Bryn Morrow (3 page)

“Someone happened. I heard about the burning man. Is that why you left me?” Jason pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table and sat down. He waved at the waitress for coffee.
 

People at nearby tables tried not to stare. Every tidbit of small town news was fodder for endless speculation in Lanston. There wasn’t enough happening on any given day that gossip ever dropped below a certain level. The townspeople needed it for nourishment, like vampires needed blood.
 

“I didn’t know about him when I decided to call it off.” Celeste placed her hand on Jason’s. “I’m sorry. You know as well as I do that things were not working out.” Jason’s eyes met hers, and then he looked down.
 

“I’ll move out. You never need to see my mom again,” Jason explained. His clenched hands were resting on the wooden table. He was dressed in his usual work clothes: grey T-shirt, blue jeans, and black leather boots. He didn’t wear rings since they would catch on the machinery. None of his tattoos showed, but Celeste knew where they were.

“You can’t leave your family for me. I don’t want you to. Your mom needs you there to help take care of her.” Celeste looked into his blue eyes.
 

“My feelings for you are strong, Celeste. I can’t just walk away like this. So, are you seeing this guy, or not?”

Celeste bit her lip and paused before responding. “I am.”

“Damn it!” Jason pounded the table with a fist. Customers peered over their newspapers and coffee at them, whispering to each other and nodding.

“I need some time to think, Jason. I just met Bryn. I don’t know what will happen.”

The waitress set down a coffee pot and a ceramic cup in front of Jason, and then backed away quickly.

“But don’t you love me?” Jason poured himself coffee and drank.

“I do, but not in the way you want me to. The situation is complicated.”

Jason’s expression darkened. “All right, Celeste. That’s all I needed to hear, I guess.” He poured sugar into his coffee from a glass container, stirred it in, then gulped some down.
 

“Please don’t be angry with me. You’re a great guy. Lots of girls want you.” Celeste kept her voice down and tried not to notice all the eyes watching them.

“You really know how to cheer a guy up.” Jason finished his coffee, dropped a five on the table, and stood. “I hope he’s everything you’ve always wanted.”

“You don’t understand.” Celeste looked up at him and tried not to cry. She didn’t want to break his heart, but she knew she had to follow her dream. How could she ignore Bryn when he’d been with her for so long, haunting her nights? She had to know if he was the one. And if that hurt Jason, then it was a price she was willing to pay.

“I understand. And it hurts.” Jason left Perky’s without looking back.

Chapter 10

“How do you survive if you don’t drink blood or eat?” Celeste looked around the bar and then across the table at Bryn. She was sipping wine. He was dressed in black. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and other girls in the bar were stealing furtive, hungry looks at him.
 

 
“Water is life.” Bryn extended his hand, palm up. “Pour some of yours on my hand.”

 
Celeste tilted her water glass over Bryn’s hand and poured. The puddle of water shimmered and was absorbed into his skin.

 
“That’s amazing. How does it work?”

 
“I think when I was changed it affected my DNA, which in turn allows my skin to convert water into energy.”

 
“And you sleep during the day, like a vampire?”

 
“Vampires are a myth. But yes, I sleep while the sun is up.” Bryn kept his voice down. They were sitting in a booth at Rock and Bowl with no one else nearby. The crowd was light and most of the people were sitting at the bar drinking, ripping pull tabs open, and eating popcorn.
 

“Where?”

 
“I didn’t get to be two hundred years old by telling people where I sleep.” Bryn smiled.

 
“So you don’t trust me?” Celeste teased. She caught Bryn looking at her breasts so she arched her back a little and touched her lips with her finger.
 

 
“I didn’t say that.” Bryn looked back up, meeting her eyes.

 
“What about blood? You said you didn’t need it.”

 
“Human blood is a drug. It has psychoactive and aphrodisiac properties for me.”

 
Celeste smiled. “Really? You are so different than I expected.”

 
“As are you for me,” said Bryn. “All those years I only saw you as a ghost—or an angel.”

 
“No one has ever looked at me the way you do,” said Celeste.

 
“Not even Jason?”

 
“Jason is hungry for my body, not my soul. You drink me through your eyes. I can feel it. How old are you?”

 
“Twenty-six. Or two-hundred and twenty-six. It depends how you look at it.” Bryn looked around to see if anyone else nearby was paying attention. “Enough about me… tell me about you. Why are you alone in that house?”

“Well, I’m twenty-two. My dad took off when I was ten and my mom died two years ago.”

Bryn squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. She was sick for a long time, and I had time to say good-bye. No one lives forever.”

“Except me.”
 

“She left me everything, including the house. I don’t have to work, so I don’t. I write in my journal and read a lot.”

“And Jason hasn’t asked you to marry him yet?”

“He has. I said no.”

“You are far too attractive to be alone.” He reached over and touched her cheek with his fingers, sending flame down her body.

“Thank you. How did you find me?” Celeste’s mind flipped through dirty images as she devoured his firm body. She was tingling with desire.

“I was drawn to this place. My visions of you grew stronger as I got close. I’ve known you for two-hundred years, even though you are only twenty-two. That’s a strange feeling. How do you do it?”

“I dream into the past. The first time I remember seeing you was when you climbed out of that crater.
 
I was eight. That’s when the recurring dreams started.”

“You do more than dream, honey. I saw you when I died. You were there. I could have reached out and touched you.”
 

“The dream has been changing slowly over the years. I feel like I’m arriving a second earlier each time. I see you running. And then—“

“The explosion.”
 

“Yes.”

Chapter 11

Jason opened the cooler and grabbed another beer. He twisted the top off, flicked the cap into the ashtray, and lifted the bottle to his mouth.
 

“You sure he’s gonna show?” Tommy lifted his Budweiser and slammed the rest, then tossed the bottle into a box full of empties in the back seat. He reached into the cooler for another one. It was after eleven, and the stars were out, although the trees and streetlights along Lake Drive made them hard to see.
 

“He’ll show. I’ve seen him walking this way before.” Jason was nervously peeling the label off his beer.

Tommy was in the driver’s seat of his black Ford truck. Jason sat on the passenger side. They were parked on Lake Drive facing east, near Maple Street. Their usual hang-out, Rock and Bowl, was a few blocks north. On the floor was a foam cooler full of beer. They had been sitting on the side of the road drinking for over an hour when they saw him. It was nearly midnight.

“There he is,” said Jason, keeping his voice down. He pointed at a tall man wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans. The man was walking east along the south side of Lake Drive.
 

“What do I do? Are you going to fight him?” Tommy asked. He set his beer down in the cup-holder and turned the key in the ignition. The truck started up with a growl.
 

“Wait a minute, and then follow him. I just want to know where he’s going.” Jason lowered his beer so passing cars wouldn’t see it. Traffic was light, but there was no sense getting arrested for having some good, clean fun.
 

“Who is he, anyway?” Tommy looked over at Jason and raised an eyebrow. He put his truck in gear, flipped the turn signal on, and looked over his shoulder for cars.
 

“He’s the guy that took Celeste away from me. No one knows who he is or where he came from.” Jason slammed the rest of his beer and tossed the empty behind him with the others. He grabbed another one from the cooler. The bottles were floating in water from the melting ice. The cold beer felt nice on his throat with the warm breeze of a summer night blowing in the window. He was starting to feel a buzz from the alcohol.
 

Tommy eased the truck onto Lake Drive and followed the stranger. “You said his name is Bryn?”

“Yeah, Bryn. I don’t remember what Celeste said his last name was. Doesn’t matter. I shall refer to him as ‘dickhead.’” Jason chuckled. “Don’t get too close.”

Tommy kept his speed low and pulled over to the side of the road when he was within a block of Bryn. He turned off the ignition, pocketed his keys, and grabbed his beer. “Should we follow on foot? It looks like he’s headed for the lake.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Jason opened his door and hopped out, then waited for Tommy to join him. “Where is Debra tonight?”
 

“I told her I had ‘man stuff’ to do. Which means she thinks I’m playing poker, watching football, or at the stripper bar in Corwin. Her mom is making dinner, and they are staying home. What about Celeste?”

“Haven’t seen her. I’ve been hanging with Suze at Brinkman’s Pub down in Corwin. She’s not really my type, but she’s nice to look at.”

“Big titties,” said Tommy, raising his beer and clinking it against Jason’s.

“Hell, yeah.”

They kept their distance, walking along the sidewalk behind Bryn. He never turned around. He was a couple of blocks away and still heading east toward the lake. It was nearing midnight and the sky was clear. Stars twinkled against the blackness and the smell of the water grew stronger.
 

“Where do you think he’s going?” Tommy asked.

“He has to be staying somewhere in town. I imagine he’s going there.”
 

“Do you think he’s dangerous?”

“Debra said he has ‘powers,’ but she wouldn’t tell me what kind.” Jason laughed. “Powers!”

“I don’t believe in that shit.” Tommy finished his beer, looked around for witnesses, and then tossed the bottle into a shrub. He wiped his hands on his jeans to dry the condensation off them.

“Speed up, he’s almost at the lake. I don’t want to lose sight of him.” Jason increased his pace, and Tommy matched him.
 

“What. The. Fuck.” Jason slowed and ducked behind a tree near the edge of the water.
 

“He’s walking into the lake,” said Tommy. “Into the fucking lake!”
 

“I know, man. I know. Keep it down.” Jason’s eyes got big as he peered around the tree and watched Bryn walk deeper and deeper into the water until the waves closed over his head.
 

Jason walked over to the edge of the lake, and watched the ripples dissipate until the water was smooth. Tommy stood next to him with his mouth hanging open.

Chapter 12

The streak of light grew closer and brighter. An ominous roar filled the air. Bryn was running as he always did. Celeste stood in the forest, holding her breath, reaching for him. She couldn’t feel the ground beneath her feet. The trees towered over her. Bryn’s eyes were wide with fright.

And then the dream changed.
 

The forest shimmered and vanished. A bleak industrial complex appeared, covered with a plume of smoke. The air smelled of burned bodies. Out of a cloud of smoke, a man appeared. He was shirtless; his pants were ripped and bloodied. His chest had large gouges torn into it, blood was running from his eyes and
 
his hair was burned off . He was muscular, and his hands were clenched at his sides. There were burns all over his skin.
 

“Who are you? Where is Bryn?” Celeste asked.
 

The man blinked and stopped, unclenching his teeth. His piercing gaze searched and found her. He squinted. “Are you a ghost? Am I dead? My name is Simon. There’s been an explosion. Many are dead. Birds dropped from the sky. The ground is radioactive.”
 

He was speaking English but his accent was strange—Russian or Czechoslovakian, thought Celeste.

“I am a ghost. What year is this?” Celeste held her arms out. They were transparent like the rest of her body. She floated above the ground, casting no shadow. But she could smell death, and she could hear Simon’s voice.

“Why would a ghost care? It’s 1986, of course.” Simon wiped the blood away from his eyes. The wounds on his chest were closing over and the burns were fading. “What is your name?”

“I’m Celeste. What have you done with Bryn?”

“I know of no one named Bryn. Where are you?”

Celeste backed up. “I shouldn’t say.”

“Take my hand.” Simon’s brown eyes sparkled with madness. He reached for her.
 

She took another step back.

He grabbed her hand and she gasped. She struggled to pull free and then realized she was in her bed at home, thrashing in her sheets. Simon was gone. Her heart raced. Only the adrenaline of the dream remained, and the smell of death.

Chapter 13

Celeste peered through the window to see who was knocking, then unlocked and opened her front door. “Come on in, Deb. I thought we were going to meet at Perky’s?”

“I got up a little early, and I wanted to talk to you about something I didn’t want anyone to overhear.” Debra sat at the small table in the kitchen. Celeste grabbed two coffee cups, filled them from her four-cup carafe, then pulled up a chair and sat across from her. She poured cream in hers from a small silver cup and then handed the cream to Debra. “What is it?”