I have been alone for a month now. My husband left for the police academy and since then, I have been going through the motions of daily life very comfortably. I like being alone. He's gone and I feel free. I'm so miserable when he is around. Nothing is good enough for him. I clean, I cook, and I shower him with gifts, but misery loves company so that it can beat the life out of it's companion. I'm working up the courage to file for a divorce. I'm not sure why I stay.
It was a Tuesday when I took a day off from work to stay at home and write. I had been working on sitting down and writing last week at Bianca's when I had a very bizarre experience. This experience could have really happened, and I'm inclined to think so, but nothing has happened since to suggest that I actually met her. Her name was Lacy and she was gorgeous. I smoked some nasty concoction of herbs and salts, which wasn't like me at all. After a few seconds, I was introduced to my muse. She looked more like a model who walked straight out of a magazine. She was blonde and looked very comfortable in her long sweater. Her cowgirl boots still stick out in my mind.
Today, I am hoping to find out more. I have the smoke leather pouch that I found in Bianca's father's office and I am going to give it a shot.
***
"Grant, darling?" Lacy drug out the arling to be cute and Grant tried to resist her.
"What?" He tried to stay as straight faced and stoic as possible, but the smile the spread across her face suggested he had failed.
" I need your help again. And I know, I know, last time it went a little wrong, but this time will be different. I want you to go as a human, with me. And no, you don't need to waste any of your power on her. I just need proof for her."
"Proof?"
"She's not convinced. I know the look on her face. It is a natural defense mechanism to just assume all strange activity in reality are actually manifestations of the imagination. Believe me, when she sees what you can do and we just sit down and talk with her it will work." Lacy looked a pure model of confidence as she slipped her boots back on and slip out from the booth. Grant had been working on something, which he promptly hid when she had invited herself to his table. Grant raised his eyebrows expecting her to spill more, and her impatience to get out of the restaurant suggested he was right to expect more.
Lacy straightened her clothes and avoided eye contact. She couldn't do it for long however, so she looked up and dumbly pretended she didn't have more to ask of him.
"I know there is more, but let me do you a favor and guess." Lacy pretended to be offended but let him speak anyway. "You want me to come along so that this time you can stay solid so she can see you. Last time might have been a fluke, but I know that when a god runs into a human like I have, they are supposed to run and never look back. I'm not even sure she see us. I never used my powers to appear to humans."
"And I don't have those powers so I need to borrow yours, please." Lacy knew she could order him to do it. She was his guild master. But she also knew with a little pleading he would do it for her willingly. She batted her eyes and made pouty lips. Grant wasn't easily persuaded by the show, but he did have time in his day. To be honest, he knew his powers were going to be called on more than once and his goals were to fit in, not get kicked out. He wanted to help Lacy, but it seemed that Lacy had been in too deep with this one. She was always getting into trouble with this charge and he could see the dark circles started under Lacy's eyes, which were proof she was being drained of her powers trying to fix the situation, leaving less power to set up the glamour of her outside appearance.
"Ok," he sighed loudly, pretending to be put out. "Let's go. I don't have all day."
She jumped and squealed and hugged him tight. "You are such a great friend." She grabbed her oversized purse, he grabbed his brief case and papers, and they vanished into thin air.
***
Ryla sat at her dining room table. She had picked up the mail and a newspaper. The newspaper had nothing of extreme importance on the front page, but she thumbed through the pages just to do something while she drank her hot coffee and ate her toast. Sometimes just picking up a paper gave her silly ideas or little mini plots for writing. If you want to be a good writer, be an excellent reader.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Young Love and Old Demons
Sophie is standing on the top of a bridge looking down into the white water below her. She’s already dropped one high-heeled shoe into the water and is now starting to climb up onto the rail. What next?
She had been at a school dance less than an hour before and didn't know why it had to change. She had been happy and dancing with Roman, an upper classmen . She was so lucky to have been asked by a guy who was gorgeous, quiet, and sweet. The whole night was gone.
She gripped the rail with her hands and hoisted herself up to the top of the rail, kicking off the last high heel, and held on to a pole to her right the was supposed to light the bridge. The light had blown up with a loud crackle and psst sound. The five other street lights had followed suit, and she had no clue how or why.
Where was Roman, she thought? She was standing on that rail, close to freedom, and still she wondered about Roman and where he was. The cold night air slapped her dress about her in a haze of purple and lavender sparkling here and there as it whipped the backs of her thighs. It was just below knee length and she wasn't wearing stockings. It didn't matter though that the railing froze her feet and the wind chilled her. She had run at least a mile to get to this spot and she was already numbed to the pain and chill.
Roman was driving her home an hour before, and soon after they left the rural school it had all gone wrong. It had been a fantastic night. Her feet were sore and she was a little worse for the wear having thoroughly enjoyed every minute on the dance floor. A few stray hairs peeked out and fell about her pinked face and she blew them out of the way and reapplied a glossy coat of a very sultry mauve that sparkled and shined. Roman had his jacket off and slung over his right arm and he pulled her arm into his left one. They laughed and giggled their way to the car. They left a little earlier than the crowd to supposedly beat the traffic, but Sophie knew Roman had other plans and she was just fine with that.
She was a tall guy, but Sophie was tall too. She played basketball and was pushing six feet, which was very tall for a 16 year old, but not unheard of. Roman topped six feet and his frame was the build of a swimmer's. He didn't like competitive sports like football, even though he would have been a fantastic addition to the team. He almost felt he was above the so-called camaraderie that leads to the mistreatment of other students for sake of looking cool. So he swam independently with no one telling him what to do. He was in charge in his lane and he was quietly always in charge of himself.
He was Senior while Sophie was a sophomore. They had been introduced in lab class and had worked as partners. He was quiet and good looking while Sophie had been boisterous and the class clown. She made everyone laugh, sometimes even at the expense of the teacher. This had turned Roman off at first, but when they were one on one she matched his every quip with a come back but never got upset or offended. She played his little repartee as much as he did. He would say a clever jabbing note and she would be there with a stinging retort. The insults made him like her more. She of course didn't pay as much attention because she often was in her own world, but he liked that about her. She too didn't care about what other people thought, except, he was hoping, maybe him.
They walked together out the long hallway that reverberated the bumping music of the gym they had just left. Her arm in his and him with his head buzzing with anticipation, it was like the perfect night would end perfectly like both of them had wanted. Sophie stopped at the door to slip on her shoes she had long ago abandoned so she could dance more freely. Most girls would drop a lot of money on a pair of shoes they take off within the first half hour of a dance just to be thrown into a pile of fancy purses, coats, and ownerless shoes.
Once they were out the door, they walked to his pick-up. It was red and small. It was just big enough for the two of them. When he had picked her up he had apologized for the plywood on the floor. The floor beneath was rotted through and a fatal step would send you below peddling like a Flinestone. She hadn't payed it any attention and his embarrassment soon wore off. Now she hopped in and buckled up, her palms sweating in anticipation of where the night might lead her.
The night had been cold and the winter was wet and blustering as they traveled down the curves of the winding road. They had the heat cranked up and the music on. Sophie's teeth were chattering, but like any girl in a dress, she was oblivious to the danger of gangreen and hypothermia. All she cared about was looking nice, as well as feeling pretty. Of course, any other night she would have worn a sweat pants suit and gone outside at home on her porch with trepidation and real resistance. Tonight she braved the swells of wet wind that spiked the the goose bumps on her legs and sent her dress dancing about her. Inside the truck, it was warm and musty. The windows fogged from their breathe and Roman drove slowly. He wasn't a hot shot. He'd rather get somewhere safe than never get there.
They had gotten a few miles from the school gym, they were off campus, and the lighting was fading. Since there weren't many people on these back roads at night the street lights were sparse. Sophie was wrapped in one of his flannels and buckled in the passenger seat. It was warming up in the car and it wasn't completely due to the heater blasting a blistering heat. She wanted to put her hands up his shirt and soak up the warmth of him. Touch his skin. She could just imagine the warmth from him radiating out with the smell of his scent. Sophie reacted to scent rather than taste, but in the car right now it smell musty and dank with a mix of dirt in there. The smell didn't bug her. She would register this smell with Roman from now on and she rather liked that.
He took a slow left turn, talking over the music to tell her about a funny moment back at the dance. He wasn't completely sure where he was going but he didn't have time to think about it.
"What was that?" he said as he squinted out the fogged windshield. Sophie had seen something too. Just as they were driving past an open field immediately after the left turn, something had danced across the field. It wasn't a skittering or a running. It was a floating, but what was floating they could no longer see. They looked out Sophie's window at an empty field that was mostly mud and dead grass and there was a large blackberry bush consuming what looked like an old car. Roman inched the truck along and leaned over his steering wheel to see and Sophie leaned back wrapping herself tighter with the flannel. She felt like there were eyes out there, someone knew they were watching.
"Ok, I think we can go now." she said with a nervous lit to her voice. As she looked away though, something moved in the corner of her eye. She didn't dare move to look, but saw Roman's expression. He wasn't scared, rather he was curious and a little concerned according the knit between his brow and the stare of eyes.
"Wait here. I think I saw a girl in a dress." He got out and as he shut the door, Sophie saw what he saw. A fluttering of an off white fabric that could only be explained as a dress. No one would leave sheets out on a line at this time of year. The movement had vanished behind the blackberry brambles, but she could still see movement as Roman walked around the front of the truck. It wasn't clear what the cause of the movement was but-- Sophie's heart stopped, her throat seized, and her eyes were locked in a stare with a pair of eyes that mysteriously reached her gaze, even though she was more than a hundred feet away. It was impossible not to lock eyes with that gaze. The eyes were glowing red.
Sophie jumped. She realized that the movement that broke her vision was Roman who was still venturing out under the impression that the mysterious movement was innocent. How could it be with eyes like that? Had she imagined what she saw? Her breath rattled as she tried to yell, tried to wake herself up from the trance of those dangerous eyes.
Roman couldn't hear her over the sound of the pick-up running. The keys, thought Sophie, he left the car running. She started to roll down her window, cranking on the handle as fast and hard as she could. Roman had made it over the field's fence and was creeping towards the bush, but in a manner that suggested that he didn't want to scare whatever was behind there.
The handle was stuck tight in it's position and only three inches of window had lowered. All this achieved was a sudden blast of cold air that seized Sophie's thoughts and lungs and jarred her from her course of warning him. After the surge of adrenaline had slammed into her, she found it hard to think, but a thought struck her, the horn. The steering wheel had a horn and she could warn him loudly, but as she struggled with her seat belt, time seemed to slow. She couldn't reach the horn and make it work from this angle She fumbled with the button with her still cold fingers and once free reached over and slammed as hard as she could.
She turned back and saw Roman. She pointed and yelled, "Don't! Come back!!! NO!"
He had heard the horn. She breathed easier even as his face went dark with worry. He gave up his seaching and started for the car with a rather hurried pace to see what could have upset Sophie. He'd never seen her like this. Just as he was mounting over the fence when Sophie saw those eyes flash again, but they didn't belong to anything in a dress. This was not human. She screamed.
Roman was startled but kept climbing carefully over the barbed wire. But those eyes were closer than Sophie had remembered first seeing them. Closer to Roman. She realized that she had only served in distracting Roman when she screamed and honked the horn. How could she be so stupid! Her heart was racing as she gripped the door, having already locked it just to feel safer. She watched the owner of those eyes came closer to Roman. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't watch and wait for him to drive off, so she slid into the driver's seat and tried to get comfortable driving with heels. She leaned over and unlocked the passenger door. She put the car in drive, pulled forward closer to Roman and waited. The lights of the pick-up swirled in the chilly night fog, but she hadn't time to notice. The fence Roman had to climb over was at the bottom of a ditch and was much lower than the eye level out of the window. He would have to clammer up the wet ditch wall on the other side to get in the pick-up. Sophie tried to think ahead. She opened the passenger door and stared down at where Roman was less than thirty seconds before. He was gone.
Sophie's head was full to the brim with thoughts screaming. It was like a pop song pounding in her blood. The screeching singing edging her nerves to the last feet before the drop of a cliff. The pulsing bass, the tempo menacing in tone and the back up vocals all too much together to separate and identify. It was overwhelming and she was the fuck out of there. With the passenger door open, she let the pick-up fish tail as she speed off. The speed was her only control and she had no idea where she could go. The passenger door was still open and the fog prevented her from seeing anything. After about two hundred yards, she slammed on the breaks. She had an outlet to her left and she turned the truck around, whipping around so fast the door shut. She sat with the idling engine and looked into the glowing fog. No sign of Roman or the thing. What had it been?
One street light glowed in the fog, and Sophie inched the car forward. She could see nothing but felt like something or someone saw her. The dark night surrounded her shoulders and back making her itch between her shoulder blades. With a sharp intake of air, Sophie spotted Roman. He sat on the side of the road facing the field. He was tending to his leg, and she rolled down the window.
"Roman get in. Now." She tried her best to put on a semblance of calm. Something stirred beyond Roman. She hadn't realized the car lights might be blinding Roman and turned them down, only to reveal an outline in the fog. Roman was between her and the thing. She choked on her words. Her mind was begging Roman to hurry. Had he heard her? The thing in front of her about fifty feet away stood in the middle of her lane. Roman was off on on the side of the road.
"ROMAN!" she yelled. She got his attention, he turned and smiled.
"Sorry babe, I slipped ripped my pants. I have a nasty gash. Why did you speed off? You playing with me?" He was ok. He was joking. He thought all of this was a joke. Why hadn't he heard the pleading in her voice when she tried to warn him. She was scared to death and here he was laughing. Something was wrong.
"Roman..." Sophie pleading in a cautious and desperate voice. He looked back again from his gash. "Didn't you hear me Roman? I was yelling. There is something, something bad out there and you need to hurry up and get in the pick-up."
"Hear you? I heard you honk and saw you whip off in my truck." He chuckled. He wasn't taking her seriously. Had he not heard her about the thing that she knew was mere yards away.
"Roman. Can you just get in the pick-up?" she exhaled a breath she didn't know she had been holding when he got up and limped toward the passenger side. She knew she didn't have a lot of time to wait for Roman. She was pretty sure the creature was still off in the distance ahead waiting for them. What if it came at Roman as he went around the car? She checked the dash and saw she was still in drive. Her feet were frozen with nerves and stiff in her heels. Roman was edging around the front of the car as her heart sped up, but nothing happened. She waited for him to get in the door and didn't even wait for his seat belt to click before tires squealed and she headed at whatever was waiting for her.
Nothing hit the front of the pick-up, and she was relieved as much as afraid of what might be out there. Roman was quiet and distant.
"How's the leg? What happened?" Sophie asked as she glanced at his leg. She took a double take. His leg looked fine. Not a rip or a tear where he had been nursing it before. He didn't look at her or say a word. She looked up knowing something was wrong, and she almost hit something out in the road. She thought they were in the clear, but the thing that hit the car front startled her and for more reasons than just surprise and concern or even fear. It was Roman. Roman out on the road gripping the front of the truck swimming in the black night and swirling fog lit by the head lights.
"Get out Sophie!" he bellowed but he was obviously hurt or out of breath. She didn't hesitate. The Roman next to her smiled at her and said "Stay here," in a calm and distant voice that did not lack force. Thankfully her door had been unlocked and her seat belt wasn't on. She flipped the truck into park and bolted out the door. When she reached Roman, the real Roman she hoped, they looked back into the truck. Nothing was there. Roman grabbed her and she nearly killed him with a blow to the head but he ducked.
"Don't grab me like that when I'm scared like that! For God's sake what the fuck was that?"
"Me..." Roman whispered. It didn't hold menace or a smile, it was fear and unexplainable doubt that they were not yet safe.
Get in, Sophie thought. She walked around to the pick-up to the passenger side, the door was locked and she pulled and pulled on the handle without realizing her mistake. How could it be locked? The thing had locked it? If it was locked from the inside... Roman got in on his side and was startled to find the thing had merely been playing an illusion on them, hiding somehow from their view. She screamed and pounded on the window. Roman's reaction to her that he didn't see what she saw. She saw a gross giant replica of a bat or a moth. She wasn't sure what it looked like. It had short coarse hair, red beady eyes, and a smile that snarled and curled underneath a bat-like nose. It was winged and -- Roman was talking to it...
"Sophie? Sophie? Ok I'll get you home." He thought it was her. She shifted to the side, to look at Roman, getting brave because she had the locked door and faulty window between her and the thing. As she shifted it changed, changed into her. A perfect reflection of her motions and demeanor. Yet it wasn't her. It was an illusion. Like a hologram. Roman saw the Sophie in the seat and saw the Sophie out the passenger rear view mirror, realizing his mistake. He played it cool though, trying not to set off whatever this thing was. It had hit him over the head.
He could bearly steer as the adrenaline bounced about his veins, yet again tricked by this thing. He'd seen the movies and he'd always thought he'd have more time to think. Time to clear his mind and think of the next action. He knew. The turn he made earlier was a few feet away. As he had come from the right, he knew he could go left and somehow detain this thing. He sent out a silent apology to Sophie. He didn't dare glance in the mirror to see her, but nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt the thing, or no, Sophie put a hand on his thigh. It hadn't said a word. He had heard it speak to Sophie when he was knocked out in the ditch. He was pretty sure if he hadn't surprised it, it would have killed her. It hadn't hurt him badly, just a blow hard enough to slow him down. It wanted him. And based on the hand the was inching up his thigh it wanted something specific.
What in the hell was this thing playing at? It felt like the last ten minutes was a jumble of memories. If he hadn't seen Sophie on the road, stunned that he was driving off, he would have assumed this Sophie was the real Sophie. Something obviously was going on. Not just the weird thing in the field. Then he realized what it was. It- this thing wasn't the only one. The blow to his head left him a good 20 feet from where he'd originally been climbing over the fence. The blow didn't send him there or at least he didn't remember that it did. Something had dragged him there and his clothes showed that that was most likely the truth. He was covered in mud.
Ok, Sophie is ok for now, but another thing may be out there, Roman thought to himself, if I could just get... His thoughts were cut short by the hand that cupped him between his legs. It had already be hard to concentrate with all the chaos and pounding blood in his veins. How could he look at this Sophie and not want what she or it was doing. His mind couldn't wrap around how much he liked her touch and how much he knew it was the wrong touch. It was an educated touch. One of an older woman or an experienced lover. Sophie would be his first and her his.
A flash of light behind the pick-up caught his eyes. He casually glanced out the rear view mirror. Sophie, his Sophie was running. Her heels were in her hands, her hair falling about her, and her flannel whipping back as she ran full out down the road behind him. He hadn't been driving fast. Sophie knew she could catch up with him when she start walking, but it was when she heard the whisper from the shadows that she ran full out. "Mine, you will be mine Sophie." It sure as hell wasn't Roman, and she wasn't going to let this thing get her- now she realized, there was one with her too, not just with Roman. She ran full out. It was only a half mile ahead and Roman swirved a little. She didn't know if he knew she was behind him but she could let herself be seperated.
The bridge, thought Roman. Sophie was catching up. He couldn't let her. Two of them against the two of them was in their favor, and Roman knew it. The bridge. If he could only get to the bridge. He could create a distraction, maybe even get rid of this thing that was now unzipping his pants. The smile on this Sophie's face was nothing like what he thought it would be like.
"Let's wait until I park. The wait will just make it all the more exciting ok Sophia?" He added the last bit because he knew she hated to be called Sophia and always scolded him for it. This Sophie just nodded.
There was a shoulder before the bridge that could easily park a few cars, and it also over looked a very deep river. The water was high and it was his only chance. He was a swimmer of course. He even had been polar bear swimming up this exact river in a more safe public swimming part with a group that do long distance swimming. His window was down. The door unlocked. The other window wouldn't budge.
Sophie was feeling the cold curl around her lungs like cold fingers. The fear that was driving her wasn't helping. Her breath was getting short and her energy nearly gone. She had run full out for almost a mile now. The power of her feet slapping the pavement wet and cold surged through her bones and chilled her to her core, but she still ran. Something was stirring behind her and she knew it could easily get her. Why hadn't it? It was waiting. Or was it hunting? The lights from the bridge ahead gave her a goal and she started to cry. The lights still leading her as she could see the light through the blurring tears. The cold burned her nose and face, her nose was running and she was wheezing. She was in shape enough to run, but that was in a warm basketball court. You have to, thought Sophie, for Roman you have to get to him.
Her tears had almost prevented her from seeing what came next. The pick-up was pulling into the shoulder and she felt a blimp of hope spring from her heart. Maybe Roman found a way to save her. But the truck didn't stop. It wasn't going fast. But it went straight over the edge, down the embankment and she heard the splash. She screamed, "NO! No no no no! Roman Roman, Help!" She looked around at the wooded acres that surrounded her, but held hope that her scream would carry in the fog. Someone can hear the train whistle ten miles away if it was a foggy night. The crash into the water made even less noise.
She was still running, trying to find help in the shadows in the woods on either side, while knowing she was being following. She ran to the bridge and as she set her first foot on the road over the water, the first two lights fizzled out sending sparks down on her. The bridge was just as cold and her heels never hit the ground as she sprinted from whatever was chasing her and to whatever had Roman. The second set of street lights on either side of her fizzled as well, and only two lights remained. She ran against the wind and hit the last light with thanks that it too didn't burn out, but the one behind her sounded like someone hit it with a bat and she flinched too afraid to look.
She climbed the wet and freezing metal railing, the light post holding her steady to her left and her shoes still in her right hand. She didn't know why she held onto the shoes now that they were worthless. Her breath was held as she listened and strained to pick up any noise below. The truck was already gone, but she dropped her shoe to make a splash. If she knew what that would sound like maybe she'd know if someone or something was down there. She heard a loud splosh as her shoe was swallowed by the black water. It was a distinct sound and no other noises followed. The pick-up had gone under on her right, but bubbles continued to rise. What looked like a dark blanket or shape rose and floated back up to the surface.
A ear piercing screech was let out above her and a shadow dropped to the floating figure which had by now floated under the bridge to the other side. She could no longer see what had come up, but she was certain it was Roman. The embankment to her left was steep but had trees to help her down if she went to the Riverside to get a better look. It was when she surveyed the embankment to her left that she saw movement. "Roman, " she whispered.
He was upstream and must have swam there against the current. He sat with his back against a tree. He hadn't see her. She dropped her other shoe. He turned his head and prayed the girl up on the rail was his Sophie. She was bare foot. Shaking and cold, she held a hand out to him and still in her flannel and dance dress that whipped about her, she jumped.
Roman jumped into action. She had found the more shallow part of the river by pure accident, but Roman new it was a fortunate mistake. He had let the current carry him to her though and she was still out of the current's pull when he found her. She was trying to not make noise, but that's hard when water slaps the air out of you, the nerves crippled and reactions slow and lazy as the blood freezes. How can this water be so cold and not be frozen solid, she thought as she bobbed up clawing for air.
He had her, but not before he saw what had just been with him in his truck. It was on the opposite embankment, and a figure hovered over it. Was it alive? Had he done all this, risked his life, lost his truck to just get the freaking thing wet? It was far down on the opposite side of the bridge and on the other side of the river, but he knew they had very little time.
A car was approaching overhead and as Roman drug Sophie up to the river edge, he saw two pairs of red eyes swivel to meet his and the car above him. What had a first looked like two huge winged creatures with blank fur and beady eyes became a mere reflection of him crouching over Sophie. Were those things meant to be together like he was meant to be with Sophie? The thing that had followed Sophie had been flying above her as she ran and it was the last image he had seen before his pick-up dipped down the embankment. It was then that he made a small prayer for Sophie. Now those things feigned love like he had for Sophie and he knew both of them needed him and needed Sophie.
A succubus is female demon that needs the seed of a male human and once a succubus brings it to her male demon, her incubus, he can take that seed and use it to impregnate a female human with a devil spawn. A flash of thought had crossed Roman's mind. It want him, his seed. Had these things known this night was going to be his and Sophie's first together, or ever. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think a girl would get pregnant the first time. And they took the form of the the lovers of the human easily, as he had already seen. He and Sophie matched their stare with fire in their eyes.
Even as he knew they had been in danger, he felt a pang of sympathy for those things. They needed him and Sophie. They couldn't create a life by themselves, and their movements and gestures with each other had shown Roman they were desperate to have a legacy.
"They needed us. You. Sophie. You would have gotten pregnant." He was still breathing ragged and soaking wet. His mind was a millions miles away from physical discomfort of the cold or wet though. Sophie looked up at him.
"Why us?"
"Because I love you." He whispered this as he looked in her eyes and knew they were be safe soon. "Because I'm leaving at the end of the year and I desperately wanted tonight to be special. I wanted you."
This was no time for an intimate conversation but Sophie was struck by his naked feeling showing on his face.
She tried to say, "I wanted you too," but the cold was soaking her through. Instead she breathed, "bridge." They climbed the embankment and were still aware of the things of in the distance. When all was said and done, they were picked up by some friends who were leaving the dance. The police pulled Roman's truck out of the water and was soon up and running again.
***
It was the end of May and Roman and Sophie were in his truck back on that bridge. They went there and talked sometimes. Ever since Winter Ball they had felt a strange impulse to return to the bridge despite their better judgment. They didn't feel unsafe anymore. They did feel watched. He would graduate in a week and then they would leave this small town. Sophie thought she would miss her family but the thought of leaving Roman hurt more. Sophie was due in August and only her and Roman knew. They wanted to keep it that way.
by Sophie Grow
She had been at a school dance less than an hour before and didn't know why it had to change. She had been happy and dancing with Roman, an upper classmen . She was so lucky to have been asked by a guy who was gorgeous, quiet, and sweet. The whole night was gone.
She gripped the rail with her hands and hoisted herself up to the top of the rail, kicking off the last high heel, and held on to a pole to her right the was supposed to light the bridge. The light had blown up with a loud crackle and psst sound. The five other street lights had followed suit, and she had no clue how or why.
Where was Roman, she thought? She was standing on that rail, close to freedom, and still she wondered about Roman and where he was. The cold night air slapped her dress about her in a haze of purple and lavender sparkling here and there as it whipped the backs of her thighs. It was just below knee length and she wasn't wearing stockings. It didn't matter though that the railing froze her feet and the wind chilled her. She had run at least a mile to get to this spot and she was already numbed to the pain and chill.
Roman was driving her home an hour before, and soon after they left the rural school it had all gone wrong. It had been a fantastic night. Her feet were sore and she was a little worse for the wear having thoroughly enjoyed every minute on the dance floor. A few stray hairs peeked out and fell about her pinked face and she blew them out of the way and reapplied a glossy coat of a very sultry mauve that sparkled and shined. Roman had his jacket off and slung over his right arm and he pulled her arm into his left one. They laughed and giggled their way to the car. They left a little earlier than the crowd to supposedly beat the traffic, but Sophie knew Roman had other plans and she was just fine with that.
She was a tall guy, but Sophie was tall too. She played basketball and was pushing six feet, which was very tall for a 16 year old, but not unheard of. Roman topped six feet and his frame was the build of a swimmer's. He didn't like competitive sports like football, even though he would have been a fantastic addition to the team. He almost felt he was above the so-called camaraderie that leads to the mistreatment of other students for sake of looking cool. So he swam independently with no one telling him what to do. He was in charge in his lane and he was quietly always in charge of himself.
He was Senior while Sophie was a sophomore. They had been introduced in lab class and had worked as partners. He was quiet and good looking while Sophie had been boisterous and the class clown. She made everyone laugh, sometimes even at the expense of the teacher. This had turned Roman off at first, but when they were one on one she matched his every quip with a come back but never got upset or offended. She played his little repartee as much as he did. He would say a clever jabbing note and she would be there with a stinging retort. The insults made him like her more. She of course didn't pay as much attention because she often was in her own world, but he liked that about her. She too didn't care about what other people thought, except, he was hoping, maybe him.
They walked together out the long hallway that reverberated the bumping music of the gym they had just left. Her arm in his and him with his head buzzing with anticipation, it was like the perfect night would end perfectly like both of them had wanted. Sophie stopped at the door to slip on her shoes she had long ago abandoned so she could dance more freely. Most girls would drop a lot of money on a pair of shoes they take off within the first half hour of a dance just to be thrown into a pile of fancy purses, coats, and ownerless shoes.
Once they were out the door, they walked to his pick-up. It was red and small. It was just big enough for the two of them. When he had picked her up he had apologized for the plywood on the floor. The floor beneath was rotted through and a fatal step would send you below peddling like a Flinestone. She hadn't payed it any attention and his embarrassment soon wore off. Now she hopped in and buckled up, her palms sweating in anticipation of where the night might lead her.
The night had been cold and the winter was wet and blustering as they traveled down the curves of the winding road. They had the heat cranked up and the music on. Sophie's teeth were chattering, but like any girl in a dress, she was oblivious to the danger of gangreen and hypothermia. All she cared about was looking nice, as well as feeling pretty. Of course, any other night she would have worn a sweat pants suit and gone outside at home on her porch with trepidation and real resistance. Tonight she braved the swells of wet wind that spiked the the goose bumps on her legs and sent her dress dancing about her. Inside the truck, it was warm and musty. The windows fogged from their breathe and Roman drove slowly. He wasn't a hot shot. He'd rather get somewhere safe than never get there.
They had gotten a few miles from the school gym, they were off campus, and the lighting was fading. Since there weren't many people on these back roads at night the street lights were sparse. Sophie was wrapped in one of his flannels and buckled in the passenger seat. It was warming up in the car and it wasn't completely due to the heater blasting a blistering heat. She wanted to put her hands up his shirt and soak up the warmth of him. Touch his skin. She could just imagine the warmth from him radiating out with the smell of his scent. Sophie reacted to scent rather than taste, but in the car right now it smell musty and dank with a mix of dirt in there. The smell didn't bug her. She would register this smell with Roman from now on and she rather liked that.
He took a slow left turn, talking over the music to tell her about a funny moment back at the dance. He wasn't completely sure where he was going but he didn't have time to think about it.
"What was that?" he said as he squinted out the fogged windshield. Sophie had seen something too. Just as they were driving past an open field immediately after the left turn, something had danced across the field. It wasn't a skittering or a running. It was a floating, but what was floating they could no longer see. They looked out Sophie's window at an empty field that was mostly mud and dead grass and there was a large blackberry bush consuming what looked like an old car. Roman inched the truck along and leaned over his steering wheel to see and Sophie leaned back wrapping herself tighter with the flannel. She felt like there were eyes out there, someone knew they were watching.
"Ok, I think we can go now." she said with a nervous lit to her voice. As she looked away though, something moved in the corner of her eye. She didn't dare move to look, but saw Roman's expression. He wasn't scared, rather he was curious and a little concerned according the knit between his brow and the stare of eyes.
"Wait here. I think I saw a girl in a dress." He got out and as he shut the door, Sophie saw what he saw. A fluttering of an off white fabric that could only be explained as a dress. No one would leave sheets out on a line at this time of year. The movement had vanished behind the blackberry brambles, but she could still see movement as Roman walked around the front of the truck. It wasn't clear what the cause of the movement was but-- Sophie's heart stopped, her throat seized, and her eyes were locked in a stare with a pair of eyes that mysteriously reached her gaze, even though she was more than a hundred feet away. It was impossible not to lock eyes with that gaze. The eyes were glowing red.
Sophie jumped. She realized that the movement that broke her vision was Roman who was still venturing out under the impression that the mysterious movement was innocent. How could it be with eyes like that? Had she imagined what she saw? Her breath rattled as she tried to yell, tried to wake herself up from the trance of those dangerous eyes.
Roman couldn't hear her over the sound of the pick-up running. The keys, thought Sophie, he left the car running. She started to roll down her window, cranking on the handle as fast and hard as she could. Roman had made it over the field's fence and was creeping towards the bush, but in a manner that suggested that he didn't want to scare whatever was behind there.
The handle was stuck tight in it's position and only three inches of window had lowered. All this achieved was a sudden blast of cold air that seized Sophie's thoughts and lungs and jarred her from her course of warning him. After the surge of adrenaline had slammed into her, she found it hard to think, but a thought struck her, the horn. The steering wheel had a horn and she could warn him loudly, but as she struggled with her seat belt, time seemed to slow. She couldn't reach the horn and make it work from this angle She fumbled with the button with her still cold fingers and once free reached over and slammed as hard as she could.
She turned back and saw Roman. She pointed and yelled, "Don't! Come back!!! NO!"
He had heard the horn. She breathed easier even as his face went dark with worry. He gave up his seaching and started for the car with a rather hurried pace to see what could have upset Sophie. He'd never seen her like this. Just as he was mounting over the fence when Sophie saw those eyes flash again, but they didn't belong to anything in a dress. This was not human. She screamed.
Roman was startled but kept climbing carefully over the barbed wire. But those eyes were closer than Sophie had remembered first seeing them. Closer to Roman. She realized that she had only served in distracting Roman when she screamed and honked the horn. How could she be so stupid! Her heart was racing as she gripped the door, having already locked it just to feel safer. She watched the owner of those eyes came closer to Roman. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't watch and wait for him to drive off, so she slid into the driver's seat and tried to get comfortable driving with heels. She leaned over and unlocked the passenger door. She put the car in drive, pulled forward closer to Roman and waited. The lights of the pick-up swirled in the chilly night fog, but she hadn't time to notice. The fence Roman had to climb over was at the bottom of a ditch and was much lower than the eye level out of the window. He would have to clammer up the wet ditch wall on the other side to get in the pick-up. Sophie tried to think ahead. She opened the passenger door and stared down at where Roman was less than thirty seconds before. He was gone.
Sophie's head was full to the brim with thoughts screaming. It was like a pop song pounding in her blood. The screeching singing edging her nerves to the last feet before the drop of a cliff. The pulsing bass, the tempo menacing in tone and the back up vocals all too much together to separate and identify. It was overwhelming and she was the fuck out of there. With the passenger door open, she let the pick-up fish tail as she speed off. The speed was her only control and she had no idea where she could go. The passenger door was still open and the fog prevented her from seeing anything. After about two hundred yards, she slammed on the breaks. She had an outlet to her left and she turned the truck around, whipping around so fast the door shut. She sat with the idling engine and looked into the glowing fog. No sign of Roman or the thing. What had it been?
One street light glowed in the fog, and Sophie inched the car forward. She could see nothing but felt like something or someone saw her. The dark night surrounded her shoulders and back making her itch between her shoulder blades. With a sharp intake of air, Sophie spotted Roman. He sat on the side of the road facing the field. He was tending to his leg, and she rolled down the window.
"Roman get in. Now." She tried her best to put on a semblance of calm. Something stirred beyond Roman. She hadn't realized the car lights might be blinding Roman and turned them down, only to reveal an outline in the fog. Roman was between her and the thing. She choked on her words. Her mind was begging Roman to hurry. Had he heard her? The thing in front of her about fifty feet away stood in the middle of her lane. Roman was off on on the side of the road.
"ROMAN!" she yelled. She got his attention, he turned and smiled.
"Sorry babe, I slipped ripped my pants. I have a nasty gash. Why did you speed off? You playing with me?" He was ok. He was joking. He thought all of this was a joke. Why hadn't he heard the pleading in her voice when she tried to warn him. She was scared to death and here he was laughing. Something was wrong.
"Roman..." Sophie pleading in a cautious and desperate voice. He looked back again from his gash. "Didn't you hear me Roman? I was yelling. There is something, something bad out there and you need to hurry up and get in the pick-up."
"Hear you? I heard you honk and saw you whip off in my truck." He chuckled. He wasn't taking her seriously. Had he not heard her about the thing that she knew was mere yards away.
"Roman. Can you just get in the pick-up?" she exhaled a breath she didn't know she had been holding when he got up and limped toward the passenger side. She knew she didn't have a lot of time to wait for Roman. She was pretty sure the creature was still off in the distance ahead waiting for them. What if it came at Roman as he went around the car? She checked the dash and saw she was still in drive. Her feet were frozen with nerves and stiff in her heels. Roman was edging around the front of the car as her heart sped up, but nothing happened. She waited for him to get in the door and didn't even wait for his seat belt to click before tires squealed and she headed at whatever was waiting for her.
Nothing hit the front of the pick-up, and she was relieved as much as afraid of what might be out there. Roman was quiet and distant.
"How's the leg? What happened?" Sophie asked as she glanced at his leg. She took a double take. His leg looked fine. Not a rip or a tear where he had been nursing it before. He didn't look at her or say a word. She looked up knowing something was wrong, and she almost hit something out in the road. She thought they were in the clear, but the thing that hit the car front startled her and for more reasons than just surprise and concern or even fear. It was Roman. Roman out on the road gripping the front of the truck swimming in the black night and swirling fog lit by the head lights.
"Get out Sophie!" he bellowed but he was obviously hurt or out of breath. She didn't hesitate. The Roman next to her smiled at her and said "Stay here," in a calm and distant voice that did not lack force. Thankfully her door had been unlocked and her seat belt wasn't on. She flipped the truck into park and bolted out the door. When she reached Roman, the real Roman she hoped, they looked back into the truck. Nothing was there. Roman grabbed her and she nearly killed him with a blow to the head but he ducked.
"Don't grab me like that when I'm scared like that! For God's sake what the fuck was that?"
"Me..." Roman whispered. It didn't hold menace or a smile, it was fear and unexplainable doubt that they were not yet safe.
Get in, Sophie thought. She walked around to the pick-up to the passenger side, the door was locked and she pulled and pulled on the handle without realizing her mistake. How could it be locked? The thing had locked it? If it was locked from the inside... Roman got in on his side and was startled to find the thing had merely been playing an illusion on them, hiding somehow from their view. She screamed and pounded on the window. Roman's reaction to her that he didn't see what she saw. She saw a gross giant replica of a bat or a moth. She wasn't sure what it looked like. It had short coarse hair, red beady eyes, and a smile that snarled and curled underneath a bat-like nose. It was winged and -- Roman was talking to it...
"Sophie? Sophie? Ok I'll get you home." He thought it was her. She shifted to the side, to look at Roman, getting brave because she had the locked door and faulty window between her and the thing. As she shifted it changed, changed into her. A perfect reflection of her motions and demeanor. Yet it wasn't her. It was an illusion. Like a hologram. Roman saw the Sophie in the seat and saw the Sophie out the passenger rear view mirror, realizing his mistake. He played it cool though, trying not to set off whatever this thing was. It had hit him over the head.
He could bearly steer as the adrenaline bounced about his veins, yet again tricked by this thing. He'd seen the movies and he'd always thought he'd have more time to think. Time to clear his mind and think of the next action. He knew. The turn he made earlier was a few feet away. As he had come from the right, he knew he could go left and somehow detain this thing. He sent out a silent apology to Sophie. He didn't dare glance in the mirror to see her, but nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt the thing, or no, Sophie put a hand on his thigh. It hadn't said a word. He had heard it speak to Sophie when he was knocked out in the ditch. He was pretty sure if he hadn't surprised it, it would have killed her. It hadn't hurt him badly, just a blow hard enough to slow him down. It wanted him. And based on the hand the was inching up his thigh it wanted something specific.
What in the hell was this thing playing at? It felt like the last ten minutes was a jumble of memories. If he hadn't seen Sophie on the road, stunned that he was driving off, he would have assumed this Sophie was the real Sophie. Something obviously was going on. Not just the weird thing in the field. Then he realized what it was. It- this thing wasn't the only one. The blow to his head left him a good 20 feet from where he'd originally been climbing over the fence. The blow didn't send him there or at least he didn't remember that it did. Something had dragged him there and his clothes showed that that was most likely the truth. He was covered in mud.
Ok, Sophie is ok for now, but another thing may be out there, Roman thought to himself, if I could just get... His thoughts were cut short by the hand that cupped him between his legs. It had already be hard to concentrate with all the chaos and pounding blood in his veins. How could he look at this Sophie and not want what she or it was doing. His mind couldn't wrap around how much he liked her touch and how much he knew it was the wrong touch. It was an educated touch. One of an older woman or an experienced lover. Sophie would be his first and her his.
A flash of light behind the pick-up caught his eyes. He casually glanced out the rear view mirror. Sophie, his Sophie was running. Her heels were in her hands, her hair falling about her, and her flannel whipping back as she ran full out down the road behind him. He hadn't been driving fast. Sophie knew she could catch up with him when she start walking, but it was when she heard the whisper from the shadows that she ran full out. "Mine, you will be mine Sophie." It sure as hell wasn't Roman, and she wasn't going to let this thing get her- now she realized, there was one with her too, not just with Roman. She ran full out. It was only a half mile ahead and Roman swirved a little. She didn't know if he knew she was behind him but she could let herself be seperated.
The bridge, thought Roman. Sophie was catching up. He couldn't let her. Two of them against the two of them was in their favor, and Roman knew it. The bridge. If he could only get to the bridge. He could create a distraction, maybe even get rid of this thing that was now unzipping his pants. The smile on this Sophie's face was nothing like what he thought it would be like.
"Let's wait until I park. The wait will just make it all the more exciting ok Sophia?" He added the last bit because he knew she hated to be called Sophia and always scolded him for it. This Sophie just nodded.
There was a shoulder before the bridge that could easily park a few cars, and it also over looked a very deep river. The water was high and it was his only chance. He was a swimmer of course. He even had been polar bear swimming up this exact river in a more safe public swimming part with a group that do long distance swimming. His window was down. The door unlocked. The other window wouldn't budge.
Sophie was feeling the cold curl around her lungs like cold fingers. The fear that was driving her wasn't helping. Her breath was getting short and her energy nearly gone. She had run full out for almost a mile now. The power of her feet slapping the pavement wet and cold surged through her bones and chilled her to her core, but she still ran. Something was stirring behind her and she knew it could easily get her. Why hadn't it? It was waiting. Or was it hunting? The lights from the bridge ahead gave her a goal and she started to cry. The lights still leading her as she could see the light through the blurring tears. The cold burned her nose and face, her nose was running and she was wheezing. She was in shape enough to run, but that was in a warm basketball court. You have to, thought Sophie, for Roman you have to get to him.
Her tears had almost prevented her from seeing what came next. The pick-up was pulling into the shoulder and she felt a blimp of hope spring from her heart. Maybe Roman found a way to save her. But the truck didn't stop. It wasn't going fast. But it went straight over the edge, down the embankment and she heard the splash. She screamed, "NO! No no no no! Roman Roman, Help!" She looked around at the wooded acres that surrounded her, but held hope that her scream would carry in the fog. Someone can hear the train whistle ten miles away if it was a foggy night. The crash into the water made even less noise.
She was still running, trying to find help in the shadows in the woods on either side, while knowing she was being following. She ran to the bridge and as she set her first foot on the road over the water, the first two lights fizzled out sending sparks down on her. The bridge was just as cold and her heels never hit the ground as she sprinted from whatever was chasing her and to whatever had Roman. The second set of street lights on either side of her fizzled as well, and only two lights remained. She ran against the wind and hit the last light with thanks that it too didn't burn out, but the one behind her sounded like someone hit it with a bat and she flinched too afraid to look.
She climbed the wet and freezing metal railing, the light post holding her steady to her left and her shoes still in her right hand. She didn't know why she held onto the shoes now that they were worthless. Her breath was held as she listened and strained to pick up any noise below. The truck was already gone, but she dropped her shoe to make a splash. If she knew what that would sound like maybe she'd know if someone or something was down there. She heard a loud splosh as her shoe was swallowed by the black water. It was a distinct sound and no other noises followed. The pick-up had gone under on her right, but bubbles continued to rise. What looked like a dark blanket or shape rose and floated back up to the surface.
A ear piercing screech was let out above her and a shadow dropped to the floating figure which had by now floated under the bridge to the other side. She could no longer see what had come up, but she was certain it was Roman. The embankment to her left was steep but had trees to help her down if she went to the Riverside to get a better look. It was when she surveyed the embankment to her left that she saw movement. "Roman, " she whispered.
He was upstream and must have swam there against the current. He sat with his back against a tree. He hadn't see her. She dropped her other shoe. He turned his head and prayed the girl up on the rail was his Sophie. She was bare foot. Shaking and cold, she held a hand out to him and still in her flannel and dance dress that whipped about her, she jumped.
Roman jumped into action. She had found the more shallow part of the river by pure accident, but Roman new it was a fortunate mistake. He had let the current carry him to her though and she was still out of the current's pull when he found her. She was trying to not make noise, but that's hard when water slaps the air out of you, the nerves crippled and reactions slow and lazy as the blood freezes. How can this water be so cold and not be frozen solid, she thought as she bobbed up clawing for air.
He had her, but not before he saw what had just been with him in his truck. It was on the opposite embankment, and a figure hovered over it. Was it alive? Had he done all this, risked his life, lost his truck to just get the freaking thing wet? It was far down on the opposite side of the bridge and on the other side of the river, but he knew they had very little time.
A car was approaching overhead and as Roman drug Sophie up to the river edge, he saw two pairs of red eyes swivel to meet his and the car above him. What had a first looked like two huge winged creatures with blank fur and beady eyes became a mere reflection of him crouching over Sophie. Were those things meant to be together like he was meant to be with Sophie? The thing that had followed Sophie had been flying above her as she ran and it was the last image he had seen before his pick-up dipped down the embankment. It was then that he made a small prayer for Sophie. Now those things feigned love like he had for Sophie and he knew both of them needed him and needed Sophie.
A succubus is female demon that needs the seed of a male human and once a succubus brings it to her male demon, her incubus, he can take that seed and use it to impregnate a female human with a devil spawn. A flash of thought had crossed Roman's mind. It want him, his seed. Had these things known this night was going to be his and Sophie's first together, or ever. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think a girl would get pregnant the first time. And they took the form of the the lovers of the human easily, as he had already seen. He and Sophie matched their stare with fire in their eyes.
Even as he knew they had been in danger, he felt a pang of sympathy for those things. They needed him and Sophie. They couldn't create a life by themselves, and their movements and gestures with each other had shown Roman they were desperate to have a legacy.
"They needed us. You. Sophie. You would have gotten pregnant." He was still breathing ragged and soaking wet. His mind was a millions miles away from physical discomfort of the cold or wet though. Sophie looked up at him.
"Why us?"
"Because I love you." He whispered this as he looked in her eyes and knew they were be safe soon. "Because I'm leaving at the end of the year and I desperately wanted tonight to be special. I wanted you."
This was no time for an intimate conversation but Sophie was struck by his naked feeling showing on his face.
She tried to say, "I wanted you too," but the cold was soaking her through. Instead she breathed, "bridge." They climbed the embankment and were still aware of the things of in the distance. When all was said and done, they were picked up by some friends who were leaving the dance. The police pulled Roman's truck out of the water and was soon up and running again.
***
It was the end of May and Roman and Sophie were in his truck back on that bridge. They went there and talked sometimes. Ever since Winter Ball they had felt a strange impulse to return to the bridge despite their better judgment. They didn't feel unsafe anymore. They did feel watched. He would graduate in a week and then they would leave this small town. Sophie thought she would miss her family but the thought of leaving Roman hurt more. Sophie was due in August and only her and Roman knew. They wanted to keep it that way.
by Sophie Grow
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