She popped the trunk to get the groceries out and remembered the day when she came home with the car. So proud of herself – her first brand new car. She was beaming when her dad had inspected it, kicking the tires and looking under the hood. “It’s kind of...purple,” he’d said.
Insulted, she retorted, “No Dad, it’s Electric Blue.”
His eyebrows went up. ”Hmmm, why did you get a stick shift?”
“I don’t know, Dad! I guess I just like having something to do with my feet and my right hand while I’m driving,” she said, defensively, as she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
Nodding, he said, “It’s nice.” That was the seal of approval. He was an engineer and never seemed to get too excited about anything. ‘It’s nice,’ was the best she was ever going to get from him. Though he never said it out loud, her mother told her later that he was as proud as any dad could be. He’d gone to work, bragging to all the other guys how his little girl bought her very own “brand new sports car” without any help from him.
With that thought in her mind and a proud smile on her face, she grabbed the groceries and went inside. She put all the groceries away and changed the kitty box. She headed for the bedroom and put the clothes she was going to wear for the “tryst,” on the bed next to Harry. He was presently sleeping on his back, belly exposed and head on the pillow. She looked at the clock – it was only 4:05 pm – what was she going to do for the next 3 hours? She lay on the bed next to Harry and rubbed his belly.
The doorbell rang, waking her. She looked at the clock and the time was 6:30 pm. She must have fallen asleep. Harry jumped off the bed, disgruntled by the disturbance and Darby got up and headed for the front door. Halfway to the door, she rubbed her eyes and suddenly it occurred to her, Oh no, I bet I have bed head. She ran both hands through her hair in an attempt to comb any crazy looking strays into obedience before opening the door. The doorbell rang again. I’m coming, I’m coming, she thought.
She opened the door to find a nervous looking Devon. She was a bit confused but said, “Hi, I’m sorry I fell asleep. You’re a little bit early but if you want to come in...”
He interrupted her, “I’m so sorry, Darby. I’m going to have to cancel our date.”
“Oh. Okay. Is everything okay?”
“Ummmm, well there’s been an emergency. A friend of ours needs our help and well… I just… well, we need to go right away. Can I take a rain check on that date?”
“Yea. No problem – another time then,” she said trying not to sound too disappointed. But like anyone in the same position, she thought of about a hundred other reasons why he was really canceling. After all, the excuse didn’t sound very convincing. Then again, they’d only had one evening together; it’s not like they were joined at the hip.
As she pondered all this, Devon’s expression looked as though he was listening to her thoughts. He was obviously very uncomfortable with lying and he did it rather badly. He said, “I’ll call you when it’s sa.., I mean, when I get back to make arrangements. Can you write your phone number down for me?”
“Oh, sure!” She walked to the table where the answering machine sat and picked up a pen and a notepad and jotted down her cell and her home phone. “Here you go. I hope everything is okay with your friend.”
“My what? Oh right, our friend. Yes. I’m sure everything will be fine. Blake and I will just be gone a few days. Again, Darby, I’m so sorry. I hope you didn’t go to any great trouble.”
“Me? Phhhht! Naw! No big deal. Don’t worry about me. Harry will keep me company,” she chuckled just as Harry sprinted out the front door and into a bush across the street. Great! Make me look bad why don’t you, she thought. “Okay, so I guess I’ll see you around; have a safe trip.”
“Goodnight, Darby,” Devon said, and he was gone. She shut the door and sat down on the couch. Saturday night all alone, not even the cat wants to hang out with me. At least I’ve got a movie to watch.
About ten minutes after their goodbye, she heard the sexy car leave the driveway next door. Wow, he wasn’t kidding. Hope he’s not running as fast as he can away from me. With that she took some Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia out of the freezer, grabbed a spoon and the movie, and went to her room.
Over the next seven days, a flurry of tokens from Devon arrived. Darby wasn’t sure how to react, as this was the first time she had ever been doted over. Her employee, Allison, had a lot of fun teasing Darby about the attention she was receiving from this mysterious new neighbor.
Allison Dover had freckles and beautiful, curly, red hair that went down to the middle of her back. She was one of those gals that you never saw mad. She always seemed to be smiling. Allison had become Darby’s ‘Right-hand gal’ in business, so to speak. She had helped her make the bookstore a success and they weren’t just employee/employer; they were good friends.
The first day, an amazing ancient book of alchemy was delivered. It was in almost perfect condition, bound in leather and all handwritten. The second day, four-dozen lavender roses came, representing the forty-eight hours he had been gone. The third day, a burglar outfit came for Harry, equipped with a black Zorro mask with cutouts for ears. The package also included a man-sized kitty bowl and a bag of kitty food to fill it. The fourth day, a RedHook Coleman cooler with two growlers of beer and ice were delivered. Also in the cooler was a RedHook tank top very similar to the one Darby had been wearing when she was caught watering in the yard. The fifth day, a very old book of Oljone history was delivered. It appeared to be a diary of one of the original settlers. The sixth day, a small hydrangea plant came with a new watering nozzle for the hose and a CD of Modern English. The seventh day, an exact duplicate of her favorite comfy blue chair at Paddy’s was delivered. The eighth and last day, a formal invitation was delivered to the bookstore at about 10:00 A.M. by overnight FedEx. It said:
The pleasure of your presence is requested
by Mr. Devon Bloomington for dinner
this evening at 7:00 P.M. at his home.
She was excited he was coming back, but she had to admit to herself that she was feeling a bit apprehensive about the date. She felt it had been so obvious he had lied about why he left that she worried about how that would play itself out.
“So what did you get from the mystery man today?” Allison pressed Darby, referring to the overnight letter.
“An invitation to dinner!” Darby handed the beautiful invitation to Allison.
“Are you excited?”
“Yeah! Nervous, excited and about a hundred other things.”
“I know. First dates are like that. So why don’t you just do something witchy, and see into the future? That way you will know what to expect and you won’t be nervous anymore.”
“Just because I come from a family of witches, doesn’t make me a practicing witch. My family hasn’t practiced witchcraft in at least one or more generations so nobody ever taught me to do anything.
“I found our family book of shadows, and I have made a few charms from it to help me or Rowan sleep or get over a cold faster, but that’s about the extent of my witchiness. Rowan has actually taken a more active role in magic than I have. She’s learned to read tarot cards and runes.”
“Huh. I always figured with opening a supernatural bookstore, that you were more active.”
“No time. I’m interested in it, but aside from a book here and there, the bookstore takes up all my time. Besides, I’m not sure I have any talents. It’s not like I naturally have premonitions or cast spells. Some witches are naturally talented with those gifts; so far I haven’t come up with anything I’m gifted with, except a head for business.” Darby laughed and so did Allison.
“Well, maybe you’ve just never been in the right situation for your gifts to present themselves.”
“Maybe, but I don’t think I will hold my breath. Besides, do you really want to be working for a witch? I mean, if you don’t come in on time, I could hex or curse you with chicken pox or athlete’s foot,�
�� Darby said jokingly.
“Yeah. That could be a problem.” Allison laughed so hard, Darby was sure she saw tears.
The rest of the day was like all days when there are anticipated plans in the evening, dragging at a snail’s pace. Darby swore she watched every hour on the clock go by. It was like the last day of the school year, waiting for the bell to ring so summer vacation could finally begin.
She didn’t think the end of the day would ever come, but finally it did. She closed up the store in record time and raced home to take a shower and change. Since she was a bit nervous, she decided a beer might be a good idea. Besides, she had those two growlers in the ice chest. Wouldn’t want those to go to waste, she thought.
Not knowing what attire would be appropriate, she went with a sundress. She figured it was at the guys’ house, how fancy could it be? She fed Harry in his new, more accommodating bowl and took a last swig of beer when the doorbell rang. She looked at the clock and saw it was two minutes to seven. She went to the front door and opened it to find Devon standing there, smiling and devastatingly handsome. He handed her a bouquet of dark purple delphiniums and sunflowers. How did he know those were my favorites?
He was dressed in dark denim jeans and a white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up almost to his elbows. His hair was pulled back in a small ponytail which kept it mostly out of his face.
“Come in. Let me put these in water and we’ll head over,”
she said as she headed to the back of the house and to the left where he could hear her filling what he figured was a vase. “Is there anything I should bring? I mean, we have a ton of beer here,” she laughed.
He chuckled, “No, I think I have everything we need, but I promise we won’t let the growlers go to waste.” She headed back towards him with the flowers now soaking in a large, blue, glass vase. She set them on the big round coffee table in the living room. “May I say you look lovely, Darby?”
“Thank you! You’re sweet. And thank you for all the amazing gifts – you really shouldn’t have gone to so much expense and trouble.”
“Oh, but I had to. I disappointed you and I still feel horrible about that.”
“Don’t be silly. I mean, I looked forward to our time together, but disappointed? No, I mean, you have no obligation to me.”
“But I do. At least I’d like to,” he smiled and he held his hand out to take hers and continued, “Shall we?”
“Sure.” She grabbed a light sweater that was lying on the back of the couch and he led her to the door, opening it for her.
“Should I lock it?” he asked.
“No. It’s fine. Pretty safe neighborhood and besides, we’re just next door. If someone starts taking large items out of the house, I think we will notice,” she responded.
He smiled and closed the door behind them. They were walking down the steps of the porch when they heard squealing tires nearby that made them both turn their heads in the same direction.
He turned back to her and smiled, continuing to lead her to the sidewalk, when they heard squealing tires turning on to their street. It was that beautiful, sexy, black car that had been in their driveway before they had left on their trip, coming fast towards them and turning into the driveway in front of them. She wasn’t sure how the handsome, very tall sinewy man turned off the car, opened the door, and got out of the car in the split second she saw him do it. The next thing she knew he was in front of them, keys in hand, and looking directly at Devon. He seemed about to speak when Devon introduced him to Darby.
“Darby, this is my brother, Blake, a.k.a. ‘speed racer.’ Blake, this is Darby, my date for the evening and our new neighbor.”
“Nice to meet you, Darby. I’m sorry to interrupt, but..,” Blake said.
“I thought we agreed I had the house tonight,” Devon interrupted, smiling uncomfortably, and then looking again at Darby.
“I know, I know, but something has come up,” Blake said. As if talking in some kind of brother code, he continued, “There’s a problem. It’s here in town...now...”
While the brothers bickered back and forth about nothing that made much sense to Darby, she noticed a man had appeared across the street. She blinked her eyes a couple of times to see if she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. This man was huge. He looked like he had gone way overboard on the bodybuilding, steroids, and protein shakes. He wore black jeans, no shirt obviously trying to show off his physique, a long, black leather duster and a black hat. He must have been dying of heat stroke in that get-up.
She thought, He must be going to a party. Why else would anyone dress like that in summer? To Darby, he looked like a Van Helsing wannabe; of course, he was lacking both the good looks of Hugh Jackman, and hair. He must know he stands out like a sore thumb dressed like that. A costume party must be the only explanation. Oddly though, he seemed to have his sights on the three of them.
Quickly and fluidly, he flipped back the right side of his coat, revealing what appeared to be crossbow and it looked real AND loaded. He aimed it at them. He’s joking right? He must be. I mean he must know he looks ridiculous so he is playing it up. Right?
Devon was more or less standing in front of her in relation to the crossbow. He and Blake had their sides to the Van Helsing guy, but Blake was angled a little bit more towards him and the guy caught his eye. Everything seemed to go into slow motion at that point. Blake pounced towards the guy in a blur of speed and ferocity that could only be described as something inhuman. At impact, there was a God awful snapping of what Darby could only imagine was the breaking of bones. Blake sent the man flying through the air over a parked car, landing with a thud on the ground behind it. There was no movement on the other side of the car.
Unfortunately, before the man went down, he did get a shot off and it was headed right for Darby and Devon. As if he had read her thoughts or heard it coming, Devon turned and stepped into its path, completely shielding her from the arrow, as it hit him in the chest just below his right collarbone. His body went limp and he collapsed at her feet.
Darby stared at Devon’s beautifully chiseled face as he fell to the ground and a wave of emotions engulfed her. At first, warmth spread over her, seeming to envelop her and Devon. She thought for a moment she could see into his soul. She could feel his pain and his anguish at putting her in danger. If not for a sheer gossamer layer she could not penetrate, she felt she could know everything about him in that very second.
She had only experienced something like this one other time in her life and that was when Rowan had fallen out of a tree in the Duarte’s orchard when they were little girls.
She could hear Rowan calling her in pain. That was so many years ago, she had almost forgotten. This was definitely the same feeling.
Obviously he felt it too – maybe it was the panic of the situation – she wasn’t sure, but she could tell he felt it because despite all the chaos and the arrow in his chest, he was very calm now and smiling at her.
Devon grimaced and closed his eyes in pain. Blake was headed towards Devon to see if he could help. Darby saw over his shoulder that the man with the crossbow was up again, and reloading. That’s when everything went white. Suddenly a look of surprise and terror came over the man as he too saw the flash of white light emanating from her, the willowy blonde with tears streaming down her face, Devon dying at her feet, and his handsome brother oblivious of what was behind him. She put her hand up as if telling Van Helsing guy to stop. He did. A light surged from her eyes and hand with a force like a hurricane that hit him hard. The energy threw him back thirty feet or so. Unfortunately for him, he ran into a tree during his flight. The sound was something like a splitting melon. She knew as soon as she heard the noise that Van Helsing guy had not survived the impact.
Blake turned in time to see the man hit the tree. He stared at the attacker in disbelief. His brother was down, the attacker was down, and all that was standing was the blonde girl next to his brother. She was shaking and looked about r
eady to fall or throw up, he wasn't sure which. He was instantly at her side and helped her down to a sitting position. He looked at his brother, then at the attacker, and back to this shaking woman and marveled. What had happened? How did it happen?
As if someone flipped a switch, Darby stopped shaking and looked at Blake with piercing blue eyes and said, “Help me get him to the car. We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”
“No…Um we can’t do that. He can’t go to the hospital,” Blake said frantically.
“You’re kidding, right? Why not? He’s bleeding and he’s got an arrow in his chest. We’ve got to do something!” Darby said.
“I know that seems like the logical place to take him, but we just can’t. Please, trust me! If we can just get the arrow out and clean him up, he will be all right,” Blake argued.
“Right now the arrow is acting as a plug; if we take it out, he’s going to bleed, a lot. He’s going to need stitches and he should be checked to see if any organs were hit,” Darby said.
“Please, you need to trust me. I can’t tell you why, but if you want to save him, you have to trust me. Please!”
“Oooo, no...are you two fugitives or something? Was that a bounty hunter?”
“Something like that. If you feel anything for my brother, just let it go. Please. I can’t explain right now.”
“Fine. Just help me get him inside; then you can go take care of the other guy and I’ll take care of your brother, but you owe me an explanation as to what the heck just happened.” What have I gotten drawn into? she thought.
Blood of a Werewolf Page 3
