My Fair Lady

By

MillieCat@msn.com

"Ah, Millie, must you go out again tonight? Stay! Join the fun! I will put you in one of my pretty dresses, fix your hair and put some makeup on you, if you will tolerate it. Why must you go out into the city, with all of those ruffians and street people? I know, I know, you hate crowds. But these people are my friends. They have money, status, taste, and they are very well educated…" Allyson went on, as she was wont to do. I knew she was trying to help.

"And they are all beautiful, like you," I said, looking down.

"And you think that is all that they care about? No, they want to help you." She was sincere.

"Only because they love you so, and you care for me." Now she is the one who looked down. She knew it was true. "Listen, I have some things to do, you know how it is. Please do not be sad. I will be back as quickly as I can." Oh, if she knew why it was that I had to go out, she would never want me back. It would be too hard to endure all of those sweetly perfumed people with the hunger rising so, let alone Allyson herself. She was positively sumptuous at the moment. She glowed, like an illuminated rose. And I had tasted that rose, yes, but only in the times when I was so sated that I could burst. Yes, I must go, soon.

"Four years it has been, you and I in this city, and as much as I love you, I still do not understand you. Ah well, then, go, but I expect to be repaid upon your return," she said as she smiled wickedly. Ah, Allyson, if you truly knew what it was that you craved with my embrace. I was very careful to have her extremely aroused when I drank from her, so that the ecstasy of the kiss was not a shock. And in her arousal, she had pierced my flesh on several occasions, and tasted my blood. How shocked she was the first time. She did not sleep for days, as she marveled at her strength and quickness. She attributed it to the adrenaline caused by such a taboo act, and still did. Oh, the look of longing in her eyes made the wretchedness of this evening's agenda all the more loathsome.

I was off to the pound, where I had a friend who kept track of which of those beautiful creatures were slated to die. I would escort them to the other side with care and loving. Through these years, animals had come to not fear my presence as they did most others of my kind. I believe it to be the effect of my truly caring for them coupled with the teachings of an outlander friend that I had made here, though he did not come into the heart of the city very often. He was a kind and gentle spirit, and looked very feline. Oh, but he could get angry, I had seen it. He taught me that I could see like a cat, with little or no light. And recently, I had perfected the skill of the claws. Boy, that hurts at first. I only wish that I could meld with the earth the way that he could. I called him Patches, after a kitty that I had as a child, and it made him laugh.

After the pound, I would go out and seek the sustenance that I truly craved. With the fearsome edge off of my hunger, I could best avoid taking a life, and having to cover my tracks. When college was in, it was easy. I looked like I was in high school, those lecherous bastards. And then there were the street people, many of whom I loved dearly. I always tried to leave them with some food or some money in their pockets, easily enough acquired from those little rich boys in the frat houses and dorms. Those things had lousy security. For some reason, I was loath to steal from the girls. They had enough trouble watching their rears.

It was about 1 am when I started to make my way back to Allyson's place. She referred to it as ours, but it was her that made it what it was. It was a little basement apartment that she was able to afford with what was left of her dwindling inheritance. It was dwindling because she had quite a taste for art, and spent much to fund the fledgling artists in the area. Even I had to admit that she had exquisite taste. She could judge true art, not just fads. This little underground sanctuary was beautiful, in feel and aspect. The flow was such that a stranger could walk it in the dark. But who would want to? It was a comfort and an excitement melded together, which is why so many of the elite chose to have their get-togethers there. That, and Allyson was a piece of art in her own right. Not just because she was lovely, though that would have been enough. She was gracious and always knew just what to say, what to do, and how to act. Oh, what an ox I felt like in her presence. Many a time had I made myself unnoticeable and just watched her, in awe. How could she even tolerate me? Heck, right now, after my evening's activities, I even smelled bad.

When I walked in, at about 1:30, she was sitting in the corner, on the floor, crying. And these were not those manipulative crocodile tears that could get her anything that she ever wanted. These were real. "Allyson! What is wrong?!?" If any of those people hurt her, they would pay.

She gasped when she saw me, and cringed. A look of wide-eyed terror came on her face and she barely squeaked out the words "I know, Millie, I know."

"You know what?" My brain felt like it was on fire. I knew exactly what she meant.

"How could you keep such a thing from me? I love you, and I thought you loved me!" She was gasping between words. Her face was swollen and red. She had been crying for a long time.

"What are you talking about?" My voice quavered, but I had to try to salvage things, to save my beloved Allyson from this horrid reality.

"It explains everything," she went on. "Why you wanted this place, sleeping all day, staying out all night. And the fact that you still look 16!"

"You know I am shy, and do not like crowds and…" I stopped, I could never lie to her.

"And you are not the only one. There was a new guest here tonight, a friend of an acquaintance that I had invited. He gave me proof of what he was," she paled, "and told me about you. He said that he had been watching me from afar for a while. He said that he is powerful, that his sire is the Prince, whatever that means, and that it is time for me to take my place as a part of his life. He wants to make me a…" she could not say it. "He says that now that I know, I must accept his offer, or die. If you are one of these creatures as well, I would have you do it, Millie my love. I want to be with you forever." Her eyes glazed over, disbelief and terror warring with each other.

"NO! You could not want that!" I blurted out.

"It is true, then," she said far too calmly. She got up and went to the couch. "Come, sit with me." I did not move. "Why would you deny me this? I thought we shared everything."

"It is not a gift, Allyson. It is a wretched curse. It is not immortality, but an eternal death. Existing only on the lives of others," I wiped the animal hairs from my shirt and pants onto the floor. "You are beautiful! You deserve to be seen in the light! You beauty need not be confined to darkness for eternity! And you are so sweet and kind. How would you deal with taking a life? And if you do not think that it will happen then you are wrong!" I was yelling at her, I had never yelled at her. I quieted. "Allyson, please, stay here. I am going to find BirdBlack."

"Yes, this stranger said that BirdBlack was one of your kind, too. If you will not take me, then perhaps he will. Yes, bring him here. You are so good at finding him." Again, the far away look in her eyes.

"You left her alone!" He was furious. I did not know him very well, but he was the only one I could think of for something like this. I could hear the phone squeak with the volume of his voice. I had managed to find out that he was in Dallas at a hotel, and called him from a pay phone. "I will be there as quickly as I can!" I heard him cover the receiver and then yell, "Get me a copter to fly to Ft. Worth, and have one of my cars waiting at the usual place there! No. No driver, I will take it!" Then, to me, he yelled, "Get back over there!" I did not even think of my Allyson being harmed in our little sanctuary. I felt like a fool, and ran the whole way back. It took half an hour.

When I arrived, there were two cars parked on the street in front of the building. I heard nothing from inside. I rushed in, and found BirdBlack there, with a stranger held in what would surely be his final moments of existence. The stranger had his fangs bared, but to no avail, for BirdBlack's hold was inescapable, and the creature finally shuddered, and went limp. BirdBlack did not release his hold. He kept draining the creature. Soon, it was a withered gray husk, and then turned to dust. I had never witnessed the death of another of my kind in such a manner before. I had never stuck around that long.

"She is in the other room," he said, with not just a little anger in his voice, and eyes.

I went in, and saw her looking into the face of an obviously young, but dead, man. His shirt was covered in blood, but she just sat there, on the couch, his head in her lap, and stared at him, stroking his lovely hair. "Allyson?" she did not respond. "Oh, Allyson, No." I came up to her and forced her head my direction, but she just moved her eyes back to him.

"He is lovely, is he not?" she said finally, distractedly. "Two such lovely gifts in one night. The stranger that I told you of brought this lad with him when he came back, after you left. This young piece of art made of flesh and blood," as she said the word blood, her eyes rolled back into her head a bit, then she continued, "could not speak, but that did not matter. I got to know him by gazing at him. Then, I was led into this room, and when I awoke, this beautiful boy was sitting here on the couch, his presence obviously begging for me to feast on him with more than just my eyes. Such pleasure, such a delicious pleasure..."

I could not tear her gaze away. She was totally enraptured. I went back to where BirdBlack was. "This was the progeny of the Prince, but he was young, and foolish, and smitten. Even his sire would have had to take action against him. I will do what I can to preserve Allyson's existence. She entertains far more of our kind that you or she know, and even the Prince himself had considered taking her, so I think that she will be allowed to continue." He then looked right at me, "You will have to help her through this time. Do you remember how hard it was for you?" I nodded. "Well, try to keep that in mind. I know that you care for her, and so I will trust that you will be looking after her, as shall I," and with that, he left.

I went back to her. She was still staring at him, with such impassioned eyes that I though that perhaps I had lost her completely to this lovely corpse. Then she looked up at me, and said, "Now we really can be together, forever," and she gazed back down lovingly, continuing to run her fingers through his silky hair.