FictionPress.com - let the words flow| FictionPress.com - let the words flow |
| Home Just In Communities Forums Beta Readers Dictionary Search | Login Register Extras |
Dedicated to Gates, the tallest leprechaun in the world/my sexy vampire lover, for her birthday. :)
Tate and I spent a lot of time together.
He took me to visit his mother again, and we wandered around a bit in that glowing forest, and we went to a realm where unicorns existed, and another realm that was in the midst of a vampire-lycanthrope war (lycanthropes are werewolves, Tate explained to me). I took him to the shore a few more times, and we went to the movies, and the pool.
Tate wore a woman’s bathing suit skirt to swim in.
I was at once surprised and not surprised at all, when I first saw this.
It was different from the way he usually wore skirts. Or, I should say, it made me feel differently than his usual attire did. Because it was short, skimpy, and entirely too hot to allow me to function properly.
I got hit in the head with a spongy Nerf ball many times on those pool days.
Soon, school had started up again. And with the start of school, so came my birthday, October fifth.
I wasn’t big on pomp and circumstance. I knew that sophomore year was generally the “sweet sixteen” year for most people. Personally, I found sweet sixteens…completely ridiculous. So, needless to say, I wasn’t having one.
I was going to have a small party with my closest friends, namely, two vampires, one elf, one human, and one Tate.
Tate came to me in homeroom on the morning of my birthday, which was a Thursday, with a huge grin on his face and wearing a deep blue skirt. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized that it was my favorite color, the same color as his eyes…
He pulled me out of my seat, enveloped me in a big hug, and whispered “Happy birthday” in my ear. He tended to do this every year, but for some reason the way he said it this year made me shiver.
We ate lunch outside that day. The weather was overcast, and from the feel of it, the rain was coming soon. But Hane and Kyuu really liked the dreary weather, so we all went outside to eat. We sat in the little amphitheater-esque area tucked comfortably into a corner of the school.
“So what’re you gonna do for your party?” Hale asked me before biting into his sandwich.
I shrugged. “We’ll probably go to the movies, and you all can spend the night at my house, if you want.”
“Sounds fun,” Kyuu chirped.
Hale passed her a curious look. “You’re going to be sleeping over with us?”
“Yeah, you got a problem with that?” Kyuu raised an eyebrow at him.
Hale blushed slightly. “I…uh…well, that is…”
“Come on, man,” Hane inputted. “What’s gonna happen? I’m her brother, you and Cal are practically married to each other, and Damon and Tate are too hot for each other to care about—”
“Hane!” Tate squeaked.
“What?” Hane demanded, sounding indignant, as if Tate had just interrupted something very important. He raised an eyebrow and looked very similar to Kyuu in doing so.
I shook my head and gazed up at the water-heavy sky.
Hane touched my shoulder then. I glanced over to see him offering me a pretty smile. “Can I give you my birthday present?” he asked.
I nodded. “Sure.”
“Goodie. Come with me.” Hane rose from our tier and pulled me with him as he climbed up the steps.
Kyuu laughed as we left and made an “ooOOOOOohh” sound, which was usually indicatory of scandalous activity.
I narrowed my eyes at the back of Hane’s head as he took me behind a nearby tree. A moment later I found myself pressed against it, however gently. Without warning, Hane leaned forward and kissed me. It was brief, and chaste, but a kiss nonetheless, and it rather took me my surprise.
“What are you doing?”
Hane just grinned at me. His fangs looked even sharper up close. Then he leaned in and kissed me again, slower this time, with a tilt of his head and a flick of his tongue against my lips. My heart sped up as my memory reeled back to the first time I’d met Hane, back in his and Kyuu’s castle. He’d kissed me then, too. A shiver racked my body from the chill of his kiss, from the way it hinted at roughness, from the way it spoke of domination.
Did I like being dominated?
I didn’t have time to mull it over anymore because Hane’s mouth had moved from mine to my jaw, and then to my neck, and somewhere in the back of my head little warning bells started going off. “What are you doing?” I asked again. This time it came out as a sort of whisper, since my breath had been stolen from me.
“Giving you your birthday present,” he murmured against my throat. And then I felt his teeth grazing my skin, and before I could really realize what was going on, his fangs were sinking into my neck.
For a moment, my eyes were shut tightly and my body tensed, braced for pain, but the fear was in vain. Instead of pain, the exact opposite flooded my senses, a euphoria I’d never known existed. I felt…incredibly hot, and needy, and I couldn’t help the sound (or sounds, I wasn’t really sure) that escaped me. I clung to Hane, oblivious, delirious, a little lightheaded, which I hazily thought might have been from blood loss…
Then it all began to fade. The pleasure ebbed back into whatever crevice it’d leaked from as I exhaled heavily. My fingers were numb from how hard they’d been gripping Hane’s arms, and my chest rose and fell rapidly as I struggled to regain my breath, which had again been stolen right out from under my nose. Perhaps…there was a better adage for that, but at the moment my brain wasn’t functioning properly, so I forgave myself for the bad choice of words.
There were lips against mine again, lips that tasted of blood. I didn’t have the energy to be disgusted at the fact that it was my own blood I was sampling. Hane leaned against me and kissed me again, languidly, dreamily. “Mmmm… Damon, do you know how long I’ve wanted to do that?” His voice was thick, his aura sated.
“Uhhhh…”
“Hey, Hane, give him some space.” Kyuu came wandering onto the scene then in all of her black-frilled glory. She was making wave-y hand motions as if to shoo Hane away.
Hane obediently backed off. Licking his lips, he looked at me with another grin, and said, “Happy birthday.”
Then he walked away, back towards our circle of friends, I assumed.
Kyuu watched him go before turning to me with a smile. “So, how’d it go?”
“Uhhhhhhh…”
“Oh,” Kyuu fussed, peering at my neck, “he’s so tactless. Here.” She pulled a handkerchief from the bosom of her corset and mopped the fresh wound carefully. My stomach turned slightly at the bloodstains I glimpsed on the handkerchief when she took it away. “It’ll heal quickly, don’t worry,” she told me. “Come on, Tate’s going crazy back there.”
“Tate…?” I started walking back. Tate was going crazy?
“Yeah. He’s insanely jealous. I could tell the moment you disappeared with Hane…” Kyuu fell into step beside me, grinning. “And he tries so hard to hide, too,” she cooed.
When we arrived at the little amphitheater-esque area, Tate looked our way and smiled. But I could tell there was something off about it, like Kyuu had been saying.
Was he really jealous…?
Somewhere in the depths of my being, a flower of satisfaction bloomed.
But just as soon as it had bloomed, it withered up and died.
Tate took my hand and gave it a squeeze as we stepped outside. “Hey, I bet there’s a rainbow!”
I squinted up at the sky. “Maybe.”
“Have you ever been to the end of a rainbow?”
I was about to say, “I don’t think that’s possible,” but then remembered who I was speaking to and said instead, “No, I can’t say I have.”
“Then let’s go there! It’ll be a birthday treat!” He took my hand and instead of going towards the buses, led me towards the football field. Once we were almost to the field, he veered right, into a little copse of trees. I’d never really been back here, but I was pretty sure it led to a housing complex. In fact, I knew a few people that lived in said housing complex.
But then again, maybe I was mistaken, because when we emerged from the forest, a vast grassy field, not a housing complex, stretched before us. And in the middle of this field sprouted a giant column of color that arced up and disappeared into the clouds.
Hello, Mr. ROY G. BIV.
Tate smiled at me; I assumed my expression was one of awe. “It’s the end of a rainbow,” he told me as he dragged me towards it.
I looked up at the rainbow, and the sky splattered my face with a few water droplets in response. “Where’s the pot of gold?”
“We have to find the leprechaun who owns it first,” he explained, as if it were obvious.
“Oh. Of course, the leprechaun.” How could I forget?
Tate continued over the moist grass to the rainbow, and before I knew it, we were walking through the colorful curtain. I was washed in cool precipitation and something intangible that was just as chilling, that touched me to the bone. Tate’s hand remained warm and soft in mine, and no sooner had we walked into the rainbow, we were coming out again. The grassy field was gone, and in its place was a forest. I would have thought it was a normal forest, were it not for the silence. There was a distinct absence of the inescapable noise pollution that always permeated the air on Earth; in its place was pure, unadulterated silence, however punctuated every now and then by birdsong or something scuttling through the trees overhead.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here?”
My head jerked up at the sound of that lilting voice. It was tinted with an unmistakable Irish accent. Perched in a tree above us was a pale, grinning face. The face was framed by locks of glossy fiery orange, its narrow nose peppered faintly with tawny freckles. And then I realized that it wasn’t just a face hovering there, but a person; their clothes were the same green as the leaves surrounding them, and thus they were almost completely camouflaged.
Tate smiled and waved up at the person with his free hand. “Keelin! Keelin O’Shanahan!”
Keelin was on the ground in a flash, making weird hissing noises at Tate. “The name! The name! Don’ go ‘round flauntin’ me name like tha’, boyo!”
“Don’t worry Keelin, he can’t spell it.” Tate faced me, looking amused. “This is Keelin. He’s a leprechaun.”
Keelin was standing at his full height now, which I estimated to be a surprising six feet. He swept one of his arms aside with flourish before bending into a bow, one foot in front of the other. The gesture tossed his green frock coat open to reveal the vest beneath, a wine-colored garment that was festooned with a lattice of golden buttons. He was also wearing green trousers, a matching green hat, and timeworn brown boots. Straightening again, he said, “How’s she cuttin’, Tate?”
Tate and Keelin started small-talking, and I observed Keelin a little more. He was so tall... Weren’t leprechauns supposed to be short, elf-like creatures? Squatty little men with long beards and miserly expressions, all dressed in green. Okay, so Keelin wore a whole lot of green... but he was far from squatty, far from little, very clean-shaven (if he needed to shave at all), and, though he had a curious gleam in his clover-green eyes, he didn’t look miserly in the least.
“...thday, boyo?”
I started upon realizing that I was being spoken to. “What?”
Keelin snorted. “I asked if i’ was your birthday, boyo.”
“Oh, uhm, yeah.”
“Sixteen?”
I nodded.
“Well, happy birthday,” Keelin said, leaning forward on a gnarled walking stick that I was only now noticing.
“Thanks.”
“Hey, Keelin, what d’you think about giving him a birthday present?” Tate suggested.
“Like what?”
“Like,” Tate sidled up beside Keelin, affecting innocence, “a piece of your gold?”
Keelin considered Tate for a moment. The leprechaun appeared a little speechless. Then he laughed uncertainly and said, “Tha’s a good one, Tate. Had me goin’ there for a...” Tate tilted his head, still smiling with that affected innocence, and Keelin said, “Yer no’ jokin’...”
Tate shook his head, which made the pink ends of his clipped hair waver. “Come on, it’s his birthday...” A pout formed on his lips, and I found that I had to look away. I observed the forest around us, which really did look rather normal—no bobbing little balls of faerie light, no oddly colored trees...
When next I looked at Keelin and Tate, they were more or less fused at the mouth. Keelin was holding tight to Tate’s shoulders, and if I had to decide who was the aggressor in this particular situation, it was Tate. Keelin was succumbing easily enough though, and soon he was kissing back, his arms winding around Tate’s neck. With the few inches of height Keelin had on Tate, it didn’t seem hard for him to take Tate over.
I tore my eyes away from the scene and instead busied myself with observing the grass.
I tried my best to ignore the sounds coming from a few feet away, but found it exceedingly difficult. I also tried to ignore the irritating itch in the pit of my stomach. It was sort of like how I imagined it would feel if a maggot was eating through my gut. Needless to say, it wasn’t particularly enjoyable.
The kissing sounds stopped eventually, and ended on a clear, silvery note, which I recognized moments later as a coin being flipped my way. A piece of gold lay at my feet in the spot I’d been so studiously observing.
Curious, I glanced up at Keelin. He was flushed and grinning, his green eyes darkened slightly. “There you are, boyo. Don’ spend i’ all a’ once now.”
I stooped and picked up the coin. Straightening again, I looked fleetingly at Tate, and then again at Keelin. “Thanks.”
He winked at me. “No problem. Happy birthday.” He tapped his walking stick on the ground a few times, and suddenly (I swear I heard a flute’s whispery silver melody)—he was gone.
Tate and I were left alone.
I avoided his gaze and instead looked down at the coin in my hand. I traced the four-leaf clover etched into one side, enchanted by the softness of the impression, by the beautiful floral pattern imprinted behind it. The other side was blank, completely smooth and almost mirror-like.
“Damon…”
I looked up. Tate was suddenly closer than I remembered him being a few moments ago. “Yeah?”
He searched my face briefly, and then smiled uncertainly. “Happy birthday.”
Pocketing the coin, I returned the meager smile. “Thanks.”
The air between us was distinctly tense. I shifted my feet a little, but Tate just stood there. And suddenly, he was reaching for me, pulling me close, and capturing my mouth in a fierce kiss. I was slow in reacting, and remained frozen for a second, but eventually wound my arms around him and returned the kiss with equal intensity. I don’t know how long it lasted; time proved nearly impossible to keep track of when thus distracted. But when next he pulled away, I was once again breathless. Yet, this time, I didn’t really mind. Tate hadn’t stolen my breath—I’d given it to him.
We stood still for a moment, my arms still around him, refusing to let him go.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?”
Shaking his head, he smiled again, this time genuinely. “Happy birthday.”
“Thanks. …The coin is really neat.”
“It’ll bring ye good luck,” he said, with a startlingly good impression of an Irish accent.
I chuckled and tightened my arms briefly around him before letting go.
Wordlessly, our hands clasped, our fingers laced, and we started walking.
“So, how do you spell Keelin’s name?” I asked. “It’s not just K-E-E-L-I-N?”
Tate laughed. “No, of course not!” He held my hand up and flattened my palm so he could write the letters on it as he said them. “It’s C-A-O-I-L-F-H-I-O-N-N, and his last name is O, space, S-E-A-N-A-C-H-A-I-N, with a few accents thrown in here and there.”
I shook my head, both bemused and amused.
Soon, we’d emerged from the forest and were meandering back across the green, green grass to where the rainbow was, still there waiting to take us home.
Before stepping through the curtain of color, somewhere in the distance, I swear I heard a flute’s whispery, silver melody.
"Thks Fr Th Mmrs" (Fall Out Boy)
