by Cooley, Mike
“But I’m not a ghost. I’m alive. Why are you already dry?” Celeste placed a hand on Bryn’s chest and looked up at him. He was beautiful and tall. His face was strong, and his eyes reflected deep pools of sorrow.
“My skin processes water,” Bryn said. “I can see you’re alive now that I’ve found you. But for two hundred years, you were a vision sent to torment me with your beauty. Always there, watching over me, but untouchable.”
“You’re the man at the crater?” Celeste asked. “But that was only a dream. No one could have survived that explosion.”
“Only one.” Bryn wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. She didn’t pull away. His embrace was exciting.
“So, I’m dreaming again.”
“Your dreams are more than dreams, Celeste. I need to know how you feel.”
“I’m in your arms. You tell me.” Celeste tilted her head up to meet Bryn’s lips. They were soft and warm. He shimmered, grew dim, and then blew away like smoke.
Celeste opened her eyes and jerked awake. The window was open, and the curtains moved in the breeze. She didn’t remember leaving it open. The sun was rising, and birds were singing in the trees. Her clock read six. She blinked her eyes and rubbed them, trying to recall the dream even as it faded. She could still feel Bryn’s lips on hers. Her heart was racing. She had never dreamed him this close before. She remembered how it had felt to touch his strong chest. His muscles had been like steel beneath his shirt. She took a deep breath, sat up, and exhaled slowly, urging her heart to slow down.
On the nightstand was a black orchid, still dripping wet.
Chapter 7
“Hey, Celeste. Hold up.” Debra was waving and running down Riven Street.
Celeste was walking east on Lake Drive. A couple of blocks behind her was Trium Rock, and in front of her, three blocks away, was Lake Saul. The sun was directly overhead, and the sky was dotted with puffy clouds. She turned at the sound of Debra’s voice. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“Oh, you know, the usual. A little hung over from bowling with the guys.” Debra caught up to Celeste and walked alongside her. She was in good shape but breathing heavily after the run.
“Guys? I thought you were there with Tommy?”
“Yeah, Tommy. And then Jason showed up. He was a little pissed off.” Debra looked rough around the edges. Her hair was a mess, and her makeup was smeared from being slept in.
“I can imagine.”
“Did you at least try to let him down easy?”
“I did the best I could. It’s not news to him his mom disapproves of me. He thought I was going to put up with it because of ‘true love.’”
“True love is a crock of shit.” Debra laughed.
“Indeed.”
“I might have accidentally mentioned the burning man.” Debra cringed. “I was drinking.”
“You didn’t! That’s all Jason needs is more ammunition.”
“Well, it’s not like the guy is real. It will all blow over.” Debra ran her fingers through her red hair, brushing it back behind her ears.
They reached the lakeshore and turned to the north, following the walking path. Debra breathed in the scent of flowers and reached out to hold Celeste’s hand. “Forgive me?”
“I dreamed of him again. Last night. He came out of the water and gave me a black orchid, right there.” Celeste pointed at the edge of the lake.
“You have got a wild imagination, girl.” Debra smiled. “Was he hot?”
“Smokin’. He’s all muscles and mystery: six feet tall with dark blue eyes.”
“And?” Debra’s eyes lit up with interest.
“I touched him, and then he kissed me,” Celeste said. “He said he’s been looking for me for two hundred years. Can you believe that?”
“Romantic,” said Debra. She grinned. She was still dressed in the same clothes she’d been wearing the day before: blue jeans and a blue shirt. The shirt was buttoned wrong, like she had dressed hastily in the dark.
“When I woke up, there was a black orchid on my nightstand, and the window was open. The flower was dripping wet.”
“Oh. Naughty!” Debra’s mouth opened in surprise, and she covered it with her fingers.
“I know, right?”
“It sounds like all your strange dreams are starting to come true.”
“I’m not sure what’s happening, Debra. But you better keep it to yourself for now. I don’t need Jason freaking out any more than he already is.”
“Don’t you worry about Jason. He does love you, but he’ll be okay. He’s smart and mostly not an asshole, so he won’t have any trouble finding someone.”
“I have feelings for him too, Deb. But not strong enough to live like that….” Celeste stopped, overcome by emotion. Her eyes teared up. Debra wrapped her arms around her and gave her a long hug.
Chapter 8
Bryn stood on the roof of a two-story house on Maple Street. The sun was down, and the warm breeze felt good on his skin. Celeste was approaching along the sidewalk, moving south from Rock and Bowl toward Lake Drive. He walked to the edge of the roof and dropped lightly into the front yard, absorbing the impact with his knees. “Celeste.”
She turned and saw him. He straightened. Her expression of surprise changed to a smile. “You remind me of someone I saw in a dream one time.” Celeste leaned closer and looked up at Bryn’s face.
“One time?” Bryn smiled warmly.
“Didn’t I see you on fire, standing on Trium Rock yesterday?”
“Yes. And no. I wasn’t actually burning. It was the polymer.”
“Polymer?”
“A coating. On my skin.”
“Hmm.”
“You’re really beautiful,” said Bryn. “Dark skin, white hair, and pale green eyes the color of mint ice cream.”
“Thanks. And you’re rather buff yourself. What are you, anyway?”
“I call myself a ‘latent’. It’s difficult to explain. Took me over a hundred years to puzzle it out myself.”
“Give me the short version.” Celeste admired Bryn’s muscles. They stretched his tight shirt in ways that made her tingle.
“Some people have a latent immortality gene. I’m one of them. It can only be triggered by something cataclysmic. And when it is triggered, you either die or wake up. I woke up.”
“Crawling out of a smoking hole in the ground?”
Bryn’s eyes narrowed. “I saw you there. How? You’re mortal. That was 1813.”
“I’m a bit different myself.” Celeste smiled, eliciting a grin from Bryn in return. “If you’re not a vampire, why do you have pointed teeth?”
“I sharpened them myself. I was very angry. I figured if people were going to treat me like one, then I should play the part.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you before, Bryn. Not in real life.”
“I’ve been searching for you for two hundred years. Will you walk with me?” Bryn’s deep blue eyes searched her face, and then took in her curves.
“Searching for me?” Celeste took Bryn’s hand and walked alongside him. “You’re warm.”
“Yes.”
“How is that possible?”
“I don’t know. How could I see you the day I died, like a ghost above my grave?”
“I dream of other times.” Celeste smiled and reached up to touch Bryn’s chest. “You are like steel cables wrapped with skin. Are you stronger than a man? Faster?”
“You can do more than dream, Celeste. I saw you. I’ve seen you down through the years, like an angel watching over me.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“I am strong and fast. And I have other abilities. It’s nice to finally talk to you, Celeste.” Bryn smiled. His grip on her hand was delicate, as if afraid he would crush her fingers if he wasn’t careful.
Celeste’s heart stuttered and visions of the man in the dream overlapped with Bryn standing next to her. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”
&nbs
p; Bryn walked beside Celeste, holding her hand. Traffic on Lake Drive was light. He stopped in front of her house and looked down at her. His eyes revealed complex emotions. She stood on her toes and gave him a hug. He was trim and powerful. He held her gently like she was made of glass. He rested his lips against her neck and breathed her in.
“A kiss for walking me.” Celeste tilted her head up and closed her eyes. Bryn met her lips with his. His touch was electric. Celeste stopped breathing and let the sensation wash over her. She melted in his powerful arms, and he held her lovingly. Her lips parted and he kissed her more deeply. Time stood still.
“Thank you,” said Bryn, releasing her. “I long to stay, but I need to rest. I have traveled far to reach you.”
Celeste smiled, took an awkward step back, then turned and headed for her front door. She could feel his eyes on her. Her heartbeat grew louder in her ears and a flush of warmth spread across her chest. Her nipples stiffened. “See you soon, Bryn.”
He watched her until she closed the door, then turned and walked east, in the direction of the lake. Happiness played across his face, washing away the storm for the first time in a long, long time.
Chapter 9
Celeste was sipping on her mocha at Perky’s when Jason burst through the door. “You seem angry, Jason. Did something happen?”
“Someone happened. I heard about the burning man. Is that why you left me?” Jason pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table and sat down. He waved at the waitress for coffee.
People at nearby tables tried not to stare. Every tidbit of small town news was fodder for endless speculation in Lanston. There wasn’t enough happening on any given day that gossip ever dropped below a certain level. The townspeople needed it for nourishment, like vampires needed blood.
“I didn’t know about him when I decided to call it off.” Celeste placed her hand on Jason’s. “I’m sorry. You know as well as I do that things were not working out.” Jason’s eyes met hers, and then he looked down.
“I’ll move out. You never need to see my mom again,” Jason explained. His clenched hands were resting on the wooden table. He was dressed in his usual work clothes: grey T-shirt, blue jeans, and black leather boots. He didn’t wear rings since they would catch on the machinery. None of his tattoos showed, but Celeste knew where they were.
“You can’t leave your family for me. I don’t want you to. Your mom needs you there to help take care of her.” Celeste looked into his blue eyes.
“My feelings for you are strong, Celeste. I can’t just walk away like this. So, are you seeing this guy, or not?”
Celeste bit her lip and paused before responding. “I am.”
“Damn it!” Jason pounded the table with a fist. Customers peered over their newspapers and coffee at them, whispering to each other and nodding.
“I need some time to think, Jason. I just met Bryn. I don’t know what will happen.”
The waitress set down a coffee pot and a ceramic cup in front of Jason, and then backed away quickly.
“But don’t you love me?” Jason poured himself coffee and drank.
“I do, but not in the way you want me to. The situation is complicated.”
Jason’s expression darkened. “All right, Celeste. That’s all I needed to hear, I guess.” He poured sugar into his coffee from a glass container, stirred it in, then gulped some down.
“Please don’t be angry with me. You’re a great guy. Lots of girls want you.” Celeste kept her voice down and tried not to notice all the eyes watching them.
“You really know how to cheer a guy up.” Jason finished his coffee, dropped a five on the table, and stood. “I hope he’s everything you’ve always wanted.”
“You don’t understand.” Celeste looked up at him and tried not to cry. She didn’t want to break his heart, but she knew she had to follow her dream. How could she ignore Bryn when he’d been with her for so long, haunting her nights? She had to know if he was the one. And if that hurt Jason, then it was a price she was willing to pay.
“I understand. And it hurts.” Jason left Perky’s without looking back.
Chapter 10
“How do you survive if you don’t drink blood or eat?” Celeste looked around the bar and then across the table at Bryn. She was sipping wine. He was dressed in black. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and other girls in the bar were stealing furtive, hungry looks at him.
“Water is life.” Bryn extended his hand, palm up. “Pour some of yours on my hand.”
Celeste tilted her water glass over Bryn’s hand and poured. The puddle of water shimmered and was absorbed into his skin.
“That’s amazing. How does it work?”
“I think when I was changed it affected my DNA, which in turn allows my skin to convert water into energy.”
“And you sleep during the day, like a vampire?”
“Vampires are a myth. But yes, I sleep while the sun is up.” Bryn kept his voice down. They were sitting in a booth at Rock and Bowl with no one else nearby. The crowd was light and most of the people were sitting at the bar drinking, ripping pull tabs open, and eating popcorn.
“Where?”
“I didn’t get to be two hundred years old by telling people where I sleep.” Bryn smiled.
“So you don’t trust me?” Celeste teased. She caught Bryn looking at her breasts so she arched her back a little and touched her lips with her finger.
“I didn’t say that.” Bryn looked back up, meeting her eyes.
“What about blood? You said you didn’t need it.”
“Human blood is a drug. It has psychoactive and aphrodisiac properties for me.”
Celeste smiled. “Really? You are so different than I expected.”
“As are you for me,” said Bryn. “All those years I only saw you as a ghost—or an angel.”
“No one has ever looked at me the way you do,” said Celeste.
“Not even Jason?”
“Jason is hungry for my body, not my soul. You drink me through your eyes. I can feel it. How old are you?”
“Twenty-six. Or two-hundred and twenty-six. It depends how you look at it.” Bryn looked around to see if anyone else nearby was paying attention. “Enough about me… tell me about you. Why are you alone in that house?”
“Well, I’m twenty-two. My dad took off when I was ten and my mom died two years ago.”
Bryn squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. She was sick for a long time, and I had time to say good-bye. No one lives forever.”
“Except me.”
“She left me everything, including the house. I don’t have to work, so I don’t. I write in my journal and read a lot.”
“And Jason hasn’t asked you to marry him yet?”
“He has. I said no.”
“You are far too attractive to be alone.” He reached over and touched her cheek with his fingers, sending flame down her body.
“Thank you. How did you find me?” Celeste’s mind flipped through dirty images as she devoured his firm body. She was tingling with desire.
“I was drawn to this place. My visions of you grew stronger as I got close. I’ve known you for two-hundred years, even though you are only twenty-two. That’s a strange feeling. How do you do it?”
“I dream into the past. The first time I remember seeing you was when you climbed out of that crater. I was eight. That’s when the recurring dreams started.”
“You do more than dream, honey. I saw you when I died. You were there. I could have reached out and touched you.”
“The dream has been changing slowly over the years. I feel like I’m arriving a second earlier each time. I see you running. And then—“
“The explosion.”
“Yes.”
Chapter 11
Jason opened the cooler and grabbed another beer. He twisted the top off, flicked the cap into the ashtray, and lifted the bottle to his mouth.
&nb
sp; “You sure he’s gonna show?” Tommy lifted his Budweiser and slammed the rest, then tossed the bottle into a box full of empties in the back seat. He reached into the cooler for another one. It was after eleven, and the stars were out, although the trees and streetlights along Lake Drive made them hard to see.
“He’ll show. I’ve seen him walking this way before.” Jason was nervously peeling the label off his beer.
Tommy was in the driver’s seat of his black Ford truck. Jason sat on the passenger side. They were parked on Lake Drive facing east, near Maple Street. Their usual hang-out, Rock and Bowl, was a few blocks north. On the floor was a foam cooler full of beer. They had been sitting on the side of the road drinking for over an hour when they saw him. It was nearly midnight.
“There he is,” said Jason, keeping his voice down. He pointed at a tall man wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans. The man was walking east along the south side of Lake Drive.
“What do I do? Are you going to fight him?” Tommy asked. He set his beer down in the cup-holder and turned the key in the ignition. The truck started up with a growl.
“Wait a minute, and then follow him. I just want to know where he’s going.” Jason lowered his beer so passing cars wouldn’t see it. Traffic was light, but there was no sense getting arrested for having some good, clean fun.
“Who is he, anyway?” Tommy looked over at Jason and raised an eyebrow. He put his truck in gear, flipped the turn signal on, and looked over his shoulder for cars.
“He’s the guy that took Celeste away from me. No one knows who he is or where he came from.” Jason slammed the rest of his beer and tossed the empty behind him with the others. He grabbed another one from the cooler. The bottles were floating in water from the melting ice. The cold beer felt nice on his throat with the warm breeze of a summer night blowing in the window. He was starting to feel a buzz from the alcohol.