Tit for Tat

The night was sultry and the cicadas had finally stopped their alien buzzing drone. The streetlights made pools of light on the quiet black top street. He landed easily on his feet and walked silently like a cat. He jumped the chain link fence and landed on the dry yard and walked over to the small gazebo. He was so tall he was bent quite low under its shelter as he sat down gracefully in the Adirondack chair. He stretched out his long legs on the blanket box the residents of the house used as an ottoman. He put his head back and closed his eyes and waited for her to wake up.

Something woke me up, a faint feeling of anxiety. I slid out the warm circle of my lover’s arms and went to the window and saw someone sitting in my gazebo. I went to the bed and grabbed my robe and slid into it and padded down the stairs to the living room through the kitchen. I unlocked the back door.
The July heat had made the grass dry and it crunched under my bare feet. August would surely finish it off. The figure turned and I knew it as Eric. It frightened me to see the Vampire.

“Eric honey, are you okay?” I said cautiously.
“Come speak to me,” he said softly. I ducked down a little to avoid the wind chimes. Eric, a large Vampire, took up a large amount of space in the gazebo. I felt like the proverbial field mouse compared to him.
“How are they?” he asked.
“The sister wives? Some of them are…confused,” I said.
“I imagine they are,” he said. “Have you ever hated someone so intensely you felt like you could kill them without a thought?”
“Sure,” I said. “I hated this one man so much that when he died I was very happy.”
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I went to confession. My priest made me pray for him every day for a year. You know I still pray for him,” I said. “But he didn’t kill my family, so it really wasn’t the same.”
“You can’t imagine what it is like. One minute you are holding your baby sister, fighting with your father…”
“Shagging the goat herder,” I added.
“Yes, that too, and the next minute you see your mother dying, your little sister in a pool of blood, your father fighting beasts and everything you love but not quite appreciated is dead and you swear with their blood on your hands to get vengeance,” he said. He growled the last word and it startled me. He looked at me. “I am sorry Aslinn.”
“No, you are entitled to feel whatever you feel,” I said. That sounds ridiculous. It was like the old joke… where does the man eating lion sit? Any fucking where he pleases.
“What would you have done?” he asked.
“Well, as a Christian I am supposed to forgive. And I could do that for most things. But something like what happened to you? They could not dig a hole deep enough,” I said.

“And the other?” he asked.
“The seduction? Well it tells me you are dedicated. I wouldn’t want you as my enemy,” I said. “Your enemies come at you with smiles. You know the mafia calls it doing the business, when they whack someone. It’s an old euphemism for sex.”
“You like that movie don’t you,” he observed.
“Well, The Godfather is the I Ching,” I said. “So…you killed what amounts to the king’s family. How deep in the shit are you Eric?”
“Let’s just say I had better keep my mouth shut,” he said. I laughed.
“Did you do ….IT Eric?” I asked.
“Well, if you paid close attention to my body placement, my hips and torso were turned almost 180 degrees away from Talbot and while I am blessed in that way, I’m not that gifted,” he said quietly. “But it bothers me my wives would be so unobservant.”
“Well, your physical beauty is so distracting,” I said shrugging my shoulders. “Give them time.” I reached out and squeezed his huge hand.

“Are you my friend Aslinn?” asked Eric.
“I guess so. I am trying to be,” I said. “You were so good when Bill was away and we saw those things he had to do. You gave me a good ass kicking and pep talked me…I hope this does alright by way of one for you.”
“Think you and I will ever sleep in my bed Aslinn?” asked Eric, his lopsided grin was his true smile, not that grimace he was giving the king and Talbot.
“Oh gee Eric, I don’t have the strength for Bill and Barrister and you,” I said. I stood up and leaned down and kissed the Vampire briefly on the lips. “Good night Eric.”
“Good night Aslinn,” he said.