Midnight Cove

The next few days were the best days of my life. Cove never left my side as we perused the local beaches collecting seashells together. In the evenings I had him take me on long flights. Wrapped safely in his steel embrace he soared at a neck breaking pace under the apricot colored clouds of the California sunset, a mere firefly amidst the starless skies.

And of course, our time was filled with passion. I couldn't stop myself from wanting him. Cove had woken me up to the beauty that was life. Everything around me lit up, my world was finally open to the wonder and happiness all around me. It took death to make me finally feel alive. For the first time I had no plan for the future, for anything, and I felt more than content. I felt free.

My whole life I had been going through the motions and I had no solid dreams or desires of my own just this vague idea of what I was 'supposed to' do, but now with Cove by my side I had a drive to live and a love that could not be stifled. I had found myself. It was as though I had been sleeping through my entire life, waiting for that perfect someone. And now, my prince had come to give me the kiss that woke me from my slumbering existence. For me, it could only have been the thrilling kiss of Death.

The night before I had to go back to work I was falling into a slump of depression. It felt as though my perfect dream life was over and the monotony of my real life had once again come to claim me. Cinderella had to go back to work. Cove noticed my glumness and rebuked me for it.

"Nothing is going to change, Bonnie," he said.

"I know. You're right." I agreed in a feeble attempt to placate him. Inwardly I continued to pout. Fed up with my sulking, Cove pushed my legs off of his lap and got up and flicking off the t.v.

"What are you doing?" Panic flooded through me. I was worried I had taken my pity party too far and he would leave early, tired of my act.

Before I could worry too much more, I heard a familiar song being played on my record player. It was my Otis Redding. The warm memory of our first dance washed over me. Cove held his hand out to me as he had so many times. Pulling me up into his arms he slowly began to spin me around the room. In no time I was laughing again. I was dizzy as Cove dipped and danced me about, one spin flowing seamlessly into the next. He threw me back so far I thought I would do a flip. I exploded with joy, the laughter naturally spilling from my lips.

Cove, too, joined in before leaning down to place a soft kiss on my mouth. I returned the gesture happily, however when I opened my eyes I was floating in mid air. Cove's shirt hung from his body in tattered sheds; his wings opened with such force the fabric didn't stand a chance, destroyed in the process. I looked at him for a moment before we both returned to our fit of laughter.

I laughed so hard I thought my sides would cave in. Tears rolled from my eyes and yet the giggles would not stop. Cove swooped my legs out from underneath me, cradling me in his arms he began to spin me around the room continuing his ballroom dancing. The capability of flight was probably a big help in being light on one's feet, but Cove was fluid in motion regardless. The man could have given Fred Astaire a run for his money.

When the record ended I could feel the shimmery feeling that meant he was changing back to his normal human self. It was so delicate that I could only detect it because it had happened about a million times in the past week. I could easily see why I never noticed the first time he kissed me. Unless you were accustomed to it, you would never know it was coming. It felt similar to a gentle snowfall, soft and insubstantial, almost outside of your senses.

Cove was still cradling me in his arms as I rested my head against the remains of his shirt scantily draped across his muscular chest. I put my hand over his heart and listened, cherishing the warm steady rhythm. Without a word Cove carried me to the bedroom. We didn't make love, he lied me down on the bed and snuggled in next to me. Gently, he traced his fingers over my curves. The heavy feeling of his hands felt good on my skin and I lied there relishing his touch. Over and over his fingertips grazed my body parts, every curve, every crevasse, stroking my soft, smooth skin with his icy cold fingertips.

Finally, I broke the silence. "What are you doing, Cove?" He must have made the same track along my body a hundred times now.

He didn't stop tracing, still following the same path, he merely changed from looking at his fingers to looking at my eyes. Cove looked deep into my eyes and with his velvety voice embossed with emotion he said, "I want to memorize you, your every curve. You are exquisite, Bonnie, and I want to etch you into my mind exactly as you are now. I want to remember you always."

His sincerity was almost heartbreaking. I too wanted to remember us like this forever. It was the first time I ever thought about the fact that it wouldn't stay this way. The moment became surreal. Apparently, he had thought about this. Because tomorrow when we would both go back to our separate lives he had been thinking of the day when we would be parted forever.

"Cove?" I didn't know how he would feel about my next question.

"Hmm," his response came lazy and content, still focused on his memorization of my curves.

"Can I ever become a faery like you?" His fingers stopped. "I mean..." I faltered, my voice coming out more nervous than I anticipated, "Is there any way we can be together, forever? I don't know if you would even want that, I was just wondering, I mean if it ever came to that." I was rambling now, clearly embarrassed by the whole situation. I probably should've waited for him to ask, right?

"Bonnie," Cove's half-cocked smile looked bittersweet. "I was never a human. I cannot make you into something you are not."

I knew what that meant. There was no way to stop it. I would age, I would grow old and die and Cove never would. At that moment my heart split. A deep sob escaped and I began to whimper like a child. Cove hesitated, his hand hovering above my shoulder, and then in an instant he pulled me close, allowing me to cry out all of my despair. He knew this moment would happen, he knew the inevitable truth of it. This was exactly what he did, he brought humans to their ultimate fate, death.

Lacing our fingers together as he held me, I felt the cold harshness of it seep to the very core of my being. As exhaustion began to take hold, I lost all energy to fight back, it was pointless. Cove wiped the tears away and kissed the top of my head.

"It doesn't change anything Bonnie. I will always love you. You own my heart. Do not worry anymore about it tonight, just rest my darling. I will stay with you, you're not alone anymore." Cove's hushed words ebbed my weeping and I started to slip into unconsciousness. I was so tired I wasn't sure I heard him, but the last thing I thought I heard before completely succumbing to sleep was Cove's soft whispering, "Neither am I."

It wasn't really necessary for Jenna to be there on my first day back to work, but she was. I knew she would be. She pretended that she was just worried and wanted to ascertain if I could handle the workload on my own, but I knew the truth. I hadn't even made it inside the shop before she had started plaguing me with questions.

"How are you feeling?" Jenna was in her mid-forties with frizzy strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She had an eyebrow piercing and her arms were covered in tattoos. She looked much more intimidating than she actually was. She was extremely athletic to an extent that made me somewhat jealous. She was ripped and looked like she could have easily been to a personal trainer, but it seemed to rob her a bit of her femininity.

"I'm great! Ready to get back to work." I smiled enthusiastically in response to the first of what I assumed was many questions she had for me that day. I hoped that the topic of work would sidetrack her, a side effect of having a zest for life meant that she was a complete workaholic.

"Oh, that's good," she smiled back, "So, Cove helped you recover then?" She didn't try to hide her insinuation at all. I made no response to that one and refused to make eye contact as I refilled the coffee grounds in the espresso machine. "Well, he sounded hot on the phone." She nudged me with her elbow. "How old is he? Maybe he's got an older brother." She winked playfully trying to goad me into talking.

It worked. "Nope, but he's got a younger one," I said. I immediately regretted bringing up Phoenix. Talking about him gave me a queasy unnerving feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Really?" That piqued her interest. "So, where did you meet these boys? Tell me. What do they look like?"

I blushed. I couldn't help myself. Thinking about Cove and even Phoenix for that matter would make any girl change color. They were both absolutely drop dead gorgeous, there was no hiding from that fact.

"Bonnie," Jenna towered over me at a strikingly beautiful height of six feet two inches and she had to stoop down to better look me in the face. "Are you blushing?"

I tried to look away to hide, busying myself and grabbing a few muffins out of the mini fridge for the wicker basket that sat on the counter in preparation for the hungry morning customers. "Oh my God! You are! You're blushing," she laughed.

"Shut up!" I said. "Are you going to help me work or not?" I wasn't really mad at Jenna I just couldn't stop the blush and the more she poked fun at me the more crimson I was becoming. If I didn't get some self control the customers were going to be worried that I might have poison oak or something.

Jenna kept laughing. "Okay, okay," she said. At least she was attempting to ease up on me. "But you've got to at least describe what he looks like to me. Any guy that can make you blush has got to be drop dead gorgeous."

I spun around and smiled. For the rest of the work day I gushed about Cove. I told her every detail of his beautiful body, how he was a great dancer and so smart and articulate, what great manners he had, and of course what a great kisser he was.

"So," she pried, "have you two...?"

I felt my face get hot and the flush return to my cheeks. The butterflies in my stomach went on overdrive. I giggled and bounced before bursting out, "Yes!" and then giggling again. I was so excited to finally be able to talk to someone about it, it was driving me crazy.

Jenna laughed too, "Aw, hun, that's great." She smiled at me in a maternal way. "So are you guys pretty serious about each other? Does he know you feel like this about him? More importantly does he feel this way about you?"

I held my breath before answering, "I think so." I didn't feel or sound confident about that.

I couldn't see how Cove could possibly love me the way I loved him. Not only that but my thoughts drifted back to our conversation of last night. Cove would live forever, eventually he would either tire of me or forget about me. I was just a blip on his eternal existence, where I was willing to spend the entirety of my existence beside him.

"You think so?" that answer did not make her exactly happy. She looked worried. "Bonnie," she started, "I've never seen you this hung up on a guy before. I know first love can be exciting, but a woman can be broken by it if she isn't careful. I still remember the heartbreak I suffered over my first love."

"Really?" My eyes widened, "What happened?" Jenna was very tight-lipped about her past. She always said that time spent worrying about the past was time wasted.

She gave me a sad sort of smile as she touched one of her tattoos. "It doesn't matter now," she said. "What I am trying to say is that the odds are stacked against you. There is a reason why they call them first loves. Just be careful, okay?" Jenna rested a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, okay." I said. I know she was only trying to look out for me but her words were haunting. She had no idea how close to the mark she had hit. I was already in too deep.