He sighed. “Listen to me….”
She shook her head. “NO! You listen to me. Samson….” her voice trailed off as her breath came out in great puffs of steam in the frigid air. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I really like you. A lot. Or…well….at least I did. But this? What am I supposed to think?”
She started to dial the number of a cab but he grabbed her phone before she could finish.
“If you would just give me a chance to explain, everything will make sense.”
He knew, of course, that nothing was going to make sense, but the first thing he had to do was calm her down enough to get her in the car so he could think. He offered her his hand again. She paused for a long moment and then finally took it. He immediately pulled her close and just held her there in his arms.
He smoothed the hair back from her face trying to recapture some of the feeling of warmth he’d felt less than 24 hours ago when he’d kissed her in the hallway of her house. But he quickly realized that nothing could thaw the icy chill he felt radiating from her right now.
“I promise it’s going to be okay. Will you at least let me drive you home? It‘s freezing cold out here and I‘m not leaving you alone while you wait for a cab at this hour. Now please. Let me drive you.”
He handed her back her cell phone. She nodded in agreement but didn’t look to thrilled with the prospect. He opened the car door and she got in without another word.
They drove in silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke. “So, are you going to tell me the truth or keep the ‘I guess she wasn’t hurt that bad’ bullshit going?”
“No. No more lying,“ he said.
“So then. You’ve known all along about this? You knew what you did with Cisco too, right?”
He nodded. “Well, not exactly. That was the first time it happened. I figured it out afterward, and I wasn’t completely certain until now.”
“Okay. Are you crazy and I’m going crazy with you? Or are you some kind of paranormal something or another out of a movie?” she asked cautiously.
“Creature? Is that what you wanted to say?” The car lurched to a stop at a red light and he looked over at her, his turquoise blue gaze boring right through her.
“No. No….that’s not what I meant.” She stammered and swallowed hard. She was more than a little afraid now. After all she hardly knew him, and although they’d shared something she thought was pretty special the night before, there were dozens of stories every day in newspapers across the country of women who’d been lured by seemingly ‘nice’ guys they dated a few times; just long enough to gain their trust, who then turned out to be psychos. Or in this case maybe something worse.
He shook his head in frustration. “Great. Now you think I’m some kind of psychotic murderer or something. Or a creature. One look says it all.”
Her silence said everything that words couldn’t.
He hated the word…hated that it was what she thought of him. But what he hated worse was that it was true. He was indeed much more ‘creature’ than man. And it never seemed more real to him than right here and now.
“Listen to me Willow. I don’t have a logical explanation for what you saw. Hell, I barely understand it myself. The first time it happened was in the alleyway with Cisco. But there’s something about my blood that has the power to…heal.”
She stared at him and just shook her head. “What?” Her voice dripped with utter contempt.
“You heard me. My blood has the power to heal.”
“Stop the truck right now,” she ordered him. You’re insane. Now you think you’re Jesus Christ?” She laughed sarcastically. “Stop the truck now. I’m calling the cops if you don’t.”
He pulled the truck quickly to the side of the road and grabbed her arm. She looked at him, completely terrified, and yet he didn’t let go.
“Can you deny what you saw, Willow? Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn’t see it for yourself.”
She snatched her arm free and sat there just staring at him more angry now than scared.
“Well? He raised his eyebrows.
She sat there frozen as a million thoughts raced through her head. He could tell that rational thinking was once again taking over as her fear was pushed to the back burner.
He took a deep breath and continued. “I know this is hard to believe, or understand. But it’s the truth. I swear it. I don’t understand it myself. I know about as much as you at this point. Now, if you want to get out, I won’t stop you. But I’m asking you not to. Please.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Finally she nodded and said, “Okay,” her voice barely a whisper.
They drove in silence for a few more minutes before she finally said, “How? I‘m a nurse for Christ’s sake! I know science. How the hell can something like this exist?” She shook her head, leaned her elbow against the window and propped her throbbing head against it.
“Honestly? I don’t know,” he said firmly.
But that was only a half truth. He knew that somehow or another, his curse…that damnable curse that had been plaguing him for only the last five hundred years or so had something…no everything to do with it. But there was NO way in hell he was going to disclose any more than he already had at this point.
A few minutes later they pulled into her driveway. He didn’t turn off the engine.
“So…is this it? Are we done before we even got started?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. I’m…scared.”
“Can I at least walk you to the door? I promise I won’t try to come in. But it might be nice to at least say hello to Cisco.”
She nodded, and he turned off the engine. He jumped out, opened her door and followed her up the driveway to the door. Cisco came bounding out the second she opened it and began licking Samson’s face like he was a long-lost family member.
Willow watched in silence at the exchange between dog and man…or whatever Samson was, her mind racing a million miles per hour. What the hell was he?
Maybe it was just some kind of medical fluke that deserved investigation and research.
After all, there were cases on record of human beings with super strength. Ones that could pull semi-trucks, move thousands of pounds of weight via hooks punctured through nothing more than the skin on their backs…survive temperatures that would nearly melt metal. Maybe this was something akin to that and it wasn’t so outrageous. Maybe Samson just belonged in a world record book or Ripley’s alongside some of those other great ’wonders’ of the world.
She was both relieved and proud of herself for having come up with a rational, realistic explanation for his ‘ability’, and yet she still couldn’t completely shake the sense of fear she felt at the same time.
Cisco finally took his paws from Samson’s chest and after one last lick to his palm, headed back into the house, his tail wagging all the way.
Samson stared at Willow. “So, I guess this is it then?”
She sighed heavily and tousled her hair. “Well, I’ve been trying to rationalize it in my mind. There’s people who have ‘superhuman’ strength and ‘powers’ that set world records and you see them on t.v. specials all the time. So I guess you could maybe be one of them or something. I don‘t know. But it‘s the best I could come up with.”
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah….I guess I could.” He had superpowers alright. He shuddered to think what she would do if she ever found out the real truth. That was never going to happen, thank God.
He wanted to step forward but refrained. “I guess a goodnight hug is out of the question? I know I don’t deserve one…we didn’t even have dinner.”
“I’m not actually hungry after all of this. Big surprise there.” She shrugged.
“Samson….I think I just need some time to digest all this, okay? This is just hard to understand.”
He nodded. Christ. He wanted so much to just take her in his arms right now and kiss her until she forgot everything she’d seen and heard, or at least until
she didn’t give a damn anymore. But that wasn’t going to happen. In fact, this may be the last he ever saw of her for all he knew.
“I guess I’d better be going.” He paused for a moment, realizing that if he never saw her, then he may never see the dog again either.
“Can I still call you? I mean…are we still going to share Cisco? Should I have my lawyer call you about visitation rights and custody hearing?“ He shrugged. “After all, he is my son too. He looks just like me.”
She tried to smother it, but she had to smirk. Damn him! He had a way of making her smile even when she was scared, or angry or anything else.
“Yeah, you can still call and have visitation rights. Unsupervised… if you promise not to expose him to any bad influences.”
“So, no doggie strip clubs or gambling casinos? Hmmm, I don’t think he will like this much. But, okay…deal.”
He smiled, reached forward and cautiously took her hand in his own, bringing her fingertips to his lips. He planted a gentle kiss there resisting the urge to pull her body against him.
She surprised him by stepping forward into his arms of her own free will. She reached up and brushed an errant lock of his hair back from his forehead.
“I know I should be running away from you in the other direction as fast as my legs will take me. But, they won’t move no matter how much my brain tells them to.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
His lips were on hers in one second flat, his soft tongue dancing against hers as he crushed her in as close as possible against him. Her arms wound around his strong neck and he lifted her up off the ground til she squealed and laughed out loud. He put her back down and moved back in,
softly enveloping her lips again with his own. To his surprise, he found that his mind was not envisioning anything beyond the moment…it was a kiss of sweetness, not lust.
A moment later when their lips finally parted, he simply pulled her to his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head, enveloping her in the warmth of his body.
“Listen, I know you’re scared. I guess I am a little too. But, I’m not some creature or whatever you might imagine, either. I swear it. I just happen to have this…this ability. But you know it’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing! I’ve saved two lives with it already. Maybe there’s a whole lot more I can do with this gift I’ve been given.”
His brows knit together. This was the first time he’d ever referred to anything about his curse as a gift. Hell must be freezing over, indeed.
Come to think of it he was feeling strange and it was starting to become uncomfortable. He shivered and felt a cold sweat breaking out as all the hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
She sensed him tensing up and pulled back from him. He looked a little bit pale even in the dim light.
“Hey are you alright?” She reached up and felt his forehead with the back of her hand. He was cool; in fact way below normal. And yet he was damp with sweat, even in the frigid air.
He shook it off despite feeling slightly panicked at the shiver. “Nah…it’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” She didn’t look convinced.
“Yeah. This sort of thing happened after I helped Cisco,” he lied.Well, it had happened, but not right after. He’d fallen asleep and woke up cold and sweaty just this morning, and he still didn’t know that was going on with that. But this was more like that weird sensation he’d felt at Chico’s. He looked around feeling as if something had brushed by him.
“Do you want to come in? Have something to eat? I can check your vitals if you want,” she said hooking her arm through his.
“Are you sure?” he said, hesitant to push things and afraid of what strange body symptoms might turn on that she might witness, even though the chill quickly passed and he was feeling fairly normal at this moment.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “C’mon.”
Samson’s brows knit together and he did a double take looking behind him as she pulled him through the door and into the warmth of the house. He blinked hard, and swore he saw the shimmering, faded outline of a woman in the exact place they’d just been standing.
“Wait a minute.” He pulled his arm free and looked back through the doorframe. “Did you just see that?”
She shook her head. “See what?” She peeked outside. “What did you see?”
Samson looked around but the image disappeared just as quickly as it had come into view.
“Was it an animal or something?”
“No. I thought I saw someone.” He shook his head. “It was nothing I guess.” He closed the door and allowed her to lead him down the entry hall into the living room.
She reached up and touched his face again.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You still look a little pale.”
He smiled. “Yeah, I’m fine. Especially now that I’m here with you.” He reached out and touched her face and leaned over to kiss her softly.
“Hey! Not in front of the children!” Sasha’s voice jolted them from the reverie of the moment as she sat on the couch, feet propped up with Cisco happily perched at her feet. She popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth. “So…how was dinner?”
Samson and Willow looked at each other and smiled and both opened their mouth to speak at the same time, each stating how great the food was while naming a different restaurant than the other. They both stopped abruptly and Willow blushed.
Sasha nodded. “Hmmm…that good huh? Guess I need to go there sometime.” She threw a piece of popcorn at Willow which Cisco promptly jumped down to lick up off the floor.
Willow shrugged. “Actually we skipped dinner and came straight here.” She wasn’t about to tell Sasha about the cat incident or any of the rest, just yet.
Sasha’s eyebrows went up and she nodded and smirked. “Uh-huh. That’s what I figured. Decided to skip dinner and go straight for the dessert huh?” She laughed out loud. “Um. I’m going to get my stuff together and just slip right on outta here and head over to my place. I have you know…like twenty guests on the way. Big party. Lots of stuff to do. You kids have fun.”
“You don’t have to leave, you know. It’s not what you think,” Willow said.
Samson wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck. “Really? Says who?” He smiled with just a hint of wickedness.
Willow shooed him away and laughed. “Stop it!” “Make me,” he shot back playfully.
She backed up and tapped her foot on the tiles. There was the damnable schoolmarm look again. The one that made him want to lay her down on the floor, taste every square inch of her until she was screaming his name loud enough for everyone within three city blocks to hear. Dessert indeed! But instead he politely said, “I concede,” and bowed slightly before taking her hand and bringing it to his lips, hoping that the chivalrous gesture that would have been ‘ cool’ in 1511, might still hold a little bit of sway.
She laughed good-naturedly before turning back to Sasha. “Really. You don’t have to run off so fast. I mean you can stay and hang out for awhile. Let’s order a pizza and watch a movie. All of us.”
Sasha raised a skeptical brow. “Not that me or my butt needs pizza, since I devoured a whole bag of popcorn. But really? I mean, you know….I don‘t want to be in the way.”
“You’re not! We want you to stay. Really.” Willow looked over at Samson who nodded in agreement.
Sasha smiled and shrugged as she picked up the phone. “One large with extra cheese and pepperoni? You guys pick the movie.”
Samson had to admit, he liked the ‘skip dinner go straight to the dessert’ idea much better, but this suggestion wasn‘t half bad. And in fact he was feeling pretty grateful just to be standing here at all.
For the first time in all these centuries he had disclosed a part of his darkest secret to another soul. Granted it wasn’t of his own volition, nor was the power his blood seemed to hold even something he’d known before this past week himself, but it had happened nonetheless. She knew a p
art of the truth…something real about him, and she wasn’t running. He wasn’t running either. In fact, he wasn’t going anywhere if he could help it.
He had exactly three and a half weeks left to figure out the puzzle, and the need to do so burned within him in a way he hadn‘t felt in a very long time, and Willow Dalton was the fuel that kept that fire stoked to white hot intensity.
She walked down the hall and grabbed a blanket from the closet, took his hand and led him over to the large chaise chair where they both plunked down and leaned back against the soft pillows. He snuggled in next to her and wrapped the blanket around them both as she leaned in and whispered in his ear, “We can talk more about what happened later. For now, let’s just forget about it and salvage what‘s left of our date?” She kissed his lips softly and grabbed he remote from the end table.
She was right. Pizza and a movie on cable. Maybe a little time in his arms afterward. Or not. It didn’t really matter. He wanted her, but it wasn’t just about wanting her for his own pleasure anymore. He cared about her…or maybe he was just going to have to admit he was falling in love with her. Damn. Had he just thought that to himself?
He smiled…almost laughed out loud. He hadn’t even slept with her for Christ’s sake. And he’d only known her for a few days. So, why didn’t that seem to matter right now?
Love? Not the kind you fall into when you’re lonely, or desperate or on the rebound. Or trying to break curses. No this emotional sensation he was experiencing was somehow different. Maybe a bit more like what you feel for another person without any strings attached…and without thinking of yourself first. He barely knew her, and yet there was something about her that he just couldn’t explain that made him feel so comfortable…like he’d indeed known her for a very long time. And now, since she’d discovered the secret of his blood, she was also bound to him in some small way that no other human ever had been in five centuries.
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