Undeniable

by Doreen Orsini

  Working at the ranch since she graduated from college, she had lost her share of students over the years. At first, she’d assumed she had failed in some way, but Stan had quickly set her straight. She had learned to care about her students while keeping them distant enough to easily bid them farewell when they stopped coming.

  When he’d approached her about taking over the ranch, she had regretfully dropped all of her students except Colette’s daughter, Luna. For the past two years, the little girl had worked her way into Diana’s heart. Like Stan, when Diana measured time in reference to students, she counted lessons and not days. But in Luna’s case, Diana felt her absence the entire week. Seven long days.

  Every Tuesday, Luna and Colette arrived with their gray Shetland pony shortly after dusk. And every week, Luna, now six, ran with her sleek black hair streaming behind her right into Diana’s arms and rattled off every little thing that had happened since they’d last seen each other.

  Every week, without fail.

  Except last week.

  Stan opened the top drawer on his desk and rummaged through it as he spoke. “They’ll show tonight and you’ll find out it was nothing more than a stomach bug or kiddy party that kept them away. Now stop your fretting. You’ll wrinkle that pretty face and then what will I have to brighten my days? Here,” he said, holding out a bottle of aloe lotion. “Rub some of this on. You’re making me hot just looking at you.”

  Although her sunburn had oddly paled by the time they’d finished eating, Stan insisted she spend the day in the office. Still concerned about the blood she’d discovered on her bed that morning and Luna’s absence, she agreed. By lunchtime, she had to admit that she’d done something during the night to pop her own cherry.

  When an unquenchable thirst joined the insatiable hunger that two hamburgers and a large order of fries hadn’t eased, she wondered if they and the blood were somehow related. But a search of the internet for some disease with all three came up empty. As if worrying about her popped cherry and Luna’s absence weren’t enough, she’d awoken with a twitch on the side of her neck. By the end of the day, the constant thumping had grown unbearable.

  Dusk finally draped its gray cloak over the surrounding mountains. Diana left the cool office she’d virtually hid from the sun in all day and leaned against the post of the covered porch. As the minutes ticked by, she picked at the skin peeling off her leg. She definitely caught something. Sunburn didn’t heal or peel this quickly. Still hungry, but feeling more energetic than she had all day, she wondered if she’d caught a twenty-four hour bug while she was out with Terry last night.

  She let out a relieved breath when the familiar sound of Colette’s approaching trailer finally shattered the silence. As soon as the trailer stopped, Luna leapt out and ran into Diana’s open arms, then wrapped her arms tightly around Diana’s waist. Diana glanced at Colette, hoping to catch her eye, but Luna’s mother quickly looked down and walked to the back of the trailer.

  When she returned with Luna’s pony, Diana opened her mouth to ask what had kept them away last week, but red-rimmed eyes met hers. The words died in her throat.

  Her heart sank at the realization that she’d been right and something tragic had caused them to miss last week’s lesson. She lifted Luna onto her pony and softly asked, “Ready?”

  Luna shrugged.

  Diana wrapped her arm around Luna’s tiny waist as they entered the corral and sighed. “I missed you all week, Luna sweets.” She waited until they were alone in the corral then asked, “Where’ve you been?”

  A tear rolled down Luna’s flushed cheek. “I…I couldn’t come,” she whispered, her eyes darting to where her mother sat in the waiting area outside the corral.

  When Diana lifted Luna from the pony, Colette rushed to the gate. The woman stumbled when the night lights came on with a dull thud. “It’s all right, Colette. We’re just going to talk first.” She cradled Luna in her arms. “Aw, sweets, what’s the matter?”

  “Ma…ma…my Daddy died.” Luna’s chin quivered. She pressed her face into the crook of Diana’s neck.

  Luna’s sobs tore into Diana’s heart and sent tears streaming down her own cheeks. Marek dead? She had met him only a few times and had immediately liked the gentle giant, had been touched by the way he and Colette doted over Luna.

  Memories of her own grief when her mother had vanished from her young life, memories she’d refused to visit all these years, resurfaced. She remembered feeling as if someone had ripped her heart to shreds and couldn’t bear that Luna had to deal with such agonizing pain.

  She sat on the ground and rocked the girl in her arms for the remaining half hour of her lesson, crying with Luna, for Luna and, hearing the soft sobs coming from the waiting area, for Luna’s mother, Colette.

  Just before their lesson ended, Luna finally calmed down and began to tell Diana everything else that had happened during the past two weeks, ending with the proud announcement that she’d lost one of her front teeth. “See?”

  Luna opened her mouth wide and pointed to the gap.

  “Luna, no!” Colette cried out, appearing at Diana’s side, although only a second ago she’d been at least fifteen feet away.

  Diana’s world shifted.

  The precarious line she’d drawn years ago between her reality and her father’s vanished, obliterated by a mother’s instinct to protect her child. Had Colette remained calm, Diana doubted she would have taken much notice of Luna’s incisors. Though a little longer and sharper than most, they were still baby teeth, still small enough to pass as normal.

  But Colette’s were massive and growing. Diana’s lungs burned from the air she’d sucked in and couldn’t manage to release.

  For years her father had battered her with horrifying tales of vampires and had given her “lessons” on how to get away if ever she should find herself in the company of one. Those lessons had obviously become ingrained in her mind, because she found herself immediately searching for a sharp piece of wood. Of course, she’d have to find some way to break free of the paralyzing fear gripping her body.

  “Diana, put Luna down this instant. I don’t want to hurt you.” Colette’s malevolent voice and blood-red eyes were not nearly as horrifying to Diana as her belief that Diana would in some way harm Luna.

  “Oh, God, Colette. I…” Diana swallowed. Colette, beautiful, serene Colette stood before her with fangs and nails that could easily rip a human to pieces. “You can’t possibly think I’d hurt Luna.”

  Colette held out her hand. “Diana knows we’re vampires, honey. Let go and run to Mommy.”

  Vampires.

  If the child and mother were vampires, then the father, Marek, must have been one. Diana shuddered. Dear God, she’d shown him and Luna around the stables one night after everyone had left. Luna’s father had been a tall, muscular man—no, not a man—a vampire.

  She wouldn’t have stood a chance if he’d attacked her. A vampire as strong, bloodthirsty and indestructible as her father had said they were could have killed her in an instant. Indestructible? Marek died. Luna and Colette were definitely not acting as if they were indestructible.

  Her gaze darted around the deserted ranch. Were more vampires lurking in the corners the moonlight failed to illuminate? Dark shadows she’d seen every night now appeared ominous. Shapes she’d never considered out of the ordinary now seemed to have arms and legs. Like her phantom lover. Her heart pounded. No. He couldn’t be a vampire. He didn’t even exist outside her dreams.

  She flinched when she felt Luna’s face burrow into the crook of her neck. A small hand touched her face. She bit her lower lip.

  Luna’s hand trembled, yet remained, cupping Diana’s cheek. “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you, Diana?” With her face still pressed into Diana’s neck, Luna’s voice was muffled, but her question tore through Diana with as much force as a knife cutting into her heart.

  Hurt her? The menacing expression on Colette’s face failed to hide the terror in her eyes.
Diana doubted she could stop Colette from snatching Luna out of her arms, yet the vampire hovered beside them as if she feared getting too close. Luna and Colette acted as if Diana was the monster.

  Shaking her head from side to side, she covered Luna’s hand with her own and, turning her face, kissed the small, warm palm. If they were so bloodthirsty, she would already be dead or—God forbid—one of them.

  Diana recalled how her father insisted vampires had no emotions to guide them or govern their unquenchable thirst. Then why were the two here so grief-stricken?

  And her father had never mentioned the fact that they had children, children who obviously were not monsters and didn’t consider their fathers one.

  Since she could remember, Diana had listened to her father rant and rave, his eyes aglow with glee over his latest victim. She had refused to accept the existence of vampires because to do so would be to accept that he killed them.

  “I’ve already lost my husband, Diana. Don’t take my baby.” Colette’s voice cracked.

  A chill ran down Diana’s spine. She felt herself tumble back to the night last week when her father had announced he’d caught and destroyed another vampire. How the giant hadn’t even put up a fight. She’d laughed when he’d gone to bed. The man looked as if a strong wind could knock him over. She had always found the idea of him taking down any man, much less a vampire, ludicrous.

  “Put her down.”

  Diana turned and smiled through her tears. “It’s okay, Colette.”

  “Don’t hurt her.” Her pleading voice contradicted the threat of her bared fangs.

  “Colette, I would never do,” she stared directly into Colette’s eyes, “or say anything to hurt Luna or you. Never.”

  Luna leaned back and looked at her mother. “Diana loves me, Mommy. Don’t you, Diana?”

  “More than cotton candy, sweets.” Diana kissed Luna’s forehead as a new line appeared between her reality and her father’s.

  Colette stared back into Diana’s eyes a few moments before nodding. “Marek trusted you. Even after he discovered…well, he trusted you.”

  With a relieved sigh, Diana rested her forehead on the Luna’s and closed her eyes. Saw her father dragging Luna into the pen she now believed existed. Reaching into her shirt, she lifted the heart-shaped locket her mother had given her.

  “Before my mother left, she gave me this.” She unclasped the chain, then placed it around Luna’s neck and whispered, “She told me this heart was filled with her love for me and vowed it would keep the monsters away.”

  Luna’s eyes widened.

  “Do you believe in monsters?” Diana asked.

  “Only one,” Luna said, her voice tinged with anger.

  Diana closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed the lump in her throat. “Well this will keep that one away from you. Do you know why?”

  Luna shook her head, her eyes never leaving Diana’s.

  “Because in here,” Diana tapped the silver heart she’d worn since the day her mother vanished, “is my love for you. And if that monster ever sees it, he’ll know not to touch my Luna.”

  “You’re not afraid of us, Diana?”

  “Should I be?”

  “No.” Luna rolled her eyes. “Well sometimes the males go over the edge and start throwing trees. Then you’d better run.”

  Diana laughed and gathered the child into her arms.

  A short time later, when the lights of their trailer disappeared as they turned out of the parking lot, Diana dropped to her knees. She recalled all the nights her father had come home triumphant after one of his vampire hunts. She’d been about Luna’s age the first time she’d heard him discussing his plans for the pen with her mother. So many nights, so many vampires.

  Had he lied to her all these years? Or had he never taken the time to discover if vampires were actually as heinous as he had believed they were? How many children had he orphaned? How many widows now slept alone?

  She swallowed the lump rising in her throat and gazed up at the stars. Were all vampires like Marek, Colette and Luna? She scanned the forest surrounding the ranch. Owls hooted, crickets chirped, nightingales sang. Harmless creatures destined to live their lives between dusk and dawn. She buried her face in her hands. “Oh, Daddy, what have you done?”

  The distant sounds of the stable doors slamming shut brought her to her feet. Never able to hide anything from Stan, Diana knew that if she saw him now she’d only end up blubbering in his arms. Tomorrow, she’d tell him that she simply forgot to sign out. Pulling out her cell phone as she ran to her car, she speed-dialed Terry and made plans to meet her at Cabana’s in an hour. She needed a few stiff drinks to numb her aching heart.

  * * * * *

  “No way. You popped your own cherry?” Terry squealed and slammed her palm down onto the table.

  Diana cringed and peered through her fingers at the people standing near their booth. “Why don’t you get a frigging megaphone? I think the people on the dance floor didn’t hear you.”

  Terry giggled, “I’m sorry. It’s just so funny.”

  Diana leaned across the table and scooped another handful of pretzels from the bowl. “Funny? I must be the only woman in this bar who saved herself for marriage and you think it’s funny that I lost my cherry to myself?”

  “Di, you couldn’t have.” Terry leaned back and shook her head. “It’s impossible.”

  “There was blood on my sheets this morning, Terry. And no, it’s not my period.” Diana tilted her head back and drank the last of her beer. “God, I’m so thirsty.”

  “Blood, huh?” Terry frowned. “Did you check for scratches?”

  Diana raised her brows. “No, Terry. I just immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was from losing my virginity. Of course I checked for scratches!”

  “So you went at it in your sleep and popped your cherry.” Terry whistled. “Man, Di, you must have had some horny dream.”

  “You have no idea.” She glanced at the empty beer bottles on her side of the table. “I’m getting another. Want one?”

  “That’s four. Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”

  Diana bit down on her lower lip to stem the fresh tide of tears she could feel burning her eyes. She’d lost so much today. Her virginity hardly seemed important compared to the realization that vampires, creatures with long, sharp teeth, dwelt in a world she’d believed held nothing more frightening than a handful of criminals. And, even though he rarely gave her much attention, she mourned the loss of the father she hadn’t believed could hurt a fly. “I think I’m going to need a hell of a lot more than four tonight, Ter.”

  “Just because you popped your cherry? You’re still a virgin, silly. Just not physically.” Glancing at the beer bottles, Terry sighed. “Di, you can’t even handle one beer, much less four. Why are you letting this get to you?”

  Diana groaned. She wished she could tell Terry about her father, but it was just too humiliating. And she could just imagine how Terry would handle the news that Diana now agreed with his theory that vampires roamed the streets of Lake George. Instead she raised her head and, blinking back her tears, said, “I wanted the love of my life to be the one who popped it, Terry. I wanted him to feel it and know, without a doubt, that he was my first.”

  I did.

  Diana froze. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  Someone chuckled behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and glared at the group of young men grinning down at her. “Get lost, jerks.”

  Looking at her as if she were crazy, they turned their backs on her.

  “Thanks a lot! I just made eye contact with one of those hunks. Geez, don’t cry. Look, when your grandmother told you that line about a true soul mate lurking in your future but only if you kept your virginity intact, you should have seen it for what it was. Some old lady tricking her granddaughter into keeping her legs closed until marriage!”

  “You didn’t see the way her eyes welled up when she sai
d a child from a quick fling could destroy my chance of spending eternity in the arms of my one true love. Like she knew.”

  Terry still smirked. “Typical grandmother trick.”

  Diana shook her head. “She had my father at fifteen. Maybe when she was older she met her soul mate but it was too late.” Diana wagged her finger in front of her friend’s face. “And you know as well as I do that she’s psychic. She’s been right about everything she’s seen in my future and past for twenty-five years.”

  She flung herself back against the hard wood of the booth and raised her hand to clutch the locket, then remembered she no longer wore it. “Oh, God, you don’t think those tears were because she knew I’d screw up, do you?”

  “Yeah, right. You’re gonna get pregnant from fingering yourself.” Terry let out a bark of laughter. “I’ve been doing it since I was thirteen,” she said, then held her arms wide and frowned down at her belly. “Oh my God! I must be sterile! Either way, there’s no such thing as a soul mate. God, I’d hate to imagine—”

  Diana stared at Terry. Her friend’s mouth moved, yet only the pounding of a heart rang in her ears. She focused on the rhythm, felt her own heart speed up to keep pace with it. Every beat seemed to call to her. “I gotta go…uh…get a beer,” she mumbled, unwilling to even attempt to explain this phenomenon to Terry.

  “Di, wait. You’ve had enough.”

  “I have to…Shit!” She scratched at the insistent twitch on her neck. “I have to go to the bar.”

  Her chest felt as if a hundred butterflies struggled from within to break free. She stared at the crowded bar, then turned to Terry. “My grandmother always said I’d know when my soul mate was near by the way my heart beat.”

  “Romantic mush,” Terry muttered, shaking her head.

  The room swayed as if she sat on a boat floating on the undulating swells of the ocean. Holding onto the table until it stopped, she took a deep breath to quell a sudden wave of nausea. “I really think he’s here.”

  “At the bar? Fine, get me a beer while you’re there.” Terry smirked, “And listen, Di, if your soul mate has a cute brother, have him bring my beer.”