The Wizardess and the Dancer by patricia51
(Alex is taking a walk on the beach one night when she meets an unworldly dancer. Femslash. Alex/OC.)
"Drat," Alex Russo muttered as she kicked the sheet from her body and stared moodily around the room.
There really wasn't much to see. The heavy drapes swallowed the lights outside, the lights of the city as well as that of the moon she had seen rising before she had closed the door earlier. Normally the night she arrived in a new city with the traveling exhibit she was responsible for from the Metropolitan Museum of Art she was so tired from travel and getting set up that she usually ate a light supper and tumbled into bed. Alone.
Not that she preferred to sleep that way but she was rather selective in her partners. She looked for interesting, intelligent and attractive ones who had more going for them than just a sexy body. And most importantly they had to be female. She hadn't seen anyone who came close to meeting her criteria yet here. Besides, she was still worn out from the last city she had just left. Who would have thought in one place she would run across two Fae women, one a Succubus and the other a Valkyrie as well as two extraordinary human females known as Slayers? All beautiful, all amazing and all of whom she had slept with. Her legs had wobbled under her as she made her way on to the airplane that brought her here. In fact they were still wobbling when she got off the airplane.
So why wasn't she sleeping the sleep of the just, or at least the sexually satieated? No clue really. She wondered if anyone she knew had a spell that would mimic that of a sleeping pill. No one came to mind. Maybe her older brother Justin but at this time in the evening either he and Juliet would be putting their four kids to bed or would have already accomplished that which meant they would be snuggling together, calling each other ridiculous pet names and rubbing noses.
She sighed. It had seemed so incredibly juvenile to her the way the two of them had acted together way back during high school. Now, although she would prefer being boiled in oil to admitting it, she sometimes envied how close and comfortable the two of them were with each other. She certainly wasn't ready to settle down yet with anyone or start having children, much less the four that the pair had.
None of this had anything to do with she was wide-awake at midnight and as restless as she was. Especially the later. No one had ever accused Alexandra Margarita Russo of being restless. "Immobile" was more often the term applied to her while growing up. But she was and decided she couldn't stay in this room for another moment. It had to be her imagination but it felt like she was being suffocated in here.
She unbolted the door and opened it. Well the stifling temperature was only in her mind apparently for it was warmer outside than inside. Then a warm breeze washed over her face and she smiled. That was better, at least the air was moving. She surveyed the motel she was staying at for the night. A standard rectangular two-story place with a pool in the center for vacationing families it wasn't the type of place where she usually stayed. She was used to a hotel or a residence inn close to the museum where the exhibit would be housed. But an extremely apologetic representative from the local place had met her plane and offered voluble apologies because someone had made an error in her reservation and she didn't have a room until the following night. So eventually, after some frantic calling, she ended up here.
It really hadn't mattered. She had been at the museum until late and had grabbed her evening meal at a restaurant across the street. So all she had planned to do here was sleep. Even the fact that the motel was right on the beach didn't impress her. This entire shoreline was lined with them after all.
Still though, maybe a walk on the beach would relax her and let her sleep. She darted back in. Since she had climbed into bed after her shower she had skipped donning anything to sleep in beside her skin. At first she thought about her bathing suit but dismissed that idea. She wasn't going swimming and she wasn't looking to entice anyone in her bikini. Instead she hopped into a pair of cut-off sweat pants, soft with many washings and a t-shirt. Underwear was not a priority.
Neither were shoes she decided as she started to work her feet into her tennis shoes. After all, a sandy path led right from the motel through the dunes to the beach. Tucking her room card into a back pocket she headed out. It took only a couple of minutes to reach the beach.
Alex looked left and right. Right led towards the city. The bright lights were there and all the people and yuck! Left led off into the night. There was enough moon showing to light her way. That was enough. That was the way to go.
The tide seemed to be going out. The well packed wet sand was easy to walk on. Occasionally she veered closer to the ocean, allowing the small foaming waves to break around her ankles. The water was cool and she giggled and kicked it, splashing it in the air.
How long she had wandered she didn't know but she was surprised to find that she now seemed to be completely alone. To her left the sand dunes with their fringe of salt marsh grass and palms seemed to conceal any evidence of the rest of the world. On the right the dark sea stretched out to the limit of her sight. If ships were out there they were over the horizon and unseen. The world had narrowed down to just the beach.
Even the soft sounds of the surf seemed to fade away. Once more a breeze stirred Alex's hair. It was warm. Perhaps the warm air interacting with the cool water explained the fog that was rolling in on to the shore. She was surprised though that the breeze didn't dissipate the fog as quickly as it formed.
Her steps slowed. She could see a few steps in front of her but the grey mist hid everything but the sand now. SHe stopped and listened. Was that music? She hoped she hadn't wandered up on some beach party. While under the right circumstances it would be fun tonight she just wasn't in the mood for it. She was in the mood for... Well she wasn't sure. Then she heard the music again.
Definitely not a beach party. She strained her ears. It was a solitary flute of some kind. No, there was an undertone, sounding like a drum perhaps? Neither seemed to be the usual. She thought even as she started walking again towards the sound. A memory kicked in. One night a member of the local museum's board of directors had presented her with a ticket for a near front row seat for a performance by a quartet of female Irish singers. She had thoroughly enjoyed herself but the reason she was recalling it now had to do with the accompanying instruments. Thos had included a flute without keys that was played by covering and uncovering holes with the fingers and a small drum played sideways with an unusual stick. This wasn't exactly the same but it was close.
Even as she thought she had quickened her pace. The music was louder now, becoming passionate. It was wild; even Fae.
Fae? Had she stumbled across some of them? She had learned quite a bit about them from Bo but knew that there were vast areas the Succubus had never spoken of or only briefly touched. And that made sense, how could you learn everything about a completely different race of beings over a couple of nights of pillow talk, especially one as complex as Fae society seemed to be with its division into Light and Dark.
Her mind was wandering while at the same time she was being drawn into the source of the haunting music, somewhere just in front of her. She slowed for an instant, shaking her head as though she was trying to clear it. Automatically she grasped the innocuous charm on her silver necklace. It was still. Generally that indicated the spell on it found no danger nearby. She should have felt reassured but her loss of focus had her worried. Then the mist parted in front of her and the sight took her breath away.
Before her a slim figure danced on the sand to the music of the flute and the beat of the drum. Neither her pale gossamer shift nor her long unbound black hair did anything to hide her long slender legs and her bare feet that seemed to barely touch the sand beneath them. Rising on her toes she whirled around before coming to a sudden halt while facing Alex as the music died. She moved not a muscle. Nor did Alex, who felt frozen in time and place. She took in the achingly beautiful elven features of the dancer and she found herself yearning to join in with her.
The dancer smiled as though she could read Alex's thoughts. She held one hand out. Alex took it, finding it impossibly both cool and warm at the same time. Then the music started again and hand in hand she danced away with her bewitching partner.
Away they went. Alex had no idea then or later how long they danced or how far they went. Time seemed to stand still. She found herself dancing tirelessly in a world that only encompassed the two of them. On and on they went with Alex unbelievably matching the incredibly graceful movements of the dancer until suddenly the music died once more and the dancer turned to face Alex again. Her eyes gleamed as though they were silver, drawing the young Wizardess in until she thought she would lose herself in them. The other woman spread her arms and Alex threw herself into them.
Their lips met and parted. The kiss was deep and warmly inviting yet the dancer's body was cool where it touched Alex's skin. Then somehow their clothes were swept away and their nude bodies molded together. They fell to the sand, their bodies straining against each other. The surf foamed around them, neither warm nor cold or even, impossibly, wet.
Alex's passion overwhelmed her. She rolled on top of her mysterious lover and pinned her to the sand, holding her arms over her head. She pushed the slender legs wide and began to furiously ride the other girl, thrusting wildly with her hips, grinding them together.
Normally Alex tended to be very vocal when making love. But tonight she was speechless. Not only did she feel as though uttering a single word would bring this magical world to an end she found, surprising herself, she had no desire to speak. So all that was heard was the surf around them, the wind blowing through unseen trees in the night and the sound of their bodies meeting.
The part of Alex's mind that always seemed to remain a dispassionate observer of what was going on in the world around her remembered the one previous time she and a friend whose name she could not recall right then tried making love on the edge of the ocean. Sand had got into everything making them retreat and coming back the next night with a blanket. Then her mind was wrenched back to reality, well whatever passed for reality right now, as her body tightened and then exploded. The dancer under her arched and then sank back on the sands as Alex collapsed on top of her.
There was more silence. Very softy and slowly the drum broke the silence. Bit by bit it speeded up and then the flute joined in once more. Suddenly the duo was on their feet again, facing each other. The dancer began to sway as the music built. She held out a hand once more to Alex.
The young Wizardess found herself tempted, as tempted as she had ever been. She looked down. There was no imprint in the sand from where the two bodies had been moments before. The surf was not coming up far enough to have washed it away. With a start Alex realized that the tide had not advanced or retreated an inch since she had first come upon the dancer. The charm against her throat was pulsating.
She ached to go, to follow the dancer forever. But it was time for her to return to her own world. She met the dancer's slanted green eyes and shook her head. She knew that this was an opportunity that would never be repeated but was satisfied with her decision. The dancer bowed with incredible grace and began to whirl and spin once again. Slowly she faded away into the fog and the music went with her until all was quiet around Alex.
She looked up. The stars were back and the moon flooded the beach. There was no sign of footprints except for her own. She was dressed once more, and in dry clothing. For a moment she wondered if the entire encounter had been some strange dream. Firmly, she dismissed the idea. She had been drawn into another world and it had been incredible but she was happy to be back in her own now. And she was sleepy and now her bed was calling. Turning around she retraced her steps to her motel. She didn't look back.
(The End)