AMADEO only had to make up one exam and then he had the whole summer to do as he pleased. He didn't dare mention Vampyres to the Fay. Even the wispy Rose Petal Fay were creatures of light. He was going to the Limelight more often now that he did not have classes. He was almost always dancing with Matt, Kim, René, or Pony. René did tease. She was harder to catch than she looked. And Kim would not let Amadeo touch her. He always joked with her because she wouldn't. Matt and Pony would do anything for him.

René did introduce him to Mab. She was a Queen and both René and Pony said she was very nice to be with. It was Mab who made René a Prince and took Pony into her court despite any rumors that he'd known all along what J had been doing. When Amadeo met her in person the first time he wanted her. He knew she was a real Queen. He would have to offer her something and tell her how much he did want her. "Would you spend just one of your nights with me?" he asked."

You are the impetuous one."

"Cure me of it," he said desperately.

"I will spend a night with you but you will have to wait to find out which one," she laughed.

"Wait?"

"Sometimes it's fun."

Pony laughed when he heard what she had said.

Amadeo couldn't stop thinking of Mab and her wisps of blonde hair. She smelled like flowers. She was small and had smaller feet. She might have been a real Faerie. René got her own apartment and she coyly invited Amadeo to see her new apartment. When Amadeo got there Mab and Pony were there also.

It was a small apartment with a separate bedroom and one open area for a kitchen-livingroom-diningroom. "Is this the judgment of Amad?" he asked."

You aren't the only one that invades these Faeries' dreams," Mab said.

"Well you've got me dreaming about you too now, your majesty."

"I know," she said. She got up from her seat on the sofa. She stood with her back to one wall looking down at her feet. "There once was a girl who was simple enough not to be afraid," she said. She was going to recite a story. "And she was very beautiful. Everyone who met her loved her. They flattered her by telling her she was a goddess. She began to believe it. And there was a true goddess. She wanted the attention the girl was getting. She decided she would get rid of the girl so no one would be able to see her. She had her accomplice perform the task. She knew him to be particularly cruel. She expected him to set her up with only a beast of a man to see her beauty. When he saw her he decided he would keep her for himself. Pony take over."

Mab sat back down and Pony took her place.

"He thought up a plot. He would collect a favor and have it proclaimed that there was a beast of a man up on the hill and he would take all their women unless their Queen be sacrificed to him. And so the people forgot to love her beauty and promptly tied her to a tree near the hill. The cruel boy sent his servants to fetch her. She was waiting for a beast and only servants came. They took her to the house. They told her that her husband would come that night. So she put herself to bed. The room darkened. She prepared to be met by a beast. Instead her husband caressed her, bathed her in kisses and rocked into her as gently as possible. She could not believe it. So the next night she set out to prove that he was not a beast. She took a light and a knife, should he be a beast, to bed with her. He came to her again the same way. She felt him fall asleep and she took up the light. René take over."

René hopped up to stand in front of them.

"She saw that he was beautiful to look at. She thought he was so beautiful that she forgot herself and dropped her light on him. He woke up. He did not want to be seen by others. He was vain in an odd way. He believed he was beautiful and that everyone else would think so. So like a martyr he hid himself. Now he fled. And the girl was miserable because she had no one. She wandered outside and was found by the goddess. In the mean time the people were only more in love with their memory of the girl. Her plan had failed. She wanted to steal her beauty away from her. She would work her hard. She gave her tasks to do. And struck by her beauty someone always helped her complete her task. Amad take over."

Amadeo took his place in front of the others.

"Eros went to his parents Zeus and Aphrodite and told them that Psyche was pregnant with his child and with all the work she hadn't lost it. He wanted to make and attempt to legitimatize his child. He decided to give up philandering and marry Psyche. Aphrodite thought if everyone could see Psyche large and pregnant and married they would forget their love of her. She agreed. Psyche was married to Eros and had a perfectly androgynous child named Pleasure. She hadn't ever wanted to marry Eros or even let him in bed with her. She was still waiting for a beast. She waited for years, no problem since she had been made immortal. Then she saw what she wanted. A Vampyre. He had the body of a boy but every night he sank his fang teeth into human flesh and sucked their blood. She let Eros know in a coy way how beautiful she thought the Vampyre was. Eros, being vain and jealous went down to the Vampyre with Psyche. He challenged the Vampyre to an archery contest. He wanted to prove his superiority some way. The Vampyre agreed. It seemed though that they were evenly matched. Eros boasted that he would beat the Vampyre under any condition. So the Vampyre held Eros to his boast and choose Psyche as a target. Eros shot her through the heart. And she fell out of love with him. The Vampyre deliberately missed. Eros knew he only won through forfeit. And the Vampyre sank his fangs into Psyche. She had her beast. Of course if she had looked past the surface she would have seen that Eros was the beast. He got his revenge. He would turn the Vampyre into a foppish creature and make him fall in love with another man. Psyche gave up on men all together and spent her days as a lackey to Aphrodite."

"That's terrible," said Mab.

"Thank you."

"Friday, Amad," said Mab as she kissed him good-bye.

And on Friday she found him in the cafe typing at his notebook. She asked him to take her to his home that night. Amadeo asked where he would find her. "Limelight."

He took her home with him. She asked him to get undressed. He didn't mind so he took his clothes off. He expected her to get undressed. She sat on the bed in the playroom and invited him to sit with her. When he sat on the bed she began kissing him. It wasn't what he wanted. Mab was acting as if he wasn't even there.

Amadeo didn't know what to say to her. He knew Fay tried not to make sex too emotional but she was treating him like an object. How could she be a Queen and be that way. "Amad, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't you want me?"

"What you can give me."

"But. . . "

"Waiting for me hasn't made you love me has it?"

"Do you think I might be infatuated? I don't know."

"You have to feel good around someone to have sex or it isn't very Fay. We all fall in love for a little while sometimes. I think Pony and Matt torture themselves over you. Take what you want, I'd say no if I wanted to. We can be connected for a little while."

Amadeo was only infatuated with her. As much as they taught each other he found his desire lessening. She was going to be an actress and she did things in a erratic way. But the whole experience confused him. He still wanted to be a Faerie. It was just that some made much better lovers than others.