Gerald patted her shoulder. “He’s one of us. If anyone in your family ever needs anything, you can feel free to contact me.”
“Thank you.” She poured all her gratitude in her smile.
Gerald left with Dan right behind him. Yeah, this needed to be private. I felt awkward to be faced with my twin after everything. I didn’t need too many people to witness it.
Ashley regarded me for several seconds, her gaze searching my face. At a loss as to what to say, I managed a weak, “You look well.”
“I am, thanks to you and your staff.” A tiny line appeared between her brows. “I’m still not clear on all that’s happened. Ryan wants me to know as little as possible for my safety. He’s not in danger still, is he?”
I shook my head. “Everything is fine now, but it is true you’re better left in the dark about certain events. I will tell you that your husband conducted himself with better restraint than – than others.” I squirmed a little, thinking how out of control I’d gotten that night. How close I’d come to killing several people.
Ashley’s shoulders relaxed. “Ryan is almost like his old self again. I don’t suppose he’ll ever be the man he was before the Zoo Flu – I mean, who could be?”
I nodded in full agreement with her assessment. “I don’t know of anyone who survived the virus that wasn’t changed fundamentally.”
“Still, he’s the person I fell in love with. Thank you for giving him back to me.”
I swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. Sentimental me. “Any help I was able to give, I’m glad. I’m delighted to hear your lives are back to normal.”
Ashley laughed. “The new normal. My parents have told me they will not accept Ryan in their lives. So I told them I was cutting them out of mine.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. Little Miss Perfect had stood up to our parents? The girl who had always done what she was told? Holy smokes, that was huge.
I tried to sound casual as I said, “That’s brave.”
“It would have been braver if I’d done it much earlier ... Brandilynn.”
The universe froze. I stared at Ashley, trying to convince myself I hadn’t heard her call me by my name. Yet it rang in my ears, still reverberated in the air.
I opened my mouth to deny my identity. However Ashley’s knowing smile and tear-bright blue eyes told me she’d never buy it.
Instead I asked, “How did you figure it out?”
She ran a finger beneath one eye to catch the moisture before it could smear her mascara. “You were the only person in all the world who ever called me ‘champ’. You called me that three times as Patricia Keith.”
“I did?” I couldn’t remember doing that.
“Oh my gosh, if you knew how many times over the years that I picked up the phone, ready to call you and invite you over ... and then you were dead and it was too late.”
She broke down. I sat there, staring in stunned inaction as she grabbed a tissue and blotted her streaming eyes. She’d wanted to call me? She’d wanted us to get together again even after I’d quit college and become an escort?
I thought perhaps I should get up. That I should go to my sister. Hug her. Tell her I’d never stopped caring even though I’d wanted to. I couldn’t feel my legs though, so I stayed put.
My dumb mouth moved, saying nonsensical stuff. “I saw you at my funeral. I couldn’t believe you defied our parents to come.”
Ashley regained control over herself. She sniffled and wadded her tissue in one fist. “I’ve been a coward. I didn’t find my spine until Ryan caught Zoo Flu and our family was threatened. How can you ever forgive me? Don’t answer that; you can’t. And then you got Ryan out of whatever mess Tattingail got him into! Brandilynn, I just—” Overcome again, she stopped talking and waved her hands helplessly.
I had nothing intelligent to say. All I could come up with was, “It’s okay. Ash, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. It’s not okay, not by a long shot, but I can’t give us back those lost years. And I can’t repay you. You gave my son his father back.”
I shook my head. One thing I was not ready to be was a hero. “You’re giving me a lot more credit than I deserve. Seriously. Half the time I make more trouble than I fix.”
“Is that how you ended up in Patricia Keith’s body?” She stared into my eyes again, as if trying to see her almost-identical twin within the skin I wore.
I barked hard laughter. “That is my biggest, most incredible mess of all. All else pales in comparison.”
Ashley knew I hated pity, and she did her best to hide it. It still came out in her voice. “Is it hard? Being a vampire?”
My stock answer of ‘I’m not a vampire’ rose to my lips. It died without being uttered. Who was I kidding? I drank blood. I flew. I did everything vampires do.
If nothing else, the fact that this body bypassed Gerald and a ready meal to get to my soul let me know under no uncertain terms what I was. It was no longer Patricia Keith’s body. It was mine. I owned it, and it was time to accept the fact that I was indeed a vampire.
I smiled at my sister. “It’s no harder than being a shifter. In fact, I think weres have it worse.”
Ashley nodded, her caring gaze as gentle as a caress. I saw love in that look. Love for me that had been set aside but never truly lost. After all this time I knew that someone from my days among the living still loved me.
She asked me, “Can we build something? I know we can’t have what we did before you left college. But I’d like to have my sister back, in any capacity I can get her.”
I swallowed hard. When I finally found the courage to speak, my voice came out weak and shaky ... but hopeful. “I’d like that too, champ.”
We made plans to get together later in the week. After Ashley left, I sat a long time in silence, mulling things over.
Sometimes I think life is nothing more than reaching for the next moment of hope. Like a string of pearls, I keep moving to the next pretty bauble that makes going on worthwhile. I’d been getting through each night as a vampire because I knew Dan waited when the sun broke over the horizon. I’d struggled through each flying lesson in the hope of making it happen this time. If I couldn’t fly, I hung onto the hope of not having sex with a man other than Dan, the love of my afterlife.
Now I was able to fly. I was now capable of remaining true to Dan. I had come to accept that half my existence was that of a blood drinking predator. With that acceptance came a sense of serenity.
Now I’d been given a new hope. I looked forward to the next encounter with my twin, to solidify the promise of reconciliation. Time would crawl by until that happened. And when it did ... something else would appear on the horizon, something else to reach for.
Dan came in, interrupting my musings. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Ashley knew it was me.”
Dan gave me an appropriately startled look. “And?”
“And I think we’re going to be okay.”
He smiled. “You’ve got family.”
I grinned and nodded. “Even better, I’ve got you.”
“You’d better believe it.” His smile faded and he set his shoulders, as if bracing for something. “Tristan’s here. He called everyone into Para Central. He wants you there as Patricia. That’s what I came to tell you.”
I waited to feel the old hurt. There was a twinge ... but only a slight one. I stood. “Time for the big goodbye.”
“Yeah.” Dan’s tone was carefully empty of emotion.
I went to the mirror to check my appearance. For the first time, seeing a face not the one I associated with Brandilynn Payson was no surprise. I took in my second persona’s black hair, my pale skin, my cool elegant bone structure. I made sure my eyes were nearly black instead of vampire red. I smiled at myself. No fangs. Good. I applied a dash of berry-shaded lip gloss and turned to Dan. “Ready.”
We walked side by side to Para Central. Tristan waited for me on the stage, his dark eyes watching as I approached.
I felt the familiar pang of missing him, but it was a distant echo of the agony it had once been. Yes, I was going to be okay.
I mounted the stage and took my place at his side. He looked at me. His expression mingled love and pain. For me? For Patricia? Or for both?
It didn’t matter. As much as I treasured what we’d once had, our paths now went in different directions. We had to play the role of brother and sister. It was time to assert that.
I teased Tristan as I once had my own sibling. As I might get the opportunity to tease Ashley again. “Out of the little pond, off to swim with the sharks.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do I look like a guppy?”
“No. I think you’ll be right in your element with the rest of that bunch in Atlanta.” I winked.
He chuckled. “Thank you.” On the heels of that, the pain returned. “Damn it, Brandilynn, if things had only turned out different...”
“They did not. It’s time to let the past go and move on.”
I stepped forward and called for attention before Tristan could pursue a useless conversation. “Attention everyone!”
The room went quiet in an instant. Eyes of every description; human, animal, and otherwise; turned to the two of us on the stage. I smiled, proud of the man next to me, proud of his accomplishments. Proud as I knew Patricia would be. Tristan had worked hard to get where he was. He would continue to work hard to make lives for paras better, to make sure the humans gave them their due, their justice. With Tristan’s star on the rise, we had hope that the shifters hunted by Tattingail might be among the last to die and have their killers go free.
Feeling the importance of the moment I announced, “The moment has come. Our loss is this great state’s good fortune. I am proud to congratulate Fulton Falls representative and Georgia’s first para citizen legislator – Tristan Keith!”
Cheers and howls erupted. There were members of the press in attendance, most of them humans. I noted the were-animal sounds made them nervous.
I thought, tough cookies, norms. A lot of us didn’t ask to be what we are, but we are here now. Deal with it.
Before acknowledging the newest round of congratulations, Tristan whispered in my ear. “Thank you, my love. I will always be grateful to you.”
Then he was the charming vampire politician, greeting his constituents and wellwishers. I stepped back, letting him have the spotlight all to himself. It was Tristan’s party, and I was no longer a piece of it. A vestige of remorse came and went.
He held out his hands for quiet. After a few more tumultuous moments, he got it. “My friends. My wonderful, faithful friends. Thank you.”
The speech that followed was classic Tristan Keith. He challenged and uplifted us at the same time. He spoke of our hopes while remaining down to earth about what we could expect. He exhorted us to stand strong for para rights while maintaining our pride as citizens of Fulton Falls and Georgia’s community.
Somewhere along the line, he became to me what he was to so many others. Not lover, not brother, but champion. I let him go in my heart at last. In doing so, I granted myself the greatest freedom of all.
Chapter 14
Dan stood before me, as rugged and desirable as ever in his white button-down and khakis. His shirtsleeves were rolled up nearly to the elbows, displaying forearms corded with muscle. I shivered in delicious anticipation as I looked at the wooden paddle he gripped.
I knelt before him, my thighs spread wide. I wore a schoolgirl’s uniform, complete with a tie, short plaid skirt that rose up to the soaked crotch of my white cotton panties, white knee socks, and saddle shoes. My hair was plaited in two braids that fell forward over my breasts.
Playing naughty schoolgirl and stern principal was a bit overdone as far as kink was concerned, but we still flirted with that Daddy/little dynamic that had set us off so grandly a few days before. We both were of the opinion that this was a novelty phase but as long as we were having fun, why not?
Besides, that paddle looked pretty darned exciting in Dan’s strong hand. I wasn’t about to lie about that ... unless it would get me an extra long spanking.
“Passing notes in class. Sassing the teacher. Smoking in the girls’ bathroom. Miss Payson, you are in a lot of trouble,” Dan told me.
I gave him sullen troublemaker eyes. I was a bad girl, all right. The worst in the whole school and proud of it.
He shook his head. “It’s time to see if I can wallop the rebelliousness out of you. Stand up and bend over my desk.”
This was where I really had to use my imagination. Of all the ghostly bits of Old Fulton Falls that remained, a school was not among them. Fulton Falls Academy High School was one of the top ten of America’s oldest schools having been built in 1788, but it was not affected by the Big Fire back in the 1930s. Not only did it still stand, but it continued as a high school serving Ford County.
Had we gone to it or any of the other schools in the area, our play would have taken place in the presence of a principal going about his or her day. We’d gotten all hot and bothered about playing our scene, not realizing until we hit Fulton Falls Academy that it was a school day. Neither of us felt able to wait for the weekend.
Sure, we probably wouldn’t have been seen playing kinky games today, but Dan and I would have been terribly aware of others’ presences. Talk about taking the sexy out of a good paddling. Yuck.
So Dan and I were in one of the King George’s hotel rooms all done up in white and gold with the big bed, armoire, and nightstands. Principal Dan’s ‘desk’ was a small polished wooden table where long-ago guests might have taken tea or written letters back home. At least it had sturdy legs.
I got to my feet and turned towards the mahogany surface of the table. As I took the position, I saw myself reflected in the shining surface. Brandilynn Payson, the mirror image of her sister Ashley but for the eye color stared back at me. I grinned at the more familiar of my two faces. My eyes were wide in anticipation, my wet lips parted as I breathed hard with excitement. With my copper penny hair tied in little girl braids, I looked innocently wanton in a strange sort of way.
Dan flipped my short pleated skirt up to reveal my cotton-clad rump. “Spread your legs. Wider. Wider.” He gave one thigh a smart whack with the thick paddle when I proved reluctant to obey.
I yelped and set my legs far apart, wincing at the throb of pain. I shivered to think of the punishment I was about to receive. It was going to hurt so good.
I closed my hands into fists as Dan pulled my panties down. I knew he saw it all: my butt with cheeks parted and my pussy already wet and swelling with excitement. I felt the familiar exciting helplessness curl tight in my sex. There is nothing better than being utterly vulnerable to the man I love and trust with all of my being.
His hand settled in the small of my back. No principal ever warms a wayward student’s rear for a paddling so it hurts less. I would get all the agony I could ask for. Maybe more.
“How many, Sir?” I asked, delicious fear joining the jumble in my belly.
“As many as I think will put you right,” came the noncommittal answer. “Stay still and take your punishment.”
I swear I heard that block of wood whistle in the air as it swung at my unprotected fanny. The contact between it and the fleshiest part of my butt sounded like a gunshot. Pain exploded and I shrieked. If I jumped an inch, I jumped a mile. Good glory, that hurt!
The pain still radiated from his strike when the next one fell. It caught me slightly above where the first had landed. I howled and tears welled in my eyes.
Another heavy swat, the lowest part of my butt. Another, this one catching upper thighs. I jerked and jumped and kicked helplessly as Dan held me down and delivered my paddling. I yelled wordless cries of pain and pummeled the table with my fists. My butt crackled with fiery torment.
I often used pain play to take me out of my head where worry enjoyed roosting far too much. The immediacy of discipline meant no dwelling on the world’s ugliness or my own sho
rtcomings. Though I had little to be concerned with these days, it still felt good to be totally in the here and now. I had nothing to worry over except accepting Dan’s dominance and doing all I could to please him.
What more could a sub want out of life ... or afterlife?
Even as I danced under his powerful strokes with the paddle and sobbed with hurt of blistering buttocks and thighs, I sank into peace. A part of me floated free, happy to be with the man I loved, serving his needs and him alone. The soft sensation of euphoria transmuted the punishment, turning pain into an intensity that throbbed in my pussy. The tone of my cries changed with the shift, becoming throaty moans of sharp pleasure.
Dan heard me and said, “That’s it, little girl. Learn your lesson. Time to be good now.”
I arched my back, offering myself for more discipline. Bliss throbbed in time with the rise and fall of the paddle. Each strike was a benediction, a redemption.
I heard the music. Deathsong, Arthur had called it. I thought it was more like the song of true life. Of love. There was nothing morbid in that sweet, swelling tone that made me feel so close to home ... wherever that might be.
I felt myself reaching towards it. At that moment the paddling stopped. The music went away, leaving me gasping on the table.
“Are you going to be a good girl now?” Dan asked me.
I blinked, coming back to myself. Wow, I’d really taken off into subspace that time. I still felt floaty and serene, albeit a little disappointed to have lost that precious music.
In a slow, drugged voice I said, “I’ll be good, Sir.”
“We’ll see. Now, let me think about how much detention you deserve.”
I slid to the floor, my legs feeling like jelly. I landed on my rear and a quick throb of pain brought me back to our scene and the part I was supposed to be playing. Naughty school girl wanting to avoid more trouble with her sexy principal. Oh yeah.
I reached for Dan’s ankle, gazing up with imploring eyes as I groveled at his feet. “Please Sir, don’t make me do detention. I’ll do anything you want. Anything.”
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