Watford Tales

Rainy Day With Fangs

Simon

At first I think it's just a dream, but then I know it's real. Baz is above me, his eyes wild and far away. His fangs are out, his lips pulled back in a vicious snarl. He's pushing me back on the bed and lowering his head to my neck, his mouth open wide, his teeth gleaming. "Baz!" I yell, and try to push him off me, but he's too strong for me right now. "Baz!" I yell again. I take a fist and thump him on the back, hard, and thrust my knee up into his belly. "Wake up!" I scream. "You're dreaming!"

He shakes his head, and his eyes gradually focus on me, first in recognition, then in horror. He loosens his grip and slowly backs away from me, until he's sitting on the end of the bed. He looks half asleep, pale and drawn. We're both naked, and the room is cold. He shivers. I move to draw him close to me, to put my arms around him and warm him up, but he puts up a hand up to stop me.

"What happened?" he says shakily. We both know what happened.

"I think you were dreaming," I say.

He nods. "It was the Mage," he says, his eyes far away. "He was in the room, he had Mordelia. Father was there. It was all dark, but I knew I had to kill him, for my mother, for Mordelia....." he trails off, then looks at me in horror. "I tried to bite you," he says.

"You were asleep," I say.

"That's never happened before," he says, looking at me with a kind of pleading look in his eye. "I've never...... while I'm asleep...." he runs a finger over his fangs, which are still out, and I watch as they recede slowly into his mouth. He's shivering uncontrollably now.

"Baz," I say. I move toward him again. I'm a bit freaked out myself, by what just happened, but he looks so pale and miserable, sitting there shivering, that I just want to comfort him.

"No," he says sharply.

"You're cold," I say. "Let me hold you."

"Don't be an idiot," he says. "I'm not safe."

"You didn't mean to," I say.

"It doesn't matter," he says.

"I love you," I say.

"It doesn't matter."

He grabs a blanket from the bed, wraps himself in it and lies down on the floor. We lay there, him on the floor, me in his bed, and neither of us sleeps, as the room gradually lightens toward morning.

********

I must have drifted off because I startle awake as Baz walks into the room and slams the door shut. His hair is wet and slicked back and he's wearing this dark navy blue dressing gown that makes him look like something out of a magazine. He throws me a fluffy white towel and a terry cloth bathrobe.

"Shower," he says. "Dress. They want to talk to you."

"Baz, I....."

"Later," he cuts me off, and he gives me a cold look. He hasn't looked at me like that in so long I'd almost forgotten that he could. I'd almost forgotten he could make me feel like the most pathetic loser in the world, just with his eyes.

I take my time in the shower. I'm not looking forward to facing Baz's parents. My arse is still sticky, from sex, and I let the hot water run over my backside for a long time. The soap in the shower is the same stuff Baz uses at school, bergamot and cedar. The smell of it makes me want to weep.

********

Baz

Cutting Simon out is easy, after all. I've had years of practice. I just go back to this place in my head, that's been there as long as I can remember, practically. I don't have to think at all.