Near Hood River, Oregon (Present)
The dream about Paul's death woke Serenity with a start from her slumber in a small train car headed towards Hood River. It had been her desire to have her first book signing there, safe inside the old, enchanted town, far enough away from Santa Carla. However, the nightmare raised her from what should have been a peaceful sleep to question everything that had happened thus far. She wasn't the young girl she had been in the dream, and her wrists, from what she could see in the darkness, looked unscathed. Then again, who could tell about that part when her body was self-regenerating? Either way, the pictures that still unfolded before her eyes from the dream left her head pounding and her vision blurry. There was no way she was going to shut her eyes again and relive the nightmare.
Instead she decided that a nightcap in the dining car might be better. Maybe a hot chocolate with some Peppermint schnapps might do the trick to settle her nerves.
She grabbed a rough draft copy of her new book and headed down through the hallways of the train.
When she arrived, there were only two people seated in the drafty space, a woman about her age, and a man at the other end reading a paper. It was nice and quiet and perfect.
Serenity ordered her drink and took a seat near one of the windows, flipping through her manuscript for a few moments before giving up. Her head ached and all she could see was the pile of bones that made up the vampire, Paul. She could still feel his pain and the sting of the water burning her skin, and melting her brain. It was too much and she grabbed her head, making a slight sound. Nightmares about Max and the events that had happened a few months before made sense, but this one was a complete alien.
"You want me to get some help?"
The other woman in the car had gotten out of her seat suddenly and showed genuine concern for Serenity's well being, despite not knowing anything about her. Wisps of dark brown hair fell over her dark eyes, to which she promptly pushed away with the back of her hand as she asked the question.
Serenity had covered her face with her hands by pressing her knuckles into her eye sockets, attempting to get some relief, but it hadn't helped much. Yet she didn't bother pulling them away when she heard the woman ask if she needed assistance. Instead she looked up at her through the middle of her arms in a rather pathetic manner and shook her head no.
She glanced down and then let her arms drop hard against the cold table as she let out a sigh. "I had a nightmare that gave me a headache," she confessed without caring whether or not she knew the woman, all while staring at nothing but the manuscript of her book. It seemed that running away from certain things only worked to heighten her awareness of their existence, and hadn't she helped in that by writing a book about them in the first place?
"It was about someone I barely know. It was about their death." She frowned and looked up at the girl with puzzlement, hoping that somehow she would have the answers.
The brunette lifted a brow, curious about what was just revealed to her. Her lips formed the shape of an O before taking a seat next to Serenity, all the while keeping a polite distance. Bending down some, she took a peak at the manuscript in the girl's possession before sitting back upright.
"That's kinda deep," the brunette said with a slight frown. "You sure you don't know them? People usually don't dream about strangers or acquaintances unless you already know them." Then with enthusiasm she added, "Like a past life deal or a vision of the future!"
Serenity's brows rose from the last statement and she pondered it before letting her shoulders sag once more. "Well I was way younger in the dream." She closed her eyes to get the images back in order to explain, not even sure if the girl beside her was interested in the gory details. "The guy, I know him, but not real well. We met a couple months ago, except he's the same age in the dream, which makes sense because he's…" she paused, stopping short of saying vampire. "He's just different. But since I was younger I don't think it's a future vision. Would be kind of odd for a past life. I've had dreams about people I don't know, people I've never seen."
Her drink arrived and she grasped it with both hands as if the weather was freezing, but her eyes remained open now. "I was devastated by his death." She looked uneasy as she glanced yet again at the new acquaintance and sipped her chocolate. "Dreams are weird." There was a pause and then she asked, "You into books at all? This is my first. It's on its way to the publishing house as we speak. My name is Serenity by the way."
"Marie," the other female replied, quietly envying the blonde for having a beautiful name compared to hers. Once the steward left, Marie answered the original question asked of her.
"I like books, sure. In fact, the book I brought along with me is a book about dream symbolism, that's why I went with that mini explanation for you."
Well then it was meant to be, was what Serenity wanted to answer back with, but she didn't. Instead she continued handling her drink as Marie once again glanced over at the manuscript.
"That book about this guy?" she asked in complete innocence.
The returned question caught Serenity off guard and her lips slowly peeled away from the rim of the cup as if time were in slow motion. She knew better than to reveal the truth, especially since she hadn't considered asking permission from a certain pack of vampires, but as far as she knew, vampires were still just myths around the world that no one really believed in.
It also raised the question in her own mind as to why she was running from them, or at the very least, avoiding them. "It's fiction," she stated quite frankly, in a way that sounded like she didn't believe her own words. "Take a look. Nothing to do with dreams but everything having to do with the supernatural."
"Supernatural, huh?" Marie replied as she took the book into her possession. She couldn't help but notice how unsettled Serenity seemed as they interacted. Not that it was any of her business to know what caused her to act that way. She had affairs of her own that were best kept under wraps.
With a soft thank you, Marie proceeded to flip through the pages without contemplating the unordinary behavior any further.
"No, thank you!" Serenity replied, now feeling a bit of the booze taking hold as its sedative like qualities helped her to relax a bit. "You helped me forget about the nightmare. Well, not forget but walk through it a little." She smiled and shook as if to derail further tension when a figure in the darkness of another train car just ahead of them caught her eye.
Her smile quickly faded as she swallowed and froze in the seat. Her heart started to thud and beat hard enough to where she thought maybe Marie might be able hear it, and her hands started to tingle. Blinking, she glanced down at them; afraid of what power might suddenly erupt now that the thing she had been running from had found her. "Um…I" she fumbled and threw her fists into her lap just in case.
The figure emerged from the darkness into the light of the dining car with a wily smile on his face as always and said, "What's up lil sis? Long time no see. What we got going on here?"
Marie's eyes widened just milliseconds before the tall, lean male with wild blond hair and blue eyes appeared. A quizzical expression briefly crossed her face before she decided to excuse herself.
"I'm just gonna be over at my table checking this out," Marie promised Serenity before she proceeded to take her leave with the book. A part of her felt that it wasn't the best idea to leave her alone, but another part of her instinctively needed to get away...
... Plus, she could easily try to listen in on this potentially interesting conversation from a safe distance.
Paul wasted no time taking a seat next to Serenity, where he threw an arm back and draped it across the back of her chair. He sat real close to her, never doubting that the smell of weed clung heavily to his jacket. He was smiling and his clear blue eyes were focused solely on her.
After drumming his fingers a couple of times, Paul jerked his head around and said to Serenity, "You should've gotten a more private room with some rockin' tunes instead of this elevator music they got going on! What're you drinking? Can I have a sip?" His casual, breezy nature made it seem as if he hadn't seen her in days, as opposed to months.
Serenity, on the other hand, hated the fact that Marie felt as though she had to move away, yet at the same time the shock of seeing Paul show up had her speechless. It was as if she was seeing a ghost, yet his casual demeanor and weight against the seat proved otherwise.
For a second she remained quiet, staring at him sitting there beside her before she swallowed the lump in her throat and jumped at him, giving him the hardest hug she had ever given anyone. In fact this was the closest she had ever gotten to him, but it didn't matter. What mattered was his substance and the fact that he wasn't dying or bleeding out, never mind the awkwardness that would probably come after. For the first time she felt his wild mane against her fingers, heard the rattle of the chains and safety pins he wore, and got a whiff of his smell. It was weed more than anything, with metallic notes behind it from the blood he drank, deep rooted incense on his clothes and something sweet.
"Sorry," she cleared her throat. "I have a room." Her voice remained low as she slowly slid away, placing her arms on the table before scooting her cup over to his hands. "And I just…I had a dream…about you…" she wanted to tell him everything but skipped to another two questions that seemed a little more important. "Where's Marko? How did you find me?"
"You're on the radar, girl," Paul stated with a playful gleam in his eyes, then added, "Marko's coming. Trust me, he was right behind me."
He remained seated when Serenity detached herself from him, and his skin actually felt cold, like it needed her touch. It wasn't too often any girl left him feeling like he absolutely NEEDED her, either.
He blinked a couple of times in disbelief before he sensed someone watching him. Was it the old geezer who wore a permanent scowl on his face but remained in his seat? Nah, Paul realized, it was the chick he saw sitting with Serenity before he made his arrival. She was on the other side of the car with the book on her lap but he caught her eye as she glanced up at him.
He couldn't resist giving her a thumbs up before he announced, "Anyway, here I come!" and slid right up against Serenity once again. Their hips touched and the ornaments on his belt jingled in response. His focus was once more on Serenity but he heard the other girl trying not to laugh at his conspicuous gestures to keep the physical contact going.
For a second Serenity wondered if he knew about the dream already, due to the fact that he seemed eager to be nearer to her, yet his overzealous ways forbid him to talk about it. After all, they really hadn't gotten to know each other very well, even if he had seen her practically naked.
She laughed under her breath. It was brief as she jerked a finger towards her mug. "I'm sensing a theme here with you. You gonna taste it or not?" This was probably the most coherent he had ever seen her, and just like that, by using his infectious nature, the overlapping concerns that ran through her mind vanished.
Marko was the one who brought them back as he appeared shortly after. He was standing in the doorway looking down at her with a smile of adoration on his face mixed with the menace that always lingered in the background of his personality.
The catching fun Paul had brought to the table vanished in a heartbeat as her own heart fell into her stomach. She could feel Marko probing her, pulling her into him and her eyes closed in a blink that lasted longer than normal. His presence made her feel sedated and hot and for whatever reason, she longed for Paul to bring her out of it.
"We got your scent, and your mind," Marko said, pointing to his temple as he moved towards the table and took a seat across from them. "That's all we need to find you. I told you I'd hunt you down." He reached across the table for her hands.
Serenity felt the leather of his gloves over her fingers, along with his light touch and she didn't move away from it. The only thing on her mind was how creepy that sounded and she caught a nod and a smile from Paul out of the corner of her eye as if he agreed.
"You told me a lot of things, but you knew I couldn't stay. I didn't feel safe. Just seems odd you would come all this way. Unless you really missed me that much." She blushed for half a second, realizing that maybe he did, but if that were the case, why did Paul tag along?
"David wants to talk to you," Paul informed Serenity point-blank, like he had read her mind while he sat back and stretched his legs out. His boots tapped against the legs of the chair Marko sat on. His arms were now folded behind his head as he cast his sights away from the lovers' joined hands. He gazed back over at the brunette and saw her focused on whatever was written in the book, and tried to push his way into her thoughts, but was shocked to find himself unable to. An invisible barrier was preventing him from picking up a single thought. Strange.
"That's why we're here, lil sis." Paul decided it didn't matter and he turned back to focus on Serenity once more, knowing he had to go along with what David wanted of him and Marko. "But like, for real," he continued, "Did you get yourself into something real good? How bout that dream you mentioned earlier? Was it hot and steamy?"
Now it was Serenity's turn to avoid mention of the dream. Her concern was more towards the reason why David wanted to see her.
"He says he's gonna sell your cabin if you don't come back," Marko told her, fiddling with her fingers.
"Wait," she blinked again, a little confused. "He can't do that unless I'm there to sign the papers."
"Nah, nah," Paul shook his head back and forth. "Remember, we got the mind mojo just like you do. You'd be surprised what we can do with it. Anyway, we're here to take you home."
"Right now?"
A heavy clap was heard as Marie closed the book and rose from her seat. While trying to read the manuscript, she tried to lend an ear onto what was being said as promised. Nobody knew of her sharpened senses and she preferred to keep it that way, but from what she did pick up, it sounded odd. She didn't like it, and she didn't think Serenity was exactly thrilled with being in that predicament either.
With a bright smile on her face, she made her way back to Serenity's table and handed the book back to her before asking, "You up for getting something to eat when we reach town?" A distraction, an excuse, anything to try and help if she could, even if she was turned down, at least she tried.
Well fuck, Serenity thought as the book was placed dead center in the middle of the table for all eyes to see. Her hands went up into her hair as her chin dropped while the world started to spin.
Marko's eyes shifted and he looked right at Marie. "She'll get back to ya," he said with a warning in his tone that told the girl to back off. Even if she didn't, a light snack wouldn't hurt before their journey back.
He waited for her to retreat before reaching for the manuscript and flipped through it without care. Then his eyes regarded Serenity again. "There something else you care to share with us, babe?" He shot Paul a look and let him know mentally that David was right, she had been writing something about them and it seemed that she planned on sharing it with the world.
"It's just a story, a work of fiction and a way for me to get it out of my head. I had to do something. I was going crazy." Serenity caught Marko's eyes and she pleaded with him to understand.
Before Marko could say anything, Paul interjected in an attempt to defuse the situation a little. "Hey, how about we blow this joint 'cause we got a LOT of catching up to do?"
He rose from his seat and jerked a thumb at the door leading out to the hallway. He playfully winked at Serenity before pointing at Marie. "Catch ya later!"
Marie wrinkled her nose at what Paul said to her and she shook her head.
"How about 'no' on that?' she mumbled under her breath before she went back to her table. The curly haired guy wasn't giving off the greatest of vibes and it wasn't just because of his attitude. There was more to him and the taller blond guy, but her main concern was for Serenity, but why? Why stew over the fate of someone she barely knew? Slowly sinking back into her seat, Marie cleared her throat and resorted to staring out of the window beside her to think in silence.
"Your loss, babe," Paul stated, giving Serenity one last glance. He wiggled into her thoughts and let her know that everything was going to work out one way or another before he exited.
Serenity swallowed hard at the notion of catching up because she knew exactly what it meant. On the other hand, Paul's mental promise that everything would work out made her wonder once again about the dream she had had, but thinking about it was hard when Marko was still sitting there watching her every move. Even Marie, a girl she barely knew felt off about them and she had a right to. The boys were dangerous and the last thing Serenity wanted was to get her killed.
"Is he mad?" she asked, sitting back in her seat.
Marko shrugged never once losing his smile. "Hard to say. You didn't ask."
Things were different that was fact and they were a far cry from the events that had happened on the beach the night Max had tried to take her powers. Now she felt as if the very vampires she had been told were her saviors were hunting her.
"I have to grab my things…" she glanced down as she slid out of the seat, grabbing her manuscript along the way and hurried back to her room, half expecting him to follow her, but he didn't. In fact the feelings between them seemed awry but she couldn't blame him for being peeved, not after she had left without much for a goodbye.
When she appeared once more, she had her bags in her hands and nodded to Marko who was standing in the isle waiting for her. She nodded to him as he turned to leave and she followed right behind, but not before dropping the book in front of her newfound friend. Serenity wasn't sure what compelled her to leave the book or the note on the inside cover, all she knew was that she needed someone on her side who wouldn't try to kill her.
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