Reclaimed(4)
Author: Diane Alberts

Only the sound of her speeding heart and the eerie purple moon kept her company.

***

The next week was filled with writing her current romance novel and decorating, and she didn’t leave her house. Until today, anyway. It was Friday, and she’d decided to take a trip into town for some shopping. Checking off the last item on her list, she groaned when her stomach growled. Time for a dinner break.

She, of course, knew where to go.

She parked in front of the tavern where she’d seen him in the flesh and hopped out of the car with bated breath. Would he be there? She absentmindedly threw a bill into the jar in front of the homeless man—sleeping, again—and entered the dimly lit room. She searched, but only the flickering light hanging over the middle of the room met her eyes. Disappointment crept over her even as she searched the room once more. As if he’d appear from behind the door and yell, “Boo!” To make it worse, no dreams had come all week, and she yearned to see him, to see if he actually existed. This was ridiculous in itself, because of course he didn’t.

Duh.

When lingering over her dinner didn’t make him magically appear, she left the tavern heavy-hearted. Each footstep she took seemed harder than the last. She paused and considered the alleyway he’d appeared in the other day.

Could he be in there?

“Looking for him, miss?”

She jumped at the gravelly voice behind her, whirling to see who spoke. It was the homeless man—aware for once. Awake, he positively terrified her. Intelligence swam in his eyes, and that was all she could make out of him. The rest of his face was buried under hair and dirt.

She hesitated. “I’m sorry? Looking for who?”

“The tall bloke who came here last time you were, miss.”

“I thought you were sleeping.” Nonchalantly, she rested her hand on the mace hanging off her keychain—and found it missing…again.

His eyes followed her small movement. “I just see things, I do. And I saw him leave, and he watched you leave.”

“So he was there,” she said. “I thought I saw him in the alley!”

“Yes, miss. But right as soon as he saw you, he scattered like the rats that live there—always trying to steal my food, they are.” He shook his head and grumbled something too quietly for Sabrina to make out.

“Are you always here?” she asked.

“I live here, ma’am. Keep an eye on the place to make sure the wrong sort doesn’t get in.” His chest puffed out in pride. She refrained from pointing out most establishments deemed him the wrong sort. She knew he’d take offense at the remark and had no desire to hurt his feelings.

“Well, obviously you do an excellent job. Have you seen the man here again, recently?”

“Oh yes, he came here today. Looked real out-of-sorts, he did. Hiding in the shadows, searching for something. Methinks he seeks you.” His tone of voice held a sly tone to it, as if he were in on a secret she wasn’t.

She shivered and glanced toward the alley. “Is he here, now?” She searched the shadows, but sensed no movement.

“No, he left a few hours ago. You’re safe with old Zeke here.”

She fought down the apprehension creeping up her spine and smiled at Zeke. “Well, I’m going home. Keep an eye out for troublemakers, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am. That’s my job. Thanks for the money.” He tipped his battered hat at her. His hair stuck out in several threadbare spots where the fabric had worn away. “You are the perfect woman. Looks and a warm heart.”

She blushed, embarrassed by the praise. “Don’t mention it, Zeke.” She waved and got into the car to drive home, feeling curiously empty despite the full meal she’d ingested. She’d obviously gone insane. Why did this man haunt her so? Sure, he was ungodly hot—but did he have to consume her both night and day? Ugh, time for some good TV.

An hour later, she sat absorbed in the gripping drama of a team of police searching for a killer before they lost one of their own. A thud outside her door caused her to lurch to her feet and gasp.

Holding a shaky hand to her pounding heart, she tiptoed toward the door, without consciously having made the decision to go there. She peered through the tiny peephole, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw a shadow in the trees. The shadow, eerily enough, seemed to creep toward her.

Anything that moved in the night like that couldn’t be a good thing. It crept far too stealthy, as if it were used to hunting things in the dark night. She watched the threat as it snuck closer to her house, afraid to make as much as a breath of a sound.

The shadow flew through the air and out of sight. It travelled so fast she questioned the validity of it. Nothing, human or animal, could move so majestically.

Except…no, it couldn’t be possible. In the dream the man might have done it, but in real life he was simply a man. He didn’t leap over buildings in real life. Unless…she’d fallen asleep. She pinched her bicep as hard as she could and winced as pain shot up her arm.

Nope, definitely not a dream.

She rubbed her aching arm as a sound came from above her. Frozen in fear, she glanced at the ceiling. The shuffling noises pulled her from her panic, and she scrambled for the phone on the coffee table.

A soft, menacing chuckle met her ears, and the phone crashed to the floor loudly, followed by an unmistakable rolling sound. She dropped to her knees to search frantically for the missing batteries.

“Shit, shit, shit!” she exclaimed.

Oddly enough, the feeling of terror that had come upon Sabrina left. Somehow, she knew whoever, or whatever, had caused her fear had left. This made no sense at all.

But hell, what had made sense lately?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

***

Sabrina sat by the stream in the purple moonlight once again. It seemed like she’d been watching the water move over the rocks for hours before she sensed him behind her. He walked to her side and held out his hand. She took it and rose slowly to her feet. His cool palm caused her to tremble, partly because his hand felt so cold against hers, and partly because of the sensations that shot up her arm at his touch.

“Hello, Sabrina. Did you miss me?”

“Why am I even dreaming of you? This makes no sense. I only saw you once, and yet I can’t get you out of my mind.” She met his intense blue gaze. “This is crazy. I’m asking questions of a person in my dream. And to top it off, I’m now imagining things jumping on my roof while awake. I have gone insane,” she muttered under her breath.