by Alisha Basso
He let out a long sigh as he settled down into the freezer for the rest of the night and the next day. He only hoped he wouldn’t be plagued with bad dreams this time. Nik was surprised that vampires could even dream, but he had found that they, or at least he, dreamed every day. He fell asleep, hoping he would dream of a beautiful dark-haired woman who he somehow knew held the keys to his soul.
Chapter Six
Tessa woke to the sound of her doorbell ringing. She put on a robe and hurried to the door, annoyed that someone would wake her up this early. When she opened the door, Jan was standing in the hallway, carrying two steaming cups of coffee. She felt her annoyance slip away as the aroma of good, expensive coffee wafted toward her.
“What in the world are you doing up this time of morning, Jan? You do know it’s Sunday, right?”
Jan grinned at her as she entered the apartment. “Yes, but who can complain about getting up for some Kenya AA?”
“It is good coffee,” admitted Tessa. “Although, I’m not sure it’s worth getting up at six o’clock on a Sunday morning.”
“Sure it is,” said Jan.
“Okay, spill it. Why are you really here this early?”
Jan sighed. “You can see right through me, can’t you?”
“Yep. Now what’s on your mind?”
“It’s that bottle. You know, the one with the light in it? I can’t get it off my mind. I didn’t sleep well last night. I kept dreaming about the light inside the bottle, and I woke up about five times. I would go back to sleep and dream about it again.”
Tessa frowned. “Why would you dream about that? I figured you would have nightmares about that awful goblin ball before you would dream about the bottle.”
“No, that orb was evil, but it didn’t really scare me. It just disgusted me.”
“But the bottle scared you?”
Jan hesitated. “No, not really. I wouldn’t say it scared me. It just made me feel…sad, I guess.”
“Why would you have nightmares about that?”
“They weren’t really nightmares. Well, they kind of were, but I wasn’t the one in danger or distress. During the dreams, it was like the light in the bottle kept calling out to me for help. I know that doesn’t make sense, but that’s what was in my dream.”
“You said when you touched the bottle, you felt like something was alive inside.”
“Yes, that’s how it felt. And my dreams make that more real,” said Jan.
“So what do you think it is?” asked Tessa.
Jan shrugged. “You’re the expert; you tell me.”
“I have no idea, Jan. I just got the bottle and haven’t done any research on it yet.”
“Maybe you should do that soon.”
Tessa looked closely at her friend. “You really feel bad for what you think is alive in that jar, don’t you?”
Color rose in Jan’s face. “I can’t explain it, but yes. When I touched it, I felt its pain. I know that sounds so weird. But now I’m dreaming about it, and I’m afraid there will be no rest for me if we don’t find out what’s going on.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I can find out. But today is our day off. Let’s do something fun, and we can worry about the artifact tomorrow. Okay?”
Jan bit her bottom lip. “Okay, I guess. Yeah, let’s do something to take my mind off this.”
“How about a picnic?” suggested Tessa.
“Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let’s do it.”
“I don’t have much to eat in the apartment,” Tessa admitted. “We’ll have to stop and get some stuff.”
“That’s okay. We can stop at the twenty-four-hour deli.”
Tessa grabbed the picnic basket she hadn’t used in ages, and made sure it had all the utensils they needed. Then both women got dressed and headed for the deli. They bought sandwiches, potato salad, and drinks, and started off to Carter’s Lake, a popular recreation area. When they arrived, it was early enough that they had their choice of spots. After Tessa spread out the blanket, the women plopped down on it, and they both sighed in contentment.
“Now this is the life,” said Jan.
“It is,” Tessa agreed. “It’s a shame we aren’t independently wealthy so we could do whatever we wanted to whenever we wanted to.”
“That’s true. Wouldn’t it be great if we were the ones who found all the treasure and artifacts instead of just cataloguing what everyone else finds?”
“It would be fun and lucrative,” said Tessa. “Changing the subject…I saw you talking to Josh on Friday. With all the craziness about the artifacts, I haven’t had a chance to ask you about that.”
Jan grinned. “He asked me out.”
“What? And you didn’t tell me?” Tessa said with a mock pout.
“Like you said, we haven’t had a chance to talk about things.”
“So, what are you going to do on your date?” asked Tessa.
“The typical date. Dinner and a movie,” said Jan, still smiling.
“You look pretty happy about it. I knew you liked him. And I could tell he liked you. I told you so.”
“What about you? It’s been a long time since you went out with anyone. Maybe you should think about dating again.”
Tessa sighed. “You know, I haven’t used this picnic basket since I broke up with Brad. He really threw me for a loop when he cheated on me. I don’t know if I’m ready to date again or not.”
“It’s been almost a year, Tessa. It’s time to move on. What about a certain mysterious man we’ve met recently?”
Tessa blushed. “You mean Nikolas Petrou? I thought you had a bad feeling about him.”
“I know, but it was just a feeling. My feelings aren’t always right. He’s actually very good-looking, and I saw him looking at you in an interesting way when we were touring the museum.”
“What do you mean by ‘an interesting way’?” asked Tessa.
“Like he wanted to eat you up,” said Jan, giggling.
Tessa picked up a stick and hurled it gently at Jan, who deftly caught it and threw it back. Both women erupted in a fit of giggles until they were rolling on the blanket.
“Chomp, chomp,” said Jan, which started another round of cackles.
They spent the next few hours laughing and talking as if they didn’t have a care in the world. When it was time for lunch, Tessa dug into the basket and took out the food they had brought. She laid it all out on the blanket and they dug in.
“Isn’t it funny how much better food tastes when you eat it outdoors?” said Jan.
“True. And we were really hungry because we worked off so many calories laughing so hard,” Tessa said with a grin.
Jan’s face turned thoughtful then. “We’ve had a lot of fun today, but I was serious when I said you should start dating again. And if I were you, I would pursue the lovely Nikolas. Beautiful face, beautiful body, beautiful name. You can’t go wrong with that.”
“What if he’s a serial killer? You’re the one who had the bad feeling about him.”
Jan turned to her in disbelief, but then saw the grin on Tessa’s face and matched it with one of her own. “Hey, nothing can be wrong with a man who listened to me so intently when I was giving him the tour of my section of the museum.”
“Very true. He has good taste, so there can’t be a thing wrong with him. So…when is your date with Josh?”
“Tonight.”
“Tonight? That was fast!”
“Hey, why wait? It’s been too long since I had a date.”
The two friends stayed at the lake until late afternoon, just enjoying being together. They reluctantly gathered up their things and stowed them in Tessa’s car, then started back home.
“I had a good time today,” said Jan. “Thanks for hanging out with me. We need to do things like that more often.”
“Who knows? Maybe next time, you can bring Josh.”
“And you might have someone to bring, too,” said Jan. “You never know.”
When they arr
ived at the apartment building, Jan went to her apartment to get ready for her date with Josh. Tessa found herself at a loss, feeling restless and out of sorts. She finally decided to take a walk, maybe do some window shopping. She left her building and started down the street toward the museum. There were several shops in that direction. She just wished she could afford to buy everything she wanted. The museum paid okay, but not great.
She came to the window of the jewelry store where she usually spent the most of her window shopping time, gazing at the beautiful colored stones displayed on the black velvet cloth. She didn’t really care for diamonds; they were so plain and cold. She loved the jewel tones of garnets, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. And all the other stones she couldn’t name. This was her weakness. She liked clothes like any other woman, but she wasn’t obsessed with fashion. The lovely colors displayed in the window were what made her wish for a bigger bank account.
“Good evening, Tessa,” said a voice close to her ear.
She whirled around and saw Nikolas Petrou standing behind her. Too close. “Nik. What are you doing here?” She tried to back up, but she was too near the shop window.
“I was just taking a walk.”
Tessa frowned. “Do you live around here? You seem to be in this area quite a bit.”
Nik smiled at her. “No, but this seems to be a good place to take a walk. Nice, well-lit sidewalks. Interesting shops. I noticed you were taking a particular interest in this shop.”
Tessa blushed. “I like to look. I love all the colors. Is there anything wrong with that?”
“On the contrary. It shows you have good taste. Tell me, which piece is your favorite?”
Nikolas moved away from her so they could both look in the window. “I don’t know. I think maybe my favorite is the garnet necklace with the little topaz stones. I know garnet isn’t a precious stone, but I actually like the color better than the ruby.”
“Very good choice. I love the blood red color of a garnet. It shows good taste that you like what is pleasing to the eye rather than what is the most expensive. Look, there are earrings and a bracelet that match.”
“I know,” said Tessa wistfully. “Maybe someday I can afford to buy them all. Of course, they’ll probably be long gone before that happens.”
“Maybe not,” said Nik. “So, would you like to take a walk with me? Just a short one.”
Tessa hesitated. “I’m not sure. I kind of wanted to be alone.”
If Tessa was honest with herself, she really did want to go with him. But he made her so nervous, and she was afraid she would do or say something stupid. She was drawn to this man in a very powerful way, and that confused the heck out of her.
“If that’s what you want,” he said, disappointment clear in his voice.
“No…maybe it would be nice to have some company,” she said. “I just didn’t want to intrude if you were offering just to be nice.”
“I never make an offer I don’t mean. Come on, let’s walk awhile.”
They started toward the museum, and Nikolas said, “There’s something I would like you to do for me, if you will.”
“Well, if I can,” said Tessa.
“I’ll compensate you for your time, of course,” he said. “There’s something I would like you to research. Since you’re familiar with the paranormal, I think you would be perfect for the job. If you’re willing.”
“I can’t answer that until I know what this is about.”
“This research might seem very strange to you. I’ll answer as many questions about it as I can, but I need you to promise me that if there are certain questions I don’t want to answer, then you’ll respect my wishes.”
“Again…I can’t promise anything or agree to anything until I know more about it.”
“Of course you can’t. I have a suggestion. Why don’t we discuss this over dinner tomorrow night?”
“Okay, that will be fine. A business dinner, right?”
Nikolas grinned, his white teeth gleaming. He had the whitest teeth. “I was thinking it would be more like a date. With a little business thrown in.”
“Oh, um, okay. It’s a date then,” She felt so awkward around him!
“Good. I’m glad you’re willing to hear me out as well as go out with me. Let’s start back toward your building. I have some things I need to take care of tonight.”
They walked back to Tessa’s apartment building, and Nik stopped at the door. She was halfway hoping he would walk her at least to her apartment door, and halfway hoping he wouldn’t. This man caused so many conflicting feelings in her.
“I had a great time walking with you tonight,” said Nik, looking deep into her eyes.
“I did, too,” she said, feeling like she was drowning in his dark eyes. She felt dizzy and disoriented for a moment.
Nik broke eye contact with her, then bent down and kissed her cheek. His lips against her skin made her legs feel weak. She would probably die if he kissed her on the mouth.
“Good night, Tessa,” he said softly, then turned and walked away.
Tessa brought her hand to her face and touched it where Nik’s lips had been. She felt a fire burn inside her even now that he had gone. She had never experienced such a jolt of desire just from a simple kiss on the cheek. But she had a feeling there was nothing simple about Nikolas Petrou.
***
Nikolas tried not to hurry away from Tessa, although he wanted to get away as fast as he could. He shouldn’t have touched her. The feel of her skin against his lips was almost more than he could bear. He had wanted to taste her, wanted to touch his tongue to her skin, wanted to nick the skin of her neck and lap up the blood. How was he going to get through a whole dinner alone with her? It hadn’t been so bad when her blond friend had been with them, but this was different. This was a date. Did vampires date? He knew he was going to have to be careful with her; he couldn’t touch her. He wanted her too badly. His heart beat faster as he thought of doing everything he wanted to do with her, especially drinking from her. Most myths said that vampires’ hearts didn’t beat and that they didn’t breathe, since they were the undead. That actually wasn’t true…vampires weren’t really dead, they just lost their soul. And if he was truly dead, how could he feel this way? For that matter, how could he feel this way without a soul?
Nik walked to the zoo and fed off one of the big cats again. He knew he wasn’t harming them…they even seemed to give their blood willingly. It seemed like he would never understand everything about his kind. After he was satisfied, at least physically, he crept back out of the zoo and started toward home. As he was nearing his house, a woman passed him on the sidewalk. She stopped and asked him for directions to a local restaurant. The pull of her blood was great, even though he had drunk from the animal. Only human blood could satisfy the deep longing. He turned to her and smiled, knowing his fangs were visible. The woman was paralyzed with fear as her eyes widened and she put her hand over her mouth.
“Run!” said Nikolas. The woman didn’t move. “Run, now!”
The woman broke her paralysis and took off, probably running faster than she ever had in her life. Nik breathed a sigh of relief. He had actually avoided hurting someone, even though the opportunity had presented itself. Maybe there was hope for him.
Chapter Seven
The next night, Tessa was pulling clothes out of the closet, holding them up to her, and then throwing them down on the bed in frustration.
“Tessa, everything you’ve taken out of your closet looks great,” said Jan. “Do you know how long it’s going to take to put all those clothes back if you keep tossing them on the bed?”
“I don’t know what to wear!” said Tessa in a panic.
“Good grief, it’s just a dinner date.”
Tessa sat down on the bed in the midst of all the clothes. “I know, but there’s just something special about this guy. I want to look my best.”
Jan pushed some dresses aside and sat down beside Tessa. “I know it’s be
en a long time since you’ve been on a date, but it will be fine. Look how well my date with Josh went. He asked me out again. Your date will go just as well.”
“But Josh is a regular guy,” said Tessa.
“What in the world does that mean?”
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Josh is great. I just meant there’s something dark and mysterious about Nik. And he’s Greek.”
“Okay, I won’t be offended then,” said Jan, smiling. “Now…I’ve found if you have any doubts about what to wear, always go for the little black dress. And this one is perfect.”
Jan held up a black, knee-length dress that was so light and silky, it felt almost like wearing nothing. It was sleeveless, gathered slightly at the shoulders, and clung to the body a little bit, but not enough to be too revealing.
“I love that dress,” admitted Tessa. “I guess that’s the one I’ll wear.”
She put it on and added a pair of silver earrings. Looking in the mirror, she was stunned by how good she looked. There was a slight flush in her cheeks that wasn’t just the blush she had applied. Her eyes twinkled with excitement.
“You look amazing, Tessa. You’re going to throw him for a loop.”
Tessa grinned at her friend. “You really think so, huh? Good…that’s what I’m hoping for.”
Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Jan said, “Wow, just in time. You believe in cutting it close, don’t you?”
Tessa gave her a withering look, but couldn’t hold the expression as her nervousness showed through. She went to the door, expecting to see Nikolas, but there was a man in a uniform standing there.
“Ms. Garrett? I’m here to escort you to the car.”