Night Stalkers

The first floor hallway of the old apartment building was silent—or as silent as such buildings could be in the hour just before dawn. Faint stirrings of life from its inhabitants were beginning to join the attendant whispers of a building long past its prime. The soft squeal of hinges joined in as one of the doors in the hallway opened slowly. A woman shuffled out, as much past her prime as the building she lived in, followed by a pair of chubby Boston Terriers. The little dogs pranced past her as she paused, tugging slightly on their leashes, eyes on the door at the end of the hall.

She clucked her tongue against her teeth. “Have a little patience, you two,” she admonished softly.

Patting her robe pocket first to make sure she had her keys, she pulled her door closed. The click of doggy toenails on the cracked tile floor mixed with the shooshing of her hard-soled slippers. At the door, the woman leaned against the locking bar and pushed, grunting softly. Cool night air rushed in as she held the door open.

“Out you go,” she said to her pets unnecessarily. The little dogs had already scooted through the space between door and frame as soon as it was wide enough. A wide flagstone stoop arched in a half circle just outside the door and the two dogs stopped obediently near its edge, their little bodies quivering with impatience. One step down from the stoop was a sidewalk that curved toward the apartment building’s back parking lot. In the other direction was a wide stretch of grass, fenced on three sides and bordered on the forth with thick, low bushes; an ideal place for a pair of antsy terriers to take a quick run and do their business. The old woman paused to pull a flashlight from her pocket. There were four light poles standing guard over the parking lot, but one light was busted and the other three never seemed to burn bright enough for her old eyes.

She was fumbling for the switch on the flashlight when both dogs suddenly shot to the end of their leashes in the direction of the parking lot and began barking loudly. It startled her, making her drop the flashlight. “Jen-Jen, Casper, what’s gotten in to you two? What are you barking at?” Nervously her eyes scanned the lot and the several cars there, but as far as she could see, nothing moved. “Quiet,” she ordered, tugging on the leashes as she bent to retrieve the flashlight.

Barks turned into growls that sent a shiver up the old woman’s spine.

Her babies never growled.

She could feel her heart begin to flutter just a little before forcing the rising fear down with a stubborn huff. She’d never been afraid of taking her dogs out in the dark before and by George, she wasn’t about to start now. She found the flashlight and clutched it tightly in her hand as she stood. Fumbling the switch on, she swept the beam back and forth, from the back of the building to the several cars sitting in the lot. “Nothing’s there,” she told the dogs. She frowned, hearing her voice tremble. Clearing her throat, she tried again with more authority. “There’s nothing there, you two. Stop it. Stop scaring your mother.” But the dogs continued to growl.

Then slowly, they began backing up. Despite her resolve, the woman’s hand started to shake as she shined her light down the sidewalk once more. Tall bushes grew in the narrow strip of dirt between the apartment building and the sidewalk. Anyone could hide there, the old woman’s mind insisted. Anyone at all.

The door behind her opened and the old woman jumped, letting out a startled squawk. The flashlight went flying and the two dogs broke ranks with twin yelps and tried making a dash for the door. The only thing that kept them from jerking their leashes out of their owner’s hand was the young blond woman coming out of the building.

The dogs saw her, yelped again, and dashed back to wrap themselves and their leashes around their owner’s legs.

“Miss Maddie,” said the blond woman, rushing out to steady the elderly woman teetering precariously on the edge of the stoop. “Are you alright?”

“Good gracious, Leonyse, it’s you,” Miss Maddie said breathlessly. “Yes, I’m fine, dear. You just startled me, that’s all. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be out this early but me and the babies.”

It took a minute to get the leashes unwrapped and the dogs sorted. Leonyse retrieved the flashlight for her neighbor. Miss Maddie took it almost absently, absorbed as she was in calming her precious dogs. The trembling animals were leaning hard against their owner’s legs. Seeing their distress, Leonyse raised one brow. She looked first toward the little dog park, then over at the parking lot. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the dark shadows.

“It’s a good thing you came out when you did,” Miss Maddie was saying. “Lord knows how long I’d be laying here if I’d taken a tumble.”

Leonyse turned back to her neighbor with a warm smile. The older woman had welcomed Leonyse to the apartment building with open arms when she’d moved in a few weeks ago. She liked Miss Maddie, and there were few people she let herself get close enough to to like. “Then I’m glad I decided to go in to work early today. I’m opening the shop this morning for my boss and need to catch up on some bookkeeping before things got rolling.”

“Oh, that’s right, you work at that cute little jewelry store at the end of Cinnamon Wharf, don’t you. I was in there once, but that was several years ago, before all those rumors started about people going missing. Gangs most likely, if you ask me, coming down from the city, attacking decent folk. I must say I don’t see how you do it, dear. Especially with the police finding that poor woman and her little girl murdered so close by the wharf just a few months ago. And they haven’t a clue yet as to who killed them. You never know where a killer like that will strike next.” The elderly woman clamped her lips shut suddenly, her eyes darting here and there. If she wasn’t careful, thought Leonyse, the poor thing was going to frighten herself into a heart attack.

“I’ve got some time if you’d like me to help you with Jen-Jen and Casper. Looks like maybe they scented a bobcat or something.”

Half-frightened eyes turned to her gratefully. “Oh, do you think so? I wondered what set them off.” The woman appeared to relax just a bit. “There’s a lot of wildlife in that green space two blocks over, isn’t there? No fences around it either. Nothing to keep something like a bobcat from roaming the streets at night.”

Leonyse hoped the shadows hid her amused smile as she watched the woman nod her head firmly. Nothing like a half-way reasonable explanation to make a person feel braver.

The dogs didn’t take long once they were coaxed to the grass, apparently as anxious as their mistress to get back inside. “Thank you, dear.” The woman hesitated at the door. “Do you think that bobcat will come back? Jen-Jen and Casper did a lot of barking. I wouldn’t want to get a nuisance notice from the management.”

Leonyse patted the woman’s shoulder to reassure her. “I doubt it’ll come back, Miss Maddie. I think your two brave guard dogs probably scared it off for good.”

The elderly woman looked pleased, practically beaming at her pets. “They’re a pair of dears. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

Leonyse smiled and watched for a moment as Miss Maddie shuffled down the hallway clucking softly to her two babies. Then she closed the back door securely and started for her car, shaking her head fondly. She was halfway down the sidewalk when the shadows near the building moved. She’d half expected it, but it still made her heart jump up to her throat nonetheless when the tall figure stepped in front of her suddenly. What she hadn’t expected, was to be grabbed, spun, and pinned against the wall by a powerful body in one smooth motion. Gasping, she looked up into the face of her attacker.

The man’s beautifully masculine face looked tight, almost angry, full lips pressed into a grim line. Leonyse saw the nostrils of his straight, aristocratic nose flare, and her gaze flew up to his eyes. Dark, almost black eyes, glowered at her from beneath lowered brows. With a seductive growl, the man began to press the length of his hard body against hers.

Leonyse hissed. “Are you crazy?” She brought her hands up between them and shoved hard against the man’s chest. She might just as well have shoved against the brick wall at her back. “You should be ashamed. You scared poor Miss Maddie and her dogs half to death.” He still didn’t move. Not a muscle. Nor did he make a sound. He just stared down at her with those dark, hungry eyes. It wasn’t until her body betrayed her with a shiver of desire that he stepped back just far enough to open a space between them. He left his hands braced against the wall on either side of her head, trapping her.

“I’m tired of waiting. If I don’t get you back in my bed I’m going to truly go crazy. Is that what you want?”

Leonyse heaved a deep sigh, raking a hand through her blond hair. “Don’t do this, Sam, please. You know how close we are. We can’t start taking chances now. It’s almost over…”

His white teeth came together in a snap. “That’s what you said two days ago.”

“I know, I know. But it’s true, trust me. I can feel him weakening.” Her heart in her eyes, she raised a hand, stopping just short of caressing his cheek. “This isn’t any easier for me, you know,” she whispered softly.

He growled again, this time in frustrated irritation, but at least he pushed away from the wall. She watched him pace between building and sidewalk, doing a more than adequate imitation of a prowling panther in a cage, all dark and dangerous, full of power and barely controlled passion. He’d never been good at waiting. Not when she was the one taking all the risks. And never when it meant they had to be apart. He’d do it though, Leonyse knew. Despite, or maybe because of, his fierce need for her. He’d do it because she asked it of him.

“Very well. I promised you we’d do this one your way. I’ll keep my word. But I don’t like it.” He stopped in the darker shadows, eyes fierce, almost glowing. “I don’t like you taking chances.”

Leonyse moved away from the building slowly, no less roused and frustrated than he. It had been weeks since they’d shared the intimacy of touch and her body missed his fiercely. “This will work, love, I know it will. But it all depends on him not knowing about you. If he finds out, if he gets the slightest whiff of your presence, it could ruin months of planning.”

Dawn was not far away, the sky in the east already beginning to lighten. It brought a fresh breeze, kicking up the dry leaves and skittering them across grass and concrete. Leonyse saw her lover raise his head into that breeze, saw his eyes darken, his body shudder.

“You want me. I can smell your need.”

Blasted pheromones, she thought, and stepped back quickly, putting distance between them. You could push someone like her lover only so far. When he reached his limit, plans or no, he’d take what he wanted…and she’d let him. An idea flashed into her mind—one she knew better than to share with her volatile and more than slightly possessive lover.

“We both have to go. It’ll be dawn soon.” She turned for her car, part of her wondering just how far she could get before he pounced while part of her wished he would.

“Wait!” The word came out a command, but the look on his face when she turned back told her he was as close to begging as he would ever get.

“One kiss,” he whispered. The sibilant sound sent a shiver down her spine she couldn’t control. “Grant me one kiss. I swear I’ll touch nothing but your lips.”

He was her love. There was no way she could deny him such a simple request. Without hesitation she stepped back into the shadows and closed her eyes in complete trust. She felt nothing at first, but waited patiently. He was near, very near. She could hear his breathing, fast and low, and hers rose to keep pace. She felt the warmth of his breath linger over her lips before his pressed slowly to hers.

Lips parted, tongues touched, and heat shot straight to her belly and coiled there like a living thing. She had to clench her hands into fists to keep from reaching out for him. But she couldn’t hold back the moan that rose from somewhere deep inside her. And the moment it reached her lips—his was gone.

She waited, one second, two, then gulped in a breath as she opened her eyes to find herself alone. Feeling bereft, she hugged herself, drawing in another deep breath and blowing it all the way out before heading to her car.

God help her, but she hoped her new idea worked and they could end this tonight. Her lover wasn’t the only one near the breaking point.

To The Top