Reveries of the Past
Marybeth’s eyes wandered as she danced with her fiance, a man selected by her parents, to her distinct lack of enthusiasm. The marriage would strengthen both of their families, but this noble was closer to a yellow boor without even the slightest sense of romance or passion. As they twirled, this man’s large hands held her like a sack of flour. Yet this was still the most thrilling thing they had done during their courtship. Even dancing with the worst dancer will be at least a bit enjoyable, if only barely.
Her eyes rested on a very tall gentleman talking to one of the other girls in her family’s circles. His face was cut from stone and sanded smooth. Raw power dripped from his meaty fingers. She deemed him a foreigner from further southeast due to a soft tint to his skin. His hair seemed to almost shimmer a faint green in the moonlight.
Her partner whispered her name and dipped for her lips. Her eyes popped, her cheeks rosed and she flicked her neck, tanking his lips with her cheek.
“Marybeth, don’t be shy, my sweet child.” The man tried again, and she wriggled, but to no avail; he pecked her lips as he had wished.
At last, she freed herself. “Excuse me, I need to, um...” What did her mom and older siblings call it? “I need to freshen up, sir. I don’t believe I am up to standard for such brazen displays of affection.”
She trotted off to the freshening room and shrank on a bench, wiping the phantom of his damp lips from hers. As more ladies came and went, she rose, composed herself and returned to face the uncharming man her father is paying to marry her.
On the way, the handsome man’s glance met hers and lingered. She blushed, flashing a quick smile before turning.
“Hello, my lady.” The man now stood in front of her. “My name is Neon of House Grimston.” He knelt and extended his hand.
“It is nice to meet you, Lord Grimston, but I should—”
“Please tell me your name.”
“Marybeth of House Rosetti, but I cannot stay and—”
Neon took her hand. “Really? You truly cannot spare a few moments.”
“Uh...” She weakly wiggled her hand in his firm but gentle grip as she looked up into his golden eyes. “It’s my fiance. He’s expecting me back soon.”
“So? Can he not wait a bit longer? It’s not like you are married. He doesn’t have to know.”
Marybeth’s hand stilled. “But you are another man. It wouldn’t be proper...”
“You aren’t smiling like you are eager to return, so why not? It’s not improper to simply have a polite chat with another noble. It would only be improper if the sight of me inflames your heart the way the sight of you does mine... But in that case, why are you in a hurry to return to such a man?”
Her cheeks reddened as she squeezed his hand back, a smile barely cracking the melancholia of her lips.
The stranger led her onto a terrace overlooking the lawn. The bright moon shimmered in the cool night air as they exchanged ever more casual, improper, words. Neon lifted and seated her on the balcony’s balustrade to bring their eyes closer, his hands at her butt to keep her from toppling off the terrace. As their banter escalated, his hands migrated higher to her face and shoulders. She flung herself back after a joke, expecting his hands to catch her, but somersaulted over the edge. Her spinning came to a halt as she found herself in her new friend’s arms as he floated to the ground on two scaly wings. Her heart raced, and her belly sloshed from the whiplash of those past few seconds. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck, and their lips met for a long, sweet moment.
“What are you? A vampire or something?”
“So you saw my secret? Close. I’m an incubus.”
“S-so you were sent here to prey upon me?”
“No, not you. I was sent to seduce another girl here, but Boss was wrong. She’s a dead end. I have no interest in her, and she has none in me. You simply caught my eye while I was here. You are one of the most lovely things I’ve ever seen, Marybeth. The energy in your smile is like a bolt of lightning frozen for a moment. Your eyes are like the reflection of the moon cast upon a lake, and your hair is like a black rose blossoming.”
“Then what is your goal?” she asked.
“I simply want to see that lovely smile. That’s the main reason I’m still putting up with my boss. A smiling girl is enchanting. I want to see every girl smiling, but you most of all.”
He released his wings and flitted to the lake. She grinned as he placed his hands under her armpits and guided her in a dance across the surface of the water. Her fiance left her thoughts until only this moment of bliss remained. Her toes dipped and bent as if she were buoyant enough to participate in their dance. She pulled away and dropped beneath the surface.
He set her in the grass as he stripped her to her chemise. “Why would you do that?”
She giggled. “I forgot I was on water. Calm down. I’m fine; just a smidge wet. I needed to have our family maid do my monthly wash anyway.” She kissed him again.
“My apologies for overreacting then. I’m glad you are unharmed from our little game.”
“I enjoyed that. I want to see you again someday.”
He revealed his real name. “...just say that and think of me. I’ll come find you.”
As they enjoyed this moment, his hands drifted under her chemise. She blurted, “That’s been promised to my...” and fell silent, only occasionally glancing back at him expectantly. “If you need to take a little of my energy to not get in trouble, I don’t mind.”
After a while longer, her breath thinned as he sapped her just a little. Her eyes shut with a frown, her skin faded until she resembled a corpse, and she slept on the lawn. No amount of shaking woke her as her pulse slowed. The young incubus had not yet learned how dangerous collecting from someone this young was. His intended target was a few years older than this girl and well into adulthood.
She choked as her eyes opened a crack. “Did I pass out?” She tried to sit up but collapsed.
“I’m so sorry... Something went wrong, and I collected a lot more of your energy than I meant to.” He clutched the girl in his arms.
“Neon, it’s alright... It was an accident. I’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
When her fiance stepped out and began calling her name, Neon slunk away, leaving it up to him to deal with his mistake.
As Neon feared, a few weeks later, when she called him again, her weakness remained. Sometimes, she struggled to remain conscious while upright, but she insisted he not blame himself. She claimed her mother developed a similar condition in her adolescence.
After a few years, her parents decided she was old enough to be married off, so they paid off her dowry. But she still spent many nights of her loveless marriage with her incubus paramour. After a few visits, Neon noticed her belly began to swell while bruises dotted her arms, thighs and back. Later that year, childbirth nearly ended her life, and she called Neon to console her as she recuperated.
Her health only faded as more time passed. Broken bones surrounded by a sea of splotched yellow-green only exacerbate the damage Neon did.
Neon appeared in her room and rushed to her bedside. She rocked but couldn’t even sit up on her own. Neon’s hands trembled as his mind wandered to taking her somewhere and hiding away, but if he was going to do that, he should have done it years ago, long before she even married this selfish brute.
She extended her hand to take his. “Thank you for coming, N. It’s been pretty lonely with my son off at the boarding school, but I’ve been able to rest in peace.”
With his support, she sat up and scooted to the edge of her bed and kissed him. Unfortunately, most anything beyond that would have to be in a dream due to her failing health. She fetched her cane from between the bedside table and the bed, rising to wrap her arms around her forbidden lover.
He cherished her tightly until she spoke again, “I wish we could be truly together. Incubus or not, I love you.”
“I... I love you, too, Marybeth.”
Why did those words come so difficult? He cares more about her than anyone. Why else would an incubus come at her every call if he cannot collect or even show the depth of his love? Did he even deserve to love her with the way he left her in the possession of her husband?
“N, please put me to sleep. I’ve been missing the perfect way our bodies melded. I’d like to relive those memories again, and I’m sure you’re busy. I’m sure I’m not your only bride.”
“I’m in no rush, and actually—”
“It’s fine, let’s just go to my dreams.”
As his consciousness returned to his body, he paused as his keen senses noticed the beat of a second heart coming from her body.
A short while later, a man calls his true name. “...get over here, you demon bastard. You must have some kind of blasphemous draught to fix her. Bring that and heal her, or I will do everything I can to make your life hell.”
Neon burst from the shadows in Marybeth’s home, holding a small vial.
The husband gestured to a nearby priest. “There the sucker is! Get him.”
The priest opened the Bible and slung verses like bullets until Neon snapped the book shut and swatted him aside. “That kind of trick doesn’t work on somebody with free will.”
The husband whipped out a club from somewhere and bashed Neon in the face, but the club bounced off his perfect skin.
Neon chuckled. “Cute.” He closed his hand over the man’s scalp and twisted until he heard a snap. He sighed and approached Marybeth on the bed. After uncorking the bottle, he handed it to her. “Drink. I snuck past Boss’s fell lapdogs to get this for you. It will restore your health.”
She sipped the liquid, choking the rest down. Frowning, she hacked, then stood with ease. That was how her some 70-year-long dream began, spending the rest of her life with Neon, if she so chooses. In reality, Neon kissed her lips one last time as she slept, on the verge of death, and she and her second child both passed that night.
“I love you more than anyone. Only you, Marybeth.” As he left her bedroom, her devil cried, the only record of him being there a few wet dots on her breast.
