Installment 2

Chptr 5




“Owwwww….”

Shayna was suddenly very aware of the lining of her stomach since it felt like it was trying to shred itself for tacos.

“Right, forgot” she sighed as she felt her body light on fire. It was not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. Think total body meltdown in lava with a napalm chaser. This was that stupid hunger she felt before the sun came up and she went down like a stone.

“Hmmm, I wonder what there is to eat?” she mused sarcastically. There was nothing she could eat in her apartment now. As a matter of fact, she could probably get rid of the kitchen altogether and make it a new office since she would not be needing any of the modern appliances anymore. Except maybe the microwave. She had just laid down a hundred bucks for the thing two weeks ago and she would be damned if she didn’t get her money’s worth. Besides, it was turquoise. How cute is that?

As the burning spiked a bit higher, she was forced to ball herself up in a fetal position on the floor- right where she had fallen that morning. Even her soft and fuzzy flokati wasn’t helping her now. The pain kept intensifying inch by inch and soon, her only thought was regarding how to make it go away. She felt only a burning thirst and pain. Her mind started to narrow down to a pinpoint, which scared her a bit. She was losing the ability to think rationally and even her sense of humor left her. Then she heard it.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter

“What is that sound?” she whispered through clenched teeth.

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter, pitter-patter

It was stronger now. The sound started out faintly, like the flutter of wings against the wind. Slowly, it became louder and more distinct. A moment later, it was less of a drumming and more of a pounding, like the sound of your own heartbeat in your ears when you hang your head upside down.

That was it. It was a heartbeat.

Just the thought of a heartbeat opened her senses more acutely and she could begin to smell something. It was thick, like a milkshake- but better. It held a weight in her diminished mind. It promised an end to the pain. The smell intensified and opened like the bouquet of a fine cabernet that has been left to breathe. She could distinguish different top and mid notes to the fragrance. Shayna breathed deeply and recognized a heady scent of earth mixed with copper and a rich note that she couldn’t quite place. Salmon.

“huh, wha?” she stammered. “Why do I smell salmon?”

The tentative meow came from her front hall.

“You have got to be kidding me…”



Chapt 6



“I’d best get this over with…” David grumbled to himself.

Why did he have to deal with this now, of all times. He was so close to helping his kind to live a stronger, and less sugar-rush induced life - or death, as it were. He scowled at the phone in his hand like it was a problem. In essence, it was going to be the initial step towards his own ruination. OK, that might be a little overdramatic, but it would be bothersome at the very least. Who needed to find a soulmate this way?

He pressed the keys to reveal his voicemail application. With the quick press of another button, the message from Shayna hurtled itself into the air.

“My number is 231-444-1212. I will be here…waiting. For you. TO. CALL. ME. BACK.”

She had left that subtle voicemail for him nearly twelve hours before. The sun had risen before he could make the decision to contact her, so that kind of put a damper on his ability to act. He had only awakened a short time ago but knew that he needed to get her started in the indoctrination process. There was so much to teach and he wasn’t sure that he was equipped to deal with a darkstar –which is a newbie to the uninitiated.

“Well, you should have thought of that before you went and turned her Tomes…” he chided himself.

Slowly, as if a lamb being led to the slaughter, he dialed the number she had left him in the voicemail. He waited for the call to connect and thought that it might be easier and faster if he just phased to where she was. He still felt the glorious tingle of her blood in his body so he could locate her easily enough.

“Hi, this is Shayna Weston and I am sorry to have missed your call. Please leave a message after the tone and I will get back to you as soon as possible….”

Straight to voicemail. That really was not a good sign. For all he knew, Shayna could be massacring the whole of her neighborhood as he sat motionless, unable to push himself into motion. She could be ripping out the throats of small innocent children while they slept in their beds. She could be dispatching men and women intermittently while others looked on in horror.

This could be a real problem.

David focused on the thing in his core that allowed him to phase – to travel instantly. He opened that awareness and focused on the key element of Shayna’s blood that connected them. Normally, he would take his time to phase and enjoy the strange feeling of weightlessness and shift of space. Tonight, there was no time to dally. He needed to get to her as quickly as possible. The difference of even a second could mean life or death for some unaware human.

There was no time to waste.