ON HIS WATCH

Aurelia sat at the end of the darkened bar nursing her beer. She didn’t even like alcohol, so she couldn’t really understand why she was here and why she had ordered the thing in the first place. No, wait. Yes, she did. She was here to avoid dealing with Josh showing up on her porch step. She knew that once he had calmed down, he would show up and beg her to go out with him again. She shuddered. He just repelled her for some reason. The thought of Josh, or any man for that matter, touching her caused a sense of revulsion. She remembered her freshman year dorm mate. The girl had been incredibly bubbly and was constantly happy.

“Maybe, Ari, it’s like shapeshifters.” When Aurelia had looked at her in annoyance, the girl explained. “You know, you only have one mate or soulmate in your life and until you meet them then you aren’t attracted to the opposite sex.” Aurelia had waved her off as being too flighty. But, every now and then, the thought would cross her mind and she would wonder about the kind of person her former dorm mate had been.

When the bartender came over and asked her if she wanted another, she shook her head and asked about her bill. “Oh, it’s been taken care of already.” Aurelia felt the hair on her neck stand on end. No one in the bar knew her. Glancing around quickly, she spotted no one watching her. Realizing she was looking for the person that paid her tab, the bartender spoke. “He’s gone. Said to give you what you wanted, even food and then make sure you made it home safe. Did you walk or drive?”

“Walked.”

“Well, we can’t have a lovely little thing like you roaming around this time of night, now can we? I’ll call you a cab.” At the look of fear in her face, he did his best to soothe her. “Now, you listen to me young lady, no one is going to hurt you. There’s too many of us to make sure of that.” The bartender quickly clamped his mouth shut, as if he had said too much.

Aurelia’s eyes widen in realization. “Too many of who?”

“Too many of my customers. Most of these guys are rough, but they know a good girl when they see one. For damn sure they wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.” The guy handed her back her money and closed her fist around it. “Now go. Your cab’s waiting outside.”

Aurelia ran out of the bar. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough. The whole exchange had been weird. Because she didn’t look back, she didn’t see the mountain of a man walk around the corner of the bar and speak to the bartender. Neither did she hear what was said. His deep gravelly voice rumbled up from his chest. “Nice save, Nick. However, she’s spooked now. The whole idea was to keep her from having to look over her shoulder.”

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Aurelia was aware of some noise penetrating her sleep. Being a light sleeper, the least little out of place sound and she was awake. This sound was definitely out of place. It sounded like someone tapping on the glass of her back door, in the kitchen. Being as quiet as possible, she leaned over and opened the drawer of her nightstand and removed the loaded gun there. She had gotten it two years ago when there had been some girls that had been raped in their own homes, houses that they rented off campus.

Without turning on a light, she got out of bed and walked across the floor to the doorway. Managing to avoid all of the creaky floorboards. She was just outside her bedroom when she heard glass break. Realizing that her home was being broke into, she retreated to her bedroom and locked the door. Looking for her cell phone, she realized she had left it on the kitchen table when she came home. Groaning quietly, she felt her heart race as footsteps sounded in the hall outside her bedroom door. The steps were heavy, as if they were unconcerned about the noise they were making. The stopped by her door and the doorknob rattled. When the person realized that the door was locked they cursed.

Aurelia raised her gun and took a slow, deep breath to steady her hands that were shaking badly. Aiming the gun at the door, she fired just as the door was kicked in. The beast before her was something out of a fairy-tale or a nightmare. She couldn’t decide which. Standing on two legs, it was easily the size of her ceiling. As a matter of fact, it was hunched over a little. It was massive, muscular and covered in fur. At the moment the bullet struck it, it growled loudly, revealing a mouthful of sharp, lethal looking teeth.

Fear was an emotion that she was very familiar with. So familiar that she was not incapacitated by it. Raising the gun, she fired again. Again the thing roared out a deep growl. Then, it did something that truly terrified her. Out of it’s mouth it spoke her name in a taunting manner. Taking two steps, it smacked the gun from her hands and grabbed her by her upper arms. Lifting her up, he wrapped her up in his arms and spun around. Leaving the bedroom, the creature walked to the kitchen. Aurelia realized it was leaving, and it was taking her with it.

Aurelia started to struggle with the beast. It acted like she wasn’t even there for all of the notice it paid her. It merely clutched her tighter and growled low in its chest. That terrified her. Enough! She was afraid she was going to die, so she figured she should at least make it difficult for the beast. Drawing a deep breath, she left out a scream as loud as she could. The creature was so startled that it momentarily loosened its grip and she was able to get loose. Running from it, she ran to the front of the house. Hopefully, someone would see what was going on and stop to help her.

As she was running to the front corner of the house a mountain of a man ran up to her. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he asked her, “Where?” She pointed to the back yard and was told to stay put as another massive man came to stand beside her. Looking up at the man, Aurelia realized that there were features on his face that were similar to the creatures. She was getting ready to scream again when a hand was clamped over her mouth.

“Unum parvon, you must stay quiet. Just in case there are more of his tribe around. Do you understand? If I remove my hand and you scream again, and there are more, it will be more than Alexzander and I can manage. OK?” When she didn’t respond, he growled out, “Girl, we will explain everything once you are safe. Do you understand?” Aurelia nodded, hesitantly. “Bonum.”