didn’t help at all. When I finally fell asleep again, I awoke gasping from the intensity of the burn. I felt the consequences of those runs when I’d been so out of shape, physically paying for those stupid impulses. I finally fell into a more comfortable sleep just long enough to enjoy the memory-dream.
When I woke up at five, I felt completely refreshed. In fact, I felt unusually strong, both physically and mentally. The burning in the night was a distant memory. I ran around the property several times since I had nowhere else to safely run, then I went for a long swim, pushing myself harder on each lap I made parallel to our private beach. I felt good. It’s like my body is becoming more powerful by the minute, like it’s changing.
That thought rushed me out of the water and back inside.
I stared at myself in the mirror for what seemed like hours, twisting and turning my body to study it from as many angles as I could. The woman staring back at me no longer looked fifty-something. My reflection looked completely different than it had just a week earlier. A spark of life shone in my eyes. Color brightened my skin again. Although wet, my hair felt thicker and the grays had disappeared. Even with less sleep and intense emotional strain, the dark circles under my eyes were hardly noticeable. The wrinkles were shallow, almost invisible.
And my body… I didn’t understand, but the running and exercise—and forgetting to eat—had dramatically reversed the damage I’d done. The pooch had shrunken into just a shadow of its former self. My hips and butt were noticeably smaller. No wonder I had to keep hitching up my shorts. Even my breasts looked almost back to normal. And perkier. They were almost pre-baby.
Should I call Mom? I debated the question for quite a while. In the end, I decided not to. After all, I’d been through hell this week. My body just reacted in an unusual way, as my body tended to do. It was probably just healing itself from the long-term damage once I decided to let it. These may not be permanent changes. Not the Ang’dora. I had little knowledge of what the Ang’dora would be like, but I knew I was too young and I wasn’t going to let my hopes rise…yet.
There was one definite difference about me: I started to feel alive again. Really alive.
By the next day, comforted with both sleeping and waking memories and the feeling he was close, if only in spirit, I felt real hope. Psycho and Swirly hadn’t made any appearances since I’d arrived, Foggy seemed to be dissipating and I actually felt like Almost Alexis, even without Dorian. And for some reason, this made me feel like I could finally finish my book. As I set up the laptop on the screened-in balcony, Owen bounded up the outside stairs three at a time and flew through the screen door.
“It’s Sophia,” he said, sounding a little anxious. My cell phone rang. I looked at him and he raised his eyebrows.
“Alexis, are you okay?” Mom asked. She sounded more than just a little anxious.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“Listen, honey, we have some serious problems.”
“What?” Panic immediately set in at the tone of her voice. “Is Dorian okay?”
“Yes. He’ll be fine.”
“Then what’s going on, Mom?”
“Are you almost done with that book?”
What? Why is the book so important? “Actually, I was just getting ready to write. I think I can finish it soon. Why?”
She took a deep breath. “The Daemoni are in an uproar and some of them are out of control. We don’t know the full reasoning, but part of it has to do with your last book.”
“What? What does my book have anything to do…?” My voice trailed off as the vampire dreams flashed through my mind.
“Honey, your books have to do with a lot of things. I don’t have time to explain it all now, but suffice it to say that not all you’ve been writing is fiction.”
The phone shook in my hand and I nearly dropped it with shock. “What does that mean?”
She sighed heavily. “The characters, Alexis. You know these creatures because of who you are, a connection you have. They’re not myths.”
I couldn’t say anything at first. I felt as if the wind had been knocked out of me.
“Mom…you’re saying they’re…they’re real? Vampires and witches and wizards and werewolves…they’re all real?” I began to wonder if I was really having this conversation or if I had gone completely off the deep end. Either option was downright frightening.
“I really don’t have time to explain right now, but a short answer is yes, they’re real. Demons take many shapes and forms.”
I sat there with my mouth open, trying to process and comprehend. “But…what…why…how?”
“Daemoni, Alexis. That’s what the Daemoni are. Some are like us—closer to human than anything else—but most are the same types of creatures you write about.”
My breath caught. The question came out in a whisper. “The vampire in my room…are you saying he was real, too?”
Owen whipped his head at me, a strange look on his face.
“Yes, honey,” Mom said. “That’s why Owen came the next day—to shield the house.”
I swallowed hard as I remembered the vampire and thinking I was only dreaming.
“And in the hotel room…?” My voice trailed off. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
“I knew it,” Owen muttered. I stared at him, my eyes bugging.
“Hold on, Mom,” I said distantly as I held the phone away from my head. “Owen…the other night in Key West…were you in my hotel room?”
“Uh, yeah, I sensed Daemoni. Remember?”
“Holy hell, that was real?!”
My heart skipped erratically. I heard Mom yelling my name in the phone.
“Mom, what the hell is going on? There was a vampire in my room! Twice!”
“I know, honey. I—”
“You know? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want to frighten you and you were protected—”
“Protected?! A vampire—Daemoni—was in my room! How is that being protected?”
Owen answered, sounding defensive. “It’s kind of hard protecting you in a place like Key West, with Daemoni everywhere. It’s too crowded to put a shield up and useless anyway when the enemy is already inside. I came as soon as I sensed him near you.”
Mom must have heard him. She added, “Owen said you were fine. Just tired and groggy—”
“Because I thought it was a dream, Mother. I didn’t know there were real, live vampires roaming around! You should have said something!”
“We couldn’t…I couldn’t…,” Mom stammered. I could hear her take a breath and when she spoke again, she sounded calmer. More like her usual, unshakable self. “I can’t get into it right now. I really need to get going. I’m trying to get Dorian packed—”
“Dorian packed? Where are you taking him?”
“That’s why I called. We have to leave for safety. The Daemoni claim they have Provocation because the books are exposing them. I don’t think that’s the whole reason for their upheaval, but Dorian and I need to get out of here. They’ve given permission for attacks on all of us.”
“Oh, no. Not my baby!”
He was our youngest generation now. I didn’t know if that meant the same thing as it did for a daughter, but I couldn’t imagine why the Daemoni wouldn’t target him. I paced the balcony. I felt so far away from him. And so helpless. How could I leave him? What had I been thinking?!
“He’ll be okay, Alexis. Just take care of yourself. Owen will stay with you and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Please, Mom, please don’t let anything happen to Dorian. I couldn’t…” The thought of losing him, too, was too much. My shattered heart just wouldn’t be able to take it.
“I can take care of this, Alexis, but I really need to go. I’ll see you in a few days. Stay safe until then, okay? Promise me?”
