A/N – The song that inspired this chapter and its title was Eli Young Band's Say Goodnight. I can't put the link here but if you YouTube it, you should be able to find it. Thanks to all who read my previous chapter and left a review. Y'all have made some amazing observations and I am grateful that you took the time to share them with me. Here's the next chapter and I hope everyone is having a swell weekend. Happy reading!


Chapter 9 – Say Goodnight

Tara dropped Pam off at her doorstep precisely on the first stroke of midnight.

"Do you think midnight a 'respectable hour'?" Tara murmured as she stared distractingly at the open pocket watch she held in the palm of her hand, her other arm already extending back towards the carriage to assist the blonde down the rickety, retractable steps.

Pam took the proffered hand, a fond smile touching the corners of her lips as she regarded her dark savior.

Tara had a look on her face that she had seen many a time in her youth. It was a look that shuttered back and forth between trepidation and uncertainty, a look that many of Pam's would-be suitors wore when they were summoned to her father's study to make a formal address for the blonde's hand.

As Pam made her way down to the last step, the fond smile turned into a gentle huff of amused laugher as Tara suddenly glanced up, dark eyes marred with wariness as they ascertained her surroundings, as if the vampire were half expecting Mrs. Mackenzie to materialize out of the fog, brandishing a broom at her for her tardiness.

"You needn't worry," Pam whispered in a conspiratorial tone as she came to a stop in front of Tara. Crimson lips curled as Tara bestowed upon her a dreamy, gentle smile. "I promise not to tell."

"And I thank you kindly for your discretion," Tara replied as she closed the pocket watch and tucked it back into her coat pocket.

She then reached out, ran the back of her knuckles down the smooth plane of warm, soft skin, that gentle smile gracing her lips once more as blue eyes fluttered and Pam leaned almost unconsciously into her touch. "If you'll excuse me a moment."

Pam nodded, then watched through slightly hooded eyes as Tara made her way over to the driver.

"I'll walk home, Thomas," Tara informed him softly. She reached down, rooted about in a small leather pouch by her hip and drew out a coin. "Thank you," she added as she handed him the coin.

Thomas tipped his hat at Tara. "Very good, miss. Miss," he addressed Pam, bowing respectfully and tipping his hat at her.

Pam smiled. "Goodnight."

Tara walked back to Pam, her gait a contradicting mix of swagger and humble as Thomas, pulled back the retractable steps then got back into the driver's seat. One expert shake of the reins caused the horse to snort, billowing condensation out of its nostrils in twin clouds of silvery-white. Another shake of the reins caused the carriage to start off down the street at a steady gait, the horse's hooves clip-clopping gently against the cobblestones.

The pair watched as the carriage meandered down the street only to be swallowed up the fingers of fog that thickened by the minute as the air grew steadily chiller.

Tara's dark eyes refocused her attention back on Pam when she detected a slight shiver from the blonde's lithe frame.

"Time for you to head inside I think," Tara observed quietly. She reached for Pam's hand, lifted it to her lips and ghosted a soft kiss to pale knuckles. "I'll say goodnight."

Pam didn't reply. Instead, when Tara moved to release her hand, she curled snow-kissed fingers around midnight ones, effectively trapping them.

"Tara."

The vampire turned an ink-black gaze onto Pam. In the dark of night, where shadows whorled around them and slivers of fog hung in the air like weightless ghostly fingers, Pam's eyes blazed like twin beacons of blue fire.

The very sight arrested Tara and she couldn't help but stare, dark eyes openly enchanted.

"Over a month you've been in my company," Pam began, her voice hushed as caught the way Tara gaze unashamedly at her. "How is it you can still look at me with such wonder in your eyes?"

"Because I know no other way."

Dark eyes twinkled and full, dark pink lips lifted as Pam's cheeks tinted over a pale shade of rouge.

Taking advantage of their entwined hands, Tara lifted it once more to her lips and placed another kiss to soft, alabaster skin, lingering this time to nuzzle at the warmth emanating from the blonde's hand.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow," Tara lamented, her voice almost anguished as she turned the pale hand she held in her palm and pressed a kiss to the inside of an alabaster wrist, drawing from Pam, a delectable shiver.

"Tara?"

The vampire pressed a kiss to the inside of Pam's palm, lips lingering in a poor attempt to soak up the warmth emanating from snow-kissed skin. "Yes?"

"Will you do something for me?"

"Anything," Tara responded immediately. She nudged her nose against Pam's hand and inhaled deeply, a low purr sounding deep in her chest as Pam's scent, that intoxicating scent of lavender, honeysuckle and vanilla, infused into her senses.

"Kiss me goodnight."

A dark head lifted slowly at the request, revealing equally dark eyes that ran smack into a face that epitomized the beauty of winter.

It was a face that reminded Tara of the stark magnificence brought on by snow and ice. With skin as smooth and flawless as fresh mountain snow and deep set eyes that glittered and burned like chips of ice, Pam wore a face that was meant to bring men and women to their knees.

It was a face the vampire knew she would and could forever get lost in.

"My god, you're beautiful," Tara breathed out. She took in the open vulnerability flickering in Pam's wintry blue eyes, the unsure expression sitting on the aristocratic features of her face. "Are you sure?"

"Kiss me, Tara," Pam repeated, her husky resonance imploring, her voice barely audible.

The blonde's breath hitched, heart suddenly hammering in her chest as the air around them spiked with power, Tara's indomitable energy humming through the air like a low but palpable voltage.

The vampire stepped forward, her movements neither hurried nor impatient. She released Pam's hand, used it to reach up and cup a warm cheek. She took a moment to play midnight-dipped fingers over the soft skin beneath her palm, veneration in every stroke.

Then, she leaned in ever so slowly and grazed the softest and lightest of kisses against Pam's cheek.

Tara's kiss was a paradox, another aspect of the vampire that came wrapped in enigma and contradiction.

The vampire's lips were undeniably cool but where it touched Pam's skin, it branded the alabaster flesh, leaving behind a burning phantom caress that seemed to sear right into her soul.

Pam shivered, less from the coolness of Tara's lips and more from the way those full lips left a perfect and unforgettable impression against the side of her cheek.

Even as Tara pulled back, the blonde could still feel those lips against her skin, feel it burn and sizzle, boiling the blood running through her veins.

She wanted more.

"And a sweet expression spreads over her fair face," Tara quoted, her voice etched in hopeless awe as she watched a slow smile tug at the corner of her crimson lips.

"I'm not familiar with that quote," Pam murmured, her voice drowsy with pleasure as Tara stroked a lone finger down her cheek. "Who's the author?"

"Sappho," Tara supplied, grinning slightly.

Pam chuckled. "How fitting."

"Indeed." The vampire pressed closer to Pam, until only a sliver of space separated their bodies.

Pam reached out in response, taking full advantage of the closeness of their bodies to play with the wind-blown strands of Tara's hair.

This close, Pam realized just how utterly fascinating the vampire's tresses were. Tara's hair was a thick mass of supple silk, its strands not only black but tinted with highlights of blue and green, as if a palette of ocean-colored paints had been upset over her head.

Pam carded limber fingers through Tara's hair, marveling at its silky softness, her blue eyes softening with affection and more than a little pride as the vampire's eyes closed with pleasure, her body leaning into the blonde's touch.

And when those hauntingly magnificent dark eyes opened so close to her own, Pam made yet another discovery, one that left her breathless and wanting.

Tara's eyes, she found, were the color of India ink, pure and true, with only the barest hints of lighter flecks that were the color of molten chocolate.

It was a sight that stole Pam's breath away.

"It's not possible for one to possess such beauty," Pam disclosed as she twirled a lock of Tara's hair around her finger.

"I agree," Tara replied. She reached up and plucked the pale hand that had taken purchase on her hair and pressed a soft kiss to the inside of Pam's palm.

"Sometimes," Tara began softly as she locked a midnight gaze with pools of azure blue. "when I look at you I have to wonder if I'm dreaming for I have never come across such flawlessness given breath and life."

Pam ducked her head at this, heat creeping up to warm her cheeks.

Two fingers tucked themselves under her cheek and forced her head to raise, to look back into unashamed and openly affection eyes of pitch.

"The gods broke the mold when they made you, Ms. Beaufort."

Pam shook her head, affectionate exasperation tracing the curvature of her lips. "Still in possession of that sweet tongue, I see," she teased, her eyes lighting up when Tara sent her way, a charming smile. "Now, how about a real kiss this time, Ms. Thornton?"

Tara arched a dark brow at Pam's forwardness. "Was the previous one unsatisfactory?"

Pam chuckled. "No, but it wasn't what I was looking for."

Tara's dark brow arched further but when she saw a dare burning in the blue of Pam's eyes, her lips twisted into a cocky smirk.

"Very well. Allow me to correct my mistake."

Taking a purposeful step forward, she used the momentum of her body to compel Pam to take one back until the blonde was pressed up against the railings of the stairs.

"Now a soft kiss," Tara murmured, her voice dropping an octave. She reached out, braced her hands on either side of Pam and leaned in.

Two simultaneous sighs escaped and mingled in the crisp, night air as Tara touched her lips to Pam's. It was nothing more than a brush of full lips against full lips but it invoked in both women, a shiver that was palpable.

"Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss," Tara finished softly before she ghosted another kiss onto Pam's sweet mouth, pressing a little harder this time.

Pam moaned at the prolonged contact.

Tara's kiss was careful, shy almost but there was no mistaking just how much that simple brush of the vampire's lips against her own held the finesse of a highly skilled lover.

"A vampire who so eloquently recites poetry," Pam murmured as their lips parted. She stared at Tara through heavily lidded eyes, desire and gentle mockery flirting with the blue of her eyes. "Will wonders never cease?"

Tara grinned that cocky half-smile, half-smirk. "I am well versed in the words of poets and bards," she bragged. "Shall I regale you with a sonnet? Shakespeare perhaps?"

"While utterly tempting, I fear for the size of your ego once that venture is complete," Pam drawled in a dry tone. Blue eyes twinkled down at Tara when the vampire chuckled lowly. "Why not regale me with another kiss instead?"

Pam reached up and boldly wrapped her arms around Tara's neck, pulling her close so that their bodies were now flush against each other. She leaned forward, eyes already closing as full crimson lips searched for equally full dark pink ones.

Pam quivered almost violently when their lips reunited and a low keen tickled the walls of her throat as Tara applied gentle pressure.

Tara purred into her mouth, a low rumble that made her chest vibrate. The sounds went straight from Tara's chest to between Pam's legs and the blonde fought hard not to press more wantonly against her dark savior's body of sculpted muscles.

Sandalwood.

Musk and cloves.

Pam was lost in a world of sensation and scent, unable to think beyond the feel of Tara's soft lips against hers and the way the vampire's scent unfurled around her like a drowsing cat roused from slumber.

Tara's arms shook violently where they bracketed either side of Pam, her fingers curling almost fatally against the railings they held on to. The bouquet of lavender and honeysuckle tied together by that one lone, melancholic strand of vanilla was addling her better judgment, beating down her common sense.

The vampire pulled back, vying for control of her baser needs but Pam surged forward, reclaiming now swollen lips until they were back to plaint and dancing with her own.

Tara sipped at Pam's mouth, tasting from it, her soul, which was as sweet and sad and pure as the woman who possessed it.

It made her want more and Tara opened her mouth slightly, just enough so that Pam's full bottom lip slipped naturally into her mouth. She suckled on the succulent flesh, nursing from it, that sweet, sorrowful flavor that made her heart clench in the most painful of ways.

Pam played with the fine hairs on the back of Tara's neck, sifting her fingers through all that gossamer black hair with its highlights of green and blue. She pulled back slightly so that once again, their lips simply brushed against each other's, the contact simple but oh, so sweet.

Tara's entire body was wracked with tremors as their kiss began a gradual, instinctual deepening. She could feel her gums beginning its insolent ache, felt that primal call of her beast, a call that beseeched her to possess, to claim, to mark.

Dark fingers gripped harder at the railings, denting them as she struggled with the beast she housed within her.

'Control,' Tara cautioned herself. She mustn't lose control.

It was an illusion and a poorly crafted one at that for when Pam's tongue swiped over Tara's full bottom lip, control shattered like glass hitting the floor and the vampire's fangs dropped with an audible click.

Confusion hit Pam like a sack of bricks when an unnatural gust of wind ruffled the hems of her skirts and the front of her body was suddenly devoid of a frame of well sculpted muscles.

More importantly and painfully, her lips were now devoid of the soft lushness of Tara's.

The blonde turned and found the vampire standing on the either side of the steps, head turned away so that it was steeped in shadow.

"Tara?"

She took a step forward but when Tara held out a shaking hand, she froze. "What's the matter?"

Tara's entire body was tense, the air around her buzzing with agitation, her indomitable energy sluicing over Pam's lithe frame like a turbulent wave.

"Tara?"

The vampire looked like she was in physical pain, so still and tense she stood, the hand on her side clenching and unclenching as though it were trying to grip something that repeatedly slipped through those midnight-kissed fingers.

"Control is but a distant memory when I'm with you," the vampire finally admitted after a silent few seconds, her voice hoarse and sounding as though she were in complete and utter agony.

When Pam stepped forward, Tara retreated further into shadow, almost melting into the darkness as she fought to regain some self-control, to temper down the bloodlust that screamed an angry aria through her veins.

A warm hand on her cheek had the vampire shuddering and exhaling sharply and she jerked away as though it branded her.

"Pamela..."

"Look at me."

"I don't think…"

"Look. At. Me."

Unable to deny the simple request, Tara turned, revealing to Pam, eyes that were harsh with desire and fangs that protruded slightly over a full bottom lip.

"There you are."

Pam reached out, her thumb almost grazing the pointed tip of one fang when Tara's hand circled her wrist, halting her movements.

"Don't."

"Why?" Pam took a deliberate step forward, forcing Tara to backpedal, a reversal of the delicate dance Tara had started moments ago.

There was a soft thump as Tara's back hit the small sliver of wall that separated Pam's house from her neighbor's.

Pam smiled and it was a coy, victorious smile as Tara's eyes dilated and a low growl sounded from between her slightly parted lips.

"You are playing with fire," the vampire warned, her voice sub-vocal.

She tightened the grip she had on Pam's wrist, hard enough to put emphasis to her words but not hard enough to bruise.

"Then let it burn me," Pam whispered, her voice dropping several registers until it was no more than a rough husk. "Let it burn and use your lips to kiss away the sting of its fiery caress."

Tara, in one swift move, reversed their positions so that it was now Pam who was backed up against the wall. She kept the pale hand she still held captive pinned above a blonde head, her body flush against Pam's and quivering like a plucked string.

"You're playing with fire, Pamela," Tara repeated, her voice suddenly dangerous with equal amounts of warning and desire. "And a fire is hard to control." Dark eyes bore into sapphire blue. "Tell me to leave."

Pam shook her head.

"Come and kiss me," Pam husked instead, managing to sound braver and more confident than she actually felt for when she stared into Tara's eyes, they were nothing more than fathomless pools of pitch, burning with danger and heat and fringed with such naked, open desire that it was an almost tangible entity.

It was a look that was unlike anything Pam had seen before, so unapologetic and intense it was.

And all of it was directed at her.

She leaned forward, feeling Tara's cool, ragged breath against her lips. Blue eyes threatened to roll to the back of her head as Pam was almost overwhelmed by the scent of musk, cloves and sandalwood.

She parted her lips, letting the vampire's wild and earthy scent to drug her senses, infuse into her pores.

When eyes fashioned from obsidian flicked down to stare at her lips, Pam's resolve hardened.

"Kiss me, Tara."

The request was desperate, commanding, needing and Tara gave in, slanting her lips over Pam's, her entire body shaking so hard that it looked as though she were having the fits.

Pam shivered against that tense, trembling body, feeling acutely every defined and bunched muscle, every iota of raw, primal strength. It slithered over her, into her, phantom hands that stroked fingers down her arms, over her belly and down to the dampening flesh between her legs.

She moaned when Tara applied pressure to her mouth, teasing Pam with a mere suggestion of fang and tongue, the former sending a thrill of fear and the latter boiling her blood.

"I can taste your fear, Pamela" Tara rasped against Pam's lips as she kept the blonde pinned against the wall. She ducked her head, nuzzled her nose against a rapidly beating pulse and growled. "I can smell your desire, thick and potent." Another growl as she ran the tips of her fangs down the side of a pale neck. "Tell me, do you taste as sweet as you smell?"

Pam cupped the back of Tara's head, quaking fingers carding through the silky strands. "Some things should remain a mystery until the right time comes along." She turned and pressed a kiss to Tara's cool cheek, eliciting a visible tremor in response. "Don't you think?"

Tara didn't answer, couldn't find the strength to formulate a verbal, cohesive sentence, not when her fangs ached with a thousand hurts and her body thrummed painfully with want of Pam.

The vampire released the grip she had on Pam's wrist and assisted it back down to her side. Unable to resist, she pressed one last kiss directly over an erratic pulse point then stepped away. She turned around, nostrils flaring as she sought for a knot of briny air to cleanse away the heady scent that was her blonde companion.

"Do I affect you so easily?"

"More than you can possibly comprehend," Tara admitted, keeping her back to Pam as she drew in deep breaths of the cold night air, fists clenching as she sought to quell the inferno that raged through her sinewy frame.

Pam steadied herself against the wall, her legs currently proving unreliable as they trembled under her slight weight. Pale fingers dug into the grooves of the stone wall, using it to regain some semblance of equilibrium even as her tongue peeked out to lap up the residual taste of Tara's lips.

"Would it soothe your pain to know that you have just as much sway over me?"

Tara turned at the admission, dark eyes holding a wealth of secrets. She forcibly retracted her fangs, ignored how they almost audibly howled with rage at being denied penetration into soft, warm pale flesh.

Then, she held Pam's gaze, eyes that in the ever growing dark, blazed like blue beacons in the night. "Do you know what the poets say when they discuss the subject that is a kiss?"

"Tell me," Pam implored, her voice soft.

Tara held out a hand and Pam took it, allowing Tara to guide her back out between the two Victorian houses and back to her front steps.

"A kiss is something you cannot give without taking and cannot take without giving," Tara recited, her voice a low contralto, soothing and sweet as honey. "It is a transaction that requires the willingness of two, a sensual dance that balances delicately, dominance and submission."

"And what a dance it was," Pam murmured as Tara guided her up to her front door.

"Indeed," Tara agreed, her voice soft. "But the cunning sensuality of your lips has left my control and dignity in tatters so this is where I say goodnight, Ms. Beaufort."

Pam cupped Tara's cheek. "You need not hide yourself from me, Tara," she told the vampire softly, having heard the regret in Tara's voice clang loudly against that Southern drawl. "The world isn't divided into black and white and nor are the people living in it." She traced a kiss-swollen lip, felt the escape of a ragged cool breath washing against her wandering thumb. "Just because you are a creature of the night does not mean you are evil."

"Are you sure about that?" Dark eyes blazed into cerulean pools. "If I reveal to you, the stains of my past, the blood on my hands and the death in my eyes, will you still look at me as you do now?"

"Yes."

Quiet words. Confident words.

Tara kissed the thumb that lingered on her lips. "I do not deserve your mercy."

"But you have it all the same," Pam replied. She smiled then, infusing a trace of haughtiness into her eyes. "Now, come and bestow upon me one last kiss goodnight."

Tara chortled but obeyed. She leaned forward until only their lips touched ever so slightly. Then, she ghosted a soft, reverent kiss over pouting lips.

"I bid thee a good night, Ms. Beaufort."

"Good night, Tara."

Tara pulled back, bowed then reached for a pale hand. She brushed her lips against pale knuckles, let her mouth linger against smooth, soft, warm skin then sighed and released it.

"Pleasant dreams, Princess," Tara offered. She ran the back of her hand down a still flushed cheek, allowed herself a moment of indulgence as she stared, besotted, into Pam's eyes then turned and walked down the steps.

Pam watched her go until the fog swallowed Tara into its silvery-white embrace.

TBC


A/N 2– Quotes I borrowed:

"Parting is such sweet sorrow…" – Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet

"And a sweet expression spreads over her fair face" – Sappho

"Now a soft kiss. Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss." – John Keats

"A kiss is something you cannot give without taking and cannot take without giving," – Anonymous