Dusk and Her Embrace

Dusk and Her Embrace
Written by: Lady Nocturne Juliet


Chapter 2


He took slow steps toward me until we were only inches away. He had those same irresistible eyes and shoulder length dark hair now. His hair had grown longer. There were light bruise-like shadows around his eyes like he hadn't slept well in a long time and his once fair skin was now a smooth alabaster white. I stared in awe. He was so devastatingly beautiful. Tristan had always been gorgeous but now he was inhumanly beautiful. Perhaps, it was Tristan's apparition. He had this unnatural beauty that no other human had. With his dark hair, cloak, and pale skin, he appeared as a dark angel.
"Are you a ghost?" I asked. My voice came as a soft whisper.
"No." He lifted his hand as if to touch me but faltered.
"Are you an angel then?"
He chuckled as if I told a joke. "Not even close."
Was I dreaming? I hoped not. His eyes were locked with mine. He pressed his hand softly against my cheek. I gasped at the feel of his touch. "You're so cold..." I whispered. Dammit. I was such a moron. Tristan was right here after two years and I kept saying the stupidest things.
Tristan closed his eyes for a long moment. He was so gorgeous and unreal. I was afraid he would disappear. I covered his hand with mine and shivered. His hand was like ice against my skin.
He opened his eyes. "To touch you again..." He whispered huskily. He cupped my face in his hands. "Ellie..." The way my name flowed from his lips, it sent a soothing warmth I hadn't felt for what seemed like forever. He leaned in and brushed his lips as soft as a feather, against my cheek and down to my jaw line.
I closed my eyes and leaned in to his touch. I was still convinced this was a dream but I wanted to savor every second. I was clinging to his cloak, afraid he would disappear any minute. "Tristan..." I whispered, breathlessly.
He kissed my shoulder and trailed down my arm. I shivered but not from his icey trail of kisses. He suddenly stopped.
I opened my eyes and watched as he studied the gash on my forearm. Little beads of blood seeped to the surface where the glass had cut me. "I got cut when that guy pushed me to the ground," I explained. His grip on my wrist tightened.
"Tristan?"
He lifted his gaze to me. My eyes widened in surprise. Tristan's eyes darkened to an almost onyx black. What surprised me most was the way he stared at me with such hungry eyes. He turned to my arm and lifted my arm to his mouth, stopping only a centimeter away. I shivered as his breath hovered over the open laceration. I watched him, puzzled. Was he going to kiss my cut?
"Tristan?" I called to him softly.
He froze like a statue for a long moment, then released his iron-like grip on my wrist. He backed away from me.
I reached out to touch him but he jerked away as if he were afraid of me. "What's wrong?" I asked, confused.
His expression became hard and cold. "Go home, Gabrielle." With those last words, he vanished within the blink of an eye.
My heart sank deeply. "Tristan!" I cried out. My voice echoed through the empty night. I scanned my surroundings, searching for him or for some sign that our meeting had not been my imagination. I trembled as the tears cascaded down my face. "Tristan!" I called out into the dark silence. My feet willed me to move.
"Gabrielle?" A deep voice came from behind me.
I whimpered in surprise and whirled around to meet the owner of the voice.
"Whoa. It's all right. It's only me." Erik stood before me.
"Erik, what are you doing here?" I asked, suspicious.
He arched an eyebrow. "I could ask you the same."
I tried to ignore the fact that I just encountered Tristan a few minutes earlier, or had my hallucination of him... I could not decide whether it was real enough or simply an illusion. There was something unearthly about him after all.
"I was just taking a walk." I said.
Erik stepped closer and studied my face for a moment then he frowned. "Are you crying?"
"No," I said a little too quickly. I wiped away the evidence from my face and forced a smile.
"You're a bad liar." He scrutinized my face. He reached to touch my face but I hastily jerked away.
"I'm fine," I said, sounding annoyed.
"I know you're not but I won't force you to talk about it," he said. We stood there in silence. I fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, I was taking a walk myself. I needed to get away from everything and think. The least you can do is let me walk you home," he said, with a charming smile.
"Alright," I nodded.
Erik walked silently beside me. I was lost in my thoughts of what unfolded tonight. My mind kept wandering to Tristan. I clutched my chest as if to stop the pain. The crippling pain came piercing through the numb shell I had built around myself. Seeing Tristan again brought it back.
"Gabrielle?" Erik's voice pierced the suffocation of my tormenting thoughts. I looked up to meet Erik's worried eyes. "Are you okay?"
I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. "I'm fine," I lied.
He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. "You're trembling." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a warm embrace. I was too tired to protest. For the first time, I realized I was grateful Erik was there, though I wouldn't admit it. After a moment too long, I finally pulled away.
"It's Tristan..." I trailed off. I realized how stupid I must have sounded. "He was my boyfriend--" I tried to explain but Erik cut me off.
"I know. Your parents told me about him," he said.
"I thought I saw him earlier but it must have been my imagination," I explained.
Erik was silent for a moment. He gave me a sympathetic look. "It must have been your imagination. I mean, you haven't seen him for two years, right?"
"Yeah. I was just being silly." I let out a nervous laugh.
"Come on. It's late." Erik patted my shoulder and led me safely home.


I stepped into the dark house and made a silent way to my room. I was careful not to wake my parents. I changed into my sleeping clothes and slipped under my soft covers. Letting out a soft sigh of relief, I absorbed the warmth of my bed. I had only a minute to relax before images of Tristan rushed through my mind again. The images were not of my Tristan, not the way I had remembered him years ago. It was the inhumanly beautiful version of Tristan, the one who had saved me from the gang earlier. I shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to me if it weren't for Tristan. I wasn't even sure my encounter had been real. I winced as the gash on my arm prickled with pain. My mind was so absorbed in Tristan that I had forgotten. I rolled off the bed and entered my bathroom. I rummaged through the cabinet. Rolling my eyes, I pushed the bottle of anti-depressants out of the way. My parents forced me to take them, though I tossed every pill into the trash when they weren't looking. After Tristan vanished I wasn't quite myself. My mother suggested I seek professional help and kept pestering me about it. I settled for the anti-depressants and pretended to take them. My mother only worried for my well being and my father was simply embarrassed by my gloomy behavior. He didn't want me to twist his image of the perfect family though it was quite the opposite. I scowled.
I finally found what I was looking for. I opened the small container and gently spread the ointment over my cut, to numb the painful sting. Thank God, it wasn't bad enough to need stitches. I placed a Band-Aid over it. Then it hit me. The cut on my arm was proof of what happened tonight. I wasn't sure my savior was Tristan at first until I looked into his cerulean eyes and heard him call me Ellie. He was the only person who had ever called me by that name. Tristan was very much alive. A huge weight was lifted from me. The weight of despair of not knowing what happened to Tristan for two years had crushed me but my heart lifted with relief.
I frowned. Why did Tristan leave without telling me though? He left without so much as a warning. Perhaps, there was a good reason. I tried to reason with myself. Well, he needed to have a good explanation when I would find him again. If I could ever find him again.
I laid back in my soft bed, reveling in the warmth of the sheets. Soon enough, my exhaustion allowed me to drift off to sleep.
"Ellie..." A familiar voice whispered.
Tristan towered over me, watching me with smoldering eyes. He slowly climbed over me and kissed me softly on the lips. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He deepened the kiss and pressed himself against me. I felt his hands caressing the curves of my body and touching places that had never been touched before. I moaned as he pulled away from the kiss. He moved to kiss my neck and trailed down to my chest.
"Tristan..." I moaned aloud as my eyes fluttered open. Dammit. It was only a dream. I drowned in disappointment. The dream had been so vivid and real. I scanned through the darkness of my room. It was still too early to wake so I rolled over onto my side. I clamped my thighs together, trying to ignore the ache between them that the dream had brought. Soon, the darkness took me into it's embrace and a dreamless sleep claimed me.