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  Saffron closed her eyes and nodded. He was alive, human, and whispering in her ear. She wanted to turn into him and feel what it was like to have someone hold her. She wanted to know if holding him would take away her fears. She was desperate for him to reach for her but they walked up the aisle instead. That was okay, too. PDA? She sure as hell didn’t want to become the main feature. Just before the show began, it went through her mind that she hadn’t even checked her teeth or nose in the bathroom. In light of all the newest developments in her life, things in her teeth and nose became supremely unimportant. Still, she leaned her head in her hand through most of the movie and hoped her palm held any bad breath at bay.

  Chapter 10

  After the movie, Markis’s father boomed his goodbye and clapped Saffron on the back. Markis’s mother told her that it was very nice to have met her. Markis stood between them and winked. Saffron smiled. They parted ways in the main entrance, which was crowded with the departures of many other movie-goers.

  Saffron adopted her best poker face and slowly scanned the room. With a sigh of relief, she confirmed that the ticket-tear vampire was nowhere to be found. Then her gaze fell on something even more frightening.

  Her cousin was sitting on a bench on the far wall under a poster for the newest and best action flick in the history of film. A suited, suave, and slick action star stared out in challenge. A car crash was taking place above his head. Just below his scowling face was Mindy’s scowling face. She jumped up from the bench and pointed to the floor by her feet. Saffron rolled her eyes. Did her cousin think she would actually heel like a dog?

  Saffron raised her chin, and taking her sweet old time, she strolled over to Mindy.

  “Where’ve you been? I been sitting here for half an hour! I been asking people if they’ve seen you and everybody’s like, duh, what, who? The other girls left, they were so pissed you dissed us like that, they took a ride with those freakin’ DeMarco twins, they’ll probably get raped. Don’t ask me why I stayed and waited for you – you didn’t do me any favors.”

  “Mindy, you guys went into the movie without me!”

  “Well, where the hell were you?”

  “I was standing in the middle of the room, where anyone in the world could have seen me, talking to Markis.”

  Mindy jerked her head back. “Markis? Markis who? Markis Bryant? From school?” She smirked. “Ah, Saffron...I don’t know where you and Markis went for over two hours but I suggest you get off him and quick.”

  “What are you talking about Mindy? I’m not on him.”

  “Samantha just told me tonight that she likes Markis so I’m warning you now, cuz you’re my cousin and everything; don’t mess with her when she wants something.”

  “Jesus Christ, Mindy…he’s not a freakin’ dog. Samantha can’t just act like she owns him.” Saffron felt something vicious wake and squirm around inside her. Samantha? Dexterous Whore of the East? It was well known that Samantha taught yoga at the town gym, three barns down from DeMarco Auto Parts, and that she was a self-proclaimed expert on the Kama Sutra, and that her breasts could keep herself and a small village afloat in a flood. When Markis found out that Samantha liked him… Saffron whispered, “Markis can hang around with anyone he wants.”

  “No, Saffron, you don’t get it, Saffron. You need to leave him alone now that I’ve just told you she wants him. It wouldn’t be fair for you to continue, whatever, at this point.”

  “Well, what if I want him?” She tried not to mumble, but couldn’t bring herself to say these bizarre, self-centered words any louder.

  “Pah! Yeah, right! If you want everybody to think you’re sneaky like that, that’s your problem. Just text your freakin’ mother so we can get out of here.” Mindy plopped back on the bench, folded her arms across her chest, and glared across the now-crowded lobby.

  Saffron fumbled with her mother’s phone. She forgot if you were supposed to press the little green symbol before or after you dialed, was it before or after you texted?

  Mindy’s face contorted into another form of miserable. “And who were those old people you guys were hanging around with?” Mindy knew who they were.

  Saffron’s shoulders hitched. It wasn’t hard to guess where this interrogation was headed. “His parents,” she whispered.

  Mindy sprung up, her perfect face twisting into something hideous under her blonde hair. “Dude! You went out on a date to a movie with him…and his parents! That’s so not normal. You better hope nobody finds out about this. Markis better hope so too. Samantha won’t even consider dating him if she finds out. You better not tell her.”

  Saffron’s face blanched. “Why would I tell her? Why would I not tell her? When would I tell her? I hadn’t seen any of those guys for months before tonight! Who’s going to find out about us? Hasn’t everyone gone on with their lives yet?” Now she was shrieking.

  Two junior high boys walked by. They snickered at the women in battle. They hissed and howled like alley cats. Mindy reached over and managed to slap one upside the head.

  “Hey!” was his only comeback as he reached to fondle his scalp. They scurried off.

  Saffron’s freckles stood out like cocoa powder on a sheet of white paper. Her voice came low and harsh. Mindy’s words had hit her like a pile driver. She wasn’t too far gone out of high school to remember how everything worked - the cliques, and how Markis’s own friends had sneered at her. How, back then, someone like him would never ever go out with someone like her. She shrank inside her clothes. This night out had been too much. She scanned the lobby for the vampire again, but he was nowhere around; only a gremlin in the trash, and a fat woman floating on the ceiling. “Why would he even care if Samantha likes him?”

  Mindy raised her eyebrows. “Oh, hunny,” she grunted with overripe condescension. Her lips drew back; she made a click noise with her tongue and teeth. “You don’t really think Markis seriously likes you, do you?” She reached over and gently patted Saffron on the shoulder. “C’mon, why would he like you?” She eyed Saffron without blinking.

  Saffron said nothing. She was fighting to keep from blubbering here, in this busy room, in front of Mindy.

  “I mean really, I’m not trying to make you feel bad or anything, but honestly…Markis Bryant? Does that make any sense to you, Saffron?”

  “Hey, Saffron!”

  Saffron and Mindy turned toward the entrance doors where Markis stood waving, something small fisted in his hand. He ran over.

  Saffron could smell the cold, autumn night on his clothes. She breathed deep, and as the air moved inside her, it froze the monster in her belly.

  “Saffron, I forgot, you dropped this earlier. I’ve had it in my pocket the whole time.” He beamed as he took her hand, held it, and placed the tube of ChapStick in her warm palm. He stood back to look at her, then stepped forward and reached out with both hands. He locked his fingers around her wrists and slowly, slowly he slid his hands up her arms as he pulled her forward to touch his nose to hers. He looked straight into her eyes. “I hope you had fun. I did.”

  She nodded. Then he was gone, skipping through the lobby doors, and out into the world.

  Saffron smelled strawberries. Markis had used some of her ChapStick. His lips had been on her ChapStick where her lips had been many times. Now she could put the ChapStick on where his lips had been. Right now, she could do it right now and know they shared that.

  She smiled broadly at Mindy. It wasn’t a malicious smile, or an ‘I told you so smile,’ not even a smile of conquest. She was just so utterly thrilled she needed to smile and share it with somebody.

  To Mindy’s dismay, she had to sit there and be the recipient of all of Saffron’s glory. Mindy didn’t say a word on the ride back to her house. She mumbled, “Thanks,” to her aunt, slammed the car door, then stalked to her lighted front entry.

  “Whew, what was that about?” Audrey glanced at Saffron.

  “Humph. Guess Mindy did not have a good night. I, on the other hand, had
a fantastic evening.”

  So Audrey had noticed. There was color in Saffron’s cheeks – fresh, rosy color. Audrey just had to know what this was all about; this shining diamond was not the girl she had dropped off three hours earlier. “Well, c’mon. What happened?”

  “Markis Bryant asked me to go to a movie with him!”

  The statement, spoken with such happiness and wonder, was not what Audrey had expected to hear. How had that happened? How had Saffron jumped right over a good time with her girlfriends to a good time with her boyfriend? Like most parents, Audrey wasn’t prepared for this little bit of unpleasantness when it first happened. Saffron had never uttered a male name until just now and, since it was the first time for both of them, Audrey was equal parts relieved and anxious. For years now, both Audrey and Saffron had been content in their space well away from men, except for Derek, who was to them a special kind of man, a safe kind of man.

  There was silence for the next several minutes. After awhile, Audrey spoke. “So tell me all about it. Tell me everything!”

  Saffron grinned as she told her mother all about it.

  Later, after she washed her face, brushed her teeth, and dressed for bed, Saffron lay awake in the dark, still smiling. Markis Bryant. He was so hot. And he had touched her! Held her! He liked her! Mindy saw the whole thing, which meant the entire town would know by the end of the week. Saffron didn’t mind that at all. Maybe if she was Markis Bryant’s girlfriend she would stop being crap recipient of the year. Now, maybe the stupid dreams would stop. Markis Bryant wasn’t about to rip into her throat. He liked her! He wasn’t about to turn away from her, embarrassed. He had touched her!

  The old house made a lot of noise. It groaned and creaked. The furnace came on with a boom. The faucet in the tub dripped. Everyone else in the house had gone to bed and had probably been asleep for some time.

  Saffron stared at the digital glow of her alarm clock. 1:20 a.m. Her mind started to wander away from Markis, though she struggled to rein her thoughts and stay focused on him, he slipped from her grasp. Had that vampire suspected anything of her reaction to him or not? Never mind. Think of Markis.

  The floorboards cracked on the stairway landing as if someone was walking there. Saffron pulled the covers closer to her face. She held her breath and strained her ears, but no further noise came from the landing. She exhaled slowly. There’s nothing out there, chill out.

  But what if that guy who came out of the woods earlier was still around? He seemed all right this afternoon, intriguing even, but he was still a stranger. What was he doing in their woods? And where did he go after?

  She crunched up into the fetal position underneath her heavy comforter. If there were any dead people in her room, all she had to do was not look at them and she could get through the night.

  She couldn’t stand horror movies. They always went looking for it in those movies. How stupid could you get? She remained completely motionless. She breathed as shallowly as possible so she wouldn’t make a noise. Better safe than sorry was really an ingenious saying.

  Suddenly, Saffron was washed in a cold wave of fear. The air in her ears turned loud as her skin tightened. She couldn’t have moved if she wanted to, not even her eyes. Someone was near. She knew that if she opened her eyes, poked her nose out from under the comforter, there would be someone standing right there by her bed, looking down at her. As long as she remained still, they wouldn’t bother her. If she looked, if she called out, something bad would happen. Her eyes popped open. She jerked the blanket down and stared at the closet door. There was a shadow there. She stared at it so hard her eyes started to water and made the form waver. Then she realized, it was her dress - her mother had worked on a couple of stains and had hung it from her closet door to dry.

  Saffron’s eyes snapped to the chair at the foot of her bed. Someone was sitting in her chair. No, it was just a stuffed animal. But something was near. It was going to get her. She knew it. She could feel it. She jumped out of bed and reached for her light switch as demon fingers scratched at her calves and pulled her hair. Pop. The light was on, the evil was gone. Strangled air blew past her lips.

  Just outside her window, under the apple tree, a man stood in the shadows. He looked up at Saffron’s window. He saw her light suddenly flash on and he smiled. He knew she felt his presence, but, of course, was unaware of the exact meaning of her intuition. He stood there for a long time.

  The animals that usually squawked and croaked and screeched in the night were absolutely silent. They hid in the woods and far out in the fields and eyed the shadow. They willed him to leave but he did not heed the will of the living. The pair of garden gnomes grumbled as they huddled in their hole but dared not move until that thing left. When would that thing leave? They all winced when they heard the screams of the woman as she flung herself from the cliff.

  After awhile, Jethin turned and vanished into the darkness.

  Chapter 11

  Saffron slept. For a few hours. She was up most of the night, dropping into sleep and slamming awake. The vampire had not come to kill her, so she assumed he didn’t know she knew. If he did know, he would have destroyed her immediately, right? Then he would not have to worry that she would expose him.

  Before she fell asleep, she thought long and hard. She had had enough. She hadn’t slept in months and it was obvious to everybody. She was sick of people asking if she was okay and she was sick of looking in the mirror at her own corpse-bride face.

  She resented her visits to the fairyland. She was truly sick of Li and Ny. They were so weird, sneaky. She didn’t want to go back there, ever. Now, all she could do was to wait for the magic to wear off. Then she wouldn’t see things she didn’t want to see. She wouldn’t have to endure that woman screaming as she fell from the cliff. When it was over, she would consider herself normal. Relatively normal.

  ***

  Her body was trying to wake up. She felt so groggy she let her heavy eyelids lie shut. She could smell that she wasn’t in her room. There were green and growing things all around. There was the scent of roses, of pine trees and foliage, which tickled her nose and soothed her. She heard the gurgling and bubbling of water. She also heard the lilt of a flute; the player was beside her. She stirred a little, still not looking. Behind her lids, her eyeballs rolled back. She didn’t know if she was dreaming or awake or maybe both. All she knew was this was the most spectacular she had ever felt in her entire life. Her body was heavy and sleepy but her senses were sharp, greedy, and soaking up this unseen exquisiteness with her ears and nose and emotions.

  When she moved, the flutist ceased playing. Saffron felt a warm hand caress her cheek while fingers ran through her hair. The feeling was overwhelming. Her heightened sensitivities surged and she let out a small gasp of pleasure. Her eyes fluttered opened and there was Ny, his face so close to her she could feel his hot breath.

  “Why do you deny me?”

  Ny. She pulled away from his touch. In quiet panic, she took in her strange jungle surroundings. Alone? With him? Why was she here? Her mother would come looking for her if it got to be too late in the morning. She didn’t want her mother to find her dead!

  Saffron sat up straight. Here he was…available to her. Her mind filtered through some of the most erotic bits of her nighttime journeys, making her want to throw herself at him and live the moments she had only been able to watch him have with other women. She also wanted to slap him, violently, right across the face and make his entire head slam with the effort. Instead, she crossed her arms to protect her chest and looked away from him. “I shouldn’t be here.”

  He crawled toward her like an animal.

  “Whoa. That’s far enough.” She held her hand up in front of his face. It was like he was feral. She had to distract him. “Ny, why can’t I see through your skin like before?”

  “I do this appearance for you. I do everything for you and your happiness.” He grabbed her thigh and rubbed his thumb under the line of her shorts. “H
ere, I will show you my best look.”

  Before her eyes, Saffron watched as Ny morphed into a more manly form. His face thinned out and became angular. He grew a heavy five o’clock shadow. His calves thickened and became muscular. Under his sheath, she detected movement and became extremely uncomfortable as his thighs bulged and rear-end filled out. She looked up, fearing she might see something she wasn’t ready to see. The hair on his arms went from fine and downy to thick and black. She couldn’t look at him anymore. She didn’t want to give in to the insistence that pulled on the very edge of her consciousness.

  Ny chuckled. “Saffron,” he whispered, “I have changed back. Please, look at me. I am only truly happy when your eyes adore me.”

  She looked sideways at him. Yes, he was back. Looking around, she could see that he had definitely brought her back to his world. That was kind of like kidnapping, wasn’t it? Just last night, she had decided she wouldn’t come back. Why did he get her without her consent and bring her back here?

  He sat Indian style as well, directly across from her, knee to knee on the dry moss.

  She felt a jolt of electricity every time he touched her. She wanted to sit there, just a little bit. “I don’t want to be here, Ny.”

  “My little liar. Humans tell so many lies and you, my love, are aspiring to be their heralded queen.”

  “What? Fairies never lie?” She tilted her head and waited for an answer.

  “I could tell you many truths - one in particular, if you are ready to hear it.” He squeezed her knees.

  Saffron jumped, took his hands in hers to shove them back into his territory. He caught her hands and pressed his thumbs inside her palms. He held her with his eyes the entire time.

  “Ny, please. This is a little freaky for me. You’re like, a million years old.” She could picture Mindy rolling her eyes. Mindy would kill to be in her shoes right now. Ny released her hands and fell back with a crack of laughter.