Dark of kNight

by T. L Mitchell

  “What?” he responded to my sudden movement of pulling my arm away from his hand.

  “I had another nightmare, apparently after you left; I fell off the sofa and must’ve hit my arm on the coffee table.” Cautiously, his fingers clasped around my arm, drawing it closer to him. He ran his finger down my arm and over the hard red spot. Tingling sensations ran through my entire body from such a simple touch.

  “I don’t think it’s broken, but you definitely took a hit.” His eyes traveled back to mine and a frown formed on his face. “What were you dreaming about?”

  Carefully, I chose my words; there were some details that I wanted to leave out. He didn’t need to know the part about us running hand in hand through the meadow. It sounded too childish. Actually, I thought it was a good idea not to mention he was in my dream all together. “A werewolf attacked me.” There. Straight to the point.

  His mouth twisted into a sly grin while his eyes twinkled with humor. “So,” He held up my arm. “How much damage did you inflict on the werewolf?”

  “Not much.” There was no way I could’ve stopped the laughter that burst out of me. We shared the humor for a moment, and then his face turned serious again.

  “Listen, I should not be gone for more than a week. I want you to stay with Mom and Dad,” the soft voice pleaded with me.

  “Daniel,” I sighed.

  “Julie, it is for your own protection. This house is in the middle of the woods, and you are about ten minutes from the nearest house.” He pleaded.

  “I’ll be fine here.” I protested.

  “I won’t.” His expression changed. The warmth of his brown eyes peered deeply into mine. “I would not be able to concentrate on anything else but worrying about you, wondering if you were all right. I do not think I would forgive myself if something terrible happened to you while I was gone. Please Julie.” He continued in a velvety rich voice.

  “You mean too much to me.”

  Those words lingered in my ears. It touched something within my heart. I’m not sure what he saw in my eyes, but his face moved closer toward me. His lips touched mine ever so lightly. I couldn’t breathe. My pulse raced. His lips trailed over mine lingering ever so softly. Fire flamed through my veins, bringing my blood to a boil.

  Electricity charged my body. My hand gently touched the side of his face. His warm hand touched mine, sending wonderful sensations throughout my body. Pulling away from me, his face only inches from mine, my eyes slowly opened to see him carefully watching me. When I finally exhaled, his lips pursed into a smile. He had done his job well, intoxicating me from the first kiss.

  Satisfied, slowly he came closer again. The look in his eyes was more than satisfaction; it was desire. His lips pressed against mine again with a little more force. I caught my breath. His fingers traced my jawbone down my neck where his hand cupped the back of my head. He took a deep breath and then pulled me closer to him. His tongue traced my upper lip, wanting to be invited inside to explore what he desired. My knees weakened. His arm wrapped around me, pressing my weakened body closer to his. I molded into every inch of his lean muscular body. I drew the scent deeper in my lungs, allowing his fragrance to fill my senses. My hand ran into his hair, clutching tightly the black tendrils between my fingers. My body burned with an intensity of fire like never before. His mouth hungered after mine, teasing, taunting and unleashing a desire that I had never known before.

  Daniel stopped, tearing himself away from my lips. His ragged breath matched mine. The desire in his wild eyes intensified, matching my own desires for him. He held me firmly in place while stepping away from me slowly. Somehow I still managed to hold onto the coffee cup without spilling it. We laughed when we looked at the cup and then each other.

  “I will come back. I promise.” His words were as true as any I had ever heard. “Please, just stay with Mom and Dad, for me?”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “I’ll call you every day to make sure you are okay.” The confirmation was all I needed.

  “What time is your flight?”

  “I am leaving in three hours. I have just enough time to get packed and make it to the airport.”

  “I’ll drive you to the airport. It’s still daylight. I don’t think we will have to worry about werewolves in the daytime. Right?” I forced out a smile.

  His head tilted to the side, giving me the impression he had to think about it. “Yeah, you might be right. I would like that.” After a quick kiss, he turned and disappeared into the great room.

  My hand absentmindedly went to my face. My finger touched my lips where his lips had been. The thought of what I had missed all those years brought back a slight regret.

  However, excitement and joy ran through me. I felt like I could skip through the clouds and run laps through the meadow outside. I wanted to fling myself out a window and scream. The feelings I had were the kind I wanted to savor forever. Never had I felt this way before, and I wanted to enjoy it.

  After a few moments of basking in my newfound delight, I came back to reality. The news on the TV issued a special report. The two victims from last night’s attack remain unidentified. Police stated the attack was animal related. They suspected a large wolf or possibly a pack of wolves. The doorbell rang, breaking my attention from the news. I set the coffee cup on the counter on my way to the front door.

  Heading around the kitchen, I glanced toward the front door. Two police officers stood waiting patiently for me to answer the door. One police officer, taller than the other, had blond hair and wore dark shades. The other officer, a much stocker build with brown hair glanced down at his note pad. Two men dressed in animal control uniforms stood behind the police officers. Nervously, I reached for the door and opened it.

  “Miss Knight?” The taller of the two police officers said.

  “Yes?”

  “My name is Officer Duncan, this is Officer McKenzie. May we speak with you a moment?”

  “Yes, I suppose so. Come in.” I stepped aside to let the officers pass. The two animal control officers remained outside. I glanced at them and then toward Officer Duncan.

  “They are with the animal control,” he stated firmly. I nodded and walked passed them into the great room and motioned for them to have a seat. I sat down slowly.

  “Miss Knight, we will only take a moment of your time.” He said looking at his notes. “I understand that you are aware of the animal attacks in the area lately.” I nodded slowly. “You have been living in Virginia for the past four years? Is this correct?” I nodded again.

  “I returned home for my father’s funeral last week.” I added. He scribbled something on his note pad.

  “Your father was attacked by an animal as well? Is that correct?” A frown crossed my face.

  “Yes, that is what I’ve been told. Is there something different?”

  “I’m sorry; we are just asking some routine questions. Where exactly was your father when he had been attacked?”

  “I don’t really know. Somewhere out of state. The Midwest I think. He went on a hunting trip with some of his friends.”

  “What kind of hunting trip?”

  “One of his friends owned a ranch and was having problems with wolves attacking the cattle. They went there to try and get rid of them.” My voice had become cooler.

  Both police officers looked at one another and then the blond one scribbled something down on his notepad again.

  “Just a few more questions. Do you know who went on this little hunting expedition?”

  I thought for a moment. “I don’t know all of them. The only one that I know was Thomas Maxwell.”

  “Would you know if there was anyone else who was injured?”

  I shook my head. “No, I haven’t heard anything about any of them. I see Thomas on a regular basis and he looked fine.” I noticed his eyes trailed down to my bruised arm.

  “Well, we’re concerned that maybe this animal is carrying rabies.” He paused. “That’s a nasty bru
ise on your arm, Miss Knight. How’d you get that?”

  Daniel distracted me from my answer when I saw him walk down the stairs. There was a look of surprise on his face when he saw the two police officers. Their attention drew to Daniel as he walked into the room, and sat down beside me.

  “Officers?” He nodded to them. Daniel’s focus was on the blond officer with the sunglasses.

  “And you are?” Officer Duncan asked.

  “Daniel Maxwell.”

  “Well, Mr. Maxwell, do you also live here?” His tone changed immediately.

  “For now,” Daniel answered flatly.

  “Are you planning to go somewhere?”

  “I came up here for her father’s funeral. Our families are close.”

  “I see,” he said sarcastically. Daniel’s body tensed at the tone of the officer. “So where are you from then?”

  “I have been in Edinburg, Scotland for the last five years. Is there something that we are being placed under arrest for?” Daniel’s voice showed the signs of irritation.

  “Oh no.” The officer shifted his attention from Daniel to me. “Miss Knight, the arm?”

  “I fell asleep on the sofa last night. During a bad dream, I hit my arm on the coffee table when I fell off the sofa.” The words rushed out my mouth.

  “Hmm. Well, if you don’t mind we would like to look around the property to see if there are any tracks like the ones we found around the victims.”

  “Do you have any idea what it is yet?”

  “Our animal control officers say it is a pack of wolves. However, according to the tracks they are probably the largest wolves we have encountered. I suggest that you keep your doors locked and stay inside. Do not go out into the woods. If you see anything strange, do not try to approach it. Call us immediately.” He said handing me a business card with his name and phone number on it.

  “Please help yourself. There are probably about twenty-five acres around here. I will be staying at Mr. Maxwell’s if you find anything.” I said as they stood. I followed them to the door and let them out.

  “Thank you for your time Miss Knight,” he said as they walked to the other two men standing beside the large trucks. I closed the door and turned toward Daniel who already had a grim look on his face.

  “I don’t like this. There is something else going on,” he said.

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Why were they questioning you about your father?”

  I shrugged my shoulders not seeing any relevance to the questions in general.

  “Why didn’t he just ask you at the door if they could look around the property? Why all the interrogations?”

  “Daniel, I don’t know. What are you thinking?” He shook his head as his eyebrows met in a frown. “Look, we know what this thing is.”

  “Things.” He corrected me. “The officer said there was a pack. That means we are dealing with more than one.” His face went off into a blank expression. There was no way I could tell what he was thinking. The uneasy feelings crept inside of me as I could only guess at what was going through his mind.

  “Daniel?” I tried to distract his deep thoughts. “You said that if there are werewolves, then there are Lycans, right?” His eyes traveled to mine; his brows remained drawn together. “Then where are the Lycans that are responsible for protecting us? Protecting mankind like you said the legends say they would?” For whatever ever reason Daniel’s eyes narrowed. The once glowing warm light hazel brown eyes darkened into a deep shade of blackish brown. He stepped away from me and headed up the stairs.

  Standing in the middle of the large foyer, I felt alone. It had to be something I said which caused such a look on his face, a look of hatred. A chill ran down my spine. The lovely sensuous morning turned over within a few moments to something hurtful. I had expected him to answer and not to just walk away from me the way he did. Pain shot through my heart like fireworks on the Fourth of July. The threatening tears halted when I heard his steps approaching down the stairs.

  “I need to take Mom’s car back to the house. We can leave from there.” He snapped. I nodded and walked toward the kitchen to get my purse.

  As I picked my purse, I noticed another news break. “This is Channel Three News with another News Breaking Update. Police have determined that a large pack of wolves have been the culprits in the recent animal attacks. As of last night there had been two more people found dead because of the attacks. So far, three people are reported missing within the area. Residents in the listening areas are to be cautious if seeing any animal that resembles a wolf. They are dangerous. Police have advised all residents to stay indoors at night and make sure doors are secure and garage doors closed. In other news, Gang Members. A new Gang has been recognized in the area with ….” I turned off the TV and turned only to find myself facing Daniel. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. I didn’t speak when I walked past him to the front door. With jaws firmly locked, he moved quickly behind me. I followed him out of the house to my car, where I noticed he was already waiting in Charlotte’s Lexus.

  Backing up around the police cars, I pulled my car between the animal control trucks almost hitting one of them as I headed down the driveway. My pain turned into anguish.

  There had to be some explanation for his behavior. I guess all that glitters is truly not gold. The more I thought about his reaction the more heated I became. Without realizing it, I already had the car up to eighty. I slowed down just in time to turn into his driveway.

  Pulling up in front of the house, I noticed Casey’s car was gone. I jumped out my car before Daniel had a chance to pull up behind me. Quickly I went inside.

  “Charlotte?” I called out.

  “In here, dear! We are in the kitchen,” she called out to me.

  Dropping my purse on the sofa, I walked into the kitchen to see her and Thomas sitting at a small table with coffee mugs, empty plates and the newspaper.

  “Julie.” She walked toward me with arms opened wide. I embraced her tightly. “Breakfast?”

  “What do you have?” I forced out a smile and I glanced at my watch. We had at least one hour before we had to leave to make it on time to the airport.

  “How about a little of everything? Come on sit down. I’ll fix you a plate.”

  Daniel walked through the kitchen just as I seated myself opposite Thomas. He briefly glanced up from his morning newspaper to notice Daniel enter the room. Daniel spoke briefly to his mother, but only glared at his father.

  “We need to talk,” he shot at him. Thomas folded the paper and placed it on the table. Excusing himself, he walked with Daniel out on the patio where Daniel closed the door behind him.

  Charlotte placed the plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast in front of me. The smell of the food made me realize I was hungry. One of the things I did like about the Maxwell house, on the weekends they enjoyed sleeping late.

  “Julie, what’s going on?” Her soft voice showed the concern.

  “The police came by this morning. They were asking questions about my Dad’s accident and then they wanted to look around the property for tracks. I heard on the news they believe it is a pack of wolves.” Shoving a forkful of eggs into my mouth, I chewed slowly.

  “Oh. We read something about that in the newspaper. Three people are missing. All this is a little closer to home than what I would like. Daniel said he convinced you to stay here until he comes back?”

  I nodded.

  “He is more like his father than he would like to admit. He can be extremely convincing.”

  “I noticed,” I managed to say in between bites.

  Her face softened into a smile. “So what did you two do last night in the middle of the storm?”

  “We sat in the living room and he told me stories about Lycans.”

  “Really?”

  I wondered if telling her that Daniel and I had snuggled up in front of the fireplace and had hot, wild sex would have been more appealing to he
r. The thought of that made me smile and blush nonetheless. Apparently, she must have seen my faint blush and the smile returned to her face as she glanced away when we both heard the patio door open.

  Daniel and Thomas returned to the kitchen. Charlotte looked at Thomas then at Daniel.

  “The lab is having some complications, and I expect to be back in three days. Julie will stay with you until I return.”

  “Of course, I would like nothing more.” Charlotte added sending me a friendly smile.

  “Julie, you are not to go near that house until I return. Do you understand?” The tone in his voice frightened me. The sharp and demanding tone frightened me. I nodded slowly. This was a side of Daniel I had never seen, and frankly I didn’t want to see it again.

  “Don’t worry son, we will take good care of her. You be careful and return home as soon as you can. Will Jason be returning with you?”

  “I think so. I will know more when I get there.” he paused. “Julie we need to go now.” I took one last bite of the toast and drank the remaining contents of the glass.

  My arms folded around Charlotte’s neck and then surprising myself, I even hugged Thomas. He gave me a little squeeze and somewhat of a grumble like a bear escaped him.

  Grabbing my purse, I headed to the front door where Daniel waited.

  “I’ll drive.” Daniel was still upset. I didn’t argue with him as I tossed him the keys and climbed in the passenger side.

  The silence between us tortured me. I couldn’t help wondering if it was something I had said to him to cause such anger. My thoughts ran back to the last moments of our conversation at my house.

  “This is a nice car.” Finally, the silence broke. He speaks again, I thought.

  “Thank you.” I replied.

  “Julie,” he began, “I am not mad at you. Everything about the killings, the werewolves… this is what upsets me. Not to mention how much you have been through.”

  “Daniel, I’ll be all right. I’m fine. If you are worried about the nightmares, well, I started having them long before any of this ever started.”

  “I know. That is what is making me anxious.”