Forever 21

4 | Daydream

“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Once we got home from the club, we wordlessly got out of the car and went inside. It felt as though Ivy wanted to tell me what was on her mind; I thought for sure that she would, but the words never came. I even paused by her bedroom door, which was across the hall from mine, hoping to give her the opportunity to break the silence. All she gave me was a surly "good morning" before retreating to her room.

It bothered me to no end that she wouldn't just tell me what was so wrong with me. I was filled with restless energy that I had no way to burn other than to walk. So I walked it off, stewed, walked, and then stewed some more. What were best friends for, if not to admit the hard truths? As far as I was concerned, being an abomination certainly counted as a hard truth. Yet there I was, walking around the perimeter of our house in the middle of the night, none the wiser, and not for my lack of trying to change that.

During the drive home, once I'd established that she had no intention of breaking the silence, I had tried to read her mind as I had in the club. There was nothing but white noise. I suspected that if she could shield herself from me physically, her magic could probably do the same for her thoughts with the occasional moments where they leaked through. That was the only rationale my limited knowledge on the subject could come up with.

It was so frustrating to realize that there was so much I needed to know, abomination status aside, and no one to ask other than the one person who was avoiding me. I probably would have worn a small ditch into the ground if I hadn’t suddenly been overcome by an almost debilitating feeling of lethargy.

Instinct told me the sun was rising and as my eyes got heavier and heavier, I realized it answered one of my unspoken questions regarding whether or not vampires slept. Growing up, I had enjoyed a supernatural vamp thriller as much as the next girl. Many of them, especially recently, had suggested that vampires were insomniacs. Obviously, they were wrong. I shuffled into the house like a zombie fresh from the grave and then lopped up the stairs like a one year old child - both feet on each step before advancing to the next. Getting to the top took forever and getting to my room took even longer. By the time I reached my bed, I was practically asleep on my feet. I fell, face first and fully clothed, onto my bed and welcomed the darkness.

I dreamed. Vividly. It was different than dreaming as a human. Dreaming as a vamp was a trip and a half. There was no other way to describe it. I knew I was dreaming and could therefore manipulate it. The world was my oyster. I had only to think it for it to appear.

Initially I had imagined that I was sitting on the soft sand of some private beach in San Diego, under the pale light of the wheat colored moon. It was so calming to just soak in the sound of the surf and to feel the cold night breeze and not be chilled. Being a vamp had its perks.

I don’t know how long I sat there, but after a while my mind started to wander. Without meaning to, I thought of midnight eyes and pale hair, a five o'clock shadow and a wicked smile. He towered over me, made me feel small despite the fact that I was 5'9. I wished that I knew his name, if for no other reason than to know who I was fantasizing about.

He caressed my cheek with the back of his smooth, pale hand. I closed my eyes, savored the almost electric sensation, and inhaled his familiar scent. He was nowhere near as tempting as Fate in the olfactory department, but he made my mouth water just the same. When I finally opened my eyes he was exactly as he was when I’d seen him at the club – staring at me with hungry eyes and sexy as hell. At least here I could look at him without crying tears of blood.

"Interesting imagination you've got here."

I smiled at his small talk, mildly unimpressed by my lack of creativity for what he'd say to me. Leave it to me to dream about a hot guy and then have absolutely no idea what to make him say. Resigned with my general lack of imagination, I decided to tell my conjured Incubus just that.