Strangers Embrace Ch. 04

Chapter 4

Day Two

(After The Dream)

I woke up gasping for air as I grabbed my throat, and then realized I had been dreaming. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a Dr. Pepper to drink as I went upstairs to my room, sat on the bed and grabbed the phone.

"Hello," I said cause I didn't hear a dial tone.

"You have something of theirs but it's not as if they want it," stated a deep voice.

"Who is this and what are you talking about?" I asked.

"You have it, get rid of it or they will hunt you and take you," the voice stated again, then the phone went dead.

I hung up the phone with a shaky hand. I looked at the clock and it read 12:37 pm. I got back up off the bed, and got dressed, then walked over to the door, straight across from the bed. I opened the door as I walked through it. I went to the left, down the hall to the head of the stairs. I looked down the stairs and thought I saw something move in the darkness.

I reached out to the lighting system and pushed the left button that turned all the lights on, on the downstairs floor. I crept down the stairs slowly as I peered around the corner and surveyed the living room beyond. There wasn't anybody there, so I walked along the wall behind me. I eased up on the kitchen door. I grabbed the door knob as I pushed it open until it was flat against the wall behind it and then looked around the kitchen. There wasn't anybody in here either so I went over to the coffee pot a little to the left. I put the filter in, then slid it back into the coffee pot. I walked over to the sink and filled the coffee pot up with water.

I went back over to the coffee machine and filled it up, then turned it on. While the coffee brewed I had a sudden urge to go look at the painting that I got at a yard sale about two months ago. I walked back into the living room, as I walked along the wall to the painting. I looked at the painting and noticed that it had five guys that stood out from the crowd, but I couldn't make out what they looked like. I felt as if someone was watching me. I spun around with my heart in my throat, but there wasn't anybody there. I shivered as I walked back to the kitchen.

I walked into the kitchen as I walked over to the coffee pot. I opened a cabinet above the coffee pot and pulled out a cup. I sat the cup down beside the coffee pot. I grabbed the sugar and put two teaspoons in the cup. I put the sugar back as I grabbed the coffee creamer. I put three teaspoons of it into my cup. I put that back while I picked up the coffee pot and filled up my coffee cup. Then I walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. I sipped my coffee slowly when I heard a knock on my door.

I got up and walked out of the kitchen into the living room. I walked across the floor past the couch to the door. I put my hand on the door as I stood on tippy toes to look out the peephole. What I saw took my breath away. I opened the door and there stood a man in a blue business suit with waist long, sandy blond hair and ash gray eyes. He stood about 5' 8" and had a sexy tan.

"Hi, is there something I can help you with?" I kindly asked.

"Yes, may I speak with........" He pulled out a file and looked at a name...... "Raven, is she home?" he asked.

"You're talking to her, now may I help you?" I questioned.

"Yes. I'm here for you to sign a contest form, Date-A-Stud, that you were entered in and won," he said at his most charming.

"Oh, come in and have a seat," I told him.

I showed him to the center of the living room where he sat in my gray chair.

"Excuse me, I need to get my coffee. Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Ice tea? Dr. Pepper?" I asked, while thinking to myself, damn he's hot.

"Sure, I'd like a Dr. Pepper," he said with a satisfied smile.

I walked into the kitchen to the fridge. I opened the fridge and grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the door. I shut the fridge door as I walked over to the table and grabbed my cup of coffee. I walked back to the living room with the coffee and drink. I walked over to him.

"Here's your drink Mr.?" I said with a confused look on my face.

"Craven, Ash Craven. You can call me Ash," he spoke smiling.

"OK Ash. Where's the papers for me to sign cause if you're my date, I can't wait for the fun I will have," I said with a flirtatious smile.

He smiled wickedly. "Maybe, but there's four other guys besides me. On of us will be picked to be your date," he stated.

"Well, what do the other guys look like?" I wanted to know.

He pulled two folders out and handed me one.

"These are some photos of Veil De'France, Drake Craven, Javen LaDark, Easton Von, and myself, Ash Craven," he answered with a sexy smile.

I took the folder then I opened it to look at the guys. I looked at all five sexy guys, but the one that was named Veil seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him. As I looked through the pictures I recognized Javen LaDark's picture.

"Hey, I know him. He came into the club the other night and wanted to go out some time." I laughed.

"So, are you going to sign the form?" He laughed.

"Oh yeah, where do I sign?" I said.

"Right there." He leaned in to show me.

I signed the papers and handed them back to him.

"So, when's the date?" I asked, as I looked at the clock which read 2:15 pm.

"Tonight, if you can make it at around 8:00 pm?" He questioned.

"Yeah, I can make it. I don't work tonight anyway," I told him.

"One of us will pick you up tonight. Oh, by the way, do you have a number I can reach you at?" he asked, smiling.

"Oh yeah it's 555-1331," I told him as I walked him to the door.

He walked out the door and left. I walked back across the living room floor to the phone. I picked up the phone, dialed Mikki's number. As the phone rang on the other end, I waited for her to pick up. She answered on the fifth ring.

"Hello," she answered.

"Hey, guess what?" I asked.

"What is it Rave?" she said bored.

"I have a date tonight," I told her.

"With who?" she questioned.

"Like you don't know. You're the one that entered me into the Date-A-Stud contest," I told her.

"What! I didn't enter you into any contest," she said,

"Then who did?" I wondered out loud.

"If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it. You have a hot date with a hot stud, ah have fun and call me with details," she said and hung up.

I put the receiver back on the hook as I looked at the clock which read 2:35 pm. I walked over to the couch and sat down. I reached under the in table to grab my book to read. I opened the book to read some, but I heard a noise above me. I froze as I listened to see if I was hearing things. Then I heard foot steps above me. I put the book down, and slowly stood up.

I very quietly, but quickly walked toward the kitchen door. I reached the door, then I turned the door knob and slowly pushed it opened. I heard the footsteps stop above me. I looked up with my heart pounding in my chest. I looked ahead of me as I eased into the kitchen. I walked over to the knives and grabbed one. I want back into the living room along the wall to the stairs. I slowly climbed the stair as I strained to hear any noise. As I reached the second floor, I still didn't hear anything up here. I walked down the hall to the bedroom I heard the foot steps in. I opened the door, but I saw that there wasn't anyone in the room. So I went back downstairs to make me another cup of coffee. As I walked toward the kitchen, I stopped just outside the door. I decided to go outside on the front porch to swing on the swing.

I sat on the swing and lit a cigarette. I was smoking and swinging when it started raining. I looked up at the sky smiling as I stood up and walked across the porch to the front door. I opened the door and walked inside just as the phone started ringing. I walked over to it and picked it up.

"Hello," I spoke.

"Hi, is this Raven?" the deep male voice questioned.

"Yes, who's speaking," I asked.

"Never mind that, has anything weird happened to you lately?" The male voice asked.

"No. Who is this?" I asked.

"Get rid of it, or it will bring them," the deep male voice said.

"Who is this?" I asked as the line went dead.

I hung up the phone, wondering who he was and what he was talking about. I noticed I had three messages on the answering machine. I hit the play button. The first was from Star asking me to call her half an hour before work. The next one was from a telemarketer about a vacation. The last one was from Ash letting me know that tonight's date was with Javen LaDark, and that he was picking me up at 7:30 tonight. I went over to the couch, sat down and turned on the T.V. There was a good vampire movie playing that lasted about two hours. After the movie went off, I noticed it was time to get ready, so I went upstairs and got dressed.

The doorbell rang as I made it downstairs. I walked to the door, then pulled it open and there stood a sexy guy, wearing black leather pants, with a heavy metal band's shirt on. He has shoulder long black hair with a green shine to it. His eyes are emerald green.

"Hi Javen, nice to see you again," I said, with a smile.

"So, how about that date?" he asked smiling.

"Sure, but aren't you a little early, oh say half an hour," I said.

"Yeah I am. I like to get started early, if that's ok," he stated.

"It's fine. Let's go," I said.

I locked my front door, then we walked to his car. We climbed in and he cranked it up. We pulled out of the driveway onto the road.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"Anywhere but where I work," I told him.

"Since where you work is out of the question, I know just where to go then," he said.

"So, where are we going?" I question.

"You will just have to wait and see," he said with a devilish grin.

An hour later we're pulling up in front of a house.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"My place," he stated, as he turned off the engine and climbed out of the car.

"Why are we here? I thought we were on a date," I asked.

"We are. Is there something wrong with a guy bringing his date to his place?" he asked.

"No, but this is our first date," I said.

"I know. I wanted to make it special," he commented.

"Ok, what now?" I asked him.

"Follow me and you will see," he said.

He walked up to the door and unlocked it as I came up behind him. He opened the door and we walked in. I walked past him as he shut the door. He walked by me so I could follow him. He lead the way to the dining room as he turned on some lights.

"Have a seat, I'll be back in a minute," he said.

I smiled as I pulled out a chair and sat down. He walked into another room as I wondered why he brought me here. He came back out carrying two plates. He sat one in front of me and sat the other plate in front of the chair beside me. He walked back into the kitchen, and came back out with two wine glasses and a bottle of wine.

He sat in the chair beside me, sat our glasses down and poured us some wine.

When we got done eating, we moved to the living room. I sat on the couch as he moved to the TV stand.

"What would you like to watch?" he questioned.

"Do you have any horror movies?" I inquired.

"Hell yeah, they're my favorite. So which one do you want to watch? I have them all," he said.

"How about The Lost Boys?" I asked.

He looked through his DVD's.

"Here it is," he said while he held it up.

He put it in the DVD player, then came over and sat down beside me. He grabbed the remote, then hit play. While the previews were playing he asked me, "So, what's your favorite horror movie?"

"Vampire movies and yours?" I asked.

"All of them," he told me.

The movie started playing so I got comfortable. He put his arm around me as he leaned into me and put his head on top of mine.

The next thing I knew he was waking me up from a deep sleep.

"The movie is over. If you want, you can sleep in my room and I'll sleep in here," he said.

"I would, but I have to get home cause my best friend is coming over in the morning," I told him.

"Ok, come on I'll take you home," he said smiling.

We walked to the car. "I'm sorry I haven't been a good date," I told him.

"You have been a great date," he said.

"So you're telling me that you enjoyed watching me sleep," I asked.

"To tell the truth yes. You looked like a angel when you sleep," he said.

"Thanks, maybe we can do this again sometime when I don't fall asleep," I told him.

"I'd love to," he said grinning.

An hour later we were pulling up in front of my house. He parked the car and walked me to the front door. He leaned in and started kissing me so I kissed him back. He ended the kiss, "Goodnight, see you again later."

"Oh that's a sure bet," I said laughing.

I walked inside and leaned against the door smiling. I walked into the living room, sat down on the couch. I picked up my book and started reading. I read two pages of the book but couldn't get into it so I went upstairs and got dressed for bed. I got in bed and fell asleep thinking about Javen.