~beginning~
Rose woke up for the second time that morning. The first time being after her night terror. She rolled over to see why it was so silent thinking to herself that there was no way she woke up before the alarm sounded at 7:00am. Sure enough it read 7:45am only giving her fifteen minutes to get ready and walk to school.
"Why can't I ever get up on time? It seems like no matter how early I set my alarm for I still wake up late." she rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hope fully make her unruly hair some what tame for school.
After some what quickly walking back to her room she threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Grabbed her school bag and her beloved black hoodie and was out the door after nearly tripping down the stairs.
There was still due on the ground when Rose took her first steps out the door and through her arms into the sweatshirt for warmth. There was enough of a chill in the morning air that she needed her sweatshirt but not enough to freeze anything.
Winter was just falling on to the small town in which Rose lived. She made her way down the hill at the end of her street heading toward a small beach that set in front of a nice sized pound her and her family swim at during the summer months.
As she walked by the pound she took note of the mist wafting off the water, it was still warm for this time of year and the coolness of the air seemed to pull the vapors off the surface into light clouds. The moon was trying to fight back the dawn slowly fading into the west yet still very full and beautiful.
She could see the woods creeping closer as the small wooden bridge marking the entrance laid in front of her. This is the part she loved the most, walking into the darkness the loneliness of the woods that connected the end of her street to the one on the other side. Walking through here felt almost like going back into time. Nothing to show humans being here, just trees, ferns and a squirrel from time to time.
She breather in the sweet cool air of autumn, thinking how it felt as the cool chill slightly burned all the way down into her lungs. She could almost taste the snow in her mouth. She took a step onto the bridge and started for the other side of the woods.
The woods were a bit darker than normal but not so much so that she could not see where she was going. As usual she had to keep an eye on her feet so as not to trip over a stray root or loose stone, something she did more often the she would freely admit. As she walked, she thought about the dream that she had earlier that morning. "Why would I have a dream like that? who the hell was that…that man if you could even call him that. He felt so…I don't know animalistic. " a chill tingled up her spine at just the thought of the nightmare. Shrugging it off, she kept walking.
The second bridge had begun to come into view and without the hesitation of the first she step onto it and over to the other side. The road was just up the small incline and she knew she was close only another five minutes to school.
Suddenly there was a cold wind it sent chills all through her body, so bitter cold it was almost painful. She closed her eyes tight against the cold. When the wind died down she opened her eyes again to continue her trek to school, to her surprise the road was nowhere to be seen.
"What the heck?" She said out loud trying to get her bearings. Rose looked around her trying to think, maybe she had walked back into the woods when she closed her eyes to the wind? No that couldn't be though, she was sure she was walking straight.
She stopped and took notice of a large stone bench on the left side of the path she was on. Thinking as she said "ok now I know I'm not nuts but I don't think that was there before." She continued to survey her surroundings. It looked like the same path but at the same time it looked… newer…..somehow?
He sniffed at the air, smelling a combination of blood and fowl beast. Panicking for a nanosecond at the smell of blood. "Oh, did that…that thing hurt her? Am I to late." he sniffs the air again. Realizing the blood he smells is not from a wound but a natural smell that would emanate from some one on their cycle.
"well, this should make it easier to track her now." he thinks to himself as he makes his way towards the sent of his age old love, and the beast that wants to tear them apart.
"why does he always have to ruin my fun. I was hoping this could be a nice…sensual…. Meeting. Damn dog having to scare her."
As Rose continued to check out the area around her she heard something. With a gasp she looked up and saw a large menacing black dog. Well dog was an understatement it looked more like a large wolf.
"Nice doggie…..goo…. good doggie. You don't want to eat me I…. I'm not very tasty." She said to the beast as she slowly backed away never taking her eyes off the creatures brownish gold eyes. The animal watched Rose with such intensity, she felt like it was going to leap the twenty foot gap between them in a single bound and tear her apart.
Unbeknownst to Rose he had been following her, stalking her ever since she left the house that morning. "Mmmm, she smells just like I thought she would." He or rather it at this point and time thought to its self, as it let out a small gratifying rumble from his chest.
His eyes never left her form as she made her way towards the woods where he planed to show himself.
He watched with heated interest as she stopped to admirer the mist falling over the water, and noticed how she tilled her head just so, to look up at the still full moon. While watching he let his tongue fall out and loll to the right slightly.
Deciding it was time to go lay in wait for her he lollopped into the under brush of the woods.
As he sit quietly waiting under a holly bush, not concerning himself with the barbed leaves since his fur was more then thick enough to protect him. He tracked her movements by her sent the and sound of her feet as she picked her way over the path trying not to hitch her foot on a root.
Finally she stepped into view and he waited just a second more before he emerged. Letting her get a few feet away and the being as quiet as he could, he stalked out to stand behind her. He must not have been quiet enough for she turned around to stair him dead in the eyes.
"oh, ha..ha..ha" he thought to himself as he saw the emotions flash a crossed her face. Confusion, shock, fear, remembrance and a look that he could only presume to be her calculating a way out of this situation.
He sniffed the air and smelled the heat in her body rise. " oh I see she remembers the images I placed in her mind. Mmmm very good, she is very good at putting things together I see." as he let out a snort of laughter and mocking at her talent.
She had a flash back of that nightmare a wave of heat ran threw her body. She heard a snort that brought her back to the here and now. "that almost… almost sounded like a snort of no it couldn't be….Humor?" she thought to herself as she looked back at the animal. Was this animal laughing at her?
Every move she made it kept her in its sight and let out a bellowing growl, that almost made the ground shake, as it took a small step towards her. It stared at Rose its ears twist ever so slightly towards the rear then turned its massive head in that direction and let out a terrifying howl before bolting past her brushing its black coat against her side in an almost mocking way, before bounding off into the brush.
Still in shock Rose looked around for something that seemed to scare the monster off, she turned back towards the direction the beast had turned and stared into the trees trying to see what it could have been. Out of the shadows of the surrounding trees stepped a tall man. "Did you see that wolf? I can't believe there was one here, it must have escaped from a zoo or something" . She stared at him questioningly as he walked towards her without hesitation.
Rose looked at the man and a thought popped into her mind. He made her think of the man in her fantasies. Tall with dark blond hair.
His eyes were piercing . They were a brilliant blue that made her think of a clear sky on a crisp winters morning. He had a strong nose and beautiful powerful lips that looked kissable soft. Easily the most beautiful man she had ever seen.
As she watched him walk towards her she began to feel light headed. Through all the shock and fear she had in the past few moments she forgot to breath. She let out a gasp as her lungs groped the air for the much needed oxygen they had been lacking.
She was so light headed she felt as though she could black out, she stumbled a bit to one side as she tried to regain her composure, only to find herself caught in the arms of the silent man from the shadows.
He looked down into her eyes, so silent and still. Her heart raced at the passion and heat she saw in his eyes. "I like this color on you. It brings out the blue in your eyes" he said to her, as he twirled a strand of her artificially colored hair in his fingers.
Without any warning he leaned towards her and pressed his powder pink lips to her blushing red lips. There was such intense passion in his kiss it took her breath away. She didn't want to push him away it felt so wonderful but she didn't know this guy, she struggled with herself, finally putting her hands out to push him off with her eyes closed tightly not wanting to show she liked what was happening.
Suddenly she fell to the cold hard ground with a thud and opened her eyes. "Ouch!" she yelped she stood up wiping the dirt and leaves off her jeans and rubbed her hip where the ground had smacked her.
"Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to …..?" She yelled as she looked up. Stopping in mid sentence when she realized the man was no were to be seen.
Rose spun around looking in all directions but he just wasn't there. Come to think of it the stone bench was gone too. The whole area looked like it was supposed to. "Umm" she said out loud as she looked in the direction she was supposed to be going; the road was in view this time.
She stood for a moment contemplating not sure what had just occurred. "Wow, I really need to stop dreaming it's going to get me in trouble." She mumbled to herself as she started towards the street again.
As she made her way to the street she had an ominous feeling of being watched. She turned back towards the woods in time only to see the brush still swaying with the momentum of something darting back in quickly.
"maybe it was a squirrel?" she told herself out loud as she stepped onto the black top street.
"uhg" he thought to himself, thinking how he had heard him creeping up behind him trying to run him off, away form the girl he was after.
" oh he's going to get his I'll tell you. I'm going to get that girl of his and rip her from him so torturously he's going to wish he was really dead and not just undead!" he growled fiercely to himself as he watched the girl walk toward the road, from the darkness of the underside of the bridge.
He scoffed a bit when he saw her turn towards the brush where a squirrel just ran passed. The look on her face was priceless fear oozing from her as she turned, and then the slight sigh she gave when there was nothing there but the movement left by the small critter moving past.
For the most part the rest of her journey to school was uneventful. The only other thing to happen to her on her way was she tripped over her own left foot and landed on a rock. Rose was so used to this though she was a bit of a klutz always tripping herself up and what not. " I guess I'll have to go see the nurse when I get to school today." she said to herself as she rolled up the leg of her jeans, only to see the blood start to spill out a bit and run down her leg.
She tried in vain to keep the blood form running down onto her white sock but to no avail. "Ugh, mom's not going to be happy to see I ruined a sock. Well at least it wasn't my jeans this time." she said out loud as she made her way into the schools main doors with 3 minutes to spare before school was to commence,
