Fairy Circle Read online

  Sunlight streamed through the tops of the tall trees and sprinkled them with light. It sparkled off the water in the stream that was nearby, flowing over smooth rocks and cooling the minute pixies that were bathing in its pools and shadowed coves.

  As his hysterics died down, Ny brushed unconsciously at the glossy, black hair that had fallen over his face. His legs were still crossed but his back and head rested on the forest floor. The long, long length of him was stretched out and languid. He eyed Saffron from this position.

  She swallowed hard. He was so big, with so many taut lines.

  He snapped his fingers and the pixies darted to Saffron. They spread out in flight all around her head. They gathered lengths of her hair and pinned it up at the very top of her head. One by one, at different points in time, they flew into the woods, returned with a wild blossom, and added this to the elaborate coiffure they were creating. Saffron forgot to be irritated for a moment and blushed as she turned to Ny. “Why are they doing this?”

  Ny stared at Saffron without blinking. His pupils became dots as he settled his warm, ocean-blue eyes on the nape of her neck. “They do my will.” He sat up and leaned toward her. Their faces were close together. She didn’t know it, but she looked very much like the princesses she envied in her fairy tale books. Her hair cascaded down either side of her face. Here and there, multi-colored buds were embedded in the profusion of ringlets. Fairy magic.

  He sent the pixies away and whispered, “Saffron, I think you are probably older than I am. But who could prove it? We are both millions of years old. I do not see a young human before me. I see the soul of an ancient being. A being that has been part of me since time began.

  “You speak of truth. I am giving you the truth. The truth is you love me, Saffron...we are soul mates. You can search back and forth through time and you will realize I am the only one for you. The true one. Love is not a strong enough word. When you are not human, you are aware of our past and of how you are completely consumed with me. It is almost as if,” he touched her lips with his fingertips, “you are my slave and I am yours. Do you not want to touch me? Even now, how can you sit there so prim? Do what you want…do what I want.”

  Saffron pulled away from the force that surrounded him and beckoned her. “That doesn’t sound so great.” Her eyes narrowed. Something felt suspicious, even sinister.

  “I have chosen the wrong words, Saffron. Come, listen to me. I will try to explain better.” He wiggled his eyebrows and pulled her back toward him. “Let me be more appropriate. I am your soul mate. We have loved each other for thousands of years. We are the greatest lovers of all time. We meet again in every lifetime. You cannot live without me. We are amazed by the unrelenting fire in our love and wonder at it. We say, ‘My God, I think we were meant to be!’ Each time we meet, we are instantly in rapture. We know without doubt that we know each other from somewhere else, from some other time. The way we fit so perfectly together cannot be denied. We worship each other.”

  His whispers were hushed and fervent. His hands were wrapped around her neck and his long fingers massaged the base of her skull. He stared into her eyes with such intensity that she felt he was burning a hole through her soul. She felt she was losing consciousness, that he was swallowing her.

  She rubbed her face and kept her hands over her eyes. “Well, what about my dreams?”

  Ny ran a finger down the back of Saffron’s calf. He smiled vacantly. “What dreams?”

  “Those freakin’ gross dreams. What do you mean; what dreams? The dreams you keep sending me.” She grunted. “Though I don’t know why you make me watch them; you’re not exactly Prince Charming in them, if you know what I mean.”

  Ny’s fingers ceased. He was frowning as he pulled Saffron’s hands from her eyes. “What dreams?”

  Saffron was incredulous. “Duh, those dreams, about sex, with you, those stupid women….”

  “Yes?” He smiled again, relaxed. He adjusted his hips just a little and rested one great paw of a hand on his lap close to his groin. His voice dropped deep, to an unknown bowel of the earth too dark and desperate to comprehend. “I want you to very slowly, and very carefully tell me about these dreams.”

  Saffron’s eyes widened as she leaned back “I…I…you…with other women…always…all the time… They’re so stupid I’m humiliated for them. God, it really pisses me off!” The last sentence came shrill. The gloss left her eyes as she tried to sear him with what she hoped was a really scary look.

  “Saffron, just kiss me. Kiss me so you will know. You will feel it in every part of your being. The kiss will be so perfect, so all-consuming; you will feel you are close to death. But I will not let you go.

  He came forward now, slowly, and frightened her with his intensity. Just before their lips touched, she could smell him - earth and male - and feel his hot breath tingling her upper lip. Lightly, just like a feather, they made contact. It was like a jolt of pure electricity had stabbed through her lips, sliced down her throat and exploded in her stomach. She could feel powers within her struggling to pull away and powers struggling to make her cling to him. She even swooned. With agonizing slowness, she pulled away and realized something wasn’t right.

  His eyes were black and furious.

  She reddened and looked away. Something had been wrong with that kiss. It was nothing like she imagined and it was more than anything she had ever imagined in all of her erotic dreams. The first thing she had noted, and quickly, was his inhumanity. His body was firm, so firm it was completely unmoving under his skin. She gasped. He had no pulse! He was like a doll. He smelled good, he felt hot, he was hard and smooth at the same time but he didn’t feel alive. And what was his problem? Why did he look so pissed off?

  “Of course not, Saffron,” he said as if she had spoken every thought out loud, “I am not the same as you. Not heart and blood as humans. I am a vessel of nature, nature’s perfection.” He smiled wide, assured of his place in the world, being nature’s perfection and all.

  Saffron quirked an eyebrow, “I just kissed a vessel?”

  Ny’s irritation came charging forward. “Really, Saffron, do you think you just kissed a vessel?”

  She shrugged.

  He reached for her with both hands. His touch worked on her like his kiss as she allowed him to lull her back into that feeling that was aching and swelling and wanting all at the same time. She felt like a tiny boat adrift on a stormy sea. Her mind blocked out the sounds of the forest. All she was aware of was a low rumbling deep within her.

  This isn’t right. That tiny seed of thought planted itself in her mind. It was nurtured with memories of lives she had previously lived but never remembered. The memories were of tears and anguish and pleading and desperation. And, within Saffron, these gestated into rich, shocking feeling. The seed became a frail tendril of green life searching for sunlight.

  Her amber eyes grew dark. “No, Ny,” Saffron blurted, “I don’t want to be here with you.” She shook her head.

  A hint of panic crossed his face. “There is nothing but perfection between us! Saffron, we…”

  A blast split the air, and with it came a sharp whiff of ozone. Birds, every color of the rainbow, with magnificent crowns of feathers and long, glorious tails, were flushed from the trees, flying straight up into the sky. A feminine voice sounded through the trees. “Ny, stop.” It was Li and she sounded angry. She appeared before them in a burst of shimmer, taking Saffron by the hand and pulling her away from Ny. “I am sorry, Saffron. The fault is mine.”

  Saffron looked at Li’s hand as the fairy gripped her none too gently.

  Li petted Saffron’s cheek and smiled sadly. “I have missed you so much, all of these years, that I have weakened. I made such a terrible mistake by giving into Ny and allowing you to come here. Last night, the wind brought your wishes to me. I vow to respect them. I will take you back to your world. One day, you will come back to us, to me. I will wait for that day with anguish as penance for the wrong I have d
one you.”

  “O…okay,” Saffron stammered. What was she supposed to say?

  “NO!” Ny screamed. Li and Saffron, stunned by his pitch and intensity, both jumped.

  “Ny, for the love of all that is good and pure in the world, let her go. She has chosen to leave. Let her be.” Li’s tone was even.

  Ny used his eyes to plead with Saffron.

  Saffron could feel his pain. She was raw from her pain. She wanted Ny. She really did. She wanted him more than any person has wanted another in a million life times. She didn’t know what to do, what to think. She thought about listening to Li, letting the fairy take control.

  As soon as she made this decision, that little tendril that earlier fought for life could no longer hold to the earth of her mind. It withered, and with it, the bane of Saffron’s conscious went too, so she wasn’t troubled anymore by her will.

  Saffron moved away from Ny and slipped her hand into Li’s.

  Ny moaned and in an instant flew off as a tiny ball of light.

  “Will you tell me what’s going on?” Saffron’s question was a forced whisper. Li had already put her in the hazy state so she could transport her soul home. Saffron’s shoulders drooped.

  Li put her arms around Saffron to give the girl somewhere to fall. “No, Saffron. It is better you do not know the truth. Go home and live the rest of your life. All too soon, you will become an old woman and you will die. I will see you then, and we will be happy.”

  “I assumed fairies didn’t suffer.”

  “Well, I never told you that.” Li closed her eyes. She inhaled, exhaled. “Let me take you home.”

  “But wait,” Saffron couldn’t hold on to Li’s neck. She started to slide down Li’s cool, hard body. Without strain, Li picked her up and cradled her like a baby. “…I saw one…” Saffron’s lips rubbed on Li’s neck as she spoke. It was like kissing glass. “I saw a vampire. I talked to him. And, geez, whenever I saw his teeth I was like, oh, my God. Ya know?”

  “His name, Saffron!” Li bit out each word as she dropped Saffron to the rough ground. And underneath her skin, Li’s face turned black. Her white hair stood on end and twitched like wet wires around her skull.

  Saffron took one jagged gulp of air and held still. She was on her knees and terrified as Li loomed above her. The fairy was hovering three feet off the ground, her great wings wumping and stirring up half the forest floor.

  “Oh, shit.” Saffron cringed and covered her head with her arms.

  Li came back down. A look of apologetic alarm spread across her face. The lavender rings once more outlined her pupils and her hair fluttered prettily back down to her shoulders.

  Saffron whispered. “Li, I don’t know his name.” She lowered her arms and looked sheepishly into the fairy’s eyes. “Honestly.”

  Li helped Saffron up, cradled her once more. She rested her chin on top of Saffron’s downy-soft hair and stared blindly into the forest. A single tear, sparkling like crystal in sunshine, rolled over her perfect cheek. She whispered back. “What did he look like?”

  Saffron swallowed hard, breathed in Li’s vanilla skin. “Well, God. I don’t know.” How do you describe a monster? “He was perfect, gorgeous. I wish he wasn’t dead.” She sighed. “Long, straight hair to his shoulders. He was Italian, or mulatto, or Indian. One of those.” One eyebrow shot straight up. “Gypsy?”

  Li’s eyes were squeezed shut and still a stream of tears poured out and onto Saffron’s rusty hair.

  Saffron’s words were only slightly muffled in the spider-spun cloth at Li’s shoulder. “I don’t think he knew that I could tell what he was, you know? I think I got away with it!” She felt enormously proud. She nodded. “I totally kept it together.”

  Li opened her reddening eyes to roll them. Naive Saffron. Saffron couldn’t hide an emotion with a paper bag over her head. Jethin certainly was aware of Saffron. Of that, Li was certain.

  “Saffron, you will be fine. You will be strong. If… by chance… this vampire approaches you, under no circumstances are you to succumb to any of his wishes.”

  “What do you mean, Li? His wishes. What?” Saffron’s pride flew away and panic oozed through her as she tilted her head back to stare at Li. “What wishes am I not supposed to succumb to?” Her voice was breaking.

  “Look at me, Saffron. Come now; look at me.” Li looked very pleased when Saffron obeyed. She petted Saffron’s head. “You must trust in me. Everything is going to be all right. I will take care of everything for you. You will go home and leave it to me. Agreed?”

  Saffron nodded miserably. She raised her eyes to the heavens and watched the birds swirl around and around and around. She’d leave it to Li. Why not? She was way in over her head.

  Chapter 12

  “That was a cool movie, wasn’t it?” Markis grinned. It was a slow night at the store. No old gamblers, no drunken young studs rushing in for their alcohol buy before midnight. No one ever bought the dusty condoms. Coco was in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet tank. Her feet were on the toilet seat cover and she was giving her toenails a masterful paint job. Her homemade shoes had been kicked under the sink. Her arms were sheathed in the legs of black cut-off nylons.

  Markis leaned against the register counter on one leg, scratched his calf with the other booted foot, and hummed tunelessly. Everything about him was relaxed. He was scrubbed clean and his dark eyes were bright. He wasn’t hiding any secrets. He was who he was and happy just to be there with her.

  Saffron stared at him blankly.

  Markis’s grin fell as he stared back at her. He tried again, but with less gusto. His booted foot planted itself back on the floor as he stood up. “The Last Planet. I thought it was a pretty good movie.”

  “Oh, yeah! It was the best.” She was too forced, too cheery, and Markis was hurt, she could tell. She didn’t want to deal with this right now. She turned her head and stared at the night-blackened windows. Suddenly, there was a vision there of Ny, hanging by his knees from the limb of a cherry tree in full bloom. He slowly swung back and forth. Back and forth. He blew her a kiss.

  “Saffron, is everything okay?” She had managed to work Markis into a frown.

  I’m poisoning this guy, she thought, and looked down at her hands. Her fingers were strangling themselves. She had to admit, she didn’t even care that he was standing there. She wanted to zone out, to not think for a couple of years. She had already forgotten about last Friday. On Saturday she had backed out of meeting the band.

  A car pulled into one of the spaces in front of the store. It was full of shadows, girls, and smoke. The driver’s side door opened and Samantha’s barely restrained breasts popped out. She pulled her wedge, then hen-strutted to the door of the store. Ting-a-ling. She walked up to the counter and smiled, her mouth so full of teeth she could only attract another piranha. “Pack a’ Marlboro lights.”

  Outside, her minions struggled out of the car like corpses from their graves. They stumbled in one by one, ting-a-ling, their grins Bozo-wide under their heavy lipstick. One of them had a bright red smudge on her teeth.

  “Hi, Markis,” Samantha gushed and herded her breasts right up to his chest. Maybe he was supposed to shake them in greeting, pat them on the head. He seemed as confused as Saffron. Nimbly, he backed up before they could bite.

  Samantha sneered and cast a withering glare at Saffron. Saffron rolled her eyes and slammed the register shut, firmly placed Samantha’s change on the counter without counting it. To date, this was the boldest thing she had ever done. She didn’t want anything to do with this. She just wanted to find a dark, quiet spot and scream Ny out of her mind. She was convinced he really was in there, actually in there with her and aware of her every move. He was violating her. She turned on her heel and walked away. She had work to do, pots to sanitize.

  “What’s her problem?” she heard Samantha spit at her retreating back.

  “Maybe it’s too crowded in here.” Markis lowered his head and pushed his way through the gang
of girls.

  “Hey, Markis!” Markis stared at the ceiling, then squeezed his chocolate eyes shut. He wheeled around.

  “What do you want, Samantha?” To be worshipped? To pork half the east coast before 2020? To suffocate the life out of me?

  “We were just wondering what you were doing tomorrow.”

  “Do you mean ‘we’ or ‘I’?”

  Samantha winced at him, then shrieked with gale forces of high-pitched laughter.

  “Ah, Markis. I don’t think so. A bunch of us are going to the tracks and we were just being nice enough to invite you along. I really hope you weren’t insinuating that I wanted you or anything because, to tell you the truth, that makes me a little queasy.” Her slit eyes darted in Saffron’s direction. “And to tell you the truth, I kinda, like, feel bad for you, ya know. I mean, what’s going on with you at school? What happened to all your friends?”

  Markis’s jaw worked behind his cheeks. He shook his head, turned on his heel and walked toward the back of the store. He stopped at the coffee counter and watched Saffron abuse pots with a blue scrub wand while the water dashed against the bottom of the deep stainless steel sink and splashed up the walls.

  “Phone!” they heard Samantha howl.

  Saffron watched out of the corner of her eye while one of the minions fumbled to get the phone to Samantha. Samantha slapped it to her ear and monotoned, “Call the Bitch,” obviously in response to a recorded command from within the phone. There was a quiet pause while everyone watched Samantha drum her Purple Plum Ho nails on the counter. She slammed one hand on her hip. “You know what, Mindy? I don’t care if she is your cousin. That little bitch isn’t going anywhere with us ever again. Get it? What’s she smokin’ anyway? She’s so like, duh.” Then Samantha slapped the phone shut with a crack of plastic and yelled, “Get the hell back in the car!” The minions filed out and the store was silent.