I felt like I was walking on a cloud weeks after Beltane. Somehow, I just felt suffused with a joy and zeal for life that I just didn't ever truly feel... and it was noticeable.
My daughter seemed more inclined to ask after me than she ever had before... it had not ever occurred to me how often the family saw me as emotionally closed off, trying to understand and contain the chaos in my own head, that I had actually,
instead, been shutting myself away from the people that loved me, so scared was I to hurt them. My husband saw the change in me too, even going so far as to ask what brought this evolution on.
"The Devil made me do it," I responded with a smile and proceeded to tell him the complete story about the strange little spellbook and my compact with the fallen angel.
Naturally, he was concerned. I mean, what else could you be when your wife tells you she made a deal with the Devil? Still, as I continued to explain all of the details, our dates, and finally that I was not the only person in this flesh that had fallen pretty hard.
"REALLY?" Sean's eyebrows lifted so high in surprise it was almost cartoonish. "Evangeline? And here I thought she would be the more reserved between you... she always has been."
It was always like this when we discussed my other side. He accepted well enough, could even sometimes tell it was her that wanted him and not me. But her feelings for Sean, so far as I had ever gathered, were lust mixed with tolerance for him. She loved to fuck him. Adored the few times she had been brought to heel by him, but resented he wasn't interested in anything she was and on the rare occasions that he catered to her desires, it was fleeting and never lasted as he preferred to worship the woman he chose... not the one that he got saddled with by random happenstance.
It was uncharitable to say he didn't like Evangeline. It was truer to say that he wasn't overly fond of the parts of my personality that she embodied and came to the surface for. He didn't see Evangeline as a whole other person; he saw her as a part of me that had been given a new name, as if to say when I painted, I then went by my artist name in public rather than my own.
And I will be honest, I had thus far managed to avoid any real therapy to know if his take on it was more correct than my own that Evangeline was the sister I never wanted, and we only had one body to wear. Sometimes, I got to wear it and be in charge... sometimes I got to stay home and nap while Evangeline was out dancing and making mischief. If I was lucky, she live streamed her evening so I knew what happened. We had developed an agreement over the years. I would let her watch me and Sean, even let her ride shotgun and offer suggestions of what she might desire (provided I kept it quiet it was her desire, as she seemed to really think Sean didn't see her... or want to). And when she chose a partner, she shared with me. Sometimes I wondered if I did have memory gaps with certain partners if it meant she was engaging in some sort of play I might have problems with. But I knew her purpose was to protect me, so I wasn't too worried if she hid something from me so long as it was something that stayed between her and our lover and wouldn't cause me embarrassment in the future.
Sean kissed my temple and ran a hand through my hair, his warm caramel brown eyes on mine. "Be careful, love. Few wind up unchanged when they mess with the Gods. Fewer still are changed for the better."
"He doesn't feel evil," I said honestly. "He seems... lonely."
Sean shook his head with a sigh. "Always the champion for the irredeemable monsters of the world, my beauty?" He gave an indulgent, loving smile and kissed my lips while caressing my cheek and I leaned into his chest, letting him take my weight a little as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
I knew what he meant. I had a long standing love of the story of Beauty and the Beast. Not just the Disney version but any love story where the heroine has to find a hero in the heart of a monster. Sometimes they are physically bestial, like in the Disney cartoon. Sometimes their form didn't make them monsters per se, just what if demanded that they do to live, like any romantic paranormal story. I think that is why I have always loved vampires. Ever since Anne Rice in the late 70s, vampires had become the new misunderstood monster. Sometimes what made someone a monster was a misperception by society. Sometimes they just didn't emote or were sociopathic and chance of redemption seems impossible... and sometimes it is.