The Devil's Playthings by Melissa Silvey Page B

whispered. Her eyes lit up when she thought about her. “ She was so sweet, and caring . She was the world to me. And she was so pretty. ”
     
    “And so are you,” he finished his story as she finished her meal. He laid a card on the table, and the waiter immediately came to carry it away. “Emma, sometimes it’s better not to know everything,” he stated the moral of the story as he helped her on with her coat. She simply nodded.
     
    That night he joined her in her bed again. He refused to allow himself to change, to become the demon . He refused to link in to the thoughts of man, he refused t o be anything but human. And when he brushed her hair out of her face in the middle of the night, he willed his skin to stay cool. He even rolled into her body, spooning her, and wrapped his arm around her. He closed his eyes, and his mind went black.
     
    When his black eyes popped open she laid beside him reading Romeo and Juliet.
     
    “What was that?” He asked her.
     
    “You were asleep?” She shrugged her answer.
     
    “I don’t sleep,” he replied, and stre tched. He felt wonderful though, full of energy.
     
    “You did last night. You even snored,” she giggled.
     
    “Impossible,” he yawned, and threw his hand up to cover his eyes. “What time is it?”
     
    “I don’t know , you have no clocks in this apartment ,” she chided as she turned the page.
     
    “Oh, that’s right, we’ll have to rectify that.” He rolled over and toyed with her nightgown. “Why are you reading that?”
     
    “Its homework,” she reminded him. “I enjoy it. I’ve never read it before.”
     
    He stared blankly at her for a moment, and began to recite what she was reading word for word. He recited Shakespeare as he moved his hands toward her body. He traced up her legs to her feminine core, and laid his head on shoulder as he observed her reactions. Her pleasure was his fuel as he brought her to another orgasm.
     
    “I don’t know why everyone loves Romeo and Juliet. It’s so dark, they both die in the end. All of Shakespeare’s plays are so dark. I think humans are more obsessed with evil than they are with good.”
     
    She was still trying to catch her breath from the orgasm, and wasn’t thinking straight. “Did you influence Shakespeare?” She wondered aloud.
     
    “Shush beautiful girl,” he said as he moved his mouth down her body, over her gown, and to the place where his fingers had been. He did things to her that pushed her over the edge of sanity , and he enjoyed every wonderful moment of it. At the point she could take no more, and begged him to stop he did, and she fe l l into a blissful sleep.
     
    She awoke to find him carrying a tray to her bed. It held waffles, fruit , whipped cream, milk, juice, and a bouquet of white roses. It was the first flowers she’d seen inside the apartment.
     
    “You need to eat, you need your strength,” he ordered, almost like Rosa. “Then you need to shower and dress.”
     
    “Are we going out again?” She yawned the words as he plumped the pillows behind her, and he placed the tray on her lap as she sat back against them.
     
    “Yes, beautiful,” he nodded. “Now hurry, we don’ t want to miss the sunlight .” He’ d already dressed in faded jeans and a dark grey sweater that zipped up the front with a soft grey shirt under it. Whatever they were doing, they must be doing it outside, she thought, and excited she hurried through her brunch.
     
    Dressed in warm clothes, a puffy coat, a hat, scarf, and mittens all in varying shades of aqua, she was so excited until they pulled up to Central Park. She had horrible memories of her past life; buying drugs with her body and passing out on a bench. She couldn’t count how many times she did it. It was a vicious cycle that she repeated over and over.
     
    They walked through the park, hand in hand, and she noticed everywhere they walked the pigeons flew away squawking. Dogs growled when they walked past,