A Raspberry in the Dark - Tales of a Lesbian Vampire (The Pixie Chix) (3 page)

“No,” Mint said between bites of her own. “That leads up to the top of the Turret.”

“And Winter’s room,” Tulip added.

“Yes, that too,” Mint agreed with a hint of reluctance. “Your room’s down there.” She pointed at the far side of the room where there was another stairway leading down that Felicia hadn’t noticed. It was made of stone similar to the one they had just climbed, but was much narrower. “Be careful the first time, there’s a bit of a…” and she paused, seemingly unable to think of an appropriate word.

“Discontinuity,” Tulip supplied. “I won’t try to describe it; you just need to try it once.”

Felicia smiled. “How often have you said that to a woman?
You just need to try it once!
”

Both Pixies laughed.

“Actually,” Tulip said, “I don’t think I’ve ever said that before.” She gave Felicia a look that managed to be both intense and shy. “I’ve never tried anything just once.”

Now Felicia laughed. “Or just twice, I imagine.”

Mint cocked her head to the side. “Someday you two are going to have to tell me what happened back at the curtain.”

“Someday,” Felicia agreed quietly, distracted by the thought of having one of Tulip’s nipples between her teeth, squeezing just enough to take the Pixie’s breath away, and then a little bit more.

As pleasant as that thought was, it still made her worry.
Could biting, even playful pretend biting, trigger a return to her old ways?

She pushed that thought vehemently aside.
No! I’ll never want blood again. Never!

The though of biting Tulip’s nipple lingered in her mind. She gave the Pixie a knowing, seductive smile.

Biting? No!

But nibbling… Yes!

Winter

“HELLO,” said a new voice, very softly. Felicia turned her head, for some reason expecting to see the pink-haired Pixie. Instead, standing at the base of the metal staircase, was Winter.

It had to be Winter; there was no doubt that this was the most beautiful woman in the world.

And Felicia was disappointed.

Yes, Winter was beautiful, even more so than Felicia had imagined possible. With straight, glossy black hair to her shoulders, pale white skin, silver coloured eyes and soft lips that just had a hint of red to them, no single feature was spectacular or without flaw, yet in combination they formed a face that was ridiculously perfect.

She was also slender and tall, maybe even taller than Felicia herself, and dressed in the manner of a hunter or a thief, in dark clothing that seemed to be made entirely of a dull brown leather. The outfit made every attempt to hide her body, there was no skin visible below her neck, nor was there any hint of feminine curves, yet somehow it managed to be provocative, amplifying the need to see what was hidden.

Yes, she was beautiful. Impossibly so.

And Felicia was disappointed.

Disappointed that Winter wasn’t the pink-haired Pixie.

Felicia became aware of how much time had passed, that for as long as she had stared at Winter no one had responded to the new Pixie’s greeting. Without looking she could tell that both Mint and Tulip were watching her, waiting for a reaction.

Expecting my eyes to bug out, I expect.

It seemed that any introductions were up to her. “Hello,” she said.

The Pixie gave a little bow. “Welcome. I’m Winter.”

“Yes, I know,” Felicia said, then realized that sounded odd. “I mean, Mint and Tulip told me about you, that you lived upstairs.”

Winter smiled warmly. “Yes, I live on the top floor, which is completely wonderful, except no one ever comes to visit me.”

Felicia found that surprising. Considering the way Mint and Tulip had spoken, she had expected a constant stream of Pixies would be ‘visiting’ Winter’s room.

“You get visitors,” Tulip corrected, finally speaking up, although she didn’t for a moment take her eyes off Felicia. “I come here all the time.”

“Yes, but you don’t exactly count as a visitor, do you?” Winter didn’t explain, but the meaning was somehow clear.

Felicia studied Winter’s face, trying to see whether she was serious or not, then looked back at Tulip. “You live here?” Felicia asked, unable to hide her surprise. “With Winter?”

Tulip sighed dramatically, as if this was something she was tired of explaining. “I
do not
live here,” she said. “I have a workshop in the basement, that’s all.”

“That’s right,” Mint said, with exaggerated emphasis. “Her room is back in the Tree.”

“Exactly,” Tulip agreed, although she appeared suspicious that Mint was on her side.

“And when was the last time you actually visited your room?” Mint asked.

“Yesterday, I think, or maybe the day before.”

“And the last time you slept there?”

“I don’t know,” Tulip said. “Why does that matter?”

Mint shrugged. “I just thought that Felicia might want to know where she could find you, in case she got… lonely.”

Felicia realized the game Mint was playing. “Yes,” she said, “If I get… lonely, where will I find you?”

Tulip glared at Felicia. “You too?” she said.

Felicia tried to look puzzled that Tulip would say such a thing. It was very apparent that the Pixie spent most of her time here, but it was also unclear why she didn’t want to admit to it.

Winter joined the fun. “Sometimes I get… lonely. It’s too bad that Tulip’s never here to comfort me.”

Tulip shifted her glare to Winter, who looked back at her with the barest hint of a smile on her lips.

“And even if you did find her in her workshop,” Mint said. “There no way you’d convince her to lie on her workbench and spread her legs.”

“No,” Winter agreed. “She hates it when you make her come on her bench. She’d never let you make her come so many times that she has to beg you to stop.”

Tulip had given up glaring at the other two Pixies. Instead, she picked up an apple and bit into it loudly, giving it her full attention.

Felicia pondered the interchange. The effortless and casual way Pixies discussed sex amazed her. She herself had rarely spoken in such a way to anyone, and only with a lover as a preamble to actual sex.
The Pixies though, they talk about fucking each other as easily as I would talk about what to have for breakfast.

Beyond that, several things about the conversation puzzled her. Mint had said that she disliked Winter, but there was no sign of that now; the two of them had teamed up to tease Tulip with an ease that would have left Felicia assuming the three of them were friends.

And again, why didn’t Tulip want anyone to think that she lived here? Was it because Winter lived here too?

And most importantly, why doesn’t Winter have wings?

Felicia studied the Pixie. At first she hadn’t noticed the lack of wings, mainly because Winter’s odd, un-pixie-like clothing, not to mention her rather exceptional beauty, had distracted her. Now, however, she found the missing wings disconcerting, like seeing someone without arms.

The Pixie noticed her staring. “Is there something wrong?”

“Uh…” Felicia said, not sure if Pixies considered it rude to mention a wing deficiency.

“She thinks you dress weird,” Tulip said, not looking up from her apple.

Felicia felt a surge of relief. The Pixie’s attire was a little strange, and would explain why she was staring.
Thank you Tulip!

“Oh,” Winter said, looking down at herself and her clothing. “Yes, well…” and she gave Mint a questioning look.

“Go ahead, tell her,” Mint said. “Ariel said to tell her everything she needs to know.”

Felicia couldn’t help notice the phrasing. Everything she
needs
to know.

Winter nodded, then addressed the Vampire. “I’ve been looking for the First Door.”

“The First Door?” This was the first Felicia had heard anything about doors.

Winter arched an eyebrow toward Mint, who just shrugged. “There are a few things we haven’t told her yet,” Mint said

“And our quest?” Winter said. “She does know about that, doesn’t she?”

“Yes, Ariel told me,” Felicia said. “She was a bit vague on the details though.”

“Our Goddess does like to keep her secrets,” Winter agreed. “In any event, Ariel has given us each a task. Mine is to find the First Door. Mint’s job was to find you. Tulip’s is to find a way to open the Doors.”

“Doors?” Felicia asked. “How many are there?”

“Three, we think. But don’t worry, once we pass through the First, the rest shouldn’t pose a problem.”

“Okay.”

“And as for my clothing,” Winter said, “I find it helps me stay out of trouble if people can’t tell that I’m a Pixie.”

“I can imagine,” Felicia said.
Pixies do have a habit of attracting a lot of attention.
Then she realized what Winter meant. “So you do have wings then?”

“What?” Winter said with some surprise. “Of course I have wings!” She touched a finger to the top of her leather garment at the front of her neck, then drew it downward. Somehow, as her finger passed, each clasp became undone with a small
pfftt
sound, revealing a stripe of Winter’s skin down to her navel. Felicia’s eyes were drawn to the newly exposed skin, from the slight curve of her breasts to the surprising suggestion of abdominal muscles.

Winter shook her shoulders and her outfit slid forward, closing the stripe of bare skin at the front, and somehow releasing her wings. They burst into view, shimmering with silver and black.

Like being in the darkest of night and suddenly having the moon appear from behind a cloud.

For half a moment, Felicia was dumbstruck. As striking as Winter had seemed before, her wings enhanced her beauty tenfold. Felicia wondered if she would ever be able to pull her eyes away.

Then, in the next half moment, something caught her eye. Behind Winter, through a small window that lead into an antechamber of some sort, was the pink-haired Pixie.

“Who’s that?” Felicia found herself saying, as she slid sideways in her chair, trying to get a clear view past Winter’s wings. The Pixie was gone.

She stood up quickly. Her chair tipped over and fell to the floor. Glancing around the room, she saw a door she hadn’t noticed before. She ran to it and pulled it open, revealing the antechamber, but no pink-haired Pixie, and no other way out.

She turned to the other three Pixies, who were staring at her with surprise, concern, and maybe fear. “Where is she?” Felicia demanded.

“Who?” Winter asked. She was the most surprised but also the most composed. “Who did you see?”

“The pink-haired Pixie.” Felicia looked around the room. There were only three ways out: the stairs they had arrived by, the stairs up to Winter’s room…

And the stairs down to Felicia’s own room. “There!” she said with certainty and ran to the stairs and started downward.

“Wait!” a Pixie yelled.

This stairway was dimly lit and very narrow. There was a door at the bottom. Felicia felt certain the pink-haired Pixie was waiting just beyond.

“Watch out for the—” another Pixie said.

She took a step—

…what…

—her mind refused to process what happened next.

Discontinuity

“FELICIA?”

She awoke with a start and sat upright—too quickly, causing a wave of dizziness to wash over her. She closed her eyes for a moment to let the sensation pass, then looked around. She was in a small room, simple and square. It had grey stone walls and was completely bare of any ornamentation, yet felt warm and welcoming thanks to the bright sunlight streaming in through many small windows.

But nothing was familiar about it. “Where am I?” she said.

“Your room,” said the Pixie standing on the right side of her bed. It was Mint. “You passed out when you ran through the discontinuity.”

“You really should avoid doing that,” said another Pixie, Tulip, sitting in a chair to Felicia’s left and glowing brightly in a ray of sunshine.

Felicia’s mind was still stuck on one word. “Disconti… what?” she said.

“Discontinuity,” Mint said. “It crosses your doorway. Kind of like the curtain we went through yesterday.”

“Actually, it’s nothing like the curtain,” Tulip corrected.

Felicia could almost feel the glare Mint was giving Tulip.

“Well, it isn’t,” Tulip said, “not in the slightest. The curtain is a shortcut between places. The discontinuity is a just a broken place where nothing exists.”

Mint continued to glare for a few more seconds, then turned her attention back to Felicia. She leaned closer and spoke in a softer tone. “How do you feel?”

“Fine, I guess,” Felicia said. The dizziness had faded and otherwise she felt normal.

There was a brief burst of white light, and a third Pixie appeared at the foot of her bed. It was the Goddess Ariel, and she didn’t look happy.

“You’re awake,” Ariel said, and without waiting for a response, “The Pixie you saw. Describe her.”

Felicia felt a warmth spread through her body.
The pink-haired Pixie! How could I forget!
She found herself trying to climb out of bed, but both Mint and Tulip reached in and gently held her down. “Who is she?” Felicia said eagerly. “Is she here?”

Ariel stared unblinking into the Vampire’s eyes. “Describe her,” she said with more intensity.

The image of the Pixie floated through Felicia’s mind, and she sighed before speaking. “She’s beautiful, with pink hair and soft blue eyes.”

“What shade of pink?” Ariel asked. “Like cotton candy?”

“No. Darker. With maybe a hint of purple. It looked very glossy and soft.”

Like it wants to be touched.

“She has short hair?”

Felicia shook her head vehemently. “No, it’s long, maybe past her shoulders, perfectly straight.”

Ariel muttered something that could only be a curse and disappeared.

Felicia looked at Mint. “She knows who it is, doesn’t she?”

Mint paused, then said, “Yes.”