Page 3 of Kentucky Nights
I step forward, tilting my head at the creature I’ve allowed inside my home and bed. “You mystified me? That’s why you didn’t answer that question when I asked earlier. You took advantage of me. You claim you love me, and yet you admit to alterin’ my mind. You don’t do that to someone you claim to love, Audrey. Love isn’t selfish.”
“That’s the human in you, Kentucky. I can change all of that. I promise, I didn’t do anything more than feed from you when you were…under my influence. I only wanted your blood, and I knew telling you the truth would lead to this conversation. You started talking about forever, and I thought…”
“Forever in human terms, Audrey. I can’t be what you are. I can’t do what you do and be okay with it. I refuse. I would never take without askin’.”
Silence becomes louder than the crickets chirping in the field. Fog begins to roll in across the surface of the earth. Seeing Audrey standing there in her satin ivory dress, the mist whirling by her feet, the moon full and big above her, while her eyes burn like torches, reminds me of what Death could look like.
“Nothing I say can change your mind?” she asks, taking a step forward into the ray of light coming from the moon. Her cheeks glisten from her tears, and the red pools of her irises seem brighter.
A slight breeze sways the long grass, the blades rubbing together to create a soft static cradled by the night.
“No. It’s best we go our separate ways, Audrey. I love you, and there will always be a piece of me that will, but I canneverbe what you want. Even if we continued this, would you be with me until I’m old and grey? When I can’t stand or provide for youthe way a man like me should, would you want to drink from me then? Would you love me the way you love me now?”
Another fresh tear rolls down her cheeks while mine do their best to break. A part of me is still too angry and afraid to let them fall.
“You still fear me.” Her eyes lift slowly from the ground to look at me. “You’ve never smelled this way before.”
“Well, Ms. Reese, I reckon I haven’t been so close to death before.” I bend down, pick my black cowboy hat up off the ground, and dust it off. “Here. I want you to have it. Something to remember me by in a thousand years.”
I hold it out to her, hoping she accepts the olive branch. I almost can’t seem to wrap my mind around what just happened. I had the love of my life in my arms not fifteen minutes ago, planning out my future, imagining us growing old together, dying together, and maybe or maybe not have one or two little ones running around.
Yes, it’s a simple human dream, but it’s mine, and I want nothing more than to live it.
“Don’t be silly, Kentucky. You’ll be needing it.” She smiles at me, throwing my hat like a child skipping a rock across the lake.
Fear doesn’t have time to reach its peak before Audrey is on me. Her strength has to be more than ten men. I can’t fight her off. Her teeth sink into my neck as her legs wrap around my waist in an all too familiar position we were in not three days ago. Her hand falls across my mouth to silence my scream.
Audrey’s force against me is so strong, the momentum flings us backwards onto the wooden fence. The rails break my fall, and at the same time, agony rips through my side before we hit the unforgiving ground. She moans into my neck, her throat moving with every ferocious gulp.
I stare up at the night sky differently. The stars don’t seem so far away now that I’m drifting into a place where I’m numb. Audrey releases me at last, giggling as if she’s drunk.
Audrey sways above me, my blood staining her chin and teeth. She looks wild and in her element. Her crazed eyes fixate on me, laughter bubbling free from her red-drenched lips.
“Mmm, you are the most delicious man I have ever tasted, Mr. Jones.” She bends down, her tongue flattening across the wound on my neck. “Hmm, I could live off the taste of you forever.” Sitting up again, she swipes her fingers across my throat and sucks them one by one into her mouth.
A rush of warmth flows from my neck with every pulse of my heart. I slap my hand over the wound, doing my best to stay alive even though I know this night sky will be my last.
My free hand curls around the piece of wood sticking through my side. I wheeze, struggling to inhale even the slightest amount of air.
“Oh, Kentucky. You’ve gotten yourself in a small situation, haven’t you?” She twirls the top of her finger atop the rail piercing me. “I can make it all better for you, baby. I can feed you my blood, and you won’t change, I promise. You’ll have to die with my blood inside you for you to turn.” Audrey grips the stake, ripping it from my body.
A painful shout escapes me, but it sounds like more of a low moan belonging to a dying man.
“You don’t have much time until you bleed out, and make no mistake, I will lick you dry so none of you goes to waste.”
“I’d rather die,” I whisper, the cold beginning to creep in.
With her enhanced speed, she bites into her wrist and shoves it to my mouth. The iron is bitter against my tongue, slithering down my throat like a root growing in the ground. After a few moments, the taste changes to something sweet, and I moan into her wrist, wanting more.
I ache when the muscles, tendons, and flesh begin to stitch together. My lung inflates again, allowing me to gasp in a much-needed breath of air.
“That’s too damn bad, baby. You aren’t allowed to die. Not when you’re meant to be with me.” She bends down, lapping up the blood surrounding my wound.
I was minutes away from death, and now I am invigorated. I feel my muscles becoming stronger. I’m aware of every part of me. The crickets are louder. The scents overwhelm me. I can hear someone laughing in the distance, but no one else is here.
“See?” She rubs her hands up my body, cupping the bulge between my legs. “Doesn’t it feel good? Wouldn’t you want to feel this way for more than a night?”
“I know it may come as a surprise that some might not want this, but I don’t.” I spit her blood out of my mouth, wiping my lips on the back of my hand.
