Blood of a Werewolf (3 page)

With that he relaxed and the smile that came over his face lit up his entire being.
 
His eyes sparkled.

She continued, “And as for escorting me home, well, I suppose you are going in the same direction and I would like the company, so yes, I accept your offer, dear knight.”
 

He beamed, took her tiny, fragile hand in his, protectively set it in the crook of his arm, and led her towards the door.
 
Over her shoulder she yelled to Kyle, waving, “Good night. Don’t forget to tell Jenn I said hi!”

“I will...night, Darby. Devon,” Kyle replied.

Devon waved at Kyle in response and said, “Night.”

As they walked out the door, the fresh air felt nice on her arms and face.
 
She hadn’t realized how stuffy it was in the bar or how warm she had gotten.
 
They headed for the house and he said, “So tell me about the history of Oljone.”

“Well, that’s a bit of a story, but if you insist. Oljone was the name of the native tribe of Indians that originally lived in the area, Ohlone or Coastoans.
 
The local missions recorded their presence and named them Oljone for a Spanish ranch that was in the area. There have been settlers here as early as the late 1700s.
 
The Ohlones didn’t fair well with the new diseases brought in by the settlers, and their numbers dwindled quickly.
 
The little town had its run-ins with the Spanish in the area, the gold rush, and just the hard life of the Wild West.
 
They had to deal with grizzlies, mountain lions, and assorted other maladies. Oljone has also had its share of outlaws, including the Younger brothers, Cole, Jim, and Bob, who ran with Jesse James’ gang. They hid from the law here for a while.

“This area, too, is right between two fault lines, San Gregorio and San Andreas.
 
As you probably know, on April 18, 1906, the San Andreas fault line shifted by as much as 15 feet horizontally in some places.
 
Needless to say, Oljone took a tremendous jolt and a massive landslide, but not like the devastation felt in San Francisco.”

As they turned on to their street, she looked up at him and asked, “Did you enjoy your history lesson?”

He smiled. “I did. Very much so.”

Their two houses came into view, and she saw Harry had claimed Devon’s front porch.
 
He lay sleeping on the railing with all four paws, not to mention a little belly, dangling in mid-air over the edges. He was sleeping, eyes slammed shut, with his head hanging over the edge.

Darby turned to Devon with an eyebrow cocked and said, ”I’m afraid I have some bad news, Devon!”

With an expression of shock, he turned to face her, pursing his lips. “What?” he said frantically.

“Seems my cat, Harry, has claimed your front porch as his.
 
This means that nothing of yours is sacred anymore,” she said as she pointed towards Harry on the porch.

Now Devon looked confused and his brows furrowed in worry.
 
She continued, “You see, Harry is a cat burglar - literally.
 
He steals things from all over the neighborhood.
 
I’ve found belts, neckties, handkerchiefs, an earring, a feather boa, cat toys that were not purchased by me, and the crème de la crème - an old, crusty sock.
 
He leaves these little jewels on the foot of my bed or near his kitty dish.
 
So if you lose something, you might want to come over and check Harry’s stash.
 
I keep them all in a basket near the fire place, so that he can gloat over them.”

Devon started to laugh. “You’re kidding, right?” But with a stern face and lips pressed together in a thin line, Darby shook her head.

As Devon continued to laugh, Harry raised his head and opened his bright yellow eyes. When he recognized Darby’s voice, he jumped down from the rail with a thunderous
ker-thump
, and started to run towards them, rubbing against anything he could find on the way. When Harry was about two feet away from them, he plopped down on his side, purring loudly and kneading the grass.
 
Apparently, they were supposed to come to him the rest of the way and give him some pets.
 
Devon and Darby closed the gap and both squatted down to appease the very large, purring cat.
 
As they did so, he squeaked out a high-pitched meow.
 
This startled Devon and he looked at Darby quizzically.
 

“What? Didn’t expect such a tiny little voice on such a...ummm...manly-sized cat?” Darby said, bringing her hand to her face to shield Harry from seeing her mouth the word
fat
.
 

Devon laughed at that and continued to scratch under the cat’s chin, which Harry seemed to enjoy a lot. He brought his other hand around and picked up the cat. With a look of surprise as he hefted the cat to his shoulder, Devon groaned and said, “You weren’t kidding, he’s very...”

Her eyes widened in faux-panic, so he said, “Ummm, he’s very, very masculine.”

With a sigh of relief, Darby laughed along with Devon.
 
After a few minutes, Devon set the cat down on the ground very carefully, stood up, and turned to Darby.
 

The awkward moment had arrived.
Why does there always have to be an awkward moment at the end of a date?
 
But, this wasn’t a date; it was a chance meeting so there shouldn’t be any awkwardness,
she argued with herself
.
 

He smiled again as if hearing her argument. Harry was now doing figure eights in and out of Darby’s and Devon’s legs. He was purring like a freight train now.

To break the silence, she said, “Well this is me,” and pointed to her porch.

He smiled in confirmation, gently grabbed both of her hands, pulled them up to his mouth, and softly kissed each one.

“Thank you for this enchanted evening.
 
I can’t think of when I’ve had a more pleasant time. Maybe...,” and then he faltered and the words hung on his lips as if he were not sure if he should continue.

Darby smiled. “Maybe we could do it again soon?” she asked.

He smiled with great appreciation and replied, “Yes, yes.
 
Would tomorrow evening be too soon?”
 

With a smug smirk, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and said, “Well, I don’t know. I’ll have to check my busy schedule.” He appeared horribly disappointed.

She jabbed his shoulder softly and smiled. “I’m joking, of course tomorrow is not too soon.” She didn’t say it out loud, but thought,
I wish this didn’t have to end tonight. You goof!

Instead she said, “In fact, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tomorrow night at 7:00? Here? At my place?
 
Nothing fancy – I’m not a very good cook, but we can order pizza. You could bring the beer and...ummm, well I could get a movie, or we could just talk, play a game or something?”

He seemed disappointed or was it embarrassment? She couldn’t tell.
 
He looked at her with his gorgeous brown eyes and said, “Shouldn’t it be me that should be asking? After all, the honor is all mine. Someone as beautiful and intelligent as yourself should have men swooning over you, filling your dance card and calendar with frivolities.”

She shook her head in disbelief, eyebrows raised, and laughed saying, “Again, what century are you from? Do you want to come over for dinner or not?”

At first he seemed shocked at her statement, but as if starting to understand her sense of humor, he chuckled and said, “You know I do, I’ll be there at 7:00.” And then he added, “with beer.”

She smiled, turned away from him, and started to unlock the door, but over her shoulder she said, “Great. Then it’s a date.”
Oops,
she thought,
I shouldn’t have said that. Maybe he doesn’t consider it a date; Oh My God, what an imbecile you are, Darby.

Something in the way he held his shoulders as he was walking to his porch stairs said he was laughing to himself, and as if he was again reading her thoughts, he assured her with, “It’s a date.”

A huge smile came over her face as she called Harry to come in for the evening. She made one last glance towards the handsome man next door, only to find him smiling, getting one last glimpse of her. For the second time that day she found herself back against her closed door and sighing with relief, but this time with anticipation.

She locked the door, turned off the lights, picked up Harry, and walked back to her bedroom, thinking about the evening she just had, this chance meeting with a neighbor, no less. She lay back on the bed with the still purring monster clutched to her chest. She smiled, thinking of the gentle, timeless man who had just touched her soul like no one ever had
.
 
How could one encounter be so life changing?
she thought.
 
This man I met hours ago has got me swooning like a teenager with a horrendous crush.
 
Don’t go crazy, Darby. The man is too perfect.
 
He must have something wrong with him
.

But as hard as she thought, she couldn’t think of one thing he may or may not have that would deter her wanting to wrap her entire world around him.
 

The purring Harry monster was vibrating on her chest and happy, and beautiful thoughts slowly meandered though Darby’s mind, lulling her into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Chapter 2

Darby woke to find Harry standing on her chest and meowing his squeaky high-pitched meow. It was hard to breathe with all that...ummm, male furriness standing on her. She pushed him to one side and he jumped to the ground with a thunderous
ker-thump
. He obviously had assumed that pushing him off her meant she was going to get up and feed him.
 
When that didn’t happen, after about one hundred and eighty seconds, he was back on the bed and threatening to get on her chest again.
   

“Gee whiz, Harry! It’s Saturday. Can’t I sleep in just a couple of minutes on the weekend?”
 
The insistent meowing told her his answer –
Not in my world, sister
.
 
Seeing that she was indeed getting out of bed, he triumphantly jumped down, tail raised high, and waited by the door – just in case she changed her mind.
   

Darby got up slowly and headed for the bathroom. Just to make sure that she didn’t forget about him, Harry endorsed his presence with a couple more high-pitched meows and pushed the door open.
 

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she said, “Geez, can’t a girl have some privacy?” As if answering her, he meowed.
No, and on that point, it ain’t nothing I haven’t seen before
.
 

She shook her head with disbelief, washed her hands, and headed to the kitchen to feed the hairy monster.
 

Now that Harry was happy for the moment, she made the coffee and headed for the front door to get the paper.
 

Unlike her sister, she had taken on this morning ritual from her father.
 
The man was adamant about having his coffee and paper before he could cope with the new day.
 

She could see that it was overcast, as usual for this time of year, so close to the coast.
 
Often the fog here would not retreat until noon or one o’clock, but it made for lovely, cool mornings.
 
She opened the door and there on the welcome mat was a single lavender rose with a tiny card attached to it with a yellow silk ribbon. She bent down and picked up the flower, looking both ways out the door as if the person who left it there had only just done so and might be lurking in the bushes.
 

She carefully untied the pretty yellow ribbon, and there written in beautiful calligraphy was:
 

Darby,

I look forward to our tryst this evening. Until then, please accept this rose as a token of my adoration.

Devon

A tryst? What the heck is that? Oh man, does that mean it isn’t a date – I mean lavender is for friends or sympathy, right? I knew he was too good to be true; he’s already sending me sympathy flowers so he can break it off with me in his oh, so gallant manner. But he did call it a date last night, didn’t he?
 

Her mind was racing a hundred miles a minute. She went back in the house, focused on finding a dictionary when she realized she had totally forgotten to get the paper, which was still at the bottom of the porch stairs.
 
She shook her head and went back to the door and opened it.
 

She looked both ways in hopes that no one had seen that she had flipped out just a second earlier. She ran down the stairs, grabbed the paper, and ran in the house, still looking over her shoulder for the lurking phantom delivery gnomes – like garden gnomes, but sneakier.