Page 27 of Sunsets & Other Dangerous Things

“And you took that as me wanting to be eaten?”

“No, of course not.” Ashley almost took her hand to assure her before thinking better of touching her right now. “I’m not going to—I would never! I just…I mean, I guess I hoped maybe you’d understand that I’m…me. And I wanted one person that knew that. That’s it.”

Esther’s eyes were wide, her brows near the middle of her forehead. She huffed out a breath and turned to the lake. So, Ashley followed suite, giving Esther time to process everything.

It was a beautiful night. The moon nearly full. For a moment, Ashley pretended it was the sun and Esther wasn’t angry-scared about Ashley’s undead status and instead they sat on the beach together, sunning. They could walk along the bike pathand listen to the water and people out on their boats and cars passing. On the weekend, they would go to brunch, but she’d have to call in a reservation because the trendy, new place she wanted to try was so busy on Saturday mornings. They could go to the museum or a card shop or the yarn store with the cute seasonal displays in its window that always closed promptly at five. She’d entered a world of sunsets and dark, empty streets. A few more decades and even sunsets would be too bright as her vampire skin grew more sensitive with age.

The wind blew Esther’s hair, drawing Ashley’s attention back to the moment and the girl sitting next to her staring out into the lake like she had a world of thoughts going through her head as well.

It wasn’t right of Ashley to take her into the darkness with her. Not when she couldn’t promise any sort of future.

The truth was, Ashley changed into a vampire because she read about a love that would last forever and she wanted that. Now might not be the right time to start a new relationship, not when her connection to the Family was still on shaky ground, but she’d already sacrificed her human life for love. What was poor timing when she had all the time in the world?

She shifted closer so the tips of their fingers touched.

When Esther didn’t move away, Ashley decided it was all right to talk again. “I read some of your book. It was really messed up. Just when I thought you were a marshmallow, you give me a book full of psychotic and bloody stories.”

Esther’s gaze stayed out on the lake, but the corner of her mouth ticked up. “Which one did you read?”

Good, she was talking again.

“‘The Black Cat.’ I thought, surely, a story about a cat can’t get too dark. I was wrong. And it wasn’t even the cat’s fault. It was that dick owner of his.”

Esther chuckled and Ashley cheered internally. Maybe this night was salvageable.

“I tried some poems too,” Ashley went on. “There was this one where half the words were ‘bell,’ and I don’t know if it had any point, and like three about dreams being inside each other that probably had some meaning I missed. I’m not sure I’m into his poetry. Maybe he just can’t top ‘The Raven.’”

“No, you missed it.” Esther turned to Ashley, a spark from the moon catching in her eye. “‘The Bells’ is an evolution of the different uses of bells in our everyday lives paralleled to show the passing of time from birth to death. And ‘A Dream Within a Dream.’ That’s also about time and how intangible and fleeting it is. Trying to hold on to life is like holding on to a dream. ‘Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?’”

Ashley had missed those themes, but if Esther wanted to explain her favorite poems to her, she’d sit by this lake and listen until the sun came up. She’d never seen Esther this fired up. Hungry for more, Ashley moved her hand closer, draping her fingers across Esther’s resting hand.

“I thought you promised me some fated love poems.” Ashley’s thumb glided across the ridges of Esther’s knuckles, exploring her hills and valleys—down and back once, twice.

Esther turned her hand, gripping Ashley’s fingers. For a moment, the world flashed white, and on it, Ashley filled it like text from a typewriter with reasons why this was happening, all while keeping absolutely still so as not to draw attention to it.

“You were supposed to read ‘Annabel Lee,’” Esther said. “I thought you’d like that one. It’s tragic but beautiful.”

“And tragic beauty reminds you of me?” Ashley loved how that sounded.

“Yes.” Esther’s voice was soft but certain.

“Do you know any of it?” Ashley didn’t have the patience to wait until she got home to read the poem that reminded Estherof her. She shifted closer, testing the limits Esther allowed until their knees pressed together.

“It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea.” Esther smiled, her gaze on the lake. “That a maiden there lived whom you may know, by the name of Annabel Lee. And this maiden she lived with no other thought than to love and be loved by me.”

The words were familiar. Ashley couldn’t place why she knew them, but she continued where Esther had left off. “I was a child and she was a child, in this kingdom by the sea.”

Esther turned to Ashley, her look mirroring Ashley’s surprise. Tendrils of her long, dark hair floated around her in the light breeze, and Ashley caught a lock with her free hand and tucked it behind Esther’s ear, this time watching for the dangling cross. Instead of dropping her hand back to her side as she should, Ashley let her fingertips follow along Esther’s jawline, tilting her face to meet Ashley’s.

“But we loved with a love, that was more than love. I and my Annabel Lee.”

In one slow and steady motion, and without thinking much further on the idea, Ashley leaned in. No cross, no nosy friends, no AC/DC playing from the other room. Their lips met in a sweet embrace. Gentle, but with a satisfying and full pressure behind it. Esther’s lips were just as soft as Ashley imagined. She caressed Esther’s cheekbone with her thumb as she pulled away.

Esther remained frozen, her eyes still closed, her body leaning slightly forward before she opened her eyes. The brown of them shone like liquid in the moonlight then grew wider in shock.

“Wait,” said Esther. “Wait wait.”

Ashley was doing nothing but waiting, but she attempted to wait more.

---