Spider Web

by Danielle James

  “Don’t be,” she said. She felt only a little embarrassed. She hadn’t kissed anyone since Joe, but somehow, she didn’t feel bad about it like she thought she would.

  “You better get home,” he said sheepishly. “Wouldn’t want you to oversleep in the morning.”

  He walked her to her car and said goodnight. Just before she got in the driver’s side, he leaned in and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “See you tomorrow.”

  Her mind ran a hundred miles a minute on the way home. She was having a hard time believing how she felt. She replayed his actions over and over again in her memory. She could still feel him on her lips. It felt, well, good. She was on some kind of high and she liked it.

  Jules was sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep when she got in bed that night. Her head was just too full of thoughts. His touch, how his lips felt on hers, how at that moment, she did not want him to let her go. She caught herself smiling more than once. She just couldn’t believe she had kissed him. Jules was never one to show physical affection lightly. Did that mean, she was happy? It did, and she knew it. And she knew Nick was the reason.

  Somehow, sleep found her, but her dreams were unrelenting. Glimpses of his face seemed to be everywhere. One dream was disturbing. Nick leaned in to kiss her once again, but instead of a kiss, he bit her. When she looked at his face, it had changed. His eyes were scarlet; his face was different. He had fangs that hung over his bottom lip and dripped with blood from where he had bitten her. A scream woke her out of the dream. She was sweating buckets, and her sheets were soaked. What a nightmare!

  Nick couldn’t believe it. He had finally conjured up the nerve to kiss her. He had wanted to do it for so long and when he did, wow! It was like walking on air. Her scent was so strong, her taste so sweet. He thought about it most of the night. Of course, Rachel saw it in his eyes as soon as he walked through the doors at home. She was beaming.

  “Details?” she requested.

  “Mind your manners,” he reminded her. Again with the butting into his personal life. But Nick just couldn’t resist. A sheepish grin swept over his face and he was so happy with himself that he spilled. “Just a kiss and she didn’t flip out or anything.”

  “So you told her then? What did she say?”

  “No, I didn’t tell her!” His were open wide and shock on his face. “She doesn’t know about me, about us. It stays that way. At least for now.” There was no way he could tell Jules what he was. He knew that vampires and weres lived out in the open, but as far as he could tell, Jules had never been acquainted with any. Of course, he also knew that if he wanted any kind of relationship with her, he was going to have to tell her. What would she think? He thought she was a really open-minded kind of person, but there were a lot of myths out there in the world, most of them not true. Would she believe him? Would she accept him for who he really was? Or would she run away, screaming?

  He deliberated all these things all night. When morning came, he decided it would be best for them both if he just pretended nothing happened. If she still showed interest, maybe he would let the chips fall where they may. If not, he would let her live her own life without his interference. He decided that he would not make another move for her; she would have to do it first. He was leaving it up fate.

  The next day Nick was almost aloof. He made no mention of the night before, nor did she. It was as if it never happened. Jules began to wonder if it had all been a dream or something she had made up in her own mind. She wanted to say something to him about it, but she just couldn’t find the courage. Perhaps he changed his mind. She didn’t want to seem needy or clingy, or crazy. Of course, the last she was having a hard time convincing herself of lately.

  Several days passed, and the kiss was never mentioned again.

  She was walking toward her apartment building, having had to park down the street because someone stole her parking spot. She would have the car towed if it was still there in the morning. People could be so inconsiderate.

  Suddenly, she had the feeling that she was not alone. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up and a shiver ran down her spine. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead and her palms went slick. She could swear she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to look, but no one was there. Oh, grow a spine! she told herself. Still, she hurried for the door.

  Once she got inside, she felt much better. The apartment was stuffy and smelled stale, so she opened a window. It had been a beautiful day and the air conditioner apparently hadn’t kicked on all day. She pushed the curtain aside so fresh air could come in the apartment. She admired her lovely view of the fire escape and sighed before turning away to get some dinner in her. After a quick shower and some reruns, Jules was sound asleep.

  She was running. Her legs wouldn’t move fast enough. Joe was just ahead of her, calling her to keep up. He ran over a hill and when she got there, he was gone. In his place, was Nick. He smiled at her gently at first, and then pulled his lips back over a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. His eyes were scarlet red again, his expression full of anticipation. She opened her mouth to scream,....

  Jules woke herself up with a start. Oh for goodness sake, what was wrong with me? She thought. Then she thought she heard something odd. She switched off the TV that she had accidentally left on, and listened. Was there someone in her apartment? And then she remembered the living room window she had not closed. It must be something outside, she thought. Jeesh, I am so jumpy lately. She was going to have to get over it, quickly. She pulled herself out of bed and went to the living room to close it.

  She shoved the window shut, harder than she meant to, and the glass shuttered under the pressure. She pulled the drapes closed and fastened the tie to the wall. That was when she heard it.

  Breathing.

  Behind her.

  She turned slowly and saw him. A man was in her apartment. He came in through the open window, no doubt. How could she have been so careless?

  Jules studied the man for a brief moment. He wore dark clothes and a long jacket. He was pale and would have been beautiful if not for the fiery red eyes he was staring her down with. The same kind of eyes from her dreams. But this time, it wasn’t Nick. No, this was someone else. A monster. This man was a vampire. Her mind was screaming at her to run, to scream, anything! But her body was frozen in fear. She heard the man laugh under his breath, a mean, sadistic chuckle, and she knew this was not going to be pretty. She found herself praying to God that he only wanted her things. Deep down, she knew that wasn’t what he came for.

  The man was silently approaching her, faster than she would have thought possible. He grabbed her by the arm and she knew then what it was he wanted. She tried to remember the self-defense she took classes for so long ago, but her mind was blank. He pulled back his lips into an evil grin, baring a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. “Don’t make any noise, and maybe I will let you live,” the words escaped his mouth in a growl. Jules knew she had to do what he said. Her life depended on it.

  He pushed her to her bed and reminded her not to move. She didn’t. In a flash he had removed the long jacket and she felt the weight of his body crushing her own. He grabbed a fistful of her nightshirt and ripped it away from her body. Jules struggled under his weight, but couldn’t move. He forced his legs between hers and fear, no terror, surged within her. Every fiber of her entire being screamed.

  “I told you not to make a sound, bitch!” he shrieked at her. She hadn’t realized she was screaming out loud. The back of his hand smashed into the side of her head and her temple exploded in pain. Bright splotches decorated her field of vision and she knew this was really going to hurt. She cried out again, only to have him hit her once more. She felt the blood trickling down the side of her face. He sniffed the air near her bleeding head and growled deep in his chest. He leaned down to her face and licked the blood from her temple, a growl-type noise reverberating from his chest. What kind of psycho was this guy anyway?

  Some kind of survival instinct kic
ked in and Jules knew the only way she would survive was to fight back. Somehow, she managed to get her left arm free of him and threw her fist with all the force she had into the back of his head. She felt the knuckles in her fist crack, but she struck his head twice more, while at the same time kicking futilely with her legs. Of course, this only angered him more. He leapt up from the bed and lifted her by the shoulders, throwing her against the wall. Her head snapped sideways into the wall and Jules heard a crunching noise from her side. Her entire body was racked with agonizing pain. She knew she had several broken ribs. She gasped for air, ignoring the searing pain in her lungs.

  He lunged forward at her and she instinctively raised her arms to try to block his approach. It was useless; he already had her by the neck by the time her hands were in the air. He lifted her up with one hand around her throat, effectively cutting off her air supply and leaving her feet dangling and kicking. He grinned, bearing all of his teeth. Apparently, this was fun for him.

  Jules wasn’t giving up without a fight, though. She grabbed furiously at his hand, trying to loosen his grip. She kicked with all the force she had in an attempt to injure her assailant. He didn’t seem to notice. Her wailing arms and legs might just as well have been a feather landing on his skin. He held her by the throat against the wall while the fury of his other fist found her face and head. She felt each blow as if it were the first. The pain did not dull. Jules could feel herself slipping away from consciousness. She knew she had to hold on, so she fought the darkness that was threatening to take over and took another swing at his face.

  Just as her fist connected with his face, Jules heard a loud crash from the living room. It was the unmistakable sound of glass breaking. All at once, the room was in a blur. It happened so fast. Another man rushed into her bedroom. He too, had glowing red eyes. He lunged at the attacker and smashed into him. This made the attacker lose his grip on Jules’s throat and she dropped to the floor as the two men crashed into her small bathroom. She rubbed her throat furiously as if it would help the air flow through it faster.

  She tried to see what was going on, but all she could see were the men blurring past her vision and all she could hear was the sound of things breaking. Her eyes refused to open more than a narrow slit and every noise reverberated in her head in stereo. Jules slunk down to the floor, trying to make herself invisible. If only she could just disappear. She knew that it had to be the same angel who had saved her before in that bathroom. She was grateful and she hoped she survived to thank him someday. Jules felt blindly along the wall in an attempt to escape while they were otherwise occupied. She fought to keep her eyelids open, but that was a battle she lost. She felt herself drop all the way to the floor before everything went black around her.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Jules slipped in and out of consciousness. She felt a pair of arms around her, carrying her. She had that strange sense of flying again. Up, down, sideways. She tried to open her eyes again, but they were too swollen. She tried to talk, but all she managed was a small whimper.

  Someone was talking though. Over and over they were saying the same thing. “It’s going to be ok, Jules,” it was Nick’s voice, she finally realized. “I am so sorry. I never wanted this to happen to you. Don’t worry; it will all be just fine. I know someone who can help you.” And then she was out again.

  When she woke again, she was surrounded by lights. Jules could see only the brightness of it through her swollen eye lids and the dim shadows that were no doubt people moving around. She could hear unfamiliar voices around her. “When will Phoenix return?” A woman asked. No one noticed she was awake. And who the hell was Phoenix?

  “Not for another three days. It will be too late then,” this was the voice of an older man. “You know what you must do to save her. It is the only way.”

  “Never!” Nick’s voice yelled out. “I could never do that to her without her consent. She would never forgive me!” Jules could hear the torture in his voice. She wanted to tell him it was ok, that no matter what, she would always forgive him. She wanted him to know that she would do anything for him. He had saved her; she knew that now. He was the one on the bridge with her that night, and he was the one who rescued her from the intruder at her apartment. He had been the one to carry her to wherever it was that she was now. Jules tried to gather enough strength to tell him so, but was too weak. It took all she had to keep air flowing in and out of her crushed lungs. She hurt. Everywhere.

  “If you don’t, she will die for certain.” The man’s voice again. “I would do it myself, but I think she would be more open to the idea if you do it.”

  “I can’t,” Nick said. “What if I fail, what if I kill her myself? I could not bear to lose her.”

  “That is our only option,” he said in a sad voice. There was a shuffling and more hushed words that Jules couldn’t understand. Finally, Jules heard Nick’s voice again.

  “Please, Jules, forgive me,” Nick pleaded.

  She heard mumblings that sounded much like prayer, and then she felt it. A warm hand held her by the back of her neck, and cool breath on the front of it. It was followed by what felt like a kiss on her skin just below her ear. Then there was heat. First heat, then pain. Like a thousand tiny knives stabbing her in the neck, then her shoulders, and her chest. The pain spread like a wildfire throughout her entire body, encompassing her in a blanket of pain. Her back arched up off the bed and she tried to scream out, only to find that she couldn’t. She was paralyzed by pain and fear. Her whole body felt like it was being shoved through a meat grinder then pulled across a bed of razor blades.

  Her teeth began to ache. It was dull at first, and then it sharpened. It was as if she were getting a root canal in all her teeth at the same time without the benefit of Novocain. Her mouth was on fire. The fire spread quickly to her throat, doubling the pain there.

  On top of all that, her skin felt like it was being sliced right off of her body. She was being filleted like a fish, or so she thought. A thousand sharp knives sliced at her all over in one, excruciating, never ending moment.

  She couldn’t remember ever feeling pain like this before. Not when she was nineteen and in labor with Kelly. She was young and inexperienced and completely unprepared for the pain of childbirth. She thought then there could be no worse pain. That was an easy walk on the beach. She would have gladly traded the pain she was feeling now for that, and be grateful.

  When she was ten she was hit by a car. Both of her legs were broken and she was bedridden for weeks. She cried every day when she was forced to move. She had endured months of painful physical therapy. If only she could go back to that.

  It was worse than the mental pain of losing Joe. At least then she had fainted. Jules wished she could pass out now, dull the pain in a blanket of unconsciousness. But she couldn’t make herself sleep. Her mind gripped every blade into her chest, every razor pulled across her back, and every part of the war that had begun inside her body.

  Jules heard the voices of those around her, though the only one she recognized was Nick. He talked to her often, pleading with her to forgive him, and saying prayers at her bedside. Jules wanted to say anything to him, to tell him she didn’t blame him. She didn’t know what he should be so sorry about. How could this be his fault? She tried to force her mouth to speak, but she had no control over her body now.

  Eventually, Jules’s mind began to grow sharper as the pain that engulfed her body began to dull. It could have been weeks or months, or even a few minutes. She could even hear the thunder of her own heartbeat. It thudded loud and strong in her ears. She could hear it all around her as well, as if there were several hearts in the same room pounding loud and clear for her ears.

  Soon, she regained control of her body. She could open her eyes, but couldn’t focus on anything or anyone. All she saw was shapes and colors. The light above her seemed to shine in a spectrum of colors, like through a prism. She could even move her fingers a little bit, but not enough to make any sensi
ble motion. She tried to understand what was happening to her, but it was all so confusing. She would have asked, but she couldn’t seem to remember how to speak.

  Eventually, as the pain dulled even more, Jules found that she could see again. She could see Nick’s beautiful face. It was everything she had always known and more. The same, yet absolutely different. More defined. He never left her side. She could hear him talking to others, though she never saw them.

  Jules was suddenly overwhelmed by the complete lack of pain. It was gone! For just a moment, she was high on the utter absence of torture.

  And then, something new happened.

  Her heart took off at an incredible pace. It pounded furiously in her chest. The pain that should have accompanied this frantic beating was completely absent. She felt no pain now. Her heart stuttered repeatedly, and a growing fear inside her made itself very present. She was having a heart attack. She knew it, only she couldn’t feel it. This was it. She was dying.