Chapter 18

Summer – 2082 a.d.
Renewing Old Friendships

“I didn’t need to,” Béla was saying as they climbed the steps up to the entrance of a brownstone house. “I could see it in his mind. This is the building, but this is not where he was going to take us!” She stopped talking and looked around at the surface of the building.

‘There should be an alarm or a bell or something – a button to push, ‘ she thought, looking around the entranceway.

“Please state your name for voice identification,” a voice said, coming out of the wall.

‘There’s nobody there!’ Beth shrieked in Béla’s mind.

‘Stop yelling! It’s only a machine!’

“Wilson, Béla,” Béla said, speaking at the wall.

“And Beth,” Beth piped up, catching on to what her sister was doing. “Uh, Bathory. Sorry, I mean, Bathory, Beth.” That seemed to be the way names were used here. After all, Béla had said her last name first, and until just a second ago, she didn’t even know her sister had a last name.

‘Bathory? Who the hell is that?’ Béla asked in her sister’s mind.

‘Hey! I needed a last name for identification!’ Beth explained, exasperation evident in her mind. ‘That was the last, last name I had before the Praetor took me! Should I have said “Tepes”?’

‘You didn’t need to say anything at all, ‘ Béla smirked, looking at her sister with one eyebrow raised as if wondering what to do with her. ‘If this device works, my name should get both of us in.’ Then she shook her head and simply smiled.

‘Nothing like letting the hanger-on know what’s going on... ‘ Beth growled back, mostly to herself.

The latch clicked inside the door and it opened electronically, quietly sliding into the wall. The sisters looked at each other.

‘How would a machine know who I was or even that I was coming?’

‘Hey, this is your world, ‘ Beth replied. ‘I’m just visiting, remember? This is all new to me... ‘

By the time the two sisters reached the end of the first hall, Frank and Tanya were out in the hall looking for them.

“You’re really here!” Tanya cried, wrapping her arms around them both! “And this time, you aren’t getting away!”

“Why would we want to?” Beth asked innocently.

“You look different! Tanya exclaimed, happily holding Béla by the shoulders and looking her up and down.

Beth, curious, looked into Tanya’s mind to see what the difference was.

“No shoes,” Beth informed Tanya, cheerfully. “She’s shorter. And her hair’s not...” she decided not to say what she saw in Tanya’s mind. ‘Her hair’s not on fire... ‘

Béla turned to hug Frank ‘hello’. As she stretched up to kiss him, she was smacked in the face with the horrible images he’d carried for the last eighty years, her presence in front of him forcing the unbidden images up from the past.

Eerie orange light flickering, its evil incandescence lighting up the leaves of the surrounding trees. The pain and agony of just sitting and watching the fire, knowing that the most unique and treasured person in your world had just perished and there was nothing you could do to change it; nothing at all that could ever bring her back...

“Oh, Frank!” Béla cried. “I’m so sorry...” They both broke down and cried into each other’s arms, Béla unexpectedly and completely overwhelmed by his love and his grief for her.

Tanya led Beth on into the apartment and into the kitchen, leaving the two ancient lovers to find their own way in.

“So, do you like tea?” Tanya asked. “I didn’t have to feed you when you were a ghost, or rather, a dream. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone.”

“I’d like some tea, if it’s alright with you,” Beth responded. “Sometimes the sky is really pretty at twilight.”

The odd look Tanya gave her indicated to Beth that she’d misunderstood something. This language thing was starting to get frustrating. There were too many meanings for the words she heard, and she seemed to be constantly reminded that she didn’t know them all.

“Good. I wasn’t sure if they have tea,” Tanya said, sounding embarrassed. “I mean, where you come from.”

‘I’m fumbling around like a fourteen-year-old girl. What is it about these space girls that makes them so damned sexy? Are all of Béla’s sisters as alluring as this one? So far, the two I’ve met are absolutely irresistible!’

Beth smiled, listening to Tanya think. She liked Tanya. Tanya felt as good in person as she did when she’d visited in her dreams.

She felt her sister coming in. She and Frank were discussing something; their voices too soft for Beth to hear. She resisted raiding her sister’s mind and put her attention back on the pretty blond. Tanya was watching her new houseguest react to Frank and Béla’s intimacy.

“They’re going into the spare bedroom,” Tanya told her. “They’re probably going to be, um, intimate.”

Beth couldn’t resist it and dream-walked into the room Frank and her sister had gone into. She watched for a moment, then returned back to her body in the kitchen.

Tanya sat down, opening a box. A scent of flowers and herbs attracted Beth’s attention.

“The tea will be ready in a moment,” Tanya said, “I like to heat the water myself, that way I can control the temperature.”

Beth picked up the idea that Tanya could ask the wall for a cup of tea and the wall would give it to her. ‘How odd... ‘

“You like to think of Béla as yours, don’t you?” Tanya asked, still studying her houseguest. “You don’t like the idea of her being with Frank.”

“Well, do you?” Beth asked, hoping she wasn’t offending her host. “Isn’t Frank yours?” She thought she understood marital relationships. She didn’t approve of them, and didn’t want to be in one, but she understood them, at least.

Tanya smiled. “Yeah, he is, but Béla belongs to us, too.” ‘You could be a member of our family, as well. God! You’re so sexy, I could just eat you up! And out!’

‘She’s thinking about taking me to her bed! Making me part of her family!’ Beth realized. “Béla said that you’ve lived a long time, the last time we were here.”

“Yes,” Tanya admitted, personally glad to have something to talk about. “I was hurt in an accident, and Béla donated some of her blood. It cured me, but now I can expect to live several hundred more years. Frank shares his life with me.”

“I understand,” Beth admitted. ‘Lifemates. Companions.’ She decided to explain her relationship with her sister to Tanya.

“Béla is my ... sister,” she began, sounding lame. “We were created by the Regent of Deimos – our species was, I mean. My sisters and I think of him as our father, but he isn’t really, any more than we are really sisters. Béla and I ... we’re companions for the time being, but not lifemates. Although as companions, we’ve ... shared ... each other. Sexually, I mean.” ‘This is really awkward.’

“But, we don’t demand, um, I can’t tell her not to go with someone else,” Beth stated, still trying to explain herself. “We don’t ... try to control each other like that. But, going with someone else doesn’t mean you have to abandon the one you’re already with, or leave them behind...” She stopped talking, hoping that her sister wasn’t leaving her behind... ‘Like she did Elaine... ‘

Tanya got up to get the hot water off the heating element. She poured some into a ceramic pot and put the bag filled with crushed flower petals and herbs into it.

“Tea will be ready in just a minute, now,” she said, then sat back down after performing her little chore. She had butterflies in her stomach so badly she was almost shaking. ‘Why does this girl affect me this way?’

“Thank you ... Tanya,” Beth replied. ‘Don’t be so nervous. It will happen as the gods see fit to allow it, ‘ she thought into Tanya’s mind.

They both reached out spontaneously, touching their hands together. Their minds merged, each one’s desires now clearly known to the other. Following their hands, they both leaned forward, touching their lips together. Beth couldn’t remember a more gentle touch than that kiss.

Tanya poured the tea and the two of them sat and sipped silently for a moment. Then Tanya stood up and led her new lover into her bedroom. Stopping next to the bed she and Frank had been roused from only a short while earlier, she turned toward Beth. With no words spoken, they found themselves embracing each other, their lips pressed together. Beth felt Tanya’s tongue forcing itself into her mouth. Surprised, she stopped. Tanya broke away, suddenly embarrassed.

“Sorry,” Beth apologized, breathing heavily. “I didn’t know what you were doing. There are so many strange customs...”

“What? You don’t kiss?” Tanya inquired, not entirely pleased with Beth’s weak excuse for stopping. She was convinced that there was something about her that Beth didn’t like and didn’t want to say.

“Well, no. I don’t...”Beth began, feeling confused and uncertain, herself. “It’s not ... traditional. You surprised me, that’s all. I liked it ... but I don’t usually kiss.” ‘I don’t understand. We want each other. Why is this suddenly so difficult?’

“You asked me to kiss you once before,” Tanya said, trying not to sound too accusing, “the first time we met.”

“I know,” Beth confessed, not wanting to tell her possibly-new lover that she’d done that just to find out what she was thinking. “That was to get to know you ... to know who you are. Will you kiss me again? Now? For pleasure?” ‘That should solve the problem... ‘

Tanya kissed Beth gently on the lips. Once again, that incredible attraction was there. Tanya stopped and looked deeply into Beth’s eyes. The attraction was still there now, even without the physical contact. She kissed Beth again. ‘I never met anyone who had reasons like that for kissing ... What did she mean, “to get to know me”?’

While they embraced, still kissing, Tanya licked across Beth’s lips with the tip of her tongue, asking permission this time. Beth opened her mouth, allowing Tanya to probe her teeth and tongue. Tanya even caressed the roof of her mouth. Beth felt her body responding, making ready to be pleasured by this hot young blonde with the big cushy breasts and her soft, warm mouth.