Wyvern

"Most men would be happy. Why must you ruin perfectly good sex with this need for love?"

"I'm sorry. I want more." His voice cracked as he paused. Dejected, in a quiet voice he pleaded. "Is there anyway I can ever have that with you? I'll do anything."

Lydia's ice blue eyes regarded Nathaniel with calm reserve from her place in the window seat. She pulled his grandmothers quilt tighter around her naked body. Etched in sunlight, his heart longed for the angelic vision before him. Naked and vulnerable, Lydia could only think of him as "Tasty". He wasn't what she desired. At least, not yet.

She returned her gaze to the window. Thoughtful, she pushed a tendril of long white hair away from her youthful features. "Perhaps there is a way." A slim finger traced a line down the sun warmed glass. "Look to the fields, Nathaniel. The sun lights a path for you. Do you see it?"

Nathaniel practically lept to her side, mindless of the naked display he was giving his neighbors. His eyes narrowed as minutes ticked by. Lydia sat in patient silence watching him struggle. His heart sank as he sought to see what she described. Inklings of tears welled in his eyes. He knew his fate hung on something seemingly imperceptible. The world blurred and sharpened to a fine edge. He sucked in a breath wiping away despair. "I see it, Lydia. Oh my! It's really there!"

Lydia's mouth twitched in a faint smirk, briefly amused by his awe. "To have what you seek you must follow the path. Everything you need shall be provided as long as you remain true to it's course. If you stray I shall take it as a sign you have moved on. My life, in turn, will take a different path. Travel from morning light, until dusk. Stop only for what is absolutely necessary. Never lose the light. Accept no help. Travel on foot, until you reach the shadow of a mountain. I'll meet you there."

Nathaniel reached out to Lydia. Gratitude and longing shone in his eyes. He needed to touch her, to say goodbye, to thank her. Complacent, Lydia met his hazel eyes and shook her head. "The light is fading."

It was all she needed to say. Scrambling, Nathaniel dressed and quickly finger combed his hair. He paused in the doorway, taking her in one last time. He raced out the door smiling. His heart flooded with hope. Hope for the love of a beautiful woman, with hair, he thought of as prematurely white.

Days, then years passed. He heeded her instructions to the letter. His every need was attended. Anything he wanted, needed, craved could be found in just the right places, at just the right times. All except the one thing he ached for each night as he waited for the sun. Yet, every nourishing plate of food, each sturdy tent murmured unspoken rumors that the woman he cared for was beginning to love him. In surrender, he hoped and loved her even more. Hope spun dreams. Dreams embers fueled obsession. He shunned every temptation. Through sun dappled fields, icy riverbeds, windy desert; both he and time moved in a steady pace forgotten by the world. His hair begun to match the object of desire. A devout follower of the light, the slip of years went unnoticed. His mission and the sun were his only focus. Until one day he found himself an elderly man taking pained steps towards the shadow of a mountain.

Overwhelmed by emotion, his trembling legs gave way. Giving up now was not an option. He dug determined fingers into the cold earth and crawled to the shadows edge. Catching his breath, he rolled on his back and waited. The sight that met his eyes tugged at the unraveling thread of all his hopes.

"I've died. Haven't I?"

Lydia crouched beside him. Her hands moved in a sweeping appraisal of the old man's body. "Time has made you..." she searched for the right words as she poked his ribs a little. "Tender." she finished.

A trembling, wrinkled hand touched Lydias cheek in gentle wonder. "You haven't aged. You're the same. I've either died or I'm dreaming."

Lydia pinched him and giggled. "Tis no dream, Nathaniel."

"And now? Will you love me now" The question hung in the air before he could stop it. His need demanded her answer.

Lydia, ran her hand across the corner of her mouth catching an escaped line of drool.

"Oh yes." She stood. "I will love you in the only way I know how." Nathaniel looked at her blissful, eager, and expectant, even as her skin turned to ice blue scales. The woman he knew faded as she transformed into her true shape. He did not flinch as she changed. He simply reached out to the large winged beast that loomed over him, stretching it's wings. Sharp white claws lifted him. The larger version of her ice blue eyes swept over his dangling body. Her hot breath warmed him as he looked upon her with perfect trust. The realization that this was anything other than the culminating moment of his dreams, never had time to gestate in his thoughts. Sharp teeth separated head from neck in one merciful bite. Nathaniel's last moment had been an intensely happy one.

Lydia stretched out on her back, catching the blood of her former lover on her tongue. She drank his essence by the mouthful, until the pouring of his lifeblood slowed. Greedy, she shook the last drops out of the ragged wound like a child with a pixie stick, then bit him cleanly in two. The crunchy mouth feel of his bones and his tender flesh was something to be savored. She grinned a terrifying dragons smile finding she truly did love him. Who doesn't love a good meal?