Sylvie

Sylvie took a few mouthfuls of blood quickly and instantly felt the relief in her veins as they refreshed and brought her ability back to normal. “I was wrong about the first part.  You see, the rain scene with us at the dam and lake was the second half.  I replayed that the most because I was looking for the one.”  Sylvie leaned up and kissed Casey. “You are the one, I think I said it before..but the girl of my dreams.”

“Still good to hear, no matter how many times you tell me.”  Casey licked the residual blood from her lips.

After polishing off one full bottle of blood, Sylvie resumed her position of laying in Casey’s lap. “This is going to be strange to describe.”  She snorted when the snaps of the plastic blue bows resumed. “What's more is that I don’t know how the first part connects to where we became a couple.”

“Snort all you want to.  This will teach you to put me in a pink bow.”  Casey tickled Sylvie’s tummy playfully. “Do your best, I am sure I will understand.”

Reversing the vision in her mind to the beginning, Sylvie’s eyes rotated to half moons before she began. “I touched your hand and thought I saw a lifetime.  Mine.  At the time I didn’t think much about it, the feeling was so loving and serene that I didn’t consider that it was impossible for me.”

“So that means the vision was wrong at the beginning.”  Casey affirmed.

Shaking her head, “I saw the eclipse for the first time the night I left Rose.  That is when I knew the whole thing was real.”  Sylvie paused for a breath, while Casey kept swapping out the rubber bands for her fun bow idea. “Which means somehow the first part was real.”  

“Do you ever get split visions like that, or was this the first?”  Casey inquired.

Reaching for the second bottle, Sylvie extended her claw and wiggled the cork free.  “Yes, on occasion.  It is pretty rare though.”  She sipped from the new bottle and offered it to Casey.

“No, I am alright.  You drink it.”  Casey finished her little joke and rather than tickling her partner, opted to run her nails lightly around her tummy. “First part?”

Sylvie took two gulps and went into detail. “It was a sunny day.  A fair-sized group of people on a lake, playing and having a picnic.  Behind the group was a three-story lake house that melded into the woodline in an effort to not disturb the nature around it.  I saw a lifetime - their lifetimes.  It was like I walked in the shade with them.”  Sylvie paused. “But…now..”  She sighed, “I don’t think the shadow was me.”  Sylvie turned and sat up so Casey could see her face-to-face. “I think the shadow was you, Casey.”  Sylvie reached up and took her partner's cheeks into her hands. “The vision was never mine to try and force, or look for.  It was yours, your decision.  The one that you didn’t get because…”  Sylvie stopped talking and just looked into her lover's glowing eyes.

Both due to her promise and refusal to get upset, Casey let the initial rush of fear and anxiety pass over her like a cold breeze.  Sylvie was here, cupping her cheeks tenderly in reassurance for the news she’d half delivered and let Casey figure out the other half. “I…I.”  Casey began but then pulled Sylvie’s to her lips and slowly kissed her lover's open palms. “The three-story house was the giveaway.”  Casey whispered. “My dad built it with the intention of it being part of the environment, all parts of the house were made to break down.  He always told me that we were just visiting the lake and the woods...time takes back all works.”  Casey absentmindedly commented, then smiled. “If you think I was in the shadows, then that was the summer I had chicken pox.”  She laughed, “I was the only one who couldn’t be around others of my age, because they hadn’t been exposed to it.”  Casey resumed clipping bows in Sylvie’s hair for something to stop the nervousness. “You saw two choices?  Whether or not I lived in sunlight with those who loved me, allowing me to live a full life with children or choosing a life in the dark with someone.”  She paused and grinned, “That someone being you.”

Nodding and looking down, “I took that choice from you, Casey.  I took advantage of a friend whose mind wasn’t in the best place.  I forced the image that I … I …. I … Oh Casey..”  Sylvie leaned up and grabbed her partner around the neck, hugging her tight. 

Dropping the little bows from her hands, Casey didn’t hesitate to return the hug and start kissing Sylvie gently on the neck. “No..no…”  Casey recalled with complete clarity the way she became a vampire. “You didn’t charm me, you gave me a place to stay when I was lost.”  She pulled back and wiped the tears from her own cheeks as well as Sylvie’s.  “I made my decision.”  Casey’s voice got low and comforting, “I choose you, Taini.”  She slid her fingers under Sylvie’s chin and then pulled her into a kiss, exchanging the little bit of blood Sylvie still had in her mouth before pulling away. “My…My…Taini Miakoda.  No regret sweetheart, no regret.”  Casey quietly sighed and smiled as Sylvie’s eyes rolled to their quarter-moon, the sliver of white begging to be seen.

“I swear I didn’t know, Casey.”  Sylvie shyly offered and held tight to her lover. “I wanted to be in love so…so badly.”  She leaned over and grabbed the children’s bows and handed them back to Casey with an angelic look radiating from her moon-sparkling eyes. “..I’d seen Vivienne and Faye for days.  Saw their meeting…I wanted love like that.”  She paused, “Then I touched you…”

“No more of this, Sylvie.”  Casey whispered. “Everything we are, came naturally and over time for us.”  She stood up and pulled Sylvie with her. “Come on.”  Casey flowed down the hallway to the room she’d been given. “You gave me my own room, no coercion.”  She pulled Sylvie close and snapped on the final two bows. “I never knew I could love or be with another woman, but I should have suspected.”  Casey then walked the couple back to their room. “I said before that sex was a weapon of mine, right?”

Sylvie nodded as she pressed a few buttons on her side of the bed to sunlight-proof the house. “You did just before I turned you.”

Casey crawled on the bed and got comfortable on her back with her legs bent at the knees. “There was a time when I enjoyed a guy’s companionship.  I recall the feeling of being connected so intensely to someone that I never wanted whatever guy I’d picked up…to never leave.  Many nights I slept peacefully with Brian’s sex nestled deep inside my body.”  She smiled when Sylvie slid in beside her. “What changed?”  Casey rolled her fingers over Sylvie’s cheeks. “You.  Not Vivienne, I mean sure Vivienne is beyond beautiful… goddess-like.”  She wiggled her fingers down Sylvie’s chest. “Vivienne and I had a blood bond, where..like you pointed out…loved her feeding from me.”  Casey leaned over and brushed her lips to Sylvie’s. “The moment you took me from that graveyard, I felt…us.  I felt like I had missed part of my life and…and..”  Casey sucked on her lip, “...I wanted it back.  I wanted you.”  Casey rubbed her feet against Sylvie’s. “That?  I feel it deep with me..your touch… it all links to me in a way that I can’t describe.”

When the little needle of doubt was removed from her mind by Casey’s tender words, Sylvie felt an instant rush of relief and crawled on top of Casey, leaning back against her partner’s legs. “Just making sure, Not angry?”  Sylvie placed her hands on Casey’s tummy lightly and grinned softly. “No one has ever…wanted me.”  Sylvie paused, “My talent, yes.  Me?  Not really.”