In the Dark 4

I woke with a roaring headache I sat up slowly for black shapes were appearing in my vision. I looked down at a sheet that covered my body. It was tucked into a oak wood bed. Beside the bed was an oak wood night stand with a lamp perched on it. I looked up at the walls, they were an off white. The windows were covered with sheer white drapes. Pulling back the covers, I saw what I was wearing. All that covered me was underwear and a bra. I was appalled and my mouth gaped at the ideas that ran through my head that might have got me in this position. A light blue t-shirt and black sweat pants were folded on the floor next to the bed. I slid out of bed to get them, but my body heavily protested. I looked at my arms, they were covered in bruises and small punctures. My ankle was wrapped in a gauze that was full of blood. Reached down and picked up the shirt and slid it on. It was four sizes too big, but it was an improvement. I was practically swimming in the sweats so I rolled the waist up three times. I took a step forward to the window, but my ankle hurt too much. I groaned in the pain of it. I sighed and limped to the window first to see if that gave me any hint to my whereabouts. It was daylight. How long had I been out? Surely only a couple hours, or was it days? I didn't know. Another thought came to me. Whose house is this? And why was I here? Limping, I went to the doorway and peered out. The man from last night was walking towards the room. I leaned out of the doorway and put my back against the wall.

"I see you." He laughed. He came into my room with a bright smile on his face. "How are you this afternoon?" I limped away from him back to the bed, but I tripped on the small rug I had not noticed on the ground. My legs went out in front of me and my ankle screamed in protest. I yelped. His hand came and caught my arm before I could fall on my butt. "Looks like that ankle could use some more work and a different wrap, but besides that you look better. Here, come I'll get you some lunch." He held his hand out to me. I just stared at it. "Come on I know your hungry." My stomach betrayed me and gave a loud rumble. I sighed again, but took his hand reluctantly. He walked me down a hallway into a spacious living room, and through it to the kitchen. "Here sit." He motioned to a bar stool that he pulled out. I sat down and stared at him while he walked to the stove. "So, what's your name?"

"I'm, uh, Blair" I answered.

"So, Blair what would you like to eat?" He stared pleasantly at me waiting for an answer.

"I don't care." He turned back to the stove and started heating a pan. He then went to the fridge and pulled out cheese and went to the pantry for bread. "Um, Who are you?"I asked and then in a quieter voice "If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all. I 'm Aidan. Aidan Bunt." He said while taking the food to the pan on the stove. He put the cheese on the bread and grilled them in the pan. While the food was being cooked I took my time to examine him. Aidan was pretty tall; I would say six foot or somewhere near there. He had shaggy brown hair that only someone like him could pull off because on anyone else it would just look unruly. He had muscles I'll give him that much and a trim waist. The pale skin on him looked perfectly natural. Overall, he was gorgeous! Ugh that made it even worse. Waking up in a bed with few clothes on in a god's house, there must be a catch.

"Okay Aidan, what the hell am I doing here?" I inquired, as he placed the two grilled cheese sandwiches on plates.

"Well, it seems you're going to eat." I gave him a mean look. Aidan sighed before he took a bite from his sandwich. "What do you remember from two days ago?"

"Two days! Ugh!" I stared around the kitchen in disbelief.

"You were seriously injured and passed out from so much blood loss. If I hadn't helped you, you would be dead. Now what do you remember?" I sighed and tried to think of what happened and voice it. It was surprisingly difficult.

"Um, I was taking a walk and I wanted to see where the denser part of the forest lead to. I got cold and I heard footsteps and... growling I think, if that makes any sense to you." Aidan just stared at me and nodded intently following my every word. "I ran away, but they followed. One of them appeared in front of me. Then the things started grabbing at me and their hands... They had claws and fur and ugh." I shivered. " There was so much blood. Oh and I remember that thing's eyes. They were hungry and animistic. That's when you came and your..." I trailed off at the end. My face drained of color as I looked at Aidan not a foot away from me. I stood as quickly as I could and succeeded in knocking the chair over. "Oh God you're..." I couldn't finish that thought.

"What is it Blair?" I just stared at him. I was frozen and couldn't move. Aidan reached out to touch my arm and I backed away. A serious look of concern was on his face now. "Blair what's wrong?" He walked around the counter and slowly toward me.

"Stay away from me!" I yelled and ran looking for the nearest exit. In the living room I spied the door and bolted for it. Before I was even three feet away Aidan appeared magically in front of my only escape. "How did you..." Aidan then came and picked me up and walked down a hallway to the room I woke up in. I pounded my hands on his back like a child and that got me nowhere. He plopped me on the bed and locked the door. I scrambled to the headboard not wanting to get any closer to him. He sat at the other end of the bed.

"Blair calm down."

"No! You're one of them. Your eyes they were," I had to search for the right word. "weird. And how did you get to the door so fast? What are you? What's going on here?" I was boiling with questions. Deep in thought, Aidan looked past me at the wall. I had opened my mouth to yell at him some more, but Aidan held a finger to my lips. I whimpered.

"Blair..." He sighed "I won't hurt you."

"Sure, tell that to the things that almost killed me." My voice went up an octave at the word kill.

"I swear I won't hurt you ever. You have my word." He gave me that thought to ponder through. Finally he held out a hand inviting me away from the headboard I clutched as if it were my lifeline. I hesitated. Aidan looked me in the eyes so that I saw the very human color. I took his hand carefully and he gently wrapped his around mine. I crawled toward the end he was on and sat beside him. "See? Was that so hard?" he smiled. "Now tell me why you ran away."

"Your eyes. I remembered from when I was attacked that your eyes were multicolored and they kind of glowed, just like the thing that hurt me, except they were hungry." I dropped my head because of how ridiculous I sounded.

"Blair you know I would never hurt you. Those creatures are not in the least bit like me. We are a whole species apart."

"So what are you exactly?"

"I..." He inhaled and closed his eyes.

"I deserve to know, and don't lie! I saw your eyes that night and I believe what I saw." I wasn't sure about that last part despite how confident I sounded.

He hung his head in defeat. I was finally going to get some answers around here. "Blair, there is a whole other world out there that you don't know about and I'm not sure if I can explain it. It might take awhile."

"I've got lots of time"

"Uhhh. How about tomorrow at dinner. I'll explain everything then, promise."
I thought about it and finally decided it was the best offer I was going to get."OK, fine. Is five o'clock a good time?"

"Perfect. I'll pick you up from your cabin." I thought he muttered something else under his breath, but I couldn't tell.

"Kay so I guess I'll be leaving" I slowly got up from the bed, but on my first step to the door my ankle decided to give out. It must have been from all the running. Ooops. I was just about to fall on my face when Aidan turned into a blur of motion and caught me before my face could get to know the wood floor. He levered me to a standing position chuckling, but upon seeing the look I gave him tried to cover it up with a cough. "That is so not funny." This just made him laugh more. As it turns out his laughter was contagious and in the end I was laughing right along with him. We were both out of breath when we could finally control ourselves. I stared up at him a huge smile painted across my face my fear, anger, and frustration all forgotten.Nothing like laughter to break up the tension in a room. He smiled back at me and his eyes bore into mine. Suddenly it felt as if a spark ignited between us and the smile disappeared into something else: a look of hunger. My face mirrored his as I inched closer. Almost mechanically I reached my hand up to touch his face. My hand only centimeters away, and all too soon the moment was over because he perked up and listened intently on something that I couldn't hear.

"You have to go." His voice was hoarse as he brought his attention back to me.

"Well, after that near fall, I might need some help."

"Oh sorry, um, I'll help you back to your cabin. Just..." He listened again, yet I couldn't hear a thing. "Wait here for a moment please." He strolled out of the room. At that time I just realized, this was the guy that is not, well, human. I think. I mean what being could have that kind of eyes? All wrapped up in my thoughts I almost didn't notice him loping back into the room.

"Do you often walk out on a woman or am I just special?" I asked sarcastically. Aidan again muttered something under his breath, but overall just ignored me.

"Here," He took my arm and supported my weight as I limped out into the hallway."I'll take you back so you don't have to walk."

"More like trip if you ask me." We limped to the front door, and Aidan opened it for me, then came back to help me through it. Outside the sun was still shinning brightly. A black jeep waited expectantly for our arrival outside the house.

"Wow. OK so you have a jeep." It was more of a statement than anything. He walked me to the passenger side in which the door was absent from. Without a word he lifted me effortlessly up and into the seat. I started to ask just exactly how strong he really was, but thought better of it. Instead, I decided to find my seat belt when Aidan hopped into the driver's seat and started the engine. We flew out from the front of the house and onto the dirt road that connects all the cabins. His driving was reckless and I swear we almost took out a couple of trees. I held on for my life; my fingers were digging into the seat and my eyes automatically closed. I was suspended in this position and my muscles started to ache from all the wear and tear. Finally the death ride was over and the car stopped in front of my cabin. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I immediately went for the door handle and opened up the jeep door wanting to get on stable, solid ground. Before I shut it, I took one last look at Aidan. A wide grin on his face indicated he enjoyed the ride way more than I did. I still wanted to be polite although the car nearly got to know the trees better than I would have liked. "Thanks for the ride." I said as gratefully as I could. We stared at each other for a few moments, and I felt the same electricity as before, the urge to reach out and touch him. I restrained myself, but just barely. Reluctantly, I ripped my eyes from his. "I'll see you tomorrow at five. Don't be late." With that parting note, I scrambled as calm and as fast as I could into the safety of my cabin.

Once inside, I immediately went to the shower. I smelled like garbage and felt like I had blood in more places than I can count. As I stripped I did a damage assessment. Most of my body was either a puke green or black. My ankle, which I gingerly unwrapped, looked so disgusting I wanted to throw up. It was swollen like a balloon, had a lot of skin stripped from it, and the sparse skin that wasn't covered in blood was one giant bruise. How am I going to walk now? I ran the water for a bit to let it get hot. As I stepped in, I didn't care that every inch of my body was in pain. All I cared about was getting clean. Forty-five minutes and a bottle of soap later, I finally got all the day's grit off. In the bathroom cabinet I spied some first aid to clean and wrap my foot. I did the best I could, but it would take a while to heal completely.I limped out the bathroom to the warm, welcoming bed. Sleep was immediate and enveloped me in its carefree embrace.

Unfortunately, I dreamed. It was not in the least bit pleasant. I stood again in the same sea of slaughtered corpses. The night was eerily silent and on edge as if waiting for something to happen. I looked around, but nothing living was apparent. Suddenly a blurring figured raced out from the trees. I took a few careful steps forward to see what it was. It was on four legs and... I took another step closer. It was wolf as big as a Volkswagen. The wolf's coat was silver with white splotches randomly throughout its fur. It amber eyes turned to me, and at that moment I knew it wasn't a what, but a who. This extra-large wolf was my mother. Tears were streaming from my face.

"Mom." I whispered. It no she heard me and her ears perked up. "Mom!" I yelled and started to sprint toward her. For so long I thought she was lost to me, gone forever, but no she is just different and still my mother nonetheless. Despite the setting I was filled to the brim with joy. I had almost touched her fur when out if the corner of my eye something glinted in the moonlight, and just like that Mom was gone. Her head was decapitated and went flying across the carnage. Her wolf body sunk to the ground; she was no more. "No!" I cried out as my heart broke yet again. It was too much pain to bear, so I fell on the ground beside the body. I almost had her, almost touched her, but she was yet again ripped away from me. Huge wracking sobs shook me as the pain grew and swelled in my chest. Blood soaked my clothes, but I didn't give a crap. For all I cared the person who murdered my mother could take my life too.

"Blair," a voice drew me out of my rut of despair. I looked up hoping they could save me from this pain, but I got no relief. I was met by the sight of my long, lost father. I haven't seen him since I was three, but I just knew without a doubt it was him. It took a minute, but my brain finally registered what he was holding. In his hand he gripped a menacing sword drenched in blood. My mother's life was dripping off that weapon. Agony tore apart my insides, and finally I couldn't take it any more. I screamed and the world went black.