Free A Raspberry in the Dark - Tales of a Lesbian Vampire (The Pixie Chix) by Zephyr Indigo

Sunset
     
    WAIT HERE,” Mint said.
    Felicia stopped. “We’ve arrived, then?”
    Mint nodded, then pulled her wings closer to her body and took a few tentative steps forward. She held one hand up behind her. “Wait here,” she repeated.
    Felicia complied but peered ahead, trying to determine where the Pixie was going. They were now very near the eastern edge of the forest, and before them the sky was darkening with the approach of night. About twenty feet ahead the trees ended abruptly, but Felicia couldn’t tell what lay beyond.
    She looked back, but could only see more trees, their silhouettes dark against the hazy orange glow of the sun. Felicia squinted, trying to see the Pixie that she knew to be there.
    “Why did you stop?” Tulip said, sounding quite close. Then one of the shadows shifted and resolved itself into the shape of another petite Pixie, the sunlight making her wings sparkle with gold and blue.
    “Mint told me to.”
    Tulip exhaled softly. “What does she think we’re hiding from?” She pushed past Felicia. “Come on.”
    They walked forward and soon emerged from the forest, revealing before them a vast grassland, deep green in the evening shadows.
    The Vale of the Pixies.
    It was an enormous valley, covered from edge to distant edge with rolling hills of grass. To Felicia’s right, far to the south, was an enormous, ragged mountain range, its tallest peaks disappearing into the clouds. To her left, perhaps a day’s walk away, was a large expanse of glittering water, possibly the ocean, or maybe an inland sea. And straight ahead, maybe a mile away—
    At first Felicia thought it was just a huge, strangely shaped tree, alone and majestic, rising at least two hundred feet into the air.
    Then she realized that it was more than a tree. Rising beside it was a structure of some sort, a cylindrical stone outcropping that almost looked like a tower—except even from this distance there was something bizarre and abstract about it.
    Perhaps because I can only see the bottom fifty feet or so; above that the tree seems to bend over and swallow it up.
    Or is it the tower that’s curving over to hide in the tree?
    “That’s… ?” Felicia began, not quite sure how to phrase her what she wanted to ask.
    “Yes,” Tulip said. She had stopped to look at the tree as well. “Home.” Then she continued forward to where Mint was huddled behind a cluster of bushes. “What are you doing?” she asked, not trying to hide her irritation.
    Mint continued to scan the valley. “I just want to make sure there’s no one around to see us coming.”
    “Why? We can’t hope to keep Felicia secret.”
    Mint turned to look at Tulip. “I know. I just figure it’s easier to get her in tonight, no questions asked. Tomorrow, once she’s settled…” she trailed off.
    Felicia approached the two Pixies. “What’s wrong?”
    Tulip gave Mint a frown then looked at Felicia. “Nothing.”
    “You’re going to sneak me in?” Felicia guessed.
    Tulip, still with a hint of a frown, shook her head. “No, we are not.”
    Felicia stared at Tulip. I’ve never found a frown sexy before, but somehow on a Pixie, the mix of cute and serious puts interesting thoughts into my head.
    Mint stepped forward. “Well, maybe some sneaking. Just a little.”
    “Why?” Felicia asked. “Because I’m not a Pixie?”
    “No,” Tulip said, “that doesn’t matter. We’re allowed to bring anyone we want.”
    “Well, yes, we’re allowed…” Mint said, “but we never do.”
    Tulip eyed the other Pixie suspiciously. “Winter has guests all the time. She had that Witch just last month, and that really loud elf before that.”
    “Yes,” Mint agreed reluctantly, “but I never have guests, and neither do you.”
    “So?”
    “I just thought… it would be better to avoid…”
    Tulip was now staring at Mint intently.
    “What?” Mint said, not able to meet Tulip’s gaze. Her wings flapped nervously.
    “You were going to sneak her