A few trips were made as I pulled the groceries out of the Rogue and placed them onto the dark granite kitchen counter. Everything is bare so it’s easy to find a home for all the food. In no time, the food has its designated spots within the wooden cupboards or fridge. I stood by the fireplace in the living room and stretched quickly before I began finding homes for all the stuff I came to Colorado with, which isn’t all that much. The first luggage to catch my eye is a suitcase full of clothes and a sleeping bag; that is what I would start with. I lug my stuff down the hall, past the guest room, down a hall that has glass cubbies on the right of me while the other side is wood walls, and into the far back of the house where the master bedroom is nestled. There is a black matted fireplace that runs on pellets instead of wood, a 180-degree view of the Big Thompson River which is part of the backyard, and a frame made of wood for the master bed. Built in the frame is a mirror headboard and wooden shelves that take up the wall, but there is no bed, just the frame. That is why I have a sleeping bag. I find the walk-in closet on the right side of the wall along with the master bathroom. When I was last here, this entire area was ‘underdeveloped’ as Grandpa Owen put it. He must have started all this work after my family had left the last time we visited. He put so much craftsmanship into his home; it was a shame he couldn’t enjoy it longer after working so hard on it.

I unpacked the clothes quickly and hung them in the closet; I quickly went back to the fireplace and laid my sleeping bag out. This is the start of what I would be doing the rest of the night; go to the living room, pick up more stuff, and find a home for it until there was nothing left on the floor. There are a few things I can’t put away due to lack of shelving, so these items stay in the boxes. When I say a few things, I am referring to my books.

“Well Grandpa…I’m almost done.” I said aloud to a presence I wanted to believe was there.

Images of past memories flood my mind. I make my way back to the living room and every section of the house held a memory. The time my sister and I lived here for a summer in the guest bedroom, sitting on the living room floor waiting for the New Year’s ball to drop for the year 2000, and the delicious food we had for Christmas, even though it was rattlesnake. I shivered at that last thought. Standing in the kitchen I stared out the sliding glass door that lead to the backyard. It had become pitch black out there. I still need to go back there and see if grandpa’s wood crafting equipment is in the basement area, I thought to myself. Switching the backyard lights on I can see the stairs that led down into the backyard and the basement area.

There are no flashlights around, so I pull out my phone from the back pocket of my jeans in hopes the screen is bright enough to light the way if need be. The only sound I can hear is the rushing water from the river that is 30 feet away from the house. When I reach the last bottom step, I see a bunch of chopped up wood beneath where the master bedroom is at, then turning to the main part of the house, there is a garage door and a small entrance door, the entrance door led to the workshop. A chill came up from the river as it rushes through the night and sends shivers down my spine, or maybe it was the thought of entering the workshop. I had not emptied out my pockets yet, so I have the house keys which I hope will open this bottom area. With my phone light I am able to get the key in easy and the entrance door is open with a small shove.

The workshop was left untouched. All of the equipment is here as well as a project my grandpa had been working on, it looks to be some chair under the tarp. The workshop is huge, it held different types of saws, industrial sized equipment, three of the walls are lined with workbenches and underneath are his tool boxes. Everything is completely organized and ready for any project. Above is a giant wooden chandelier he had made to get rid of the ‘damn humming lights’ his design of stacking, slightly rotated squares, then a fridge in the far corner that held his beer. Walking in and making an immediate right into another small door led to the garage, so I decided to check out this area as well. I flick on the light and two motorcycles are covered in a tarp, probably to make sure they didn’t get dusty from the workshop. A quick pull and I am able to free the motorcycles. One is a smaller bike, a Nighthawk, and the other is my gramps favorite, an Indian Scout. I only admire the bikes for a bit before recovering them with the tarp, I wonder what I should do with them? I thought to myself. One more scan of the workshop area and I turn off the lights, turn on my cell phone light and go upstairs to settle in for the night.

As I grab one of the water bottles from the fridge I hear a knock at the door. I check my phone’s clock to see that it is almost eleven. Who on earth could be knocking? A sinking feeling replaces my curiosity and I look for something I can use as a weapon. I put my water on the counter and searched the dark living room with blind hands. All I find is a fire poker that had been left in the fireplace. I slowly walk with my new weapon towards the door, past the bay window and try to find a way to see who is outside. The decorated door has a security door behind it so someone can’t just look in and I can’t look out. I can’t see who is standing at the front door by the bay window. No luck, so I called out.

“Hello?”

There are whispers outside until a familiar voice calls back. “Hey Everly, it’s Falon. From Pikava.” Gah! What the heck is this guy doing here so late.

“Falon…it’s late, what do you want?” If my voice sounded weary it was, and this was odd behavior, even for a small mountain town.

“Well if you would open the door, I’d like you to meet one of the other neighbors.” His voice sounds a little agitated, but it isn’t like he has the right to be.

I turn the switch by the front door and it illuminates the porch, slowly opening the door I look from the shoes up to his face. They both aren’t very close to the door, but I can tell this man is tall! Falon is at least six feet tall, and this man next to him seems to be towering. The man is very stoic compared to Falon, but it seems almost regal. He wore black slacks, a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up which emphasized his muscular arms; blonde hair that reached his narrow, but strong shoulders and from where I stood his eyes looked almost black.

“Nice poker…were you about to start a fire?” Falon points out and I quickly stash it behind the door.

The man standing next to Falon flashes a toothy grin before speaking, “Hello Ms. Everly, my name is Arik.” He has a slight accent that I couldn’t place. Arik scans me in the same fashion I just scanned them. The difference is his gaze felt hot as it swept over my body and it had me shift a bit. The action seems to take forever, but in reality, it is a few seconds before Arik’s face becomes stern. “I’m sorry for your loss. Owen was a friend. Do you mind if I ask what happened to him?”

Arik is the first person to ask me what had happened to my grandpa. People normally don’t ask about what happened, but just accept that a person died and possibly didn’t inquire due to the discomfort. I seem to be the only one surprised since Falon’s face was stuck on this bored expression, and I don’t think he was really paying attention. To be honest, I hadn’t thought much of it. When the coroner said that we didn’t want to know what happened I just assumed the worse and took his word for it. “I’m not sure what happened. The coroner didn’t give my family details.”

“What a shame.” A moment of silence and Arik looks right into my eyes. His eyebrows raise. “Come to my bar in Denver.”

That was a bit unexpected. I didn’t really have any ambition to go out. I’m one of those people where if it gets too late, I just stay in. “Oh no. I will be ok.”

Arik shoots Falon a look, and it took a second for Falon to catch up to what we were talking about since he was in his own world. I wonder what he was thinking about. “Come on Everly. I will go too, and we might even see the other neighbors there. We like to hang out at the bar with one another since we don’t see much of one another during the day,” Falon says as if he practiced the speech.

From what my grandpa told me this was a close community, so it didn’t surprise me that all the neighbors hung out together. Even though grandpa was a loner I still wondered if he would have hung with this younger crowd at the bar. The idea almost had me giggling as I pictured him sitting in a corner at a club setting. He would have been so out of place.

“Your grandfather used to accompany us from time to time, and since you are our new neighbor it only seems right for you to join.” Arik said with a calm, matter-of-fact face. That threw me off guard, it was almost as if Arik knew what I was thinking. There isn’t too much thought put into it since I label it a coincidence. I am going to be living here from now on and it would be best to stay on the neighbor’s good side, even if it meant going to his bar for a minute.

“Alright. I’ll go, but only for a bit.” I walk out onto the porch before locking up the house.

“Wait.” Arik looks me up and down again, “you’re not going to change?” Arik asks.

“Well, no. Is this not ok to wear?” I gesture to my peach sweater and skinny jeans hoping I just got out of going.

“You are Owen’s granddaughter alright…” Arik sighs, closes his eyes, and pinchs the bridge of his nose. Falon looks like he is holding in a laugh. I can feel my face getting warm and that froze their reactions to one of amusement.

Falon is the first to react to my blushing face, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone turn that red before.”

Arik glares at Falon, “Miss Everly, you look fine just the way you are now. Next time we will find more suitable clothing. For now, please join us.”

Before I knew it, I was in Arik’s Black Lincoln sitting passenger while Falon sat in the back seat. The two of them spoke very little while I didn’t speak at all during the ride. I hate being put in situations like this, this is precisely why I stay at home by myself.

It only took, surprisingly, 40 minutes to get to Denver and I watched for landmarks to remember where the bar was for future reference. A donut shop with a fat child as a mascot, a creepy liquor store that must see a lot of drug deals, then the buildings became dense, and the words RED PATHOS were illuminated with red neon lights on a strip. There are no buildings on either side of the bar, and at the front is a valet parking with a line to get in. As we drive closer, I notice that the location of this bar has no competition. All the other stores seem to be of the retail variety.

Arik pulls around back where there are no cars and parks right by the back door. Falon hops out quickly as did Arik, but I can’t help but linger. There is a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach as I look at the door which reads ‘Employee Entrance. I slowly get out of the car, and Arik locks it as soon as I shut the door which has my bones do a small jump from the sudden beeping noise. Falon opens the door for himself and Arik follows, but holds the door open for me, “Come this way Miss Everly.” Coming up beside him he gently places his hand on my mid back, and I can feel the coolness of his hand radiate up my spine through the sweater which makes me involuntarily shiver. I briefly saw that same smirk from before crossing his face at my response to his touch.

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Entering RED PATHOS, I was not expecting the scene before me. The lights are low and have just interchanged from midnight blue to blood red. The lights are not the surprising part, but the people. There is a good ratio between men and women, and the majority of people look very sophisticated. It feels like I’m back in L.A. walking by one of the Beverly Hills bars. I should have changed clothes because I stuck out like a sore thumb. Some of the men are wearing suits or are dressed like Arik, they are well-groomed and if I hadn’t known better, I was in the presence of big wigs. The women are just as stunning; they are wearing dresses that range in length from below to way above the knee. As I follow close behind Arik and Falon I can feel the many faces staring at me and I make an effort to keep my head held high. No shame! This girl likes dressing like a tom boy and would be doing that till she died.

Falon suddenly goes in a different direction from where Arik is going and finds one of the biggest men I have ever seen. The man has dark chocolate choppy hair that is slicked back and is built like a mountain. It looks like his suit would pop off at any moment from the strain of his muscle’s underneath. This normally wasn’t my type, but the primal instinct of ‘this man can protect’ is an overwhelming sensation making him ideal.

I hadn’t been paying attention where I was going and walked right into Arik’s back. I almost fell back, but he is perfectly still like some brick wall. He turns and grins slightly, then gestures to me to sit on a stool right at the bar.

“Miss Everly, please sit here. I will be back shortly.” He leaves and mingles with the other people in the bar. The lights change to forest green at that moment.

Off in the corner there are a few burly men who are staring me down and giving me an overall bad vibe. These men are stout and could have been mistaken as hygienic dwarves. They didn’t wear suits like some of the other men, instead they are wearing nice dress shirts and a pair of jeans.

“What are you having tonight?” a sweet voice at the counter that jolts me away from my observations.

I turn on the stool and find myself face-to-face with a female bartender. She has dark eyes just like Arik and cropped blonde hair. She has a dark red blouse on with what I think is a black micro skirt. “Oh, could I just have water?” I say with a sweet nervous smile. The bartender gives me a confused look.

“No offense, but what brings you here?” She asks while getting the ice.

“Arik and Falon asked me to come as some sort of neighborly welcome.”

“Ah, so you moved into Owen’s house.” She hands me my water, “my name is Taylor by the way. Might as well introduce myself since you will be coming here more often.”

“My name is Everly and we will see.” Taylor has a smile tug on her face before she turns to the other patrons that sit at the bar to fill their requests. I turn about the stool to get a full scope of the bar and notice that only two men from the corner are staring directly at me now, but not with lustful eyes, they are angry and confused. Immediately, I turn back to the bar keeping my eyes off of them and the rest of the bar. My only company is Taylor when she isn’t busy with other customers and my glass of water.

An hour and a half passes before I get bored playing with the disintegrating ice and making up life stories for the people who came up to the bar. I swivel on the stool to look back at the expansive bar to see if I could catch a glimpse of Arik or Falon. He did say that he would be back shortly …before I realized it, I took a look back in the corner to see if the men are still there. My mistake is making eye contact with them because it invites the trouble right on over. The two men I noticed before are by themselves, one of the men has hat hair with big cheeks and a thin mouth. He takes a swig of his drink then slams it on the table. He pushes himself out of the booth followed by his less menacing friend. I swivel back to the counter of the bar in hopes that the men would turn back around. Wrong.

The two stride up right behind me and don’t stop at a respectable distance from me either. I can feel them more than see them, and I wouldn’t make the mistake of looking at them again. “Who are you?” The gruff man says with a stern voice. What is this guy’s problem? I didn’t do anything! I think to myself.

“I’m new.” I say into my water glass sheepishly still averting my eyes.

The guy is not pleased by that answer, and he grabs my wrist holding the water, spins me around and smells me!? I try to struggle out of his grip, but he doesn’t even move. His nose lingers in front of my chest moving his face directly in line with mine. His dark blue eyes swirl with gold and he pulls his nose up like he smells something awful. Over the gruff man’s shoulder, I catch movement of the sexy mountain man coming over as well as Arik and Falon. Oh no…

Desperately I try to fix the situation by apologizing, “I’m sorry if I did anything to offend you.” I pull at my arm more to no avail. “Please let me go, you’re hurting me.” I glance behind me and see that Taylor’s face is in a snarl.

Mountain man comes up behind my unwanted guest and taps the gruff guy on the shoulder while speaking very softly as to not get the attention of everyone in the bar, “It isn’t like a gentleman to treat a young woman that way.”

The friend of my assailant stands idly by this whole time, but when mountain man comes, he cowers. The man holding my wrist quickly tries to justify his actions, “Can you smell that?”

Arik and Falon stand off behind mountain man and they all share an expression of worry and anger. I want to go home now. I should have just stayed home. The situation isn’t getting any better and this guy is seriously hurting my wrist, at any minute I think he is going to break my wrist, so I did a useless attempt at freeing myself once again. At a desperate attempt to get out of the impending danger, I decided to shin kick the man holding my wrist in hopes he would let go. But, instead of letting me go he just seemed really annoyed. He twists my arm with a growl and slams my hand with the glass into the bar counter, the glass shatters, and my hand begins to bleed.

Mountain man grabs the man off of me and pushes him in the direction of other men who must have been the bouncers. At this point everyone in the bar is sitting still and stares at me; I have an overwhelming feeling that I am a lamb amongst wolves. In the blink of an eye Arik is on my hand and licking my blood! What the hell was going on?! I look down at Arik in surprise and raise my gaze to the others around me as if to say ‘are you seeing this?’ But the eyes in the crowd look at the scene with intense gazes. Falon’s eyes are wide like he is just as shocked as I was. The only one not looking at me is the mountain man who has diverted his eyes in a shameful look to the other-side of the bar towards the bouncers sparing me half glances. If I had been thinking straight, I would have jerked my hand from Arik, but I was in utter astonishment. The movement of his tongue and his slight suckling has my stomach doing flips. His eyes flit to my gaze and they are serious and hungry. After what seems an eternity Arik stands tall after clearing the blood from his mouth and in a deep, authoritative voice asks everyone to leave the bar. I begin to sink to the ground as the spectacle ends.

The movements from the patrons lag as if they are kids not wanting to leave the candy store and each one stares me down as they head out. Taylor even hesitates behind the bar until Arik gloweres at her. She jumps over the counter with grace and I am left with the mountain man, Arik and Falon, who are gawking at me.

As the last person trails out, I stand up shaking a bit, and mountain man is the first to my side as he steadies me while I stand. I shake off the help and begin to trail the last of the crowd when Arik appears in front of me, blocking the entrance. “You…stay.” He says in a labored breath and begins straightening himself as well as his composure.

The shakiness I had before is immediately replaced by awareness and I am ready to stand my ground. Having two older brothers trains a girl to defend herself against brute force to some extent; I can’t recall all the times I have had to play dirty just to get out of an unprovoked wrestling match with them. I think of my classic move of avoiding a spur of the moment session with my brothers and step on Arik’s foot to spin away from him. If the men weren’t surprised before, they are now. Looking to Arik I recognize that my little move didn’t even phase him. I stand at a ready fighting stance, as if that would help me, my eyes darting amongst the three and ask, “Tell me what the hell is going on.” My voice is laced with fear and it is a sound I’d never heard, which scares me even more.

There is a shared look among the men before Arik speaks with a sturdier voice, “did Owen ever tell you something that might have been odd about him?”

My guard still up, I think for a brief moment and I shake my head.

Mountain man sighs and speaks in a deep regal voice, “Someone needs to tell her, especially after that,” gesturing one of his hands towards the bar.

The anticipation is killing me at this point, and I am so high strung that any movement would have caused a heart attack. I can feel my head zipping between the three of them as I slowly back myself into the counter of the bar and a wall. Stupid!

Falon slowly comes closer with hands extended in a surrendering motion, “Everly. Breathe.”

I didn’t notice I had been holding my breath until Falon said something and I let it all out. The release helps ease the tension slightly.

“Now... look at your cut up hand,” Falon continues and gestures to my hand.

I try not to take my eyes off of them and glance at my hand, then a double look shows it is healed. My mouth gapes open and I don’t even look at the men anymore, I just examine my hand trying to find the cuts with a prodding finger.

Arik walks up to me and crouches a little, so our faces are somewhat level. “I healed them. It is a characteristic my kind has.” I slowly look up at him and mull over that last part ‘my kind’. All of a sudden he smiles, and he has fangs!

I unconsciously try to take a step back, but I am already against the counter in the corner. My mind races through all the movies and stories I have read about vampires. They are just stories though, weren’t they?

In a small voice Arik continues in the same calming tone, “Everly, Owen was a druid, and from the taste of your blood you are also mixed with something else.”

I slump to the floor with my back still against the counter just trying to wrap my head around all this, a cut up hand and all the sudden the supernatural world I read in fantasy books is real. Mountain man walks past Arik and kneels down to me. Falon steps closer but stays standing. “I wish these were better circumstances, but I guess now is as good a time as any. My name is Rhoan, and I am also one of your neighbors.” He pauses. “I know you are very confused right now, it is a lot to take in.” He reaches for my hand and I flinch, but he still continues to grab my hand and the warmth from it is so soothing it makes me want to hold tight, but I resist the comforting urge.

Looking up to Rhoan I finally have a good view of his eyes and they are a deep glorious blue. It reminds me of the depths of the ocean. There is a low rumble coming from Rhoan before he speaks, “your eyes…they are ice blue.” Arik and Falon both lean closer to me and stare at my eyes. There is awe in Falon’s face, but Arik is harder to read.

“I noticed that when I picked her up. An indicator of her unique blood possibly.” Arik suggests.

Rhoan continues to look straight into my eyes where I feel like I need to look away. “So,” I try to change subjects, “if Arik is a vampire…what does that make you and Falon?” I look back into Rhoan’s eyes and the deep blue pits have a swirl of gold that become a vortex, just like the man who assaulted me. He gives me the boldest smile, “let’s wait for that to come up at a later time. Don’t want to overload you.” His hand that enclosed mine is slowly being pulled away and, I held on, so when Rhoan stands up slowly, he pulls me up with him, and Arik stands as well.

This is so odd being fond over by a bunch of beautiful strangers. As I stand there the men talk, literally, over me, but my focus is elsewhere. This all seems to be moving so fast, yet I feel like I am frozen in time. Did grandpa know about this? Is that why we didn’t see him as often? This whole ordeal has me questioning a lot about my grandpa. Was he pretending to be who he was when we came to visit or was that the real him?

I’m not sure how long I am standing there in contemplation, mulling over what I have learned, and trying to understand it all, but I am mentally exhausted and want to go home. The men are still talking amongst themselves, so I decide to get involved.

My voice is meek, “please talk to me…” I look at them with pleading eyes, “do I need to be worried?”

No one speaks.

The silence breaks when the door creaks open and Taylor pops her head in. “Boss…I know you wanted everyone out, but we have some guests who-” She didn’t get to finish what she was going to say because Arik stormed past her and straight out the door to where the commotion was coming from. It was loud one minute and quiet the next.

Falon closes the gap between us and has a guilty look on his face, “you should go back home for the night. We need to figure this out…” He goes to walk past me before I grab his forearm making him whip around. It is the first time someone has looked at me with fear and I let go without reminding him I got a ride from him and Arik.

The only ones left in the bar are Rhoan and myself, and I didn’t want to impose, so without a word I sneak to the back door while Rhoan makes his way to the front door where Arik had gone.