Part 1 (2/2)

”Don't know what you missed, buddy!” she muttered aloud.

The fog had risen to her calves. It was the most bizarre color!

She kept whistling. She pa.s.sed old buildings, many of which had been around for the birth of the country, along with new skysc.r.a.pers. As she pa.s.sed one of the city's oldest cemeteries, she felt a little twitch in her spine. Now, there, the fog was downright creepy.

She decided not to look, but rather, concentrate on her memory of the man at the bar. She realized she couldn't remember his eye color, or his hair, or even what he had been wearing. Only that he'd had...

A magnetism.

Maybe he'd be there again. She might have been too talkative. But still... well, surely, he must have had some inclination that he'd get lucky. And she knew she was attractive, that the tailored suit accentuated her curves, and that she had a really nice head of long, natural blond hair, and a good face. One would think she'd meet someone at work, but in her department, it seemed that the men came in married, gay, or bald and potbellied.

She had plenty of time to meet the right guy.

Her eyes strayed to the cemetery. Ghostly stones rose just above the blue mist.

Something touched her foot, and she screamed out loud.

”Hey, lady... got a buck?” She recoiled in horror from the b.u.m who had touched her. He was just there-lying on the sidewalk.

”No!”

”Okay... got a twenty?”

”Get a job!” she shouted.

And she started to run.

A block...

Then her heel broke. She nearly fell to the pavement. Swearing, she steadied herself. Home wasn't that far! It seemed to be taking her forever to get there. She wasn't walking-or running-or so it seemed. Rather, it was like wading through the fog! It was up to her waist now. Soon, it would obliterate everything.

She pa.s.sed the cemetery... the buildings. Soon... just two... three blocks to go.

The fog kept rising.

She stopped dead suddenly, seeing a form before her in the fog. She held her breath, praying it wasn't going to be another b.u.m.

”Hey! There you are.”

It was him. The guy from the bar. Charming, magnetic, seductive. He was standing at the end of the block, right in front of one of the few trees in the area. There was something strange about him, but she didn't quite know what...

”Hey!” she called back. Limping on her one heel, she started for him. A frown knit her brow as she studied him, and tried to figure out what was different about him. ”I thought you left.”

”I thought you had left!” he replied softly. His voice... it was like silk. He stood so still, and yet it seemed he emitted so much energy and power. ”I had hoped to see you again,” he told her.

She smiled, thinking that the cemetery, with its stones, eerie in the blue fog, was behind her now. Just as the b.u.m was who had reached out and touched her.

And the night... it lay ahead with a sudden awesome and new mystery.

”Theresa... come on. Come to me, Theresa!”

Well, of course, I'm coming to you, gorgeous! she thought, smiling inwardly.

And she was.

Her one heel clicked on the pavement. A pathetic sound. The fog was to her chest, swirling madly. She was so close to him.

Together, they could brave it.

She could see his smile. The flash of his teeth, she was so close.

She saw what was different about him. It was what he was wearing, on such a night... it was weird.

But on such a man, what did it matter?

She came closer, feeling more intoxicated than she ever had due to the influence of liquor. Maybe there were a few remnants of the cosmopolitans she had been drinking that stayed to warm her bloodstream, to make her feel as if her heart jumped with excitement with every movement that brought her closer.It seemed that even the strange blue fog was a part of his magic...

She came to a halt, standing directly in front of him. ”I can't believe I've found you again,” she murmured.

”Fate,” he said softly. ”Destiny. Great things are to come.”

The sound was still so seductive. As were his eyes.

She couldn't have moved if she wanted to. And yet...

There was something... off. Something not quite right.

Fate. Destiny. Oh, yes. And yet...

She didn't even know exactly why she knew, or what she knew, or what exactly it was that she saw... or felt... except that it was...

She struggled to understand.

”Come with me.”

”Yes!”

”Serve me!”

”Oh, yes!”

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