The weather turned and November was in full force, the days mostly rainy and dreary. All of the leaves had fallen from the trees, and her secret garden was now shades of browns and grays, mottled with a few evergreen bushes.
Despite the dismal environment, Seneca still ate her lunch in the small park when the weather wasn't too egregious. Godwin didn't join her for lunch, she had no idea what he did when she wasn't with him, but she liked how she felt when she sat here. Like this spot somehow connected them.
There was a thick blue satin ribbon tied to the bench arm rest today. It hadn't been there the day before, she was quite sure. She wondered who had left it. Was it was a message for someone, had someone tied it there whimsically?
She sighed, missing Godwin. They were meeting up tonight, and it was driving her to distraction. With more than a week since they last met, she could feel her blood lust simmering just under the surface.
More than a week since... Her face burned as she remembered Josh finishing on her face, his warm fluid across her lips and cheeks. The look on Godwin's face as she was defiled by Josh's passion. Her core tightened in anticipation of what Godwin might have in store for tonight, and she only felt half of the shame she would've nornally felt before she started this game with Godwin.
She sent Josh a quick text, letting him know how much she was looking forward to their meet-up. He replied back nearly instantly, echoing her sentiments.
She smiled, but she couldn't stop dwelling on what Kennedy had said about her being in love. She tried to distance herself from her heart, from the feelings that seemed to swell every time she saw her beautiful, mysterious incubus, but it was nearly impossible.
She snorted at herself. He wasn't 'her incubus', and they weren't in that kind of relationship. They were playing together, and though she knew the rules of the game, she couldn't keep herself from loving him. Her heart hurt.
But, he had to at least like her, right? Had to at least find her good company since he continued to play their game. But no, she couldn't let herself be fooled into thinking he love her. This was a game to him, that was all.
She shook her head, then sighed, shivering as a cold breeze cut through her clothing. She could never tell him. If he knew how she felt he would stop the game. She'd never see him again, and she wouldn't even be able to do anything about it. She didn't know where he lived or what he did, didn't know who he was when he wasn't with her.
It didn't matter if he never loved her, as long as they still met up.
But, also, it kinda did.
She sighed again, throwing her trash away before she trudging back into her building for four more hours of copy editing. It felt like forever, and she practically ran to her train station.
There was another velvety blue ribbon tied to a pole next to where she waited for the train everyday, nearly identical to the one on the bench earlier. On a whim she clicked a picture of it with her phone just before her train arrived.
During her trip she searched the internet for what might be going on with the blue ribbons, some type of geocaching or scavenger hunt maybe? She still hasn't found anything relevant when her train pulled into her stop, but she did find another blue ribbon tied to a power pole by her apartment building. She snapped a picture of that one, too.
The blue ribbons made her feel weird, though she didn't know why. She tried to shrug it off, they were probably just some new fad, like crochet bombing park benches or locking padlocks to bridges, but the feeling clung to her.
Godwin had given her directions for how to dress tonight. Black underwear and a plain black dress, or black shirt and skirt. No pants, everything black.
Nervous butterflies danced in her stomach as she pulled on black lycra panties. She put on her fancy black bra, the one that made her breasts look big. It wasn't comfortable, but that wasn't really the point. The only black dress she owned was her funeral dress, so she opted for a lacy black camisole under a v-neck sweater and a black knee-lenght skirt.
She checked herself over in the mirror with a frown. She looked okay, nothing special though. Why were Josh and Godwin always meeting up with her? She couldn't figure it out.
Despite hurting her own feelings, she was resolved not to ruin this. She would enjoy it until Godwin grew bored and Josh moved on, then she would buy all of the ice cream and binge eat it with her Netflix account and her cat.
As if summoned by her thoughts, her cat sauntered self-importantly into the room, then mewled piteously, his eyes accusing. She rolled her eyes at her dramatic Persian. "Yes, yes, Shack, I'm coming. I know you haven't had any food in at least, like, hours. You're practically wasting away before my very eyes."
Shack mewled again, confirming her story, then turned and headed up the hall towards the kitchen, tail high in the air. He turned and gave her a kitty glare, then waited for her to follow, his tail cutting the air impatiently.
He yowled insistently until she placed his dish on the floor, then buried his whole head in the dish. She scratched her overweight cat behind one fuzzy ear and he flicked it, but otherwise ignored her as he gobbled down his dinner.
Her phone buzzed. "Gotta go, fuss-butt. Try not to break all my stuff while I'm gone" she said, slipping her shoes on. She grabbed her coat hoping that it didn't violate Godwin's 'all black' dress code, the puffy gray coat was the only winter coat she had.
There wasn't time to worry about it now. She was out of the house and back at the train stop in record time, panting as she barely caught the train.
In the train she had this weird feeling, like she was being watched. She looked around, but no one seemed to be paying attention to her. It unsettled her so much that when she got to her stop she ran the whole way to their bench. Okay, not the whole way, she was mega-out of shape, but she ran until her lungs hurt, then walked as fast as she could after that.
Relief replaced her nervousness when she saw Godwin waiting for her. He smiled when he saw her and she waved a tiny wave as she closed the distance between them.
His suit was all black, with the tiniest bit of silver around the trim of his hat. Her fingers trailed over her silver collar and she blushed. Had he dressed to match her? It was silly, but it made her feel special.
"Hello, hansa," he greeted, stepping close enough to for her to smell him.
"Hi Godwin..." she said, trying to hide the fact that she was out of breath.
How embarrassing, who'd ever heard of an out of shape vampire? Maybe she should start running and working out, it could also help her to look better for Godwin and Josh. She would start... tomorrow.
"What is your concern? Were you running here?" He reached out towards her, as if to hug her perhaps, then quickly thrust his arms to his sides. "Is all well? Take a seat to calm your heart."
