Powers

by Elaine Waldron

She was horribly still. “God! It can’t be!” She looked familiar. He stuffed his camera in his jacket pocket and rushed over to her, kneeling down. “Oh God!” he gasped. “It’s Shelia!”

  What really got to him was the way she was propped up in a sitting position against a big split log, instantly bringing back memories of finding Caroline’s body just three years ago. Nausea overcame him and he turned and threw up his breakfast. “Oh God!” he gasped. “Oh dear God!” He wiped his mouth off with the sleeve of his jacket and made himself turn back around. Her throat was covered in blood, as well as the front of her clothes. “Oh…Shelia…I am so sorry!” He immediately thought of Roger. They were never close, but he had known him for a long time, seen him at the post office, Paul’s Grocery and even ran into him in Seattle a time or two, as big as Seattle was.

  Roger was into photography, too. More for a hobby than a living like Clifford. Sometimes they’d run into one another when buying camera equipment.

  Now his heart went out to Roger knowing that he was going to have to endure the pain he had suffered over the last three years. He stood there for a few minutes, shaking like a bowl of jelly in the wind, trying to calm his nerves and think what to do. His mobile phone was in his shirt pocket. He pulled it out and called the ranger station as it was much closer than the sheriff’s. Grady answered. When Clifford gave him the bad news, Grady said he’d be right out. Clifford took a seat at the end of the log to wait.

  Paul was one of the first ones to hear about Shelia, as Grady stopped by to fill up with gas before going on in to Clifford’s place.

  Paul stood behind the register, trying to absorb the shock. He shook his head. “I don’t believe it! What in the world is going on around here? That young man yesterday… on the early morning news.”

  “Don’t know…and I don’t like it,” Grady replied in his sometimes gruff manner.

  “I wonder if Amber knows?” Paul said, thinking aloud.

  “You mean the pretty lady that just moved in Stolk’s cabin?”

  “Yeah…Shelia was her realtor and…friend.”

  “Shelia was everyone’s friend. Well, if …Amber hasn’t heard yet, I am sure she will soon! Don’t think the media has it yet. I haven’t reported it. If you are friends with Amber, maybe you should go tell her in person?”

  Paul cleared his throat, looking unsure for a moment.

  “Course you don’t have to,” Grady said, taking Paul’s hesitation as being reluctance.

  “No…It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s just that Judy isn’t here right now… Guess I could close down for a half hour or so and run tell her.”

  “Why don’t you do that? Just leave a note on the front that you’ll be back in a few.”

  Paul closed his register. “You know…I’m going to do just that.” He grabbed a pad and a pencil and scribbled a note and went to tape it to the front door. Grady went on out to his Jeep and took off.

  Amber was really surprised to see Paul standing there when she went to answer the door. Right away, she saw the seriousness in his face. “What is it, Paul?” she asked, stepping aside for him to come in.

  He sucked in air, looked around briefly, unsure of how to begin.

  Amber sensed she wasn’t going to like whatever it was that was troubling him so deeply. “Paul! What is it?”

  He exhaled and looked down at her with his soft eyes. “Shelia never made it home yesterday.”

  “Huh? What do you mean?” She shook her head, confused. “What are you saying?”

  “Damn!” he breathed. He never had been one to deliver these types of messages. “She’s dead, Amber.”

  Amber’s mouth dropped open and she just stared at him in disbelief. Her lips moved slightly. Then she finally found her voice. “Dead?” she shook her head in denial. “She was perfectly fine yesterday!”

  “I know…I was here…Grady just told me a little bit ago. Clifford…One of your neighbors, found her body behind his property when he was out taking pictures.”

  “Oh my God! Found her body? What happened?”

  “Right now…Looks like an animal might be the culprit.”

  “What kind of animal? A bear?”

  “Not sure. But there have been a lot of people popping up dead around here these past few days. All of them are questionable…By that…I mean… suspicious.”

  With the full realization of what he was telling her taking hold, her eyes flooded with tears. She gasped, and he tentatively took her in her arms to console her.

  “She was my very first friend here!”

  “I know,” he said, wiping a tear from his own face. “She was well-liked around here.”

  “Does her husband know?”

  “I am sure someone has delivered the news to him by now.”

  “Oh God! This is so awful!”She managed to compose herself and stepped back from him. “I just made coffee…Would you like a cup?”

  “I had to close the store to come out here…but I can take five minutes for a quick cup.” He followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at the table while she poured their coffee.

  After Paul left, Amber wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She had planned to paint outside if the weather permitted, and from glancing out, she saw that it would be a good day to do just that. Only, she was so shook up now, not only by the bad news she’d just received, but also by the dream she’d had of Dorian, she wasn’t certain she could even hold a brush steady enough. She glanced down at her trembling hands. “Dammit!”

  Even now, she could still see those penetrating eyes, smell his scent, feel the inviting warmth that cloaked him. Her thoughts turned to Paul, a good man, she was sure. He was thoughtful, kind, considerate, and seemed to have a good, responsible head on his shoulders.

  If she ever wanted to get married again, she felt reasonably sure Paul could fill the requirements very nicely. She even found him attractive. Maybe not in the way she had been attracted by Dorian in her dream. Her mind flitted to the incident in the store, the first time she’d actually seen him. That spark between them that had instantly rendered her weak-kneed. Maybe something in her subconscious had used that moment to create her dream.

  “Gads!” She looked out her back door. “Oh what the hell!” She grabbed her red hoodie from off the back of a kitchen chair and went on outside. Hugging herself, she went on down her steps. She couldn’t help it.

  Her eyes trailed off in the direction where Dorian’s cabin was supposed to be, for she still hadn’t actually seen it yet.

  She found herself placing one foot in front of the other and heading down that path once more, wondering all the while if she was losing her mind.

  Four:

  Dorian eased his car into his tree-framed drive, got out and leapt like a gazelle to the top of his porch without ever touching one step. He had a brown bag of groceries in his left arm and unlocked his door with his right hand. Just before he went in, he smelled Amber and took in a deep whiff. “Ahhhh…” She was coming down the trail towards his cabin. A slow, satisfied smirk crossed his lips. The dream was working, as he knew it would. Only, it had not originally been his intention to use his powers on her, wanting her to desire him on her own. But, he had felt it necessary to speed up the process with Klaus’ interruption into things.

  Then there was Paul, another matter. Only, Dorian didn’t consider Paul much of a threat, albeit the man was nice looking and probably attractive to women, but Paul didn’t have what he had, the irresistible charms of a vampire.

  He put away his groceries, consisting of beer, bratwurst, chips, cheese and cookies. He didn’t have to worry about calories and health food issues – His main diet was blood. Still, he enjoyed munching on human food (helped fight the boredom of everyday life). As long as he was well-fed otherwise, his digestive system worked pretty much like anyone else’s. With the exception that he didn’t really receive any nourishment from it, nor did he gain weight.

  And, if anyone should come around, if the
y knew anything about vampires at all, they probably never would suspect a vampire would eat human food.

  Suddenly, he caught scent of something else in the air.

  Just as Amber was about to give up, deciding that Dorian’s cabin must be off of another trail, there was a loud yowl! She froze and the hairs at the nape of her neck stood up. A cat! A big cat! “Oh God!” She stood there unmoving, too terrified to even breathe. There was a rustling of leaves and a snapping of twigs. Shaking uncontrollably, she slowly turned her head around. She stifled a scream.

  A cougar! Immediately, she just knew it was the animal that had been killing everyone. Tears flooded her eyes, knowing she was facing imminent death. The big cat suddenly sprang for her. She screamed, knowing she was a goner. But the animal never reached her. For out of nowhere, something moving very fast slammed into the cougar, knocking him out of mid-air to the ground. Before Amber’s unbelieving eyes, Dorian snapped the cat’s neck like it was a twig. The cat collapsed, dead.

  Dorian cut anxious eyes to her. “You okay?”

  She just stood there shaking, unable to speak, heart racing ninety-miles-an hour.

  Eyes holding hers, he slowly walked up to her, taking her by the shoulders, deep concern in his captivating stare. “Are you okay?”

  She bobbed her head that she was.

  He gently put an arm around her. “Come on inside. I’ll get you something to drink…coffee…a beer…Whatever I have that you might want.”

  She just