Read On the Far Side of Darkness Online
Authors: R. C. Graham
On the Far Side of Darkness (33 page)
“Night, folks,” Jim finishes. “See you tomorrow.” Diane and I step out and her father closes the door behind us.
We walk to our vehicle and enter. As I close the door, Diane lets me go and heads towards the living area at the back. I follow a step behind.
She stops and whirls to face me, with her mask down. The being she really is shows. There is an expression shaping her features I never expected to see when the monster is revealed. It’s there, the sharp angles, the unreal beauty, the sinister eyes. But her face contains a cold bleakness. “Love me, Georges,” she demands, her voice reedy and trembling.
I let my facade fade, and I smile. The smile I’ll always give her regardless of the aspect I display. The one that shows how much she means to me.
The corners of her mouth lift ever so little. She spreads her arms.
Stepping into them I wrap her in my embrace, bend my head and take her sweet lips. I kiss her hard, the passion that fills me heating my soul. I draw her tight, pull in a breath and moan.
Diane reciprocates. Her tongue sweeps along the slit of my mouth. I open and let her in. She teases, pokes, plays with my fangs. Pushing back I run into her mouth. We bounce our tongues back and forth faster and harder.
I grab her lovely ass in my hands, lift her up so we’re eye to eye. She crosses her legs behind me to press herself into my stomach. Our bodies can’t react, but our souls feel the lust this action creates. We dig our fingers into each other.
She pulls back and I see a wonder. Her features are those of the vampire, but her eyes are human, sea green and warm with the lustful sparkle I know so well. “Get naked, love,” Diane demands. “I want to feel your skin against mine.” She lets me go, steps back and begins removing her clothes.
I pull desperately at my own. At this moment, I can’t bear to be away from her. My body needs the touch of her as well.
Diane stands now, naked, and so beautiful. Slim, firm, white skinned and so nicely shaped. She lies on her back, spreads open. “Love me, Georges. I need you more than ever now.”
As always, I answer her call. I kneel between her legs, drape myself over her. My kiss is passionate.My hands roam overhear skin as I rub myself against her labia. My equipment may not work but I don’t care. The feel of her fills me, makes my mind burn. It’s a joy, a pleasure, an addiction. I feel like I had never touched a woman before I had touched her.
She sucks at my tongue, plays her digits across my back, pumps her hips. Diane makes little squeaks, an occasional moan. Her lust is apparent in her frantic actions.
We play, stroke, tease. For many minutes we show how much we want each other.
“Now Georges,” she gasps, “now.” She leans her head to the right exposing herself.
I place my mouth on her neck and my fangs penetrate. I don’t suck, just let the thin trickle of her blood run over my tongue. The taste of it tells me so much.
Her fangs penetrate my shoulder and my passion, my love, blanks any perception save that communicated through my love’s blood.
At first, her flavor is almost flat, the emptiness of despair the strongest component. It’s mixed with the delicious foulness of her basic nature. Little bursts of ecstasy, joy and love dance through the fluid.
Diane fills her lungs, releases it with a languorous noise that I know is my name. Her limbs pull me tight and she shivers against me.
Her savor changes slowly. The bursts fade less rapidly, spread out, fill the vacuum of her melancholy. Step by step, her emptiness vanishes, her darkness is pressed back. Finally I can taste little more than the sweet delight of her love.
It makes me clutch at her hard. I feel a peace I have never known in my dark existence.
It takes some will power but I manage to pull myself from her throat. Diane withdraws her fangs, relaxes and gives a happy sigh. We lie there for a while. We don’t sweat or pant as humans do after they make love. Our feelings are the same. We’re filled with the tranquil bliss of lovers, a delicate and strong emotion drawn forth by the other’s happiness.
“
J’taime
, Georges,” she whispers in my ear.
“I love you, Diane,” I return.
Dawn approaches. Without a word we stand and shutter our vehicle’s windows. We close up our sleeping area, spoon on our bed.
“I think we should go tomorrow,” my beautiful lady tells me.
“As you wish.”
* * * *
Her parents take the news well.
As soon as we give it, Diane and I turn to exit her childhood home. Her parents follow and the four of us pause on the porch to face each other.
Jim’s face is nearly blank, his mouth is a straight, thin line. The ends twitch at moments, up then down. His eyes glisten at the corners. Lilly’s face is drawn tight, her eyes shine and her lips quiver.
She lets go of her husband’s hand, steps forward to embrace her daughter. Diane returns the tight hug. Lilly loosens her arms, moves to me and repeats her gesture. I hug her back. It’s very rare to receive such an honest gesture from a human.
Diane’s mother releases me and steps back. “I’m very pleased to have met you, Georges,” she says. Lilly reaches out to take her daughter’s hands. “You’ll keep in touch?”
“Of course, Mom.”
Lilly turns to me once more. “Loo… Loo…” she stammers, her voice strangled with emotion. Then her face scrunches and she flees into her house.
Jim looks after her, his face pensive and hurting. He faces me and extends his hand. I take it to share a firm handshake.
“Look after my daughter,” he asks, finishing his wife’s request.
“With my own existence if need be,” I tell him with all honesty.
He smiles a quirky expression of acceptance, wonder and loss. Shaking his head Jim says, “It’s so strange. To learn this late in life about people like you and my daughter, to pass her to a place I never knew existed.” He looks into my eyes and his own are full of respect. “To ask a person from that dark place to care for her and know that he will.”
I smile, nod my head and we open our hands.
Jim goes to his daughter and gives her a warm squeeze. “We love you, sweetie. Never doubt that.”
“I know, Dad.”
They step away from each other. Diane reaches for my hand and I accept it.
“Good bye, Dad.”
“
Adieu
,” I add.
“Good bye,” is his reply. A single tear trickles from his left eye. Head erect, shoulders square, he turns and goes into his home.
Diane and I head for our RV, hearing the quiet click of the door shutting behind us as we go.
“I think you should drive, Georges,” Diane tells me as she climbs into the passenger’s seat.
That raises an eyebrow. But I do as she requests, go to the driver’s door and start us up.
Carefully, I drive the RV to the end of the lane leading to the road. Mentally flipping a coin, I turn left and head west. For ten minutes I concentrate on driving while snatching an occasional glance at my love.
She simply stares out the window, not moving.
“Stop!” comes the sudden demand from her. I pull to the shoulder and turn off the engine. Darkness surrounds us as the headlight beams vanish.
Diane crosses to me, sits on my lap and hugs me hard. I pull her close, lay my cheek against her head. We hold there for a minute.
“I was wrong, Georges,” she tells me then.
“About what?” I query.
“I didn’t come back to re-connect. I came back to say goodbye.”
I squeeze her tight at that statement.
She pulls back, her mask gone. “I’m a vampire now, Georges. I no longer have a place in the human world. I know that now.
“And I’m glad,” she finishes.
A “Hmm?” of curiosity comes from me.
“I hadn’t realized until last night. Remember I said Carol wasn’t what I was looking for?”
“
Oui
.”
“It’s been that way all my life. Some part of me knew the world wasn’t for me. I think that’s why my sex life was with women. I knew men weren’t for me. But I was never happy with women either.
“When I met you that changed, you became part of my life so quickly. I was so drawn to you. I fell in love without even trying.”
I grin a wide happy smile at that. We lean forward and give our special kiss.
Diane pulls back again. Her face may be that of our kind but an entirely human joy fills it.
“When you made your offer to me, when you made me what I am, I had little doubt. It was frightening, but it was right. There’s been moments when I wasn’t sure.” She makes her wry smile. “Well, a little longer as the last couple of months showed, but I didn’t want to go back. I was where I belonged. Where it counts, in my heart, I was the person I was meant to be, and with the person I was meant to be with.”
Our mouths reconnect. It feels like the first time we kissed. We cuddle, rejoicing in our triumph.
“I love you, Georges,” she says finally.
“
J’taime
, Diane,” I tell her.
She climbs from my lap, jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “Out of the seat, buddy. You drive like an old man.” Her mask is back. Her eyes twinkle with humor and her mouth grins.
I grin back, put up my facade and rise to my feet. “Children these days,” I grumble playfully, “no respect for their elders.” We change seats and Diane starts the engine.
“Where to?” she asks.
Leaning over I place my left hand over her right. “Where ever you want. The world is yours now, my beautiful lady.”
She smiles. “Las Vegas. It should be fun.”
I nod my agreement, she steps on the gas and we head into our future.
First of all, as always, I wish to thank my lovely wife, Deanna Graham. She keeps me grounded and gives me the nudges I need to keep working. She is the crutch I lean on.
I’d like to thank Suzan Butler for the absolutely gorgeous cover. She did a great job of bringing Georges and Diane into life. As it were.
And finally, thanks so much to all the proof readers who helped me polish this work until it shone.
on The Web
R. C. Graham’s Biography
R. C. Graham likes creating things. Whether it was building sand castles as a child, playing Dungeon Master as a teenager, programming computers as a young adult and now writing in middle age bringing new, beautiful and exciting things into existence is R. C.’s greatest joy.
You can find his work available for download at these sites.
