by Casey Lane
My normally prim and proper grandmother looked wild. Her white hair had escaped its neat bun. She too was in a flowing nightgown that was whipping around her ankles from a wind I didn’t feel. Goosebumps broke out on my skin anyway, but it wasn’t from the cold.
My grandmother reached for the book that I’d just been trying to look at. I reached for her, to comfort her. My grandmother looked back up at me and I froze. A single tear of red blood coursed down her face. She turned and pointed.
That’s when I saw him. He was at the back patio doors. They were wide open, but again, I didn’t feel the cold night air at all.
The man’s brown hair was curling around his shoulders. My heart constricted. His chest was bare and muscles rippled across his body. His eyes were an intense shade of green, but he was looking past me. My grandmother was speaking now, to him, but I couldn’t hear her. Her words were lost to some unknown wind. The man, though, seemed to hear what she was saying. He nodded, intent on her words. Then he turned. My breath caught with the intense shock of electricity I felt as his gaze turned upon me.
I finally heard my grandmother’s voice. “Go.”
I woke up and sat upright in bed. I was drenched in sweat. I took a deep breath and then another. I let the dream drain from my body with each breath. What was that about? Maybe I should lay off wine before bed in the future.
Truthfully, if the dream hadn’t been so weird, I’d have wished for dreaming about that man again. I just had to shake the dream off. I picked up my cell phone to look at the time. It was after three in the morning. It was way too early to get up for work. I put my head back on the pillow, but despite my attempts to picture the man from the dream and send my brain to sleep with a romantic fantasy, my grandmother kept popping into my mind instead. That was so not romantic. The problem was that I was worried.
I tried to rationalize away the urge to call my grandmother. It was just a dream. Still, it felt like one of those dreams. It couldn’t be, though. I hadn’t had one since… I didn’t want to think about it. I hadn’t thought about it…or had one since… So, why now?
I shook my head, trying to shake the idea that had taken root in my brain. It couldn’t be. It didn’t make sense. My grandmother was fine. I was still uneasy. Maybe I should call her. I grabbed my cell phone. It wasn’t even four in the morning yet. I put my head back down on the pillow.
I hadn’t spoken to my grandmother for a few months. The last time had been when I’d called her for her birthday at the beginning of the summer. I hadn’t actually seen her since last Christmas. It was a short drive away, but it felt like there was never enough time.
Still, right now, I really needed to call her. I looked at the clock again. It was way, way too early. I’d probably give her a heart attack if I called right now.
Yet, I debated. If anyone would understand why I’d called about a dream, it would be my grandmother. She always listened, no matter what I said. After my mother died, I’d needed that comfort.
I looked over at my cell phone again. No. She was fine, I repeated to myself. Even in my dream she had been alive. I tried not to focus on the fact that she’d been crying a tear of blood. That just showed it was a dream, right? Nobody cried tears of blood.
Besides, other than that, she’d just been talking to that man. She’d been frantic, but I was sure he’d been helping her in some way. He wasn’t there to hurt her. I was pretty positive about that. I tried to wrap my brain around those facts. My pulse started to calm down. It was alright. It could wait until morning. Even if I had sensed something unusual, it was not an emergency.
I grabbed my cell phone anyway. I set my alarm for seven. It was a little early for a phone call, but at least my grandmother should be awake by then. I’d call her as soon as it went off. It was just a precaution.
I mean, if I thought about it, there were even more things about my dream that didn’t make sense. Like how did my grandmother know that sexy man? Her neighbors were just as old as she was, so he wasn’t a neighbor. I knew all of her friends. They’d all doted on me as a child and brought me cookies and candies when they came over.
It had to be just a dream. I repeated it again like that would make me believe it. My grandmother was alright. It nagged at me anyway. I decided to get up. Sleep didn’t look like it was going to happen for now anyway.
Grabbing my favorite long cardigan sweater out of the closet, I put it on. I hadn’t turned on the heat just yet in my apartment, but it was definitely cold enough to need a sweater. I slipped on my penguin slippers and walked into the kitchen to make some tea. The cloth bottom of my right slipper caught on the baseboard between the kitchen and the hallway. I shook my foot free and bent down to take a better look at it. It looked like it had started to come loose. I sighed. I didn’t need more things to do. I walked over to the running list of household chores I had on my fridge and wrote down a note to call maintenance. I smiled at my list. Even just writing down something to do made me feel like things were getting back to normal.
Half an hour later, I finally felt relaxed. I had curled up on the couch to read celebrity gossip on my tablet. It was a guilty pleasure and I never had much time to catch up on the latest news unless it was a shocking headline. With my hectic work schedule, I’d almost forgotten how nice it was to stop and read.
Two hours later I found myself leaning back against the couch, my eyes wanting to drift closed. The dream and my grandmother were almost completely forgotten. I shifted and lied down against one of the throw pillows. I didn’t even have the energy to turn off the lamp. I shut my eyes.
The sudden knocking at my apartment door made me jump up into a sitting position. My arm knocked over the tea that was sitting on my side table, spilling half of it on the bottom of my sweater. I pulled the sweater off before the tea seeped all the way through. I hoped it didn’t stain. It fell to the floor.
I laughed to myself. Maybe that dream was still on my mind. Reality quickly replaced it. Nobody was at my door this early in the morning. It was the Santa Anna winds. They had kicked in a couple of weeks ago and they were prone to blow branches and debris into the air. The laughter helped calm my nerves. The sound had scared the heck out of me. I would be glad when I could finally call my grandmother and put the dream behind me.
I looked down at my sweater. I should go rinse it off before the stain really set in. I stretched and stood up. The knocking came again. It was definitive this time. Someone really was at the door.
Fear shot through me and I dropped the sweater, the stain quickly forgotten. It was still dark outside. The sun hadn’t even come up yet. Was it five? Six? Nobody should be knocking on my door at this hour. Was it a burglar? No. They wouldn’t knock. Wait. Unless they were trying to see if someone was home. No. Most normal people were sleeping.
I didn’t know what to do. I should call the police. I looked around the room and finally spotted my cell phone on the kitchen counter next to my electronic kettle. The problem was that I had to walk past the front door to grab it.
I started creeping as quietly as I could in an attempt to retrieve it. I knew that it was unlikely that someone outside the door could hear me walking, but what if they did? What if that made them want to get in even more? Adrenaline pumped through my veins, but then a thought stopped me short.
Was it one of my neighbors? I hesitated. Maybe one of them needed help? I didn’t know them that well since I spent most of my time at work. I paused, unsure. No, it was safer to get my cell phone, regardless of who it was. Nobody should be knocking on my door at this time of the morning. They all had their own phones to call for help anyway.
I tiptoed past the door. My heart thudded in my ears. It almost stopped when I heard him.
“Seraphine!” the unmistakably masculine voice sounded desperate on the other side of the door.
He was whispering, but his voice carried a strange sort of power. I froze, inches from the door. Had he heard me? I started to move forward. I had to get to my phone.
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br /> “Wait!” The gruff voice pleaded. “Your grandmother wanted me to speak with you.”
I froze again. I knew he was telling the truth and I knew who he was. I walked to the front door and opened it without thinking. There, standing in the cold November dusk was the man from my dream. I knew it would be the second I’d heard his voice. My heart constricted again at the sight of him. He was better looking in person. I guessed that he was in his late twenties, maybe only a few years older than me. His gaze was intense and his face had a rugged look. His hair was dark and wildly curly. He was fully dressed, although, almost hastily, since I could see that his shirt was slightly misbuttoned up the front. There was no mistaking his muscular form, though, despite the piece of thin cotton clothing covering his chest.
He walked in quickly and shut the door behind himself. I was surprised at how large he looked in my living room. I suddenly realized how underdressed I was in my nightgown. My sweater was on the floor back near the couch, but I didn’t move. Instead, I met his eyes.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” I asked.
As I said those words, I realized that a normal woman would be screaming bloody murder at a stranger in her house in the pre-dawn hours. She would have called the police. I wasn’t scared of him, though. Instead, I was worried why he’d come. My grandmother. Guilt coursed through me. I should have gotten in my car and gone to her as soon as I’d woken up from that dream. Was he here to tell me that she was dead?
“I came to warn you. You need to protect yourself,” he said.
I frowned. Protect myself? From what? The dream had been about my grandmother…and him. It wasn’t about me. My mind was whirling. I tried my best to focus.
I met his eyes again. “What happened to my grandmother? I know you were with her a few hours ago.”
“Your grandmother is fine. You’re the one in danger.”
I looked at him, feeling even more confused. I barely had time for friends much less enemies. There was nobody that I could think of who would want to hurt me.
“I’m in danger? From who?” I asked. “And why would my grandmother…”
“A vampire,” he said.
I stared at him. I blinked. I just couldn’t think of anything to say. He was completely serious. It took another long second for his words to really sink in. A vampire. My mind flashed to the man from the IRS earlier in the day. Sure, he’d looked like a vampire, but come on. They weren’t real. Was this a joke? But there was no way this guy could have even known about the man from the IRS.
“A vampire? They don’t exist,” I said and yet, I distinctly felt uneasiness forming in the pit of my stomach.
“They do,” he said.
He meant it. Maybe he believed it. I felt dizzy as my brain warred with itself. Vampires couldn’t exist. Why would they be after me anyway? Well, if there was a reason other than the obvious, at least. Blood, my blood. I shuddered again.
No. I couldn’t believe this. I always prided myself on being realistic. That’s why I was in accounting. I liked numbers. They always played by the rules. This scenario was completely ridiculous and it broke all of the rules. That’s when it hit me. This guy was insane.
That was why I had dreamt about him. Maybe he really had been about to hurt my grandmother and I’d misinterpreted the dream. Had he injured her? Killed her? I tried not to show any emotion on my face, but fear was pulsing through my body. I had to get to my phone, but he was blocking the way to the kitchen.
“Who are you?” I asked, trying to stall and think of the best way to get around him.
“I'm Cade. Your grandmother sent me here to protect you.”
I laughed a little hysterically. “From what?”
“A vampire. I just told you.”
“But that’s insane.” I bit my lip. It definitely had to be a misstep to point out that a crazy person was insane.
“I’m serious,” Cade said, taking a step toward me.
I felt an unexpected sizzle of electricity jump between our bodies. We were only a foot apart. I stepped back instead, uneasy about my body’s strange reaction to this man. Besides, I had to remember he that he was unstable. He actually believed in vampires. I really needed to get to my phone. I could see it just over his shoulder.
I tried to focus. It would only take me a few seconds to run to the kitchen and get it. Still, even if I reached it, would I have time to make a call? No. I’d have to run to the bathroom and lock myself in. I looked at Cade. If I was going to try and escape him, I’d have to be precise. He was bigger and stronger than I was and there would be no margin for error if I made a run for it.
“I just don’t understand. Let’s say vampires do exist. Why would a vampire want to attack me?” I asked, annoyed to hear my voice shake.
I couldn’t let him know that I was afraid of him. I needed to catch him unaware. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice. Maybe he thought I was starting to believe him. That’s what I needed him to think anyway.
Cade sighed and ran a hand through his wild hair. “I don’t know. Your grandmother told me to come here to protect you. She said that you were in danger from a vampire and that I should take you away somewhere for a few days.”
“What?” That made even less sense. I didn’t know Cade at all. There was no way I’d leave with him.
“Look, I didn’t have a lot of time to talk to her. She summoned me and said I had to go right away. There wasn’t time for questions. She said a vampire was after you and that you were in mortal danger. I came to protect you. End of story.”
“But…” I didn’t even know what question to ask first.
“We don’t have time right now either and I know this a lot, but…”
I ran. I couldn’t wait any longer for the perfect moment. Cade was there to kidnap me. I made it to the kitchen in record time, swiping the phone up without a hitch. I turned to run back out of the kitchen and down the hall to the bathroom when one of my penguin slippers caught on the baseboard between the kitchen and the hallway. I started to fall.
Muscular hands grabbed me and kept me from crashing to the floor. Electricity surged through me at his touch, but it was quickly replaced by panic. I took deep breaths, but I couldn’t breathe. I thrashed out with my arms and my legs, but Cade held me tightly and didn’t seem at all affected. He said something to me, but I couldn’t hear him. The roar in my ears was telling me that I was going to die if I didn’t escape. I needed to breathe. I needed to fight. Cade’s arms encircled me in a warm embrace. Then the world went black.
Chapter Two
My eyes fluttered open. All I saw was the early morning sun shining on the beautiful sight of land and ocean meeting in a blend of greens and blues. I bolted awake. This was not right.
A hand reached out, touching my collarbone firmly, and pushing me back into my seat.
“Where am I?!?” I turned to look at the owner of the hand and a piece of the night before came flooding back to me. Grandma. Cade. Vampires. Kidnapper. “Where are we going?”
I struggled to take off the seatbelt that held me to the seat. I had to get out of the car. Everyone knew that you were almost assuredly dead if your assailant managed to get you in his vehicle. I would have thought I’d be tied up and in a trunk, but maybe Cade thought I wouldn’t be willing to jump out of a moving car. He was wrong.
Cade glanced over at me. “What are you doing?”
“Leaving.” I pulled at the seatbelt frantically. Had he done something to it? Why was I having trouble with the buckle? My hands just wouldn’t stop shaking. I pulled harder.
“We’re driving,” Cade attempted to move my hand away from the seatbelt.
“So?”
The seatbelt sprung free. I automatically reached for the door handle. I had to get out of the car.
“Wait,” Cade reached over me, grabbing my far hand, and in the process placed his arm across my body. “I’ll pull over.”
Then he swerved off the road and into the parking lot for a scenic
viewpoint. I tried to breathe. Cade didn’t move his hand, but I didn’t struggle despite the fact that he had his arm draped over me. My rational senses had kicked in. It was safer if he stopped the car. Besides that, he was stronger than me and it would be much easier to run if he physically let me go. Even though he was also driving, the muscles in his biceps and forearms told me that I’d still have trouble pushing his arm off of me to escape.
I made a quick assessment of the location, barely registering the beauty of the vista. There were no other cars stopped, so nobody was going to be able to save me. I’d have to run back to the road and either escape Cade on foot or flag down a car. Running hadn’t worked that well for me so far, but it was my only option. I glanced at Cade. There was no way I could fight him and win. He was too strong and I doubted my lacking self-defense skills would do much damage.
Cade pulled into a parking spot overlooking the ocean and stopped the car. I took a deep breath. It was a positive thing that I was sitting in the front seat. It was like for some reason, Cade expected me to just go with him. He was most definitely insane and delusional. I had to say the exact right things.
Most importantly, I had to be patient. I took another breath. An opportunity would present itself. Once it did, I had to get out of the car fast. I waited and tried to calm down. I also tried not to think about how badly this kind of plan had gone for me so far.
Cade slowly pulled his hand away and turned toward me. “We’re driving to Big Sur. There’s no reason to freak out.”
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked, meeting his eyes. I don’t know what possessed me to say that outright even though it was what I was thinking.
Cade frowned. “Of course not. I’m trying to save you from getting killed. There’s a vampire after you, remember?”
I ignored the vampire part because that was crazy and focused on the facts. “But you kidnapped me.”
Cade sighed. “I didn’t kidnap you. You hyperventilated at your apartment. I told you, I had to get you out of there and keep you safe. That’s what I did. I’m here to help you, not hurt you. I promised your grandmother. She said you’d believe me. She said you’d know I was telling the truth.”
