She went to turn and walk away, but he spoke again.
“I hope Mr. Lodovico didn’t unnerve you too much?”
She felt herself blush again. “Oh...that! He just caught me off guard…is all. Like I told your sister, I am exhausted from traveling, lack of sleep and not eating properly.”
He cocked his head, apparently not totally buying her explanation, but he continued smiling. “Okay…But none of us are really acquainted with him. If he does bother you…in any way…you let me know. Okay?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes! I will…thanks!” she focused her gaze on Judy then. “Soon as I get settled, I’ll let you know…and maybe we can get together on starting you painting.”
“I’d love that!” Judy replied, beaming again.
Amber waved then and left.
Two:
Dorian Lodovico sat on one of two stools in front of his little bar that he’d built into his kitchen, having removed half the wall to do so. He preferred the bar over a table. He never had company anyway, figured it would suffice. His thoughts trailed off to the pretty young woman he’d seen at Paul’s Grocery. There was something different about her, innocence, a pleasant freshness that he found rare in females of this generation. He popped the tab off his beer and took a long drink before sitting the can down. The young woman had long auburn hair and hazel eyes, not a combination that one often ran into. He had picked up on her thoughts as he’d entered the store and immediately recognized her as the woman that had moved into the little cabin down the trail from him, for he had paid her a quick visit earlier that morning without her ever knowing it. She, like he, was a newcomer. Next to her natural beauty – she wore little makeup—it was her loneliness that had stood out the most.
Loneliness wasn’t something he was a stranger to. He’d been lonely for three hundred years. He had turned five females since then, but none of them had worked out. He’d ended up killing three of them for their carelessness in almost getting them caught. The other two he’d conveniently lost when they got beyond boring.
The last one had been fifty years ago, as he just hadn’t found anyone that interested him enough. That is, not until today. This one definitely had his attention.
Had Paul Stevenson not been eyeing him so closely, he might have tried to make conversation with her. This was a small, spread-out community, a good place to remain incognito, and he didn’t want to make even the slightest ripple in things and draw attention to himself anymore than he could help.
Unfortunately, one of the things about being a vampire was the fact that he was exceptionally good-looking, along with a mesmerizing presence, even when not intentional, definitely something normal folk tended to notice.
There was something else bothering him – The campers he’d run across early in the morning, not quite dead, but almost. Obviously he had competition, another vampire had attacked them. Though still alive at the time, they were unconscious. He’d been looking for a medium sized animal to feed on when he came across them. It had been too long since he’d fed on a human. The hunger was too great, and the smell of blood too overwhelming, he’d snatched the opportunity to take what he really thirsted for. Between the two, he had drunk his fill. Consequently, he was stronger and more powerful now than he’d been in a long time, for it had been almost a month since he’d had human blood.
His partial abstinence from human blood really didn’t have much to do with morals, had more to do with not drawing in personal attention. He’d learned the hard way that killing too many humans tended to create certain personal risk. He’d even been caught once, many years back, feeding on a Russian peasant girl, and had believed it was all over as her father, a big lumberjack, attempted to impale him with a stake, but the big man had caught his foot on a rock and tripped, merely piercing Dorian in his side, instead of his heart.
He had instantly pulled the stake out and run for his life, as more lumberjacks were on his trail with torches, dogs and more stakes. At that time, he hadn’t been turned long, didn’t know he could shimmer out, shape-shift or turn to mist.
That wasn’t the first time he’d barely escaped with his life, but he was determined it was his last. He’d learned his lesson. After that, he’d survived at least half the time on the blood of animals, feasting only on human blood when similar opportunities arose, such as the ill-fated campers earlier that morning, and once in a great while, when he was really hungry and someone happened to have the misfortune of pissing him off.
Another vampire was something he’d not been anticipating. He’d checked the area out, or so he thought, thoroughly, before buying the log cabin with money he’d made from investments from an inheritance from a very-long-dead uncle, in stocks, hoping to settle quietly and exist here as peaceably as possible, figuring the backwoods to be as safe a place as any he could find. With all the wildlife running around, there was plenty to keep his hunger, at least, somewhat satisfied.
Now, he had cause to wonder. Was the other vampire a female? Not that it really mattered. He could turn any woman he wanted, if he wanted, which, up until now, he’d really had no desire for. Nevertheless, male or female, if they were the usual ruthless creatures so many were, they wouldn’t care if they were careful or not, simply moving on when things got too heated.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his front door. Even before he went to answer, he knew who it was. It was that Park Ranger. He could smell him from where he was. Had to be about the dead campers.
He emptied his beer, smashed the can flat between his palms, and tossed it over his shoulder and into the white plastic bucket beside the back door. He prided himself on recycling.
He went to the door, yanking the door open so swiftly that it startled the ranger. “Yep?”
Grady cleared his throat and composed himself. “Dorian,” he said with a respectful nod.
“Grady,” Dorian acknowledged, suppressing a wry grin.
The two had met a couple of weeks prior. Grady had managed to get his Jeep stuck off the side of the road when a tree fell in his path and he’d turned sharply to get out of the way. Dorian had happened along – told the ranger he was hiking in the woods – and helped him push the Jeep out of the mud. Grady had thanked him. They’d talked for a bit, and the ranger had gone on his way.
Dorian was sure Grady wondered at his unusual strength, for the ranger had stated up front that he believed he’d have to get another vehicle to pull his out, and had shown obvious surprise when Dorian had succeeded in freeing it singlehandedly with Grady at the wheel.
“Don’t know if you heard or not…but we found a couple of campers dead this morning.” Grady said. “Not too far from here.”
“And you want to know if I heard or saw anything?”
Grady eyed him curiously. “Correct.”
“Nope…Not a thing, Grady…Sorry.”
Grady stepped back, eyeballing the perimeter. “You didn’t hear any unusual sounds? Any screaming?”
“Nope…In fact, I haven’t been home long…Took an overnight hike southward yesterday. Didn’t get back until a couple of hours ago. Drove out to Paul’s Grocery and just got back.”
“Southward you say?”
“Yep.”
Grady blew out air. “Found the unfortunate souls north of here. So guess you wouldn’t have heard or seen anything.”
“Again…Sorry.”
“I dropped by earlier…And you were gone.”
“Like I said.”
“Okay…Sorry to have bothered you.”
Dorian gestured with a raised forefinger. “You have a good day, Grady.”
“Yeah…You too, Dorian.” He returned to his Jeep and sped away.
Dorian smiled to himself as he watched the ranger’s vehicle disappear around the bend. He was fully aware that he made Grady nervous. He made a lot of people nervous. Something innate in their souls sensed he was different, tended to scare them a bit. He opened another beer and decided to take a walk. Maybe he’d just
amble towards the newcomer’s cabin. When he had passed by there on his way home after feeding on the campers, daylight had been just breaking through the pines.
He’d shifted into his raven form and had taken a peek in her window and saw she wasn’t asleep. She had been scared, huddled up to the back of her bed and blankets wrapped around her like she was shivering, but not from the cold. He’d left quickly without her ever being aware he was there.
Judy glanced over at her brother who was staring off into space instead of taking inventory on his clipboard. A big grin encompassed her mouth. “You like that Amber girl, don’t you?”
“What?” He jerked his head around, realizing he’d been daydreaming. “No…Yes…She’s okay…I guess.”
“Well…if you ask me…you’ve had your head in the clouds ever since she left this morning.”
He turned his back to her and began writing on the order sheet. “We’re ‘bout out of canned pork ‘n beans…Didn’t realize we were getting so low.”
Judy walked over to him. “You’re changing the subject, big brother. I haven’t seen you look at a girl like you were looking at her…in years. Not since you had that crush on Liz Welch a few years back. You just got all squishy and soft.”
“Liz is ancient history… And I did not! Don’t be absurd!”
“Oh yeah…ya did.” She was right and she knew it. “Okay…Live in denial for now…but we’ll see.”
He glanced at his