Of Warmth and Blood

>
> /_Departure_/
> He kissed her on the mouth, and then was gone, as quick as he'd come.
> She heard nothing when he departed and was unsure how he'd even left.
> How could that be? She put on her night dress and started into the
> mirror at the dark haired woman behind it. Not a girl, but a woman
she
> noticed, as her face seemed a bit more aged with dark hair. Gabrielle
> unconsciously held a strand of her own hair in her hand. She chanced
a
> glance down. It was still strawberry, yet in that mirror, it was so
> much longer and raven black.
>
> She sighed and laid down on the bed.
>
> Then, she opened her eyes to find a few things wrong...first of all,
> she was well rested and the clock on her nightstand read 10 am.
> Impossible! Dawn had just neared, after she and Craven had....Craven!
> And where was he?
>
> And her clothes...she was right about her not wearing the lace night
> dress enough...for she did not have it on, upon wakening...she was
> still wearing her gray shorts and tee shirt she'd put on before bed.
> Before bed? Had he appeared HERE, yet in another dream? She felt so
> torn....He should give me a sign she thought, and then, as sure as
the
> sun rose, there it was....a single stem red rose on her nightstand.
> That had not been there before. With trembling hands she picked it
up,
> saw there was a scrip of paper attached to it, in ancient looking
> scrawled writing that was bit tough to decipher, she read the same
> words, somehow she knew they were the same....that he'd spoken to
her.
> The same ones she had not understood at the time and had been sure
> he'd been speaking another language.
>
> Time to do a little research, she thought grimly. It was long overdue
> she find out what that bloody symbol meant, the "V" with the circle
> around it, and this phrase he'd whispered to her just before he'd
> entered her this night.
>