Rainbow Snippets*--Limbo

We've reached that part of summer where everything seems overgrown and the humidity is oppressive and thoughts of fall have begun to creep in. Except winter follows fall and I don't like cold weather anymore. Plus, we've had so much "haze" this summer, it's been difficult to enjoy the pool. Somehow, everything feels a bit "off".  

Scenery from an afternoon walk at the local Nature Center. 

This week's snippet is a continuation of my Vampire WIP, Fangs For the Memories. It's 1969 and Artemis, a 300 year-old + vampire, has spent the last week with a young couple. A flat tire in the early hours of the morning becomes a crisis when Alex is hit by a passing vehicle and his girlfriend, Sally, begs Artemis to save him. From Artemis' POV:   (read part one here)

“I don’t care. He’s dying.” 
             I wanted to do it. My instincts were screaming at me to forget the rules that the Council had set--the very Council that I was a member of. How could I stand as a judge, an enforcer, if I couldn’t follow the laws I’d helped create? 
           “Can’t.” I spoke the words firmly to Sally, making her look at me as I said it. “My hands are tied without his consent.” 
            Alex’s breathing was ragged and he began to shake--his body was fighting to live, not knowing it was a lost battle. In the dark of a moonless night, I could barely see Sally, even with my enhanced sight. Except her eyes. They were wide and I saw the moment when she understood what I wasn’t saying. She bent over Alex and whispered into his ear. “Alex, say yes. Please, say yes.” She shook him and he groaned, but his eyes fluttered and she said it again. “Say yes.”

To be continued...

*Rainbow Snippets is a (Facebook) group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers who gather once a week to share snippets from a work of fiction–-a WIP or a finished work or even a book recommendation. If you're interested in following a diverse group of authors, check it out here.