Fifi led the way out of the rosebush. Mac crawled on his belly behind her. His body smelled of human musk, Rose, and a faint spice that Fifi concluded must have been herself.
Fifi wondered what Rose found so attractive in Mac. He was a maker, but that didn't matter to nymphs. It must have been something sexual, something extremely sexual, for the nymph to mark him with that much pink stuff.
Fifi had to find out. Thinking about it made her realize that Rose was right. Marking a man merely told other females that he was a good one. All the same, Fifi wanted to cover up that pink stuff with her own blend. She smelled her hand. It was faintly spicy smelling. Maybe she had not noticed it before because it was her own, or it was covered in dirt. Mac finally made it out into the sunshine.
"Lets start by finding one of these little trails that leads toward the creek," said Mac.
"Want to ride," said Fifi. Mac picked her up and put her on his shoulder. They set off along the tiny path around the side of the house. It continued through the overgrown yard on a route that diverged from the drive, heading directly downhill toward the edge of the woods. Bushy branches of the trees at the forest edge seemed to grab at the field in a slow motion assault to turn the field back into forest. They made an impenetrable hedge reinforced by spear-like limbs.
"Stop here," said Fifi. Mac stopped with a bushy pine tree between them and the house. "Look at me". She looked into Mac's eyes. He didn't appear to have any obvious enchantments on him.
"I don't trust Rose," she said.
"Why not?" asked Mac.
"She was really pushy, for a nymph."
"What do you mean?"
"Usually they don't proposition couples."
"Are we a couple?" Mac asked.
"I think so." Fifi was suddenly uncertain. She had assumed she and Mac were a couple for a long time. It didn't need to be said. It didn't even need to be known to Mac.
"What do gremlin couples do?" asked Mac.
"The normal things. Make stuff, play jokes on humans, go visit hobgoblin restaurants."
"So now there are hobgoblins too?"
"They have been around for a while. These days they are mostly chefs. They can cook up any food, but anything more complicated than a brick oven makes them confused and angry."
"I think Rose was just lonely for so long she wanted any affection she could get," said Mac.
"I hope that's all it was," said Fifi. "I don't want you going around her without me."
"I think I can handle an old woman," said Mac.
"You can't. You went stupid from a kiss with her," said Fifi. Mac's face turned red. "But I don't know what she would want with you."
"I'm not that ugly," said Mac.
"I didn't mean it like that. They go after men who are lonely, or have broken hearts, or who had a bad war, or...men...like you." Fifi realized it only after saying it out loud. She hugged his head. "I'm sorry. I thought you were fine deep inside."
"I will be fine. Am I really that broken that a stranger can read me like a book?" Mac asked.
"Not everyone. Nymphs can somehow tell when a man is hurting, human men most of all."
"Not nymph men?"
Fifi Laughed. "There are no nymph men."
"Then how do they reproduce?"
"Don't know. But I don't want you to try to find out," said Fifi.
---
Rose had to remind herself that Mac was not Seamus. They could have been twin brothers if they weren't over a century removed from each other. Of course Mac was a better kisser. It was like he made love to her with his tongue. That almost made her want to settle down and bind herself to him. But she knew where that got her last time. Seamus eventually got old and died, and she stayed young from his love. She must have mourned Seamus for twenty years, weeping like a banshee and carrying his bleached skull to all their favorite make-out spots.
Now she looked at herself in the bowl of water she used as a mirror and noticed the change in her face. Her gray hair was no longer falling out. A few strands even had a silvery shine. The frown lines that she hated so much had noticeably faded. There was no way a human man could do that with a kiss, or was there?
Rose examined the pain she extracted from Mac. It was just a kiss worth, a tiny black gem she held in her hand. Whatever he gave was something still in her, something she didn't mean to take.
"I came as soon as I heard you got out and had contact with the new man," said a thin voice.
"Fizzy, so happy to see you, sweetness." Rose hugged the thin green woman, squeezing her tight buttocks. Fizzy's brownish nipples stood erect on her small breasts. Her dark green hair was shaved on one side, and ran wild everywhere else. Fizzy wore fishnet sleeves and stockings to attract men who wanted to be slapped around, and warn off everyone else.
