A New Bow for Cupid

I was sobbing. Why? I'm not sure. A tremendous weight hovered over me, ready to free me from my self-inflicted exile or to crush me with the rejection I feared would spring up any moment.

"I want to know you, girl," she said. "If you're really a 'straight' girl, then leave. Go out for a bit. I'll straighten up here, and we'll never talk about this again. If, instead, you really are interested, then close the door and come on in. I'm in your bedroom. I might be asleep, so please, don't surprise me too much. This storm is crazy enough. But I'm waiting for you."

She left a space, then, "P.S. Prepare to strip, girl, 'cause I'm going to find that birthmark."

I laughed and sobbed at the same time. That was it for the letter. I pulled my door shut and held the note in white-knuckled fingers. I started towards my bedroom in the total darkness between flashes of lightning. I didn't know what I was going to find, exactly, but I intended to find out.

Before I could go far into my kitchen, a gentle glow started in front of me. It took only a moment to identify candles. Dozens of them, all springing into flame at the same time, as if on a switch. The candles were set on waist-high stands, and behind each candle, but far enough away to be safe from the flame, was another, slightly taller stand holding a simple vase and a single rose. Red roses. The candles closed off a sort of path and curved into my living/dining area, then swept out of sight down the hallway towards my bedroom.

I stared at the flames, tears on my cheeks and around my eyes glinting. It was beautiful. Amazed, I followed the path. Something beneath my shoes caught my attention, and I looked down to find rose petals strewn across my floor. I cried, uncertain if I was really sad over my shyness, really happy over Jenny being in my room, or just plain confused. I sniffed, dried my face with the back of my sleeve, and continued across my living area carpet.

More candles lined the hallway, each accompanied by its rose. At the end of the hall, they curled into my bedroom. With slow, hesitant steps, I followed them inside. Lightning crashed outside.

Jennifer was laying in my bed. She looked at me when I came in. She sat up. In the glow of the candle-light, I saw her shoulders and arms gleam. Her cami glittered, decorated with speckles and metallic seams. Her eyes shined the candlelight back at me.

"Matt is creepy," she said. "You kind of start to like him after a while, though."

"So he did talk to you." I stopped beside the bed. Jenny moved her bare legs out from beneath the covers, sat on the edge in front of me. The arm's distance between us could have been as close as touch, or as distant as the next town.

"Yeah. I couldn't get him to shut up, after a while."

I hadn't thought he had that much time, hardly more than a blink, really, to set all this up. I was confused again, trying to figure if all this was from her or him.

Jenny stood up.

"I know what you are," she said. The lightning flashed, and after, when the too-bright glare receded like liquid pouring back out into the night, leaving only the dark and the candles, her eyes had changed. At first, I thought they were all black, but as I looked, curiosity mixing with a sort of surprised dread, I saw that they were instead a sort of swirled gray. Her hair was longer. Red. Her skin had turned pale like mine. She was naked to the waist, and wore a long, flowing skirt slit up both sides. The skirt was something thin. Sheer. Even in the candlelight, I saw the darkness at her groin. When the lightning flashed again, I saw the stark outline of her legs and hips against the material.

Changed. She changed. Like me, but not.

"Matt didn't tell you much, did he?" Her voice became even more vibrant, commanding the room. Her already powerful personality became a force of nature. "No, I suppose not. There really wasn't time."

She walked around me. Her hair flowed around her as if suspended in water. Her skits drifted on gentle breezes I couldn't see. Her small, perky breasts preceded her. I looked at her nipples, at the way her flesh curved into her ribs, into her armpit. I watched how her hair played across her shoulder, her collarbone, the way the light faded, more shy than me, into the graceful curve of her neck. Her features were the same, but like me, changed. My breathing stilted, I panted. I couldn't get enough air as I fought the urge to embrace her. I don't know why I fought it. I wasn't quite ready.

"Eros wasn't the only god to create servants," she told me. "I'm a nymph. More specifically, a dryad. My tree is down in Central Park. I've been protecting her since she first budded in 1923. I protect the trees around her too, and even, sometimes, the people there."

I stared.

"My ancestors came here in the eighteen-hundreds. Straight from Greece. Probably not too different from your family. Anyway, there's a lot more to it. You can ask me whatever you want."

I faced her. She stopped walking, stood plainly before me, once again the dark-haired, tanned beauty I knew but didn't know. I closed the distance. My inner fire sparked. I leaned up. My lips came to rest against her eyelid. I kissed her. I tasted her on my lips after, not a flavor that's any one thing, just all her. I kissed her other eyelid.

She sort of frowned, but smiled at the same time. "You don't have to do that. I can already see you for what you are."

I nodded. "A rule," I said. "One of few. Did Matt explain to you what I am, what I will do?"

Jenny shook her head. Those lovely, long curls of hers bounced, shook, and my joy tripled. I loved watching her.

"No, silly. I knew what you were before he did. I was the one who called him in. I hope you liked him, I had to call in a few favors. He's among the best, though I imagine he let on none of that."

I blinked. "No, nothing like that."

She reached up, touched my cheek. "Yes, Cassie, I know what you are. I know you'll touch and be touched by many other people. I knew that was how it would be. I have one condition only. While you're with me, just be with me. I don't care if you're Cassie or Cupida, just be with me. Leave the others out. And you have to know, a part of my nature requires that I take men to the forest and take their seed."

Dryads? Nymphs? Cupids? I didn't really know a lot about that stuff. I had just had Matt's erection inside me, though, so it was all to easy to realize that our commitment to each other could not be affected by our elaborate flirtations elsewhere.

"Okay. I don't care. The only thing I hated about your boyfriends was that I wasn't one of them."

She smiled, leaned in, kissed the cheek she was touching.

"This is a little weird," she told me.

I nodded. We moved closer. I kissed her lips. Thunder rumbled, but somehow, I missed the flash of lightning.

She kissed me back. She was so soft. Her cami, returned with her change of form, almost seemed to melt when I touched my fingertips to her hips. The stormy night seemed to stretch out in front of us, like a road going off into infinity.

"Did you like your bow?" she whispered as I moved closer still, wrapping my arms around her softness. Her hands moved around me, pulled me close, slid into my back pockets. I nodded my approval. Her hands in my pockets, like I had wished so many times, was all it took. My clothes vanishes as I changed forms, and suddenly her warm hands laid directly on the upper curves of my butt. I stared into her eyes, naked and unflinching.

"I picked it out myself," she said with a sly smile. "Happy Valentine's Day, Cupida."