Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 02

Her feet looked fairly normal, though a bit long for her height, maybe. And those hands, he thought, they looked large for her, and fairly well-developed, but they also had long, claw-like nails. He wasn't bothered by any of her, he just marveled at the way that she was put together. This whole once-over that he'd given her had lasted maybe a quarter of a minute. He grabbed another flannel blanket and covered her with it and then added a thin comforter on top. Going back to the linen closet, he grabbed the two hot water bottles that he had, and headed for the bathroom.

As he filled them, he was glad now that he even had them. They were something that he'd kept after his folks had died and he'd cleared out their house before selling it. He went back to the den, and lifted the covers to place one against her chest, and then lifted her feet to put one under them. Then he went back through the house to shut off lights and close the door to the garage, after getting his pizza out of the back seat of the truck.

He hadn't been that hungry when he'd stopped to buy it at the pizzeria, but it was something that he always did coming home from a Friday afternoon shift. Whatever he didn't eat would keep well in the fridge for the next day. He put a couple of pieces on a plate and heated them in the microwave while he grabbed a vodka cooler out of the fridge.

He sat at the desk in his den, eating and looking at her by the light of his desk lamp. Her skin looked a bit odd, but in the low light here, he couldn't tell what it was, and he wasn't about to turn on the room lights. She had red hair – a nice shade from what he could see, he thought, and a couple of long thin braids at the back. She did have a nice face he thought; he had to give her that. It was a bit angular, but then so was the rest of her, and he realized that he was looking at her in a fairly dark room, and that the light here was emphasizing her high cheek bones somewhat. He'd have called it thin and bony if he was being uncharitable, but on her, it was stunning. She had thin, arched eyebrows, a really nice, thin nose, and – now he knew what it was about her skin. He stepped out of his chair to get closer.

On her shoulders, biceps, cheekbones, forehead, and chin she had a small patch of scales – the same color as her skin. He really had to look to see them in this light. He smiled; there was even a dusting across her lovely nose, the way a lot of people have freckles. What a mix, he thought; long eyelashes, a lovely mouth, long, pointed ears – and three horns. Two of them, near the corners of her forehead were about four inches long, and pointing back, and the third, in the center of her forehead, just below her hairline, was about two inches long. If it weren't for that moving tail – and he wasn't sure about it anymore - he'd have thought she was set for a costume party, and had done a fantastic job getting ready.

He stepped back and sat down again, still feeling a little guilty for staring, but he now knew enough to be able to say that she was – to him – likely the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. The costume or whatever it was didn't change that. He looked forward to her waking up in spite of the awkwardness that would just have to be there. He knew that she likely had some explanation and would be gone soon, but he felt fortunate to have been this close to such beauty for once in his life. He decided that he'd rather not dwell on the thought for too long since he was undoubtedly going to be alone with his thoughts soon enough.

He turned on his computer and checked his mail. Sure enough, it was the same old, same old. He figured that from the time of day that these were always sent, they must originate on the other side of the planet. He figured that whoever wrote them must have a ton of insecurities if they thought that mentioning the same things in their advertising would have any effect on the North American man. He looked at some news and weather sites and noticed that this disturbance was supposed to hang around a while if it stalled where it was now for any length of time. Well, he thought, it could get interesting doing his grocery shopping. But he knew that he was pretty well stocked, and if the power went out for any length of time, he'd fire up the wood stove in the basement. He decided to try to get some sleep. The thought crossed his mind that his guest might wake up during the night.

He had no answer for that. Should he leave a note in sight? Could she read? He had no idea. He turned to look at her again.

She was lying there with her head on the pillow looking back at him with her eyes glowing dimly.