The Nature of Faeries

Climbing the stairs, my spirits lifted when the blue eyes of Clara's sexy friend Ashley popped into my head. Those eyes sure looked interested. If I was going to be here longer, I would sure like to get to know my cousin's former best friend better.

Clara was glowing, laid back in the steamy water in her shapely beauty. Her smile was a twin to Mona Lisa--enigmatic, yet full of secret promises. She watched me disrobe then settle in at the other end of Gramma's tub. Her dainty foot moved up between my legs to caress my inflamed parts. Any thoughts of Ashley evaporated.

I lifted her foot and bathed it tenderly, then pulled a large toe between my lips. The tiny gasp and the fluttering of Clara's lashes were so delightful I did it to the other four toes, then the other foot.

She released a satisfied sigh. "Now I know what it must feel like to walk the streets of Heaven," she said. Her eyes looked drowsy, but it wasn't because she was ready for sleep.

We moved around in the tub, scrubbing fronts and backs while our fingers wandered to excitable places. Occasionally we would swap a kiss or two in passing.

She was resting back against my chest while I cupped and gently kneaded her magnificent breasts.

"You have about nine months before you graduate, right?" she said. "What are your plans after that?"

"I'd like to do some traveling, see the world, y'know?" I told her. "I think I'll take a year off to roam around before I get a job and settle down. I've been studying something new called 'robotics'. I think I can find a good job designing bigger and faster machines that make things better."

Clara seemed tense. I couldn't see her face.

"Where will you live?"

"I'll probably have to move to another city. Companies are popping up all over, from Tampa, Florida to Detroit, and even Eugene, Oregon. I've thought about moving to Japan. That's where all the leading edge design is happening. "

"Leading edge..." Clara said. The words sounded like a sneer. "You boys and your egos. When are you going to get past that foolish arrogance so you can see how things really work? Bigger and stronger and faster does not always make it better."

"I'm sorry, Clara. I just... Wait! Where are you going?" I said when she pushed herself up and stepped out of the bath.

"The water's cold." She snatched her nightgown and a towel. "I'm going to bed."

Clara marched out of the bathroom. I heard her door slam down the hall.

What the hell...?

I got out, emptied the tub, and dried off. On tiptoes, I followed her wet footprints down the hall and tapped at her door.

"Clara?" I called quietly.

I got no answer.

~~ 14 ~~ THOUGHTS OF ASHLEY ~~~~

I lay in bed, eyes wide open listening to the rattle of the fan. What happened with Clara? Didn't she understand that was why I was going to college? What was she expecting? Did she have some cockamamie idea that after working so hard I was going to move here and spend the rest of my life helping Gramma take care of the farm?

Lewd thoughts bubbled up when I considered a fringe benefit of living in the area. I would love to snag that sexpot soprano away from her snotty boyfriend. Maybe I could even convince her to give me a peek at her silverware.

My erection demanded attention. With my fist tugging on the foreskin, I closed my eyes while I imagined Ashley's sweet figure under me and those enchanting blue eyes gazing up. While I squeezed those luscious, firm melons, my apostle John shoved through her gates of heaven with his usual heated fervor, making her golden voice sing in tongues.

The rapture came over me in a rush. I wasn't prepared and didn't have anything to catch my ejaculate, so it sprayed over my belly and the sheets. Contented, I dropped off into slumber.

The sound of the door opening awakened me. In the faint glow of the moon, Clara came to the bed, pulled the covers down and knelt over my thighs. She was naked.

Silently taking my little man in her good hand, she pulled and squeezed to awaken him. Her mechanical touch held none of the tenderness like before.

I stared up at her, not knowing what to say, afraid that the wrong word might set her off again. When I noticed the two fingers of her other hand were between her legs, I reached out to help, but she pushed me away.

Once I was firm enough, Clara held me erect and came up on her knees. Then she lowered herself slowly, drawing me in.

The sensations of sex with my cousin were still like neither of the women I'd known before. They had allowed me into their bodies. Clara invited me, hugged me, swathed my flesh in the silken blanket of her body and made me feel as though my dick was an old friend who was always welcome to enjoy the intimate warmth of her hearth.

I didn't have to move. She leaned on my shoulders and rocked slowly, to and fro, moving forward to swallow my length, then shifting her hips back until only the head remained before sliding forward again. The way she cocked her hips brought her nub into direct contact with my shaft. With each retreat came a gasp, a hiss or a whimper.

Her breasts were swinging beneath her. I embraced them, lifting and gently squeezing their pleasingly firm heft.

"Jack...don't," she said, but her hips were rocking faster and her squeaky breaths began to accelerate. When I rolled both teats in my fingers, Clara pleaded, "No...not now...please..."

Seconds later, she gave in, sucking in a sharp breath then snapping tense, her head thrown back and facing the heavens. Her fingers were clenching my shoulders, and my manhood was buried deep inside.

She began shaking violently. In the next moment I was shocked by her painful, keening wail, "Oh, God... Why?" and I realized she was crying.

Wrapping her in my arms, I pulled her down onto me while she sobbed and wailed some more. She was muttering through her weeping, but I couldn't make out most of it. I heard my name and the word 'stupid' and many calls to God.

It was a long while before she settled down, sniffling and shuddering with her face tucked into the crook of my neck.

"Clara? What's going on?" I said.

She didn't answer at first. Then she said, "My emotions are all topsy-turvy these days. It's...something that happens with women."

"Yeah, okay..."

I got it. One of my girlfriends turned into a first-class bitch around her period. Clara's symptoms were different, but I chalked it up to typical female problems.

After a few seconds, she said, "You jacked off tonight, didn't you? I can smell it."

"I do it almost every night."

She propped her jaw up on an elbow to look at me. The fingers of her left hand stroked my cheek.

"Were you thinking about me this time?" Before I could lie, she said, "Or was it Ashley?"

I couldn't lie to her, so I didn't answer. She knew.

"Do you want her more than me?" she said. "Tell me the truth, Jack."

"I don't know," I said. "That's the truth. You're amazing, Clara. you're like my best friend and girlfriend and guru all rolled up into one."

"I'm your girlfriend?" Even in the dim light I could see the tight smile.

I craned my neck to give her a peck on the lips. "That's what we've been telling everybody."

"Would you want Ashley to be your girlfriend?" She wasn't letting it go.

Looking away, I let out a sigh. "She's so pretty. And she's—"

"Yeah, she's a virgin." Clara's voice had turned sharp. "I don't get it. Why are boys so infernally obsessed with that little piece of skin? Are your egos really so flimsy that you can't handle the idea that another guy got there first?"

"What I was going to say was, 'she's not my cousin'."

"Oh." It wasn't often I got one over on Clara. It felt good.

"It doesn't matter how much I want you," I said. "We're never going to get married. We can't ever have children."

I felt a tiny twitch in her body when I mentioned that.

"Does it matter where the children come from?" she said.

"Huh?" I said, waiting for another of my quirky cousin's stories.

"Mary was pregnant with Jesus when Joseph married her. Could you fall in love with a woman who already has a child?"

After a moment's reflection, I said, "Yeah, maybe, but I still want children of my own someday."

We were both quiet for a while. Where was she going with this?

Clara bent her head to kiss my chest, then my sternum, then she left a trail of kisses down the thin line of hair on my belly.

"You didn't finish," she said, lifting my soft, sticky member to her mouth.

Making love with my crazy cousin was a spiritual experience. Her blowjob was Nirvana. I could have spent hours basking in the tropical ocean of her mouth while her agile tongue played around my dick. She sucked in short and long strokes, letting her lower lips graze the sensitive flap under the head before drawing my erection to the back of her mouth. I can't describe the strange thrill I got when she gagged on it. She even sucked on my hairy balls, an incredible gift that no other woman had given me.

Her mouth and fingers lifted me toward the peak time after time, then eased off. I was ready to beg for release when she led me to the crest and didn't pull away when I spilled into her mouth. She made loud gulping noises as she swallowed everything I gave her, which no other woman had ever done.

I was spent. I remembered when she crawled up my body and placed a semen-flavored kiss on my lips. I closed my eyes.

~~ 15 ~~ THE MISSING CALF ~~~~

I woke up alone.

The sun was up. I didn't hear or see anyone else in the house. I took a few bites of the cold breakfast on the table, then scraped the dishes into the compost bin and rinsed them off.

I found Clara in the barn doing the milking. I made enough noise that she knew I was there.

Without turning around, she told me, "Slop the pigs and feed the chickens, then you can pull a bale down from the loft. I already took care of the cows and mucked the stalls."

An awkward silence separated us as we went about our duties. On the few times I was able to catch her brown eyes, they had a dull look. The usual haughty gleam was gone.

The rest of the day was much the same. She spent most of her time in the house, reading the Bible. Whenever I tried to start a conversation, I got mostly one-word responses. Mom, Gramma and Aunt Carol drove in around eleven. Nobody mentioned where they'd been. That was the least of my worries, so I didn't ask.

When we brought the cows in that evening, one of the calves was missing. Clara went one direction, and I went the other. I followed a bleating sound and found the stray stuck in a gully of Triple Creek. It was getting dark, so I led the calf to a bluff that was low enough that I could push her up. When I followed her back to the barn, I was soaked and covered in mud.

Clara enjoyed hosing me down naked before I could even go inside. She brought me some dry clothes so I could change on the porch. They had been holding supper for me, so I held off on a bath.

The women kept glancing at me and stifling grins and snickers all through the meal.

I finally had enough. "Okay, what is it? Do I have something on my face?"

Gramma could hardly hold it in. "That face is purty as ever, boy. You could grow a field of sorghum on that smart head of your'n, though."

I felt my hair and found red mud caked in it. The women burst out laughing.

Just as I was beginning to steam up, I felt Clara's bare foot rubbing my leg.

"Leave it," she said. "I'll wash your hair later."

The gleam had returned to her eyes. I got a good feeling that if I could keep my mouth shut, I might have an eventful night.

Mom and Carol took care of the dishes so Clara could lead me upstairs. She sat me backwards in a chair and laid my head back over the edge of the bathroom sink. Her hands were soothing as she washed all the mud out of my hair then massaged my scalp. Meanwhile, she was filling Gramma's old clawfoot. We sat face-to-face, her legs around my waist, kissing and caressing and tenderly washing each other.

In my bed, we made love. Clara pulled me on top. We gazed into each other's eyes as she guided my swollen member to her aroused cunny, then she held my butt and drew me into herself. We shared soft, fleeting kisses and the old bed groaned and wheezed as we rolled in sinuous waves, weaving and twisting and rising and falling, moving together and apart as one, joined in an ancient, carnal dance to a chorus of sighs and gasps and sweetly whimpered moans.

Time stood still for us. I don't know how long we carried on. I never wanted it to end. Ultimately, my body reached the limits of its capacity for joy and burst in a bellowing, sparkling rush of euphoric chills.

Clara tensed and cried out, "Oh! Oh!" when she felt the first gush of my creamy torrent. Then her eyes went soft and she hissed a "Yesss..." Her arms embraced me, holding me to herself and squeezing tight as if she were binding us together for eternity.

Nothing in my experience came close to the sensations of that moment. Unfamiliar and overwhelming emotions roiled within me. I wanted to say things, to liberate the truth imprisoned in my heart. Only the slimmest of sensible threads held my voice in check.

We stared at each other, letting our eyes speak for us. Then I lowered my lips to seal our silent covenant.

~~ 16 ~~ LAST MORNING ~~~~

A chilly morning breeze off the mountain fluttered the embroidered white cotton drapes. The warm body pressed against me under the old blanket was staring at me in the faint, pre-dawn glow.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked.

"I don't know. It doesn't matter. You're leaving today?"

"Gotta pack and drive back to school this week." I told her, "I'm gonna come spend Thanksgiving with you if I can. Christmas for sure."

Clara didn't say anything, didn't smile, didn't show any sign that it mattered. She just kept looking at me like she was waiting for something.

The silence between us felt heavy, like gravity tugging at our souls, drawing us together, yet I was holding it back. Seconds passed and the pull grew stronger. The unsaid words from last night were poised on my tongue, backing up into my throat and making it hard to breathe.

Before I could open my mouth, Clara's hand found my morning boner. That broke the spell and shifted my visceral focus immediately. I swallowed the words.

"I want you to promise me something," she said. The delicate grip of her fist grazed up and down slowly. "I don't want you to think about it. I just want you to promise. Will you do that for me, Jack?"

So long as she kept stretching my foreskin like that, I would do anything for her.

"Yes, I promise. What did I just promise?"

A pleased smile finally broke open. "Promise me you won't stop searching for faeries."

That was an easy one. "Yeah, I'll keep looking. What should I do if I find one?"

Her grin tightened and twisted into something like a smirk.

"You're smarter than most guys," she said. "I think you'll be able to figure it out."

'...Smarter than most guys'? I was still trying to figure out whether that was an insult or a compliment when she drew back the covers. I curled up, shivering, but Clara bent over my waist and pushed me onto my back. I moaned with the delectable sensations of her warm mouth.

My sexy cousin bobbed a few times, then looked up at me.

"Don't hold back," she said. "I want to still be tasting you at suppertime."

Then she went to work. There was no subtlety, none of the languid, feathery touches like before. My cousin was hell-bent for my release. She fucked me with her mouth as if it was the world's most perfect pussy while her two fingers and thumb jacked the lower half. The other hand rolled and caressed my precious stones.

Her energetic blowjob got my cream seething in minutes. My blood was racing and I no longer felt cold. My hand was resting on Clara's bouncing head, and my hips were pumping of their own accord, thrusting my dick up into her mouth. A few times I drove myself hard enough to make her gag, which gave me a surprising rush, but she rode with it and didn't slow down.

The exhilaration rose quickly. I tightened my fingers in a clump of her thick hair and bucked up, groaning with the cascade of elated chills flying over my skin as my balls boiled over. Clara clamped her lips over the end, gulping down the surging pulses that filled her mouth.

When she had swallowed her prize, Clara crawled up to lay her head on my chest, pulling the covers up with her.

"Thank you, Jack," she said.

Why was she thanking me?

I lifted her chin and drew her to a kiss. The taste of me was on her lips, and a few drips had escaped. I lapped them up.

"Thank you, Clara," I said, then kissed her some more.

She broke away and slid out of bed. "I gotta take care of morning chores."

"I'll come with you," I said, rising up in the bed.

Clara nudged me back down. "I got it. You just rest there."

She placed a tiny kiss on my lips. The sight of her pale, round buns walking away made my dick twitch. I nearly jumped up and dragged her back to bed.

Lying back in the bed, I pondered how I might recognize a faerie. Were they hiding? Or were they all around me and I just couldn't see them? Maybe faeries were so fast they could zip behind a tree before I could catch them. What did they wear? Did they even have clothes on?

I laughed to myself. My strange cousin could come up with with some doozies. The thing about faeries was different, however. I couldn't put my finger on it.

The clatter of pans woke me. The sun was peeking over the mountain. I packed my bags and stripped the bed, taking a whiff of our scents before tossing them in the hall.

Breakfast was usually a joyous event at Gramma's with lots of chatter. That morning it was a somber affair. Mom and Aunt Carol ate with their heads down. Gramma hardly touched her plate. Clara's chair was empty.

After rinsing off my plate, I went looking for her. She wasn't anywhere to be found. Not in the bar, or out in the fields or down at the pond.

I asked Aunt Carol.

"She said something about going into town to see an old friend," she said. "I heard the Ford crank up while I was making breakfast."

Mom was ready to leave by mid-morning. Clara hadn't come back. I hugged Aunt Carol and Gramma, taking care that I didn't squeeze her too tight.

"Clara wanted you to take this," Gramma said, pushing Grampa's hand-Bible at me. A white cloth bookmark was hanging out of it. "You read this, Jack. It don't all make sense, but there ain't many things that do."

Like faeries I thought to myself with a smile.

Her jaundiced eyes peered up at me, and her scratchy voice grew quiet.

"That girl's smart, but she ain't as smart as she thinks she is. She's got a problem, and she can't seem to figure out what to do about it. She needs somebody with a level head on his shoulders. Just sayin'."

Clara hadn't mentioned anything about a problem.

I kissed Gramma's forehead. "I promised her I would come back as soon as I get a chance. I'll try to get her to tell me about it, but you know how hard-headed she is. Just like her granny."

She slapped my arm and tried to hide the grin. "Don't you sass me and make me take you over my knee, boy." Her eyes flashed with that spark I hadn't seen in a long time.

The drive back to Greensboro seemed to take longer than usual. When I got home I pulled the old hand-Bible out of my pocket where I had stuffed it. I started to toss it on my desk. Instead, curiosity made me open it to where the bookmark was. The passage was from Genesis, something about a problem with Abraham's wife that she couldn't give him any children.

Then I noticed the bookmark. It was cut from a piece of satiny, white fabric and had no stitching around the edges. A discoloration in the center had a roundish shape. I recognized it and raised it to my nose, breathing in the scent of her. That caused an immediate reaction that made me drop my pants and flop on my bed to stroke myself slowly, remembering the softness of her lips and her gossamer touch.