Eclipse

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

~~~~~~~

"You know, I hadn't planned to watch the eclipse tonight. I had hoped to sit by my fireplace, enjoying the silence, sipping on a nice cabernet. I would be reading some Asimov too. I've been on a bit of a science fiction tilt lately. Don't know why. Been reading Clarke and Dick too. Not bad."

"I don't know any of those names. What's the name of your current book?"

"Robots of Dawn."

"Sounds interesting."

"Yeah."

"...So how did you end up watching the moon then?"

"Well...I was in the kitchen making a drink when I looked outside and saw the full moon. And in that instant...I just knew I'd be out here."

"I think I understand. The moon can be bewitching sometimes. It calls us."

"It's called to humanity for thousands of years. My family in-"

"Mind if I smoke? Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt!"

"Go right ahead."

I released her arm as she stood up and walked over to where here jeans lay in disarray in the grass. Her ass was two pale globes shrouded in night, and watching her my blood began to boil once more. She ruffled around in her pockets, pulled out a lighter and some Marlboros, and lit up. A moment later she was laying down at my side once more.

"That's better. So how did you get here? I didn't see any other cars in the lot over at the beginning of the trail."

"I have a house about four miles that way." I pointed to the northwest. "Rather than drive I just hiked."

"I didn't think many people lived out here. The countryside feels so undisturbed. Does that make you a rancher or a farmer?"

"No. Just a man who enjoys the company of himself."

"Why's that?"

"To put it simply, I don't fit in. I've found most men are beasts on the inside."

"That's a shame. Most people aren't that bad."

"Different perspectives, different lives."

"True..."

A silence fell between us for a few minutes, as the wind decided to fill the silence with its own voice singing through the trees. The hilltop on which we lay was a little bit brighter, and I looked up, considering the mostly hidden heavenly body that had brought us both here.

"The eclipse is starting to end, see that? We've probably got another hour before the moon is fully back."

She purred in response, and cuddled closer to my chest. "That's plenty of time for what I have in mind." Her hand began playing with the thick hair that covered my chest. "You're hairier than I'm used to." I barked out a laugh and shifted slightly. "Not that that's a bad thing!" she quickly corrected. "You're a welcome change from the guys I'm normally with. And what we just did was incredible. Between you and the eclipse I'm not sure if this is reality or just a dream." She paused and looked upward at my face for a brief second. "I'm just saying that tonight has been magical. Almost enchanted."

Enchanted. That was an aptly chosen word. Her arrival had definitely been unexpected. I often visited this hill because of its picturesque quality, but it had always been late at night when the casual hikers were never present. This night, like all the other nights, I had been considering the stars, naming the constellations I could recall and captivated by their collective beauty when I heard the crunch of her shoes behind me. Snapped and startled out of my reverie, I had rapidly flipped around at the noise.

She stood there, as startled by my presence as I hers. One hand was on the large, solitary beech tree in whose shadow I stood, rooted to the ground in shock by her hexing, damning appearance. Even now as she lay in my arms next to me she was undoubtedly beautiful, but in that moment, illuminated by the waxing light of a half obscured moon, she had been a vision. White, almost translucent blouse, pale skin, silken hair that stopped midway down her back, a river of liquid silver flowing through the silver, dying light.

The first silence between us was broken as she stepped forward, another twig snapping and the grass whispering at her feet as she came closer until she was just a few feet away. Now the second silence opened up between us like a datura of the night, a silent trumpet that both called and warned. We considered each other. I, shirtless and in loose jeans that were frayed at the bottom, and she, a ghost who wore hip hugger jeans and gazed at me with emerald eyes. Eyes that were filled with a mix of wonder and fear, dashed with a hint of lust. Eyes that grew brighter even as the moon continued to fade.

Enchanted was an aptly chosen word.

And here I lay, still enchanted, but wondering what I had done and what I'd still do. I don't fuck strangers. It's dangerous, especially for someone like me. Too much possibility for catastrophe. And as I considered the possible consequences and remembered the promises I'd made, a seed of fear began to grow in my heart. Time was getting short; the brightening light of the moon was testament enough.

"You should leave. I should head home."

She sat up ever so slightly, a frown appearing between her eyebrows and at the corner of her lips as she gazed at me. "Why?"

I had no reason that could be shared with her; the truth, even if told, would not be accepted. "It's getting late. The eclipse is almost over."

"I'm not going to leave." She lay back down so that her body was mostly on top of mine.

"I should really be heading home soon."

She watched my face once more. "Why do you suddenly feel the need to run off? You didn't strike me as the type of guy who would fuck and run."

I had no answer prepared. "I shouldn't stay."

She continued looking at me, eyes searching mine for the real answer. And with a woman's intuition, she found part of it. "You're afraid of what just happened between us. Afraid of what I made you feel, and how you made me feel."

I stirred, and attempted to get up. "No, it's not that at all."

"Yes it is," she returned with conviction, as she pressed her body firmly against mine to keep me still. Her shifting weight was an unneeded distraction. Couldn't focus on that. "I felt it too", she continued. "Both the fear and the connection. Hell, I was afraid of you the moment I saw you here in the moonlight, watching as the eclipse followed its slow march. But I felt something else too, and it was incredible. Even more so after what we did in the past two hours."

Her eyes, unfocused and reflective while she spoke, latched onto my own once more. "I know you feel it too. I've seen it in your eyes all night long. We mesh well together, and I want to explore whatever there is between us even more before the night ends." With that, she shifted once more, raised her face to mine, and kissed me with passion.

I was drowning. I struggled to separate my lips from hers, and managed to grunt out a single word: "But"

She pulled away and pierced me once more with eyes that burned, quieting my last attempt at escaping fate. "I'm not done with you yet," she hissed.

With that, I gazed into her eyes and was caught in the spell once more. Or was it a spell? Was that just my way of excusing the lust I felt? Could it be the moon that caused this passion? I had thought that the eclipse would weaken the moon's hold on my soul. Was it the eclipse itself, a reddish haze that was retreating before the tide of white clarity that continued to wax minute by minute?

Or was it my own lack of self-control, the beast that lived inside me that I feared?

"Look, I don't even know your name. I really should be-"

"No names. Not now. Part of the magic is the fact that we are strangers." She stroked my body as she straddled my waist. I was already tumescent. When she looked at me, I could see the vulnerability in her eyes. "Make love to me again. Please."

What little control I had remaining was fading fast. The eclipse would end soon, and I could feel my desire growing with the light. I was inside her, and because of my stamina I would remain that way for a long while. She ebbed and flowed at my waist, causing us both to groan as the pleasure, the spell, took hold of us again. My hands traced hips, stroked thighs, and caressed full breasts, encouraging the very actions I mentally railed against. As she rode me, I continued to struggle mentally, feebly cursing my actions, but I was already caught by my very nature. The moon. Oh, the moon.

As she approached her first climax, I managed to gasp out one final plea. "At least give me a name to call you by."

She was going faster and faster, a silver hammer at my waist. Her eyes were fixed on the moon, sweat glistening on her skin as she embraced the wave flowing up her body to envelope her. "Just call me Luna." And with those words, she began to moan and quake with her release.

Luna.

Luna. It is destined then. Lord give me strength.

I am not in control of my destiny. I am not in control of my actions. It's not my fault.

I am not in control. It is not my fault.

~~~~~~~

I woke up on the porch of my house, as naked as the night before. While I am sore all over, it is the ache in my groin that reminds me of the events of last night. An enchanted night. It's not my fault. I don't look at my hands, but I know they leave a red smear on the door handle as I enter my house.

I'm in the bathroom. I'm at the sink. I look at the mirror. Blood. Blood on my face. Blood on my chest. But most of all, blood on my hands, darker than the blood-red eclipse last night. It's not my fault.

My hand punches the mirror. Shards scatter. My own life is clenched in my hand, dripping down and mixing with her dried rubies.

It is my nature. It's who I am. Last night was impossible to avoid. Such platitudes do nothing to shed the sorrow. The pearls of my eyes glisten like silver in what remains of the mirror, and as they fall they mix with the rubies of my heart, and of hers.

It is not my fault.