Crimson Dreams

When the car came to stop at my house I looked around for Satan. I didn't see him anywhere but that didn't mean he wasn't waiting. I walked to the front door with my ears straining to hear his approach. I heard the car door shut behind just as I heard his footsteps coming from around back of the house. I heard a low growl coming from the left side of the house at the same time heard Vlad start hissing from within the house.

"No." I called out.

Hayden stopped walking towards and then looked behind him. He turned back to me with a confused look. He should have heard them if I did but the look on his face said clearly he thought I was talking to him.

"Do you not want me to stay?" He asked.

I shook my head and opened the door before turning back to him. He still hadn't moved and I am sure he was filing me away in that crazy people file. I held my hand up to him when he opened his mouth to say something more.

"You two come out and meet my new friend."

Satan stepped out from around the house and Hayden actually jumped as if he hadn't heard him there. Vlad stalked out the house and rubbed his body against my legs. I bent down and picked him up before walking to Satan. I held my hand out to Satan and he came to my side. He looked at Hayden like he was a steak and dinner had just been served. I could feel the growls coming from Vlad in my arms.

"Be nice. Both of you."

"I don't think that dog likes me too much."

"They both don't but they really don't like anyone so it's okay. They won't attack you unless I tell them to."

"Are you sure?" He pointed to Satan. "He doesn't look like he wants to listen to you."

"But he will." I pushed Satan in the direction of Hayden while yelling at him to behave in my head.

Satan took one last look at me over his shoulder and than strolled over to Hayden. To his credit, Hayden didn't flinch or back away. He didn't look secure but he didn't back down. Satan sniffed his pants leg before nodding it with his head. I sat Vlad down and the cat stalked over and rubbed against Hayden’s leg.

"Told you." I said in a chipper tone. It was almost like they had heard my yelling at them in my head. "Come on in. They know you so you are good now." I started back towards the house. "Are you staying outside Satan or are you coming in?" I asked as Vlad darted into the house.

Satan didn't answer verbally thank God. Had he done so, I would have fainted. Instead he nudged my hand with his head before running off behind the house. Guess he was staying outside.

"You talk to your animals?" Hayden asked as we stepped through the door.

"I have no one else to talk to." I shrugged. "If they start talking back to me then I am going to charge them rent."

We both laughed as I showed him the way to the guest room where he sat down three black duffle bags. I took him on a short tour of the house while letting him know that every curtain in the house was black out so that no sunlight could get through. Seeing how I slept through the day mostly it came in handy.

"One rule." I pointed out while turning to him. "Make that two."

"Okay."

"I am off the menu. No biting or even thinking of biting me." I held up one finger as he snorted.

"I assure you I can abide by that rule."

"Don't hunt in this area. Go about four or five miles out." I held up another finger. "And don't bring them here."

"That's three." His lips curled up in a seductive smile that almost made me forget this man was here to kill me.

"I told you I didn't get to go to schools."

"So you did." He chuckled. "Mind if I go to bed than?"

"Not at all. I was headed there myself."

He didn't say anything but walked to the guest room. I waited for the guest room to close and heard him lock the door. I snorted at the thought of him locking me out like I was going to do anything to him. Or like I couldn't get through that locked door.

Vlad was sitting at my feet so I bent down and scooped him up into my arms. I kissed head before I started walking to my room.

"Let me know if he leaves." I whispered lightly before setting him down and walking into my room.

Once in my room I closed the door before I started removing clothes. I picked up the pajama set I had put on earlier but then I recalled Alex saying something about it being seductive and decided I was not trying to send that message. Instead I put on some lounge pants and a t-shirt about three sizes to big. I opened my other closest to throw my dirty clothes in there until I could wash them only to come up short. There were boxes in the closest and each was labeled "Ethan's Shit". I smiled and started pulling the boxes out.
After I had the boxes out the closest I opened my bedroom door back up and started throwing them out into the hallway. There were seven boxes all together. From clothes to toiletries and even some stuffed animals that looked like they could have been gifts to me through out our "relationship". I decided then and there that if I ever got a chance to dump a serious boyfriend and had to get his stuff out of my house it would all just be thrown across the lawn. He could come and box it all up on his own.

I picked up a box of clothes and chunked it towards the door without looking. I heard it thunk into something that sounded softer than the wall but harder than the other boxes. I looked up to see Hayden standing there smiling. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his body was glistening wet. His abs were that flawless slope that you only find in magazines or your imagination. He had that six pack that every woman turns to look at and his pants hung low enough I could tell there was nothing under those jeans. This man was why the word sexy was created.

"I thought there was fighting going on in here." He said plainly.

"Umm...” I forced myself to look back at his face as I tried to make my voice catch up to my mind. "I told Ethan I would have his shit outside on the porch." I finally settled for the lame excuse.

"Would you like some help or would you rather throw the stuff around and keep the house up for hours?" He asked.

"It would go a lot faster if I had help." Mostly, I just wanted to see those muscles work. The man may be here to kill me but I am a woman. Looking was allowed.

I watched the muscles ripple and his skin pull tight over them as he picked up two boxes at once. When he stood and looked at me I quickly picked up a box of my own. I watched him make his way through the house with me close behind. His muscles moving and flexing with each step and turn until he placed the boxes on the porch. He turned back to me, took the box I was holding and set it on top of the other two. I saw one of my neighbors staring out her window at Hayden. He didn't seem to notice as he walked back into the house to get more boxes. I shot her a menacing glare before turning to follow him.

After all the boxes were set out on the porch and I thanked him we both returned to our rooms. I was lying in bed trying to force myself to sleep but my body was hyper aware that there was a gorgeous man in the room across the hall from me. I tried to keep reminding myself that he was here to kill me or take me back to my father. Why were all the good looking guys the bad guys?


The dream started as any normal dream would have. First I was a child again and I was running through the woods trying to catch my friend while laughed. Then we were standing in front of an abandoned house and she was telling me all the scary legends this house held. She was telling me about a man who used to live there and would drink the blood of anyone who went into his house. She told me how their bodies were found days later in an empty field behind the house. She was daring me go into the house alone. I had accepted her challenge and went into the house.

As soon as I stepped through the door the dream changed so that I was entering a bedroom and I was sixteen again. The bed was made with soft pillows adorning the head. The sheets were black satin and the comforter was blue with golden leaves. The curtains were red outlined with gold trim. I ran my hand along the foot of the bed before climbing onto it. It was soft and cradled my body like a glove. This was Nathan's room. Images of the nights I had spent in this room with Nathan flashed across the dream. I saw him above me while I cried in pain as he took me. I seen him laughing as he pulled that tape recorder out.

The bathroom door to the left of the bed opened and a man stepped out. I was twenty one and no longer on Nathan's bed. I was in my home I shared with Ethan on my own bed. I didn't need to see the man to know who he would be. He was now sitting on the foot of the bed. His hands were on my shoulders as he pressed me back against the bed. He wasn't on top of me but he was shaking me and calling my name. Someone else was in the room with us. I put my hand up to stop Hayden as I tried to find the one in the room.

Hayden wouldn't stop shaking me. He kept distracting me from the person. I was looking right at the intruder but I could not see who it was. I seen the intruder hold his hand out to me and I screamed in pain. He was hurting me but I couldn't even see who he was. I screamed out and called him a coward. All I heard was his laughing as he came closer to the bed. He was only a black shadow to me. I couldn't see anything about him. His hand stroked my cheek with one finger that sent a chill down my spine.

"You won't win this." He said before he disappeared.

That’s when I became aware that this was a dream. Reality came back in bits and pieces. I heard someone moaning and someone else was saying my name frantically. The hands on my shoulders were shaking me and something soft was in my hand. Slowly I noticed it was me who was moaning and Hayden was shaking and calling my name. I squeezed my hand around that softness and felt it move. Vlad. My eyes finally opened and I was looking into Hayden’s deep blue eyes.

He stopped shaking me and leaned back so I could see his whole face. His hands were on his knees and Vlad licked my finger. I wiggled my fingers and toes before twitching my arms and legs. Everything worked and I was awake now.

"You scared the crap out of me." Hayden said.

"I was dreaming."

"I didn't know that until I came in here."

"Why did you come in here?" It was a belated question but it needed an answer.

"Get dressed and come to the living room." He stated. "It's not proper to be in a lady’s room when that lady is not yours." He left the room and closed the door behind him.

He was old that’s for sure. In this day and age it was not uncommon for a "lady" to have three or four men in her room that she was not sleeping with. I would have to find out his age. He was powerful enough so I paced him around Marco and Polo’s age. But his more modern terminology knocked him down by a decade or two. Guess I could always ask.

I put on some jeans and a long sleeve baby doll shirt. It was already dark outside but I had forgotten to get a clock for the house so I didn't know the exact time. I put that on my to-do list as I splashed cold water on my face and tried to recall my dream. What could I have possibly dreaming about that brought him into the room. I remembered the dream but I didn't see how any of it would have him waking me up.


The TV was on but the volume was so low that a human would not have heard it. I couldn't even hear it until I walked into the room. Hayden was sitting on the couch closest to the door with a book in his hands. The dust cover was gone so I couldn't see what he was reading. I sat down on the ottoman across from where he was seated. His legs were tucked under him and he set his book down on them. I pulled my legs up to my chest and rested my head on my knees while my arms wrapped around my legs.

"Thanks for waking me up."

"I didn't have much of a choice." He said.

"So what happened?"

"I wasn't the one dreaming." His voice was questioning but his face was blank.

"I was with a friend from my childhood. I don't even remember her name. She wanted me to go into this creepy old house. Then I was older with a different friend. Some of our times together flashed across the dream." I avoided as much detail about Nathan as I could. "I think I became subconsciously aware that you were trying to wake me up and I started coming out the dream." There was something else but I couldn't remember what it was. It seemed important but the more I focused on that part of the dream the more it slipped away. "That's all I can remember."

"I was sitting in here reading when I heard you moaning." He paused and looked away from me. "I turned the TV. on to drown out the sound. Then you started whimpering. I figured you had fallen back into crying over all this with your boyfriend and Alex." He looked back at me. "Then you called out something that got my attention. You started screaming before yelling 'Hayden he is in the room'. I thought you were under attack so I came into the room. Imagine my surprise to find no one in your room and you asleep." He shrugged his shoulders before continuing on. "I was just going to leave the room but then you started raking your finger nails down your face and across your arms while screaming in pain. That cat shot between my legs and into your bed so I decided it would be a better idea to wake you up. And here we are." He finished.

I let everything set in. I had called to Hayden for help? Why? There was nothing really threatening in the dream. That nagging voice in the back of my mind kept telling me there was something I was forgetting about the dream but I couldn't seem to focus on it. Something happened after Nathan and it must have been threatening for me to call out for help. And why would I hurt myself in my sleep.

"It doesn't make sense." I finally said aloud.

"You're telling me?"

"Not that. It doesn't make sense that I can't find anything threatening in the dream but yet I know there was."

"How do you know?"

"That gut feeling."

"I don't know what to tell you on that one." He said in a flat tone.

He stood up and stretched before picking his book up and going to the guest room. I heard the door shut and lock behind him. I needed to find an excuse to leave. I needed to talk to Marco or Polo and tell them about this and Hayden. I also needed to go to class tonight. It was Thursday and as far as I knew I was still holding the Ashley act. I had just decided I would call Marco when I went to school later on tonight when Hayden came back out the room wearing all black and his trench coat again.

"I gotta go out to eat. I will keep rule number two in mind." He said.

"Are you coming back?" I heard the words come out my mouth but I don't remember thinking them.

"I wish to speak to you about that but it will have to be later. For now I am famished and really need to feed or else rule number one will be broken."

"Okay." He started walking towards the front door. "I have class tonight so I may not be here when you return but I will be back." He stopped at the door.

"I would hope so. It is your home." He stated before opening the door and walking out into the night.

I waited until I was sure he was gone before getting up and gathering my school books. I couldn't remember what class I was taking tonight and I couldn't find my schedule but I did remember the time and what classroom. I threw all my books in the back pack before throwing it over my shoulder. I was in the middle of setting the alarm when I remembered that Hayden didn't have the code. Nor did he have a key. There went home security. Not that anyone could get around Satan but a habit is a habit. I settled for leaving the house unlocked and not setting the code.

I tossed my books into the passenger seat and hopped in behind it. According to my watch I was running early for school but I had wanted to stop and call Marco. I sped through town like someone running from the cops until I reached campus. Didn't want to scare my class mates did I? I sat in the car and called Marco. He answered on the second ring and I started explaining everything. I told him about the dream and everything I knew about Hayden. I had him put some eyes on the hospital to watch out for the kids and cancel my appointments with any and all of Alex's people.

He informed me that two more bodies had turned up and three more women had been kidnapped. Each female was between the ages of twenty and thirty and the more recent ones had families. He also informed me that the demons are now publicly announcing that Alex's line was making a dent in their population. Their main argument was that only a powerful vampire could have killed some of the demons that had turned up dead and therefore it had to be someone under Alex's command.

With a promise to call as soon as I could and a word of caution to me from Marco the call ended. I thought I would have felt relieved to have talked to one of them but I really didn't. I actually felt emptier. I was starting to feel like I would never have my own life. Everything I had done through my life was done for an assignment or a case. I couldn't have a normal relationship because I felt nothing physically when it came to men. I loved a man that tore my world apart and then laughed and no one would ever take his place. I should really go see a shrink.

I laughed out loud as I got out my car. The thought of me telling my life to a shrink was funny. I could see myself now telling a human that I was mixed breed of vampire, demon and human and I was the trained killer for a sexy vampire that I have had a crush on for a long time. His demon friend took my virginity on tape and laughed at me but I am still in love with him. When I try sleeping with someone I feel nothing at all and just fake it and move on. Now a vampire was out to kill me and demons may be stealing the women who have been kidnapped to recreate me. Oh and I have a sexy killer in my house who has been sent to kill me. That would earn me a long vacation on some serious meds in a padded cell. I was still smiling at the thought when I walked into my class room and took an empty seat in front of a computer.


I walked into the house with my back pack slung sloppily over my shoulder. For three hours I sat there and listened to the teacher drone on and on about what program did what on a computer and how to use it. By the time I finished this class I wasn't going to want to sit in front of another computer so long as I live. Right now I was tired and my brain hurt. The sight of Hayden reclined in the chair with his feet up on the ottoman and Vlad sitting in his lap pulled me up short.

I was struck by how close this was to what I wanted. A normal life where I came home to a husband I loved and pleasured me in the bedroom. I wanted a normal life I didn't know about the demons and vampires and their constant wars. I wanted my belly to be round and plump with my first child while I ran around feeding our animals. But that wasn’t the life I chose when I was sixteen and Alex gave me my options. I chose the life where the man I came home too was sent to kill me. I felt no pleasure in the bedroom and I knew of vampires and demons and their wars of unimportant things. My belly wasn't plump with child and I couldn't even allow myself the thought of one for fear it would be killed before it started. I had pets to feed now but they were more of guardians from the monsters. This is what I was stuck with and it was taking its toll on me.

"Thank you for leaving the door unlocked."

"I didn't think about you not having a key or the alarm code until you left."

"I would have sat outside and waited for you."

He had changed his clothes. He was wearing blue sweat pants and a black wife-beater. He also had on a pair of white tennis shoes. I dropped my back pack at the door with a loud plunk before flopping down on the couch and looking to the TV.

"Bad night at school?" he asked flippantly.

"I never want to see a computer again in my life. And this was my first class."

"What are you studying?"

"Computer Tech."

He laughed and when I looked at him he was shaking his head.

"You wanted to talk?" I asked more lightly than it felt.

"Well I have a proposition for you."

"Okay."

"As I have told you; I am running from my master. I can't use credit cards and I can't access my bank account without letting him know where I am. Normally I wait until I am leaving a city and pull out some cash before running to a different city far away. Some," He paused as if searching for the right words. "Things have come up in the city I was headed to next and it isn't safe for me to leave here yet."

"So you wanted to ask if you could stay with me."

"Yes but I will pull my own. It should only be for a few more weeks at the most. I can cook and clean and take care of the animals."

I couldn't help myself from laughing. He was looking at me with reproach etched in his face. It took three tries before I regained my composure and started controlling my laughter.

"I'm sorry." My voice was strained with trying to hold back my laughter. "When you said something about cooking I pictured you in my kitchen with a red apron on and flour on your cheek." I fell into another fit of laughter but this time I wasn't alone. He was laughing with me. I guess he had found that funny too.

When we finally sobered from our laughing I took a deep breath and looked back at him.

"I was going to ask you to stay myself. Figured you were nice enough to stay in a stranger’s house because she was having a mental break down the least I could do is save you from having to rent hotel rooms every night." I pictured him in that apron again and started giggling. "No need to cook or wear aprons though. But making sure the animals are fed sounds like a fair deal to me."

"Is the apron thing another rule?" His lips curled into a smile with a show of fang. I couldn't help but notice how perfect his teeth were. All vampires had nice teeth but his were perfect.

"Yeah."

"Thank you Alex. You are a very gracious person." He looked to the floor before looking back up to me. "You'll make up with that vampire. I don't think he really wants to loose you but more likely scare you into behaving."

"At the moment he is the last thing on my mind." I snorted as I stood up. "I got some reading to do. If you need anything than let me know."

He nodded and pulled his own book out. I went to my room and flopped down on my bed with my book. But I didn't start reading it right away. I let my thoughts drift to the man sitting in my living room. Funny how he was sent to kill me but I was more myself around him. I wasn't playing a character for him but rather giving him my true self. I have never just been myself around anyone since Nathan. After him I became more guarded and was more careful about how much anyone knew about me. It must be because I knew I was going to kill him and he would take his knowledge of me to his grave.

I sighed and opened my book. I was already half way through it but decided to start over. I didn't want to know the ending yet. I wanted to bury myself in the main characters life and pretend it was mine. I lived my sex life vicariously through these characters. She made them so real that I felt what they felt. More than likely I just longed for the things you could read about in books but it was still nice to pretend and escape for a few hours.