The night was warm and she had laid down wearing little more than a thin shift. The soft sounds of crickets came in through the screen covered window. She tossed and turned restlessly, unable to settle down. Her mind still tumbled with the events of the day.
Finally, with a sigh of exasperation she crawled out of bed and padded to the kitchen for a cold glass of water. The moon was almost full and the light was strong enough to illuminate the rooms as she moved along. The clinking sound of ice cubes dropping into a glass broke the silence, then the hiss of water from the faucet.
She fluttered the gossamer fabric while sipping from the glass, trying to cool her heated body. A sudden soft breeze felt so refreshing she decided to walk out onto the screen covered porch. She leaned on the wall, watching the fireflies dance across the dew covered grass.
When she lifted the glass to sip the water, the soft tinkle of the ice added to the night music she heard faintly through the screens. Suddenly she thought she heard the whisper of a sound behind her. When she turned only the wall could be seen in the dim light.
She shook her head and drank again from the almost empty glass. As she swallowed, there was the brush of a soft touch on her arm. She moved away from it, startled. But again, there was nothing there. A strong spooked feeling washed over her and she turned to walk back inside the kitchen. Suddenly she bumped full force into a hard broad chest that had not been there before. A startled scream tumbled from her lips.
She quickly looked up into glittering black eyes and the most sinister smile she had ever seen. The dark light that emanated from his eyes seemed to probe the depths of her mind. She felt him speak to her, call to her. The glass fell from her hand to shatter against the floor. He reached out and gently drew his fingers down her cheek. A sudden chill ran down her spine at the coldness of this touch.
"Your beauty has been calling to me." he said.
She gasped to realize he had spoken the words out loud. His voice was like velvet, deep and vibrated down into the pit of her stomach. She felt frozen in place, helplessly prevented from moving away from him.
"I have watched you for many nights now." he seemed to purr, "I stand over you each night as you sleep. Do you feel me?"
She shuddered and knew that her restless nights were because of his presence.
"Why?" she whispered.
He laid his hands on her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace. She wanted to struggle ... to pull away but couldn't seem to find the strength of will to do so.
"The time has come," he said "to make you mine."
She slowly shook her head in silent denial. But no matter how much she wanted to pull away, she couldn't. His overwhelming power was more than just his touch on her arms. It was in the control he exuded over her mind as well. She tried to tell him ... no. She struggled with herself to find the strength to resist him. Relentlessly he drew her to him and finally she simply closed her eyes to the sight of his mouth closing against her throat.
The whisper of his words in her mind. The promise of an eternity at his side. The first sharp sting as his fang-tips pierced her skin. The gasping cry of pain that softened into a low moan of arousal. In a blinding moment she knew, she understood it all clearly.
This was the ending of her lifetime of loneliness. This was her destiny. A coldness began to steal over her. She could feel his arms tighten as she lay limply in his grasp. The light-headedness grew stronger as his tongue cleaned away the smears of blood on her skin.
He gathered her against his chest and carried her back into her bedroom. Her breathing felt labored as she looked up at him. He laid her down onto the bed and pulled the sheet up over her trembling body. He leaned down and kissed her gently.
"I will return." he whispered against her lips.
Her eyes slowly closed as she fell into exhausted slumber.
When she awoke to the blaring of the radio the next morning, she wondered about the odd dream of the night before. Why had she dreamed about a mythical creature like a vampire? Obviously she was either working too hard or she needed to stop eating her evening meal so close to bedtime. She tossed back the sheet and slid her feet into slippers to walk to the kitchen and make coffee.
While the pot was dripping, she walked out onto the porch to water her violets. The crunch of glass under the soles of her shoes brought her to an abrupt halt. She held her breath before looking down at the broken glass. She lifted a hand to feel the tender skin of her throat and screamed loudly. It had not been a dream. Someone, or something had been in her house last night.
Her day passed much as any other, but several times she stopped and lightly touched the tender skin covering the wound on her throat. Everyone knew that vampires were only a myth and that Hollywood had made millions by splashing the blood drinking monsters all across the screen. There was no way one could have been on her patio last night. Surely she had been sleepwalking or something when the glass was broken. They simply did not exist, they couldn't.
By the time she left the office for the long drive home that evening, she had convinced herself it was all just a combination of overwork and an overactive imagination. She stopped at the market and picked up a few things. One of which was a bottle of sleeping aides. She was determined to have a restful nights sleep. After she ate a light supper, she made a cup of herbal tea.
"Perhaps something light before bedtime will help too" she thought.
Choosing a comedy that always made her laugh, she popped it into the DVD player and settled down to relax. She flipped off the TV as the credits began to roll past on the screen. Stretching as she stood, she glanced at the clock and shook her head after reading 12:30am. Morning came early for her since the time had changed to Daylight Savings.
She turned and picked up the empty glass that had held the lemonade she sipped during the movie. She softly hummed the movie score as she walked into the kitchen and set the glass in the dishwasher. Suddenly something caught her eye and she looked up into the dark stare of the man from her dream of the night before. A startled scream was ripped from her throat.
