Fairy Circle (25 page)

What Claudia did not know was that this time would be different. This time, her relationship with the Countess would come to an abrupt and ugly end. For Jethin would not cower before The Countess when it was time for his death, but would stand before her proud, virile, and glorious in his youth, and the Countess would decide another fate, something special, just for him.

Each day, Jethin snatched uneasy sleep for a few hours at dawn and a few hours at dusk. During daylight hours, he performed odd tasks for his new mistress. At moonrise, he raced to the side of the Countess.

The Countess played him softly, smoothly, and thoroughly. Within a matter of days, he was completely smitten with her. She professed a great love for him and he believed in that love without question - her gentle touch on his arm while they shared a late dinner, the soft kiss on his forehead when she bid him adieu before dawn. He yearned for so much more. At moments, he pressed himself upon her to let her know that it was okay to express their love, to let her know that he needed to express his love.

With a coy smile and firm grip, she always held him off. He was almost driven to the brink of insanity with unrequited desire for her, but each time he felt he could not possibly wait for her any longer, she whispered soothing nothings into his burning ear and was able to hold him off for another day. He was, after all, her employee, she reminded him. When his work for her was done, he would be a rich man. He would be her equal when they came together.

He never questioned her. He never pressed her on the fact that it was odd, this request of hers, for him to build her a velvet-lined casket (She felt she needed a fresh bedstead.) He never asked her why they only met when the moon was high. He didn’t ask Claudia, as they were not on regular speaking terms. He took his orders directly from his Mistress, and in fact, had not seen Claudia in several days.

He worked happily on his own. He whistled a ditty while he labored and thought only of the moment when he could finally claim the Countess and make her his.

One night, yearning for new surroundings and a new boy, Cecilia decided it was time to shock Jethin with the truth - something that always gave her such a rush of pleasure - then devour him. Maybe it was only in her grandly delusional mind, but the more in love with her they were, the sweeter their blood tasted on her tongue.

It was early spring. Jethin and Cecilia sat on the banks of a swollen river. A lover’s moon hung fat above their tipped-together, stargazing heads.

“
Jethin?”

“
Yes, my love?

She turned to face him and shyly took his large, callused hand with her two delicate ones. She shivered with delight; this was her favorite part. It was the culmination of all of her arduous feigning – she would be rewarded with the sweet, warm, flavor of fresh blood spiced with just a dash of fresh fear. “I must tell you something, Jethin. It is something I can no longer keep inside.” Her eyes widened with the excitement she felt.

He reached to smooth a curl behind her ear and stroke her cheek. In hushed tones he tried to soothe her. “Never fear, my love, what is it? You can tell me anything!”

“
The truth is…” she stopped. It was just too difficult for her to continue - the burden of the secret too great!

“
Come now, my lovely. You can tell me.” Jethin sat up straight and proud, so supportive of his delicate woman. The moon splashed his face and revealed such a tender countenance, a look filled with so much love.

“
What I must tell you is this. I am a vampire, Jethin. I am of the Order of the Undead. I drink the blood of men and have never regretted it.”

Jethin did nothing.

Cecilia watched him do nothing. She watched in fascination, as that silly enamored stare clung securely to his face! It was she who was shocked tonight. She found herself quite speechless.

“
But, my darling Cecilia, I have known of this for quite some time. I had guessed as much awhile back when the moon was just waning. I have waited patiently until you felt comfortable enough to tell me yourself.” Then, sheepishly, “I have waited patiently for you to change me. I wish no longer to remain a virgin looking in on your world as a ridiculous human outsider.”

Cecilia lost all composure. She gawked at him openly.

He smiled at her. It was nice to see her finally free of that mask of the “gentlewoman.”

It suddenly became clear to Cecilia that Jethin thought she intended, all along, to make him a vampire when the moment was right. He had no idea of her gleeful plans to rip him to shreds. But, of course, he didn’t. He fancied she was in love with him. Disgusting! She turned from Jethin’s adoring eyes and contemplated this turn of events. While watching the river run, her gut gurgled and rolled in much the same turbulent manner. She needed blood. Swiftly, she came to a decision.
Hmm
. Why not? Why not make him a vampire and add some entertainment to her sometimes-dull existence. She was over a thousand years old – she would always be stronger than him. She could easily be rid of him should she choose to do so later on. Trap him outside as the dawning sun burned his flesh; drive a stake through his heart as his lay dreaming of her in his silken coffin. Yes, this was a wonderful idea! She clapped her hands in girlish glee and jumped up from the damp grass. “Come, Jethin. Let us convert you right now, on this, the finest of all nights!” Her voice was sweet, as if offering to buy him cotton candy at the fair.

“
I was thrilled with my new life, Saffron. I enjoyed the odd induction ceremony and loved the benefits of my new existence. I have the strength of one-hundred men. I can fully dilate my pupils - a little trick that always sends the natives running in fear. I can grip a man’s body and transfer an electrical current, which provokes the heart to stop.”

He smiled at his memories of people opening their mouths to scream, at the barely audible “pop” that came from the chest when he applied pressure just so. When it was done, he would shove their slack bodies away from him in repulsion. It was too much trouble to suck the blood out when the heart wasn’t pumping it. He’d then have to expend the energy to go look for dinner.

“
Vampires also have night vision and miss nothing that walks, crawls, or slithers in the dark.”

Jethin didn’t tell Saffron that he felt his passion for Cecilia vanish. Her beckoning lips, her shapely rear-end, her taut, high bosom no longer excited him as they once had. It had made Jethin feel just a little sad. Worse than that, Jethin lost the function to urinate – and something frightening had happened to him - the man below no longer stood for his morning salute! He lay there in Jethin’s lap, limp as a poor, dead soldier. When Jethin fully realized that Cecilia could not have wanted him as she pretended - for he knew now she had absolutely no urge - he fell into a great depression that started the third week of his new life. He now understood, like a slap in the face, that most of their relationship was built on lies, Cecilia’s lies. She didn’t want him. Not in body. She had never wanted him and that shook him to his quickly-vanishing primal core.

Cecilia knew exactly what was bothering him but felt too bored to get into it with him. He would get over it - they all did. He would recover in time and forget what it meant to be a physically-functioning human male. Jethin could take all of the time he needed; he had all of the time in the world! And she was right. In time, Jethin came out of his slump and the two monsters began their new life together. As a consolation prize, Cecilia offered Claudia to Jethin, to destroy as he pleased, in the hopes that he would perk up a bit. His moping and whining was making her edgy. Not quite used to this consuming lust for blood - which seemed to simultaneously replace his lust for all things sensual - Jethin was shocked at his fervor when he took Claudia to death’s door. He ripped into her body like a savage wolf. He was messy and panting and covered in gore when he was finally satiated. How she would have hated him one last time with his disgraceful show of mastication! Later that evening, he cleaned his teeth with an ivory pick and contemplated his new passion. His thoughts were interrupted by a tickling on his hand. He reached down and removed some straggling bits of Claudia’s oily hair from his lap with disgust.

Jethin smiled at Saffron, who could never have guessed at his musing. It was unfortunate he couldn’t tell her the details of the disposal of Claudia. He wished he could make Saffron understand. When she became a vampire, she’d understand his joy in the act, the ecstasy of finally quenching fires seemingly too big to contain. She’d understand without explanation. It was like explaining sex to someone who had never had it. There was no explaining an orgasm. He frowned, realizing
he
couldn’t quite remember an orgasm. He had the fleeting urge to reach into Saffron’s window and strangle her for being what he was not. He had to get away from her.

“
Jethin,” Saffron seemed sad, “were you and Cecilia
a couple
after you became a vampire? Did you finally…get together?”

“
This life is not like that of a human life, Saffron. We do not need to debase ourselves in animal activity since we do not procreate in that manner. I am no man. Man is always searching for the Universal Whore. Do you know what that means?”

Saffron bobbed her head yes, like a girl who is trying to fool her teacher. Her wide eyes registered that the “not man” before her was clearly insane.

“
The Universal Whore is the one who performs all tasks with pleasure. Is this what you want? To be some man’s Universal Whore - it is what every man desires…”

Saffron waved him away. “Am I supposed to be able to answer that?”

“
I can answer that for you. No. You do not want a man. No man has been truly happy since man first came into existence. I am above man; you could make me happy.”

“
OMG, I’ve never gotten such a beautiful proposal before.” Her hands flitted nervously to her hair, where she entangled longs strings of it round and round her finger. She thought about how many times she had imagined herself and Jethin as a couple. Now, she was just plain embarrassed. Obviously, he was
not
thinking along the same lines as she was.
He’s right; I’m just like an animal. Just like freakin’ Coco and her pig cowboy.
She was suddenly so mad at Coco she could have spit.

“
Proposal…You’re funny. I just want you to know you don’t have to succumb like those around you. The sex, the drugs, the smoking, the drinking, the binging, the fighting, do you know why they do it? Do you know why they can’t stop? Because they are searching, Saffron. They are searching for a way out of their fears, a way out of their lonely lives, a way out of their memories, and a way to live life on a higher level.

“
Vampires are slaves to no hormonal command. I am in complete control of my body. I don’t need
anything
to make me feel better! I have it all. My need is simple…to feed. And I do not feed my emotions, only my thirst; this makes it impossible for me to become a slave to the outside world.” Jethin smiled pleasantly.

Saffron was completely stunned. She sat back a little on her tuffet and rubbed at the angry, red welts dug into her forearms from leaning on the window ledge too long. If they didn’t have sex, did that mean they didn’t have love? “You don’t even kiss?” She was so embarrassed to keep asking these deeply personal questions. Her cheeks flamed like two poinsettias. But the nagging thoughts wouldn’t let her be still.

“
Most certainly not. We don’t need to. Please understand that the urge leaves you, utterly and completely, when you are transformed. Life is so much better without all of those complications. Believe me. There is no jealousy among us. We do not rape. We do not believe our greatest power lies in our pants. We are above all of that, and proud to be such.”

“
Can you love?” She saw him flinch, saw black hate in his dilated pupils, and finally realized he was probably a little pissed off.

“
Saffron, I have to go. It’s late. You’ll never understand me until you stand in my shoes. You just have to take my word for it; my life is perfect!”

“
Jethin, wait! Don’t be mad. Please?” She looked down at her fingers twined in her lap. She muttered, “I’m just curious. I…. I believe you. I believe everything you told me.” She smiled weakly. “I hope you’re not upset.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Jethin gave her the biggest smile as he wiggled his heavy eyebrows. “It’s okay, Saffron. I could never be mad at you. Till next time, okay?”

Saffron nodded, tears of gratitude filling her eyes. He really was wonderful. He lived on blood – so what? Everybody had flaws. You couldn’t hold those flaws against people. She caused the murder of cows every time she went to Burger King. Her inner thoughts rambled on, searching and digging for ways to justify her friendship with Jethin.

Later on, in the small of hours of the morning, in that endless gray that seems to drag on for eternity, Saffron wondered why she had been so quick to placate Jethin. Why had she been so panicky and in fear of losing his admiration? Did she
really
accept the life he lived?
No, no, no.
S
he viciously rubbed her eyes. But she did envy his courage, and his relaxed devil-may-care attitude. And his complete self-assurance. How she longed for those strengths. Jethin never had to face the “cold light of day.” He was protected by the dark. Something came knocking at Saffron’s mind, an important thought that wanted to surface. Vaguely, she knew it was there, but gave it barely a moment to show itself before sleep took her.