Phantom Hearts

Chapter 1 Mystery Man

 Chapter 1

           Ashlynn dove her 1957 Chevy along the winding country road. The windows were cranked all the way down, and she enjoyed the scent of summer, as it rushed over her cheeks and combed through her long brown hair. She watched the trees and the corn fields slip by, not really seeing them. She was a million miles away, caught on a feeling she couldn't shake.

                                  It wasn't easy being a vampire and keeping it a secret.

                                  It wasn't easy being a vampire and living as an eighteen year old for close to two hundred years.

                                  And, it definitely, wasn't easy being a  teenager in the twenty-first century.

She was losing sleep. Sleep wasn't necessary as a vampire, but she found that if she forced herself to lay down and relax every night, it was a great way to organize her thoughts and pick apart problems. The feeling that had come over her recently however, was a feeling of expectation, like something was about to happen; a sort of premonition. The only problem was;  she had no idea, or clue, what her subconscious was picking up on. It was definitely a problem and it was starting to mess with her head.

                                  It was annoying.

As a vampire, she was used to having extra sensitive senses. There wasn't much that could surprised her. She usually heard it, smelled it, or saw it, long in advance. She was used to being able anticipate any possible obstacle or threat, but that wasn't the case this time. Whatever this was, she couldn't see it coming, and she was afraid it would come out of nowhere and hit her right between the eyes.

Ashlynn rested her hand over her chest and felt a pang of exquisite sadness at the complete silence of her motionless, phantom heart. When she'd been alive, the beating had never seemed remarkable. She'd completely taken it for granted, and now, it was the thing she missed about herself the most.

Static on the radio, brought her eyes to the dash. She reached over and spun the dial, hoping to bring back the oldies music she'd been listening to. She flipped through three stations and there was nothing. Just static. She was about to attempt to tune in a fourth station when a figure in the road ahead caught the corner of her eye. She stepped hard on the brakes, laying twin strips of rubber down on the road, as she slid to an abrupt stop, merely inches from a guy who  was standing in the middle of the road.

As the Chevy's grill skidded to a stop inches from the guy;s knees, he put his hand on the hood and looked up apologetically, through the windshield at Ashlynn. The first thing she noticed was he didn't appear freaked out by the fact that he nearly got hit by a car. The second thing she noticed was that he seemed familiar to her.

     "What in the hell are you doing?" She yelled out the window, taking the opportunity to pull his scent into her nose. She was relieved to find that he wasn't also a vampire. She didn't like running into others. She knew most vampires liked to form families or covens, for protection. She wasn't interested. She did fine on her own.

     "I need a ride," he replied, stepping around the front of the car and making his way to the driver's side window.

     "What you need, is to get the fuck out of the middle of the road. I almost killed you."

     "Sorry about that, I didn't want to miss you."

     "Mission accomplished." She glanced up at him feeling the sensation of expectation heighten. Who was this guy?