Rue

Chapter One

PRESENT DAY

Huh...... it’s a full moon tonight he mused he glanced up at the starless sky.
He had never seen the moon so big and bright as it looked tonight. Funny how he walked this path every night and had never taken the time to notice the little things. He didn't mean to sound cliché but us humans didn’t seem to appreciate what we have until it was gone. He shook his head with a mental scoff, as if he remembered what it was like to be human, he hadn't been human in a long time.....not since that night.

He looked up at the moon again and marveled at its beauty once more. How simple he’d thought it would have been back then. A sudden breeze rustled the collar of his leather jacket, drawing him from his thoughts. He should not have been able to feel it but the chill that raced up his spine and seemed to wake up his usually still heart was very real and it had his head subtlety swerving. His pace never changed and if anyone was looking in his direction they would not notice the change in him but he was now very aware of his surroundings. Centuries of practice and training had fine tuned his skills. It took him a moment to figure out his surroundings. His dark thoughts of the past had drawn his mind inward but thanks to years of walking the same route, his legs had taken him in the right direction. He had only to take the next corner and he would be home. He opened his enhanced senses and finally noticed what had caused his unease. The night had gone un-naturally still.

Too silent for this time. Shadow Creek was not the busiest of towns because it was filled with mostly retirees, but now as he stood barely under the streetlight he knew something was wrong. He swiveled his head and shrouded his face in a complete mask of boredom all the while scanning the area for anything that seemed out of place, he was just about to round the corner when he smelt it. The metallic scent of blood tinged the air, but that was not what almost brought him to his knees and had his gums throbbing, but the subtle hints of oranges that came with it. No it couldn’t be. The wind kicked up and seemed to curl tendrils of the scent around his nostrils which began to flare. His mouth went dry. If his heart could still beat it would- right out of his chest.

Tirian became aware of a distant humming, she couldn't quite place where it was coming from but wherever it was it was loud and annoying. Tentatively she opened her eyes but had to shut them immediately when bright lights nearly blinded her. Ugh.......did i leave the window open again, she thought to herself.
Tirian searched her memory, come to think of it she couldn’t really remember anything from last night. All she remembered was the weird lady who claimed she was a psychic telling her to be careful on her way to meet Jessica at the bar. It had freaked her out enough that she couldn't shake the feeling of dread off the rest of the day. Maybe she had drunk too much and her memory was shoddy. It wouldn’t be the first time. it wasn’t that she was some kind of alcoholic it was just that lately she’d been feeling as if she was missing something in her life and apparently it had been showing, so her best friend Jessica decided that she was tired of seeing her moping around and for the last few weekends had been taking her out drinking. Her, at least waking up in what seemed to be a bed was a miracle in itself.
Ok let’s try this again. She slowly eased her eyes open and forced her eyes to adjust to the jarring light. If her throat wasn’t raw and her body wasn’t aching she would have screamed but as her limbs didn't seem to be taking any calls at the moment her only reaction to the dark brown eyes hovering over her head was a slight jerk of her neck which sent a sharp jab to her brain that had her wincing. Tirian didn’t know what to make of the face blocking her view. She tried to rack her brain to remember what had happened last night. But came up blank.
“If you’re done staring at me I’d like to ask you some questions”
His rough voice seemed to soothe her pounding head.

“Can you get up?”

Tirian wiggled her toes under the covers.
“Yes, I think”

She glanced at the large scarred hand with hesitation. She didn’t know this guy at all but something inside of her was telling her she could trust him. So with great care she slid her hand into his and swung her legs over the bed. As soon as their skin made contact a shock traveled up her arm.
Her eyes shot to his and she could see that he had felt it too but before she could comment on it he blinked and whatever she had seen vanished.
She stumbled when she finally stood and he quickly caught her around the waist. As soon as her feet was stable under her he dropped his hands as if they had caught fire and flew across the room. Tirian blinked, he was really fast. She continued to watch him to see if he did anything out of the ordinary again but nothing happened. Hmmmm……maybe it was a symptom of the hangover.