He showed up like a hurricane, a menacing threat and pure power, torrent rain and crazy wind, clouds pressing lower to the ground as if he meant to swoop down and pick up the wary pedestrians and suck them into his hole of despair. He descended into the ballroom much like the clouds of a storm would slowly reach over the town with greedy hands, swallowing the blue sky ever so slowly. It was as if he thought that his presence wouldn't be noticed, but much like the dark, swirling clouds on the horizon, people would watch with curiosity and fear as he reached the door and shook his head covered in thick, black hair, sending moisture from the rain outside down his temple and onto his black cloak.
Anna Hemmingston watched in sheer awe as he swung the heavy piece of clothing off his broad shoulders and handed it to the footman while he stepped into the candle light that lit the room with sensual warmth. There was something raw about this man. A danger that clung to him much like the impeccably tailored suit hung to his muscular body. He licked his full, pink lips and looked around the room as if searching for something. And then he found it. He found her.

She was shocked when he met her inquisitive gaze, and his eyes that were such a vibrant green that she could see that they were green from the side of the ballroom where she was sitting with the other widows and matrons of the Ton, kept hers for a minute. She felt herself reach for her fan and put it up to her face to cover her mouth and nose so that he could see only her eyes. He had not looked away since she reached for her paper fan painted with delicate Forget Me Nots. Anna realized she had barely looked away and the other matrons were starting to whisper about the new man that had entered the party and how he and Anna seem to be connected. She didn't care. The man started to walk toward her, though she thought it was more like floating. She had never seen a man move with that amount of grace and effortlessness before.

"Mrs. Hemmingston," a voice broke through the barricade that she had placed around her mind since she had first seen him. The man seemed to sense it and he looked away and picked up a glass of champagne. Anna looked away to her friend, Helen Moore. Helen was a woman in her sixtieth summer with wrinkles creasing her pale face which had always been covered by a bonnet when she was younger so she did not have the freckles that covered her skin like Anna.

"Yes?" She asked curtly, her voice not as strong as she would have hoped. She sounded out of breath.

"There is something about that man," She said. "And he seems to have eyes only for you."

Anna tilted her head; her blue eyes alit with question that made them shine like the bluest of days. "It does seem that way."

"Do you know him?" She asked, drawing the glass of punch to her thin mouth. She took a sip and then lowered it, looking directly at Anna.

"No, I've never seen him before." Anna said as she watched him. He wasn't greeting anyone, but his mere presence had thrown the ballroom into a room full of whirling of whispers and glaring glances. He caught her again and a thought drifted into her head, a dizzy thought that was more of a command than a suggestion.

"Go to him."

"I must go."

"Mrs. Hemmingston, where are you going?" Helen said with suspicion lacing her tone. Anna kept eye contact with the man and Helen's voice was barely audible.

"I must go." She repeated and then she stood, her yellow satin gown swooshing by her feet as she watched the man walk out onto the balcony. She must follow.

She watched as he walked across the ballroom and went onto the balcony. The balcony, she thought. It was raining as usual in London so she would certainly ruin her gown, but she couldn’t seem to stop her feet. She was being pulled across the ballroom. She reached the door and looked out. He was standing with his back turned toward her, leaning over the side of the marble balcony. Anna paused for a moment to let her eyes wander over his frame.

He was strong and lean. She could tell that he was agile just by watching his small movements. He shifted his weight to the left side and then, as if sensing her presence he turned.

“Anna,” She was startled to hear her name slip from his mouth. It was a sultry sound as if he had moaned it. They stood in silence, a layer of moisture coating her skin and making her dress stick to her body. What was she doing out here? She started to walk forward and she found herself standing in front of him, looking up into those magnificent eyes. He took her hand and raised it to his mouth, bestowing feather like kisses over her knuckles. “Anna,”

“Have we met?” Anna asked breathlessly. He still had a hold on her hand and showed no signs of letting it go. His hand was cold, but she didn’t mind.

“Every full moon.” He told her. “My name is Micah.”

“Mr. Micah,”

“No, no. We are on better terms than that. Just call me Micah. I call you Anna.”

“That is rather scandalous.” She whispered. He flipped her hand over and left a scorching kiss on her wrist. His tongue darted out and drew a circle there. She had never before been touched in such a way. She gasped and met his eyes as he looked up to gaze at her face. Her brunette hair had now taken on the weight of the rain and it was starting to sag. She could feel some strands stick to her forehead.

“I know I ask this every time we meet, but will you run away with me? Tonight?”

“Every time we meet? I have never seen you before.” She said confused.

“You know that you are drawn to me. I look eerily familiar. Look at me again. This time really look at me and dig deep.”

Flashes burst forward in her head as she looked at Micah. It was of when she was younger, on her wedding night, her first ball, her miscarriage. Every time he was there, a shadowy figure watching her. But each time he would come to her and ask her the same question. “Will you run away with me? Tonight?”

Anna gazed up at his familiar face in amazement. “Micah…” Her voice drifted off.

“Anna,” Micah reached forward and took her into his strong, wet arms. “Oh, Anna, will you run away with me?” He paused and squeezed her tighter as if he had never before touched her, which to her recollection, he never had. “Tonight?”

“Yes,” She whispered as she held onto him and was assaulted by the smell of rain and sandalwood. “Yes.”

“Finally.” He started to kiss down her neck. Anna arched until she felt him open his mouth and start to suck on her neck. Then two sharp points gently slid in to her pulsating vein. She let a sound of surprise pass by her lips, but was soon hit with a wave of pleasure and then she felt nothing at all.
Present day…


Luce quickly shook her head. Where had that come from? She had no idea what it meant. And yet she had been the one who’d thought it. It was the kin-

A loud banging broke Anna’s world inside her latest book, her latest escape from this reality. She then heard very feminine giggling along with a moan. Her neighbors were at it again.

It was the kind
of phrase that sometimes formed in her mind just before she drifted into sleep. Sens-

This time the banging wasn’t as loud, but evermore persistent. She pushed her glasses up from where they were perched halfway down her nose. Her blue oversized armchair was made of cotton so that it wouldn’t stick to her bare legs when she rose gingerly from the seat.

“I am coming.” She said as she walked to the door. She pulled her silk robe that only went to her knees tighter around her. Her book was held to her chest as she stood on tiptoe to look through the peephole. There she couldn’t believe what she saw.

A tall figure standing rigidly straight stood before her door. He pushed his black shaggy hair out of his pale face and away from his jade hued eyes that looked nervously side to side, but then, as if he could feel her watching him, he was staring straight through the peephole and into her face. He did always have a scary way of knowing when she was looking at him.
“Anna.”
She could pick up on the smallest sounds because of her super enhanced hearing, but this was not one of those. It was the word he had said nearly 190 years ago. She backed away from the door and looked down at her dainty feet with toe nails covered in her favorite color, Electric Blue. She set down her book on the wooden table near the door.
“Anna, I know you are in there. I can sense you.”
She looked up and again through her peephole, debating with herself whether to acknowledge him or leave him. She had to think of an escape plan. Maybe through the fire escape…?
He chuckled. “Anna, please, you know that you are afraid of heights. One look down that fire escape and you would be clinging to the bar practically begging me to save you. But, knowing you, you would never beg and my bet is that you wouldn’t even let me touch you. I would probably have to call the fire department.”
“What do you want Micah?” She said as her face turned in irritation.
“Let me in please. This couple out here is practically fornicating on top of me. No modesty these days.” Micah clucked and leaned against the door so that she could see only his green eye through the small eyehole.
Anna knew what he meant. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens really couldn’t keep their hands off of each other long enough to get their mail from the cubby holes in the main entrance of the building.
“Not until you tell me what you are doing here.”
“I came to talk.”
“Talk?” She said outraged. She unlocked the door to look at him straight on.
Micah’s button up shirt was un-tucked from his black dress pants and his vest was a little too snug around his broad chest. He leaned against the door frame, his dominating presence drawing circles in her self control.
“What do you want to talk about? How you left me? How you abandoned me?”
The couple that was standing across the hall locked in a lover’s embrace let their eyes bore into Micah and Anna. Micah looked over hesitantly and pulled Anna into the room. She felt his hand encase her arm and although his hand was cold, warmth spread through her arm. She gasped at the sensation. She had forgotten what a man’s touch was like and that only this man could create such sensations within her. She had been alive for over 200 years and she had never felt anything like the feelings that she got when Micah touched her even if it was the simplest of touches. Brushing back a strand of hair from her face, kissing her hand, leading her away from the light and into the darkness…
She shook her head against the memories and yanked her arm away. “What do you want Micah?”
“I told you to talk. About everything, anything.” Without knowing, he had backed her into a wall, his strong hands pressing the wall behind her, trapping her between the cream colored concrete and his body that was equally as hard and stronger. Both their bodies were that way ever since he had turned her into a vampire all those years ago.
“I’ve missed you.” He whispered.
She scoffed. “Oh really? So, why didn’t you come back, I do not know, say, 100 years ago?”
His green eyes watched her in regret. She tried to push away from him, but he didn’t move. She huffed in frustration, but looked into his eyes. They were the color of grass on a summer day.
“You left me.” She whispered looking away.
“I know.”
“Why?” She said softly, like a child after it had been reprimanded.
Now, it was Micah’s turn to sigh. He leaned his forehead against hers, loving the feel of his skin on hers.
“When we first met, and that was when you were a small child, I knew that I loved you. Something about your soul beckoned me. I had been asking you ever since you were about 16 to run away with me and welcome the night into your life. You denied me each time. And then when you were married…” His voice wandered away. “I thought that I would forever love a ghost. I was almost thankful when he died. You were grief stricken. I took advantage of you and then I selfishly took the thing that drew me near you. Your soul.”
“Damn my soul, I wanted to be with you.” She muttered as she moved her eyes upward to look at his face which was so close to hers she could feel the warm breath on her cheeks.
“You said that then too.” He cupped her face in his large hands and opened his eyes to look at her. “You don’t know how true that is. I damned you to be with me for all eternity and, and I just could not take it. You were the constant reminder against the crime I had committed against nature. You stopped smiling being unable to see the sun. You were pretending to be happy with this life I had given you.”
“I wasn’t pretending.” She rubbed up and down his hands that gently sat on her cheeks. “I would miss the Sun, but it is nothing compared to the light that radiated off you.” Anna turned her head to kiss his rough hand. “It still isn’t.”
“Anna,” Micah pulled her into his cold embrace. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”
“You know, you are a disaster.” She said against his shoulder. “My greatest disaster.”