Going into the kitchen, she spread the tattered painting out on the table, her brow furrowing as she tried to smooth out the rough edges of the canvas. Where was he? Had he been destroyed with the painting?
Another memory rushed to the front of her mind, the memory of a man standing in her living room in front of the fireplace. A man with hair the color of old gold and vibrant blue eyes. A life-size version of the man in the painting.
She shook her head. "Don't go there," she muttered. "It was just a dream. Anything else is impossible."
Anything else was beyond impossible. The glass and the frame were just old, that was all. Old things broke all the time. But dream or not, she couldn't shake his image from her mind. Real or imagined, he had been the most amazing-looking man she had ever seen. Tall and broad and long of limb, with long dark blond hair and mesmerizing blue eyes. Even in the loose-fitting white shirt he had worn, there was no disguising the width of his chest and shoulders. Now that the painting had been destroyed, she would never see him again. The thought saddened her more than she would have thought possible.
"Really, Kari," she muttered in exasperation. "Tricia is right. You need to get a life. A real life."
Upon returning to the living room, she picked up the broken frame and the larger pieces of glass and tossed them into the trash, then pulled the vacuum from the broom closet and vacuumed the rug, wondering all the while how falling off the wall had torn the canvas to shreds.
The wall above the mantel looked naked without the Vilnius. Her house felt empty without the painting. Without him.
"You really are losing it." With that cheerful thought in mind, she put the vacuum away and went into the bedroom to change her clothes.
The rest of the day passed quickly. She went out to lunch and a movie with Tricia, went to the video store to return some videos, then to the market to pick up a quart of milk, cleaning supplies, and some fruit. She stopped at the cleaners to pick up her dry cleaning, and then, deciding she didn't feel like cooking, she made a U-turn and drove back to pick up some Chinese takeout from her favorite restaurant. One last stop at the gas station, and she went home.
The sun was setting in a spectacular blaze of crimson and gold as she pulled into the driveway. Getting out of the car, she paused a moment to appreciate the sunset. It took two trips to carry everything into the house, another few minutes to put her groceries away.
It was five minutes to seven when she carried her dinner into the living room, intending to watch a rerun of one of her favorite shows while she ate. She remembered the time distinctly because it was at that exact moment that fantasy became reality, and her life changed forever.
"Good evening, Karinna."
She recognized his voice even though she had never heard it before. It resonated in her mind and in her heart and proved, once and for all, that she was totally insane.
Her dinner plate tumbled from her grasp, sending fried rice and sweet-and-sour shrimp skittering across the floor.
She stared up at him, at a strong handsome face and the vivid blue eyes that had haunted her day and night.
"You're not real." She shook her head in denial. "You're not real."
"No?" He held out his hand. "Touch me and see."
Kari moved toward him as if drawn by an invisible string. She reached for him, her own hand shaking as she touched the tips of her fingers to his.
He was real. She had half expected him to be made of nothing but air and daydreams, but he was solid, his skin cool and firm.
"No." She shook her head again. "It can't be true. How can you be real?" She glanced at the place over the mantel where the Vilnius had been. "You're...you're not here...it was just a dream."
She closed her eyes. She would count to three, and when she opened her eyes again, he would be gone and the Vilnius would be hanging over the mantel, where it belonged. She would take it back to the gallery first thing Monday morning and never look at it again.
She took a deep breath. "One."
Another breath. "Two. Three."
She opened one eye.
He was still there, only now he was grinning at her. His teeth were very white.
"You need not be afraid of me, Karinna," he said, amusement evident in his voice. "I am not going to hurt you."
"What...what do you want?"
"I want you to help me find my way around."
"Around where?"
"I am new to this place, and this time."
"What do you mean, this time?"
Taking her by the hand, he led her to the sofa and urged her to sit down.
"Who are you?" she asked tremulously. "How did you get here?"
"I am going to tell you a story."
"What kind of a story?"
"Just listen. A very long time ago, in a small village in Transylvania, a man met a woman in the local tavern. He was smitten with her beauty, but even more than that, there was something exotic about her. All the women he knew had dark hair and dark eyes, but this stranger had hair like fire and eyes like a blue flame. She spoke in riddles, teasing him, tempting him. The women of his village smelled of sunshine and fine wine, but this woman smelled of silk and mystery. Knowing it was wrong and yet helpless to resist, he met her at the tavern every night for a week until he was completely under her spell, and then late one night, she invited him to her dwelling. He refused, and yet, without quite knowing how it happened, he found himself following her to where she lived, a solitary house deep in the woods.
"She offered him wine and refilled his glass many times. And then, when he was drunk with it, and with her, she took him to her bed.
"When he woke, he was in a cave. He remembered very little of what had happened the night before and what he remembered didn't seem real. Glowing red eyes. The sharp prick of fangs at his throat. The taste of blood on his tongue.
"Feeling disoriented, he left the cave. As soon as he stepped outside, a sharp pain engulfed him. Frightened, he glanced around, wondering where he was, where the woman was.
"He was trying to find his way back to his village when the woman appeared at his side. She stilled the questions that poured from his lips with a wave of her hand and told him what had happened to him the night before.
"He listened in disbelief as she explained that he was now a vampire--"
"A vampire!" Kari exclaimed. "That's ridiculous. There's no such thing."
"Be still. She told him that he was a vampire. From now on, he would live only by night. He would need blood to survive. Human blood. She told him many other incredible things about his new condition, kissed him on the cheek, and vanished from his sight.