But now, since her change, he felt helpless. She tried to hide it, but there was a sadness in her eyes, sometimes bordering on terror. If he asked, she would only deny it, but he noticed that she seemed most disturbed when she was looking at his face.
He clenched and unclenched his fists, at a loss. What had he done to her? Would her indomitable spirit be enough to let her overcome whatever was troubling her, or had his decision to turn her somehow caused her to snap? He had never felt so helpless in his life.
Melody stopped at the entrance to the park. Her wide blue eyes were luminous in the moonlight. He caught her to him fiercely, feeling that he could somehow shield her from the forces that were driving them apart. “I love you,” he whispered into her sweetly scented hair. He inhaled, breathing her deep, pulling her in.
She wrapped her arms around him and planted a soft kiss on his throat. “I love you too.” But her eyes were closed, and he could smell her sadness. He kissed her eyelids, her cheeks, her nose, her chin, her bowstring mouth, trying to erase her fears. Slowly, by degrees, she relaxed against him and her tension eased. Her eyes fluttered open to meet his and, for a moment, there was nothing there but love.
“What is it you fear,” he whispered against her lips.
She turned her head and her soft breath whispered across his neck. “Me.”
*****
Peter lounged in the waiting room with a cup of coffee and a newspaper while I made my way back to Dr. Walton’s office. The old man met me at the door. His warm brown eyes crinkled at the corner, and his genuine smile went right through me. He gestured to the soft leather couch and I took a seat. I swear the thing had magical qualities. I sank into the sumptuous seat with a sigh and rested my elbows on my knees, all of the energy going out of me. Was there a company of wizards somewhere that made furniture just for psychologists?
He sat in his chair and busied himself finding a pen. He rattled through the silver pencil cup as if he were looking for just the right one. “How are you?” His voice was pleasant and calm. I knew that he knew that I was struggling.
“I’m fine,” I lied, automatically. “Never better.”
He pulled a pen from the cup and clicked it experimentally. “Peter is worried about you.” His voice was light. “He says you’ve been sleeping.”
The absurdity of the statement pulled a half smile from me. Typically, your shrink worried when you weren’t sleeping. Dr. Walton smiled back. “He says you don’t talk much anymore, you aren’t eating the way you should, and that you have a strange look on your face most of the time.” I raised my eyebrows at him and he grimaced. “I think his exact words were…‘creepy grin.’” Okay, so maybe I’d been trying a little too hard.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn’t very well learn how to help new vampires if his first and only patient wouldn’t let him. “You’re sure you want to hear this?” I wasn’t sure what he could actually do for me.
He kept his unfazed shrink face in place. “Do you want to tell me?” I narrowed my eyes at him, as he used his tricks to make me feel like I was in control. One corner of his mouth lifted in response. He knew I was on to him.
I rolled my eyes. “I have bad dreams,” I said softly. “Dreams where everyone is dead. People I know, people I don’t know… even me.”
He nodded and I continued. “They’re getting worse. At first it was only when I slept. Now I see things when I’m awake. I think… Doc…” My eyes watered and a sense of panic crept in. “I’m starting to think everyone is going to die.”
He drummed his fingers on the desk. “How often is this happening?”
I shrugged. “It used to be just once in a while, now it’s getting more and more frequent… several times a day, maybe more.”
I leaned forward and looked into his eyes. “Did you watch the news last night?” He nodded, looking perplexed. “Some guy and his family were killed. It actually happened three days ago, but they weren’t able to put it on the news until last night.”
He took a deep breath. He knew where I was headed. He