Chapter 1:
Shaking Shaya felt the tears fall down her cheek. The dream was a mind blowing experience. It was real raw passion. She could have thought it was her own life. Sitting up slowly, she could feel the dizziness of her own battle from the previous nights patrol.
The night before Briac had decided the two of them could cover more ground if they split apart instead of always going together. She wouldn't have happily obliged if she knew she was going to have the shit beat out of her. Massaging her face, Shaya groaned in protest to her own movements. Being a hunter never hurt this much before.
Nonetheless, she couldn't just lie in bed all day. She was on a mission to find the man of her dreams, literally. Plus she was dying to find out how Briac's first night alone was. Sighing heavily Shaya walked the short distance to her closet.
Her room was the smallest in the apartment she shared. But this was the only with a lock, so it suits her just fine. The one window in the room looked down on the dirty streets of New York she considered home. She had a beautiful canopy bed with flowing white lace a vibrant gold silk. It was the one thing she worked hard to get. She had all her clothes in her closet, so the bed was the centerpiece of the room, surrounded by ancient pieces of art and a table on both sides. The tables were small just fill the space; one with a lamp and her alarm clock, and the other with her favorite flowers and pictures of her sister and Briac.
She looked at the scattered clothes across the floor, the evidence to just how brutal the night before had been. She sighed heavily and picked up the few loose items before returning to her closet. She wasn't in the mood to go to work. She couldn't handle idle talk over coffee with people who think they know everything, but hunting wasn't going to pay the bills.
She grabbed a tan sundress and her white slip and finally headed out of her bedroom ready to enter the line of questioning. It was the one thing she could count on every morning. Briac and Genevieve would be in the kitchen waiting for her to come down and talk about how her night was. They were always looking out for her, like she couldn't defend herself.
She quickly showered avoiding the kitchen for as long as she could. She didn't want to talk, when she didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell them she got her ass kicked because her mind kept drifting to a mysterious stranger. Even if she never got the chance to meet him, she wanted to know why he was haunting her sleep.
She sat down the small table in the middle of the kitchen. It was amazing that they managed to fit three people in this house. She looked at Genevieve standing at the stove flipping pancakes and shifted her gaze to Briac enjoying his own stack with the overflowing river of syrup.
"What time do you have to be to work today?" Genevieve said as she brought the plate of the rest of the pancake to the table. She put a few on an empty plate and handed them to her fraternal twin sister.
Genevieve was the complete opposite of Shaya. While Shaya was curvy in all the right places, Genevieve was pencil thin. Shaya had flat blonde hair, and Genevieve was a full head of red hair. Genevieve's eyes were sky blue, and Shaya had eyes like brown gold. For anyone looking at the two girls, the looked like best friends instead of twins. Genevieve only wore black. She was wearing a pair of leather pants and a black tank top that stuck to her body.
"At noon, I'll be done at eight." Shaya said as she started digging into her breakfast. She smiled and looked at Briac. "Don't even ask ok?"
"Shaya…" Briac started. He shook his head and let his hazel eyes do the talking. He was disappointed. He wouldn't expect her to come home from a nightly patrol that banged up. It was like the vamps in town had a field day with her body. He couldn't help but feel guilty, like he should have been there to defend her.
"I'm fine. I was just not all there last night. I won't let it happen again."
Briac's muscular body was hidden under a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The table hid the fact that he stood a mean six feet. He was all power and he knew it. It was his only downfall. He was too worried about work, to have a little fun in life. Shaya couldn't stand heart to hearts about how to kill a vampire. It was instinctual to her; she didn't have to think about it.
"I wasn't even going to say anything about that. I was going to tell you Genevieve has a bad feeling."
"Sis, I have reason to believe you're in danger. I just…. I keep having premonitions of you screaming in pain covered in blood. I don't know how you got there or where you are, but I can feel you essence draining." Genevieve said as she started to clean the table.
"Well, I'm not dead yet. Don't worry; I'll call you when I die." Shaya rolled her eyes and grabbed her jacket on the back of her chair. She just wanted to get to work and get this day done and over with.
She walked out the door silently. Shaya was just sick of life. It was always the same shit day in and day out. She wanted passion and raw emotion. She wanted to feel like life was worth while. But those were all things she couldn't feel. She couldn't ever fall in love because it would be a weakness. This was her life, boring and all.
She got down to solid ground just as the lunch crowd burst through the doors. It was going to be a busy afternoon. She threw her apron on and smiled at Brooke the other waitress.
"Table five needs to be taken care of," Brooke said pointing to the booth by the window. Brooke was the average American college student, dyed hair and full lips. She was the reason most men came to the café.
Shaya painted on her best smile as she grabbed a notebook pad and heading to her assigned table. She paused right before she got there. She couldn't breathe. Blonde hair spike with an enormous amount of gel, midnight blue eyes that looked tortured and lost, and a body to die for. It was him!
"Welcome to Solid Grounds. Can I help you with anything?" Shaya finally managed to calmly say. She could help but stare at how beautiful he was to look at. She also noticed how some of the other girls in the café were also staring.
"I'll just take a banana nut muffin. I'm just waiting for someone." He responded and shifted his gaze to the window. His white beater highlighted by his black leather jacket and matching pants, showed he wasn't as dark as he seemed. He was mysterious and dangerous.
"Ok, I'll be right back with that," Shaya said walking back to the counter. "So why didn't you want table five, I seen you drooling over here."
"His body is a piece of art," Brooke nodded in agreement as she filled a costumer's cup with coffee. "But it's not my table today."
Shaya rolled her eyes and walked back over with his order. She just wanted to sit down and talk with him, but she was on the clock and Brooke would flip. She smiled shyly feeling as if she was five all over again.
"What's your name?" His voice was soft and masculine. He was definitely a little rough around the edges. He looked up at her as she set the plate on the table.
"Shaya," she replied trying desperately to hide the squeak in her voice.
"Adrian." He looked around the café. Everyone was starting to clear out. Most people just come in for a latte to go. Soon, it was just her, Brooke, and him in the entire place.
"So, are you from around here? I haven't seen you in here before." Shaya said turning to read Brooke's face. Brooke smiled at her motioning her to take a seat.
"I usually don't come to this side of the city. I'm just here to meet an old friend."
Shaya had a sudden flash in her mind about her dream. This couldn't be the man of her dreams that man lost everyone. She smiled at him, hoping he wouldn't notice she was deep in thought. He was the one thing she shouldn't be curious about. She had no idea who or what he was.
"What's wrong?" He asked sounding genuinely concerned.
"I'm that readable huh?" Shaya sighed in defeat. She wasn't going to be able to hide anything from him, not that she really wanted to.
"Well I can tell something is on your mind… But if you don't want to talk about it, then I won't pry."
"I just don't want to be judged over something I have no control over."
"I'm not judging you."
"Have you ever been so disappointed in yourself that it felt like nothing else matters?"
"Can't say I have…" His lie was almost easy to believe. However his eyes told a different story than his lips. He was trying to be human, trying to hide his true identity. It was only in the depth of his eyes that Shaya was able to see him as he really was a vampire with a heart. He had lost too much, to be the cruel vamps she kills every night. He was a different kind… A sun walking, different kind.
"I guess… I'm just going through something then."
"How did you disappoint yourself?"
"I let myself become weak for a beautiful stranger and now it seems I can't stand on my own two feet again. Everything I do just reminds me of them. And yet I'm clueless to who they really are."
"I know how that feels… Almost sounds like you're in love."
"How can I be in love when I don't even know y… them."
"Love is a funny thing. It strikes even the hardest victims at the most unusual times." Adrian smiled at her placing some money on the table and standing up. He nodded to a man standing on the sidewalk outside the café. "Looks like I am wanted outside. He never was one for coffee. I hope everything works out for you Shaya."
Shaya just mumble a sweet goodbye as she watched him walk out the door. Turning around, she expected to see Brooke. Instead she was greeted with a flying dagger. Before she knew what was going on, everything went black.