Vivienne

Faye bit into the thin plastic quickly and drained its entire contents within a few gulps.  Watching Vivienne do the opposite didn’t surprise the half-Korean. -Test and stop. Test and stop.  I love that you are so calculated.-  Faye thought to herself as she admired Vivienne.  Tucking the bag into the trash holder on her chair, Faye had a fleeting thought that there was no message for her.  She flopped back in the chair and started to play with the chair’s movements once more when the heavy fog and rain seemed to appear out of nowhere.  Feeling the water soak her short pink-black silky hair, Faye began walking to see if she could find a way out of the rain. -Why?-  Faye heard a gentle American plains accent ask from all sides.  Pondering the question, Faye lifted her face to feel the warm drops as they caressed her cheeks.  She slicked back her hair and flung the excess from her hands and started smiling. -Soothing right where you are?-  Faye opened her eyes and nodded to the fog all around her. -What is beyond the fog?  Does it matter?-  The voice calmly asked.  Faye shook her head wildly, sending the water that soaked her hair in all directions.  Sylvie floated down from the foggy sky and landed quietly, forcing some of the fog to part for her.  Faye saw her fellow copper skinned vampire dressed in blood red leather,  Wearing a beaded headband with matching yellows and oranges, white feathers weaved within.  When the lovely moon-vampire landed Faye heard herself answer the questions, but her voice sounded strangely distant. “I am in a fog, warm rain all over me.  Soothing, I love it.” Faye slicked her hair back once more and tasted the drops of water. “I don’t care what’s out there, this feels great.  Nah, not much matters.”

Zills appeared on Sylvie’s fingers again and she clapped them together and emitted a soft tone that echoed through the fog.  Faye felt the ground evaporate from her feet and she started falling through the rain soaked empty space.  Sylvie was beside her instantly, her straight black hair spread out in all directions from the wind that billowed through the fog.  Sylvie fell along with Faye for what seemed like hours, occasionally snapping her fingers so the zills would ring out once more. -Feels good doesn’t it?-  Faye smiled and nodded, enjoying the freedom of just falling without worry. -Cross that line, free yourself.- Faye smiled and nodded.

Sylvie clapped her brass finger cymbals once and the ground came back for the both of them. -Where are you now?  Where were you?-  Sylvie started to wiggle her hips and did a spin when a rock song called “On the Dark Side” started.

Faye smiled as she recalled the older song by John Cafferty.

“The dark side's coming now, nothing is real,
She'll never know just how I feel,
From out of the shadows, she walks like a dream,
Make me feel crazy, make me feel so mean,
Aint' nothing's gonna save ya from a love that's blind,
Slip through the dark side and cross that line,
On the dark side, oh yeah,
On the dark side, oh yeah…”

“Cross that line huh?”  Faye giggled and started doing spins with Sylvie, dancing to the guitar laden music.  Faye started laughing when Sylvie in the middle of her fast paced dance started to point and ‘shoot’ her finger guns at Faye. -Two…to cross that line.-  Sylvie added and let the song play once more between them before fading into the clouds.

Faye didn’t care anymore.  The young vampire dance-stepped in the warm fog and rain, without a care in the word, and forced the lyrics to repeat in her head as she did so. “I am on cloud 9.” Her voice echoed and after a few more loops of the music in her head, forced herself back into the helio’s luxurious cabin.

Vivienne saw Faye blink her almond cat eyes open and a huge grin on her face. “Mon amour?”

“My love?”  Faye retorted and partly wiggled in her egg-chair. “That… I didn’t know you could do that.”

 Vivienne giggled and looked at her empty bag. “I didn’t either.”  Vivienne started laughing harder, “Mon amour… I wouldn’t have thought to send a message like this.”

Seeing Vivienne laughing for no reason, Faye started chuckling as well. “Perhaps it is something that Luna can do.”  Faye pressed the radio button once again, still laughing. “Play the song On the Dark side please.”  Clapping her hands, Faye started moving her upper body to the beat. “She played this song for me and now it's stuck in my head.”  

“I am under the impression that the drug is still working on us, Faye.”  Vivienne snickered and opened her tiny thin hands and started swaying them with the beat coming from Faye’s chair.

Turning her chair to the fridge, Faye pulled out a bag labeled number two. “If I understood what she meant…”  Faye poked at the soft plastic. “...This will remove any reservations we have about being together.”

“She referenced an old love song for me, called it love potion number nine.”  Vivienne chuckled and pointed to the bag Faye was holding. “I got the same impression, mon amour.”  Vivienne nibbled on her bottom lip, “Somehow, she’s seen that we have been avoiding being deeply intimate.”

“Sex, Vivienne.  We haven’t had sex.”  Faye started tossing the bag into the air and catching it. “We’ve gotten close a few times…but…”  She puts the blood back in the cooler, “...I wanted to get my memory back so I knew who I was.”

“Well established territory, mon amour.”  Vivienne raised one eyebrow. “The look on your face means you aren’t so sure.”

Faye cleared the rest of the drugs from her blood with a thought and was once more clear headed. “Luna and her moon changing eyes…a very cool effect by the way…made me think about it like it didn’t matter.  I am still me, even if I recall my past that doesn’t change my present.”  Faye smiled and pointed to her girlfriend, “I remember our meeting just fine.  So, that means I was in love with you…”  She started to rub her nose from the memory of falling on the floor. “...before I lost my mind.”  Faye started laughing and rolled her eyes, “My god, Vivienne!”  Faye leaned back in her chair shaking her head, still laughing. “I just realized that you asked me if I was bleeding when I did that.”  She wiggled her finger quickly at Vivienne. “You knew full well I wasn’t.”

“Yes. I knew.”  Vivienne flashed her fangs at Faye and licked the tips. “I have crafted my illusion well, my love.”  Vivienne let her fangs stay exposed for a few more seconds, “I didn’t think that you’d respond well to these…”  She softly licked her fangs again. “...while you were alive.”

Faye shivered and thought about Vivienne’s fangs scraping her skin and pulling little welts of blood to the surface for them both to enjoy.   Faye let out a heavy sigh and crossed her legs. “That…is unfair.”

“Safe to say that the drugs are out of your system, mon amour.”  Vivienne winked. “Would you like to test the effects?”

Faye turned her seat around and looked at the little cooling door. “Cross the line.”  Faye spun the chair back around and took a deep breath. “Yes.”  Faye felt her heart jump at the prospect of licking her partner head to toe without forcing herself to stop or be worried about what she couldn’t recall. “Not in the helicopter though.”

Vivienne nodded and picked up her phone to note the time. “It would appear that we are arriving at our destination, so it is good that we didn’t drink the blood right now.”  Vivienne pointed to the window. “You should see the city lights from here.”  

Faye turned the space-egg chair to the dark window and saw all of the yellow lights of the sprawled city of Petersburg. “Something about looking at the lights up here seems peaceful, even if down there it really isn’t.”

Vivienne turned her own chair to witness the city she’d not visited in over sixty years. “There was so much farmland when I was last here.”  She spotted her estate in the distance, “You are correct, mon amour.  Up here the world doesn’t seem so vile.”  Vivienne let out a heavy breath, “The night used to be something to enjoy.  We used to gaze up at the stars and think they were gods.  The moon symbolized things like vitality.”

“You have lived such an interesting…”  Faye caught herself, “...un-life?”  She peered at Vivienne. “How does it feel to be back, well home?”

Watching as the houses and trees came into better view, Vivienne pointed to Ravenstead Manor. “Surreal, if I am being honest.  When I closed Ravenstead, I didn’t know if I would ever return.”  Vivienne cued the microphone to speak to the pilot. “Captain, if you could take us around the estate one time before we land that would be lovely.”

“Of course, Doctor.  How was the ride?”  The man asked politely.

“Perfect as usual.”  Vivienne winked at Faye. “Take your time with the circle.”  Vivienne added and released the microphone button. “Mon amour, I do hope that we can make this our home for a while.  It is a lovely home.  When I acquired the land it was a little over two thousand acres.”

Faye unbuckled herself once more and went over to Vivienne, sitting in her lap. “I will deal with the discomfort.”  She put her arms around her partner’s neck. “Alright, point out everything I am about to see.”