The Light Who Shines

by Lilo Abernathy

  Blue is moaning and chanting now. “Oh God, don’t stop.”

  I feel her muscles tightening in her thighs and her flesh becoming taunt under my fingers. I am so hard that I’m pulsing and gently rocking against her. My desire courses through my veins, and every glance at her, at any part of her, fuels that desire. She is so beautiful, this woman I hold in my arms. I wrap my left arm around her and pull her firmly against my throbbing shaft. Then I move on to her breasts once more, going back and forth between her nipples with my left hand, nibbling her ear, while I caress her sweet center of pleasure all the while.

  I feel the tension in her body continue to rise. Her moaning and chanting is coming at a frantic pace. She starts searching for my lips again with hers. I tilt my neck to give her access. I fill her mouth with my tongue and stroke more firmly on her bud as she tightens her thighs around my hands. I keep stroking as she clenches around my fingers, tightening and releasing in a beautiful rhythm, coming in glorious waves.

  At that moment she opens her eyes and looks at me. Her striking blue eyes seem to pierce right to my soul, and at the same time I see the beautiful light of her aura spread out in a bright burst. Her light fills the room and flashes, setting it ablaze, going well beyond the walls. It covers me and sifts through me and fills me with her essence. It is too much. The look of her eyes, the smell of her arousal, the scent of her blood, the sight of her body, the feel of her warm liquid flesh clasping my hand, the tenderness of her lips, the caress of her soul, the joy of her light.

  I am so filled with her being, my control shatters. I shake and jerk underneath her as my body explodes and my mind fills with the brilliant light of a million points of pleasure, all centered around Blue. Each point of pleasure is a little light in my mind rising up through the dark sky, joining together, collectively creating enough light to glow like a small bright sun. Then the points of light burst outwards again and disperse and drift slowly back down leaving streaming trails behind them. As we float back to Earth I am so happy to feel Blue in my arms, trembling like a fine string instrument, just as I tremble with her.

  I am truly shaken to the core of my being. I’ve never felt anything so wondrous in all of my centuries. I kiss her head reverently, and she kisses my neck gently. Then she closes her eyes. I whisper, “No sleeping, Blue.”

  She opens her eyes again, smiles at me, and sighs happily. “Let me close my eyes for a few minutes. I’ll hum a little so you know I’m awake.”

  She hums a sweet little tune, a lullaby, I think.

  I watch her lying in my arms, and my view of the room and the world starts to open a little. Her tea sits there, cold by now. Her broken books still sit stacked on the floor by her bookcase. My eyes drift back to her, still lying against my chest, wrapped in my arms with her robe spread out to her sides.

  I murmur against her head, “When you came, your aura shot a light so bright it filled the room.”

  I frown. I see my aura, a deep blue, tinged with the black smut of Lilith’s mark, mingling with her beautiful, blue-white light. A wave of self-disgust rolls through me. I can’t believe I am letting my smut mix with her beautiful light. Suddenly all the joy seeps out of me. I should not have done this. She is the most pure thing I have ever seen or felt, and I am poisoned.

  Blue stops humming, so I look down, and her eyes seem troubled.

  She says in a stronger voice, “Jack, I want to get up now. I think I’m okay to move around.”

  I gently help her to sitting position and then pull her up. She closes her robe tightly around her middle and says, “I think my ribs are bruised, but not broken.”

  “I checked already. They’re not broken.”

  She walks around a little and looks at me with puzzled eyes. She heads to the bathroom, and I hear water running.

  When she returns she says, “I’m good. I think I want to see Maud.”

  She walks to the bedroom and starts pulling clothes out of her closet. She ignores me completely and pulls on her underwear and bra, some loose jeans, and a t-shirt. She sits down and tries to lean over to tie her sneakers but winces. Then she slips on some flip-flops instead and grabs her purse and keys.

  “Blue,” I say, “should you really be going anywhere right now?”

  Blue looks at me with a hard, bright light in her eyes. She says, “I’m fine. I’m bruised and sore, but I’ll survive.”

  Then she lifts her chin to me and says softly, “And I’ll never remember Schmidt again after what you did to me.”

  Somehow she does not seem relieved by this. She calls Varg and walks out the door, leaving me standing in the middle of her living room, wondering what in the Plane of Fire just happened!

  Chapter 37

  Foiled Again

  Bluebell Kildare: May 30, 2022, Red Ages

  I put my arms on the steering wheel and lean my forehead onto them as though resting my head will somehow still the reeling thoughts in my mind. My head still hurts like the dickens, my ribs ache, and my face is swollen and sore, but my heart—my heart is the worst of all. It feels sliced and shredded. I can’t believe he looked at my light and felt disgust. Disgust! No wonder he keeps in control of his emotions around me. No wonder he fought his attraction to me. My aura disgusts him. My soul disgusts him. I’d cry right now, but honestly I haven’t anything left. I’m wrung out. There can’t possibly be any direction but up from here.

  In the space of a few hours I’ve had the worst day, the best day, and the worst day of my entire life again. Except for maybe the day my parents died, and I don’t remember that. I pummel the dashboard, then grit my teeth and put the car in drive. With little regard for the speed limits or yellow lights I drive blindly to Maud’s house in no time.

  When she answers the door, she exclaims, “Lord Almighty! What happened to your face?”

  “Unpleasant story,” I say, and Maud lets me in.

  “Well,” she says, “an unpleasant story is best told over a nice, cool mint julep, which is just what I happen to have.”

  I kiss her cheek with my fat lip. “You are the best. That is just what I need.”

  When I’m comfortably seated at her kitchen table, I ponder the garden while Maud fixes us two tall glasses and places a few fresh mint leaves in them. “Where did you get the mint leaves?” I ask.

  Maud smirks and says, “I went into the garden yesterday.”

  “Ohh! Really? What brought this on?”

  Maud sits down across from me and nods her head toward the infamous Harry Pickets’ house. Her green eyes, vivid next to her flaming red hair, sparkle with life. “Harry had a party yesterday, a barbeque.”

  “Do tell! Did he invite you?”

  “Of course. And of course I told him no. I told him I was busy shampooing my hair that evening.” Maud fluffs her hair lovingly as she says this.

  I chuckle softly. “The bright red is very becoming, by the way.”

  Not to be distracted, Maud continues with her story, “And boy am I glad I didn’t go. You would not…believe…what he did.” A look of total affront covers her face. “He played jazz all…night…long. He had speakers in all four corners of his yard, but the music was so loud over here that I went to investigate. And what do you think I found?”

  “I can’t even begin to imagine…”

  Maud leans back in her chair and angles her head toward the neighbor’s house with narrowed eyes. “Of course you can’t. It is unheard of. The two speakers that were against my fence were actually pointed at my house!”

  “You’ve got to be joking!”

  Maud shakes her head. “It’s true! I had to listen to jazz until midnight. I couldn’t sleep a wink!”

  “So what are you going to do about this?”

  Maud gets up and opens her pantry door. She gestures me over. I ignore my pain and get out of my chair to see what she has in store for poor Harry Pickets. A dozen shiny rolls of aluminum foil are stacked neatly on the bottom shelf.

  My curiosity is definitely piqued.
“What are you planning to do with those?”

  Maud smiles her mischievous smile. “We’re going to foil his car, of course!”

  I laugh hard and deep, and I have to hold my ribs because they hurt so bad. “So when are we going to do this?”

  She responds in a hushed voice as though Harry might have spies trying to eavesdrop on her plan. “After I see him turn down his lights for the night.” She purses her lips. “If you’re feeling up for it, of course.”

  “I think I am,” I respond with a smile. “But how will he know for sure that you did it?”

  “I made some banana bread today. I’ll wrap it in foil and send the neighbor boy over with it in the morning.”

  I smile at this and sit back down at the table. Maud gets out some lemon sugar cookies and we snack for a bit. After a few minutes, Maud finally asks, “So what happened to your face?”

  I sigh. “It was a guy from the precinct. He was jealous of my success and blamed me for his lack thereof.”

  Wanting to quickly dispel her pity, I gesture to Varg. “Varg got him good, though. I’m sure he came out much worse than I did.”

  Maud nods firmly. “That’s important. You have to give at least as good as you get. If you can do that, then you can hold your head high.”

  After giving this sage advice, Maud leads us to the living room to relax as we await our midnight adventure. As we sit comfortably together through the evening, I contemplate how lucky I am to have Maud in my life.

  Eventually, Harry’s lights go out. Maud gives me a black robe to put over my clothes, and she slips on a black dress and a hat to cover her red hair. When properly outfitted for our nefarious deeds, we sneak over and plaster his car from top to bottom in aluminum foil, shiny side out. After it’s covered, we press it down into every crease to show the fine details like any great piece of art. For an extra bit of fun, Maud ties an aluminum foil bow onto his antenna. It makes quite the racket and I’m surprised he doesn’t wake up. The prank is so good that I enjoy myself despite my pain.

  Finally, when the car is one bright, shiny, silver, beautiful mess, I give Maud the thumbs up. She winks back as she appraises the results. With the prank set, we sneak silently around the block to her house and reconvene in her living room. As soon as the door is closed we have a good laugh.

  I hug Maud goodnight, and then Varg and I head home. The incident with Jack still twists in my gut, my ribs still hurt, and my face still stings, but now I feel like I’ve been comforted by the home nest.

  Chapter 38

  A Mutual Understanding

  Jack Tanner: May 30, 2022, Red Ages

  Hunting brings out the wild predator in me. I feel like a jungle cat, one who hunts and seeks, then lies in wait with patience and stealth, exercising infinite control with lethal intention. I know with absolute certainty I will meet success because I am simply faster, quieter, more accurate, and more in control than any of my prey.

  But that is not how I feel right now. Not on this hunt. If success is the ability to reach my prey and decimate him, I can absolutely succeed. If success is my ability to control and restrain myself from killing in bloodlust and drinking him dry, well, then things may go awry. Never have I wanted to bring death to someone so badly. Never have I so desired to suck the life out of someone, to feel their soul slip away. I’m standing outside Schmidt’s bedroom window, and I can hear him breathing inside. His very breath is an affront to me. Each inhale and exhale makes me rage anew.

  I must remain in control. If I turn into a Dark Vampire, Blue will have no one to watch over her. Also, Lilith is an evil, soul-sucking demon, and I refuse to give her my soul. She doesn’t deserve it. As I say this to myself, I feel my old stubbornness rise up and some small measure of sanity regained.

  I noiselessly move to the opposite side of the house. With deft fingers I silently break the aluminum window frame off the guest bedroom and slide the glass out. In one quick movement I’m over the windowsill and headed for Schmidt’s bedroom door. It’s open, and he lies in bed, breathing erratically. I stare at him for several minutes from the doorway, measuring my control and awaiting his recognition. He’s huddled and shaking under the covers, and the smell of a significant wound, tainted with infection, permeates the air. My appreciation for Varg rises to a new level. Schmidt doesn’t appear to have cleaned his wounds or sought medical attention yet. It’s such a shame.

  Suddenly he looks up, and I know he can see my eyes glowing in the dark if nothing else. I see him fully, in the minutest detail, and I despise every ounce of flesh that makes up his puny, weak body. I want to annihilate it, destroy it, wipe it out of existence. He starts to move his left hand under the covers. I wait expectantly. I see a small metal object tear a hole through the comforter, tracking toward me. Even without my quick movement, I’d never be hit with that shot, as it is widely off course. Before the bullet reaches the same plane that I was standing in, I’ve already moved to the side of his bed.

  I cover his lips with one hand and pinch them closed in an iron grip. At the same time, I grab his other hand through the covers and crush it with the slight flex of my fingers. The small bones of his hand shatter with a wonderful crunch, offering a small measure of satisfaction. I release his hand, and the gun falls to the floor with a thud. Muffled screams come from behind his pinched lips.

  I lean over him and scrape my fully extended fangs over his neck. His muffled screams turn to whimpers. My fangs ache with the desire to rip his flesh to shreds and suck the lifeblood from him. I feel the evilness of Lilith’s mark teasing me and taunting me to go on, to do more. Even as I tremble with fury, I resist and instead continue my business, whispering slowly, “Schmidt, right now my fangs are poised over your carotid artery. My rage for you is so immense that I am on the verge of killing you in bloodlust, be damned my soul. But that’s too easy a death for you. I want to peel the skin from your body inch by inch, in strips, and dance in your blood. I want to delight in the sound of your agonized screams.”

  I pause a second as I smell and hear Schmidt urinating on himself, which the dark stain spreading over the comforter confirms. I continue whispering. “I want to drive chisels up your fingernails and peel them off one by one. I want to cut your eyelids open and tie you to a rock and watch the ants devour your eyeballs.”

  Sweat pours down his face and his heart beats so fast I think he might have a heart attack. But I’m not done yet.

  “I want to slice open your gut and hold a bucket of hungry rats to you, letting them eat you inside out. But I’m not going to. I’m going to leave you alive today. I’m only going to do this because Blue asked me to. But I’m only going to do this if you promise me a few things.”

  He starts to nod his head, but when he feels my fangs against his neck again he stills.

  “I’m going to remove my hand from your mouth and let you open it, only so I can hear if you agree.” I pause a moment to make sure he understands this next part. I say it with a cool matter-of-factness. “If you scream, I will kill you. And I really do want to kill you. Blink if you understand.”

  I see the terror in his eyes. He understands quite well, but I wait for a confirmation. Finally he blinks, and I release his lips.

  I continue, “I want you to promise me that you will never show up for work again. Your days of pretending to be an officer of the law are over. If you do show up at work, I will sever your spine. Do you agree to this?”

  “Yes,” he whispers.

  “If you ever even come close to Blue, within a mile of Blue, I will torture you the way that I want to, the way I described to you. I will not sever your spine because that’s too easy. Oh, it would be much too gentle and much too kind for you. You. Must. Stay. Away. From. Her. Do you agree to this?”

  “Yes,” he whispers again.

  “Good,” I say. “We have an understanding.”

  I blur out of the room and slip through the window again. Only the silver moon and the twinkling of stars mark my exit, and I wonder if a
nyone will ever know how grand my accomplishment was today. Today I left him alive.

  Chapter 39

  Office in Disarray

  Bluebell Kildare: May 31, 2022, Red Ages

  I open the office door and see the file cabinets emptied on the floor. With stiff joints and sore muscles, I walk in to the vision of Rubalia on her knees in her cream and black houndstooth woven suit with her back to me, slamming scattered papers on top of a pile in front of her.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  Rubalia stacks some more papers and raises her voice. “This place is going to the Plane of Fire! That is what’s happening! The office is a wreckage. Jack apparently hasn’t slept at home for the last three nights. He keeps showering here.” Rubalia looks up. “And what in the world happened to your face?”

  I remember my bruises and feel my face heat up in embarrassment. “I had an altercation with someone, and Varg won.”

  Rubalia sniffs and says, “Well, maybe that good-for-nothing is good for something.” Then she looks at Varg with her sharp eyes and says, “Next time win the altercation faster.”

  Varg lowers his head and slinks away. I’ve been on the receiving end of Rubalia’s stares many a time, so I know how he feels.

  I look around and see that the entire office is a disaster. “So, what really happened here?”

  Rubalia keeps slamming papers on the stack as she explains. “Jack called me at six a.m.—just after dawn, mind you. And he tells me the place is a mess because it was broken into and searched and asks if I can come in early. Well, of course I was already up and dressed by then.”

  I smile slightly at this. Of course she was up and dressed by six a.m.

  “It is quite a mess now,” Rubalia says, “but you should have seen it when I arrived. And your office isn’t much better. They got all the offices.”