Jake Draco was in his mid-thirties, owned a house and had made enough money from the dot com boom to never worry about it. Not handsome but possessed of arresting features, a lithe muscled body and a dry wit he’d been in a number of short term liaisons throughout the years. Women liked him and he liked women. He’d just never met one that he wanted to share his secret with. Until Morgan Leung that is.
They’d first run into each other a few weeks ago at Starbuck’s. He was at his usual table surfing the web on his laptop. He glanced up and there she was ordering an iced decaf latte. She was petite with a curvy body, dark hair, luminous brown eyes and lush lips. When their glances collided he felt his blood heat. Then he was introducing himself and asking her on the first of many dates. That was months ago. Things were going well until the other night.
Morgan lay on the bed with her eyes closed. She concentrated on her breathing...in...out...in...out until the rapid tattoo of her heart subsided to a steady beat. When she opened her eyes the first rays of light from the rising sun streamed through the open window banishing the dark of night but not the remains of the nightmare.
She and Jake were walking back to his car after a nice dinner at their favorite Thai restaurant. It was late but there were still people about in the City. They passed an alley and a man jumped out at them. Jake pushed her behind him. Morgan dug into her purse for her cell. Before she could dial 911 the man came at Jake with what looked like a knife. Jake pushed her away from him. Off balance she fell against the wall of the building. Jake knocked the knife from the man’s hand with a kick. When he lost the knife the man snarled in rage and shot a bolt of something from his hand. The bolt bounced off the translucent blue shield emanating from Jake’s hand. Then everything went black.
"It was just a dream", said Morgan softly, as she slowly sat up in bed. "It didn’t happen."
They were safe at Jake’s house. Jake was next to her on his side still sleeping. She looked around the room. Their clothes were scattered on the floor. She eased out of bed careful not to wake Jake and began to pick them up. They were the same clothes from her dream. Her coat was ripped and her jeans had black smudges on the knees.
She turned to look at Jake. What if it wasn’t a dream? Who was he? What was he?
Jake woke senses tuned to Morgan’s movements around the room. He opened his forest green eyes to meet the disbelieving black of her wide-eyed gaze.
"Mornin’ sweetheart, "he rasped softly. "It’s not what you’re thinking."
"Yeah", snorted Morgan "Is there something I should know?"
