It was dark, that was all Serena could tell for sure, when she found herself among huge black trees in a nightly forest, disoriented, not knowing, how or why she had come here. The darkness wasn`t pitchblack as she would have expected, but darkgrey and so thick, that she could almost touch it. It laid in wait for her, approached her carefully, surrounded her, touched her with spidery fingers, weaved an invisible, yet unbreakable web around her, watched her, creeped up to her in wafts of mist, breathed icy blows against her naked ankle joint, crawled up her legs, sent shivers down her spine and layed around her body like a second skin. Serena tried to gaze between the close standing trees, but through each gap new wafts of mist welled up towards her. Depraved of her ability to see her other senses were sharpened; she heard her blood flowing heavily through her veins, sensed her environment with every fibre of her body. And then she heard them. Beneath the smooth cover of silence countless voices whispered to her, almost at the threshold of her unconsciousness, nearly inaudible, but undoubtedly real. She felt a soft dragging pain crawling down from her neck to her back, wrapping up her whole body; a bittersweet pain vibrated in her nerves, electrified every cell of her skin, twitched every fibre of her senses, as the voices swelled; a choir of whispers, murmurs, hisses, purrs were flying above her head, sliding down to her, gliding through her, swinging inside her. She strained her ears, focused on the sounds, trying to tell the voices apart, but there were too many. Some hissing and some purring, some harsh, some soft. Whenever she tried to single one out, it retreated and melted with the others. As if pulled by invisible strings Serena stumbled forwards, feeling her way through the thicket. After a while -she was still surrounded by darkness- she paused, and immediately the voices grew louder, became urgent, unleashed a storm of excited whispers, swelled to the point, where Serena couldn`t bear the intensity anylonger, and then they died all at once. Through the deadly silence a single voice pierced through to her.

"Serena." The voice called her, purring and bewitching, but its coldness made her shudder.

"Serena" The voice called again, this time almost singing, and an icy shiver went through her bones. He was calling for her, had found her at last.

"Serena." The voice called once more, urgent and determined now. Serena froze her heartbeat slowing down. She wanted to stand still, to ignore the voice, but it was as if it had pierced through her body, penetrating her soul, taking over control. Obediently she put one foot before the other, until she finally could see the thicket clear; the mist dissolved and the trees thinned out. She was standing at the edge of a clearing. A blue shining moon was spilling eery light onto the grass and she felt drawn towards the meadow.

"Serena." The voice was close now, chrystal clear and imperious. She knew, if she put one foot onto the grass she would understand, she would see, would remember everything.

"Serena." Said another voice, as melodious and enticing as the first, but radiating much more warmth.

"Serena." The first voice growled, unable to suppress its growing impatience. Serena startled and stared anxiously at the clearing. She felt that it wasn`t a good idea to upset whoever was calling her. So she lifted her right foot to step onto the grass, when the other voice called her again.

"Serena." The voice sounded worried, and Serena turned around.

"Serena." A tone of surprised anger sounded in the first voice, but it faded quickly away, as she walked back into the forest.

"Serena, wake up, you`re having a nightmare." As the second voice completely filled her mind, she felt life return to her frozen bones. She was bathed in warmth, surrounded by two strong arms that held her close and would protect her from everything; with a sigh she snuggled deeper into the warm embrace and opened up her eyes trying to return to reality. She was lying on the old green couch, her head resting on Jaron`s lap. Having thrown the journal about antique furniture onto the table in front of him he looked down at her, his dark eyes watching her thoughtfully.

"Was it the dream again?" Concern sounded in his voice.

"Mmh," Serena mumbled sleepily and pressed closer against him, trying to dissolve in the warmth he was spreading.

"What are you doing there?" he inhaled a sharp breath, as she reached under his shirt running her hands up his back.

"You have three guesses." A mischievious gleam lightened up her emerald eyes.

"Serena." A shiver ran through him as her hands kept on wandering over his skin. "That`s not the right time now."

"Are you sure?" she asked innocently running her hands down to his belly, causing him to gasp.

"We - have - to - talk - about - your - dream." He replied hoarsely.

"I`m trying to forget it." Serena leant forwards and pressed her lips onto the soft skin around his navel. "You really could help me a bit, Jaron." She complained jokily.

Heaving a deep sigh he took her head in both hands; sinking his brown eyes into her green, he lowered his head and kissed her tenderly. "What shall I do with you?" he asked, when their lips parted again, running his finger along her cheekbone.

Serena wrapped her arms around his neck. "That was a good start." She smiled and pulled him in another deep kiss.

After a few moments Jaron detached reluctantly. "We have to talk." .

Serena sat uprighed beside him. "You`re boring, Jaron."

Jaron swang round, utmost indignation painted in his face. "Boring? Me?"

"Yes, you." Serena challenged him.

"You don`t dare to repeat that!"

Raising an eyebrow Serena sat back against the pillows folding her arms. "And what if I did?"

Jaron leant in bringing his sparkling eyes close to her face. "Try me!" he ran his fingers through her hair, tousling it playfully.

"You´re boring." Serena smirked widely.

Jaron`s eyes flashed and he pressed his mouth firmly on her lips, his passionate kiss taking away her every breath. When he detached, Serena`s hair was a mess, her face glowed fevereshly and she panted heavily, but still smirked provokingly at Jaron.

"You`re still boring."

Within one second Jaron gripped her shoulders, threw her flat on her back onto the couch and leant over her, tickling her whole body, until she giggled and squeaked.

"Mercy, mercy!" she gasped for breath, and he paused looking at her expectantly.

"You`re not boring - at least not at the moment." she added quickly, not wanting to give him the pleasure of seeing her all too obedient.

Jaron kissed the tip of her nose. "That`s my girl," he grinned. "Always need to have the last word." Pulling her up to sit beside him he suddenly turned serious. "But you know, Serena, it`s really important that we talk about these dreams. They come far too often now."

Serena sighed, feeling the breath of coldness brushing her heart again. "They`re unpleasant, but they`re only dreams." She tried to sound unimpressed.

"Unpleasant?" Jaron stared unbelievingly at her. "Serena, your face wore an expression of terror, I have never seen before. Not even when.." his voice trailed off. But Serena knew what he wanted to say. Not even when he had killed all those people.

She raised her hand to stroke his cheek. "I know Jaron, they are really terrifying dreams, but they don`t mean a thing."

"I`m not so sure about this." Jaron shook his head. "Maybe your unconsciousness begins to remember."

Serena sighed. Not for the first time she thought that it might have been a mistake to tell Jaron about it. About the tragical accident, she and her father had had three years before, that had killed him and left her without any memory of the time before the accident. Actually she couldn`t even remember the accident itself.

"Serena, you really should think about my suggestion." Jaron`s dark eyes pleaded with hers.

"A hypnotist?" Serena laughed out shortly. "Don´t be silly, Jaron! And even if it worked, what good would it be? I´m content with my life as it`s now. I have you, I have Mira and Orysa, and of course my mum and my brother. I really don`t want to dig in my past." A slight shudder flew through her.

"Okay," Jaron gave in. "But I think I should stay overnight then."

"So do you?" Serena tilted her head smirking naughtily.

Jaron grinned. "You know what I mean."

"Of course I do."

Jaron struggled against the fit of laughter and some other feelings that arose inside him. "No seriously, why don`t you move in with me? I don`t like the idea of you beeing alone."

"I`m not alone." Serena pointed to a shut door opposite the couch, from which slight snoring was heard. "Mira`s here."

"Oh my, you`re such a little stubborn thing." Jaron smirked, while he got up and opened the housedoor.

"That´s why you love me." Serena replied. "Do I see you tomorrow?"

"I have to talk to this customer about his antique chair; he sais it`s from Queen Victoria`s century. Probably just a well made imitation." He shrugged. "But I`ll have a look at it. We could need some new or rather old goods."

Serena nodded seriously. Mira`s shop wasn`t going all too well at the moment.

"But I`ll come to the shop later." Jaron gave her a soft smile.

"Be careful. There might be some mesmerizing vampire-ladies to lure you from the right path." Serena returned his smile cheekily.

"I strongly doubt they could be more stubborn and dangerous than you are." Jaron hugged her tightly and kissed her lips gently, before he turned and disappeared into the night.

Serena shut the door and went to her sleeping room. Glancing at the alarm clock on her bedside table she yawned. 1.30 a.m.,it had turned late again! And she had to be early in the shop the next morning. But it had been almost impossible to say goodbye to Jaron. She smiled. What a wonderful turn her life had taken, since they had met, even though she probably wouldn`t have bet on it, when she first met that enigmatic stranger, who had captivated her and threatened her life, until a miracle happened, and the vampire had been transformed into a human again.

Far away at the same time a tall man stood in front of a large mirror, caressing the glass. "Soon, Serena, soon." He whispered, his ice-coloured eyes glittering.