Blood Haze

by L. R. Potter

  She sighed as Drew’s words washed over her, I thought you’d stopped having those. She’d quit telling him long ago about her glimpsings, and remembering his earlier frustrations, reminded her why she had. She hated the gulf which appeared when this happened… she understood it, but hated it nonetheless. But no matter what, he’d been her rock when she’d needed him. But was it fair to him to keep making him put up with this craziness?

  She hated to think how Ian must have felt. He’d lived through the harsh realities of what happens when people found out about any type of psychic ability. She’d kept hers hidden from all but a few people, thanks to the experience she’d gained from her mother.

  She sat in the bathroom for almost fifteen minutes, aware of women coming through the facilities, before her nose stopped bleeding. Finally satisfied it’d stopped, she made her way back out into club. She blinked to adjust her eyes to the dim room from the brightness of the bathroom. She’d just turned from the bathroom’s hallway and walked straight into someone coming around the same corner. She glanced up quickly, with a profusion of apologies ready to be given on her lips. Strong hands wrapped around her upper arms to steady her.

  Her heart began to pound and she flushed as she looked up into the impossibly exquisite features of Lynx Rogan. “Oh, uh, Mr. Rogan, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you,” she stammered as his closeness seemed to overwhelm her senses once again.

  He smiled and raised a cool palm to her cheek. She inhaled sharply at the contact of his flesh against her own. “I was coming to check on you,” he said, in that South African accent that sent a tendril of pleasure rushing over her.

  “Me?” she asked.

  He slowly nodded. “You looked unwell when you left, then you were gone for such a long time and your… date seemed to be otherwise engaged…” he trailed off.

  “Engaged?” she repeated inanely as she took in his words. He’d noticed when she’d gone to the bathroom? Had been worried enough to check on her? She couldn’t stop a warm surge of feminine satisfaction from rushing over her at the thought she’d captured his attention enough for him to monitor her movements.

  “Yes,” he said, as he moved to the side to allow her to see into the lounge.

  Drew was still seated at their table, but now instead of Ian being at the table, a young blonde woman was sitting in her chair. At that moment, Drew’s head tipped back, and even from her distance, Arabella could hear his laughter ring out. Was he ever that carefree with her? It shamed her to realize that he hadn’t been in a very long time. Memories of her father’s haggard face at the end entered her mind, causing her lips to tighten – not in anger, but deep abiding sadness.

  Snippets of her glimpsing flashed through her mind causing her to blink rapidly. Her stomach muscles clenched. Was Drew having an affair with that woman? Were they the couple in her vision? It could have just as well have been anyone she’d ever met. With her glimpsings, things were never very clear. Was Drew unhappy enough to cheat on her? A moment ago she wouldn’t have thought so, but seeing him now… she wasn’t so sure. In that moment, as she watched him smile so easily, other things she’d not questioned before began to plague her mind. Had she been blind? All the distance that had come between them… had she been a fool?

  “So… are you?” she heard him ask from behind her.

  Tearing her eyes away from Drew and his new companion at the table, she turned back to glance at Lynx. “What?”

  Lifting his hand as if he couldn’t restrain himself, he brushed a knuckle against her cheek before brushing her long tresses behind her shoulder, and lyrically murmured her name, “Arabella.”

  As his fingers touched her face, glimpses of a four poster bed draped in a billowy gold, silky material passed before her eyes. She blinked and concentrated on staying her mind. She couldn’t afford to allow the glimpses to overtake her… not now.

  Lynx took in her pale face, her emotions running wild, and her heart pounding which in turn caused her blood to simmer through her veins, drawing him irresistibly toward her. He’d smelt the fresh scent of her blood the instant it’d left the confines of her body. Oddly, the smell made him feel more protective of her than anything. Being a Renatus vampire – meaning -being born a vampire, not transformed into one – he had better control over his need to feed, which didn’t mean he didn’t want to.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked again.

  She couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away from his gaze and she swallowed as her jumbled thoughts about Drew, coupled with Lynx’s nearness made her senses scatter. “Umm. I’m… well, I just… I’m fine, thank you,” she stammered. “I… umm… need to get back. It was good to… uh… see you again, Mr. Rogan.”

  His smile dazzled her. “Lynx, please,” he murmured.

  “Lynx,” she responded as she stepped away.

  She inhaled deeply as she moved through the darkened club en route to her table. She glanced behind her to see Lynx now leaning against the paneled wall watching her move away. She gave him a small smile before turning back to face her destination.

  In the dim lighting, she studied the blonde woman seated at her table. She was younger than Arabella had originally thought, maybe twenty-one or twenty-two. She was obviously pretty, with an easy smile. She probably didn’t have any deep, dark secrets that Drew would be forced to keep… forced to deal with. Arabella sighed as she again struggled with her internal demons.

  Drew rose when she neared the table. He pulled her to him, brushed his lips against her cheek, then up to her ear. “Feeling better?” he murmured, loud enough for only her to hear.

  She pulled back, smiled and nodded in answer.

  “Excellent,” he said, with a weird, uncomfortable smile. “I want to introduce you to Maggie Lowell. She’s the new receptionist in our office. I invited her here to hear you sing, but she missed your set.”

  Arabella turned toward the young woman and shook her hand briefly. “It’s nice to meet you, Maggie,” she said politely. “How long have you worked in Drew’s office?”

  The beautiful, young Maggie turned her face to Drew and smiled adoringly at him. The muscles in Arabella’s stomach tightened and her lips thinned. “Umm, oh, about two weeks now. It’s been super, great fun. And everyone’s been so nice. I don’t know what I’d have done without Drew, he’s been totally awesome.”

  Arabella gave her a tight smile, before casting her eyes to Drew. “Yes, he is helpful.”

  He met her look briefly before glancing away. “Maggie has been a great addition to the office. She kinda breaks up the stuffiness,” he said with a grin.

  Arabella couldn’t help the feelings of betrayal which washed over her. She had no reason to be jealous, and normally she wasn’t, but she just couldn’t seem to shake the feeling. Drew was sending off sparks of unease. Once again the flashes from inside a car’s dark interior flitted across her memory and she flinched.

  Drew had just turned to her, when an older woman, around her mother’s age, shoved Drew to one side so that she was face to face with her. The woman with lines etched into her face, took her drink and threw it into Arabella’s face. She gasped and immediately stepped back as she wiped her eyes against the stinging liquid. “What the hell!” she heard Drew snap.

  “You tell your bitch of a mother, that what I do is my business. I don’t know how she found out about me, but if I ever see her again, I’ll kill her. You tell her that, you hear me!” the woman yelled.

  Arabella shrank back. She’d had a lifetime of learning not to fight back. Within seconds, Tobias had cleared the bar and had grabbed the woman by the arms and was dragging her backwards. The woman spewed her evil words all the way out. Two in one night. How long was she going to have to worry about people attacking her? Her mother had been dead nearly a year.

  Drew handed her a napkin and she blotted under her eyes to get rid of any running mascara. “Oh, my gosh!” Maggie exclaimed. “What was that about?”

  “I don’t know,” Arabella final
ly answered. “Must have thought I was someone else,” she said. She’d made it a point to never discuss anything about her mother… even if it meant lying. That came from a lifetime of preservation as well.

  Arabella glanced at Drew and saw his lips tighten before he realized she was watching him. Smoothing out his expression, he said, “Do you want to go, Arabella?”

  He’d called her Arabella, not Ara, which was his pet name for her. That meant he was upset.

  She gave Maggie a tight smile. “Would you mind?” she said to him.

  He placed a hand against her back. “No, of course not. Maggie, I’ll see you on Monday.”

  “It was nice to you meet you,” Maggie said.

  “Yes, same here,” Arabella responded automatically.

  As Drew leaned forward to place money on the table to cover their bill, Arabella caught the ever-watchful eyes of Lynx Rogan. He raised his eyebrows in question, but she quickly looked away, embarrassed.

  Drew was pensive on the drive home. She sat silently watching him for a long while. Unease had her looking away to stare unseeingly out of the window. “I’m sorry we had to cut our evening short,” she said quietly without looking at him… afraid to look at him.

  “It is, what it is,” he said noncommittally.

  Her stomach muscles tightened. Was it fair to keep forcing him to endure scenes like what had just been played out? Not once, but twice? Not really wanting to know the answer, she asked perversely, “Are you happy, Drew?”

  Silence met her words and she turned her head to see him purse his lips. With a slight shrug, he finally said, “For the most part.”

  His evasive answer made her feel off-kilter. “Maggie seems nice.”

  “She is. A bit young, but nice enough,” he replied, his tone indicating his discomfort at the course of the conversation… or his guilt. Arabella just couldn’t be sure.

  “She seems… uncomplicated,” she said softly, as her own insecurity rose up within her.

  Drew gave her a questioning glance before turning back to the road. “Well, she is a woman, so she has her own levels of complication,” he said with a slight laugh.

  Arabella gave a slow nod of her head, before turning once again to stare out the window as they passed the familiar landmarks she’d seen for most of her life.

  “Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Drew asked.

  “Nothing,” she replied softly.

  “Do you want to talk about your glimpsing earlier?”

  She blinked as the images replayed in her mind. “No,” she whispered.

  “Arabella, the women at the bar were jerks.”

  She allowed her head to loll against the headrest and looked at his profile. The green lights from the dash gave his beautiful features an ashen hue. He’d been her defender for most of her life. It apparently was a hard habit for him to break. “It’s not that… not really. It’s just, well… I know I’m a lot to take on.”

  He pulled up in front of her house and parked the car. He switched off the ignition, and turned to face her. He studied her for a long moment before lifting a hand and gently traced her features. She couldn’t help but remember when Lynx Rogan had done exactly the same thing. But she didn’t gasp at Drew’s touch, instead, it just felt comfortable. She had some serious issues. She closed her eyes so he couldn’t see her errant thoughts. This was Drew… she loved him… he was her best friend.

  “You are a lot to take on sometimes,” he agreed. “But I love you anyway. What’s going on?” he asked softly, as he continued to caress her face.

  “You seemed so carefree and happy with Maggie.”

  His hand stilled momentarily as he stiffened before brushing her hair behind her ear. “And you don’t think I’m that way with you?”

  She leaned into his hand, the same hand that had held hers on their first date at the movies; the same hand that had touched her so gently the first time they’d made love; the same hand which had held hers when it seemed the whole town had turned against her family; and the same hand that had held her when she’d fallen apart when first her father died, then her mother. She stared up into his eyes and whispered, “Not in a very long time.”

  “You’ve heard all my old jokes, hundreds of times already… Maggie hasn’t,” he said, dropping his hand.

  “I want you to be happy… you deserve to be happy,” she told him simply.

  He brushed his lips against her forehead. “Again, I am for the most part.”

  “Happy or comfortable?”

  His eyebrows scrunched, as he contemplated her question. “I’m both those things.”

  “Me, too,” she whispered, as she snaked her hand around his neck to pull him to her, and kissed him softly. “Me, too,” she repeated again, not sure who she was trying to convince more, him, or herself.

  Drew wrapped his arms around her and drew her up against him, and held her for a long moment. Finally, brushing his lips against her temple, he said, “I have an early meeting tomorrow, and then I need to drive up and see my mother in the retirement village. I’m supposed to meet up with your brother after that. We’re hooking up with some guys from our Rowing Team. I don’t know how late we’ll be. So, I’ll just plan to see you on Sunday, okay?”

  She gave a nod of her head, “Okay, please be careful… and watch out for Ian. You know how he tends to over-indulge.” She paused, before adding emphatically, “I do love you, Drew.”

  “I know. It’s just you and me, kid,” he said in his best Humphrey Bogart imitation.

  She smiled at the old line. He was right, she knew all his stuff… and that was okay.

  ~X~

  Lynx Rogan stood on the balcony outside of his bedroom and stared up at the star-filled sky. A soft breeze ruffled the curtains in the room behind him, outside of that, and the random howl of a distance coyote, the night was silent. He lifted a square, squatted-glass to his lips and sipped at the smooth bourbon. He rolled the woodsy-tasting liquor around his tongue, before allowing it to slide down his throat.

  Arabella Marks. An image of the woman swirled around his mind just as the bourbon had rolled around his mouth. That she was a beauty was a given – what with her long, dark hair and crystalline-blue eyes. She had a soft, shapely body that would automatically draw any man to her. But Arabella Marks had a secret; he’d seen it in her eyes. He wasn’t sure what it was yet, but he would find out. That secret made her feel vulnerable which would cause any man she met to be drawn to her; which then, would make them want to protect her – and to desire her.

  He’d been surprised when he’d tried to draw her to him via the power of his gaze, but she’d been strong enough to resist him. He couldn’t remember that ever happening in all of his seventy years. Normally with humans, you gazed into their eyes and then could command them to do whatever you wanted. But this woman, she was different somehow… harder to reach… or stronger willed maybe. She’d been tempted, he’d felt it, but she’d pulled away both times. He wondered what it would feel like to have her choose him for himself, and not because of the gazing. Maybe he’d try it and see.

  “Ah, here you are,” Karmyl said from the double, French-doors.

  Karmyl Rogan, his natural-born sister – if natural, was what they could be considered. It was natural in the sense, they’d both been born to the same vampiral parents, and were the only two actually related, out of all that lived in their haven on the estate of Night Shade.

  “Here I am,” he replied.

  Lynx had realized Karmyl had been up to something. She’d been determined since he’d arrived from Cape Horn that he visit the Night Owl. Since Karmyl amused him, and since he was closer to her than any other in their haven, he humored her. Lynx liked women, especially human women – with their soft skin and rushing blood. He liked to toy with them, take what he wanted, then walk away. They were not a challenge. Female vampires on the other hand, while more challenging, didn’t really spark him like the humans. And while there were many in the vampire communit
y who thought it a sacrilege to treat humans humanely, he wasn’t that shortsighted. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, they needed the humans for their very existence. So, if one could obtain desirous pleasure before feeding, why not?

  “So… what did you think?”

  That his sister had had an ulterior motive, he’d had no doubt. Upon seeing the exquisite Arabella, he’d known exactly what that motive was… or who, to be exact.

  “Think about what?” he said, to toy with her.

  “About the last presidential election…” she responded in exasperation, “Arabella, you loon!”

  “She… seemed nice,” he said, then laughed at the expression which crossed her face.

  “I think she’s perfect for you,” she declared.

  “Do you now?”

  “Yep. I think, you think so as well,” she replied assuredly. “You could use a little fun in your life. You’ve become far too serious in recent years.”

  He gave an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. The less Karmyl was involved in his love-life, the better.

  She gave him a long, speculative look before changing the subject. “We need to talk about the upcoming Blood Haze.”

  “What about it?”

  “How do you want to handle it this year?” she asked, as she plopped down onto a padded chair.

  He sighed. As the head of their haven, it fell to him to ensure the Blood Haze was conducted in such a manner, as not to draw any undue attention. “We’ll do like we did last year. We’ll have a masked ball. It seemed to be a big hit with the people in town.”

  “We need to begin sending out invitations then. Blood Haze is fast upon us.”