took a single sip of her blood or brought her into his world, it had to be her decision, her choice.
Rising, he pulled back the covers and laid her down on the mattress. After drawing the blankets up over her, he smoothed a lock of hair from her brow, then bent and brushed a kiss across her lips.
Murmuring, "Sweet dreams, my best beloved one," he vanished from the room.
She woke to the ringing of the phone beside the bed. Still groggy, she grabbed the receiver to make the ringing stop. "Hello?"
"Hi,Tracy , it'sBryan . Did I wake you?"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh, sorry.I thought you'd be up by now. I was wondering if you'd be coming down to the beachtoday? "
She blinked the sleep from her eyes and tried to focus on the clock. Noon! She never slept this long.
She was about to tell him she would meet him there in an hour when Dominic's warning rippled through her mind.If you see him again, I will not be responsible for what happens . She wasn't sure if Dominic would actually carry out his threat, but she wasn't willing to find out.
"Tracy?"
"I don't think so. I've got some work to do."
"All right," hesaid, the disappointment evident in his tone, "maybe some other time."
"Have a good day,Bryan ."
"Yeah, thanks - you, too."
Feeling like she'd just ripped the wings off of a baby bird,Tracy hung up the receiver.
Feeling numb, she stared up at the ceiling. Dominic was a vampire. She couldn't deny it any longer, not after what she had seen last night.
There was only one thing to do, and now was the time to do it. Scrambling out of bed, she took a quick shower. After dressing in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she threw some clothes in a suitcase, packed up her toiletries, then gathered up her paints, an easel, and several blank canvases. It took several trips to carry everything down to her car. Going back to the house, she filled an ice chest with ice,then loaded it with the perishables from the fridge. She dropped a loaf of bread, a box of crackers, a box of cereal, some canned goods and a couple of candy bars into a grocery sack, then carried the ice chest and the sack out to the car, as well.
She walked through the house one last time. Seeing her laptop, she decided to take it along. After making sure everything was turned off, she locked the place up and drove away. Her first instinct was to go home to her folks, but after a moment's thought, she knew she couldn't go there, couldn't take a chance that Dominic would follow her. She couldn't put the lives of her parents at risk. So, she just drove away, heading north. She wasn't sure where she was going, just some place far, far away,some place where he would never find her.
By late afternoon, she had left her house, the ocean, and, hopefully, Dominic, far behind.
At dusk, she pulled into a restaurant for dinner,then found a nearby motel where she could spend the night.
Inside, she locked the door behind her,then dropped her suitcase on one of the twin beds. There was something about motel rooms that she found depressing. This one was no different from most: twin beds covered with dark green spreads, drapes heavily lined for those who wanted to sleep during the day, a TV set bolted to the wall, an ugly, nondescript carpet on the floor.
She switched on the TV, flipped through the channels until she found an old Tom Hanks movie, and turned the sound down low.The Money Pit had always been one of her favorites and she sat down on the edge of the bed and lost herself in the antics of Hanks and Shelley Long. She even found herself laughing out loud once or twice.
When the movie was over, she went into the bathroom and turned on the tap in the bathtub. She felt a shiver of unease when she looked out the bathroom window and saw that it was dark out. Dominic would be stirring now. How long until he discovered she wasn't home? How long before he realized she wasn't coming back?
She put her hair into a ponytail, tossed her clothes on the floor, and stepped into the tub. Lying back, with her eyes closed, she let her mind drift.
She tried to blink back her tears as she smoothed the collar of her son's uniform. He was so young, barely sixteen.
He smiled at