57: Heart Of The Old Country

*“Hazel.” Gabriel’s voice wakes me up.

I crack my eyes open to spot him standing beside the bed, bare chested, looking down at me.

My fantasies back at it again. I can see the motions happening, but unable to get myself to move. He whips the blankets off me, with a quick look down I can see that I’m wearing what I went to sleep in.

One knee on the bed just beside my hip, a hand next to my shoulder followed by the other knee and hand that trap me underneath him. The welcoming weight of him on top of me is comforting and against all better judgement, I nuzzle my face into his chest and take a deep breath of him in. He seems so real and the sting of his absence eats at me even though it’s an absence I wanted.

“I’ve missed you.” He says in my ear. “Come to me Hazel. You know where.”

I ignore how his words don’t make sense. Missed me? This is a dream, a memory, a fantasy. There’s no feelings behind this and definitely no hidden messages. I let his mouth leave a trail of kisses that creep up my arm, go down my jawline and come to a stop at the crook of my neck.

The soft touch of his lips are replaced with the sharp scrap of his fangs before they plunge into my flesh.*

I bolt up in bed groping my neck. The pain from the bite is incredibly real. Just residual feelings, kinda like a nightmare. It sticks with you afterwards. But this is more than sticking. The room starts to spin as I stare down at my hand, my hand that’s stained with blood. What the hell is happening to me?

There’s no going back to bed. In fact, the bed feels scary and is the last place I want to be, so I get dressed and head to work. Horrifically desirable dreams can’t harm me there. I take extra time to cover my fresh wound as best I can. If Gretchen or Monty catch sight of this they’ll think Gabriel’s back...that I took him back.

Would I? I groan with a mixture of self hatred. I just keep tearing myself apart.

When I arrive at the shop I don’t linger and chat and I don’t dare look them in the eye. They have a way of knowing things when you look them in the eye. And today of all days everything seems to be written right on my face. All my problems building and building and building. They’re nearly at the brim, ready to spill over.

It's been a month. A month of weird dreams, but not a single word of news. No peep about vampires coming out of the coffin. No sighting of Gabriel...well no physical sighting that my own mind didn’t procure.

Did the ritual go to plan? Did they even do the ritual? A chill runs down my back as I remember those ghostly hands. They had to have done it, right?

“Are you okay?”

I immediately become embarrassed from my client noticing my wandering attention or sensing my torment. “Yeah. Sorry. Rough night.” My hands rubs at my forehead, smoothing out the frown lines that pucker my brows.

Melinda, my first palm reading client is the best customer someone could have. She’s too nice and completely oblivious. “And I’m just making it worse.” She glances at her fitbit. “Not to mention I’ve been here almost an hour after our scheduled appointment talking your ear off.”

“No it’s fine.” I claim, but she still stands up and swings her purse over her shoulder.

“Really. You’re just so great and easy to talk to. I will be here next week and you should book my slot as a double.” She winks at me as she steps out into the shop.

“And remember, just let things play out and it will all fall into place. You can’t force the future and you can’t stop it either.” My words resonate with me just as much as they do her. Who is supposed to be reading who? “See ya Melinda.”

“Bye Hazel.”

I’m seconds away from going back into my room to sit with my thoughts when Monty’s voice fills the shop. “Holy hell.” She bellows from her room. “Uh, Hazel, you should see this.”

I set out to see what’s so important or not so important. My feet falter as I hear the TV before I step inside to see the screen. A familiar news voice speaks with deep concern and intrigue. But as the words are said my mind goes blank.

“A man by the name of Phillip Fairswale is claiming to be the oldest vampire alive and admitted to having several hundred thousand vampire subjects that are among the population. We now go live where one of our reporters is awaiting his formal statement.” The screen cuts from in studio to an unfamiliar street with an unfamiliar building in the background.

The block is filled with reporters and people vying for a glance at a supposed vampire. The wide shot then zooms in on none other than Phillip. My breath hitches in my throat at the sight of him in the high noon sun with Gabriel at his side.

Apparently, they did do the spell and it worked. The sting of self-pity burns even hotter as I think about all my hard work that isn’t worthy of a thank you.

“Where is he?” Monty mutters.

“Heart of the Old Country.” My numb mouth replies.

“You’ve been there?” She twists around to peer at me.

“No.” But I just know where he is. I can feel it. Ah hell, this can’t be good.

Phillip’s lips part and a perfectly rehearsed speech spews from his mouth and Monty’s attention is pulled away from me. I back out of the room refusing to look at the screen any longer, to see Gabriel next to Brooklyn, each of them with a smile on their face proud of the work they’ve done. They’ve done, not me.

And even though I want nothing to do with them it still hurts. It hurts that he just gave up on me. And it hurts even admitting that.

Monty doesn’t notice my departure because her eyes are fixated on the TV eager to hear what he has to say. I can see sappy losers falling love with him, desperate nobodies longing to become one of his minions, and hateful non-believers striving to bring him down.

My own eyes scan the screen one more time going straight to Gabriel. For a second his stunning smile falters and it seems as if he were staring right back at me, sensing my turmoil, but that can’t be.

He can’t see me. He can’t see me, I chant in my head fighting back unwanted fantasies that are mixed with chest stabbing agony from his deception. Flashbacks of my too real dreams taunt me. And the very real destruction that I witnessed in the dream realm only adds to my horror.

This is the start of the end. I wish I knew how long it took for the refusal and hatred of vampires to spread to the point of no return, to the point of destruction. I wish I knew when they were going to do this so I wasn’t caught off guard, completely mortified at work.

The rest of the day goes by with chatter of vampire this and vampire that. Humans are intrigued and fearful, but not as fearful as demizens. We’re terrified. Will he bring about the recognition of others? Will he call out witches and werewolves and demons and whoever else? Will groups of demizens take his lead and come out as well?

“Hey.” A sweet voice from behind me startles me so much I nearly jump. “Hey, it’s just me. Are you okay? I came over as soon as I could after listening to that vamp and his speech on the TV. Everyone is going crazy.” Avery chimes.

“Yeah, fine.” I say, but she sees right through me.

“Are you?” Avery isn’t fooled by my lies. She knows better than anyone that the vampire she saw on TV was Phillip and the loyal vampire at his side was Gabriel.

“I’m fine.” I say more confidently. There’s no way I’m telling her about my recurring dreams. It’s better to try to convince her of my well being than the actuality of me crumbling.

Her face squints with anger. “I never saw his face until today but he definitely looks like a prick.” She says trying to make me feel better. “And don’t even get me started on his little minion. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“Thanks.” I want to believe her words, I mean do believe her words, but still...

“Hey...Avalos and Quinn and I are going out for dinner tonight. You should come. Get out for a bit and don’t let this vampire drama bring you down. You’ve done nothing but work all day and all night and stay at home the few hours in between. You’re becoming worse than me.” She teases.

My smile doesn’t reach my eyes. “I don’t know.”

She eyeballs me, “You’re safer in a crowd than by yourself. Come on. He isn’t going to show his face in a crowded restaurant, plus tons of people have seen him with a vampire so he’ll reel in a boat load of attention and we can sneak away.” She obviously has put a lot of thought into this.

“Okay, fine.” I reply in a robotic tone. Why not go out on the very night that Phillip announced his existence to the world? I mean, I did succeed...in doing something horrible, but I could’ve killed the entire population.

Avery rattles off the time and name of the restaurant, which is only blocks from my apartment. But even I can sense that she thinks I’ll ditch, so she backtracks on her words and says she’ll pick me up, forcing me to keep my promise. The last thing I need right now is to be alone, so I give her a more convincing smile.

Maybe a few drinks will keep my mind blank tonight.