Y Ladi Wen - The White Lady

"Evan? Is that a rock in your pocket, or are you just enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, god, sorry," he stammered, stepping back. She gave him that ironic raised-eyebrows-tilted-head look, and he patted his thigh to discover therewas something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a round white stone, that fit neatly into the palm of his hand. It was smooth and strangely cool to the touch. He turned it over to find his name ornately inscribed on it.

Evan gave Gwen his hopelessmore answers, please look and, with a nod, she steered him away from the dancefloor.

"Drink?" she asked, snatching two glasses of sparkling wine off the buffet table as they crossed the room. She handed one to Evan, which he promptly downed, then she handed him the second.

They crossed to the 'bonfire', which was more impressive up close. It was lit from inside, but the way the paper flames moved over each other made it flicker like real fire. The stones that filled the pit around the fire were similar to Evan's. They were smooth and round, in various sizes, all with names written on them. There was a multitude of colours -- greys and reds and browns -- but there was one other white stone near the middle. Evan leaned over to look at the name on it.

"Enid Halston."

"Present," said another woman's voice to Evan's other side, and he turned to find an elegant looking grey-haired lady. It was the party host, boss of the Pomona Foundation. "I'm Enid," she continued. "You must be Evan. I'm glad you could make it."

"Uh, thanks," Evan replied. "I'm sorry, I wasn't invited."

She laughed. "Oh, my dear. I didn't mean I was glad you could make it to our little shindig, though you are very welcome, all the same. I meant I was glad you could make it to the rest of your life. That's no small achievement once yr Hwch Ddu Gwta has her sights set on you."

"You know about it too? Is everybody some kind of spirit?"

Another laugh. "Poor Evan. I know, it can take a while to wrap your head around it. Alas, I am a mere human like yourself. I too was once in very much the wrong place in my life until one rather unpleasant Hallowe'en night, a long time ago now. Luckily, y Ladi Wen was there for me that night."

"Er Laddy what?" asked Evan.

"Dear me, and I thought they taught Welsh properly in schools these days. Y Ladi Wen. The White Lady." She gestured to Gwen, who waved.

"Right, I probably could have worked that one out," replied Evan. "It has been a while since school though. I probably aged about ten years in the last half hour, but I wasn't allthat young to start with."

"Well, you're a darn sight younger than me, my boy," retorted Enid.

"And you're both considerably younger than I," offered Gwen.

"You both look great for your age, so I guess it all shakes out," said Evan with half a laugh. Enid scoffed and waved him away, but Gwen smiled and squeezed his hand. Evan suddenly realised he had been thinking of Gwen as near to his age, rather than maybe hundreds of years older -- if age even applied to spirits representing human superstitions. Knowing the truth -- difficult as it was to believe -- didn't make her any less beautiful. She looked younger than him, if anything. Especially since he had for months felt older than he was.

"Evan, add your stone to the Coelcerth -- to the bonfire," Enid offered.

As he placed it among the others, Gwen explained, "when the fire burned out, the people would run home before the spirits appeared, but they would also have written their names on stones and left them around the fire. In the morning, they checked the stones. If your stone was burned clean, that was a sign of good luck. If your stone was missing, it was believed you would die within the year."

"Now you're wondering why your stone magically appeared, and whether you'll be dead within the year," Enid added bluntly, and Evan nodded. "Everybody has a stone, Evan. Only those of us who have been touched by the White Lady or one of her kind can see them. The rest of these, with the names of my friends and colleagues are just aesthetic for the tradition, but yours and mine are true. As for what yours will tell you. Worry about not having your soul eaten tonight, then come and talk to me in the morning." She patted his arm sympathetically, but Evan thought he probably preferred her tell-it-like-it-is attitude.

"Now," said Enid, "dear Gwen has one night of freedom, and you're pretty much here for the duration, Evan. So, no more stories. Eat. Drink. Enjoy yourselves. Try the hors d'oeuvres: there's a deconstructed toffee apple which is pretentious as hell, but totally delicious." Then she turned and walked away.

"I like her," said Evan as they helped themselves at the buffet. The food was indeed delicious, and another drink went down nicely.

"She's one of the good ones," Gwen smiled. "After centuries of trying to save people from becoming pig food, I must confess I usually only fight for the good ones now."

"Why did you make an exception for me then?" asked Evan.

She frowned. "Youare one of the good ones."

"But I'm not the boss of a charitable organisation like Enid. I'm just an idiot office worker with poor time management."

Gwen took his hands in hers and stared at his face. Her gloved fingers were still somehow cold at first, then warm. "Ask Enid sometime where she was when we met. Let's say it was far less noble that doing voluntary unpaid overtime like you. But I knew then who she could be, what she could achieve. I see you as someone who always does more than their fair share. You give more and you take less."

"So, now you're saying that working late is a good thing, but that's also what drew that monster to me."

"If you worked nine to five, and took your lunch breaks, I think you might still be doing more work than most of your colleagues," she said, and it was a thought that had occurred to Evan, though he would never voice it. "It doesn't make you a bad person to think that, if it's true. You're a good man, Evan. You have good to spare. It could be put to far better use and take far less from you besides."

"What the hell am I doing?" Evan mused. "I was almost eaten by a demon pig, I've slow danced with an immortal spirit, and now I have a magic stone that can foretell my death, and all I can do is bitch about my job. I must seem so small to you. Are they all like this, the people you save?"

"You're handling it pretty well. I've dealt with a lot worse."

"Do you want to tell me about some of them? Maybe some of the more awkward ones. It would almost be like you were complaining to me about your job then."

She leaned in and kissed his cheek once again. "Evan, you're a good soul, and easy on the eye, but take it from me, as someone who only gets to walk the Earth one night a year, you need to get out more."

Convinced his only chance of not being eaten was to 'wait it out', Evan did his best to enjoy the party. He ate, drank, and finally got to know some of the people he had shared the building with for years over tipsy Hallowe'en party games. He listened enthusiastically to Enid Halston's spiel about the Pomona Foundation's charitable mission and looked on with envy as she presented service awards to her employees along with heartfelt toasts that elicited joyous applause and some tears. He allowed himself to be dragged around by Gwen, who danced with, talked to, and hugged pretty much everyone in the room. Her zest for life was infectious. Nobody seemed concerned with who she was -- just some friend of the boss -- and the thought that she may be anything other than human didn't even seem to occur, because why would it? Spirits didn't exist, and they certainly didn't come to office parties.

It was still drizzling out, so Evan and Gwen were alone when they returned to the balcony a while later. The odd firework flashed away in the distance, but nothing close enough to hear. Gwen pressed herself against Evan's side and he put an arm around her shoulders.

"Mm. You feel nice and warm," she said. "I've been spoiled for human contact tonight, but you feel the best."

"Huh, is that a spirit thing? I thought you were just a hugger." He shivered as she ran her hand over his back. "Your touch always feels cold at first but then there's a warmth beneath it."

She shrugged. "It comes from being the embodiment of a shiver down your spine."

"What's it like?" he asked before hastily adding, "if you don't mind my asking. If you can only take this form and move freely through the world one night a year, how does it feel the rest of the time?"

"It doesn't actually feel like I can't move freely, but I know I am drawn to where I'm needed by some other power, and I pass entirely unseen. By humans, I mean. I see others of my kind all the time."

"Are the others more like you," he asked, "or like her?" He gestured over the railing without looking to where he assumed the tailless sow was still waiting for him.

Gwen laughed. "Either. Both. Others besides. She and I really aren't all that different. Even you've started referring to her asher, instead ofit."

"Well, I keep being told she's a sow, so I know she's a she, but she's still a giant evil pig, while you are a breathtakingly beautiful woman."

"My, Evan. You can be quite the flatterer, can't you? I almost hate to remind you, but we're spirits. Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta is not really a pig, and I am no more a woman."

Evan shook his head. "For the first time tonight, I think I'm glad I can't understand it. Pig. Not a pig. Woman. Not a woman. All I know is that down there is the creature from my nightmares and being up here with you is like a dream."

Gwen's lips were cold, but it was surprise that knocked the breath from Evan's lungs when she kissed him. The longer they made contact, the warmer her touch, so when she put one hand on Evan's chest and slid the other to his waist, it was excitement that made him shiver. Her breath was hot when he opened his mouth to hers and he returned the kiss eagerly. Evan had one hand on Gwen's back, another on her shoulder. He just wanted to hold her to him. Not for the first time tonight, he thought he might wake up at any moment.

A monstrous squeal reached them from the street below.

"What'sher problem?" Evan sighed, leaning his head against Gwen's.

Gwen smiled. "It just got a little harder for her to get to you, because, well, we're enjoying each other's company, so that means you're where you're supposed to be."

"So, does that mean I'm safe now?" he asked.

"It loosens the grip she already had on you, but believe me, she will happily go through me to get to you."

"I hope it won't come to that," Evan said. "Does it usually end with you fighting?"

"Not always. Not anymore. There were some dark times in the 14th and 15th centuries where every year we fought and nothing else."

"I can't even imagine," mused Evan. She had lost him at '14th century'.

"Let's just say she wasn't always so badly scarred, she used to have both her tusks, and she wasn't always thetailless black sow."

"I take it then that you were the better fighter at least?"

Gwen shuffled nervously. "If only that were true."

"So, what has been stopping her from coming up here to get us all this time?"

"You were invited to the party," Gwen replied, suddenly brighter, as though that should make everything clear. Evan wondered if there were spirit lawyers to keep up with all the rules, because they were starting to make his head hurt as much as the nightmares had. Gwen tilted her head up and kissed him again, snapping him out of his ruminations.

Following another cry from below, Evan asked, "is it really a good idea to antagonise her like this?"

"Probably not. Let's go back inside."

Gwen led Evan through the door he had escaped from earlier into the empty reception area, then into a small office off to one side. It had two desks, set up with workstations, that didn't look like they belonged to anyone. Gwen pushed Evan against one of the desks and kissed him.

"Mm, warm," she murmured against his lips, even as she sent that first shiver down his spine. Her hands roamed up his chest to the back of his neck, pulling his head down into the kiss.

Evan slid one hand to Gwen's waist, the other twisting in her hair as she kissed his jaw, his neck. She felt so good as her body meshed against his. He wanted to grab her, feel her all over, touch every part of her body with his hands and mouth. It had been a long time since he had been with anyone like this and she was so beautiful, even if she was a centuries old spirit. Of all the crazy things that had happened so far tonight, holding Gwen in his arms as she kissed him was one of the more unbelievable.

"What's the matter," she breathed into his ear, seeming to sense his hesitation.

"I guess I'm just a little out of practice," said Evan.

Gwen laughed. "You're out of practice. It's been a whole year since I even touched a human."

"It feels like it's been longer for me," said Evan, "and I've never been with anyone like you."

Gwen's fingers traced a line down his abdomen. "All the more reason to enjoy it," she said in a low voice, and Evan gasped as her hand pressed into his crotch. Just because he was overthinking it, didn't mean he wasn't rising to the occasion.

"Uh, that might be another magic stone in my pocket," he said.

Gwen raised her eyebrows at him, grabbed him by the belt and walked him round to the other side of the desk. She pushed him up against it again but seated herself in the chair. Her gloved fingers worked his belt loose before unfastening his trousers and tugging them down. She eyed the bulge in the front of his boxers and licked her lips. Evan didn't move or speak for fear of breaking whatever spell was over them.

He shivered when she ran her hands up his thighs, both from the chill and anticipation. She caressed the front of his boxers and he twitched at her touch. By the time she took hold and pulled them down, he was already fully hard.

Every time Gwen broke contact with his body, Evan knew to expect the cold shock the next time she touched him, and he tensed as she reached for his cock. She grinned and bent to press her lips against his thigh, so when her fingers curled around his erection her touch was warm.

More than once, he had imagined her naked, but there was something uniquely sexy about her gloves as she stroked and fondled him. She worked his shaft slowly with one hand and teased his balls with the other. It had indeed been so long since he had been touched this way, that he was incredibly sensitive, and as much as he wanted it to last, her slow stroking was exquisite torture. She seemed fascinated by his manhood, looking at it close up with her cheek pressed against his thigh, and he tried not to think about how many she had seen over the centuries.

"Lovely and warm," she murmured again, "I can't get enough of the way you feel." She pressed his cock against her face, stroking it against her cheek.

"You're unbelievable," Evan gasped through ragged breathing, and he meant it literally. Even now, he could still be dreaming.

"When you say you've never been with anyone like me, Evan..."

"I meant beautiful, passionate, sexy..." he breathed.

"Oh, you didn't mean because I'm not really a human?" she asked, still stroking him slowly against her cheek.

"N-no, I didn't mean that," he gasped.

"Not because I'm a spirit? A spectre? No more than a shiver on your skin?" She pressed her lips to the base of his cock and feathered kisses up the shaft.

"Oh, fuck. No, that's not what I meant."

"But that's what I am, Evan. Nothing more than a cold breath on the back of your neck. And there's one good thing about it. Shall I tell you what it is, hm?" She planted one kiss on the tip of his cock. "I don't actually have to breathe at all."

Evan thought he might pass out when she took him in her mouth. The chill had long since dissipated and her tongue was hot on the underside of his cock. She bobbed her head, still working the base of his shaft with her hand, slicking his length with her saliva, taking a little more of him in with each stroke. He felt his tip nudge up against the back of her throat, but she took him in again and again.

Now she was working him in earnest, gradually faster and faster, no longer teasing him. Evan wanted to touch her, but he was gripping the edge of the desk with both hands, thinking he would slump to the floor if he let go. He was so sensitive to her touch the pressure was already building inside him.

"Fuck, Gwen. I'm not going to last," he groaned, but she didn't slow down, a flurry of hands, lips and tongue rushing him towards the edge. She slid both hands to his hips and pressed her fingers into his flesh as she sought to take him all the way into her throat, gulping him down.

Evan shook and let out a cry and Gwen pushed her head down as far as she could on him as he flooded her throat. He shuddered and slumped despite his grip on the desk and her grip on him as his cock continued to pulse in her mouth, coating her tongue. His breath rasped and his heart raced as his climax washed over him. Gwen hummed and swallowed, still stroking him, squeezing every last drop from him.

Evan, finally able to relax his grip on the desk, shook the cramp from his hand before raising it to stroke her cheek and brush her hair away from her face. Gwen took her mouth off him with one last playful flick of her tongue, smiled and leaned back in her chair.

She traced a line down her own neck and chest with her finger. "Delicious," she said. "I can feel it filling me with your warmth. Thank you, Evan."

"I, uh, you're welcome..." Evan offered, uncertain. He stopped to tuck himself away and fasten his trousers. "It should be me thanking you. In fact, it should have been me doing that for you. You know, to thank you for saving my life."

"Plenty of time to repay the favour," she said. "We have all night."

"Ah, yes. A night to spend together, to drink and dance, and other things. Sounds perfect, except for the part where we're trapped by a soul-hungry pig. It does spoil the mood a bit." He thought for a moment. Gwen's eyes sparkled as she watched him, and Evan made up his mind. "Let's get out of here," he said.

Gwen raised her hand to stroke his cheek. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

"I mean it. I can't actually stay at this party all night. It will have to end at some point. Then, even if I spend the rest of the night with you -- which I'm very much looking forward to -- what happens then? I just come back to work tomorrow, and nothing's changed. I just get another year of miserable days and restless nights. If I let that thing start filling my head with shadows again, I will sit at my desk and wait to have my soul eaten. No. One way or another, this ends tonight." He held Gwen's face in both hands and kissed her forehead, then willed his mouth into a triumphant grin. "I'm going downstairs. I have to send an e-mail."

Evan's confidence lasted until he made it back onto the seventh floor. Finding that there wasn't a big black pig blocking the stairwell certainly helped. The office lights clicked on the way they should as he strode across the space with Gwen in tow.

"Is this you?" she asked, pointing at a desk across the aisle.

"No, I'm over here," said Evan, pulling out his chair and donning the jacket he had left behind earlier. "Half the idiots in this office leave everything switched on at the end of the day."

Gwen said, "if it's any consolation, offices have been the same since the 11th century," and Evan stared at her stupidly for a moment before realising she was joking. When he took his seat, she came to lean against his desk, and she nudged his shoulder. It was a playful touch, but it still sent that initial shiver through him, a now comforting sensation.