Chapter 6

Travis awoke to the second morning with the most incredible feeling below his waist. He peered under the blanket and watched a pixie head bob up and down on his erection. He wanted to remain perfectly still but a scrape of her teeth sent him jerking upright in an attempt to protect his precious member.

"Don't use your teeth," he pleaded even though he tried to instruct her without rebuke.

A muffled "sorry" emerged from the bottom of the bed. Travis reached down and pulled her entire body up until they were face to face.

"Did I hurt you? Are you mad at me?" Anya asked with concern in her voice. "If there is pain, I will heal it."

"No pain, no hurt," Travis assured her. "Your reaction to last night really threw me for a loop, and I don't want start anything that we might regret."

That was a half-truth. He was suddenly, irrationally terrified. He stared at her as if she was succubus of old, preparing to suck the very soul out of his body. He couldn't help it; she had planted the fear in his mind last night as the lake. Two nights of the supernatural, of sex and power beyond what he had known as the real world, had left him a quivering bag of nerves. He pictured himself as skittish quarry instead of the galloping fuck stud he imagined just 24 hours ago.

"What's the matter," Anya inquired and then pulled her head back with concern. "You're afraid of me."

Travis confessed, "I'm afraid of the power that you carry. You remind me of the impossible 'too good to be true' temptation that damns a man's soul to eternal torment. You can read any person and tell whether they have a soul. I have no doubt that your father could rip my soul out of me. Maybe you can as well."

Anya sat up and crossed her legs. Her skin glowed with vibrant health in the rays of early morning sun. The cool air had her nipples standing out firm and hard, but Travis remained decidedly limp before the entrancing sight.

She tapped her right knee with her index finger.

"I owe you an apology, Travis. You told me last night that you feared death but I wasn't really listening to you. You showed me compassion and I gave you none in return."

Travis shook his head with a slight laugh, "That's crazy. You needed me last night and I was there for you. That movie wasn't what either of us expected. I gave you my hand because you needed it."

Anya started tapping with her other index finger on her left knee.

"You are a kind man but that is not what I mean. You are afraid of death, and that is a terrible thing. What do you think death is?"

Travis shrugged, "I don't know. The Bible talks about the Angel of Death coming to take your soul. People picture him as a skeleton wrapped in black cloaked hood with a bloody sickle in his hand; it's gruesome stuff."

"No wonder humans are soulless; you scare it out of yourselves," Anya mused. "You mean that no human has ever met death?"

"And lived to tell about it? No," Travis responded very confused.

Anya tried to explain, "Death is gorgeous. She is the kindest, most compassionate being I have ever met. She is gentle and delicate. How upset she must be to learn how humans think of her."

"Isn't death black and final?" Travis hesitantly countered.

"Death is a part of life. Death is no different from any other moment of your life. The moment you just had is gone and can never be lived again; it's dead. There goes another moment. Was it black and horrible?"

Travis had a pained look on his face like his brain was just not grasping the concept.

"Death is also life and they go hand in hand. To fear because it is final is to fear life because it is final."

Anya laid a hand over his heart and spoke, "If you fear death, then what you really mean to say is that you fear life. Do you mean to say that you fear to live?"

Travis laid his hand upon her hand.

"Anya, I don't fear life but I have a healthy fear of the unknowns in life. Death is an unknown to me. I've never heard of death as a "she" or the idea that she is beautiful and kind." Travis twisted his brows with consternation, "You've met her?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't die?"

Anya laughed, "Of course not, she didn't come collect me; she came to welcome us in celebration of First Day."

"This is all very strange to me," Travis announced almost giving up on the topic. "You're not afraid of dying?"

"Dying can take many forms and that can be scary. Death, however, is a sweet and comforting embrace. No, Travis, I don't fear death," she spoke with utter seriousness but concluded, "life is decidedly delicious."