Northern Flower

Chapter 5

     The road was dry and dusty beneath my feet. The hot summer sun beat down on my skin, and my hair grew hot from its rays. I knelt by the roadside to gather a handful of wildflowers to entwine in my hair. A gently breeze blew it back from my forehead.

I heard footsteps on the road behind me and turned to see a young man walking towards me. He carried a crooked staff in his hand, a leather pouch at his side. His face was young and handsome, his shoulders broad and strong. And his smile seemed to light the world. He wore a white silk shirt with short sleeves and black leggings.

"Good morning," he greeted me with a kind, yet tired smile. I nodded in reply. "Or perhaps I should say good afternoon," he replied, his smile broadening. "Could you perchance direct me to the lodging of one Isaac Rowen?"

"Why yes," I replied, "He's my father."

He bent down to help me to my feet, and once our hands touched, our eyes met. His eyes were a kind, grey-blue. The moment was frozen in time. His eyes searched me, sought out my past, delved deep into my secrets. And I let him. They were compelling, beckoning, powerful. Then everything darkened. He pulled me close into his arms and kissed me. And as our lips met, his grip grew strong and violent. He wouldn't let me go. His arms crushed me, squeezing the air from my lungs. My father came running down the road, coming to save me. But Danny shouted out and men sprang up and slew him. My mother was there weeping, and they slit her throat. The men turned to me, and Danny's grip grew stronger. He turned into a werewolf, half wolf, half man, and howled in victory. As he crushed me, I felt my heart shatter like ice into a million dagger shards. Darkness came, I was falling...

I awoke sitting up in my bed, sobbing and gasping. My body shivered violently. Fear clawed at my mind, and terror gnawed a hollow pit inside of me. As my racing heart slowed, I realized it had been only a dream. And as I sat there, huddled in my blankets, arms wrapped around my knees, I saw that my dream had been pieces of my past with Danny rolled into one horrific nightmare.

I stared into the darkness of my room for a long time until my shivering stopped and my breathing was normal again. I curled up in a tight ball, pulled the blankets taught around my frame and drifted off again into troubled slumbers...

Danny held me close in his arms. "I love you, Iris," he whispered, his lips tickling my ear, his breath warm and tantalizing against my skin, "I love you more than you could ever know." It was night now. The moon and stars shone bright in the inky sky. His grip was strong and protective. I pressed in closer to him, not wanting the moment to end. I could feel his heart beat strong and steady, a solid counter rhythm to my racing one. He bent down to kiss me. As our lips met he became a serpent, it's loathsome coils wrapped tightly around me, crushing the life from me. The serpent's venomous fangs bit into my mouth. It began to drink my blood. I screamed and sobbed and screamed again. The world went dark, but I could still feel the coils, the fangs, the life draining from me...

This time I woke to Ivan shaking me.

"Iris! Wake up!"

I was crying uncontrollably, tears streamed down my face. I opened my eyes to see Ivan, face filled with concern. I buried my face in his shoulder and wept.

"I hate him!" I practically screamed through my sobs, "I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!"

"Hate who?" Ivan asked, attempting to calm my rampage, "who do you hate?"

"Danny!" I spat. "He haunts me! He won't let me go! He betrays me! He kills me! Why won't he let me go?! Why!?" I cried and ranted like a little girl for I don't know how long.