Dorian's Destiny: Altered (10 page)

“Wait. I don't know your name.”

“Megan,” she whispered.

Moved by Megan's kindness and courage, “I'm
Trent. I am sorry about your parents. I am not stupid enough to
believe there is anything I can say that will make what I've done
any less shitty. By the way, I was drunk when I killed your parents
and I will probably go to prison. I have royally screwed up both
our lives.” He clasped his face with his left hand. His right was
handcuffed to the bed.

“Yes, at least for the moment.” A half smile
graced her lips after hearing his candidness. “But your life
doesn't have to stay screwed up. Along with my forgiveness, I offer
you my prayers. Maybe God will help you fix what you've broken.”
With that promise, she headed out the door.

The following days passed in a blur. An only
child, Megan shouldered the entire responsibility of planning the
funeral. She was thankful her parents had always been persistent
about planning for the inevitable and unexpected; a trait she now
hoped would transfer to her. The funeral director gave her a box
containing the personal affects her parents had with them on their
last day on Earth. Among the contents of the box was a card. On the
outside were big bold letters “CONGRATULATIONS” and on the inside a
message of love and support that would see her through many tough
times.

Megan,

Your Dad and I are so proud of you.

You have far exceeded any and all
expectations we had for you.

God blessed us greatly with a beautiful,
brilliant, caring daughter.

Good luck at your new job.

Love, Mom and Dad

*****

The neon light stung Dorian's eyes as it
seeped through the black of his shades. Oh, how he loathed the city
for its noise, lights, and its brick and mortar. The forest begged
for his return. He yearned for the quiet dark of night. Desperate
for the absence of unnatural elements, he was ready to abandon
civilization. The only thing keeping him from fleeing was the
city's surplus of easy prey. Just a quick smile was usually all
that was needed to lower a human's guard. Animals, on the other
hand, were much better at noticing a predator. He had just left two
helpless victims unconscious in an alley two blocks back. The young
lovers effortlessly incapacitated and dined upon without a peep. He
smiled, imagining the shock they would endure upon waking woozy and
displaced; yelling words of blame at each other for their
predicament. Preoccupied with thoughts of turning around to witness
the couple's potential squabble, he didn't see her coming.

Revisiting the memory of her parent's
untimely death and exhausted from her double shift, Megan wasn't
exactly being observant. She slammed into what felt like a brick
wall and staggered backwards, only to be caught mid-fall by two
gentle hands.

“Excuse me,” apologized their owner as he
released his hold.

“No, excuse me. I wasn't paying attention to
where I was going.” She straightened out her rumpled scrubs. “It's
been a long day.” Smiling weakly, she glanced up at the face of the
young man who had knocked her down and caught her at the same time.
For her troubles, she was privileged with a glimpse of one
shockingly beautiful blue eye, though deeply sad, as the man
straightened his shades. While staring at his face, wondering why
he would hide such beautiful eyes, she noticed some blood on his
cheek. “I think you have blood on your cheek.” She gestured to his
finely sculpted left cheek.

“Must have cut myself
shaving,” Dorian replied, wiping his cheek. Tempted to lick the
delicious substance from his finger, he instead only inspecting the
evidence of his misdeed. “You're right, guess I need to be more
careful.” After a few seconds of awkward silence, he smiled.
“Goodnight. Be careful walking home.”

Megan's cheeks flooded with color, “Thanks,
I will. Goodnight.”

Sidestepping each other, they continued on
their paths in opposite directions.

*****

A rotund mound of fiery
fur greeted Megan as she opened the front door of her apartment.
“How's my boy?” she asked, grabbing up her favorite and only
“man”
in her life. Blaze, her almost
constant companion for the past fifteen years, responded with loud
purrs. At only seven, she had fallen instantly in love with the
little fur ball, spotting him clearly from a neighbor’s unexpected
litter. Cuddling the runt in her arms, she inspected their uncanny
resemblance. Both she and the kitten had nearly the same shade of
ginger hair and moss green eyes.
All it
took for her to get her feline twin was to state the obvious
similarities in the appearance. Since losing her parents, she and
Blaze had become even closer. Never far from her side, he was a
living connection to her parents.

After sitting him down in their favorite
spot on the sofa, she entered her bedroom to change into pajamas
and release her hair from the side braid. Once sitting comfortably
on the couch, he snuggled into her lap. At times, it was difficult
to tell where she ended and the cat began, giving his love of
curling up in and under her bountiful red hair. As was their
nightly ritual, she discussed her day with her favorite companion
before tuning into late night TV. “I am so sorry buddy, I bet you
thought I was never coming home. We were so busy at the hospital
and it seemed to only be getting worse. If Aunt Josie hadn't told
me to skedaddle, I would still be laboring away.”

Blaze responded to the information and
patting with continuous purrs and occasional wiggles, while trying
to tangle himself deeper into her hair. “I guess I was more tired
than usual because on the way home, I literally ran into someone.
How embarrassing. There was nearly an unfortunate collision
involving my bottom and the sidewalk. Luckily, I was rescued by the
quick arms of the handsome stranger I just tried to bowl over.”

Megan became quiet as she thought of the
encounter.

His hold on me was firm,
but gentle. And the tiny glimpse I caught of his eye, such a
striking blue that seemed to almost glow.

Soon her thoughts of the stranger became
fuzzy and she drifted off to sleep.

*****

Upon returning from his night in the city,
Dorian found Thomas engaged in an activity seldom witnessed:
Reading.

Sitting by the fire,
sipping Scotch and reading the copy of the Picture of Dorian Gray
he had given to his friend, Thomas waved the book when he noticed
him in the doorway. “Oh, I was just wondering how far you had
gotten into the book. I suspect nowhere, since I don't notice a
book mark. Kind of makes me think you don't appreciate my gift,” he
fretted with fake sobs and the wiping of an invisible tear. “Well,
I will try to not let it bother me too much.”

Yanking the book from his hand, Dorian
retorted, “I haven't had much free time to invest in reading with
you attempting to kick my ass all over the dojo during the day and
traipsing through the city bearing witness to your carnage at
night. I had to escape into that concrete jungle this evening alone
just to get a break and catch my breath.”

“Oh, you poor immortal.”

Dorian stood in the shadow of a large oak
tree, one of only a few found within the confines of the city
limits, grateful for the shielding it provided from the blazing,
overabundant street lights. This particular tree, so perfectly
located, served a dual purpose, not only protecting his overly
sensitive eyes with its deep shadow, but also allowing him to
observe her unnoticed. Weeks had passed since literally running
into her or the other way around. At the time, he had not given the
incident more than a passing thought.

Of all the “people” to run
into, she runs into a vampire. Fortunately, I just finished
feeding.

However, since passing the
spot of the collision while tagging along with Thomas, he had
thought about it and more importantly, her quite often – the most
prominent of those thoughts being the desire to keep Thomas far
away. This puzzled him. He always felt a twinge of guilt for the
unlucky humans Thomas chose to feed upon, knowing that not only
death would follow, but immense, excruciating pain induced through
torture and mutilation. However, he never felt the urge to protect
potential victims from his friend.

To prove successful with his current
mission, he divided his nights between keeping Thomas occupied far
away from this corner of the city, and observing her, in hopes of
uncovering a reason for his obsession.

*****

Dorian sat outside on a bench in front of a
grocery store, awaiting her to reemerge. The tap on the shoulder
caught Dorian off guard. Never expecting to be snuck up on, he was
shocked to see her eyes staring down at him when he turned to see
who demanded his attention.

“Are you following me?” Megan inquired, one
hand holding a brown paper sack stuffed with groceries, the other
placed on her hip. Her right foot tapped the sidewalk impatiently
as she waited for him to answer her question.

He stared up at the object of his obsession,
unable to speak.

How did she manage to leave the store and
sneak up on me? I have been sitting on this bench watching the
entrance since she went inside.

“Did you hear me? I want to know if you have
been following me?” She repeated when he appeared to be lost in
thought.

Crap, she's expecting an answer. I can't
tell her the truth.

“No,” he finally blurted out.

Unsatisfied with his answer, she retorted.
“Well, I don't believe you. I have felt someone's eyes on me for a
while, only at night though, then I find you sitting on this bench
apparently waiting on me to leave the store. Is stalking me payback
for running into you?” Embellishing the truth, she hoped to prompt
him into an admission.

“No,” he answered again with the only word
his fuddled brain could manage.

“Uh-huh. It seems you have forgotten all
your previous vocabulary except “no”. She tore off a small piece of
brown paper from her grocery bag before setting it on the sidewalk.
Digging in her purse she pulled out a pen and scribbled an address
and time on her makeshift paper. “Here. Meet me tomorrow night at
this place and time with a better vocabulary and explanation.”

“Okay,” he agreed as he accepted the paper
and invitation, still unable to force his tongue to articulate more
than a two syllable word.

“You remember two words. That's progress,
but you still have a long way to go before tomorrow night.” She
picked up her groceries and turned to leave. “I'm going home, then
to work, so there is no need to continue following me.
Goodnight.”

Once she was out of his line of sight, he
rose from the bench and relocated to the oak tree to continue his
nightly watch even though he had been told not to.

*****

Cans of tuna rolled across the counter,
spilling from the carelessly placed grocery bag, as Megan collapsed
into her brown suede loveseat. Burying her face in her hands she
tried not to hyperventilate. Soon a moist black nose nudged her
softly. “Oh, Blaze,” she sighed, lowering her hands to cuddle her
cat. “I'm afraid I may have just made a complete idiot out of
myself.” Pausing, she stroked his soft amber fur, calming down with
each stroke. “I met the stranger I bumped into again. He was
sitting on a bench outside the grocery store down the street. After
sneaking up behind him, I accused him of stalking me.” At that
comment, Blaze returned his owner's gaze. Two sets of almost
identical green eyes stared at each other. “I know. Am I going
crazy? I don't know what came over me. I don't believe he's been
following me. How could I? I don't have any proof. Maybe it was
just wishful thinking? I sound so crazy. Oh, and me accusing him
wasn't even the worst part, I asked him to meet me tomorrow night
alone in the park. Why would I do that? Why have I thought of him
so often since barreling into him? Ugh!” She gazed lovingly at her
plump cat as he lay sleeping in her lap. “Nice to see my rambling
has lulled you to sleep. Now, I'm off to work to fret about my
lapse in judgment. Thank goodness it's Aunt Josie's day off. With
her Spidey sense, it would take her all of five seconds to sniff me
out and lecture me on how a young lady should act.”

*****

Keys in hand, Dorian headed for the door
alone.

“Ditching me again?” Thomas questioned,
appearing out of nowhere to block his escape.

“Afraid so! Need more time away from the
carnage.” Dorian answered, using what he thought was the perfect
excuse, his personal ‘get out of jail free’ card.

“Maybe if you participated
in the carnage a little you would appreciate it and not require so
much time away to 'catch your breath'.” Thomas suggested with his
signature wicked grin.

Patting his friend's shoulder, Dorian
sidestepped toward the door. “I doubt it. Have a good evening,
Thomas.”

He knew blowing Thomas off so easily was a
mistake but he couldn't help himself. Maintaining his two separate
lives proved more and more difficult. Her allure overpowered his
entire being. He simply could not stay away, especially now with
her invitation to meet. Besides, talking to her might help him
discover the root of his obsession.

Arriving at the specified location, ten
minutes before the designated time, he found her already occupying
half a park bench, secluded by several large hardwoods.

“You're early,” she blurted anxiously, her
boldness from the previous night not yet showing.

“Yes, and you,” he affirmed as he seated
himself beside her.

“I felt it necessary. So that I would have
time to survey my surroundings for stalkers,” she joked. Truthfully
her early arrival was purely eagerness. She had started
preparations for this meeting hours ago by spending that time
fussing over her appearance, trying on multiple outfits and
hairstyles. Finally deciding on a fitted navy blue dress and a side
braid, never before had she cared so much about what a man thought
of her. “Are you more articulate tonight?”