Night Lights

by Melissa Glisan

  Words alone cannot express my sorrow at the loss of such a vibrant creature as your Margaret.

  Dutifully yours,

  Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker

  "In the arms of the sea? You fool!” Withered fingers crushed the letter before tossing it into the flames of the fire grate. “Water would never kill such a creature.” Reverend Alistair Thawley pulled his lap rug up to his waist and shivered as the faint sound of male laughter carried on the night air from the direction of the inlet cove.

  Epilogue

  Margaret sat in the prow of the small boat, her body covered in a black abaya, hair demurely tucked under a hijab, face obscured by a niqab. The Muslim family on the islet she had stayed with insisted on the outfit for religious reasons; she agreed out of concealment ones. Now after having worn the same for the better part of two weeks, she found she enjoyed the idea of only allowing her soon to be husband to see her.

  A slight wind stirred the tassels that had been added to the outfit. For some reason the family had believed that her blue eyes were capable of giving “the evil eye.” She didn't object, as the tassels made it even harder for the nosy to see her eyes and remark on the unusual color.

  The night of the swarm, Rizal had signaled his Arab friend from a small cove. There had been a moment when one of the crew on the boat had seemingly lost his mind, diving at Margaret with knives in his bony fists.

  She would never forget the speed with which Rizal moved, in one instant he was a warm presence at her back, the next his sword was in hand and sweeping in an inexorable arc that sliced the man from hip to shoulder. A curious numb detachment settled in her brain as she watched the light in her attacker's eyes dull as he stared into Rizal's face. As he lowered the man to the sand, she saw a new line of stripes marking his forearms. From a distance, she heard the sound of the Arab directing his men away from the shore.

  Rizal tried to shield her from the grisly sight, but it didn't sicken her; another feeling rose, but the shock of water at her feet made her mind tumble in another direction. For a moment as she waded into the water, she had a flashback to the night her mother begged her to follow across the inlet. Unlike that night, there was no light to guide her, only the distant bump of darkness indicating where the low-slung boat waited. Her arms and legs were tired long before she made it to the boat, but she carried in her heart the hope that this water crossing would lead to a better life away from a haunted one.

  Haunted ... laughing she shook her head making the tassels of her veil dance merrily. Watching the water swirl past, she dipped a finger in the silky wake before slanting a glance back at Rizal. His arms worked steadily, rowing the boat closer to shore as he asked, “What makes you laugh so pretty, my soon to be wife?"

  "This is All Hallows Eve, the night my true father pulled me from the water and into the light.” She tilted her head and watched as his muscles rippled under the light silk shirt. “The Celts believed that lights left shining attracted souls hungry to possess the living. They doused all flames on that night and refreshed it the next day, when it was safe with the Druid fire at Usinach."

  "And this makes you happy?” Banked embers, his eyes nearly glowed in the darkening air. Most of the short trip had been accomplished due to his rowing because of the lack of air to fuel the single sail. She enjoyed the flicker of fire in his gaze.

  "You are my fire, you call my soul and with you I am replenished.” It was heart's truth and more.

  A week after she fled Cagayan, he'd shown up in the middle of the night. The family wouldn't allow them any time alone. In the end, they had the courtship that she'd once felt so necessary. All it did was make her body ache as she'd watched his hands touch his water glass, his lips purse to drink. Every movement, each nuance in his voice awakened another memory of the stolen nights when they indulged their hungers.

  The boat bumped into the pier and hands appeared over the side, reaching for the secure lines. Moments later a small ladder was lowered. Remembering the rules of comportment she was drilled in, Margaret waited for Rizal to go first. Instead, he smiled and shook his head, motioning for her to climb. Once he reached the pier, however, he didn't mind leading their small procession to his father's home.

  The sun was setting in the rear garden when they entered, painting the walls in bands of yellow, orange, and red. Hari waited with the contracts and the requisite witnesses. Muslim weddings were worlds different from Christian ones, she marveled. All those mock weddings she and her sisters had played out dreaming of cakes, gowns and peacocks and here she was, happy to do away with the bans, flowers, and frippery. All she wanted was the man and to be part of his life. Somehow, simply agreeing was more than enough—it was perfect.

  "I have looked at the picture my son retrieved from your trunk,” Hari said gently. “You did not know until just recently about this other man?"

  For the sake of credulity, Rizal had agreed with not mentioning the Reverend's thoughts of vampire rape.

  "Yes.” She looked at the photo in its simple wooden frame sitting on the table next to the marriage contract. Her father, rather the Reverend Thawley, never looked so young to her. Despite the weight of his years, he truly looked youthful standing behind his seated wife in her wedding dress. Without her veil, Phoebe was radiant, long, dark curls cascading over her shoulders. Oh, there was a resemblance to her daughter, in the line of her nose and the shape of her jaw, but Margaret's hair and eyes were from her unusual father.

  "As there are no parents to guide you in this, there are ones who have agreed to act in their stead for you. Are they acceptable?"

  Margaret smiled even though she knew neither could see it, it was the old grandmother from the dress shop, and Kanani. “Yes, they are acceptable. I thank them both."

  Hari beamed at the pair and spoke the words of the contract getting the necessary signatures. With that, it was over. Everyone moved to the interior of the house where a celebration dinner was laid, but Rizal called to his father, making the old man laugh in joy.

  "Yes boy, be English and kiss your bride."

  The sun was down and the night air turning purple in the shadowed garden as he turned back. Already the telltale stripes marking his lineage traced his skin. “I have a confession to make. Not all the tales of the Berbalangs were fabrications.” Twin points of fire ignited in his eyes until the iris reflected the glow, burning a vibrant red.

  Margaret tilted her head and considered her husband before lowering her veil. “And as you have pointed out, women also have secrets.” She smiled at the last, flashing the dainty tips of her newly discovered fangs.

  The End

  Author Melissa Glisan has a rich imagination and has shared several of her stories with Aspen Mountain Press including Fool's Gold and Ware Wishes. If you'd like to keep informed of Melissa's releases, please join our newsletter at www.AspenMountainPress.com or one of our yahoo loops at www.AMPCommunity@yahoogroups.com (for chatting) or www.AMPMountaineer@yahoogroups.com (for announcements pertaining to Aspen Mountain Press only).

  And now, for an excerpt from Fool's Gold

  Jade looked out from the safe confines of the bar, over the small dance floor to the ring of seats lining the far wall. When she had bought Fool's Gold from the last owner, the front window had been nothing more than a massive series of cracks and spider-lines from all the brawling. Practicality pushed her to dump the glass and wall-in the huge opening. Not for the first time, she mourned not being able to see outside the bar. Maybe this month she would be able to set aside enough cash to buy a video camera and small closed circuit television so she could watch the activity outside the establishment.

  For the last few weeks she'd been working hard to keep the slimier elements out of her new home. Drug dealers were the first she caught and slung out, then the ‘working girls’ but the worst had been the shifty eyed Adonis who hogged the corner table at the front. He rarely bought anything but his visitors did. A steady flow of people came and went but the blond god of a man simply sa
t, smiling with his chiseled lips, never the eyes as he sipped from a glass of white wine.

  Two nights ago, Jade had been forced to leave the bar to do an ID check on an apple-faced teen she spied sipping beer at a dark table. Between her swaying hips and low cut blouse neither her mark nor his companion had been able to bluff their way around their bad fake IDs. Escorting the pair out she'd caught a glimpse of something shining under blondie's shirt, something that looked like a gun. It was against state law to wear a gun inside bars.

  Bold as brass, Jade made herself saunter up to his table, plant her hands in the middle and lean over to give him a clear view of her best assets. She knew she was in trouble when his ice blue eyes met hers and never dropped. Quietly she told him he had to go and why. Lips twisted into a rictus of humor, he stood and proffered a handful of bills before walking out. It had been her intention ever since to hire a bouncer, she just couldn't seem to find a likely candidate.

  Until tonight, when nearly seven-feet of rock hard male poured himself into the back corner of her bar. He was still nursing his second draught but his tired eyes missed nothing. They were a contrast to the rest of him, a worn denim shade that had a soft fuzzed out feeling not reflected in his brutish form. He was darker skinned, not just tanned but golden under the sun's touch of brown with deep brown hair liberally shot through with strands of silver. Not quite military cut but close, the ends curled and made her fingers itch to comb them. Her arousal surprised her. Mostly she was attracted to the slim, bookish types with soft almost feminine beauty. This man was a displaced gladiator with an affection for dark ale and a shadowed corner behind his back.

  Normally Jade kept the corner clear. It was too hard to watch the till tucked there and a few too many college boys had wandered into her work zone, begging an impromptu dance. Now a single gold tasseled rope hung in the opening. It gave her the time to repel would be Romeos and a small measure of control over the approach to her cash register. Something about the huge, hulking male with the soft watchful eyes didn't trigger her normal alarms. Instead the only ones shrieking were the clanging bells over her heart.

  "How's the drink?” her voice purred with more heat than intended. Balls and sass, she smiled slow and tilted her head, catching the light on her better side. He blinked slow and deliberately, like a star struck bull and her insides cheered, point one for the home team.

  "Good, thank you,” his voice was rough either with disuse or passion. She was banking on the latter. Holding her elbows she walked into the cut, moved the chain and leaned her arms on the counter beside him, so both could watch the bar patrons. She felt his gaze, hot and hungry covering the tops of her bared breasts, but when she turned to look, his eyes were there waiting on hers. Awareness burned from the nape of her neck down her spine and lower. She breathed a sigh of thankfulness that the designers at Fredrick's of Hollywood thought to include that small degree of padding that hid her taut nipples from his gaze. Somehow his eyes warmed every bit of her body without even looking down. It was like standing before an open furnace door and she loved it.

  Quickly her tongue caressed her upper lip, his eyes followed and Jade nearly grinned in triumph. “I have a proposition for you,” she breathed next to the shell of his ear. Faded sapphire daggers stared into heated green pools and considered. At that moment she knew she won, no matter what his lips may say.

  "Miss, I'm honored, but I'm sure any of the studs here tonight would service you better."

  Jade felt the floor dip under her absurd shoes before she managed to reexamine his words. Grasping her waist in the throes of mirth, she plumped up her breasts, accented her narrow waist and gave him a long look at the thin creamy line of her throat. Small hiccupping trills of laughter were still leaking from her lips as she felt the heat from his body intensify; he had shifted closer and looked angry.

  Placating his ire, she stepped close and ran her fingers playfully through his hair. Jade felt a light gasp slide out from between her lips at the downy feel of his hair, like the coolest silk spun out under her fingers. Of their own volition, her fingers flexed in the slightly longer strands at his nape and tugged his head forward. She was drunk on his presence and nearly forgot what she really wanted when she had started out this game. A thick arm wrapped around her middle and hefted her between his stocky form and the bar. He was impossibly hard against her soft curves and all she wanted was more.

  "This isn't what I wanted when I came over,” she pouted, her hips arched hungrily into his.

  "No?” he grinned. Her eyes were the purest green, brilliant dark emerald with striations of moss, leave and mint running in starburst patterns from the abyss of her pupil. He shook his head and leaned his upper body away. Falling into the small pinpoints of midnight reminded him that any kind of plunge with her could be terminal.

  Biting her lower lip, he noticed that her teeth weren't perfectly straight, slightly crooked with a small overlap near an incisor. Her flaws seduced him as much as her luscious breasts and hips. He was rock hard and her hips rocked to the beat of some primal rhythm pounding from the jukebox in the front. Slowly her hands slid from his neck, over shoulders until they helped her swaying hips measure his arousal.

  "Lady, if this isn't what you wanted, you're going to get it anyway if you don't stop,” he growled in her ear. Impossibly he felt himself grow harder as her body shivered in his grasp.

  "Mmm...” she purred, “this may not have been what I wanted when I walked over, but it's what I want now.” She felt him quake under her hungry hands and relented.

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  Fool's Gold

  Now available at www.AspenMountainPress.com

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  Visit www.aspenmountainpress.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.