Chapter 2
We stood next to the stranger and tried to wake him. Rachel again had the umbrella in hand and stood there fearlessly, poking him with it.
I tried speaking to him, hoping the sound of my voice would wake him up. But all my mutterings of “Hello!” and “Hey you!” fell on seemingly deaf ears.
In frustration, I took the umbrella from Rachel and poked him a little more forcefully in the ribs. He moved a little bit and we responded by jumping back in fear and then repeated that process again, for a couple of times before he finally opened his eyes.
And when he did, my heart skipped a beat; his eyes were green with huge black pupils. He was clearly not one of us. And then as he tried to stand up, I was torn between trying to help him and standing back far enough so if he had the urge to bite me, he couldn’t. Not that I had ever encountered a paranormal creature that had become violent, but even I wasn’t insusceptible to being influenced by the media’s negative depiction of the paranormal. Even though none of them had attacked me or even looked at me funny, horror movies did a good job of scaring me; which was funny since all the paranormal creatures I knew found horror movies offensive and stereotypical. I was pretty sure if they weren’t busy hiding among humans they would have united to form some sort of political party to end misrepresentation of their kind.
I thought the idea alone held merit, and was also hilarious to think about. I could imagine the conversation as a segment on NPR.
I pulled my thoughts back to the man in front of me. Unfortunately, his eyes became unfocused again and he couldn’t get himself up. With a slight moan, he collapsed onto the ground again, unconscious.
“Let’s drag him inside,” Rachel said with a sigh.
“Seriously?”
“Well, we can’t just leave him here.”
“I would.”
“Of course you would, Cameron.”
We went to reach for him when he awoke again, focused his gaze on mine and whispered, “Help me,” before losing consciousness as he clutched his side.
Something about his plea for help made my heart ache. I had a weakness for helping others even to the detriment of myself and so I had Rachel help me move him inside. He was heavy; I would guess about two hundred pounds of solid muscle and he was at least 6’3”. We managed to get him as far into my living room as possible, and then we sat him down softly.
“Well, that’s that,” Rachel said dusting off her hands. She then turned to me and suggested, “Why don’t you give Jackie a call?”
Jackie, why hadn’t I thought of that? Jackie was not only our mayor, but she was the person who kept a record of all sightings of new paranormal arrivals in our town. She would know exactly what we were dealing with and how to help him. As I looked closer, I realized that he had left a trail of dark-red blood from the door to the hall. Gasping, I bent down to where he had touched his side. There was blood there. He was injured. I assumed it was a bullet hole and wondered how we hadn’t noticed it before.
“We need to call Jackie. Now.”
Rachel jumped up for her cellphone and froze in place. I looked at her, startled. She literally looked like she was frozen. Her eyes were empty. Her entire body was still. She was suddenly motionless, as if she were a statue. I grabbed her arm and shook it, “Rachel? Rachel? Are you okay?” She wasn’t moving. She didn’t make eye contact. Her eyes just stared straight ahead. I felt panic rising in my chest.
“She’ll be fine,” came a soft voice from behind me, and I instantly turned around, scared beyond reason.
The man was now sitting up, holding his side. And as I watched, a red glow appeared under his palm, like a burning red charcoal, and then his hand moved away, revealing that the wound he had mere seconds ago was no longer there.
“What did you do to her? What did you do to my friend?” I yelled, backing away from him.
“Your friend is fine. I just need no one, besides you and me, to know I am here. Alive.” He stood up slowly, and I tried to train my eyes elsewhere. His nudity made me highly uncomfortable suddenly. I tried my best to keep my eyes off of his member, but against my control, my eyes kept wandering down there, and I gulped, forcing myself to meet his eyes.
“Listen,” I said drawing my eyes to his, which were regarding me with amusement now, “I don’t know what you are or where you come from, but if you want me to keep your arrival a secret; no problem. Just please, unfreeze my friend.”
He scratched at the short salt and pepper beard that had suddenly appeared on his face and shrugged his shoulders. “If that is what you want.”
Suddenly, Rachel was moving again, but instead of looking at me, she had a blank expression in her eyes as she walked out of the house and away from me. Never looking back. I ran behind her, calling her name.
“Rachel? Rachel! Are you okay? Rachel!” I grabbed her arm, but she just kept on moving as if I were invisible. In a zombie-like state, she shook me off and climbed into her car and drove away without sparing me a parting glance.
I stared at her car for a long moment, watching it disappear down the dirt road that led away from my property. I looked back at my house and instead of feeling fear towards the man waiting for me in there, I felt anger. He was about to pay for whatever he did to my friend.
I marched back up the stairs to my porch, through the doorway and slammed the door shut with a bang.
“What did you do to her?” I demanded, putting my fists on my hips as I faced him. He had been looking around my house, and he stopped to stare at me curiously as I came through the door. Even in my anger, I couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. His lips were full, his cheeks perfectly sculpted. And those eyes of his, an alarming shade of grey, different from the eerie green from before, seemed to undress me as I stood there. My attraction to him was so strong suddenly that I had to struggle to remember why I was so angry. Focusing, I glared at him waiting for a response, hoping he didn’t notice that my body was a traitor.
“Nothing. I did nothing to your friend. I just needed her to leave. So I told her to go home.”
“Told her?” I shook my head in confusion, “What are you?” I asked at last.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m a warlock.”
Ten minutes later, I had found a towel, and he was wrapped in it. He sat on my couch looking around and then stood up and started perusing my pictures. Picking one up at a time, he studied pictures of my parents and my friends. I had the mantle covered with pictures of my travels and excursions. I had been quite the adventurer in my early twenties, and into a few extreme sports before I started working full-time from home as a travel writer. I wondered what he thought of all my photos and I watched with interest as his towel rode dangerously low on his hips. I couldn’t see how he was keeping it up. Actually, I knew exactly how, and as a result I was even more determined to keep my eyes above his waist.
“You’ve traveled many places.” He commented, turning around just to glance at me, before turning back and studying the pictures closely. I realized then that his eyes weren’t actually only gray. When they weren’t the eerie green color, they were almost a bluish gray, the color of a clear, cloudless summer day, and I found myself drawn into his gaze.
He took his time to address me again, “You have a very nice home. I’ve never seen one like it, but then again, I’m not from these parts.”
I raised my brows and sat down on my couch. It was clear now that he wasn’t making any plans to leave. In fact, he seemed right at home. And frankly, as long as he didn’t plan to turn me into a mouse or something equally humiliating like a snail, I wasn’t in a rush for him to leave. Something about his presence made me curious. I just hoped Rachel would be fine, given the spell he used on her.
“Don’t worry, I have no interest in harming you. And the spell I placed on your friend will wear off in a matter of minutes, although, she’ll have no memory of me.” He said reading my mind.
It was disconcerting. “If you’re going to insist on touching my things and violating my space, the least you can do is stay out of my head.”
He looked at me with amusement again and smiled. I liked his smile. “My apologies.”
I nodded in acknowledgement, not wanting to think about what his smile combined with him walking around my home in a towel was doing to me, “So what happened to you? Why don’t you want anyone to know you’re here? We’re not like other towns. We’re used to your kind.”
“My kind?” He said, gazing at me again, his eyes were almost hypnotic.
“Yes. There are a lot of paranormal beings who live here with the rest of us in harmony. We don’t have issues with each other. I assure you; we’re not the fire and pitchforks kind of town. You could go flying away on a broomstick and we wouldn’t even notice. Not that you would ride on a broomstick... ” My voice trailed off and I was aware that I was speaking gibberish.
“Someone in your town knew that I was arriving and is trying to kill me. I don’t want him or her to know that I survived.”
I shook my head, so that explained the wound. “It can’t be someone here,” I said defensively. “That’s just not like us. I mean come on, we let vampires teach school children; why would one of us hurt a warlock?”
He shrugged, “I’m not sure, but I intend to find out.”
“Ok then,” I said feeling annoyed that he thought one of my fellow townies was capable of harming him, “Well, you’re a warlock, so I’m sure you have all this handled. Can you leave now?”
“I’m staying here.” He said it matter-of-factly as if it were the most obvious choice.
My eyes grew wide. “Excuse me?”
“I’m staying here. It’s the easiest way to stay hidden.”
“No!” I said, sputtering, “This is my home. And you are not welcomed here. Someone’s trying to kill you for God’s sake! They might kill me!”
“I’ll keep you protected.”
“You couldn’t even keep yourself protected.” I retorted hotly.
“You have a point, but I need a place to hide. I don’t really have anyone else to turn to. Will you help me, Cameron? I am desperate, and my powers are limited until I am completely healed.” He moved slowly toward me and I retreated further into the cushions of the couch. He sat down next to me and his towel did nothing to conceal the way his thigh muscles flexed when he sat. He then placed his forearms on his legs and folded his hands together. His hands were large, manly and calloused. I wondered how they would feel on my body.
I pulled my thoughts away from that train of thought and sat up straight, hoping to move away from him. He caught my hand and said, “No, please stay. Please.”
It was the second please that made me reconsider, and I sat back down on the opposite end of the couch, needing room. I couldn’t stand being so close to him. There was something about him besides his looks that excited me too much.
“That bullet that I pulled out of my flesh is made from a particular precious metal.” He said, suddenly turning over his palm and showing me something that looked like a red stone. I studied it and looked up at him, giving him permission with my eyes for him to continue, “It will only harm my kind, but do nothing to humans. That’s how I know it was personal, the bullet was meant for me. Made for me, even.”
My eyes trained on the area where his wound had been only minutes ago. It had healed over leaving a scar on his otherwise perfect skin.
“So what do you suggest I do until then? Until you find this would-be assassin?”
“Isn’t it obvious? We can play house. I’ll be your doting husband, and you’ll be my wife.”