Jul 2008

Chapter 277Denunciation to Diligence

I wondered how much time I had left. Less than an hour, as far as I knew. I could use that time to try and find Khuna, Valerie and Kai, but I feared they wouldn't be where I expected. The rain was still going strong too. Which would make it very hard to find anyone without getting close to windows. I didn't want to fly too much either. I felt enough of a vampire as it was.

Did I feed today?

If there was to be a fight, it would be smart to be as strong as I could for it. Almost subconsciously I headed to the park and was surprised to notice someone taking their dog out for a walk. It was a kind-looking man with a White Shepherd...

It was the same man.

The same man I drank from on the eve of my fight with Kryss. But this time he was walking with a dog. I recalled words from Hitori about a beautiful White Shepherd. They were rare, weren't they? Could it be the same man?

Without realizing I'd hovered quite close to see the man. He looked up, for some reason, and saw me.

"Wait, please. I want to ask you something." His voice was warm and kind. He unleashed the dog and let it run, happily, in the rain over the grass and around the trees.

I don't exactly know why, but I lowered myself onto the path in front of him and looked at him awkwardly. "Why?"

He smiled. "Well, I noticed a patch of ground not receiving rain for a moment, so I looked up as there are no overhanging branches here."

I stood there perplexed.

He kept on smiling. "I'm sorry, that probably wasn't the question. I'm not sure how, but you seem like the one who visited me a couple of weeks ago, close by."

What could I say. I just nodded.

"What are you?" He smiled a little more before he shrugged. "You don't have to answer that, to me you're just a dream anyway. A beautiful girl, descending from the skies."

I really should have left, but why was he so intriguing? "Please don't tell." I spoke softly, but my voice carried clearly through the rain as if it was screamed.

He nodded. "I won't. Besides, who'd believe me. I can see the headlines now; 'Crazy man claims visions of flying girl in park while walking his dog'" He winked.

I couldn't help but giggle a little.

He looked around. "What did you do to me the last time? I felt so tired afterwards, but not in a really bad way."

I fidgeted with my hands. "I should go."

He nodded in acceptance. "Perhaps until we meet again, little silver butterfly."

It wasn't easy to choose what way to go, but I decided to smile and just rise up. But before I raised out of his sight I decided to say one more thing.

"I'm sorry for what I did before."

He shrugged. "I forgive you."

He whistled and the dog came running back energetically. The paws of the dog were quite dirty, he'd obviously enjoyed playing in the rain with it's mud and trees. The dog stopped neatly at the man's side and looked up at him as he looked up at me.

It brought a smile to my face while I hovered higher. What a strange and curiously forgiving man. Fortunately, only a minute or five passed in this whole escapade, so I still had time to find someone to drink. But this was definitely unbalancing me.

What more could tonight possibly bring?