by P. Mattern
With tears falling from his eyes faster than he was able to angrily fling them away, ,Cass nodded.
“Protect Mitzi. I don’t care what I go through. She can’t know until the birth. She has to be happy…for OUR son’s sake. Nothing can stress her…and nothing WILL- I SWEAR IT!”he said with conviction.
At that moment Celeste embraced him ,saying, ”All will be well, my brother. I’m proud of you. This will be the hard part.” She moved away from him with her hands still on his shoulders, and there was true excitement in her voice as she continued ,”Cass you will have your son-I have seen him in visions. He will be as strong and brave as you and your brother have been. And he will win every battle-that is both a prediction and a promise.”
Suddenly she paused as if listening to something the rest could not yet hear.
“Mitzi and Fress are returning ,here Cass-“ she said as she shoved a colorful large gift bag full of pastel colored tissue ,ribbons ,streamers and various party favors. Hide this behind your back slowly enough so that she sees it. Mitzi is rather prescient since thrice-bitten ,she senses something is up-this will be our cover…and her protection. Are we all agreed?”
Looking around at each other, the four shared a silent and solemn commitment to protect Mitzi from the awful knowledge that had been shared ,so that her pregnancy would not be threatened or the offspring harmed in any way. Cass took a deep breath . He could feel the sympathy and support of his brother and his friends enveloping him, and it lifted him out of the mire of his own grief and self pity and helped him to focus on what was most important.
And he still had a son. A wonderful son that would bring additional joy and love into their close knit group. New life…that was worth everything.
They could hear the low murmur of sweet feminine voices and a rustling at the door as Fress and Mitzi tumbled in, each one of them overburdened with shopping bags and boxes.
As Celeste had suggested, Cass slid the large bag with the party paraphernalia behind his back just slowly enough so that Mitzi caught a glimpse of it. When her smiling eyes met his he thought he read a sense of relief in her expression. Dropping her packages she ran over and threw her arms around his waist to hug him, then pulled back with a teasing smile.
“We had the best time!! And you weren’t quick enough Cass!!What are you hiding behind your back, Hmmmm?”
Cass smiled in spite of himself. Celeste was right. Mitzi was worth everything. Just being in proximity to her made everything seem somehow all right.
“No peeking ,Mitzi!!”he protested. “You walked in on a little surprise…but that’s all you get to know!!Just pretend that you didn’t see anything!!”
Fress grabbed Mitzi’s arm and pulled her toward the kitchen.”Come with me, Mitz!!!!I’m soooo thirsty-no blood slushies at the Mall-I think I could drink an entire bag!!!”
Mitzi threw a loving look back at Cass as she disappeared into the kitchen. Cass looked at Ariel and Celeste.
“Thanks again,”he said.”I think I can carry it from here.”
“You’re not alone in this bro’ ”Lux reassured him in a low voice.”And guess what? We really ARE throwing Mitzi a surprise shower week after next. It was Pierre and Fress’s idea. And Pierre is a master wood craftsman and furniture maker and he’s making a doublewide crib, do you believe that guy?”
“Whoa!” Cass answered, half amused at Lux’s gushing over Pierre’s extensive repertoire of talents,” You gotta admire a guy that can handle the wood!”
Lux pursed his lips and took in a breath,”Okay, Cass-I walked into that one .But don’t worry-I’ll get you back!” He looked as though he wanted to laugh, and was secretly happy that Cass had recovered from Celeste’s news sufficiently to revert to his infamous brand of inappropriate humor. It made everything seem more normal and copacetic somehow.
Cass replaced the party bag behind the far end of the sofa and followed the others into the kitchen. He felt that he’d aged greatly in the space of a few hours, but it wasn’t such a bad feeling ,and he didn’t resent it. Hearing Mitzi’s laughter wafting in from the kitchen, his heart seemed to pound with renewed vigor. He thought with gratitude of the child-THEIR child-floating within her right now.
For Mitzi’s sake ,and for the sake of his unborn child ,he wanted to be the best vampire male-and father-that he could possibly be.
After hoagies and other refreshments, their guests having departed, Cass and Mitzi look at each other.
“I have heard,” Mitzi said in a sultry, low voice ”That inviting a vampire ‘in’ can be dangerous.”
Cass pulled her to him, grateful to be enveloped by her scent.
“The come hither look in your eye is all the invitation I need” ,he replied.”And with everyone else doing constant sleepovers-Fress at Daniels and Lux at Pierres-the cottage can be our home away from home this evening. We can bunk in my old room. Fress is such a neatnik she changes the sheets weekly even though I’m not really living here. By the way-do you know where the children are?”
Mitzi patted her belly and smiled up at Cass.
Cass chuckled,”No my darling I mean Romeo and Juliet and Company-the usurpers of the just completed three to four season room.”
“Oh!” Mitzi exclaimed,”Fress treats the addition like an apartment and they have permission to come and go as they please ,even though the judge approved her petition and they are legally her wards-she is quite the liberal parent..The children are devoted to each other, though, unlike most human teenagers, they don’t sleep together-well they DO but not in the usual sense.”
“Oh!” Cass echoed teasingly.”As in ‘not in the sense that I intend to sleep with YOU’-which I most certainly do. Vivi-“ he continued in a more serious tone, ”How are you really love? Are we okay?”
“Better than,” Mitzi replied, Cass’s adoration of her reflected back to him in her own eyes.”My past is like another life on another world…and even though it’s not rendered exactly irrelevant ,it’s in the distant background, like the grief and sadness that I felt all those years. Our relationship is a constant foundational feeling of ecstacy to me, the fact that we are together now. You copy that? Nothing.” she finished.”Can break this.”
“And by the way,” she added. “Your secret’s safe with me-I know you and the others are planning a baby shower. And I think it’s really sweet.”
Cass smiled back at her and then drew her gently toward himself for a lingering kiss. Her was conscious of his powerful, rising desire, and also conscious of the press of her protruding belly against him. To his great relief he found that even though he now had new and awful knowledge of one of the occupants of her womb, he desired her as much as ever.
Or maybe he was in denial.
Would she feel differently about her pregnancy if she knew? Would the rose-colored perspective that she had just given voice to be shattered when she became aware of the undeniable existence of the child that he had already named in his own mind ”The Other”?
These were questions he couldn’t answer, and would give up trying to ,at least until tomorrow. All he wanted at that moment was to get as deeply inside her as possible and stay there as long as he could. And his body was telling him he was more than up to that task.
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Charley Rabbit’s mind was playing and replaying his latest, and very significant, sexual experience with Merilee.
She had taken him to her apartment. It was in a nicer section of town, in an area called “The Canterbury Gardens”, part of the renovated downtown area.
Although she only had one bedroom ,she had a balcony ,a dining area, a galley kitchen with a kitchen bar and a large space with a fireplace and twin floor-to-ceiling built in bookshelves ,a desk and storage. He hadn’t imagined Merilee to be such a prolific reader, and was instantly impressed at the titles on her bookshelves: all the classics were there, including Shakespeare ,Lots of books on natural wonders of sea and s
ky, exotic places, gemstones, and caverns were also represented in her collection.
One section particularly captured his attention as he learned over and made him straighten up in surprise.
“Merilee!!” he yelped in surprise, ”Are all these first editions?”
Merilee seemed sheepish, a little embarrassed, surprisingly vulnerable.
“I love books.” She explained ”I’ve always collected them ,since I was a child.”
It suddenly occurred to Charley that in his immensely peaked lust to connect on a physical level with Merilee, he really didn’t know that much about her. He replaced the First Edition of David Copperfield that he’d removed from the shelf and turned to her.
“Tell me your story, Merilee. I’d really like to know where you came from ,how you were changed ,how you came together with the rest of our tribe here. I’m a good listener,I swear.”
For a moment it seemed as though Merilee was going to let her guard down, and Charley comprehended that the bravado that seemed to be such an intrinsic part of her personality was actually a guard that she gathered about her at all times like a shield.
Then Merilee seemed to regroup and was instantly back in her usual persona. Approaching Charley she jumped up against him, her long shapely, jean clad legs wrapped tightly around his waist, her hungry mouth on his greedily.
Frantically, with vampire quickness, Charley tore at his clothes…and then just as quickly but more gently at hers, as she assisted contorting like an acrobat to get naked as soon as possible without interrupting the endless kiss that she had started.
The kiss was only broken momentarily so that Charley, breathing heavily, could ask,
“Beautiful Mer-the bed or the floor? “
By way of an answer , Merilee shifted her weight to slide down to the carpet ,pulling him after her with surprising strength. She was so beautiful, her perfect skin glowing goldenly against the aqua shag carpeting, that he couldn’t get close enough fast enough. With her blonde hair standing out from her head like a halo she seemed like a tanned Marilyn Monroe.
She exhibited none of the passivity Charley was used to-instead she was as aggressive as Charley in her pleasure seeking. In their wild session they flipped each other over numerous times. When it came to the art of love, Merilee knew many tricks, Charley became her willing pupil, anxious to learn all of them . And also teach her a few of his own.
When at last they paused, Charley lay speechless and still entertwined with his new lover as Merilee idly ran her fingernails over the skin on his back ,making circular patterns and humming quietly.
Charley sighed deeply in contentment.”Mer…you are a natural wonder. “
He could feel her proud ,self-satisfied smile-which he felt that she was completely entitled to after having demonstrated a sexual skills set that included positions and sensations he’d never experienced.
“You are sweet, Charley Rabbit. And you can keep up with me…I’m sort of impressed.”
Suddenly Charley remembered her ‘no strings’ comment. He hoped she hadn’t meant that she only did one night stands. Merilee’s crazy wonderful body seemed to satisfy ALL of his cravings for the moment, and he knew that he would be wanting more. But he wasn’t sure how to approach a conversation about their next hookup-he didn’t want her to feel pressured or crowded.
Charley needn’t have worried. Suddenly she was standing over him, still completely nude, her feet straddling his body.
“Come over tomorrow, Charley.” She said, matter-of-factly. “I’m going to tie you up!”
Charley grinned widely in relief and delighted anticipation.
“Of course you are.” He said.
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Balik had not seen the Maveslee, the young woman that the Mavesla had changed into his devil bride ,for at least 3 days. Part of that time he had overseen the punishment meted out to six of his members-the six that had failed in their attempt to change a human boy into one of their own. Their botched attempt was seen as serious dereliction of duty, as well as reckless endangerment of their entire underground nation because the boy had escaped. In a few days time they would be sent out on assignment to hunt down the half-baked hybrid and bring him in to join their ranks.
Or kill him if he refused.
In the meantime they had recruited a replacement from the nearby town of Blue Springs. When human, the youth had been a tow headed high schooler wrestler in his Junior year named Thaddeus,nicknamed “Tad.” His being chosen had been a fortuitous happening when the youth had decided to walk home, taking a back road that wound through a thickly forested area from his girlfriends house. The boy had left hurriedly and angrily after he and his girlfriend had had a falling out ,even though a thunderstorm was brewing.
It had been later in the afternoon when the boiling dark grey clouds rolled in over the hills of the farmland. Balik and his pack had been looking for a lone youth not too far from their underground caverns and spied him from miles off, a lone energy ,reeking of sweaty humanity, half running while the wind tore at his jacket, hoping somehow to outrun the storm.
The hybrid cave dwelling vampires were ,save 3 or 4 of them, clumsy and inept flyers. Balik and the ones that had skills in that area had flown over the youth, landing purposefully in front of him to shock and disarm him, while the rest surged closer from behind the boy.
Although they blocked his way, the young man had been surprisingly calm as he looked them up and down ,trying to make some sense of their primitive looking clothing and strange features.
Balik had spoken then, saying to the human in English,”Hello. It seems we’re lost. Can you direct us to Blue Springs?” All around the clustered group coarse sounding laughter rang out at Balik’s dry humor.
The youth seemed to crane his neck around as he answered, obviously hoping to see a car or another human-but the area surrounding the road was deserted.
“Um”, he began nervously as his eyes looked from one hybrid face to another, ”You’re actually in Blue Springs right now-the town proper is ahead…”It was apparent to the Hybrids that the youth was in the stage of playing out various scenarios in his head, trying to formulate an escape plan, his eyes darting about nervously. This was the part of the abduction and turning game Balik enjoyed the most-he knew every one of the countless human tricks for an attempted getaway. He highly suspected the boy would attempt to divert their attention next, so he decided to beat him to the punch.
Looking upward, Balik faked a gasp and pointed, ”LOOK! What IS that thing?”
Following Balik’s finger the boy also looked upward-and was immediately enveloped by the Hybrids. His screams were shockingly shrill, feminine, and loud even for a human male-Balik put an end to them by flipping the boy over and pressing his face into the dirt. From a far distance he could hear the sound of a car motor.
“Hurry”, he cautioned the others, who were furiously snarling and tearing at the victim with tooth and nail.”As much venom as possible. We cannot lose this one. Bright red blooms of blood from the fresh wounds underneath, appeared on the torn material of his jacket and shirt in a riotous, ominous pattern.
The boy’s screaming had stopped, but he continued a low moaning in the back of his throat and appeared to be in a semi-conscious state. Hearing the car motor coming closer ,Balik made a decision.
Pointing to the other 3 hybrids that could fly, he directed, ”Take him back to base camp. Secured area. I will lead the others through the forest and meet you there. This time we will see him through his transformation in our own house.”
So the boy had been taken into the caverns and put under watch as his body acclimated to the chemicals that had been introduced into his system, as he subsequently changed ,and as he died to his former humanity by degrees. When his change was complete, it was apparent that he would never look like the rest of them, he was far too fair for that. But his eyes had changed to a deep sienna color, his bloo
dlust was more than equal to theirs, and his potential as a vicious killer was apparent. He seemed to be a good tracker also, and could sense a being- be it, human, were, vampire, hybrid or other- from miles away. His appearance had provoked a few challenges, and the vicious manner in which he attacked his opponents, forcing them to back down, had been impressive, at least in Balik’s eyes.
And so he became one of them. His new name was Briar. As a hybrid vampire he was easily provoked, so the others generally gave him a wide berth. He followed orders, performed every task delegated to him, and joined the others in their periodic coital group orgies with the available females. No female of the servant class was exempt from this duty of servicing the pack, and part of the fun was hunting down the limited number of females, most of them newly turned or younger ones ,that tried to escape their obligatory couplings by hiding.
Briars favorite was Dynyll ,a shy but comely hybrid with long straight black hair and enormous breasts. Initially, he’d thought that she risked a beating by hiding so that she could avoid being mounted. Lately he had come to believe that she was well aware of his superior tracking abilities and knew that if she could avoid the other hybrids by hiding ,only he himself was likely to find her. And he always found her. Though they never spoke-his Goth was very limited ,and her English non-existent-they communicated in their own way. And she seemed to enjoy his attentions as much as he enjoyed bestowing them. She became the one creature in their clandestine world that he felt gentle emotion toward ,and her touch and lush sensuality calmed and pacified him.
Though very distantly (in contrast to the vivid visceral experiences his new life had afforded him), he did retain some of his human memories, but was unable to connect with any emotions concerning them. Whenever he caught a chance reflection of himself, usually in a pond or a metal object, he was astounded at the change in his appearance-more muscular by far, heavier, with a broader face, sharper teeth and reddish eyes that glittered even in the half light of dusk. His blonde hair seemed to have gone to platinum. He was a cave dweller now. Internally he had nothing but scorn for humans, and did not desire to ever return to his original soft, defenseless state again.