“Tell me about my sister,” I said as I shoved my arms through the sleeves.  The jacket was better than the hoodie alone.

“Sister?” he asked completely confused.

“The one who sent you to find me.”  It came out with more force than I intended.  I knew better than to provoke his kind.  I was tired.  Trying again in a softer voice, I said, “You said she was weak.  Did you hurt her?”

He snorted.  “Not a chance.  Her guard dog doesn’t let anyone near her.”  He smirked and added, “Well, he tried to keep us away.”

What was that supposed to mean?  She was being guarded, and he’d found a way to her.  But, which side was guarding and which side was going around the guard?

I eyed him as he stood before me.  In just a shirt, he didn’t seem bothered by the cold.  They never really did.  I needed to know his intentions.  Did he really want to help me like Baen, or was he like the rest?  I couldn’t ask him outright.  These creatures were never honest. But, they were easy to provoke.

Calming my overly attentive physical awareness, I stepped toward him.  He watched me with cautious eyes, no doubt remembering my attempt to knee him.  Placing my hands on his shoulders, I stood on my tiptoes stretching to get as close to his height as possible.  His heat warmed my palms, and my stomach went crazy.  The muscles beneath my fingertips twitched, and a shudder passed through him.  His pupils dilated.  His attention intensified, and I doubted he heard anything around us. His reactions affirmed what I already knew.  We had a connection.  But what would he do about it?

I leaned in further and let my cheek touched his jaw.  His tremors grew.  I knew I was playing a dangerous game.  His hands settled on my waist, and the touch spiked my heart rate despite my efforts to control myself.  I couldn’t be sure whether my reaction was fear or excitement, and it worried me.  I needed to stay strong.  I knew that a sliver of weakness could bring my downfall.

Against his ear, I whispered, “I will not choose you,” as a test—as a statement of truth.

When I pulled back, his eyes were closed and his jaw clenched.  As slowly as I’d approached him, I eased away.  His hands dropped from my sides without a fight.  My throat tightened as I watched him struggle.  Fear pooled in me.  He inhaled deeply, and I knew he smelled it on me.

After a moment, he calmed and opened his eyes.  “Good,” he agreed amicably.  “Someone your age shouldn’t be choosing.”

My age?  His words confused me as much as they comforted me.  He hadn’t grabbed me or insisted I was wrong, and I hadn’t died.  Still, I’d never met one of them that didn’t insist on biting.  Even Baen had asked me to bite him the first time I met him, and I’d been nine in that life.  Things might just be looking up.

He turned away from me and mounted the motorcycle.  Then, he held my duffle out toward me.  “Coming?”

He’d found me and, apparently, was set on following me.  Why not take advantage of it?  Stepping forward with lingering reservation, I grabbed the bag and nodded.  If he wasn’t here to help, I’d find out soon enough.  At least sleep wouldn’t tempt me so much if the wind battered me as we traveled.

I put the strap across my body and climbed on behind him.  As I wrapped my arms around his middle, I noticed his flinch.

“And stay away from my neck,” he said as he lifted his feet from the road and eased forward.

I ducked behind him within seconds.  The wind bit into me with ferocious insistence, driving me closer to him.  He twitched occasionally and told me to hold still several times.  I didn’t have his ability to stay warm though.  Finally, red cheeked, I laid my face against his back.  Through his thin shirt, he warmed me.  Sighing, I closed my watering eyes.

She stood before me in her taupe gown looking sad and serene at the same time.  Nothing surrounded us but the tiny glow of thousands of multi-colored life sparks.

“This was the beginning,” she said lifting a pale hand to indicate the sparks.  Most had a blue center with a grey halo.  Almost as many had a blue center with a green halo.  Only a few had a yellow center with a green halo.  Among those, I saw six unique colors and knew whom they represented.

“The Judgements must maintain balance,” she said.  “Only they can decide what that balance may be.  Every one thousand years you all return, though only one will remember.”  She reached forward and touched me softly on top my head.  “Choose wisely, or there may not be a world to return to in another one thousand years.”

“What the hell was that?” Luke shouted in my face.

I blinked my eyes open trying to pull myself from my dream.  Dream?  No, it hadn’t felt like the past.  What the heck was that?  Every one thousand years I returned?  How many lives would I need to relive?  Those dots...I’d seen them before.  One of us had the ability to see the sparks of people around us.

“Well?”  Luke continued to look down at me with a furious expression.

Understanding dawned.  “Crap!  Did I fall asleep?”

“While I was flying down the road on a two-wheeled death trap?  Yes!”

He held me cradled in his lap while he still straddled the idling bike.  The heat from his thighs warmed my backside.  How he’d managed the switch, I had no idea.

“Put me down. Please.” The last word came out a bit clipped.  My stomach was going crazy being so close to him, and it annoyed me.

“Gladly.” He surprised me by setting me down gently.

On my own feet, I rubbed my hands over my face.  “I’m sorry.  I’m tired.” When I glanced back at him, I caught a fleeting look of pity in his eyes.  “Save your pity.  I don’t need it,” I said.  I didn’t need pity. I needed decent sleep and an assurance those things wouldn’t catch me in this lifetime.

He held up his hands in surrender and took a deep, calming breath.  “Are you going to fall asleep again?  Because we won’t get far this way.”

“Yes, I’ll most likely fall asleep again.  No matter what I’ve tried, I can’t seem to avoid it.”

“Maybe you should stop avoiding it,” he suggested with an edge of exasperation in his tone.

I didn’t bother answering.  He wouldn’t understand.

He saw something in my face because he sighed and said, “Loosen the strap of your bag as far as it will go then get on.”

He motioned for me to hurry up when I didn’t immediately do it.  Stifling an eyeroll, I did as he asked.  Once I sat behind him, he grabbed the strap and lifted it over his head—while it was still around me. Then, he went one step further and tightened the strap so I pressed against his back.  He grumbled the whole time, and that was the only silver lining in the whole situation.

“Take both arms out so it’s around your waist,” he said.

Understanding he meant to strap me to his back so I wouldn’t fall, I complied.  But I didn’t like it.

As soon as he lifted his feet, the dreams pulled me under.

The Taupe Lady once again stood over a new mother.  This woman didn’t put the babe to her breast.  She set the quiet infant aside and hurried to bury the afterbirth not yet noticing the Taupe Lady.  Lying on a coarse blanket shivering in the light warm breeze, I watched her with new eyes.

“The men tracking you have crossed the river,” the Taupe Lady said.

Fear clouded my mother’s eyes, and she spun to face the lady.  “Thank you!”  My mother scooped me into her arms.

“I did not tell you so you could leave,” the lady explained.  “You need them.  They are her only protection.”

“I am her protection,” my mother whispered forcefully as she hugged me to her chest to quiet me.

“You protect her from her father, but he will protect her from those who are much worse.  For the love you feel for your child, return to him so her life may be spared.”