Chapter Two:

Godric stared at me for the longest time, a blank look on his face. My stomach was churning, my heart continuing to race. I knew I needed to sit down as I began to grow light headed, and just plopped down right there in the light snow. My hand curled into the snow, the coolness of the white particles helping to cool down my heated face. I should have booted it, should have left when I had the chance. But I didn't. It wasn't like I could outrun a vampire anyways. So I just sat there, on my knees, in the snow, and watched him as he made sense of my exclamation.

"Explain." He prompted, his stare still intimidating.

I gulped as I bit down hard on my bottom lip. "I-I've had these...these dreams about...well about you."

My voice wavered as I spoke, and I just hoped he believed me. I almost wished he would grab me and glamour me, force me to tell the truth. At least then he would know that I was being honest and I wouldn't have to be put through this agonizing waiting game. What if he didn't believe me? What if he thought I was too suspicious? Would he kill me, would he drain ever drop of blood out of my body? Would I get a chance to see my parents again? They may not have been supportive, they may not have understood, but they were still my parents. I loved them and there were still so many things I wanted to tell them. I was eighteen, I couldn't die. Not like this. I couldn't let my parents get a phone call learning that not only had I ran away from school, but I had gotten myself killed doing so. And because of these dreams. They would be devastated and I couldn't do that to them. They tried, they really did. It was hard to have a daughter who was a freak. They did the best that they could, handle it in whatever sane way they possible could have. I didn't want to die now, by a vampire; by the same vampire I had insisted to my mother was real and not just a figment of my imagination. They would finally believe me at least, but at such a high cost.

"P-Please don't kill me." My plea was blurted out before I could think twice. A tear slipped down my cheek and I didn't even bother to wipe it away. I was too scared to move, to even blink or breathe. I didn't want to give Godric a reason to attack me.

A conflict of emotions played across his face, and I was almost confused by it. It was as if he was battling feeling pity for me, and trying to stand his ground. He was the sheriff after all, he needed to protect his area, protect his own kind from outsiders and potential threats. I couldn't blame him for that. I only hoped that he would spare me my life.

"Nonsense." He shook his head, his expression softening.

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, and instead just stayed there, sitting in the cold snow, another tear escaping down my cheek. I let out a squeak of surprise when he suddenly appeared before me, kneeling in front of where I sat. There was a look of curiosity on his face as he reached a hand up and brushed away the tears with his thumb. I was frozen as ice, not daring to move a single inch. The moment his thumb brushed against my skin, it felt like my skin was on fire. His touch was cold, almost as cold as the snow beneath me, and yet it felt so warm and inviting as the backs of his fingers caressed my cheek. I swallowed back the lump in my throat as I closed my eyes, partially to pray that this was all just a nightmare, while another part of me just relished in the touch and wished it would never stop. All good things come to an end however, and his hand left my cheek as quick as it had appeared. I almost felt saddened at the loss, wanting to grab out and take his hand in mine.

"What are you?" his voice was soft, but demanding, and jostled me out of my thoughts.

My eyes snapped open and were quickly met with his curious blue orbs. He was so close, so very close. Our noses were close to touching. I wanted to inch away from him, to gain some distance between us, but I was still frozen to the spot, unable to move.

"What are you?" he repeated.

"I-I don't...I don't know." I whispered so quietly I was sure he wouldn't have heard.

But he had. His head tilted to the side as his hand reached out to me, grasping my chin and turning my head from side to side. My breathing was rigid and I was sure that my heart was just going to stop at any moment.

"These dreams of yours," he began, his eyes searching my face. "They're of me?"

I couldn't speak and instead nodded in response.

"How long have you had them?"

I thought back to when the dreams first began, when my life began to take a complete turn as everything revolved around this vampire and the reasoning of the dreams. "F-four months."

Godric nodded, taking in this new piece of information. "What were these dreams of, besides me?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that. The dreams had been of...well everything. I told him this, in my wavering scared tone, and he offered a small smile in response.

"You aren't a spy, are you?" his lips were curled upwards.

I shook my head wildly, the only thing I could think of doing.

"No, you certainly don't look like a spy." There was a spark in his eyes. "It seems I've made a grave mistake, and I apologize for such."

I really wasn't sure what to say now. I had always been a shy girl growing up, but I would always have something to say. Words never usually tended to escape me. But with him, with Godric, I couldn't think of one coherent word to say. I was utterly speechless. And part of me was grateful. I was sure that if I spoke, I would only end up blurting out something else that I shouldn't. I had a habit of not thinking before I spoke, and in most cases, like tonight, it usually never ended well.

"You're hands." Godric's gaze was turned downwards to my hands still lying in the snow.

I had nearly forgotten about my numb hands, and glanced down at them myself. I was surprised to find them a dark shade of red and shivering, though I couldn't feel a thing. I jumped in surprise when Godric grasped my hands in his and lifted them out of the snow. My face heated up as he drew them up and attempted to bring warmth back to the frozen limbs. Of course, his own hands were naturally cold and didn't do much, but the act alone was enough to warm my entire body.

"You're cold." He mused as he continued to rub his hands over mine, circulating the heat.

I merely shrugged. It wasn't that cold, not compared to what I was used to in Ohio. Though sitting in snow was uncomfortable, I wasn't so sure I could keep myself standing on my own two feet. Godric however, was determined to get me on my feet, and before I even knew what was happening, an arm was latched around my waist and I was being lifted up. My eyes grew wide as I felt my feet touch the ground. We had moved so fast I didn't even have a time to blink and needed to do so a couple dozen times to refocus my eyes.

"I apologize for frightening you. It was never my intention to do so." His arm began to slide away from my waist. My hand had a mind of its own as it shot out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from doing so. I knew I wouldn't be able to hold myself up, my legs still felt like jelly. Godric must have understood this and nodded, keeping his arm firmly around me. "I merely wanted to thank you for saving my life last night, but I fear I've only made you regret ever doing so."

Such a saddened look crossed his face, matching the expression from earlier. It broke my heart to see him look so defeated. So much that all of the fear I once held, disappeared in an instant.

"I don't." I shook my head, finally finding the ability to speak. "I don't regret it."

"You should." He bowed his head in shame. "I reacted rashly. I only managed to frighten you."

"That doesn't mean you deserved to die in such a horrible way."

Godric was silent for a moment, and I wondered what could possibly be going through his head. Why was he so hopeless looking? It was like he no longer had a reason to go on, and that tore me apart to see.

"You are too kind." He raised his head, his eyes meeting mine. "I do not deserve your kindness. Not after what I've done. I'm truly sorry for frightening you tonight. If there was any way I can make it up to you..."

"Just don't move. My legs quite aren't able to support me yet." My lips slowly began to quirk upwards.

He simply nodded and we fell silent while just staring at one another. It was unnerving of course, to have those intense blue eyes staring down at me. I was only relieved to find that there was no malice, no anger or hate lying in those beautiful eyes any longer. Instead, there was only sadness and a hint of curiosity.

"Your dreams," he cocked his head to the side. "They were the reason you knew what those men would do it me?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Interesting." The curiosity in his eyes was beginning to slowly but surely edge out the sadness. I suppose it wasn't every day this vampire met someone who had dreams that happened to come true. "How do you know it would occur?"

"Truthfully? I didn't." I replied honestly. "I just had a gut feeling and I went with it. Turns out I was right, scarily enough. I actually think knowing that it came true scared me more than you did."

"Have you had other dreams like this?" He wondered.

"All my life." I nodded. "Ever since I was a little girl I knew something was different, I just never thought much of it. When I got into high school, that was when things changed. I tried to ignore them, and it worked for awhile. But then..."

I looked away as I trailed off, gaining Godric's attention. I felt a hand cup my cheek and turned my head back towards him. My cheeks must have been a bright red, and I was secretly glad that it was cold enough outside to mask my embarrassment.

"But then?" He encouraged with a small smile.

I melted at that smile. How could I not? I had only seen his genuine smile a handful of times. He was always just so sad all the time. But whenever he did smile, it lit up a room. And made my heart completely melt, and my legs feel even more like jelly than before. I had to shake my head and mentally slap myself to stay focused and remember what was going on around me besides that darn smile.

"But then I started having the dreams about you." I replied bluntly, staring him dead in the eye. "And they just felt different than all the others."

"How so?"

"I don't know." I pursed my lips, trying to figure out the best way to word it. "Have you ever had that feeling in your gut like something is wrong? There are just no words to describe it. You just..."

"Know." Godric finished, nodding his head in understanding.

"I just knew that there was a reason I was having these dreams. I've never had a dream about one person repeatedly. The entire four months every single one of my dreams was only been about you. That's never happened before. I figured that had to mean something." I shrugged. "And then that last dream, the one of you being killed by those men, it just kept happening over and over again. I couldn't just sit back and believe that you were a figment of my imagination."

"So you came here to simply save my life? To save a vampire?" he asked in disbelief.

"I've had dreams about you for four month, Godric." I spoke his name out loud for the second time, and genuinely enjoyed the way it just slipped off my tongue. "You aren't a normal vampire. You're someone worth saving."

He seemed shocked at that revelation. So shocked that his arm fell from my waist and he took a step back. Thankfully I was able to get my bearings, keeping myself supported on my own two feet as a mixture of emotions crossed his face. I wanted to reach out to him, to insist that he truly was someone worth saving, someone who didn't deserve such a gruesome death. But he turned his back to me before I could.

"I must be going." his voice sounded strained. "I sincerely apologize for all that I've put you through this evening. I hope you can forgive me."

"Godric..." I tried to grab at his arm.

But he was gone in a blink of an eye, leaving me absolutely alone in the park. I sighed, glancing around hoping he was still nearby. He wasn't however, saddening me greatly. I hated to think that he didn't agree about his worth. He was such an important figure, someone who many looked up to, and he wasn't even happy. It was like he saw his life as meaningless, and it was anything but that.

"Well this has been an interesting night."


I woke up the next morning with a broad smile on my face. Despite the events of last night, it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, like I could continue on in my quest to seek out the answers I desired. I wasn't sure if I would see Godric again, if I would ever get another glimpse of the defeated vampire. But I was glad to have talked with him last night. He had frightened me, scared me out of my wits, but he had been the only person in the world I had actually talked to about my dreams. He didn't make me feel like a lunatic that needed to be committed. I didn't feel like a freak for the first time in a very long time, and that was the greatest feeling in the world.

I did hope, though, that I would see him again, that I would get another chance to see those blue eyes, that contagious smile. I knew the odds were slim, that Dallas was a large city and the chances of bumping into him were unlikely. But a part of me hoped that destiny would fall into play and I would see him before I left, whenever I decided that would be.

I never thought of a time frame when I had left college. All I knew was that I had to come here to save Godric. Now that I have, now that I've come face to face with him, I wasn't so sure what to do now. I could go back; I could rejoin the life that I should have been living. But I truthfully didn't want to. I didn't want to go back to pretending nothing was wrong, that I didn't have mysterious dreams every time I closed my eyes. I was so tired of hiding who I truly was. Being here, meeting Godric and talking with him, I felt more normal than I ever have. Just being here, in this city, I felt like I belonged here more than I've ever felt in Ohio and at home. I knew my parents would be livid, especially my uptight mother. And I knew eventually I would find my way back home and would receive the lecture of a lifetime. But for now, I was going to milk this up, enjoy whatever time I could have here. Sooner or later reality was going to catch up to me, and I was desperately hoping it was the latter.

I spent the day in my hotel room, ordering room service and spending much needed 'me' time. For the first time in my life, I wasn't stressed, I wasn't worried about being laughed at by my classmates. I didn't fear my mother yelling at me, wishing I was like all the other girls my age, and was actually able to just enjoy life. There wasn't a single worry in the world, and I wanted to soak that up. There was a feeling deep inside of my gut that told me things wouldn't stay this way, though I didn't understand why. I wanted as much of a normal life as I could get, at least for a few days, before I was forced back into the real world.

Unfortunately, it seemed to be much too soon for my liking. As I was about to venture out of the hotel room in search of some fresh air in the cool Dallas evening, my cell phone began ringing. I knew immediately who it was, and fought internally with myself whether I should pick it up or not. Eventually, the rational side of me won, knowing that if I didn't at least say hi, my parents would think I was lying dead in a ditch somewhere. Maybe I could just get the yelling and lectures out of the way now.

"Hello mother." I sat on the edge of my bed, biting my nails nervously.

"Where in the world have you been!" was the first thing out of my mother's mouth. "Your father and I have been worried sick!"

"I'm sorry mother." I sighed.

"You're sorry? We thought you were dead!" she shrilled. "We get a call from your friends, saying you've run off somewhere in the middle of the night!"

"I know mother, I'm sorry. There was just something that I needed to do."

"You will come straight home right this instant." she demanded.

"I can't do that."

"You will. And you will go straight to school and apologize to your professors. It's the beginning of the semester, do you know what this could do to your GPA?"

I rolled my eyes. My mother was only worried that I would make her look bad. She couldn't have her child do horribly in school; she couldn't have them drop out mysteriously. No, I needed to be the perfect cookie cutter daughter. But I couldn't do that for her. I desperately wished that I could be, god knows that I do. But it wasn't possible. I was born with these dreams, and I now know for a fact that there was a reason for them. I wasn't sure what exactly, but by coming here, I knew there was a greater path for me in life than to just study some useless subject in school.

"Do you hear me, young lady? You will get on a plane tomorrow morning and you will come home." She ordered.

"No."

"Excuse me?" she sounded appalled.

"You heard me mother." I pursed my lips. "I'm not going home. Not yet."

"You will come home right now, Taylor Anne!" her voice was rising with every word. "I will come there and drag you home myself if need be."

"I'm sorry, I really am. I never meant to scare you or dad. But I need to do some things. I'll come home eventually. Just not right now."

"Taylor!"

"You don't know where I am, mom. I've paid for everything with cash, you can't track me. I love you, and I'm safe. I'll be home soon." I assured her. "Tell dad I love him."

"Do not hang up, Taylor. I'm serious, come home."

"I'll see you soon."

I didn't hear another word from my mother as I quickly drew the phone away from my ear and tossed it across the bed. I closed my eyes tightly as tears popped into them, my teeth gritting together as I tried to calm myself down. I hated knowing that I was hurting my parents. Deep down inside, I know my mother was only worried about me. But this was something that I needed to do. I was only 18, but I needed to understand who I was, what I was. Maybe I wouldn't find those answers here. But I had to try. At the end of the day, that's all that mattered. My parents wouldn't understand, and I knew they would be angry for a long time. But this wasn't about this. This was about me. And it had to be done, whether they liked it or not.