Dawn's Shadow

Chris eyed Dane warily, noting the ripple of his muscles underneath a snug black t-shirt. His military haircut, russet colored skin, and the deep, rich brown of his eyes, so dark they were almost black, did little to ease her discomfort. He was rugged looking, confident in his "don't fuck with me and mine" attitude, and scary as hell with more blades than a Ginsu chef strapped all over his body. He was a man that protected what he considered his. And while that thought might be appealing, down right attractive even. It frightened her half to death. "Chris," she mumbled, wishing she were smaller so that she could put just a little more space between herself and the man crowding the cot.

"Chris," Dane nodded. "I know you don't understand what's happening to you. But, I need for you to trust me and to do what I say. Can you do that?" Dane dropped his right hand and rested it loosely on the top of his thigh. He tilted his chin down, trying to make eye contact. She looked away, refusing to meet his gaze. Ok, no touching and no eye contact. How was he supposed to communicate with her? "Are you hungry?"

Chris nodded her head. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten a real meal. Probably yesterday, if it was yesterday that she had breakfast with Anna. She wasn't really sure what day it was. A tall black coffee and a couple of strips of bacon sounded great right now. Unconsciously, she licked her lips.

Dane took a deep breath. He hated the thought of another vampire feeding at his wrist. But, sometimes as a leader, a guy had to do what a guy had to do. If this would prevent just one rogue from being on the streets it was worth the sacrifice. He had seen enough death over the past two days to last him for the rest of his very long life. His blood wouldn't sustain her for very long. At best, it would take a bit of the bite out of her hunger long enough for him to find a donor. He couldn't stand the thought of her in pain.

"Chris, do you remember how I told you that you'd have to trust me? Now is one of those times." He had no way of explaining things to her. None of the words were adequate. She might not even understand them if he spoke them. She probably wouldn't believe him. After all, what was he? The stuff of legends, tales used to frighten children, a comical Halloween figure, a cartoon on a box of cereal. Not real. But, what was happening to her was very real. There was only one way to get her to put the pieces together and that was for her to figure them out for herself. Frowning, he lifted his wrist to his mouth and bit down, wincing at the pressure. "Drink."

Chris gasped as she watched Dane bite through his skin. Gulping hard at her revulsion, she squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn't have to watch him mutilate himself. So she wouldn't see the blood that held her so captivated. She wanted it. She wanted to do as he said and drink. This was madness. Her thoughts were sick, demented, and deranged. People didn't drink blood. People didn't crave blood. But, she did. What was wrong with her?

Her stomach reeled at the thought of drinking blood. But, every nerve ending hummed at the scent of it. Her body pulled her mind along for the ride, closer to the oozing wound. She grabbed on to the covers on the cot, trying to control the urges of her body. Instinct guided her to the source of the delicious aroma that flooded the tiny room.

Dane saw the struggle between Chris's mind and her body. "It's ok. Your body needs this to survive. Drink. Chris." He slid closer to her, bringing his wrist to her mouth. His other hand grasped the back of her neck guiding her head to the source of her need. "You're still the same person as you always were. You're just...different now."

Chris twisted out of Dane's hold on the back of her neck. What was he asking her to do? Drink his blood? Was he crazy? He was right. She was different. She wanted his blood. Not just his blood, any blood! Her mouth flooded with saliva at the scent and sight of it. She was just as crazy as he was, maybe crazier! "No!" She pushed him away and wedged herself into the corner, as far away from him as she could get. "No!"

She was bat shit crazy! These people had kidnapped her! Her ex had set her up! She'd thought she was being rescued. But, somehow, these people had been in on the whole thing! They were trying to get her to do things that weren't even human. Trying to make her believe she was something that wasn't even possible! This...this couldn't be happening to her. Her eyes flicked to the unguarded entrance of the cell. She could do it. Run, like she should have done when she first stepped foot out of the car. She'd rather take her chances in the darkness beyond the meager light of the lantern than stay in here with him, trapped in this insanity. Why hadn't she listened to Anna and stayed home?

"Damn it!" Dane hissed. Women always had to do everything the hard way. She'd barely made it onto her feet before he latched onto her waist and slammed her back on the cot. Ok, hard way it was. Her choice, not his. "You are what you are. Don't you understand that?" He glowered over her cowering form, hating himself for her fear.

"What am I?" Chris asked.

"A vampire."

Chris laughed hysterically. A vampire. Insane. Only she would have the misfortune to be drugged and kidnapped by a bunch of lunatics. Where were the good, old-fashioned ax murders when you needed them? These idiots were absolutely out of their minds. Too bad she wasn't a religious person and didn't happen to have a cross at her disposal. She could go all Van Helsing on their assess and escape. "That's impossible. Vampires don't exist."

She gasped as Dane parted his lips and two perfectly normal looking canines lengthened in his mouth. Gingerly, she ran her tongue over her teeth and stifled a cry of shock and terror as the tip found two horrifically long and needle sharp points. She...she...this wasn't real...this couldn't be happening to her. She sifted through her memories, fragmented as they were. The bite, drinking from his wrist, the pain, and then more pain, the searing daylight, and the hunger, the emptiness that cramped her stomach and burned her with its fury. She was a vampire. "What happens if I don't drink?"

Dane grunted at Chris's stubborn refusal. She wouldn't hold out forever. Nobody could. Eventually, she would take what her body needed to survive. The trick was to get her to drink before she lost the battle to her instinct and became a mindless, uncontrollable thing that was no better or not salvageable than a rabid dog. "You will continue to grow weaker and weaker. And your suffering will become unbearable. You'll turn into something you don't want to be, Chris. Your mind will break. And you'll do things that you would rather die than do."

"I can't. I can't drink blood." She slid to the edge of the cot and hid her face in her hands as if the darkness of her cupped palms would make everything go away. Blinking fiercely, she held back the tears. "My ex did this to me. He made me into this...thing. I didn't ask for it. I don't want it."

Dane knelt at her feet and gently pried her hands away from her face. "Chris please, I know how hard this is to understand. But, you must do this." The blue of her eyes glittered beneath the fall of her tears. He hated it when a woman cried. Hated. It. Their tears went straight to his heart and clouded his judgment. Gently, he ran a finger along her jaw and lifted her gaze to meet his. Despite her suffering and her terror, he could still see the hardness of her determination. He had to break her. It was for her own good. The only way he'd ever get through to her. "You will drink." With a huff he released her chin, rose to his feet, and stomped out of the chamber.

Chapter 7

Anna checked her cell phone for the millionth time today. She'd started texting Chris at the crack of dawn and still hadn't gotten a reply. Anger seethed inside Anna at being ignored by her best friend. Sure, the fight had been ugly. And maybe, Chris was entitled to her hurt feelings. But, to not call her back...when Anna's only concern was for her safety, as she'd indicated in the numerous texts and voice mails, wasn't like Chris at all.

Annoyed, Anna stared at the blank screen on her phone and picked at her lunch. Today, her usual chef's salad was as unappealing as shoe leather. She'd even tried to call Chris's work, just to check up on her. And the call got transferred straight to voice mail. Unfortunately, Chris blended in a little too well. She'd been working in the same boxy cubicle for two years. Yet, her coworkers didn't even know who she was. When Anna had finally managed to get a live human being to answer the main line. The person who picked up didn't even realize Chris wasn't there.

Chris had no close relatives. Her parents were elderly, living in some retirement community outside of Phoenix. As far as Anna knew, she was Chris's only friend. Chris was shy, and in her shyness utterly forgettable. Anna had told her time and time again to go out, meet people. But, Chris would only shrug and change the subject. This was why Anna thought Chris needed more contact with the waking world. She could far too easily disappear and no one but Anna would realize it.

Anna tossed her uneaten salad in the trash and pushed her way through the meandering lunch crowd. Everyone was taking their time today, gawking at the decorations. Holiday lights and greenery dangled from the lampposts. It wasn't even Thanksgiving yet and already the city was decked out in its Christmas finest. People needed to give it a rest. Couldn't they just take one holiday at a time? For her, Christmas had lost its appeal somewhere around the time she figured out there was no Santa Claus.

Anna stood elbow to elbow with the masses gathered at the crosswalk, waiting for the traffic light to change. Everyone seemed to be extra jovial today. Smiling. Actually being polite, for once. Maybe, it was the start of the holiday season that lifted their moods. Maybe, it was the anticipation to be done with the old and in with the new. The hope that next year would be better than this one that lifted their collective spirits.

The skyscraper that housed her firm was the tallest in the city. And from her vantage point, the coveted corner office. She could look out the window and stare down at the world. Sometimes, she felt guilty about that. But, she'd worked damn hard to get where she was and she'd earned her view of the city. She'd sacrificed so much for the right to look down at the "little people" bustling about on the sidewalks below. More than anyone, even Chris who knew her the best, could ever imagine.

Standing by the window now, her office illuminated by the weak light of the noonday sun, Anna thought about her own anonymity. She had a brass plate on the door of her office with her name on it. Her picture was in the foyer, with the rest of the senior partners. Hell, she'd even gotten a few write ups in the newspaper. But, for all that, she was just as forgettable and anonymous as Chris.

She had no friends except for Chris. She hardly considered her short list of male "contacts" friends. Someone in the office might miss her long enough to move her things out and theirs in. Her family wasn't one of those close-knit families. Two or three times a year, they got together and pretended to care, really care, about one another. There wasn't anyone who really knew her, nobody, just Chris.

They were friends by accident. Just as matter of being in the right place at the right time, both of them, lonely and wanting more than their simple, uncomplicated lives would allow. Waiting in line for coffee on a busy, blustery February morning, Valentine's Day, the worst day of the year for single women across the globe. Anna was feeling the bite of jealousy, anger even, at all the women with boyfriends and husbands. Hell, even same sex partners weren't exempt from her rage at the occasion. Boyfriends, life mates, whatever the title, who bought the loves of their lives flowers and candy, promised their love, when she had nothing. Alone.

Chris had forgotten her purse that morning. In a flush of embarrassment and shame, she tried to explain the situation to the man behind the counter. An explanation he didn't care to hear. Either she paid up for her double shot expresso or he was tossing it down the drain. Anna, impatient for her morning dose of caffeine, dropped a ten on the counter, just to get the harried woman out of the way. Incident forgotten, Anna went about her day. And the next morning, Chris was waiting for her at the front door of the coffee shop, hopeful to pay back the favor.

Morning after morning they met at the coffee shop and exchanged conversation over double expressos, hot chocolates, or whatever drink struck their fancy. They liked a lot of the same things. Read a lot of the same authors. Ate at the same places and shopped at the same stores. A friendship between the two of them quickly formed. It was nice to have a best friend, a connection with another human being, in a city so full of strangers. That had been three years ago. And the fact that Chris hadn't bothered to call her back, stung.

From the window of her office, Anna could just barely make out the rooftop of Chris's apartment building. If Chris didn't call her back by quitting time, Anna was going to drop by. Chris might ignore her calls, as unlikely as it was. But, she wouldn't refuse someone pounding on her door. And besides, Anna had a key.

Chapter 8

Chris pounded her fists against the guard's chest. He stared down at her with a look of exasperation across his face. He stood there, tolerating her invasion into his personal space, her insults, and her incessant badgering with a hardened, stoic set to his jaw. He should go across the pond and work for Buckingham Palace. "You have to let me out of here!" she screamed, stomping to the far corner of her cell.

She paced the confines of her cell. She felt as if the walls were closing in around her and she had to get out. Her stomach cramped, her mouth was dry, and she was so thirsty. Apparently, her captors planned to starve her. No one had brought her so much as a sip of water or a scrap of bread. Food. Water. Basic human necessities. But, she wasn't human. Her stomach twisted in a knot, the pain was getting worse. Just like he said it would. Hunger occupied her every thought. She'd been hungry before. But, never like this. This was torture.

Huddled in the corner, as far away from the scrutinizing eyes of the guard as she could get, Chris took a look at her bleak surroundings. Dark shadows hugged the rough walls. Black dust, thick and choking, covered everything, tingeing everything it touched with a grimy layer of grit. Her cell was tiny, cramped with barely enough room for the old cot and the battery operated lantern sitting on a makeshift nightstand beside the cot. There were no creature comforts. No heat. No electricity. No running water to wash away the grimy coating of dust on her skin. There was no other way in or out, except through the guard.

She had nothing to make a weapon out of, even if she did have the guts to use it on the wall of muscle and man blocking the exit. Someone had been kind enough to return her purse, after picking through it to remove any potentially threatening object and her cell phone. It was still nice to have something that reminded her of her old life, something to cling to that was actually hers. Dejected by the lack of effect her pleas, her begging, had on the guard, Chris sat on the cot and cradled her designer knockoff bag in her lap, loosing an unearthly wail of frustration and pain. How could anyone treat another human being so badly? But, at the thought that she wasn't human, not anymore, she screamed even louder.

The shrill feminine screams sent a chill up Dane's spine. In this dark and vacant void, they seemed to come from the very walls. He stomped through the darkness cursing, as he grew closer to the source of his torment. The woman had not stopped her incessant wailing. She just kept getting louder and louder. The sounds of torment were unnerving and had interrupted his rest for the last time. He was done with this woman. DONE. "What is going on here!" he demanded of the guard in an accusatory tone. As if Will had done anything to her, but stare in disbelief at how such a harmless, delicate looking creature could make such an unholy racket.

"Keewa, your wife, won't shut up," Will grumbled in irritation. He knew why Dane had chosen him to guard the woman. He was the least likely to be affected by any tears, any ploy for sympathy, the woman would have tried to employ to gain her freedom.

John Mark was too much a sucker, and he would have caved at the first crystalline teardrop to trail down her cheek. Patrick would have seen the human still inside of her and while he wouldn't have let her escape, he would have wasted his time trying to reason with her. The other females in the compound would have been too sympathetic to her plight to be of any value in guarding her. Toby abhorred violence unless it was absolutely necessary. And Doc, well Doc would have probably tried psychoanalyzing her the way he did all the brothers.

Dane growled and barred his fangs in a warning at Will. He couldn't allow for any disrespect from the brothers he intended to lead. It was difficult for the brothers. Lucien's death had left a void he was struggling to fill. And the brothers still saw him as an equal, just one of the guys. "You're relieved."

Will hastily surrendered his post, unfettered by Dane's warning. He knew he should be more respectful toward his new leader. But, it was damn hard to see Dane as anything but Lucien's second. And after hours of putting up with that shrew, screeching and threatening, pounding on his chest with weak, ineffectual fists, quivering in hunger and pain unnecessarily because she was simply too stubborn to give in, he was over it. Even he had his limits and she had tested them to their breaking point. "Good luck, you're going to need it!" he shouted over his shoulder at Dane. Poor bastard didn't stand a chance against that woman.

Dane stood with his arms crossed and his back turned away from her. Chris saw it as an opening, a meager chance at escape. She had a few crumpled dollar bills and a handful of maxed out credit cards. If she could get out of here and figure out where she was, she could call Anna to come pick her up. Go someplace safe with lots of people and wait for her to come. Gathering her strength, on wobbly legs, she charged him, cursing as she bounced off his muscular frame and landed squarely on her butt in a cloud of sooty, black dust.

Dane spun and glared down at Chris. He was at his wit's end with this woman. She was going to see the light. See things his way. "You are going to eat," he commanded, approaching her with slow deliberate steps. He withdrew a dagger from his belt and dragged it across his forearm, barely registering the sting of the blade or the scent of his blood, flooding the tiny cell.

Chris scuffled away, crawling backwards like a crab until her hands brushed against the wall. The man was huge, frightening, his brown eyes glowing with fury. All of it directed at her. Gingerly, she ran her tongue along the area wincing as the sharp point of a canine pierced her tongue. "Oh my God!" She clasped her hand tightly across her mouth and nose. The smell of his blood, the sight of it, lazily rolling down his forearm to drip in fat, crimson drops off the end of his index finger, caused her to be like this...like him.

Dane bent and grabbed a fistful of Chris's hair, dragging her to her feet. He ignored her struggles and the cries stifled by her clamped lips and forced her head down, toward the wound. He couldn't understand why she couldn't accept what she was or how she had the strength to keep fighting it. Using the bulk of his forearm, he wedged her mouth open. If he could just get her to taste, instinct would take care of the rest. Once she fed from him, he could delegate the responsibility of teaching her to hunt and to feed, responsibly, from humans to one of the brothers. The sooner she came to some sort of peace with what she was. The sooner he could get her out of his hair, for good.