Black Ribbons Read online

  He sat down near her.

  “Cuddle with me,” she said sweetly and leaned back.

  He lay down next to her and gathered her in his arms.

  She kissed him on the cheek. He turned to face her. She kissed him on the mouth. She rested her head back on the floor and waited. He did nothing. She kissed him again. Longer.

  She rolled away onto her back.

  He rolled on top of her and kissed her. Then he stopped. This was so foreign to him. No one on his planet did these things. There was no need to procreate that way. They had the blood ritual to create more of their kind. Physical desires sort of died when a human became a vampire. But it was slowly coming back to him, as he kissed Abigail and held her in his arms.

  He kissed her more passionately and she threw her arms around him and held him tightly. His lips wandered to her cheek, her ear, her neck. He began to kiss her neck passionately. She moaned. But a different kind of lust began to grow in him. He gently bit into her neck and tasted the sweetness of her blood on his tongue. She was a bit shocked when his teeth pierced her skin and flinched. But she didn't try to stop him. He sucked a little more blood from the wound on her neck. Then he pulled back to look at her. What was she thinking?

  “It's okay,” she said to him breathlessly, quietly, whispering, “You can kill me.”

  “What?” he said, shocked. He leaped up and wiped the blood from his mouth. “Abigail, no. I don’t want you dead.” Tears began streaming out of his eyes.

  “Noo...” she said quietly, and beckoned him to her, or tried. To her it was romantic. And she really didn't care if she died.

  “Abigail, you have to leave me,” he said through his tears. He stood looking down at her. “You have to go back to your village.”

  “No,” she said loudly, sitting up. “I don't want to be without you.”

  He was at his wit's end. “Abigail,” he said, ”you're going mad, I'm starving to death...” He sat quickly back down on the floor and put his head in his hands and cried.

  She crept over to him and threw her arms around him and held him tightly.

  “I have to go back,” he said, sounding muffled.

  “Back?” she said, alarmed. “How?”

  “Maybe they haven't reached the cave yet, where the ship is. Maybe they are repairing it. Maybe they are waiting,” he said hopefully.

  She was shocked. She never thought she would lose him. Tears began to fall down her cheeks.

  “You go back to your vil—” he began.

  “—NO,” she said firmly.

  “Abigail...” he said, pleadingly.

  “I'll go with you,” she said.

  “I don't even know if you could survive there. We did as humans once, but...”

  “You change me into what you are,” she said. “Do the blood ritual.”

  “But what if we are trapped here?” he asked, incredulous that she would ask to be like him.

  “We'll wait to see if the ship is still here. If it is, you change me, and we can be together.” She smiled and stroked his face.

  “You are so innocent.”

  “Then bring innocence back to your world,” she said.

  He laughed.

  “And if they are gone, you stay with me here,” she said, still smiling.

  “Easy,” he said, doubting it.

  “Easy,” she answered.

  “But—” he began.

  “—Don't,” she said, and she leaned forward and kissed him. Then she sat back down again.

  “Tomorrow,” he said seriously. “After nightfall. We'll begin our journey.”

  Chapter 12

  It was their last day in the ghost town, and Abigail had gathered wild flowers for the graves. She put a bouquet of them on Susanna's grave and one flower each on the graves around her, the other children. Then she put wild berries on Susanna's grave. So birds and bunnies and squirrels would come and eat them, and Susanna would have visitors. She'd like that.

  Then she went and found the rusty old bike to see if it would work. It did. She rode it all the way down Main Street. Then she parked it behind their brown house.

  Shae watched her through the windows, a safe distance from the light. She was still doing these sweet innocent things, even after all that had happened to her. How could he turn her into what he was? She'd never be able to play in the sun on Earth again, her home planet. Had she even thought about that? On Raress being like him was great. It fit. But here... and she would miss here.

  He had already decided he would not make her a vampire. He would make her stay on Earth. And if his ship had gone, he had decided he would not stay on Earth. He would destroy himself in sunlight. The way he had destroyed Piah. He could not stand to be here forever. Being so hungry. Having such a strong urge to kill humans for their blood. Not even being able to kiss Abigail without wanting to bite her.

  But he could not tell Abigail his plans. She would never go along with them. He would travel with her to the cave, then they would part. One way or another. This depressed him. That he knew it would be over soon.

  Abigail bounced into the house then through the back door and put a crown of wild daisies on his head to match her own. She threw her arms around his neck and said, “As soon as it's dark.”

  He smiled. There was a bitter sadness in his eyes that she did not notice. She kissed him. He held her in his arms and kissed her back.

  * * *

  It was time to go. Night had come. The moon was bright. Abigail had packed berries she had dried and deer meat she had turned to jerky, and plenty of water from the river.

  They had laid their crowns of flowers neatly on the table in the kitchen, overlapping each other. To show that they had been there. The daisies had yellow petals. They looked like little suns. How ironic, Shae thought.

  They began their journey, walking up the road, hand in hand. Shae carried a pouch of water for her. And Abigail wore one yellow daisy in her hair. She was feeling hopeful. She knew that soon everything would be better. She hoped. She fully believed the ship would still be there. But even if it wasn't, she'd be with Shae.

  They got to the highway and kept walking. They walked through the forest as they passed the little store. There was a light on and a man inside. Then they walked the highway until they had to turn into the woods.

  Abigail began to walk with a limp. Or so it seemed to Shae.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  She put her hand to her stomach. “I don’t feel well,” she said.

  He helped her sit on the ground. “What is it?” he asked, crouching in front of her.

  “I think it's what I've been eating,” she said. “Nothing but meat and berries.”

  “Is that not good for humans?” he asked, worried.

  She shook her head. “Probably not. I need to eat other things too.” She lay down on the ground and squeezed her eyes shut, obviously trying to drive away the pain.

  “Oh,” he said, putting his hand on her cheek. “Will you be all right here for a while?” he asked.

  “No, don't leave me,” she said as her eyes popped open and she grabbed his hand.

  “Shh...” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “I'm going to go get you some food. From the little store.”

  “But Shae,” she said, “How—”

  “Don't worry,” he said. “You stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can.”

  And then he took off running, before she could say another word, and so fast he was almost a blur.

  She put her second cloak under her head and lay there, waiting for him.

  * * *

  Abigail was dozing as Shae approached her in the woods. He was carrying some sort of canvas bag and it was full of something. He crouched down and set it down near her, and she opened her eyes. She sat up and threw her arms around him.

  “Oh, Shae!” she said.

  He held her. She pulled away. She smiled at him. Then her smile faded quickly as she saw his mouth. There was blood on
it.

  “Shae,” she said, backing away.

  He thought he had wiped off all the blood. He licked his lips. “Abigail—”

  “You killed the man in the store!” she said, standing and stepping further away.

  He had killed the man in the store. It had seemed so easy. He was so depressed. He knew he'd die soon, if the ship was gone. And he'd killed humans before. And he needed food for her. It just all seemed too obvious to him. And the man hadn't even seen it coming. Is this what being on Earth eventually turned his kind into? A man who killed and didn't care?

  Abigail had not spoken again. Shae had not denied anything. He just looked at her with dying eyes. She looked back at him. First with anger, then with sadness. Then she crumbled to the ground again on her knees and held her stomach. She stared at the ground. She knew that whatever he'd done had been inevitable. If he stayed here it would always be inevitable. She hoped his ship was still here.

  He had opened the bag and started setting things in front of her. Cans of food. Stew, beans, corn, mandarin oranges. He also had a loaf of bread.

  “Oh,” she said, looking at it all, and there was more in the bag. “Bread,” she said, longing for it. She opened up the bread bag and took a slice and bit into it immediately. “Oh, I've missed bread,” she said.

  “I can tell,” he said, smiling. “Shall we open one?”

  She pointed to a can of chili.

  He rolled it around in his hands. “How do you do it?” he asked.

  She looked around on the ground and found a small sharp rock and a bigger flatter one. She set the piece of bread in her lap for a moment and set the can on the ground. She put the sharp rock on the top edge and hit it with the bigger rock. It poked a hole in the top of the can. She did that around the edge. Shae took over once he saw her plan. Then soon the lid was off.

  “Is there some sort of spoon?” she asked, glancing in the bag.

  “Spoon...” he said, trying to remember what that was. They ate the Malinar with their hands on Raress.

  She glanced through the bag, then shrugged. “I don’t care,” she said. She reached into the can with her hand, avoiding the jagged edges, and scooped up some chili and ate it. “Mmm...” she said. Even cold it was better than dried deer meat.

  Shae was thinking the Malinar was not quite so messy. “I take it you're feeling better?” he asked, smiling.

  “Oh,” she paused. “Yes. I think I was just hungry.” She smiled.

  He watched her finish the can of food. Then she took a big gulp of water. She put the empty can back in the bag with the rest of the food and stood up.

  He said, “Are you sure?” He stood and picked up the canvas bag.

  “Yes,” she said. She grabbed the second cloak and made sure she had her water bags, then started to walk.

  He caught up with her and she took his hand.

  * * *

  They walked until the twilight of dawn began to light the sky. Then they made a tent with two of their cloaks and lay on top of a third inside it, and waited for daylight.

  It was not quite as small as his tent they had slept in before, but they cuddled close together just the same.

  They had walked along the route they had taken with the others before, and passed the place where they had stopped before. Shae had heard Rowan talk about the landmarks and the cave often enough that he knew he could find them if they kept going in this direction. Possibly within a day. This could be the last time they lay next to each other in each other's arms.

  She lay with her back to him and he moved her hair and kissed the back of her neck. She laughed. She turned around to face him. She smiled. And then he kissed her. A sweet kiss at first. Then deeper, slowly growing more passionate. Then he had the urge to bite her again and he stopped. He stopped kissing. He rolled onto his back to stare up at the black cloak tent.

  “What?” she asked.

  “How do you do this?” he asked. “How do humans do this?”

  She propped herself up on her elbow, and looked down at him, “You mean...?”

  “Making love,” he said.

  She laughed and gently shoved his shoulder playfully, “How do you know it's called that?”

  He chuckled. “Well, I was human once.”

  “But you never...?” she asked.

  “I don't think so,” he said. “So, how do you... do it?”

  She laughed, slightly offended. “I don’t know.”

  Then she leaned forward and kissed him again. Then stopped. He smiled. She rolled on top of him and kissed him again. He ran his fingers up her back. She ran her fingers through his hair. He kissed her cheek and jaw and neck, and then he bit her.

  She jumped a little bit in his arms. He sucked a little bit of blood, then he pushed her off of him, gently.

  She rolled onto her back next to him and put pressure on her neck wound with her hand. “Shae,” she said with a sigh.

  “I'm sorry,” he said, propping himself up to look at her. “I don't know how to kiss you without doing that.”

  She looked disappointed and little worried.

  “I just...” he said, “I'm always so hungry here.” He lay back down on his back. “No matter what I do, it's all I can think of.”

  “It's okay,” she said, taking his hand.

  They intertwined their fingers.

  “Soon we’ll reach the cave and it will all be okay,” she said quietly, almost sleepily. He knew she had closed her eyes.

  He wondered if she really believed it would all be okay. He closed his eyes and tried to force himself to go to sleep. To get to the next day. To start walking again, to finally reach their destination.

  Chapter 13

  Night had fallen again. Abigail had been outside the tent for a few hours, doing whatever she did. Wandering, bathing. And now she poked her head inside the tent.

  “Sun is gone,” she said smiling. Then she lifted her cloak off of the branches they had made their tent with and put it on.

  Shae jumped up and gathered up their things. He was always restless waiting out the day, trapped inside. When the sun first went down was the best time to hunt, because he was full of energy and frustration.

  He was very alert as he threw on his cloak and picked up the canvas bag. They started to walk and he glared through the darkness looking for deer.

  Abigail knew he was in this mood and said nothing. They walked in silence for a while. Then suddenly two deer crossed their path, a doe and a buck. They were so silent, just suddenly there.

  In a flash Shae dropped the bag and took off running after the deer, who had bolted when they saw him.

  Abigail sighed and set down her second cloak. She sat neatly on the ground, waiting. They must have gone far away, she could hear nothing. The sky had lost the twilight after sunset, so she couldn't see as well. A full moon was up, but the trees kept it almost pitch black in the forest.

  She was beginning to jump at every noise, fearing bears or wolves or mountain lions. They'd seen a few bears when they were with the group, but nothing since then.

  Suddenly she heard someone or something moving very fast through the trees. She jumped up. It was coming from her right. Shae was almost in front of her before she finally saw him. She screamed a little when he approached. He was like a sudden flash of blue in the pale moonlight.

  “Sorry,” he said. He licked a drop of blood from his lip. He was out of breath.

  “Did you want deer meat?” he asked her.

  “No,” she said quietly. The canned food would last a while.

  He picked up the bag again and reached for her hand.

  “Can you see me, Abigail?” he asked.

  “A little,” she said.

  “I'm smiling at you,” he said, smiling at her.

  She laughed.

  They began to walk.

  “Did you... kill both deer?” she asked.

  “The doe,” he said. “I started to drink the buck, but he got away.”

  �
��Oh.”

  They walked in silence for a while. Then Abigail spoke.

  “What are the landmarks you need to look for?” she asked.

  “Well,” he said, “If we keep heading toward that constellation of stars, we should eventually reach the foothills of these mountains where a rock formation kind of looks like a troll standing and looking down.”

  “What's a troll?” she asked.

  “Sort of a short stocky man,” he said. “They don't really exist. I think,” he said.

  She giggled.

  “Then a while after that there is this double waterfall. With water shooting out of giant holes in the stone, one to the side and above the other,” he demonstrated with his hands.

  “Pretty,” she said. “Then?”

  “Then we cross the river there and after a while should reach a rock wall, the side of a mountain. The entrance to the cave is there.”

  “And that's where your ship is?” she asked.

  “I hope,” he said wistfully. He knew he would not take her with him. He had only been turned into a vampire because he was a slave and the leaders of Raress wanted their slaves to be immortal. So they wouldn't have to keep getting more slaves. He had been changed en route to Raress. He didn't know if humans could or ever had lived there. He couldn't turn her into what he was. As desperate as he was here.

  “Shae,” she said.

  “What?” he asked, snapped out of his reverie.

  “Do you think they're waiting?”

  “No,” he said with a sigh. “Maybe.”

  She squeezed his hand.

  “Any other landmarks?” she asked, trying to distract him from his sad mood.

  “No,” he said. “The cave is not really a cave, though. It's open to the sky. Walls, but no ceiling. And inside is a very large and very deep pool of water.”

  “Really?” she said.

  “Yes, the ship is hidden deep under the water,” he said. “Or was.”

  Just then they stepped into a clearing and the moonlight hit them full blast. It was gorgeous. The side of the mountain was not far off.

  Abigail skipped ahead, now that she could see.

  “Look!” she said to Shae. “A short stocky man!”

  It was in the distance, but it did indeed look like a short stocky man. He didn't know whether to feel relieved or saddened. Either way he was about to part with her. She was waiting for him to catch up with her, holding out her hand. He reached her and took it.