Dawn's Shadow

A small squeak escaped Anna's pursed lips. "You." She recalled the man from yesterday. He did something...something to her. He'd pulled her back as a bigger man grappled with Chris. He'd whispered something to her and everything had gone dark. He didn't look old enough to buy a case of beer. But, she sensed he was far older than he looked. There was an air of wisdom and experience about him, a knowing glint in his eyes that she associated with her grandparents.

He seemed harmless on the exterior. Shaggy blondish-brown hair hung over his eyes. He was dressed casually in jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt. His smile was youthful, teasing, and taunting, as if he lived for tormenting the shit out of people. He was the kid in elementary school that gave wet willies, delved out wedgies, and picked on the other kids, just because he could. Not a bully, but he liked to have fun at the expense of others. Automatically, she disliked him. Not because of him...but, because he wasn't...human, at least by her definition of the word. There was something different...something off...about him. It was the same sense she had the last time she'd seen Chris. Something wasn't quite right. Prepared to run for her life, she jumped up out of her chair.

Janine slid around Patrick's defensive stance. Sometimes he could be such a barbarian. "Stop it," she hissed. "You're scaring the poor woman half to death." She nudged him out of the way and held out her hand to Anna. "Hi. I know you're frightened and confused. But, it's not what you think. By the way, I'm Janine." Anna scowled and didn't offer her hand in return. Ok. Undaunted by Anna's cold glare, she took the empty seat to her right and motioned for Anna to sit.

"Anna." Her eyes warily bounced from the man, the sheriff, and Janine. Anna's instincts told her that she could trust this woman who smiled up at her innocuously. Her short unruly blonde hair was tussled in fat curls, framing large innocent blue eyes and cherubic face. This woman, Janine, there was nothing off about her. She was like Mack, like her. Human. Anna didn't fully understand how she knew the difference. But, she did. On some sort of an instinctive level, she knew the man was the odd duck here. "Will you please, will someone please tell me what's going on?" she asked shakily, sitting down before the guy who glowered from across the kitchen at her forced her to sit.

Janine smiled at Mack reassuringly. "We've got it. I'm sure someone is committing a traffic violation, or there's a cat up a tree in need of rescue, somewhere," she said waving him off with a flick of her fingers. Automatically, she liked Anna and hoped they could be friends.

Although her hair was a wreck, she could tell Anna invested her hard earned money in an excellent stylist and expensive products. Janine could smell a fellow shopper, a lover of designer labels and frivolous purchases, a mile away. Anna was a kindred soul in her love of rampant consumerism. And Janine needed a new shopping buddy since Alex couldn't exactly accompany her without wanting to eat the sales clerk. "Everything is ok. Chris will be along soon. And she'll explain."

Patrick took a seat at the table, nonchalantly crossing his arms as he waited for Dane to arrive. The room was silent, dead silent the three of them exchanged uncomfortable glances. Janine, sensing Anna was a shopper, wanted to talk fashion. He could see the dreamy glint in her eye. Anna wanted answers. Her eyes were narrowed and her expression cautious. And he just wanted Dane to show up and handle this mess. He was tempted, very tempted to whisper the suggestion to Anna that she take a nap.

Anna knew there was something different about him. He could see it in her expression as she sifted through the facts and tried to make sense of them. She hadn't quite figured it out, yet. But, she would. And when she did, she'd be a danger to them all. Unless... unless she had a reason not to be. Her friendship with Chris might be enough to keep her lips zipped. But, he wanted a backup plan, a backup reason, just in case. He hid the sly grin tugging at the corners of his mouth and started scheming.

Chris tugged against Dane's hand. He all but dragged her up the porch steps to a quaint bungalow in a quiet, clean neighborhood. "I feel better. But, are you sure?" She didn't feel the burning hunger that was almost always with her. But, what if something happened and she lost control?

"Patrick is here, just in case. Janine is with him. She probably got Anna eating out of her hand by now. She's like that. The woman has never known a stranger. You'll do fine." Dane reassured Chris and shoved her past the wards surrounding the house. Her felt her shiver from the energy and felt the bite of it himself. They weren't here to do harm. So the ward, while unpleasant, didn't hold them back. "You'll find a way to make this work." He hoped.

Chris didn't agree with Dane's optimism. He didn't know Anna like she did. The woman could be stubborn as a mule when she wanted to. But, Chris had to do this, for Anna's sake and the sake of their friendship. Nervously, she followed him through the front room. She stayed close to him as the scent of humans invaded her sensitive nose. She could smell Anna and Janine. Detect the traces of Robbie's human scent left behind on the stale air. She stopped short of the kitchen, squeezing Dane's hand and gathered her resolve.

"Well," Patrick exhaled. He took offense to Anna's accusing glare and her distrust of Janine. He was more than ready to be gone and to take Janine with him. "That's our cue." He stood and offered a hand to Janine. "We'll be in the next room. Don't try anything stupid," he said, glowering at Anna.

Janine tried a subtler approach. "We'll give you guys some privacy." She was really going to have to work on Patrick's people skills. So far, he and Anna weren't off to a good start. The last thing she needed was her future human best friend and her future lover fighting. Alex would always be her best friend. But, she wanted a friend, who could do human things like eat, and drink, and shop, and who wouldn't try to drain her dry if the mood suited her.

And eventually, she was going to win the never-ending battle of the bedroom with Patrick. She wanted them to get along. Maybe, even like each other, just a little. She wiggled past Chris and Dane and settled on the couch with Patrick, flicking on the TV and flipping through the channels. She turned volume up as high as she could tolerate to keep Patrick from eavesdropping on the conversation.

Chapter 36

Anna's eyes grew wide with disbelief as Chris entered the kitchen with Dane in tow. The tiny, cheerful, sun drenched kitchen suddenly seemed a lot smaller and foreboding in his presence. The other night in the dim light of the parking lot lights she hadn't really gotten a good look at him. He was big, wide in the shoulders and the chest and narrow in the waist and the hips. Anna was no shrimp. But he towered over her and made her feel small and demure, almost meek. Standing beside Chris at her puny five foot-three, he dwarfed her.

Not only was he tall and well muscled. He was big in his persona. He didn't use his size to intimidate. He didn't need to. One look at him had her blood freezing in her veins. His black hair was cropped closely to the scalp in a neat military style crew cut. His equally dark eyes surveyed the world around him with such intensity that his gaze alone was enough to have Anna shrinking back into her chair.

His mouth was drawn into a hard, thin line devoid of expression. This was a man who said nothing he didn't mean and wasted no time on words or small talk. He was no tow truck driver. A mercenary, Anna might have believed, but a good old boy redneck tow truck driver, not a chance. She wasn't that stupid. And Chris, her poor, innocent, trusting best friend, was head over heels in love with him.

Anna saw the signs. In the way she looked up and batted her eyes at him as if he wore a halo instead of a ball cap. And how she reverently sighed from just the slightest brush of his fingers in a possessive stroke across the small of her back as he guided her across the kitchen and pulled out a chair, motioning for her to take Janine's empty seat. Chris claimed that they were in love, if that were the case, why did Anna have the sinking suspicion that her best friend had secrets, big secrets, she hadn't bothered to confide? And those secrets more than any man were the reason behind why she'd suddenly disappeared from her old life.

"How's the ex?" Anna asked. She hated to go right for the jugular. But, it worked. Her brows rose as Chris visibly winced and uncomfortably shifted on her chair. Relentlessly, Anna continued, hoping to rattle her best friend enough to get the truth out of her. One way or another, she would get to the truth. Chris was different, as different as these people she surrounded herself with. Anna could see it. The subtle differences between the Chris she'd argued with in the diner that morning and the one sitting beside her now. Not to mention the fact that her head still ached and the bruises around her throat, no subtleties there. Chris had changed. "After all, I haven't seen him around anywhere. He is the reason you came here in the first place."

Dane stood behind her. Gently, he pressed his hand on her shoulder. An affectionate gesture meant to center her and give her the courage to answer Anna's questions. Anna didn't really give a damn about her ex. She wanted the truth. And she'd pulled out all the stops to get it. Chris couldn't tell her what had happened. Her feelings on the subject were still unclear and she hadn't taken the time to delve into them. He was dead. Justice served without the benefit of a judge and jury. It was simple. An exchange, one life traded for another. He'd taken hers and because of it, Dane had taken his. Someday as soon as she figured out how she felt about it. She'd tell Anna. Everything. "I'm sorry Anna. I'm so sorry I hurt you."

Anna crossed her arms over her chest. Not convinced by the gentle pleading she heard in Chris's voice. Chris wasn't an evasive person. Yet, she avoided answering the question. She avoided meeting her eyes. And when Anna reached across the table to squeeze her fingers, she jerked her hand away. "Just tell me the truth. Please. No matter what it is. Please tell me. We're best friends, Chris. Tell me. What have these people done to you?" Instinctively, she knew Chris was in trouble and somehow this lowly tow truck driver was involved. Was it drugs? Sex? Money?

Chris drew a deep breath and lifted her eyes, searching Anna's hardened expression for the slightest hint of compassion and understanding. If she hadn't seen the glint of worry in Anna's arctic stare, she would have gotten up from the table and walked away from her best friend, for good. But, there it was beneath the icy exterior Anna showed the world. Worry. Concern. And compassion. Anna wanted to understand what she was going through. But, there were no words to explain it. Not without sounding completely bat shit insane. It was time to drop her mask and let Anna have the answers she deserved. "Anna, see me. See what I really am."

Anna pushed her chair back and scrabbled to her feet. Pinning her back to the far wall, she stared face to face at the horror she knew, but didn't want to believe was real. Chris was Chris. Yet, she wasn't. Her friend's ordinary blue eyes glinted with secret knowledge and an incomprehensible hunger. Chris pulled her upper lip back with her index finger and revealed twin, pinpoint, needle sharp fangs. "What..?" she gasped in terror, "what have they done to you?"

"They didn't do anything to me, Anna. Listen, I'm trying to explain. I'm still your friend. Nothing has changed between us. Nothing will ever change between us, unless you want it to." Chris kept her voice steady and low. She reached across the table, extending her hand palm up. Anna's hand hovered over hers, almost but not quite bridging the distance between them. Slowly, her trembling, outstretched fingers curled into a fist and she withdrew her hand.

"What are you trying to say, Chris? Exactly, what are you?" Anna shuddered denying the need to reach out and grasp Chris's fingers. To touch her just to make sure the real Chris was still in there somewhere. She glared at Dane, thrusting a finger in his chest. "You did this to her."

"Anna, no he didn't, he's trying to help me... adjust." Chris withdrew her hand, hiding her disappointment in the front pocket of her jeans along with her hand. What if the roles were reversed and it was Anna with fangs and pale skin? How would she react?

"Adjust to what? I don't even know what you are? I don't know who you are anymore." She slammed her clenched fist against the table in frustration. These things...she refused to call them people. People went along with the definition of human in her book and what these things were was anything but human. Maybe, if she got Chris out of here. Away from their clutches. The old Chris would come back. "Come home, Chris and we'll figure this out together. I'll help you. Chris, I have plenty of money. I know people. Doctors. Whatever you need. "

Dane placed his hand over Anna's. Stilling her with a firm hold on her willowy, twig like wrist. The bones were so fragile beneath his fingers, thin and willowy, frail enough to break. "Stop. You're upsetting her."

Anna gaped in disbelief. "I'm upsetting her?" She glared at Dane and then at Chris. What was this guy? Her watchdog? "No, I wouldn't want to upset her now would I?" Anna pushed her anger out at Chris. "You're the one who took off and drove to this godforsaken hell hole. And you've gotten yourself into who knows what. I'm upsetting you? Ha!" She jerked her wrist free from Dane's hold and resisted the urge to rub the bruised skin.

Patrick got up from the couch, ready to spring into action as he sensed the worsening emotional climate in the kitchen. If they'd just let him put her out, she'd wake up in her own apartment a safe distance from Chris. He knew it wouldn't work. The woman would just come back. She was thick like that. Brave, but very stubborn.

Chris trembled from the force of Anna's wrath, fully unleashed and directed solely at her. She felt her control begin to slip. She lowered her eyes to the checkered red and white gingham tablecloth and refused to meet the anger in Anna's glare. "I made a mistake. And believe me I'm paying for it in ways you couldn't possibly understand. I know that. You have to try to understand. I wish I knew a way to make you listen." Chris pleaded. "I can't change what has happened. I can't change what I am."

"And what is that?" Anna blinked at the tears threatening to spill over her lashes. She was losing her best friend. The both of them knew it. Chris wasn't coming back. And Anna couldn't accept what Chris so desperately wanted her to understand. She couldn't. She wanted the truth. But, she'd expected something simple, something explainable. Something she could believe. She wished she'd never asked for the truth. The truth hurt, cut deep and visceral. And she didn't want to hear it.

"A vampire," Chris answered. "Yesterday, I lost control. Dane and Patrick saved you. You'll never understand how it broke my heart when I came to my senses. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"A vampire? You're kidding right? That's impossible. Why not say you're the frigging tooth fairy or something like that?" Anna scoffed. She waved her hand including Patrick and Janine in the gesture. "You all need a therapist. They've made you think you're a vampire. You're not. Vampires aren't real. They aren't real." Her voice lifted several octaves becoming shrill, almost screeching. "A vampire?"

Finally exhausted from witnessing the emotional battle between the two women, Dane spoke up. "It doesn't matter if you believe her or not. The truth is what it is. You've seen it for yourself. Do you doubt what your eyes have seen?"

Anna sat in the chair and shifted uncomfortably in her seat under the heat of Dane's stare. The simple way in which he spoke the facts left no room for argument. "I suppose now that I know, if I believed you, which I don't, I have no choice. You'll have to kill me or make me one of you too." She pulled the sleeve of her sweater up extending her wrist to Chris. "Go ahead. Make me a believer."

Chris sucked in a breath and backed her chair into the hardness of Dane's thighs. "Don't Anna. You really don't want me to do that." Her eyes focused on the pulsing artery under the fragile skin. It was so tempting. The blood. Putting Anna in her place. "Don't."

Dane shook his head. The stupid woman didn't have a clue as to the strain, the torture she was putting her best friend through. "No one will harm you. What you choose to do with the truth is up to you. Besides, as you said yourself, you don't believe us and no one will believe you either. We are the creatures of myth and legend. But, do not doubt our existence. We are real, very real." He smiled and did his best to appear harmless. "As for the tooth fairy? Well, I'm not a big believer."

Chris rolled her eyes at him. Dane's weak attempt at a joke helped her to regain her fragile restraint. But, did nothing to rebuild her broken friendship with Anna. "It isn't like that, not for us. Please, Anna try to understand. We don't hurt people."

Anna ignored the pleading look in Chris's eyes and squared her shoulders. What? Vegetarian vampires? She didn't think so. Not that vampires were real to begin with. They weren't. Chris was on drugs. That was the reason for her incredible strength yesterday. As for her eyes, contact lenses could change a person's eye color. And her skin had always been pale. Perhaps the lighting made her look paler than usual. They sold fangs for Halloween on Amazon. Totally explainable. "There's nothing to understand. You've gone off the deep end. Chris, you need help." She spoke through tightly clenched teeth, looking down at her friend with pity.

"I'd like to go now," Anna said. She stood up from the chair her eyes hard, daring anyone to try to stop her. "I have a life to get back to. A real life. If you'd ever like to return to reality, give me a call. Otherwise don't bother." She stormed out of the kitchen and left Chris, sobbing gently behind her.

Dane sighed in resignation. Anna was a hard and stubborn woman. She loved her truth and now that she had it, all of it, she didn't know how to handle it. Instead of trying to understand, she'd retreated. Ran instead of facing her fears. He gently lifted Chris out of the chair and guided her into his chest. "I'm so sorry, baby. Just let her go." He could console her with meaningless words and half-hearted consolation.

Anna's place in Chris's heart was irreplaceable. She was her best friend. And Chris had to watch her walk away. Now he was even gladder than ever that he'd killed the son of a bitch who had done this to her. The bastard had taken everything she'd ever valued and left her with nothing. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry."

Patrick held the front door wide, allowing Anna to pass. "After you." The very air around her vibrated with the force of her fury. He fought the urge to shake some sense into the woman. As soon as Janine passed through the door he shut it firmly behind him leaving Dane to console Chris. Shutting out the soulful sounds of her sobs.

Anna didn't say a word on the way to the hotel. She kept her hands folded tightly in her lap not hazarding as much as a stray touch from either one of the two seated on either side of her. Her mind reeled. Her best friend was gone, sucked into some sort of a blood- drinking cult. She still was in vehement denial of what she had witnessed. It couldn't be true. If this was what her ex-best friend wanted for her life, so be it. As for her, she was out of here.