Beach Day - Belladonna

The lace parasol cast intricate shadows upon the ground, dotting the white sand with shaded bits of fractal light. The ocean waves were lapping gently and the sound of distant seagulls became a background to the late afternoon. Belladonna sat mainly in the shadows, having had her fill beneath the parasol.  She took cover now in the cool shadow of a boulder, her legs crossed beneath her with a permanent scowl on her face.

“We can go home,” I told her not for the first time. Why she had wanted to come out here was beyond me. The discomfort she felt poured off of her and any activity that we could partake in would either be done with her as a voyeur or after the sun finally set.

“I do not wish to go home,” she parroted. It was done with the same tone it had been spoken each time she asked.

“You’re not having fun.”

“I am enjoying every second of this,” she snapped. ‘It is you who are not partaking in any of the activities planned. Perhaps you are the one who is not having fun.”

I raised a brow towards her. “I know you enjoy gaslighting people when you are upset but I really am worried about you out here in the sun. I’m not sure what you are trying to prove.”

“I’m not trying to prove anything.”

“Then let us go home,” I urged. I had visions of her bursting into ash in front of me. A slow and painful death that left her indiscernible from the sand beneath our feet. The fact that she wasn’t concerned with that and looked more annoyed at the sun, gave me a surging amount of anxiety that I didn’t know I could feel.

“Dear heart, come here.”

And like a moth to the flame, I did as she said, scooting close to her and leaving a displaced edge of sand around us.

Pushing me against the rock wall, Belladonna did something I was not used to. She leaned against me. Taking a blanket, I wrapped it around me before promptly wrapping my arms around her. It covered the top half of her bikini clad body and a decent amount of her legs.

“Do you feel better, my great protector?” she laughed.

“Yes.”

“Then hush.” She snuggled back into me. “The sun will be setting soon and that is why we are here.”

It hit me then. Living in the Night Market allowed for very little exposure to light. A safety measure that every vampire loved but overall, not something that was sorely missed given that most occupants had never seen the sun before.  But Bella? Bella was born in the sun. She grew up on a farm, playing in wheat fields. She let her skin darken each year, spotted with sunspots and freckles. She bathed naked in the streams and warmed herself on rocks.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen the sun?”

She was silent for a long moment, staring at the burning orb through the shield of diffused light. “I don’t even remember,” she whispered. “I can still feel it, however. The way it used to dry the sweat on the back of my neck after walking home from church. The smell of it as the grass dried out for the season.” 

“You don’t talk of home much.” I knew how important it had been to her. How much she still idealized a world that was long gone.

“It hurts to do so at times,” she told me. “And I am very aware that my memory is probably not the brutal reality of it. I have read books from my world. Historic texts about the time I lived in. I don’t think I could exist in such a place now. They didn’t take kindly to strong women, it seems.”

“I can’t imagine you being anything but strong.”

“I was– I was softer, I think. Quiet. I tried to do what was expected of me. What the church wished of me. And there was a lot of comfort in that.”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’.”

Her lips curled up in that secret grin that I loved. “But, there were the nights II snuck out at night to go dancing at the local tavern with the boys coming in from the shipyard.  And perhaps an evening or more was spent with the barmaid in the back storeroom.”

“Why Belladonna Malady,” I laughed. “You deviant you.”

“You know what the funny thing is? I didn’t even do anything,” she huffed, almost in regret.  “Oh a few of them got their hands up my skirts but mostly, it was the thrill of the chase. The hunt, if you will.”

“So not much has changed.” She pinched me on the leg, the pad of her thumb soothing the offense.

Tipping her head back, she rested it on my shoulder. “Did you know that I was unaware of what sunlight does to vampires? I was turned and no one told me. Why would they in a world such as it is.  Then, one day, I found an enchantment. Just a nondescript little medallion to hang in the wood that would cast sunlight into the room. I nearly died.”

I held her tighter then, trying to rid myself of the flash of memory I saw. The smell of burnt flesh and the way she screamed as ash poured from her, swirling on the ground. How she hid under the bed for an entire day until someone found her.

“I miss it so much,” she whispered.

“We can do this more often if you like. As long as we are safe.” I didn’t want to tempt fate. In fact, I wanted to take her far away from this dance of death she was teasing.  Her body felt weaker in my arms with each passing hour.

“Perhaps,” she said lightly. “For now, I would just appreciate watching the sunset. I’ve never done this before.”

I frowned. “I thought you said–”

“Let me correct myself. I’ve never watched the sunset in the arms of the person I love.” She craned her neck towards me, a smirk on her face. She knew what she was doing. She knew what those words would do to me.  “Would you care to experience this with me, my heart?”

I brushed the hair from her face, my lips meeting the chilly feel of her own. “Everyday for the rest of my life.”

She grinned, her fangs slicing into my bottom lip. “Which, if I have anything to do with, will be forever.” Settling back against me, she pulled the blanket tighter around us. It was sweltering in the sun but Bella’s body cooled my own while I warmed hers.  Neither of us moved as the sun made its journey through the sky.  And when it finally began to set, Belladonna allowed me to wrap myself around her further, taking her with the dying rays of the day reflected in her eyes.