ANGELCAKE

Chapter 27 - Lizard Vampire Demon

As with everything at the property, the bathroom was less than half finished. The room had no door and the rest of the barn it was located in also had no doors or windows (and of course, no proper roof or staircase either) so it was awkward to get to and somewhat open to the elements. The working parts of the bathroom consisted of the handsome, old, restored cast iron bath that was thankfully attached to a drain –but had no supply of water– and a grimy, old, battered sink with a small, ancient water heater mounted on the wall above it. (By some miracle, the unsightly plumbing that had seemed so oddly placed in the upper floor of what had been an ordinary barn and was scheduled to be torn out to make room for the pretty new sink –arranged to arrive at the same time as the never-arrived doors, windows and remaining fixtures for the renovation– was still intact and both water and heater still worked marginally.) It was how Valentina got water to bath. She hitched up a length of PVC guttering to bridge the gap from the sink to the bath and if she timed it right –topped up with a couple kettles full of water from the house– was able to get a few inches of water that was still hot enough to bath in before the water ran cold.

Apart from the lack of practical amenities, the general unfinished construction and the cold when it was cold, the room was quite appealing. (Even without the security of a door, it was Valentina's favourite place in the property.) During earlier, happier days, she had started to decorate in anticipation of the renovation being quickly completed. Rather generously sized for a bathroom, the walls were painted a clean and comforting, milk white and the room was sparsely adorned with furnishings and objects one might expect to find in one of those delightfully rustic, French farmhouse bathrooms featured in trendy interiors magazines. There was a nice, old-fashioned painted iron shelf against the wall holding the likely clutter: a few chipped, enamel basins; some delicate, old pharmaceutical bottles; thick chunks of handmade soap; some shells; a pitcher. A couple of charming, framed botanical pressings that Valentina had found at an antiques store in Uzès were hung on the wall and there was a pretty, painted iron chair with a scrolly heart shaped back, like the one in Valentina's bedroom, that she used to rest her towel on... It was actually the bathroom for one of the gîtes but as the little bathroom attached to the house wasn't working at all, it was all she had and it was better than nothing.

Jerremee suddenly appeared in the doorway wrenching her from her thoughts. He was smiling with the usual wide eyed, expression of agreeableness. For anyone who was watching him and hadn't experienced Valentina's reaction, it probably would have appeared that she had said she missed him and enquired how his day had been.

She covered her body with her arms.

"Get out of here!" she yelled.

Jerremee put down a yoghurt he had bought her, smiling shyly.

"GO OUT!"

"I can't my love," he said smiling and looked at her with a mixture of what looked like joy and some sort sexual of desire for her naked body. "I will never leave you. I can't survive without you. No, I won't ever go away from you," he said tenderly, stooping down beside the bath and getting very close to her. "I so enjoy being with you. I so-o-o wish you enjoyed being with me as much as I enjoyed being with you. But that's all behind us now, when you're better, we are going to spend some real quality time together." He said still smiling.

"I DO NOT WANT YOU HERE!!! Can't you have any decency, just to leave me alone? You're suffocating! What is the attraction? I detest you. You want to be around someone who detests you? Or do you just get your sick pleasure watching someone so disturbed because of you? Does this make you feel powerful? What is wrong with you?! You're not human. It's like you are a lizard! You have no human feelings! It's like here is demon is inside of you! LYSANDER IS DEAD! You promised! You swore you were caring for him! You left him in there without any water! Is there no promise you are capable of keeping? You let poor Lysander die, now you are sucking the life out of me like a vampire! You're a lizard vampire demon! I DON'T WANT YOU IN MY LIFE! THERE IS NO ONE IN THE WORLD I WOULD LESS RATHER BE WITH! I WANT YOU TO LEAVE. GO AWAY AND NEVER COME BACK!!! I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE, THERE IS GOING TO BE TROUBLE!"