Strong pulse

I must have slept for perhaps an hour. I woke up when it was brighter outside. Next to me, rolled in a small ball, was the lady of the forest, in a such a deep sleep that I had to take her pulse. It was beating, very slowly, but strong. I got up, made sure she was well covered up under a light blanket, and tightened the curtains. I had a shower, made coffee, and set down to work.

Soon, I was starving. I made breakfast, drank more coffee. It was only eight o’clock. The sky was grey. I checked in the mirror, this time the mark on my neck was deeper. I smiled. The humorist in me was saying: so you met the girl with green eyes, who speaks with an owl, wears victorian underwear, and vampirises you after superlative sex! I smiled, it was like that, wasn’t it?

Till Sunset

I worked for two hours, then I checked on my visitor again. I think I knew she would sleep until sunset. Just before then, the skies cleared up and there was bright sunshine through the study window. I heard nothing but suddenly knew she was behind me. I stood up, she fell in my arms, naked, offered, the green eyes looking up at me, a beauty out of this world. I lifted her up in my arms, her long hair all over me. We stayed immobile and silent, for a long time. It soon was dusk. Outside the street lights lit up, night would soon be with us.

I held her tighter, feeling her pulse beating against my chest. Finally I said: “This is a home for you, I am in love with you.” And so it was. She went to the bathroom, came out after a long shower, wearing my bathrobe which was way too big for her. I offered to dry her hair, and she smiled, then we had another long kiss.

She’d given me more than any other woman had, since my birth. I sensed her fragility, her longing, and I knew she had recognised mine. She said she was vegetarian, only ate fruit and fresh vegetables, a little milk. I made dinner. She watched me, intense, the green eyes eating me up. Then she told me about her life, as we ate.

Village

She’d been born in a farming family, in a village not far from where we had met. She was christened Inga. Inga was early working on the farm, and attended school. Her parents had died, in a horrific fire caused by a storm when she was very little. Her aunt, her mother’s sister, had then looked after her, and there, in her aunt’s house, was where she had stayed till now. She slept often during the day, unless she was working, helping neighbours on their farms, and spent much time in the forests, at night.

Woods

She felt guilty toward me, and said, pressing herself against me, that she felt very close to me, that I was unlike other men she’d known. We kissed again at that point. I did not ask about the bite. There was time. I guessed there was more to her than this simple enough story. I remembered the owl.

We spoke late into the night. Then she said she wanted to go back to the woods, and would come back the next morning. I gave her a key, and the key to the bikes’ lock, and said she could keep the phone if she needed to call me. She looked at me, silent for another long time. We kissed again, she went to get dressed. Then she went.

I was still hungry, made more food, poured myself a whisky. Yes, I had fallen in love with the lady of the forest, with Inga. I did not really understand who she was, and where her blood lust came from. She had told me nothing about it. I wasn’t clear about her age either. I only knew I wanted her to be back, soon. I wanted to feel her pulse, and her lips on my skin.

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