by Liz Davis
“You’re a liar. I hear her talking in the background. Put her on the phone.” Takoda was quickly losing his patience.
There was pregnant silence between them, followed by the click of the line as it went dead. Takoda angrily snapped the phone shut and then redialed, but the line only rang once and then the voice mail picked up. Takoda tossed the cell phone onto the passenger’s seat and pressed his foot on the accelerator, sending his car speeding down the highway like a bullet.
* * * *
Despite Lynn’s urgency to get home, David had decided to make a few pit stops along the way. First he said he needed water, so they stopped at a mini-mart. Then he’d complained of being hungry, so they stopped at a diner just off the highway. Of course she knew that these were all just excuses. He was trying to delay their arrival to her house so that he would be able to spend more time with her. Nearly an hour of their time was wasted making stops along the road, so once they finally got back onto the highway, she found herself wishing that he wouldn’t make another stop. To her relief, David finally took her home, and as they arrived at her house she felt a huge sense of relief. She was back in familiar territory, and finally able to free herself from the presence of David.
As his car pulled into the driveway, Lynn already had her hand poised and ready to open the door. Once the car came to a stop, Lynn uttered a quick “thanks” and then bailed out of the car, walking quickly towards her front door.
She heard the sound of David’s car door slam as he got out of the vehicle footsteps behind her as he followed her to the house.
“Lynn, wait. Are you okay?” he called out from behind her.
“Of course I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You seem mad at me.”
Pulling her keys out of her purse, Lynn responded, “I’m fine. Just would have been nice if you’d brought me straight home.”
A look of regret passed across David’s face. “Sorry about that. I guess I just got so excited spending time with you outside of work that I went a little crazy. We are still friends, aren’t we?”
Slipping her key into the lock, she twisted the knob open and cracked open the door. Then she turned around to face him.
“I don’t know David, I guess.”
“Please don’t be mad at me, Lynn.”
A sigh of frustration expelled itself from her lips. “I’m really exhausted right now, and I’d like to go inside and relax. I’ve had a very long and trying evening.”
“All right, I’ll let you go now. Have a nice night, and see you at work tomorrow.” Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he turned and began walking down the steps.”
“Goodnight, David.”
Once she crossed the threshold, he waved, and she returned it with a quick one of her own. Then she closed and locked it behind her.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she slid her palm along the wall until it bumped against the light switch. As the room flooded with light, she tossed her purse onto the couch and took off her shoes. She headed toward the hallway so that she could go to her bedroom, but as she walked she was seized by a nagging sense of dread. Something was off about the energy in the room, and the muscles in her body had suddenly grown tense.
There was also a strange scent in the room, a smell which was definitely foreign to her house. Struck with the sense that she was being watched, she whirled her head around, glancing behind her to see if anyone was there. She looked over her shoulder and all around the room, but as far as she could see, there wasn’t anyone there. Despite the hairs which had pricked up on the back of her neck, she decided to brush it off. The strange turn of events that evening had caused her to feel a little jumpy, and her nerves were badly jarred.
Holding her shoes in her hand, she continued on back to her bedroom. She was just stepping into the hallway when she saw something shift from out of the corner of her eye.
Turning her gaze toward the far corner of the room, she rested her eyes upon an armchair which was cast in a shadowy corner of the room. Walking toward a floor lamp with bated breath, she switched it on to immerse the other part of the room in light. As the shadow dissipated, she saw there was nothing there, and she exhaled a breath of tension. She had to loosen up and stop getting spooked so easily. She’d been on edge all evening long and was tired of feeling this way.
Lynn headed down the hallway to go into her bedroom, and as she pushed the door open she saw that the window was slightly ajar. Walking over toward it, she shut it closed and then locked it. She felt alarmed for a few moments, and then she suddenly remembered that she’d opened it earlier that morning. She headed out of her bedroom and made her way toward the bathroom to freshen up, but the sound of a knock at the door caused her to halt her steps.
Figuring it was David, she remained still and froze in place. Then she remembered that Takoda was supposed to pick her up from the bar, so she headed out of the hallway and made her way toward the front door. As she looked though the peephole, she saw a tall form standing on the porch. Not doubting for a minute that it was Takoda, she unlatched the lock and twisted the doorknob, but as she swung the door open, she realized there was nobody standing there at all.
Knitting her eyebrows in puzzlement, Lynn glanced to her left to see if there was anybody standing on the other side of the porch.
“Hello?” her voice called out into the darkness of the night.
The feel of an icy-cold breeze hit the back of her neck, and then suddenly she felt the energy around her shift, followed by the sound of a voice. It wasn’t coming from outside, though. It was coming from right behind her, within her own house.
Spinning around to face the intruder, her gaze fell upon a pair of emotionless blue eyes. As she saw the familiar face leering down at her, a loud scream of terror ripped from her throat.
“Hello, beautiful.” Dex’s lips pulled up into a dark grin.
She noticed that his cowboy hat was no longer on and as she stared into his cold orbs, she was struck with a feeling of nausea. The sight of him here in her house made her physically sick.
“Get out now before I call the police,” she shakily said.
Throwing her a look of amusement, he replied, “Go ahead. The phone’s on the other side of the room, though. You’ll have to get past me in order to get to it.”
Giving a deep swallow, she weakly uttered, “My boyfriend is on his way over. If he sees you here, there’s no telling what he’ll do.”
Releasing a small chuckle, Dex replied, “Mmm, right. Guess I should be worried then. He’s a tall, long-haired fellow isn’t he? I’ve seen him around.”
Struggling to maintain a calm exterior, Lynn silently called out to Takoda, utilizing every bit of energy inside of her as she communicated her desperate need for his presence.
Dex took a step towards her, prompting Lynn to call a firm warning out to him. “If he finds you here, he’ll kill you.”
His lips pulled into a wide grin as he responded, “Shifters don’t scare me, Lynn. And I highly doubt that he can kill me.”
He began taking steps toward her, and as he moved closer to where she stood, she began to panic. Her back was already against the door, which meant she had nowhere to go.
“What do you want from me?”
Grabbing her hand by the wrist, he held it up in front of her and ran his thumb along a protruding vein. The feel of his flesh against her own filled her with disgust, and she was shocked to find that his skin was ice cold. Flinching beneath his touch, she felt him slide his digit slowly back and forth, watching her with a look which made her feel as if he were looking at a four-course dinner. Then suddenly, she realized that she was his dinner.
Her eyes widened and her voice wavered as she said, “You’re a vampire.”
Giving her an evil smile, he stated, “Not exactly.”
“Well if you’re not a vampire, then what are you?”
He gave a little chuckle and then said, “A hybrid, of sorts.”
A chill swept through
her body as the words left his mouth. She didn’t know what he meant by a hybrid, but she wasn’t certain that she wanted to find out, either.
“Look, I don’t want to fight against you. So if you’re going to drink from me, then just do it already and get it over with.” She tilted her neck to the left so that her neck was more exposed, coaxing him to take what he wanted.
Dex’s eyebrows furrowed together and he blinked in surprise at her willingness to please him.
“You’re offering yourself to me?”
“Yes. You’re obviously much stronger than I ever could be, so I’m not even going to try and refuse you. You’re here to drink my blood, and I accept that.”
His head tilted as he suspiciously stared at her and she knew he was wondering why she was making it so easy for him. Remaining quiet, she breathed deeply as she prepared herself for what was to come next.
“It’s been a long time since I had such a willing participant, especially a beautiful woman like yourself.” Placing his palm against her face, he slowly slid it across the surface of her cheek. As he leaned his head in toward her neck, she felt her body tense up and her heart began to beat rapidly. His breath ghosted coldly against her neck as his lips moved in closer.
“Mmm, I’m going to enjoy this,” he breathed in an overly eager voice.
As she felt his lips press against her neck, she sprung into action. Reaching her arm out for the table next to the door, she grabbed the first thing her hands came into contact with. Gripping the letter opened tightly in her fist, she rose her arm upward and aimed it for the back of Dex’s neck. The tip of it came dangerously close to piercing his skin, but before it could plunge though his flesh, he grabbed hold of her wrist and gave it a sharp squeeze.
Lynn cried out as a bolt of agonizing pain ripped through her nerve endings, and the object in her hand fell to the floor with a clatter. His cat-like reflexes stunned her, and within a blink of an eye, he had her pinned up against the wall. His fingertips dug painfully into her shoulders as he gave a tsk-tsk of disapproval.
“Trying to stab me in the neck with a letter opener? My, what a
naughty little thing you are!” He gave a dark chuckle and then added, “I just love it when they put up a fight.”
His hands gripped both of her wrists tightly, keeping them flush against the wall.
“Let me go.” She tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but his fingers only tightened.
Lynn felt her chest grow tight with anxiety and her mouth instantly grew dry.
“I can smell your fear.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” she lied.
“No, of course not.” A sly smile crossed his lips.
Keeping her pinned up against the wall with one hand, he used the other to stroke her face. As his hand made contact with her lips, she flinched, fighting the urge to retch. His skin felt cold and clammy.
“Let go of me.”
Inside she was scared shitless, but the last thing she wanted him to know was just how afraid she was. He would only use it to his advantage.
“Afraid I can’t. I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you for quite some time.”
Lynn’s eyes drifted down to the long scar which marred his pale throat. It was raised and bumpy, and as she stared at it she began to wonder how he’d gotten it.
“Why are you following me?”
“You don’t remember much from the night of that car crash back in Seattle, do you?”
He waited for her to say something, but when she didn’t answer, he continued.
“Don’t you remember? I’ve tasted you, and if memory serves me correct, you were quite delicious.”
A chill ran up her spine as she heard him say the words “taste” and “delicious.” Suddenly, she remembered that there had been someone. She’d always chalked it up to a hallucination from shock, but now she realized it had actually happened. She’d gone in and out or consciousness, but she did remember seeing someone step next to the window and lean into the car. She also remembered there had been a pair of hands upon her, followed by a sharp and piercing pain in her chest. She figured that whatever had stabbed her was being pulled out, because the next thing she knew, there was a flow of blood. She figured she must have blacked out soon after, because that was all she could remember, and by the time she regained consciousness, she was already in the hospital.
Her eyes looked up at him with recognition, horrified that this frightening creature had been a part of her past. Knowing he’d been there that night while she was unconscious caused her to feel terribly fearful.
“What did you do to me? Did you drink my blood?” Her voice filled with panic.
With a grin he replied, “It’s not the taste of blood I was after, but your fear. Nothing fuels me more than the sight of a beautiful woman cowering in fear. Take you, for example. You’re very afraid right now, aren’t you?”
Shaking her head she angrily replied, “No, I’m not.”
Pulling his lips into a mock pout, Dex leaned in closer to her, allowing only a hair’s width between the flesh of her cheeks and his cold lips.
“So I don’t scare you at all?”
Terrified by the darkness in his eyes, she averted them toward the front door. She desperately wished that she could escape him, but she knew if she tried to run that he would easily catch up to her.
Grabbing her by the chin, he said, “No point in trying to resist me. I’m already in there.”
Lynn did her best to shield her emotions from him, but he easily cut right through her resistance. She could actually feel her energy being siphoned right out of her.
“You feel things very powerfully, don’t you? I could really get addicted to that.” Trailing a finger against her throat, he let it come to a rest against the pulse in her neck.
Her pulse began to quicken. Dex offered a wicked smile, obviously pleased by her reaction.
As his thumb remained pressed upon the point, she noticed that her knees were feeling weak and that she was beginning to grow dizzy. There was also a strange heaviness inside of her body, as if she were made of lead.
“I wonder where that boyfriend of yours is. It’s strange he hasn’t show up yet, huh?” One of his eyebrows rose upward in a questioning manner.
“He’s on his way.”
“Is he?” Dex questioned her with a funny little smile, tilting his head as if he were studying something of great interest. “Well he’d better hurry, because I’m about to have his girlfriend for dinner.”
As Dex pressed his nose to her skin, she heard him deeply inhale, followed by a sound which expressed how delicious he thought her scent was.
Lynn flattened her back against the wall as his lips crept up her chin, gradually moving closer to her lips. It seemed as if he were some sort of reptile, because the feel of his skin was very dry and completely void of any warmth at all. “Cold” and “slithery” were the perfect words to describe him. Certain he was going to try and kiss her, she began to panic and drove her knee upward, aiming straight for the place where she knew it would hurt the most.
Always one step ahead of her, Dex caught hold of her leg and pulled her feet out from under her. Her body hit the floor with a thud, but the pain she felt didn’t deter her from making a mad scramble for the door. She’d barely moved a few inches away from him before he caught hold of her leg with his hands. Using her free leg to kick at him, she aimed it right for his midsection and nailed him right in the stomach.
“Oof!” he grunted, stumbling backward as the wind was knocked out of him.
Using those few short moments to her advantage, Lynn bolted for the door and quickly swung it open. She’d just made it across the threshold and ran out onto the porch when he caught hold of her. Wrapping his arm firmly around her waist, he threw her to the ground and straddled her, keeping her firmly pinned against the floor.
“You’re a quick little thing, aren’t you? Not quick enough, though.”
As she noticed he was holding a blade
against her breasts, she began to squirm nervously beneath his grip.
“The chase has been fun, but I’m ready to taste you now.”
As his fangs popped out, Lynn became paralyzed with terror. As his breath hit her skin, she released a cry of fear and flinched in anticipation.
As a deep, rumbling growl fill the air around them, Lynn opened her eyes to see a large gray wolf standing at the edge of the porch. With yellow-gold eyes and a thick, lush coat, he was quite a majestic sight. Although it was the first time Lynn was seeing him in non-human form, she instantly knew it was Takoda.
Releasing a menacing snarl, the wolf crouched into position. His muscles were taut and he was ready to strike, with his muzzle quivering angrily as he bared his sharp teeth. The wolf’s yellow eyes narrowed angrily upon his adversary, and the expression within them was clearly murderous. With Dex’s attention upon the wolf, Lynn was able to scramble out from beneath him unnoticed. Once she’d freed herself from his presence, she ran back into the safety of the house.
“Well look what we have here, a knight in shining armor.” Dex’s lips curled back into a sneer.
Bracing his feet into a fighting position, he poised his weapon out in front of him. Not wasting another moment, the wolf charged. As the wolf ran toward him, Dex swiped toward him with his blade, but ended up missing by a hair’s inch.
In a single fluid moment, the wolf sank his razor-sharp teeth into Dex’s ankles, causing him to cry out in agony. Gritting his teeth in fury, Dex slashed through the air with his knife, hoping it would connect with the wolf. As the blade met with nothing but air, Dex became increasingly frustrated.
Furiously kicking backward with his foot, Dex landed a solid kick upon the wolf’s jaw. As the teeth in his flesh loosened, Dex quickly pulled his leg free and scrambled away from the wolf. Dex was just barely getting back onto his feet when he was attacked once again.
The wolf lunged forward, pinning Dex to the ground with the weight of his body. The knife Dex held fell to the ground and clattered out of his reach. Saliva dripped from the wolf’s muzzle, teeth snapping and gnashing as he went in for the kill. He aimed for Dex’s neck, but before he could sink his teeth in, Dex grabbed hold of the animal’s neck. Locking his fingers around the wolf’s neck, Dex sought to cut off its air supply with the strength of his hands.