the easel, worked away at her painting, poking her head out from behind the canvas every so often to check on her subject. In actuality Anais had only been there twenty minutes, judging by the clock on the wall by the bed, but her arms were getting pins and needles and she was beginning to ache. Aethelu, kept popping her head out from behind the easel hardly seeming to notice the passing of time, so absorbed was she in her painting. Anais had to move her arms though. She brought them down to her side and rubbed them vigorously to bring feeling back to them. She was also starting to get a little chilly.
“Can we take a break?”
Aethelu put down her paints and came over to Anais. She flicked a switch and the bath came to life with jets of bubbles flowing out all around her. It was a Hot Tub! The water also began to heat up once more, which Anais was grateful for. Bubbles danced around her body as they journeyed up to the surface, where they popped merrily on the golden sheen. Aethelu disappeared down the ladder and came back moments later with a bottle of champagne and a glass. She popped the cork and handed Anais the glass.
Anais sipped the champagne and felt like she was floating away on the bubbles. Its cold crispness tasted all the more delicious against the heat of the hot tub and she could feel the crisp taste of it travel all the way down her throat. When she had finished, Aethelu topped up her glass, although she poured none for herself.
The sensation of bubbles tickling her throat from the champagne matched the bubbles from the hot tub playing all over her body and made her feel all the more aware of her nudity. She caught Aethelu looking at her intently which made her feel slightly nervous. Checking quickly once again to see that the gold oil did, indeed, cover her completely, she relaxed back into the sensation of bubbles and heat.
All too soon Aethelu flicked the switch that quieted the water jets and the surface smoothed out once more. Anais put her arms back into position, but this time with the champagne glass in her hand, which she sipped from occasionally. The water was now so hot that Anais was surprised Aethelu would be able to see her at all through the steam.
Sensations drifted through her pleasantly. She felt something else too, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, and it was a feeling of reckless abandon, of being totally alive and for the first time in her life, feeling totally beautiful and more than a little sensual.
She didn’t know if it was the champagne or the gold oil covering her that was making her feel bold but when Aethelu next peeked out from behind the canvas Anais looked directly into her eyes. Unblinking, she smiled ever so slowly. She felt empowered. Her feet that had been bobbing on the surface now found the hot tub floor and she stood, gold oil dripping down around her.
She drained the glass of champagne and placed it on the side of the tub. Suddenly the coldness of the air hit her and the combination of champagne and rapid temperature change was beginning to make her feel lightheaded and dizzy. She sat back quickly in the tub and closed her eyes already regretting her shameless show. Seconds later, she heard Aethelu put down her paints. Anais tried to look, but her eyes were just too heavy to open.
She felt Aethelu moving a stray lock of hair that had fallen over her face, being careful not to touch her skin with her ungloved hand.
Anais waited for something to happen, but she didn’t know what. She could feel the anticipation in the air.
Seconds later, lips touched hers, softly kissing her. Cold lips against her heated mouth brought a more wonderful sensation than the champagne had. The same reaction that had happened when Aethelu touched her finger was now building up, drawing blood to her head. A million electrical impulses shot to every nerve of her body, running up towards the central concentration of her lips. Almost as soon as it started, it ended, and the sensation stopped, leaving Anais with tingling lips. Another sensation of electricity ran through her, although she knew it had nothing to do with The Light and everything to do with how she felt about Aethelu. The kiss had lasted less than a few seconds but qualified as the single most breathtaking moment of her life. Her whole body was now tingli
ng with pleasure, but the dizziness was now threatening to overcome her. She opened her eyes and tried to stand, but the heat, the champagne and then the kiss had made her feel so lightheaded that she began to sway, before finally falling over. Aethelu caught her with a towel and carried her over to the bed. Anais felt so tired that she didn’t even open her eyes when Aethelu gently wrapped her in the towel. When Aethelu began to softly towel dry her hair, the motion finally sent Anais off to sleep.
Hours later, Anais awoke. She felt amazing after her long sleep. It was dark now, with the only light coming through the windows from the moon. She glanced at the clock and could just make out the time through the darkness. It was 4am.
Smiling, she remembered the events of last night, the kiss! Her lips still had a faint tingle in them after all these hours. She had never kissed, or in this case been kissed by a girl before. She’d never even thought about it, but now it was all she could think about. She looked over at Aethelu, who was now sleeping fully clothed on the other side of the bed. The moonlight illuminated her face, but Anais knew that even without the moonlight she would be able to see her.
Aethelu looked so pale with her silver hair fanned out around porcelain skin. Her lips were red and slightly moist. Up close she could see that Aethelu used mascara to hide her colourless eyelashes. She had a serene expression in sleep which made her look even more beautiful. Anais had an overwhelming desire to kiss her, but she held back. She thought about the impact of her falling for a woman, but then realised it wasn’t the fact Aethelu was a woman that she should be worrying about, but the fact the woman in question was 600 years old. The whole thing was surreal, but oh so exciting. The whole of the last week or so had already been life-changing and it seemed everything that had happened to her had brought her to this moment in time. She realised it didn’t matter that Aethelu was a girl or that she was nearly immortal. None of it mattered, the only thing that mattered was the here and now and the overwhelming fact that she wanted to kiss her again--desperately. She moved her face to within an inch of Aethelu’s. Hesitating a moment, she brushed her lips against Aethelu’s. She waited for the electric sensation to start, but it didn’t come. Aethelu, being asleep had somehow turned it off. Anais didn’t need it, though. Just the act of kissing Aethelu caused enough sensation as it was, without the added electricity of The Light. Her heart leapt in her chest. She was so afraid, but at the same time everything felt so right. Aethelu stirred slightly but didn’t wake. Anais lay back down and closed her eyes, smiling at how everything had turned out. She had known for a while now that it would come to this, at least she had secretly hoped for it. She was almost asleep herself when she felt Aethelu wrap her arm around her. They both slept together in each other’s arms for the rest of the night.
