LIYLAH: By Lori Titus
Saturday, December 19th, 2009“What would you like to do tonight?”
We were standing on the rooftop together. Below, the city was alive with bright lights and the noise of traffic rushing by. This had always been my favorite time of the night, the time just after twilight when the darkness infused the air with a feeling of newness.
There were empty bottles of wine on the table behind us, along with a candle that now burned low, pouring the scent of sandalwood into the air. Two roses were stuffed into one of the old bottles. We were the only people on the rooftop, an intimate space for two.
Morgan was smiling at me, barely concealing how much he wanted to laugh. It made me angry, though I knew the feeling would not last for long.
“Liylah….? You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know.” It was hard to concentrate. I wondered if this was an effect of the wine.
The traffic, voices, noises of the people below blended into a miasma of sound.
He moved so that he was behind me, and put his arms around me, pulling me against his chest. “You can’t just listen to all of it; the noise will become too much. Learn to tune it out. That should be your first lesson,” he whispered. “It is not about concentration. It’s about not opening yourself up to it.”
“Stop.” I whispered. And the sounds flowed away, at first, just lower, and then, they were gone.
“Very good,” Morgan said. I felt oddly like a child learning the alphabet. He kissed my cheek. “There are many things you’ll find yourself able to do now. Just don’t have fear. Center yourself, be confident. It’s the fear that can kill you, not the things that you’re afraid of.”
I heard what he was saying, but I was not really listening. It felt like his words came to me across a long distance, disjointed, unreal.
I remembered him standing in my apartment, how he kissed me. Was that the last time we were together before tonight? That seemed forever ago.
Why couldn’t I remember?
“Tonight, everything is new again,” he said. “For both of us. Just know this. Fear is dangerous. The only way to control it is to go forward. Into it.”
He went oddly still, and so did I, my body registering that something was about to happen.
I did not realize that he had pushed me until I was falling through the thick air. The lights and the noise and the smells of the city were racing, coming up to meet me. I tried to scream but there was no time. My mouth was open and the air was rushing down my throat, so fast that I thought it would strangle me before I ever hit the earth.
Stop, stop, stop
Those words were my only prayer.
The air slowed around me. I was still moving, but much slower.
I closed my eyes. Surely, this is hell, I thought.
I would plunge to my death in slow motion….
I opened my eyes.
I was standing on the street, unharmed.
My body felt hot, energy and fear and something new pounding through my veins.
Morgan was there, with his arms crossed, his dark eyes shining. “That’s my woman,” he said. “I am sorry I had to frighten you. But how else to make you believe what you are now?” he said in a whisper. “This disorientation, it does not last for long, but you will be this way for a while. You’ll lose time. I will protect you.”
My eyes widened with realization.
The memory of a kiss that was not only a kiss…. But a bite.
The sweet wine, so thick, too rich to even taste the taint of copper beneath it.
Morgan’s touch, and the electricity I felt when his skin touched mine……
He confirmed my fears with his words.
“Liylah, tonight we will feed. No more being a Halfling. You’re a vampire.”
©2009 Lori Titus
Green Water Lullaby, Lori’s short story collection is available for pre-order:
http://www.sonar4publications.green/html
