Sundown & Serena

by Tara Fox Hall

  “Not a problem,” I said, hugging him. “I’m glad you liked it.”

  “I fucking loved it,” Lash said, a smile splitting his face from ear to ear. “Even though I’m too soft now to stay in you and my ears hurt, it’s a small price to pay.”

  Hearing his confession, I thought it was probably good I’d been quiet during my climaxing. “Good.”

  Both of us were exhausted. We dropped off to sleep in a few moments, holding one another.

  Chapter Ten

  I awoke about ten a.m. Lash was awake beside me, gently running his hands over my naked flesh and hissing softly. It felt strange to see him next to me in bed in the light of day, me naked, and him still in his T-shirt. But I hadn’t been drunk when I told him yes and it wasn’t bad at all, waking up with him.

  I reached out and hugged him. “Hi.”

  “I liked being with you,” Lash hissed hesitantly. “Did you enjoy me, Sun? Honestly?”

  “Yes,” I said, flashing a smile. “You were great. Better than great.”

  “Good,” Lash said with finality, getting up from the bed. “I wanted it to be good for you; as good as I could make it.”

  He began putting on his clothes. It hit me then that he expected me to do the same. We’d fucked, but now that the night was over, he was just going to leave.

  He noticed me staring as he buckled his belt. “What?” he said curiously.

  What indeed. It wasn’t like I was in love with him. But maybe that was better, not to love a man I was lovers with, to just like him as a friend. In fact, maybe that was the best.

  “Why don’t you stay, and not leave?” I asked.

  He stopped moving, his eyes flat and unreadable. “We need to be out by noon.”

  “Come home with me?” I asked hesitantly, feeling foolish and a little lame.

  Lash gave me an incredulous stare. “Sun, you want more? I thought for sure you’d be rubbed raw by now, being human. My body heals itself like nothing, but yours—”

  “I just don’t want you to leave now.”

  “Why?” he asked, slipping on his weapons.

  Because I want there to be more than this. More than just good sex, and leaving each other, and then finding someone different to do it with all over again the next time I wanted sex. Terian had ruined me for that. I just hadn’t known it until now.

  “Are you going to answer me or not?” Lash probed, curious.

  Blushing, I cast down my eyes. “I like you. I liked spending last night with you. I don’t want you to leave. I want there to be more.”

  Lash grinned widely, surprise on his face. He came over and kissed me gently. “Then tell me where you live now, and I’ll come by tonight. I’m off work at ten. But I have to go now, Sun; I have to be at Hayden by eleven-thirty.”

  I gave him the address, and got dressed. He dropped me off in his truck at my car, and told me with a grin he’d see me tonight.

  I got another odd twinge watching him drive off. After he left, I sat for a while by myself and thought about things.

  I was asking for trouble. Lash had told me he killed people. He was best friends with Devlin, the world-class asshole. Just that should have been enough to have me running. Instead, I was beginning some sort of relationship with him. What the fuck is wrong with me?

  But he wasn’t bad. He just isn’t. He’d helped me get away from Devlin. He’d listened to me, and talked to me, and he’d never once made a move, though clearly he’d been interested in me all along. When we’d been together last night, he’d been almost certainly the best lover of my life, screw that he wasn’t human. So what if he wasn’t the most handsome man I’d ever been with? So what if he was older than me by a few years? I wanted to try to have something with him if he would agree to try with me. That meant I was going to have to ask him if he wanted to try. But hell, what did I have to lose? If I didn’t ask him to stay, he’d leave for sure.

  Fuck it. I’ll ask him tonight.

  I returned the hotel room key, and went into work about noon. Work sucked royally, being the afternoon and early evening shift with almost no clientele to speak of, but I got through it. At quarter to nine, I left work, picking up a pizza on the way home. I was still eating some of it when Lash arrived.

  I let him in. “Want a piece?” I tempted him with a smile.

  Immediately, his face closed down and he bared his fangs. “No, I want to fuck,” Lash hissed, grabbing hold of me roughly. “You didn’t ask me here to eat, Sun. I’m here for a repeat of last night, so let’s fuck.”

  Taken aback, I led him to my bedroom. In a few seconds, I was on my back, my jeans around my ankles as Lash pounded himself into me. But he stopped almost as soon as he’d begun. “What is it?” he hissed worriedly. “Doesn’t what I’m doing feel good to you? Did you reconsider during the day? Do you want me to leave?”

  “It does, and no, I didn’t, and I don’t,” I replied awkwardly, touching his arm. “I’m just a little nervous, because you were kind of fast tonight with me. I thought we could work up to the sex—”

  “Don’t be nervous,” Lash said eagerly, beginning to move again. “You feel wonderful to me, Sun, just like you did last night. Relax and enjoy yourself. Let me do the work. I’m sorry, I should have been slower. I’ll take my time, until you’re as worked up as I already am. God, I’ve been thinking about you all day. I couldn’t drive here fast enough!”

  I had to grin at how his mind worked. When he leered back at me, I kissed him, wrapping my arms around him.

  True to his word, Lash took his time, drawing out the stimulation, stroking me with his hands, kissing me, rubbing my clit, his deep thorough strokes making me whimper with longing. It went on and on until the feeling built up so much I felt as if I was going to shake to death, I wanted it so bad. Like a clap of thunder, the climax hit, engulfing me, making me scream as I writhed under him. Lash groaned, his body going rigid on mine as he came, his arms squeezing me, his hands gripping my breasts possessively.

  When we could talk again, Lash pushed his upper body up off of mine with his arms. “Same as last night, Sun?” he asked with a leer. “Or you want something different tonight? So long as I get to be in you and come, I’m up for anything you want to do.”

  It’s now or never. “Lash, I want you to stay here, and not go with Devlin to South America,” I said, flushing. “Tell me, is there something I could do so you’d agree to stay here with me?”

  Lash blinked once at me, then got up off me with a sigh and began pulling on his clothes, moving towards the door.

  I pulled my jeans up, and followed him anxiously. “Lash, why are you going now? What’s wrong? Am I not supposed to like you, after spending the night with you, and all those months talking?”

  “Because I can’t stay here with you, I have to go with Dev,” he said, his back to me. “He needs me, Sun, more now maybe than he ever has. And it goes without saying I can’t take you with me, much as I might like to. I can’t risk that Devlin wouldn’t hurt you again, when he gets in one of his moods. Dev is not over Sar, not at all, no matter that that stupid Theo thinks he is.”

  “Theo’s alive?” I said in shock.

  Lash looked over at me, grimacing. “Alive and married to Sar,” he hissed with distaste. “She’s such an idiot to be with him, after what he...well, never mind that.”

  “What about the baby?” God, Terian must be a wreck.

  “Theoron?” Lash said, and shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll stay with Danial like he has been, that’s his father.”

  I let out a squeal.

  Lash whipped around, taking a step toward me. “Jesus, Sun! What is it?”

  “I thought it was Terian’s baby,” I blathered. “I thought all this time that they were together, he and Sar.”

  “No,” Lash said, looking at me strangely. “Sar went after him once when she was pregnant, I heard, but he rebuffed her. It was some kind of vampire thing, because of the bloodlust, Dev said. Danial is Theoron’s father through some s
ort of magic spell Terian made. Terian’s never been with anyone. As far as I know he’s been alone this whole time, the last year and a half.”

  Oh God. I’ve been an absolute idiot. I shut my eyes and put my face in my hands.

  Lash sat down beside me. “I gather it’s not important to you anymore if I leave or stay,” he said bitterly. “Because you still love Terian.”

  “Lash—”

  He patted my knee. “Don’t worry about it, Sun. This works out better for both of us.”

  “I still want you to stay, you ass! I care about you,” I said angrily.

  Lash’s arm darted out and he pulled me close, kissing me more deeply than he ever had. In the kiss, his forked tongue slipped into my mouth, and licked me. It felt a lot like a large, warm, live worm moving around in my mouth. I shivered before I could stop myself.

  Lash pushed back from me, scowling. “You don’t,” he hissed angrily, disentangling himself from me. “You’re human, and I’m snake. You can’t care for me, because as soon as you feel how different I am from you, all you can think of is getting away from me as far away as you can.”

  “Come back,” I said, reaching for him and trying to be brave. “Kiss me again. It’s not that I was disgusted, it’s that your tongue feels so different, like nothing else I’ve ever felt. And I wasn’t expecting it. You never kissed me like that before.”

  “No, I’m leaving now, Sun,” Lash said angrily, heading for the door.

  After all he’d done for me, I wasn’t ending it like that between us. I went after him, putting my arms around his neck, and bringing his lips hard down on mine. Lash kissed me back, then moved to draw away. I licked his mouth with my tongue, probing gently at his lips. Instantly, his mouth opened on mine, his tongue caressing my lips, then sliding deeper.

  Though I felt a mental shiver, I didn’t pull away. In fact, I kissed him harder, willing myself to relax, telling myself his tongue was just a part of him, and it wasn’t going to hurt me. I hesitantly licked at his tongue, and he licked me back, his tongue winding around mine. I brought his tongue into my mouth, and sucked on it gently, caressing it with my tongue and lips. The sensation was strange, but not unpleasant. I teased and prodded, telling myself what I was doing wasn’t that odd, it was just a different kind of oral sex.

  Lash sighed in satisfaction. When I took his hand and moved to draw him back towards the bed, he came with me eagerly. There was no more talking between us that night, though there was a lot of kissing, moaning, and gentle caresses.

  * * * *

  The next morning, we lay there in bed, hugging each other. “I can’t stay here, or take you with me, Sun,” Lash hissed regretfully, “Even if you still wanted to go, which I suspect you don’t, last night notwithstanding.”

  “You’re right, I do still love Terian,” I said grumpily. “Damn it to hell.”

  “Then talk to him,” Lash advised, stretching happily. “He seems reasonable from what I’ve heard, though I’ve never met him face to face. He must still care about you, to not be with a woman in all this time. That or he’s really gay, and he’s harboring a crush on Theo.”

  I wanted to remark that not all men went from one woman to another like stepping stones on a path, but held it in. He’d get testy for sure.

  “I’ve got to go,” Lash said with a little groan and a lot of reluctance. “We are supposed to leave on Monday at first dark. It’s Saturday morning. Fuck, I’ve got so much shit to do.”

  “You sure?” I said teasingly, kissing his neck. “I don’t have to work tonight, so I could stay in bed for another ten hours or so.”

  “You must be part were,” Lash said in awe as he got out of bed. “I never met a human woman who liked sex as much as you do.”

  “You must have not known many human women then,” I replied, laughing.

  He laughed too, but his eyes were sad. “Not many,” he said almost inaudibly. “Mostly other weresnakes.”

  “I need to ask a favor,” I said quietly, changing the subject.

  Lash looked at me expectantly.

  “Can you keep it to yourself that we were intimate? I don’t want Devlin to know I’m back here, even if he is leaving.”

  “Sure,” Lash said, nodding. “But it’s not really him you’re worried about, is it? You never asked me to keep it to myself I was meeting you for drinks these last months, though I knew not to say anything to him. You just don’t want Terian finding out about you and me, now that you know he’s available.”

  Damn, why couldn’t he be oblivious like every other man I’ve ever known? “That, too,” I said, nodding. “He won’t understand. He’s never had sex with a friend; he’s just not that way.” That was an understatement. What I’d done casually with Lash would be appalling to Terian, with his strict moral ways, even with Lash being more than a friend to me.

  “Then it never happened,” Lash said flatly, reaching for his pants. “No one will know but you and me.”

  I got up and hugged him. “It was good with you, both nights,” I whispered. “Don’t think I regret it, because I don’t. I’m glad I was with you, that we were together. And I still wish you were staying, and not leaving. I’ll miss talking with you.”

  I hugged him close. Fuck it. “I’ll miss what might have been between us,” I said very, very softly.

  Lash hugged me, and let out a breath. “I’ll miss you, too,” he hissed tenderly. “You’ve been a good friend, Sun. You were the best human lay I’ve ever had. That’s saying something, all the years I’ve been alive.”

  I laughed and he did, too, as we located our clothes here and there around the room.

  “So are you going to call him?” he said, pulling on his clothes.

  “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “What should I say?”

  “Tell him you want him, that you missed him, and you’re waiting here in bed naked for him to come to you,” Lash advised, buckling on his weapons. “It’d work for me and most men I know, if a woman called them and said that. It will certainly work on a half-demon. They like sex as much as weres do as a rule, though maybe not as much as weresnakes.”

  My grimace became a smile against my will. He had a good sense of humor, Lash did. “Okay. I’ll do that.”

  “But shower first and wash your sheets, before you call him,” Lash hissed in warning. “Or he’ll smell my scent on you and be pissed off. Demon’s noses are as good as weres and snake scent is the strongest, especially the scent on you now from being with me all night.”

  I nodded, appalled. Like I’d call Terian up as soon as Lash was gone. Men... “Got it.”

  Lash came over to me, tilting my head up. He gave me a last kiss, then a hug, caressing my cheek gently.

  “Going to call me an angel?” I said, figuring he wouldn’t get the old reference from a Juice Newton song more than thirty years old.

  To my surprise, he smiled knowingly, baring one fang. “A morning angel,” Lash hissed with affection, then kissed me one more time. “I most likely won’t see you again, though I hope to someday,” he said gently. “Take care of yourself. I hope it works out with Terian and you.”

  Then he was gone, the door closing behind him.

  Chapter Eleven

  I called Danial’s business again that night, and left a message for Terian with a woman who said her name was Monica. Although I waited a week, Terian did not call back.

  In anger, I went again to the bar where I’d met Lash all those weeks, hoping for another night with him to ease my despair. Though I stayed until closing, he never showed.

  I was debating calling Terian again when I got a Fed Ex delivery. It was a first class plane ticket from my father, which could only mean one thing. But instead of the jubilant note I expected, I found this:

  Sunny,

  Please come to me when you get this. Sheryl’s dead, she died last week. I need you, Baby Girl.

  Love, Dad

  My father had never said he needed me in his life before. Weird and also v
ery strange. I told my boss I’d be back in a few days, and got a cab to the airport.

  * * * *

  I rented a car at the airport, and drove to the house that had been Sheryl’s. I wasn’t surprised to see a “For Sale” sign on the front lawn.

  I next drove to the lot where the old trailer we’d lived in used to be. Sure enough, there was my father. He was sitting in a lawn chair in a bathrobe, drinking a Bud Light. There were several empty cans at his feet.

  “Baby Girl,” he said happily when he saw me. “You came!”

  “So where’s all the cash, Dad?” I said mockingly. The trailer behind him was a newer one, but it was still a wreck, and clearly at least twenty years old.

  “She left it to her two daughters down south,” he said angrily. “She left me a measly ten grand! Ten grand, for a year and a half of my life! Bitch!” His expression cleared. “But at least she left me the house. I’ll sell it soon. It should bring a half mil easy, or so the realtor tells me.”

  “Then why do you need me?” I said angrily. “Your dreams have come true. You don’t need me.”

  “Because I’m dying,” he said sadly.

  I gaped at him in shock. “Dying?”

  “She didn’t have cancer,” he said bitterly. “She had AIDS; got it from her philandering husband. She told me she bruised easily, that she had diabetes, that’s why all the drugs and the marks on her skin.”

  I grabbed onto a nearby tree branch for support. This is poetic justice, sure, but God...

  “Anyway, the doctors say I could live a while, but I’ll need help—”

  “So you thought of me?” I interrupted flatly.

  “Sure,” my father said. “You’re my daughter. I need you.”

  “So what?” I said nastily.

  My father gaped at me for a few moments, then became enraged. “You know all the nights I had to deal with your kid shit? So many nights I wanted to be out, and I had to be home, because your mom was in one of her depressions, and couldn’t get past the bottle to give you yours—”