The Reckoning

He peered down at me and I gasped. He had abnormally blue eyes...just like Sebastian's; but, he definitely wasn't Sebastian. This man's hair was light brown and long, unlike Sebastian's short-ish and dark locks. This man's face was rounder and rather boyish for a man of his stature.

I knew what he was.

Another Shifter.

I took a step backward.

"I am not here to hurt you. I just came with a delivery." He handed me two roses: one black and one white.

Despite my qualms, I smiled. "Innocence lost."

"You're as bright as he says," the man smiled back. "There's also this." He produced a note from his back pocket and handed it to me. "I hope the Reckoning goes...favorably. I, very much, would like to formally meet you."

I shuddered. "Thanks."

He nodded and took his leave.

I sat back in my desk and unfolded the piece of paper. The note was simple, but held so much promise.

I'm sorry.

Would you like to try again tonight?

~S~

I grinned and shook my head. Sebastian was the only person I knew who could seduce me with such a simple note. I tucked the piece of paper into my backpack, knowing I'd be tempted to reread it throughout the class period.

I cursed and blessed the day. I hated that my school schedule was longer today. I wouldn't be home until late; but, on a positive note, I could go to bed right after class and Abby would have little reason to be suspicious orwork herself into a nervous frenzy.

My peer review group was my last meeting of the day, and it dragged. It was as if Father Time was setting the hands back himself, laughing at me whenever I looked at my watch. Everybody had questions about their work and everybody wanted to argue the feedback they received. I was going to make an excuse to leave when the leader, Mark, closed down the discussions.

"We can continue our talk next week, but I advise all of you to take the suggestions given and really ponder them. This peer group is not set up to hurt you, but to give you an idea of how your writing is being seen through the eyes of your readers. Don't squander this opportunity because of pride."

Everyone stood and packed their things, but none faster than me. I had my coat on, bag over my shoulder and was nearly to the door when I heard Mark call my name.

"Damn it," I whispered. I put on a fake smile and turned to face him. "Yeah, Mark?"

"I was wondering if I could have a word with you."

I walked back toward him with reluctance. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to talk to you about your piece."

I shuffled from foot to foot. "Is it that bad?"

He laughed. "No. I find it intriguing. Where did you come up with the idea?"

My heart thudded in my chest. "Oh, just something I dreamed up."

"This, Sedo, character seems like quite the piece of work. I'm interested to see how this story pans out."

Hearing Sebastian's nickname made me jumpy, but I knew no one had any idea he was real. That's what led me to write my experiences with him into a short story. It was like he was hidden in plain sight. I could ask my classmates to decipher our interactions in relation to my writing, but they wouldn't even know they were giving me real life advice. It was, basically, free and useful therapy.

"It's still a work in progress, but I hope I can get it polished enough to enter into the literary magazine this spring."

"I don't think you'll have an issue there," his smile was genuine and put me at ease.

"Well, thank you," I said, turning to leave.

"Actually, Riley, I wanted to talk to you about something else."

"Oh?" I turned to look back at him.

Mark fiddled with the buckle on his briefcase, looking at everything except me. "I was, uh...wondering...if you had any plans for Sunday."

"Sunday?" Why would Sunday make him...? Shit. Valentine's Day. I actually have a date with the Grim Reaper and a Shifter. "I have plans, I'm sorry."

His face fell a little. "Some other time this week? Maybe we could have coffee? You're not seeing anyone, are you? Perhaps the Sedo from your story is real," he laughed.

I forced a laugh. "This week...." I pretended to ponder.

It wasn't that Mark was a bad guy or anything. In the past I would have dated someone like him with his deep, brown eyes and orderly hair. Yeah, he looked nice enough; but, these days I was looking for something a little more edgy. And what could be edgier than a nonhuman male with dark, sexy hair and a thirst for my blood, who was eager to explore my lady bits?

"You know, I'm trying to go over my schedule for the week in my head and it's just not working. Writer's brain," I forced a laugh, "can I get back to you on that?"

"Okay. You have my number," he said, smiling.

I smiled and strode toward the door, knowing I would never contact him. Honestly, it was for his sake more than my own. If he was one of the last people seen with me before they—the cops or whomever—found my body, he would be questioned by the authorities. I didn't want that for him.

It, then, occurred to me that I probably needed to set a few of my affairs in order; but, not too many. The last thing I wanted was for my family to think this was premeditated and go searching for my killer.

But, isn't it, though? An, unbidden, voice in my head asked me.

I had to agree. Of course it was premeditated; but, no one needed to know that fact. I sighed as I pulled into my assigned parking space at the apartment complex.

Would I even be given the chance to tell everyone goodbye? Did I want to? To be honest, I was unsure if it would help anything. I was on good terms with everyone at the moment, and that could've been spoiled with one simple conversation, especially when it came to my parents. I wanted them to remember me with fondness; and, any discussions about my activities for the week would put them right off. It'd be the same old discussion: "Why can't you just see the truth laid out before you, Ry? God is not pleased with your selfish need to celebrate things that don't even celebrate Him!" No, it was better to let my parents think the best of me and keep their Witnessing to themselves.

I closed my eyes, breathing in and exhaling out a deep sigh. I switched the car lights off and exited, knowing the longer I sat outside, the more frantic Abby would become.

I, often, wondered what it would be like to live in her head with her severe anxiety; but, I was sure she wondered what it was like to live in the mind of someone like me. The doctors said I was so depressed I had to make up imaginary worlds and live in them to cope with every day life; that the pressures of life had caused me to create a world in which witchdoctors and creatures of the night roamed free. I would admit, sometimes, I even found myself a little off, but my dreams were as real as me opening the apartment door and hooking my coat over the rack.

I looked at Abby and she visibly relaxed. It helped me relax, too. We were good for each other in that way. I helped her get through her issues, and she helped me by telling me she believed in my dreams. Whether she did believe or not was not the point; just hearing someone say the words, "I believe you", could do wonders for the psyche.

"I told you you'd have admirers," she nodded to the flowers in my hand.

"Yeah, Mark asked me out." I said to hide the fact the flowers were from someone else. Someone I was very eager to see.

Her eyes widened. "What did you say?"

"I kinda told him no, but I left it open-ended. He, initially, wanted to go out on Valentine's Day, but I refused that one straight off."

She repositioned on the couch. "Why?"

"Going out with him on Valentine's Day might give the wrong impression. I'm not interested in him in that way. He asked me to go for coffee with him sometime this week, which I'd be more willing to do...as long as he realizes it's nothing more than a friendly coffee."

"You're shooting him down as if there's someone else."

"I'm shooting him down as if he's the leader of my peer review group and it would be weird to date someone that is indirectly employed by the higher learning institution I attend."

"He's not even really a teacher," Abby sighed.

"Well then, you go out with him."

She shrugged, making me laugh. "I'll put in a good word. I'm gonna head to bed, it's been a long day." I grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator before heading toward my room.

I set my bottle of water next to one of the black rose bouquets before undressing. My heart raced as I envisioned what things Sebastian and I would be...up to...in this dream. I knew it was considered "abnormal" to look forward to meeting my killer, but that did not stop me from diving into the bed and counting sheep.

"You refused the suitor. Why?" were his first words to me that night.

My eyes assessed him. The boyish light in his eyes was gone; he seemed more contemplative than anything.

When I didn't answer him, his eyes met mine.

"What's wrong, Sebastian?"

"If the Skies weren't aligned for us, you could have gone out with the instructor. You could lose your virginity to someone that won't kill you...someone that isn't part animal," he sighed. "You deserve that much."

I cocked my head to the side. "You can't help what you were born, Sebastian. All you can do is make the best of it, learn to see the good in who and what you are."

"There is no good. I killed you last time."

"And, yet, here I am."

He shook his head. "You know what I mean, Riley."

"Why did you come to me, then?" I thought back to the note that he sent earlier in the day, asking if we could try again. I hoped he hadn't changed his mind.

"I watch you, a lot, Riley. Probably more than I should. I like you, probably more than I should, especially given what happened last time. Not only would it kill you if I lost control, my heart would, literally, be turned to nothing. I would lose all human parts of me and become a monster. I know you do not know me that well, but I know you, Riley. I don't want to hurt you. I can't hurt you. It would break me if we couldn't make this work."

I rushed to where he sat and took his hands in mine. The gesture felt so easy, so natural. "Just tell me what I need to do. I want to help you."

"I don't know if there's anything you can do. Everything you do...everything you are excites the beast in me. I can feel him stirring beneath the surface, itching to claim you. I want you so bad; but I know you deserve better. You deserve to live."

"What brought all this on? Was it just Mark asking me out?"

"I've just been thinking today as I watched you. So many people like you. The men, definitely, have a soft spot for you. The Skies are cruel."

"The men?" I scoffed.

"It is true," he rubbed his chin. "Some of them don't know how close they came to death today."

I gasped. "Only one guy talked to me today besides your friend."

"Just because their mouths weren't moving doesn't mean they weren't talking. Their arousal was heavy in the air. Of course, your little outfit didn't help much."

My mouth fell open. "I was sufficiently covered!"

Sebastian shrugged.

"If you didn't want them looking, why didn't you just come out and stop watching me like a creeper?"

"This is the watching period, I am not permitted to come to you in the physical, yet."

"Who makes these rules? "

"The shaman that cursed us."

I gasped. "What?"

"That's how this," he motioned to himself, "started. I wasn't born this way. Our kind originated from a band of travelers—"

"—Gypsies?"

He smiled. "Yes, gypsies. We came across a tribe of natives in Turkey on our journey to find a new place to settle for a while; their leader was Aki Mata, a shaman. Aki Mata had a daughter who, secretly, fell in love with one of our people. Lakita Mata was betrothed to another, of course. She was due to wed the prince of the neighboring tribe so the two could fuse and take more land from smaller groups of natives. Gotta love the politics of those times," Sebastian shook his head. "I told Rey to leave the girl alone, but he couldn't help himself. She could not help herself, either. Reynard took the innocence Lakita willingly offered and though they endeavored to keep it all a secret, the spirits had other plans.

"Aki was granted a vision of the union and rallied us up, tying us to posts and getting ready to burn us alive. I cursed Rey the entire time, saying his loins were to blame," he laughed at the memory. "Come to find out, an Elder of Aki's tribe had a vision that night, as well. She saw the constellations shift and show Rey and Lakita's names. They were separated in the skies at first but they came together, an earth-shattering event that left their names bonded in the Skies. The Elder, Kemala, told the shaman what she saw and vouched that their actions were out of anyone's hands. Who can contend with forces of nature such as these?

"Well, though he could not deny the vision, Aki was still wroth because he could not give his daughter away blemished. He would lose the treaty with the neighboring tribe and he could not let that go unpunished. He attached a curse to our new found need to be with our mates. Each male that shared in the Blessing of the Skies was to be cursed by it as well. Aki cursed us to turn into the animals he thought we were. He believed Rey killed his daughter that night, so he made it part of the Curse that when we find our mate, we shift into the animal side and mark her with our teeth in order to claim her. That's what the Reckoning is. The day we go to our mates and try to claim them. If we succeed, they are our mates forever; if we fail, they die and we become all animal.

"Altogether, he wanted us to have little chance in securing our other halves, that's why he set up the Code and the stipulations of the Curse. Tricky old bastard, he was. We are not allowed to directly approach our mates until the Day of Reckoning, which is always on the fourteenth day of February—that was the night Rey took Lakita's virginity and all of us were cursed. The media has made February fourteenth a commercialized holiday, not knowing the real history behind the day at all," he laughed. "It was our colorful band of Shifter gypsies that started the whole gift-giving institution, not that saint guy. St. Valentine was, actually, quite the philanderer when he wasn't offering up Hail Mary's in the temple. He saw our practices and used them on his own conquests. We thought the gifts were a good way to soften the hearts of our mates toward us. We send them flowers, precious stones, and candies from the turn of the day all the way up until the time of Reckoning. By then, they know our names, at least."

I shifted in my seat. "Did it work?"

"In the beginning, it was a lot easier to convince the women of the relationship. Their hearts were a lot softer back then. Women today are too hard. They're wearied from the troubles of the times...they have to work, manage children, keep the household intact; they go and get degrees now," he motioned to me. "Women have come to not need men as they once did; but even still, the mating bond is impossible to deny, unless innocence is lost before the day. A great deal of women are losing their innocence a lot earlier."

"So, if I had sex before the Reckoning, we wouldn't be...mates?"

Flecks of gold and orange buzzed in Sebastian's eyes. "I would kill any man that touched you."

I shivered. "Wasn't it you that just said I should find someone else?"

"You should, but that doesn't mean I want you to. You're mine."

His words heated my flesh, despite his domineering tone. I figured it was just part of the animal side and let it go.

"Okay, so, if you're not allowed to meet me before the Reckoning, why are you here in my dream?"

"Ah, a very nice loophole in the Curse," he grinned. "I'm not supposed to physically meet you, but in here, it's fair game. I wasn't so sure in the beginning, but I reread the scroll and found that any breach in the Code would make the Shifter turn into his animal form, permanently. But, anyway," he shook his head, "how it works is by the mating bond. A Shifter's mind links with their mates' as the time of Reckoning draws nearer. In the physical, I can pick up on most of your emotions; but during your sleeping time, your mind is at ease and easier to penetrate, so I just put a little twist on our mating capabilities and entered your dreams."

He seemed so proud of this accomplishment that I had to grin right back at him.

He continued, "I always speculated it could work, but I never had anyone to test it on until recently."

A thought occurred to me. "Well, shit!"

"What?" Sebastian shot up into a formal sitting position.

"Valentine's Day started becoming a 'day of love' in the 1400s...you said you guys branded the idea. How old are you?"

"I lost count at like three hundred. From time to time, I do the math. The way I figure it, I'm about six hundred."

"At least six hundred and sixteen!" I gawked.

"The Curse was meant to stay with us until eternity; consequently, we live forever."

"But, what about the women picked for you? They don't live forever, do they?"

"After we bite them, they do...unless we bite too much. The change is slower, but it does happen."

I felt my eyes widen, my hands gripped the velvety fabric of the chair I sat in. "I'm going to become a monster?"

Sebastian's eyes tightened. "A monster? No. You will carry the Shifter gene. Some of the women experience the more pleasant Shifter qualities like the strength, speed, agility...the sexuality. Some women are imparted with more...extravagant... gifts, too. After Rey claimed Lakita, she gained the ability to move objects with her mind. She's a powerful Shifter."

"Do any of the women...turn? Like, into animals?"

"Some. But all of the women get a set of extended canines to mark her mate; you know, if she makes it past the Reckoning." I had another question on my lips but he stopped me before I could even part my lips to ask it. "While I am glad you know more about me and what I am, I did not come here to give you a history lesson. I came to make love to you, Riley. If you'll let me."

He stood and the room changed. We were no longer sitting in a living room; but, now, we stood in a bedroom. Outfitted in deep reds, oranges, purples, and blues; I knew this had to be Sebastian's room.

"Old habits die hard," Sebastian winked, confirming my suspicions.

"How did you do this? Isn't this my dream?"

"It is, but I can stream my consciousness into your dream. That's how I got you into my house and into my bedroom. Now, if I wanted, I could change your clothes, or have you wear nothing at all. I could give you a different haircut...the possibilities are, truly, endless; but, I am not in the mood to play today. I need to have you, now."

"Um...okay," was my witty response.

~

Our interactions for the next few nights continued in the same way. He came to me, told me more about himself, we had sex, and I died. Soon, I stopped freaking out when I woke up; but, Sebastian grew more and more morose with every encounter we had.

"I don't understand," he grabbed a lamp and chucked it at the opposite wall. The shatter reverberated through the empty parlor, reaching into my gut.

I watched as his eyes blazed orange and gold, his breathing heavy. He was scared and angry, but I was just scared. I'd never seen him act so...just plain angry. His canines extended over his bottom lip and he paced in front of the red couch. I tried not to admire his physique as he walked, but that was like telling a kid not to touch any of the candy in a sweets shop. I loved Sebastian's body and all it's hard planes. He was a man that took care of himself and didn't rely on his animal side to keep him fit.