Page 89 of The Vampire's Lament
After showering, I dressed in a black muscle tee and leather pants, pulling on my boots and red jacket.
Medusa slithered from her cave within her favorite rock, shifting from serpent to woman.
“Evening, sugar,” she greeted me. Her scales were fully healed, gleaming like polished emeralds against her skin.
“How are you?” I asked, opening the drapes.
“Much better, thanks. Yourself?”
“Ask me again when this over.”
I pushed the balcony doors open. Fresh ocean air blew into my chambers, refreshingly cool but warmer than last night. The storm was gone, and there were plenty of stars and a full moon scattered across the blanket of darkness above.
I stepped outside, leaning on the balustrade to take in the water, lunar light rippling across its surface.
“It’s been a gorgeous day.” Medusa joined me. “So sunny, so filling.” She patted her stomach. “I ate two bunnies and five mice.”
I looked her up and down. “How did they all fit?” Her appetite always seemed too big for her stomach.
“Sugar, I’ve eaten a cow before and still had room for dessert.”
“And what was the dessert?”
“A silver finch,” she said. “Selene delicacy.” Licking her lips, she heaved a weary sigh. “Such sweet meat and blood.”
“I see.”
“Don’t look so appalled, bloodsucker.”
I tittered. “No judgment, bovine devourer.”
She punched me lightly on the arm. “Silly.”
“I enjoy a touch of silliness.”
“I remember.”
Me. Running free in the forests, frivolous, living a life of greater light than one swaddled in crippling darkness.
I miss the old me…
Tough. He is dead. Forever.
Medusa patted my arm. “When we first met, do you remember that?”
“Yes. I saved a hedgehog’s life.”
She frowned deeply at me. “You spoiled my supper and told me not to be so bristly because I’d never live up to him, the hedgehog.”
I remembered saying it. “A poor joke.”
“The poorest. But it sealed the deal of our friendship for me.”
I smiled, feeling so much sympathy for her. She didn’t remember anything about her life in Selene Haven other than what I knew and when we’d met, her journey entangled with mine.
One day, she’d have her own answers, maybe even meet loved ones she’d forgotten.
If they’re still alive…
