“Leave us.” His father commanded without even looking at his son. “I have things to discuss with Irina.”
Ian sighed and gave his grandmother a hug and a kiss on the cheek. The look in her eyes told Ian that he needed to visit again soon. There were still many things for them to discuss. Ian left the kitchen without even acknowledging his father. As he walked out of his grandmother’s house Ian was surprised to see the sun so high in the sky. Time had certainly flown by during his visit. He decided to take a nap before going back to see his grandmother again. Ian still had to go out hunting that night, but he wanted to find out what she had meant about his destiny.
#
His feet pounded on the dirt as he ran through the dense forest. The boy’s heart throbbed painfully in his chest. The night sky was dark due to the full moon, and it was very difficult to see. The tree branches and bushes ripped into his clothes and even scrapped his skin as he ran, but that did not stop him. He knew that the love of his life was somewhere in the darkness.
Fear coursed through his veins as he heard the men running through the woods behind him. The boy couldn’t understand how they had been caught. They were both so very careful. He could hear his father screaming his name in the darkness. His feet would not stop their frantic pace. Suddenly his surrounds began to shift and change. The boy jerked to a stop to catch his breath and to figure out what was happening.
One moment he was running through the woods and the next moment he was standing in front of the bonfire at his village. His head snapped in different directions as he tried to figure out what was going on. There were strong hands holding him in place, and an old, weathered book was forced into his hands. The grip on his shoulders tightened painfully as he was told to read the page in front of him.
The boy tried to escape from the menacing voice, but other hands grabbed onto him, forcing him to remain in place. His eyes scanned over the page and his heart dropped to his stomach. There was no way they wanted him to do this, to utter the horrific words in front of him. Before he could stop himself the words came flowing from his mouth. Tears filled his eyes, but he was able to alter some of the words without the men noticing.
He may be forced to do their bidding, but he could change the outcome to a point. As the last word left his lips, only one thing was on his mind. The boy thought about his lost love as an image of his lover flashed through his head, and he could feel his heart shatter.
“NO! Stefan!” Ian screamed as he shot up in bed. His breathing was shallow as his eyes tried to focus.
The nightmares had gotten worse. Before just images or sounds came to Ian in his dreams, but suddenly everything had become clear. The dream felt so real to him. It took a few moments before Ian realized the significance of his nightmares. He was reliving the curse of the Renaldi family. His dreams were putting him in place of the young Merripen son. Ian’s first instinct was to run to his grandmother to find out what was happening, but then he glanced at his watch. His simple afternoon nap had turned into a long slumber.
It was almost a half-hour after the sunset, and that meant that Ian had to be out hunting. Visiting with his grandmother would have to wait until tomorrow. Ian quickly changed clothes and ran out of his house without a second thought. If he had paused for a moment he might have remembered what he had forget. The black monk’s robe still hung in his closet.
#
Stefan cautiously made his way through the shadows of the local park. He had checked out the cemetery earlier and knew that none of the soulless lurked there that night. He had hoped to catch a glimpse of the mysterious hunter. He promised his mother that he would be careful, and Stefan had every intent to keep that promise. There was something about the male gypsy that compelled Stefan to look for him.
Stefan paused behind a large tree for a moment. From his hiding place he would able to see the path that snaked through the middle of the park. He only had to wait a few minutes before a figure appeared in the distance. The light from the lamps lining the path reflected off of the man’s golden hair. Stefan sighed in frustration. He could only hope that a soulless would attack this human so the hunter would come to the rescue.
As the man moved closer Stefan’s eyes were able to focus more clearly. His breath caught in his throat as his body responded to the man. The golden hair flowing around his shoulders made the stranger look like a god or an angel. Stefan admired the firm muscular body of the stranger. If the Gypsy did not appear soon, then Stefan would follow the gorgeous man. The blonde hunk sat down on a bench a mere fifty feet from his hiding place. Luckily Stefan was standing in the shadows of the trees and could not be seen.
Stefan’s nocturnal eyesight picked up on a figure moving in the trees behind the bench. He watched as one of the soulless moved carefully towards his blonde god. Stefan was surprised to feel his fangs break through his gums. He couldn’t understand his urge to protect the stranger in front of him. Before Stefan could figure anything out the soulless vampire leapt to attack its prey.
“Look out!” Stefan called out before he could stop himself.
The blonde hunk looked up at him in shock a second before the vampire knocked him to the ground. Stefan ran towards the two of them. The vampire had the human pinned to the ground, and its fangs were ready to attack. Stefan grabbed the soulless creature’s arms and yanked him up from the ground. His super-human strength allowed him to toss the creature away harmlessly.
Stefan pulled the man to his feet and his breath caught in his throat as their eyes met. There was confusion in the icy blue eyes he gazed into. Stefan’s breath caught in his throat at how easily he could get lost in those eyes. The blonde’s eyes widened in recognition as he looked at the man in front of him.
“Stefan?” The blonde asked.
The smooth baritone was like music to his ears, but Stefan had no clue who the man was. How did this beautiful man know his name? Stefan opened his mouth to question the man, but was interrupted before he had a chance.
“Behind you!” The blonde yelled.
Before Stefan could react he was roughly pushed out of the way. He tripped over a rock that was on the path and he tumbled to the ground. As Stefan glanced up he saw the blonde man fighting with the vampire. As he rose to his feet to help Stefan heard the stranger mutter something, and the vampire suddenly burst into flame. Stefan stood completely still, shocked to the core. His beautiful stranger was actually the hunter.
“Are you okay?” The man asked as he cautiously approached Stefan. “I think I have some explaining to do. I’m Ian.”
Ian offered his hand to the dark stranger. Though the man wasn’t really a stranger to him, he was the man that had appeared in his dreams. Ian felt fear surge through his body because he was nearly positive that he was standing face to face with one of the original Renaldi family members. In fact Ian knew that it was not just a family member, but the lover of his ancestor. Ian knew he should be running way as fast as he could, but he felt drawn to the man in a way he couldn’t explain.