Posted for Erin Danzer
Title: Gideon's Story
“Gideon McAuliffe.”
Gideon was used to the disembodied female voice by now. He’d been hearing it
for weeks, so to hear it tonight was no surprise. His sleep was never interrupted, but the
dream always started the same. The voice said his name, he turned towards the door
and Rosemary Simon, the woman he loved, would be there. Tonight, he turned towards
the door and it wasn’t Rosemary who stood waiting for him. This woman had blond
locks down to her waist and wore a bright red dress with a black corset. Her pale skin
glowed in the moonlight and her blue eyes sparkled like the shiniest sapphire. He was
mesmerized and for the first time since Rosemary’s disappearance six months ago, he
forgot about her.
“Gideon McAuliffe, you have been chosen to end your current life as a mortal,”
the woman said as she floated into the room. Gideon just watched her enter his
bedroom, her morbid words bouncing off his frozen mind.
“What will I become?” he asked. The woman’s feet made no sound as she crossed
the room to sit on the edge of the bed where he lay. He rolled over to look up at her and
she reached out to stroke his cheek. A small smile played at her lips.
“Why, immortal, of course,” she whispered and his heart pounded in his chest.
“Immortal; like a vampire?” he questioned and her smile widened.
“Yes, exactly that. Isn’t that what you want; the one thing that will bring you
closer to your true love?”
He sat up so fast, he would have knocked the woman off the bed if she hadn't
had such great reflexes. She jumped to her feet and looked down at him, her long nails
skimming his cheek once again. This close, he could smell her: lilies and jasmine with
just a hint of decay.
“What do you know about Rosemary?” he blurted out. Rosemary had been his
life, his one reason for existing before she disappeared. And try as he might, no matter
how long he stayed out looking for it, it was like she fell off the face of the earth. To have
this strange woman tell him she knew Rosemary was like a dream come true; if she
knew his love, he could force her to take him to her.
“I know she hides. I know she’s scared and she needs a companion during these
endless, lonely nights,” the woman declared and returned to her place next to him on
the bed. Her hand cupped his cheek as Gideon stared up at her in disbelief.
“How is it you know where she is when I haven’t found her in the six months I’ve
been searching?”
“You don’t know where to look, but accept my gift of immortality and it will open
the doors you need to be reunited with your true love.” She leaned closer to him, her
fangs glinting in the moonlight. “Say yes, Gideon; say yes to finding your Rosemary,” she
whispered and his breath caught in his throat. This was what he wanted; it was what he
needed. He needed to find Rosemary. Being without her was not living; only when he
found her, could he truly be alive again.
“Yes,” he whispered and the woman smiled as she lowered her face to his neck.
His head tilted back as her fangs pierced his skin and his life force flowed into her
mouth.
Gideon woke with a start and was surprised to see the final rays of the setting sun
through the open window. He blinked several times and shook his head, trying to clear
his mind of the nightmare he’d just woken from. That woman, he silently swore; the one
who’d been haunting his dreams for weeks. She’d come to him again last night and while
he usually forgot what happened in them, this dream he remembered perfectly. His neck
hurt where her fangs had pierced it and he reached up to feel the phantom wound. He
drew his hand away and his eyes widened when he saw a trace of blood on his fingertips.
His heart pounded as he jumped from the bed and ran to the mirror across the room.
It couldn’t be; it had always been a dream. He couldn’t be a vampire! He looked in the
mirror and gasped at the mostly closed wound on his neck. A bite mark, two holes where
her fangs had changed his life.
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