In Darkness There Is Light

Their unearthly howls disturbed the night, they could be heard miles away and even then they still sounded horrifying, like fingernails being scraped down a blackboard, blood chilling and unnerving.

What people forget, what they forgot, is that everything was more vulnerable in the dead of night.......

Tahira couldn't sleep. She lay wide awake, sandwiched between Nate and Brad, her pupils dilated as much as possible as she listened to the shrieks, the cries of the Nightcrawlers...

She was warm but somehow she still found herself trembling violently, even her teeth chattered. She knew it wouldn't be long before either Brad or Nate...maybe both, woke up.

They were used to waking up in the middle of the night.

Tahira rolled over onto her back, the blankets snaking around her lithe body. She heard Nate moan something inaudible and turn over, grasping a hold of her in the process and dragging her closer to his body, but Tahira wasn't having any of it, she pulled away from him and sat up, her long dark hair spilling down her back like a chocolate waterfall.

She didn't think it was weird to sleep in the same bed as two grown men, she'd been used to it for so long...and so had they. Brad and Nate were best friends, nothing more, but the three of them together...was a whole different story.

The darkness was getting to her and the little bit of moonlight there was, had diminished into nothing as time went by.

Everything was quiet, aside from the howls and calls of the creatures outside.

The incessant noise of the others had faded out, indicating that they'd all gone to sleep.

Then there was Brad's snoring……

Tahira exhaled heavily, the top half of her body slouching as she leaned forwards, and stretched, her hand inadvertently brushing Brad's thigh. He yawned and his eyes opened slowly. She couldn't see much of him, but she had seen him enough times to know what he looked like.

Tahira then picked up Brad's hands, playing with his fingers almost absent-mindedly. They were long, slender, capable of killing and caressing, though Brad wouldn't admit the latter – only when Tahira held him on the brink of extreme pleasure, branching almost into excruciating pain. Just how he liked it.

She could sense his icy blue eyes gazing fixatedly at her through the choking darkness, and she’d been here enough times to know where this was going, but for once, she wasn’t sure what to do.

She suddenly wrenched her hand away , but Brad grabbed it back, quicker than lightning, held it steady for a few moments…wordless moments, that felt like forever.

Her hands were cold to the touch, like ice and then she felt him kissing the pads of her fingers, his teeth scraping at her ring finger thoughtfully.

A beat or two, maybe three or four, possibly a hundred thousand years, centuries pass by the dozen, civilizations are born, thrive and self-destruct, several million minutes go by as Brad and Tahira stare at each other.

Brad doesn't let go of Tahira’s fingers. One, two, three seconds pass, before tiny lines appear at the corners of Brad's eyes, the right corner of his mouth lifts, and Tahira catches a glimpse of the beginnings of a crooked grin.

“You should take a picture, it'll last longer. Maybe you can even borrow Nate’s camera; it would make for a fascinating documentary: cold-blooded killer sleeps…Then again, I doubt Nate would let his camera fall into the hands of a careless teenager, not to mention the fact there’s nobody left here to broadcast a documentary to, and I think the others think we’re all crazy.”

Tahira giggles lightly.

“Someone needs to be taken down a peg or two,” she says, bringing Brad's hand over and around her waist, shifting closer.

"Would that be me or Nate?"

Tahira’s answer – something along the lines of keep looking at me like that, and the possibility of it being you will increase dramatically –is lost in the collision of lips, the rustle of sheets, and Brad's muffled chuckle.......