A Dark Lover

Blue Eyed Man

Growing up, my parents were always very spiritual, and I don’t mean they were religious. I mean the idea of spiritual creatures always were disused at the dinner table. Sport stories of werewolves, fairies, and vampires were the kind of stories that I fell asleep to. Weird, right? You would think a child would be terrified of listening to stories of wolf-like beasts roaming the woods or blood sucking creatures who could easily take you in the night. Nope, my family was clearly different, and I was not excluded from this difference as much as I tried.

“Stories are told in Greek Mythology, the first werewolf was created by Zeus, God of thunder. Zeus appear to King Lycaon hidden in human form as a humble visitor.” I could hear my father in the background of our spiritual shop repeating one of his most favorite stories. I rolled my eyes as he continued with his over dramatic version of the story.  

“King Lycaon, the evil king he was, planned on sacrificing this “visitor” as he did all visitors. The gods were not happy with this and this is why Zeus had arrived. During his stay, one of King Lycaon’s servants became leery of this new visitor and expressed his concerns to his King.” I peeked back to where my father was presenting his speech to a couple of tourists visiting our town. They were watching him, wide eyed, completely engrossed in the story he was portraying. I continued to watch their expressions knowing the best part was coming up.

“Suspecting the possibility of the God’s appearing as visitors to test the king, King Lycaon devised a plan and treated his new visitor to dinner. The dinner was extravagant, a true dinner fit for a king. The main course was brought out and all of King Lycaon’s guests dug in, gorging themselves with the meat, including Zeus. Upon eating the meat, King Lycaon reveals the meat is no cow’s meat, pig’s meat, or even goat’s meat but the meat from previous visitors!” The couple gasped in shock and I giggled to myself, returning to the cash register. Whether or not the story was true didn’t matter, it always was a good story to get the customers to believe in the sprites, even for a second. My father was good at that, getting people to believe him even with the craziest stories. 

“As a punishment for King Lycaon, Zeus transformed him and his future offspring into the very beast he acts like, a wolf.” The couple began to ask more questions regarding the story and my father eagerly answered. At this point it would be no time before they decided to buy some useless item from my father store but until then I turned my back and played on my phone until they were ready.

Scrolling through f*******: for the twelfth time, seeing the same post regarding old friend getting married, having children, etc. So tired of the same old lives being played out by different people. *BING* I heard bells on the front door of the store ring, notifying us someone has enter the store. I turned my head to greet the customers. 

Before I could utter a hello, or welcome, my eyes came in contact with two large men walking through the door. They entered the store with such authority, it was a startling sight to behold. Both men stood way over 6 foot and seemed to be in very good shape. The first man in walked over to the counter with a smile on his face. Looking over him a bit, he seemed overly cheerful. His hair was buzz cut, but still had enough length to see that his hair was a darker brown. His eyes were brown as well but more of a hazel rather than dark as his hair. He had a toothy smile playing on his face as if he was up to no good. 

“Hey there” He stated walking over to the counter.

“Uh, hey. I mean welcome!” I quickly corrected my greeting snapping out of my gaze. “Can I help you with anything?” 

“We are just going to have a quick look, thanks.” He said moving on towards the back of the store. As he moved, the second man appeared in my vision however, this man was different. Something about him made me freeze up and my heartbeat began to increase.

He also seemed to have halted upon entering the store as he was still standing by the entrance. “Do you need any help with anything?” I managed to barley say. He began to walk towards the counter and with every step my heart increased more. He had piercing blue eyes that I was having a difficult time removing my own eyes from. They were not a typical blue color, but more of a light blue green, like the water in Gulf of Mexico. His wavy blonde hair fell slightly over his eyes, making them even more mysterious looking. 

He made his way to the counter and with each step I had to look up more and more. I stood about 5”2, not the tallest person on the planet. This man must have been more than a foot taller than me. As he approached the counter, I could smell a faint sent of honey and wood. I opened my mouth to ask once again if he needed any assistance but before I would speak, my father interrupted.

“Sir, do you need any assistance today?” He stated but something in his voice was off. It was not his easy, funny voice he used with his previous customers. This voice was more serious, as if there was business to discuss. 

The man in front of me did not break eye contact with him, however still answered my father’s question. “No, thank you.” He said in a deep soothing voice that seemed to make my arms tingle a bit. As awkward as the intense eye contact should have been, it was not. It intrigued me. Something about this man was calling to me and I didn’t understand it. I felt the sudden urge to be near him, talk to him…touch him…

“Micah! Back here dude!” A loud yell from the back of the store interrupted our trance and the man in front of me turned his head. His friend was waving his hands above his head, calling him to the back of the store, a bit exaggerated I might add.

I watched as the man in front of me huff a little, his eye narrowing making his eyelashes cover his blue eyes as he silently walked back to where his friend was standing. Once he left the area, my father followed the two men quickly to sell them items I’m sure. As he approached them though, his behaviors were different. He wasn’t as loose and free with his posture. Rather, he was stiff, as if he as putting on a professional look. I shook my head at my father as he was an interesting man and went back to work aka scrolling through f*******:.  

A couple minutes went by and I heard the chime of the front door ring again. Turning around I saw the two men leave just as quickly as they entered. Looking over to my left, I saw my father approaching me. “They were odd ones huh?” He stated with a half-smile on his face.

“Yea, super weird. What did they say to you? The conversation looked quite serious.” I asked with a leery look on my face. My quizzical facial expression was met with a shrug of the shoulders.

“Eh, not much. Same old questions.” He said nonchalantly, however this was not fooling me. I knew their discuses was something more than he was divulging, and it would be a matter of time before I figured it out.

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Nine o’clock hit and I was right at the door to lock up for the night. I usually closed the store most nights as a curiously to my parents. They were getting older and the more activity they engaged in, the more tired they became. I went over to the cash register, locked it and grabbed my purse fully ready to go home and zone out watching senseless T.V. This is what I did most nights. I had never really had many friends as I was always the weird kid and I had difficulty bonding with most people. There was just a barrier or a difference that deterred people from me. I did have a couple good friends throughout my life but one by one they moved on.

I exited the store, turning the lights off and relocking it from the outside now. My parents house was within walking distance from here, so I usually walked home most nights and it was nice. It was my time for my thoughts, me to listen to music and-

Before I could finish my thought, I felt a cold hand grab my arm from behind and I froze.