by A. D. Koboah
I don’t know when, exactly, I realised she had kept her promise and returned to me. It just seemed to be there, at first peering at me through a window until one night it walked in through an open door. We were in a hotel in Argentina and I awoke to find the room awash with the sacred bronze light of the setting sun. The pain wrought by the sun was kissed away by the coming night and my flesh came alive in response to twilight’s song. I automatically reached for Dallas to find her already awake and gazing at me. Her raven eyes were magical in this light, her skin liquid chocolate, her lips spread in a gentle smile that spoke of such sweet, deep love. The sight of her awakened every nerve, every fibre of my being, like the coming night never could, and I was a little bit saddened she was already dressed.
Her smile widened and she kissed me—oh, too briefly—on the lips.
“We’re supposed to pick Mallory up from the airport in about half an hour,” she said.
I sat up on the edge of the bed, my back to her.
“Why did you let me sleep for so long, Luna? I don’t—”
I came to an abrupt halt when I realised I had just called her Luna.
I turned to her, guilt—along with an awful sickening feeling—in my chest, a tremor running through me as tears came to my eyes. I expected to see unease, if not downright anger. Instead I saw only the soft, gentle smile I saw every time I awoke.
I searched her thoughts and found no anger there, only a quiet exasperation at the fact that it had taken so long for me to see it.
I frowned at her as tears spilled onto my cheeks.
“Luna.”
She moved to me and placed a soft kiss on my cheek.
“Yes, Avery.”
“What about Dallas...what—?”
“No, it wasn’t what you were so scared of. I haven’t possessed Dallas. I am Dallas. What I mean is that I just came back like I promised I would, but I’m different now. I remember who I am—those years as a slave, our time together, what drove us apart—but I’m still silly and irritating and noisy and everything else you complain about.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know how. And I didn’t think you’d accept me as I am now. I thought I’d have to be the woman you knew. But I couldn’t be that person and live with so much pain and rage. It’s kinda like my grandma told you all those years ago. You had to let go of the old me so you could be open to me as I am now. I probably wouldn’t have even told you, but I know you still feel so guilty about falling in love again and I had to tell you so you’d know you’ve got nothing to be guilty about, Avery.”
I had known deep down from the moment I found her waiting for me in the field of flowers. I didn’t know how long it would take for me to reconcile the woman I had known to the woman she was now. I just knew I loved her and always would.
“Now go and get dressed. You know how Mallory gets when she’s kept waiting,” she said.
I took her hand and kissed it, reluctant to let it go. It was smooth and silky, unlike the tough, calloused flesh of her palms when I had first fallen in love with her. But it was still the same hand. I let it go and moved to the bathroom, pausing at the door.
“I’m not even sure what I should call you now. Luna or Dallas.”
Another smile crept onto her lips, this one more mysterious and with a slight hint of mischief.
“Technically, you should call me goddess. But I don’t mind either Luna or Dallas.”
I laughed only for it to be cut short when an image flooded my mind: that of a glittering grey, alien landscape cupped by darkness that was sharp and aware. The Earth, perfect in its solitude, floated in the centre of that darkness. I felt my skin grow cold and I just stood and gaped at her.
She was off the bed and moving toward the living area.
“Hurry, Avery, or we’ll be late. And yes for heaven’s sake, I’ll marry you.”
She was gone by the time I found my voice, the image still making my head tingle.
“Goddess? You’re a goddess? Wait...you’ll marry me?”
***
As I moved around the domed city I found my thoughts drifting back to a time before the events that had given birth to this new generation.
It was surprising a community would rear a generation with such lowly values—but they had—all in a futile attempt to destroy one woman. And the reason they wanted to see this woman destroyed? Because of two things. The first of these was dreams, the content of which she had never even spoken of to another and to this day still did not know how those dreams came to be made public knowledge. The second reason was that in the midst of darkness, this woman succeeded in building something for herself.
Unfortunately, it was not something the community saw any merit in. In fact, the only value they saw in what she had built was that it was something the vermin they championed could either defile or steal. And so they allowed a lowly attack that saw this woman’s privacy stripped away from her and in which her mind was taken over by others and toyed with. They had manipulated this woman’s senses day and night, often flooding her mind with vile images, inducing physical and mental discomfort along with pain. This went on for years and during this period they made sleep, the ability to think, dream, function and most of all, build, a painful battle.
It was a terrible thing to see someone’s mind become a playground for degenerates using tools which only had one purpose: To damage a mind beyond repair. It must have been even worse for the woman under attack to have the thing she struggled and toiled to build, often working under intolerable physical and mental duress, invaded and passed around by the lowest of the low as if it were trash you kicked out of your way or the dead leaves you trod on as you went about your way.
Yet as time wore on, she began to receive worldwide attention for what she achieved in the face of adversity, something that enraged the community simply because they did not feel her achievements, and what she stood for, was worthy of worldwide attention. What was disturbing was that they thought the things the vermin stood for, and their lowly actions, was what should be applauded.
And so they taught the next generation that qualities such as intellect, hard work, achievement and excellence were things that should not only be despised, they should be stamped out.
What they failed to see, but which was clear to all who observed these events, was that you couldn’t invite the devil into your bed and expect him to leave once you got tired of him. The abomination they allowed to happen to another would not end with just one person. And the devil they had embraced in their midst would stay to dance upon their blood and bones.
I was just thankful Mallory had not lived to see what had become of the world.
Thinking of Mallory still brought me pain although centuries had passed since her death. Having Shadrach walk away left a void in Mallory’s life and although it made her extremely...prickly with each year that passed, I would forever remember her as the lost and hungry flame-haired child I had found wandering outside the gates of the mansion. I smiled when I thought about how formidable she had been, and on the one occasion Luna and I dared stand up to her, we returned to the mansion at dawn to find our suitcases waiting for us in the field of flowers.
***
It took many weeks before Mallory allowed us back to the mansion to talk. She was standing in the doorway waiting for us when we drove up to the mansion and got out of the car.
Decades had passed by then and at the sight of her, my heart clenched painfully at how frail and old she appeared to be. Her hair was still thick and grazed her slender waist, but instead of a vermillion curtain it was now an iron grey. She wore a thick grey cardigan and was slightly stooped, leaning heavily on a wooden cane. Heavy, black rimmed glasses perched on the tip of her nose. The thing I found most disconcerting, however, was that Mallory was wearing fluffy white slippers.
She shuffled forward when we moved to the door and peered at us through the thick glasses, her smile soft and slightly vague.
; “Is that you, Uncle Avery?” There was a warble in her voice.
“Yes, Mallory.”
She laid a soft, unsteady hand against my face when I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.
I felt a lump form in my throat.
You don’t feel anything in your throat! Luna snapped behind me. It is just a psychosomatic reaction, something vampires do not have.
“My dear Dallas,” Mallory said once I moved aside.
Mallory embraced Luna and I noticed Luna held her carefully, as if afraid she would break in her arms. Luna’s bottom lip trembled and I noticed her eyes were bright with unshed tears, most probably because Mallory had called her Dallas, reminding her of the night she arrived unannounced and how it had been Mallory who kept me from making her leave.
“Well, come on inside out of the cold," Mallory said, drawing her cardigan around her.
She shuffled down the corridor, needing the cane.
This was a completely different tactic for her. I exchanged glances with Luna and saw my own consternation peering back at me.
She wasn’t going to make this easy for us at all.
Seated in the drawing room, Mallory reached for a stack of unopened mail and peered at it, struggling to read through the glasses she did not need.
That was when I decided to bring an end to Mallory’s little charade.
“Perhaps you would be able to see better without the glasses, Mallory. You’ve been drinking vampire blood for years now and you’re probably in better health than you were when you were a girl.”
Her hands grew still and she stiffened. Her back was suddenly straighter and the hand clutching the cane tightened as she stared at me, her amber eyes as hard and brittle as chunks of jasper. Then her mouth tightened and a hot flush crept to her face.
With the strength and speed of someone much younger, she brought her cane up to crack it against the side of my head. It broke and the bottom end flew across the room past Luna who yelped in surprise before turning to Mallory, her eyes wide with shock, her mouth falling open before she clamped it shut.
Of course the blow had not hurt at all, but I stood there blinking rapidly against tears, which must, of course, have been caused by the abruptness of the blow than, perhaps, hurt feelings. Though I admit I felt some mild emotional discomfort at the fact Mallory had been angry enough to hit me. I suppose some of that must have shown on my face as I stared at her because she wavered for a moment, her own eyes brightening with moisture, her mouth opening to flounder helplessly for a few moments.
Then her mouth hardened once more and she brought the broken cane up to crack it against my head once more.
“Don’t look at me like that!” she snapped.
I merely sat down before her, my expression still revealing my angst.
After a long, heavy silence, she let me ease the cane out of her hand.
“Mallory, my dear girl, I love you, but I’m not going to let you get your own way this time.”
I’m sure if she had still been holding onto the cane she would have struck me across the head once more. Her hands clenched into fists instead.
“Get out! Get out!”
“Mallory...” I began.
When I saw her reach for the cane, I got to my feet. She deigned to let me kiss her on the cheek before we left the room.
Outside in the field of flowers, we stood in bewildered silence. I heard the sound of the mansion door opening. Seconds later I felt something crack against the side of my head.
The broken cane cluttered to the ground by my feet.
I faced the mansion to see Mallory standing in the doorway. She stood tall and straight, all traces of the frail, old lady gone along with the cardigan and soft, white slippers.
“Take that with you and bring me back a gold plated cane with studs so the next time I hit you, you’ll have a reason to look at me like that!”
She slammed the door shut. I heard her bare feet pad along the marble floor before she came to a stop. I heard scrapping sounds and then the clip of her heels as she moved further into the mansion.
I picked up the cane and glowered at Luna. She averted her gaze and moved to the car. I followed.
“You were...helpful back there, Luna,” I said.
“What was I supposed to do when she got upset enough to hit you?”
“What we agreed.”
“It’s done now, Avery. And for God’s sake, just make sure you buy her that cane before our next visit.”
“Really? You want me to give her something she can actually crack my skull open with?”
She was beside the car by now and moved to the passenger side.
“She’s not going to hit you with that if there’s a chance she could do real damage, so just get her the cane.”
“I see. And is that the goddess’s wisdom I’m hearing or Dallas’s?”
She spun around, her eyes burning opals. I froze, for I had seen that look far too many times in the past, like the time she threw me into the lake and when she threw Henriette to her death.
I felt my insides turn to water. Rather than provoke her further, I got into the car. She joined me a few moments later and we drove away in silence.
Shamefaced, we moved back into the mansion a few weeks later and that was the last time we ever tried to stand our ground with Mallory.
Thinking back to those years, I felt the lump in my throat Luna did not believe vampires could feel. I swallowed, fighting back tears. I missed Mallory dearly although centuries had passed since her death. She had died in her sleep. I returned to the mansion at dawn to find her in Shadrach’s arms in the field of flowers, seemingly asleep, a soft smile on her lips.
Shadrach had been with her every second in the months leading up to her death. He had appeared one night whilst I sat talking with Mallory in the field of flowers.
I had looked up to see him standing at the gates, his gaze on Mallory, appearing to drink her in. He no doubt noted the physical changes that had occurred since he saw her last, but all I saw in his eyes was love and awe. It was a moment before Mallory noticed him. She stared at him for a long moment before beckoning to him. Mallory had married twice since Shadrach left us, but we all knew she still loved him and always would.
“Shadrach.” Her voice was little more than a whisper and thick with emotion. “Come on over. You wouldn’t believe the nonsense Uncle Avery has been telling me.”
He was by her side moments later. He stared down at her for a few more moments before he sat down and kissed her on the cheek. His intense gaze remained trained on her as she spoke. The only sign she gave that she had missed him was the hand she placed in his.
He never left her side at all from that moment and I found myself sometimes pushed out. Luna was there to console me, of course.
“You’ve been with Mallory nearly her entire life, Avery. Shadrach deserves this time with her.”
I understood, although I still felt my stomach clench into painful knots whenever I had to walk away and let them have that precious time together. But I was always consoled by Luna’s hand in mine and that I could gaze into the raven eyes of my immortal beloved who would be with me always. Although centuries later I still struggled with Mallory’s passing, I had a degree of peace in my heart because Luna had shown me the realm in which Mallory and other souls journeyed to once their time on this Earth had passed. She had shown me a place of light, love and eternal peace. A paradise long forgotten, but which humans sensed in the deepest recesses of their minds.
***
There were some who argued only a minority within this community allowed the abomination which destroyed the future generation. If that were true, the majority would have been queuing up at every law enforcement office around the dome to ensure the seed poisoning their future would be stamped out. Instead they came out in droves to nurture the seed with rays of hatred. Some even saw the poison seeping into the fertile soil of their community as some kind of game. The rest watered it with their silen
ce.
Every deviant word they allowed to be uttered, every lie, every threat they indulged was a seed they planted in their midst. Every theft they allowed to go unpunished and every deviant act or thought they embraced in their midst were more seeds. Every trespass, every invasion of privacy, every second of sleep, quiet, clarity, and peace of mind they allowed to be stolen were more seeds which would eventually grow to choke every single thing of value, leaving them nothing but weeds.
Luna had seen the future of this dome when she had been a goddess. A war zone in which wretches roamed its streets unchallenged.
I had come to the largest crowd by now. Before I even saw the face of the vampire commanding such large masses, I knew who it was. My lips turned down in irritation even at the sight of him.
The many centuries since my beloved returned to me had been ones of bliss. There was only one thing that had marred my joy over the centuries, and his image peered down at the large crowd that had massed around it.
Arnaldo.
***
We returned to the mansion after many years abroad. Luna was driving and she handled the car as recklessly as she had handled a horse, tearing through the trees, taking sharp turns often without looking at the road before her and making every sentient wild animal scatter in panic.
We were almost at the mansion when she stomped on the brake, making the car screech to a halt.
“Oh. My. God.” A smile lit up her face. “Can you tell who’s there? Oh, my God!”
Before I could reply the air around her wavered and she was gone.
Puzzled, I jumped into the driver’s seat and drove on, assuming whatever had made Luna react that way would be found at the mansion.
When I drove up to the mansion I saw Luna in the arms of a tall, dark-haired, slender male I had never seen before. He appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years of age and were it not for his height and angular physique I would have easily mistaken him for a girl, such was his beauty.