Crimson Dreams

The man’s arm wormed his way around my waist as he let out a sound of relief in his sleep. I had been waiting for this moment for over two hours. Who knew men still liked to lay in bed and talk after sex? I didn't. I wiggled around for a minute until I was out from under his arm. Time for me to go. He didn't know my name and the phone number I had gave him was too a pre-paid cell phone that would be thrown away as soon as I got out of here. The house he picked me up at had been on the market for some time so there would be no finding me there. He would never see me again and I would never see him. It was better this way.

I found and gathered my clothes up before heading to the bathroom. It was a little after 4 a.m. If I hurried I may make it home before sunrise. He had brought me to his house with the intentions of bringing me back home later today so I had a nice walk ahead of me. He hadn't been to bad in bed. I have had a lot worse than that. Not like any of them were any good so the bar wasn't pretty high. I just went through the motions of sex because it was part of life.

I dressed in the darkness of the bathroom before turning my attention to the mirror. I didn't need the light on. My night vision was good enough to make any cat envy me. My long brown hair looked like a lions mane all around my head and shoulders. I wasn't really used to my hair being this long since I normally kept it shoulder length. Now it was down to my lower back. I'd just dyed it brown and I could still smell the dye as I ran my fingers through it and then pulled it into a pony tail. I straightened my red top that was tucked carefully into my blue jean skirt. The skirt was longer on me than it was made for. Unless I had heels on, I stood about five foot five inches. I went back into the bedroom and kissed Tom on the forehead - no reason not to say goodbye - then made my way out his house and into the morning air.

There are no sidewalks in Macon so I had to walk in the middle of the road. Not even that was safe though. The only sounds were of the morning birds and the soft clacking of my boots while I walked. Occasionally the heel of my boot would get stuck in a pot hole or crack in the middle of the road. A few times I almost busted my ass. Just what I needed. Sneak away from someone’s house at 4 a.m. and then bust my ass in the middle of the road. I finally made it to the coffee shop where my car was parked. I went inside and a familiar face smiled out at me.

"Another late night working, Ms. Blane?"

"Yeah. Can I get my usual?"

Ethan nodded and tossed me my car keys from behind the counter. He had been my friend for years and it was a nightly ritual for him to take my car and go to work. Hence why I always came to the coffee shop. Even if I wasn't out screwing around - pun intended - I still came back here to get my car. I caught the keys and went back outside. Popped the trunk and pulled out my back pack.

I leaned against the trunk of my car and un-zipped my boots before taking them off and placing them in the trunk. I pulled my tennis shoes out of my back pack and set them aside. I also pulled out my jeans. I slid the jeans on under my skirt and then removed the skirt. That got a honk out of the only two cars around. I snorted while slipping my tennis shoes on then threw everything back into the trunk. It clicked quietly while I headed back into the coffee shop.

Ethan held up a drink to me before turning to the other customer. It amazed me how early people were willing to get up and go to work while some of us were just settling in for the night. I picked up my drink and placed a twenty into the tip jar. My drinks were always free so I tipped well. If you did the math then I dropped about seven hundred dollars a week in this coffee shop. No wonder I got free drinks.

It was still about twenty minutes before Ethan got off from work so I took a seat in the far corner where I could see Ethan and the door. The sun was just starting to come up and its rays looked like fingers trailing across the sky. I felt someone staring at me and looked towards the door. The man entering always came in around this time. He was a regular like me and he sat directly across from me. I never paid him much mind. His light blonde hair reflected some of the morning colors and his light blue eyes sparkled with secrets. I didn't feel any other worldly power coming from him so he never got anything more than a look from me.

Ethan was the only human who knew what I was. Hence why he was my only friend. My mother was half human and half demon. My father was all vampire. Not that I knew a damn thing about my parents. She dropped me off on my father’s doorstep the day she birthed me. Of course he didn't bother to take care of me either. Instead he gave me to his sire to kill. At least the asshole was sensitive enough not to kill me himself. His sire was more interested in what I would become once I got older so instead he hid me from my father and raised me. He sent my father to someone else’s line that was far away. Not that I would tell anyone but I really wanted to find my parents.

I was raised as a human by a human woman whom I loved dearly. As far as me and anyone else was concerned she was my mom. It wasn't until the night she died that I was told who and what I was.

I had come home late from seeing a movie with some friends for my fifteenth birthday and worried sick of what mom was going to do to me for being late. It didn't register as odd that all the lights in the house were off. I didn't feel the blood due to my shoes but when I opened the door to my room I could smell it. I still smell it in my nightmares. I really don't remember what happened. The next thing I remember was standing before the most beautiful man I had ever seen and sobbing. He had black hair that was down to his waist. He was wearing black leather pants and a silk shirt. We were both covered in blood. Blood that had belonged to my mother’s killer. His name is Alex. Alexander Blane. He named me after himself after my father gave me to him to kill.

He asked me if I wanted this life or if I wanted a human life. I chose this life and he freed me of the shields that he had used to keep my true nature hidden. Turned out that Mary, my mom had been a human lover of his and that’s why I was given to her. He started training me as soon as the shields were down. He had brought in vampires from all over the place as well as a few trusted demons to exploit the powers I had within me. I was now his perfect little weapon that one ever suspected could be dangerous. Of course I wasn't the all powerful one though. We had discovered that I wouldn't reach my fullest potential until I chose demon or vampire. At the moment I was leaning more towards demon and Alex was not happy.

My cell phone started vibrating and it jogged me out of my memories. I looked at the number and sighed. Thinking of the devil.

"Yep." I answered.

"Can you come in after you drop Ethan off?" Alex’s cool voice washed over me and made things low in my body tighten slightly. I had formed a crush on him when I was 16 that I had yet to get over.

"Depends." I said.

"On?" He asked

"Why?" I held a finger up to Ethan as he signaled it was time to leave.

"I have a case for you, Alexandria."

I closed my eyes at the sound of his voice saying my name. Everything the man said sounded sexual. Almost like his voice was a caress in places sound wasn't suppose to effect you.

"Does it have to be now? I haven't slept yet."

"See you around eight?" He asked.

"Maybe."

I hung up the phone and shoved it back in my pocket. It was almost seven in the morning now. An hour to get home, shower and then get to Alex's house. I could do that. Ethan wasn't going to like my driving but it was workable. I let Ethan pull my chair out before I stood up. Ethan was one of those good ol' boys that could only be found here in Georgia. That’s one of the reasons I stayed here when I had the choice to move to California. I lived out there a few years and then came back. People still say I made the wrong choice but every time Ethan pulled my chair out or held a door for me I smiled with knowing I made the right choice.

I heard him push the chair back in as I started toward the door. I tipped my cup up and finished the last half of my drink in one gulp. Ethan took the empty cup from my hand and threw it away as he held the door open for me.

"Who’s driving?" He asked.

"I am. In a hurry."

Ethan drove the speed limit and was a lot more cautious than me. I would never make it in time with him driving.

I slid into the driver’s seat and Ethan shut the car door for me. I had the car started and my seat belt on when he slid into the passenger seat. I didn't wait for his seat belt to click before I pulled out onto the road. Home was ten miles from here. A shower and four miles to Alex's. I was going to be a little late but not by much. Ethan lived with me so no wasting time to take him somewhere and drop him off.

I was out the car and at the front door to our apartment before he even had time to unbuckle his seat belt. Sometimes not being human came in handy.

*************************************

It was 8:03 when I knocked on Alex’s door. I didn't wait for an answer. I only knocked as a warning I was coming in. Alex never locked his door but then there was never a need too. Someone was always awake in his house and there were no weak ones here. Alex was a master vampire.

He was sitting on the couch by the open window. His long hair was pulled away from his face in a long braid that trailed down his back. He wasn't wearing a shirt which left his sculpted chest bare to glow in the sunlight. The sun’s rays reflected in his hair so that it looked like someone had spun onyx stones into thread and made his hair. Sunlight didn't really affect vampires the way movies made it seem. They could stay out in the sun just as well as any human could. Depending on their power levels. You know how when you are out all day working in the sun and you feel drained? It was kind of like that for vampires only more severe. The stronger the vampire the more power the sun had to drain from him. That’s why vampires stuck to the night.

"I hope there is still rubber on your tires." He said.

I was still staring at his chest when he spoke. I raised my attention to his face before he turned to look at me. His intense green eyes were startling against his pale skin and dark hair. His face was pure masculinity without a touch of hair or imperfection to mar it. He has that perfect angle to his nose and high cheek bones. The line of his jaw was smooth and straight. He really was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

"Don't concern yourself where rubber is and isn't when it comes to my life."

I hadn't missed the double meaning of his words. Don't know why he fretted so much when I slept with someone. Not like I could catch anything. I guess it had to do with the whole father figure thing and being over protective of me.

"Another random man or someone you didn't slip out on in the middle of the night."

"Don't start this with me Alex. You know why I could never have a relationship."

"That doesn't mean to sleep with any and every man you meet." His voice held anger this time and I so was not getting into this with him.

"You said you had a case. Let’s hear it or I go home and go to sleep."

He didn't say anything but waved his hand towards the coffee table. On it was an envelope that I had apparently missed when I came in.

I sat down on the couch opposite of him and grabbed the file. No need wasting time. The sooner I got this over with the sooner I could go to sleep. I opened the file and seen some snapshots of a man hunched over a table.

"Someone is making a dent in the demon population. They came to me wanting to know if it was my people. I told them that had it been my people I would have let them know before I started killing them off." He shifted so that he was facing me instead of the window. "They wanted my protection and I refused."

I looked up at him then. "Why? You too good to help demons now?" My tone was cold and I meant it to be.

"No." He sighed. "I believe they deserve this becau-"

"Because they are demons?" I stood up and threw the folder on the table. "Just admit it already. You hate demons. Is that why you're always so irritable with me? Can't stand the demon in me?!" I was yelling at him now but he hadn't bothered to stand or even look at me.

"As I was saying," He continued as if I hadn't said anything. "because I believe they are responsible for the recent kidnapping and murder of several local women."

That cooled me down. I sat back on the couch and looked at him. He had my attention now.

"I do not hate you for having demon in you. I don't even hate you. I hate that you seem more fond of demons than vampires when Mary died at the hands of a demon who wanted to make you his personal whore." He looked back out the window. "I'll never understand it but it is the choice you have made so I stand behind your choice."

I wasn't going to get into with him why I preferred demons. It wasn't something I really understood myself.

"So have you seen them involved with the kidnappings or do you just believe it?" I asked.

"I haven't seen it but I honestly feel deep down they are responsible."

Alex could catch glimpses of the future and see into someone’s past. The past thing only worked if he was touching you and you willing gave it up. Part of being a master vampire. There really wasn't much he couldn't do. I had heard rumors that he could alter time but he would never answer me when I asked about that.

"So what do you need me for?"

"Your heart beats and blood runs through your body. You smell of neither vampire nor demon. I want you to find the truth. If they are innocent then we team with them. If they are guilty then I want them dead." He turned the intensity of his green eyes to me and they seemed to scorch me where I sat. "Macon has been my city for over a thousand years. These people, including the humans, are mine to protect. I have seen someone trying to take control of my city and I have a feeling this is how."

"Don't guess you have any ideas who are after your city do you?"

"If I did I would not be sitting here waiting to find out."

"Right." I stood up. "I'll do it."

"Thank you." He uncurled himself from the couch and stood as well. He was about 6'3. Give or take half an inch. His pale skin was tight over sculpted muscles that flowed down until they disappeared beneath his pajama bottoms. I had bought those pajamas bottoms for him when I was 18. They were a green and blue plaid with little vampire teeth on them. I thought they were suiting when I seen them on the shelf for Halloween but I didn't give them to him until Christmas.

"Time for a new pair?" I asked with a smile.

"These are sentimental." He returned my smile without showing any fang. "First Christmas gift I had gotten in a thousand years. I had forgotten you were raised human."

I nodded and looked to my feet. If I looked back up I wouldn't be able to stop myself from memorizing every line of his chest.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"You'll find an envelope in the kitchen by the coffee pot. It's yours." He gestured towards the kitchen. "In it is a list of the things you'll need to purchase as well as a credit card with a fifteen thousand dollar limit." He arched an eye brow at me. "I doubt you will need that much but It is there. Also your new identity and the requirements for living your new life." He started toward the door that lead into the basement. "Ethan will be taken care of as per our agreement when he first moved in with you." He opened the basement door and gave me one last look. "I am going to bed now Alexandria. I will contact you at night fall."

He closed the door behind and I listened to him as he descended the stairs. When he finally reached the bottom I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. God that man could melt me in my seat. He looked at me and seen a daughter. The thoughts I had of him were not normal in a father-daughter relationship.

I opened the envelope and smiled as I read over the list of things I needed. It was written in his beautiful handwriting. It took two times reading it before I actually read the words and not how he wrote it.

Appointment with Annette for wardrobe change
Furnishings for your new home
New silver blades
Dye your hair a normal red
A month’s supply of brown contacts
School books (Semester starts next week)
School supplies (Notebooks, pens, pencils, etc.)
Pet (Cat or dog)

P.S.
Your new home is at 209 Cabin Ridge Ave. You'll find the keys and security code for the alarm in this bag. Your new car is in the garage so please walk to your new home. Keys are also in bag. Do not change alarm code without giving it to your new contact. There is a new cell phone with your contacts number already programmed. Good Luck and see you soon.

I tipped the bags contents out onto the counter. I picked up the car keys and flipped the little remote over. Toyota. Good choice. The house key was already attached to the car key ring and it was one of those custom deals. Pink with little white Rhinestones. Great. There was a little piece of paper with the numbers 3107 written on it. Code for my security alarm. My class registration. I had classes every Monday nights, Thursday nights, Monday Mornings and Wednesday Mornings. Apparently I was studying for computer programming.

My new name was Ashley Denison. I had birth certificates and social security cards. New drivers license and a new hair color. It was amazing how real these fraudulent documents were. There was also an appointment card to Annette Bryant today at 10 a.m. She would apparently be doing my hair and giving me my new wardrobe. Loads of fun. I loved the days I spent with Annette. She was who we all went to when we need clothes to blend in but special for our jobs. I still had the hair clips that were actually little silver daggers. Those had saved my life a few months back.

I am Alexandria Taylor Blane - now to be known as Ashley Robin Denison - and I was Alex's perfect secret weapon.