Dawn's Shadow

"Fuck!" she cursed, throwing the pill bottle in frustration. The bottle bounced off the dash and the cap came free, spilling tiny, white, oval pills all over the car's interior. She scrabbled for one, unable to grasp it with her shaking fingers.

A gentle rap at the window sent Anna's heart racing and a scream building in her throat. "Miss, you ok?" the security guard asked. Unthinkingly, she slammed the car in reverse and gunned the engine. There was a yelp of surprise as the concerned guard leapt clear of the car before she backed over his toes. She shifted into drive and sped out of the parking garage. For all she knew the security guard was one of them too. There was only one alternative to living a lifetime filled with vampires and terror, to go back. Find Chris and the answers she so desperately needed. She ran a red light, mashing the accelerator down to the floorboard with her foot. Merging onto the interstate, she didn't think about what she was about to do or the consequences of it. She drove. She just drove and let the darkness swallow her whole.



Chapter 44

Chris crossed her arms over her chest in a posture of defiance. "I. Am. Not. Wearing. That!" She threw the box and its contents at Dane. The slinky, red velvet and white fur trimmed Mrs. Claus dress fell to the floor in a heap.

Dane held up his hands in defeat. He didn't understand what the problem was. Janine asked him to take the box to Chris and he did. How was he supposed to know what was inside? His box contained a matching Santa suit, complete with beard and all. Although, he didn't like the idea of being dressed up like Santa, he liked the idea of seeing Chris dressed like Mrs. Claus. That thigh length skirt left little to the imagination and he could imagine quite a bit. He liked the idea of being Mr. and Mrs. Period. "Janine will be disappointed," he sighed, piling it on thicker. "I'm sure there's someone who won't mind standing in. Maybe, John Mark and Robbie would do it. "

"Good," Chris huffed, glaring at the dress with enough disdain to burn holes in the red velvet. "I've put up with the trees, the lights, the non stop carols, but THAT!" she spat, pointing at the dress. "Forget it!"

"Ok, ok." Dane hugged Chris's shoulders. "Someone else can pass out presents at the Christmas party. No big deal." Her shoulders were rigid as boulders underneath his fingers. He knew she hated the holidays. But, this level of fury he hadn't expected. He could feel the anxiety and rage radiating off her.

"Vampires and Christmas, how ridiculous. Halloween, I could understand, plastic fangs and capes, sure. But, Christmas? Really?" Chris relaxed under the magic of Dane's touch.

Dane pressed a kiss to the top of her head and draped his arms over her shoulders. "Janine was going to make John Mark and Will dress as elves," he whispered in her ear. Grinning at her light chuckle, he nuzzled the nape of her neck. "I think we should keep the outfits. Try them on. Could be fun."

Chris giggled at the thought of Dane in red velvet pants and a droopy Santa hat. "Well, maybe." She pushed at the dress with the toe of her shoe. She did have that thong someone at the office had given her last Christmas as a gag gift. "I'll think about it."

Dane hugged Chris tightly to his body, enveloping her in his arms. "I already am," he growled lustily in her ear. Rubbing against her hip, he showed her exactly what he thought about seeing her in that short little skirt. "I'm going to go out and check things over one last time before I go to bed," he said, giving her rump a playful swat.

********

Toby pressed a few keys on the keyboard, bringing the surveillance camera into sharper focus. Thanks to the miles of cable he'd spent all day running, they'd know if anyone came knocking. Feeling a presence at his back, he looked up, seeing Dane sulking in the doorway. "Your gift is in Minnesota. According to the tracking labels it should be here within a couple of days."

"I'm not going to give it to her just yet." Dane took a seat, rolling across the uneven floor, up to the desk, staring out blankly at the monitor. "She hates Christmas."

Toby scoffed, this man was clueless when it came to women. They all said they didn't want presents. But, in actuality, let a guy forget a birthday, an anniversary, or a holiday as important as Christmas, and his ass would be in a sling. "She'll love her present. She'll forgive you. Trust me. I know women."

He shifted over to another keyboard and began typing furiously. "Ok, we're set. Online and doin' fine. I gotta go. I'm working the late night shift tonight." He grabbed his navy blue jacket off the back of the chair, running his hand over the wrinkles in his uniform. Grinning, he slipped it over his shoulders. "Seeing a gorgeous looking man like me first thing in the morning puts all the ladies in a good mood. I make their day."

And that was how he knew so much about women. He listened. Usually, it was a harried mother who ran out to pick up a gallon of milk for breakfast in the morning. Or a woman, a little down on her luck with the opposite sex, would stop by just to have someone to wile away the darkest, loneliest hours of the night with. Sometimes the females didn't have any particular reason at all. They'd simply pop in, grab a bag of chips and a coke, or if their tastes were really refined, a coffee and a honey bun and tell him their whole life story. He was an excellent listener. All the brothers had a gift. And his was listening. Most of the time, he knew exactly what to say, which was nothing at all. "I love that job."

Toby left Dane staring at the maze of wires, keyboards, and monitors. He popped his head back in through the entryway. "Oh, by the way. Please, don't touch anything." He laughed at Dane's grumble in response. The man couldn't program a cell phone. The last thing Toby needed was Dane mucking up the surveillance cameras.

Chapter 45

Anna exited the interstate; according to the display on her dashboard it was three in the morning. She didn't really care about waking Chris up. Her assumption was that vampires were creatures of the night and therefore, Chris would be awake. She navigated the darkened, deserted streets, pulling over along the side of the road to gather her bearings. She had pushed the memory of her last meeting with Chris out of her head and couldn't remember where the house was. That's how badly her mind was slipping. She always remembered everything. But, something this important, she couldn't recall. She made a U turn in the middle of the street and headed for the gas station, unsure of where else to go.

Regrettably, she had tossed her cell phone out the window on the drive. So many people had called with questions about her outburst at the party. Called in "concern" to check on her. She'd gotten tired of hearing her phone ring and tossed it out the window. A move so unlike her, just like driving out here in the middle of the night, she had to wonder how much of her sanity was left before the men in white coats came to haul her away. She had acquaintances at the office, but no real friends. She couldn't trust anyone with the secret she carried bottled up inside of her. And her only real friend, her best friend, assuming Chris still was her friend, already knew about vampires. Intimately.

She pulled into the station and shut off the engine. Pale yellow light lit the oil stained pavement beneath her feet as she walked inside. A dark haired, tan skinned man lounged behind the counter smiling and looked up at her. "What can I do ya for?" he asked in a casual Midwestern drawl.

She remembered the man from her last visit. Squinting through tired eyes she read his nametag. Adding his name to the list of things she'd forgotten. If Toby really were his name and it wasn't Vlad instead. She kept a distance from the counter, stuffing her hands deep into her coat pockets. She immediately sensed what he was and refused to give in to her horror. "I'm looking for Chris."

"Chris?" Toby raised his eyebrows in mock innocence. Of course, he remembered Anna. How could he forget the willowy, statuesque blonde? She looked a lot worse now than the last time he had seen her. Exhaustion ringed her eyes. Her usually flawless makeup was smeared and added to the darkness under her eyes. Strands of her blonde hair poked out at haphazard angles from the tight chignon gathered at the base of her skull.

She wore a black velvet party dress beneath her coat that would have graced her dangerous curves and given her an air of wicked seduction, if it hadn't been wrinkled to oblivion and askew on her too thin frame. Her cheeks were hollowed from skipping too many meals and her skin had a sallow unhealthy cast to it. Wobbling on a pair three-inch stiletto pumps, her body could barely keep itself upright.

Casually, as if he didn't see a thing wrong, he walked around the counter. "Why don't you have a seat?" He reached out to steer her toward the booths in the snack bar only to see her jerk away, her eyes wide and filled with terror. Ok, so she didn't want to be touched. He could respect that. So instead, he used his presence and the fear he saw in her expression to corral her into a seat. "I've just put on some coffee."

Anna stepped back, ready to run for it. Mentally, she scoffed at herself. Run to where? Vampires were everywhere. The look of recognition in his dark eyes stirred her wariness. He knew where Chris was. He knew a lot of things that he wasn't telling. She swallowed hard, holding back a wave of hysterics as she walked to the snack bar and sat, restraining the urge to flop into an exhausted heap, on the edge of a bright yellow plastic booth seat. "Chris." She demanded.

"Ah, yeah, I'll call her to come get you." Toby watched Anna out of the corner of his eye. Her expression was one of terror. She'd seen something that had scared the shit out of her. Scared her badly enough to have her pulling into town at three in the morning. Her eyes had a haunted look in them. He'd give his right fang to know what had put the fear of God into her heart. But, he already had a good guess. She'd had a run in with one of his kind. Not, his kind exactly, but with a vampire. And if his guess was right, she was lucky to be sitting here now. He poured her a tall cup of French roast. Other than the chance to bend his ear and flirt shamefully, the dark, aromatic blend was what kept his most loyal customers coming back. "What do you take in your coffee?"

"No coffee. I just need to talk to Chris." Fatigue set in as soon as she sat down on the hard plastic bench. As tired as she was, she never let her eyes wander off Toby. Her dreams were filled with nightmares and she didn't sleep long enough at a time or hard enough to take the chance on dreaming. The party, the mysterious stranger, and the drive out here sure as hell hadn't helped much either.

"Ok." He poured a generous dollop of cream in the cup and added a handful of sugar packets to the mix for good measure. Her body was running on empty. And she needed something to keep her going besides caffeine and the worst case of nerves he'd ever seen. He put the cup on the table and pushed it closer, within her reach. He pulled out his cell phone and pressed speed dial. A sleepy Dane answered.

"Dane you've got company down here at the station. You'd better bring Patrick." There was a pause as Dane asked questions. "Anna is here looking for Chris.... Ok, I'll tell her." He sensed the Anna's apprehension at the mention of her name. Sometimes, he wished he had Patrick's gift. This woman looked like she could use forty winks, maybe eighty. "They're on their way," he said to Anna, snapping the phone shut.

Almost against her will, Anna reached for the coffee. She felt the warmth of the coffee seeping through the paper cup. Soothing her chilled, trembling fingers. She gasped crunching against the back of her seat as Toby slid into the bench across from her. "Keep away from me. I know what you are," she hissed in warning.

Toby smiled and sighed. This poor woman was on the verge of a complete melt down. She could barely hold the cup to her lips for how badly she was trembling. He'd make no apologies for what he was. But, he would apologize on behalf of his kind, for the one who had scared her half to death. He inhaled trying to catch the scent of rogue on her clothes. He could smell nothing except for the acrid scent of her fear. Jokingly he asked, "How's the coffee?"

Anna glared at Toby. What? They were going to sit here staring at one another debating on if he made a decent up of coffee or not? "Too sweet," she huffed, pushing the cup to the edge of the table. Rejecting the olive branch he offered her in a simple cup of coffee. "Just keep away from me, please. Don't try to talk to me. I have nothing to say to anyone except for Chris."

Well, well, well, hadn't miss high and mighty put him in his place? He took the barely touched cup and dumped the contents down the drain. At least her venom was better, albeit bitter as the wasted coffee, than her hysterics. Toby held up his hands in resignation and leaned against the counter of the snack bar, trying to look as innocuous and harmless as possible. "No problem." He'd love the chance to changer her opinion about him and vampires in general. But, she was not his problem. And her fears, although not completely unfounded, were unwarranted, at least around here. He stood in silence and watched her watching him.

Dane pulled into the gas station, bringing the SUV to a screeching halt. Chris leapt out, leaving the passenger side door swinging wide as she bolted inside. "Anna, are you all right? What are you doing here?" She shouted, trotting down the chip aisle to the back of the store. Exhaling a shocked breath, she stopped mid stride and surveyed her friend's disheveled state. "Oh Anna," she gasped. Wanting only to comfort her best friend, she slid into the booth beside her.

Anna let loose a blood curdling scream. At first, her exhaustion, the numbness and the shock, left her accepting the comfort of Chris's hug. Until she remembered what her best friend was and that Chris was a vampire. She wiggled her way free of Chris's embrace and gripped the edge of the table. She was trapped. Chris sat beside her. Dane towered over her from behind. And Toby, hovered in front of her. Vampires! They had her surrounded! What was she thinking coming here in the middle of the night to ask for Chris's help? She was a dead woman. Dead!

Dane gripped Chris's arm, pulling her back and jerking her free from the booth. Anna was frantic, terrified out of her wits, and screaming shrilly in a fit of hysterics. The woman was beyond the point of reasoning with. He wished like hell she'd stayed away and left Chris alone. He nodded to Patrick.

"Sleep," Patrick ordered. Anna blinked up at him in a daze. Her scream suddenly silenced and her eyes fought the urge to slide shut. Each time he forged a connection with someone's mind it usually became easier to control the person. She should be sleeping like a baby right now. What was it with stubborn women? Janine, Alex, Chris all of them stubborn as the day was long. "Put your head down and go to sleep," he said with a bit more force, shooting every ounce of his will through the frayed synapses of the woman's exhausted mind.

Anna tried to fight it. She battled to keep her eyes wide open and her head off the table. But, she was so tired. So sleepy. A little nap would do her a world of good and what was the harm? Chris was here. Everything would be ok. Her eyes felt heavy and her head even heavier. She folded her arms on the lemon yellow tabletop and rested her head on the sleeves of her coat. It was just for a few minutes. No harm in that. To just let her eyes close and sleep. The last thing she saw before her lids finally fell shut was the worried expression on Chris's face.

Toby slid Anna out of the booth. Carefully, he cradled her head as he carried her to the waiting SUV and lowered her gently into the back seat. He tossed Patrick her keys and her purse. And told Dane of his suspicions that Anna had come across a rogue's path.

Toby went back to work, cleaning the counter tops and straightening the chip display. His job might not seem like much. But, he enjoyed the company he sometimes got.

Idly, he plucked free a strand of Anna's hair that had gotten caught in a small nick in the back of her chair. He twirled the blonde strand in between his thumb and index finger. It could have been a stray she ran into. Vampires that stayed the outer fringes of the battle between the Sons and the Rogues rather than choosing a side were well known to hide in the city. She could have bumped into one of them. Either way, she was lucky to be alive to hate him as much as she did. He brushed the strand free from his fingers and pushed his thoughts of her to the side. The morning rush would start anytime and he had so many women to make happy. Too many to worry about just one unhappy woman that he could probably never please.

Chris slid into the back seat and Anna's head in her lap. Shakily, she stroked the smudges of smeared mascara on Anna's face. "We'll make it right. I'm so sorry Anna, so sorry."



Chapter 46

The Shaman leaned over Anna, analyzing her condition as she slept. "Physically, she's exhausted." He nipped the tip of her finger with the point of his fang and spat into a towel after tasting her blood. "Bah, modern doctors and their pills." Chemicals tainted the woman's blood. He looked up into Chris's concerned face and sighed. He'd prescribe some of his famous tea. Fix the poor thing right up. Put a spring in her step and something besides poison in her veins. "Give her mind and body time to rest and heal."

Chris pulled the covers up tucking them tightly around Anna's sagged shoulders. Thankfully, the Shaman had better tastes than Dane and had furnished his rough quarters in plush rugs, actual furniture, silks, and fine linens. The set up was a little frou-frou. But, at least Anna wouldn't wake up in pitch-blackness and dismal surroundings. If they ever made it hospitable, Anna would like this place. She'd be intrigued by the winding maze of tunnels. She'd feel the air of mystery that shrouded every unexplored nook and cranny. And, she would like the brothers, if she gave them half a chance.

Dane tried to guide Chris away from Anna's bedside. He knew she wouldn't budge and it was pointless to try. He felt that if Anna wanted the truth, she should have all of it. How they lived. All of it. When she'd awakened at Robbie's house, he'd been trying to spare her feelings and ease her fears. If she wanted to know, she was going to know, everything. He lowered himself onto the overstuffed loveseat Doc had been carting around with him since the nineteen twenties, and patted the empty spot beside to him. "Come over here. She will sleep for hours."

Chris sighed and climbed onto the loveseat, resting her head on Dane's shoulder. "I did this to her. This is all my fault."

Dane ran his fingers through Chris's hair. Trying to ease her troubled mind. "No, you introduced her into a new reality. Her mind simply hasn't accepted it or you, yet. She doesn't understand. But, she will. Give her time."

"Dane, do we have any food here for her?" Chris asked. Oddly, she wasn't hungry. Anna's scent didn't bother her at all. She was a little proud of that fact as strange as it sounded. She didn't want to eat her best friend. That was progress. If she could overcome her bloodlust, maybe Anna could over come her prejudice and they could be best friends again.

Dane grinned; Toby was more than willing to do some grocery shopping. He'd practically fallen over his feet at the chance to meander through the store. He had a theory about grocery stores. Swore it was a great place to pick up women. "Toby's on it."