Stranger than Fiction

Chapter 6

"Sing me no songs of daylight,

For the sun is the enemy of lovers

Sing instead of the shadows and darkness,

And memories of midnight"

—Sappho

The playground wasn't very large; it encompassed only one scant acre of the Charterville park, and consisted of a rickety swing set, a slide, a jungle gym, and a sand box that had been monopolized by the Charterville cats. Jo remembered it well, though it had been in a much nicer state way back when. Now, as she seated herself on one of the swings, she grimaced as her hand came away speckled with rust. Then, with a shrug, she grasped the chains again and kicked outward to get herself swinging. She wasn't bothered by the screeching noise the chains made, and this was much more agreeable than sitting in her dorm room and listening to Kate's drunken complaining over her rotten luck, and about the nuclear hangover she would be getting because of 'what's his name.' Like he actually forced all that beer down her throat! Kate wasn't really a bad sort, but she just had this annoying, pushy way about her that set Jo's hair on end.

Jo dragged her feet to make herself stop, and she yawned. What time was it?

Although she didn't know it, she had been under observation for some time. Fangula had dodged Drew at Hillhurst, had bypassed his bedroom door, and had escaped in bat form through a bathroom window. He had no desire to face Drew's ire, or Flabber's incessant prying. He had only intended to go for a walk in the park to clear his head, maybe snag a meal in some unlucky passerby, yet here he found himself, spying on Jo from a clump of bushes like some highwayman. His dignity flared up, but he pushed it aside, reminding himself that this was completely accidental. He didn't know exactly how long he had been there, but he did plan on going over and talking to her. Why shouldn't he? If he left now she would hear him, and that might cause her some fear. Who wants to hear strange sounds in the park at night? Besides, maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe they were supposed to meet here. Maybe it was…Fate? Nah! He almost laughed.

When Jo yawned and looked at her watch, he stood up and approached her. She looked up and saw him coming, but she didn't say anything. He sat down on the swing beside her, and put on what he hoped was a rather blasé expression, which she instantly saw through.

"Nice try," she said, "It's not just hard on me, is it?"

"No." he sighed, dropping his pretense at nonchalance. "You'd think that I, after having lived for over three hundred years, would be able to put this aside."

"Put it aside?" Jo snorted, squinting at him in the bad light. She saw that he hadn't meant it the way it sounded, and she let it drop.

"But it's not easily put aside." He finished for her.

She nodded, and buried her face in her hands with a weary sigh, her fingers poking delicately through her bangs. "What can we do about this?"

"Well…" he trailed off with a slight smile, and she looked up and then away when she caught the hint of a suggestion in his voice.

"Okay, first stop thinking with your gonads and be serious for a minute! Second, what are we going to do?"

He was taken aback by her choice of words, but he quickly remembered that she was an adult now. Now she looked a lot like the actress who had played Irene in that Jim Carrey movie…what was it? "Me, Myself, and Irene." That was it. She wasn't that same, toothy little girl who would regularly visit Hillhurst and make a general pest of herself. Not that they didn't pester her on occasion.

"I don't know." he mumbled, pushing off and swinging slowly.

She watched him for a moment, and snickered. He stopped, and gave her a questioning look.

"Nothing, just…vampire on…on a swing!" she giggled.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked, all injured dignity.

"Nothing, I just never really thought you did things like that."

"Huh…In that case, I never imagined you'd turn out like…like this." He waved his hand vaguely.

"Like what?" she demanded.

"Well…you know, um…" he mumbled something.

"What?" she asked.

"Beautiful."

She swallowed carefully. He was serious. "You think I'm beautiful?" she asked.

He looked away and gave a barely perceptible nod.

"You sure it's not just the spell?" she pressed.

He shrugged. "I'm a male, and I have eyes. All magic aside, yes, I think you're beautiful. Why, don't you?"

"Well…" she spread her hands, and sighed. "You remember Josh Baldwin?" she saw him nod, and continued. "I…I, um, tried to get his attention a while back, before we moved. To make a long story short, he just wanted to be friends."

Fangula snorted. "He was fifteen, you were ten! As you get older, you find that an age difference of five years doesn't matter much. If he saw you now, he too would find you desirable."

"He's married." She mumbled, "I guess, after that, I lost my confidence when it came to boys. So, here I am, twenty-one years old and in love with a vampire."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing!" he told her.

"You think it's good for you to love a human? Doesn't that offend some sort of standard or something?"

"Not for me, not anymore." he said levelly, "If you want to know the truth, it's forbidden for a vampire to love a human and to let them stay human. But I won't try to turn you into one of us. Magic spell or no, I love you. And so, we're back to square one."

Hoping to change the subject, Jo asked, "So, um…what do your parents do?"

"My parents?" he asked.

"Yeah. I mean, do vampires have jobs, or…" she bit her lip. "Never mind."

"Sure, we have jobs. They're just…not what humans think of as jobs. For one, there's the propagation of our species, which is always being hunted; my father died at the hands of a Nussbaum."

Jo winced, remembering that she had been friends at one point with that person's descendant, Norman Nussbaum. That was probably why Fangula had been so afraid of the kid. "I'm sorry."

He waved his hand, and continued, "We hunt them, so I suppose it's fair enough. Besides, we weren't that close. My mother you've met; the Countess Rosamund."

"Yeah, I remember her. She…actually seemed kinda nice."

"She is. She actually has a bit of a soft spot for children, which is why she never hunts them. But you're not a child anymore." His words hung in the air like a cloud, their hidden meaning evident.

Jo got up and began to walk away. Fangula though she meant to leave him, but after a few steps she turned and held out her hand. He hesitated a moment, then rose and took her smooth, tanned hand in his gloved hand. Fangula had hidden a change of clothes on the roof of her new school, so he had changed before arriving at Hillhurst. Now he was in his usual vampire raiment, and he marveled at how she could just offer him her hand without fear. His heart was beating fast again, and his sharp ears caught the sound of her heart as well; it beat out a rapid tattoo of nervousness and excitement, like that of a frightened rabbit. Her heart was pumping furiously, sending the blood out to her muscles; her body's response for if she needed to run. How the blood sang in her veins…the blood…

He gritted his teeth, and dropped her hand. Putting his hands to his head, he stood in an agony of indecision; wanting to satisfy his very nature, but not wanting to cause her any harm. Love, bloodlust, and lust of another sort were at war within his body, and he was almost afraid that he would be split into three pieces of himself to be strewn about the park.

"What's wrong?" she asked, timidly touching his shoulders.

"Nothing, I…I'm sorry, but I can't be this close to you without wanting to bite you, or to…"

She heard him sniffle, and she was shocked to see that he was crying a little bit in his frustration. She considered for a moment. Then, greatly daring, she gently took his hands down from his face and asked, "Instead of biting…will this do?" And she slowly brought her face up to his and their lips met.

She was not an experienced kisser; it was no simple peck on the mouth, but it was short and chaste…it was the sweetest kiss he'd ever had.