Chapter 1: In the Beginning

The heat and humidity was typical of Phoenix in early August as Kaitlyn walked to her first class of the day but Kaitlyn was miserable. She had only been in Arizona since the end of May and the weather had not been terrible at first but now that it was humid she was starting to regret her decision to move out to Phoenix. Not that the Central Valley in California in the summer was much better but at least the temperature was in the low 100's rather than the upwards of 110!

"Whoever thought that I would miss California?" Kaitlyn grumbled to herself as she let herself into the building.

The cool dimness of the building was a relief after being outside, even for the brief walk from her car. Kaitlyn paused just inside the doors to let her eyes adjust to the darker interior compared to the brightness outside. After her eyes had adjusted she started walking towards her classroom that was on the opposite side of the building. As Kaitlyn rounded the corner, she froze. There, in the middle of the hallway, was a rattlesnake!

Kaitlyn had hated snakes ever since he older brother James had forgotten to shut his python's cage properly years ago. The reticulated python that her brother James had joking named "Choker" had managed to escape the cage and ended up in Kaitlyn's room while she was sleeping, wrapping itself around the 10 year Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn knew that she was lucky that her mother happened to check on her before her mother went to bed that night. When Kaitlyn's mother saw Choker wrapped around her daughter she ran and grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen then slashed Choker. Luckily the knife was sharp enough or managed to slip underneath the python's scales at the right angle and cut into the flesh which caused it to release its hold on Kaitlyn. All Kaitlyn remembered of that night was scales scratching her skin and being unable to breath but the thought of snakes was enough to cause her to panic 15 years later.

Kaitlyn stared at the rattlesnake in terror, frozen in indecision. Should she go back the way she came? Run away? Call security? Kaitlyn could feel her heart pounding and knew that she was hyperventilating but she could not calm herself; she was starting to get lightheaded and there were black sparkles flashing in her vision. Just before she passed out Kaitlyn thought she saw the rattlesnake smiling.

Kaitlyn woke up on a cot in a room with off-white walls, a single window, a wooden padded chair, and a metal table next to the cot. She looked around and saw her backpack on the floor by the table and a door that was propped open. "Hello?" she called out tentatively, not sure where she was only that it was not the hallway to her class. A face peaked into the room from the hallway.

"You feeling better now Kait? Having you pass out in the hallway on the way to Biochem kinda freaked out a couple students." The face belonged to Tessa, one of the Kaitlyn's friends from the Master's program that Kaitlyn was in. Kaitlyn smiled wanly at Tessa and asked "Where am I and how did I get where-ever 'here' is?"

"Oh, you're in the school's health clinic. When you passed out Chad, y'know the cute guy with the gorgeous blue eyes that is quiet and sits in the back of the room?" Kaitlyn nods and Tessa continues "Anyway, he found you in the hall and carried you here; he was waiting around for awhile until I finally told him that I could wait for you to wake up without him hovering over you." Tessa smiled wickedly "I think that the shy guy has a crush on you sweetie! It was kinda cute the way that he was taking care of you."

Kaitlyn half registered what her friend said and asked "Tes, what about the rattlesnake? Did someone take care of it?"

Tessa looked at Kaitlyn blankly, "What rattlesnake? There was nothing in the hall except you when Chad found you. You sure you're ok?"

One of the nurses from the clinic came in the room and looked at Kaitlyn sitting up on the cot. "How are you feeling Kaitlyn?"

"Slightly dizzy and very confused" Kaitlyn answered her.

"She was hallucinating," Tessa piped up. "She said that there was a rattlesnake in the hall."

"There was one! Right in the middle of the hall!"

"Have you been drinking enough water? It says here that you are new to Arizona; it is extremely important to stay hydrated out here." The nurse looked at Kaitlyn and Kaitlyn looked away first and mumbled "I probably haven't been drinking enough water. I just haven't been that thirsty."

"You probably had a touch of heatstroke; some people can have hallucinations. Keep yourself well hydrated and you should be fine. Are you feeling nauseous or having difficulty breathing?"

"No." Kaitlyn sighed; she knew that the rattlesnake had been there, she was sure of it, which was why she had a panic attack.

"Well it looks like you are doing fine and we can let you go home after you have filled out this paperwork for the clinic. Hopefully we will not see you back here for this again young lady. You need to take better care of yourself." The nurse handed Kaitlyn a clipboard with some forms and walked out of the room shutting the door quietly behind her.

"You do realize sweetie that you have been here almost all day?" Tessa was perched on the chair watching as Kaitlyn filled out the clinic forms.

"What?!?!?!?" Kaitlyn looked at her watch and sure enough it said 3:34. Kaitlyn groaned "I can't believe that I missed all day; can I borrow your notes?"

"Maybe you should ask to borrow them from Chad," Tessa suggests innocently and winks.

"C'mon Tes, be serious, I hardly know the guy. This is not the way to go and try to set me up with a guy from our class; I just need to copy them and then I will have them back to you tomorrow."

"Awwww, you're no fun Kait! You need to relax a bit, have a little fun. These are the best years of your life; you need to make the most of them." Tessa complained but handed over the notes.

Tessa was something of a party girl; she loved going to bars any day of the week no matter if there was an exam the next day or not. She loved attention, and with her looks it was not hard to see why she always got it. She was petit, with platinum blond hair, pale cream colored skin, and blue eyes like ice. Kaitlyn was sometimes jealous of the attention that Tessa received; she knew that she could not complete in the looks department with her. Kaitlyn was of average height with dark brown hair, honey colored skin, and an odd shade of green eyes. But Tessa was her closest friend in Arizona and loved going out with her regardless, at least on Friday and Saturday nights.

"Look, we are still going out this Friday night, right?" Tessa looked at Kaitlyn suspiciously.

"Unless you flake on me like you sometimes do," was Tessa's reply.

"I won't flake, I promise Tes."

"Are you going to do shots with me this time?"

"Maybe, we'll see how I feel. Besides, you know that I never do more than 2 shots, if I do any at all."

"Spoilsport," Tessa teased Kaitlyn.

"I'm done with this, let's get out of here. I just want to forget about this." Kaitlyn grabbed her backpack and headed for the door with Tessa right behind her chatting the entire time about Friday night. Neither one noticed a slight sparkle in the sunlight as they shut the door behind them.

Before the Storm

Later that evening as Kaitlyn was at home copying Tessa's notes when she caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. As she glanced up she thought she saw a black sparkle out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned her head she saw her chocolate lab, Peanut, jumping up at the front door. Kaitlyn laughed, "Ok Mutt, let's go for a walk."

Kaitlyn stood up and stretched then headed towards the kitchen to grab the leash with Peanut bouncing around her. Kaitlyn couldn't figure out why her dog loved going for walks when it was still hot out, but she wasn't going to argue with Peanut about it. Kaitlyn made sure to lock the doors and windows before she left; there had been reports about a series of break-ins in nearby neighborhoods and she couldn't be too careful.

The weather was oppressive; it had just gotten worse since the morning and Kaitlyn was drenched in sweat after just a few minutes. But Peanut was as bouncy as ever; she saw something, Kaitlyn couldn't figure out what it was but Peanut took off after it.

'My dog is crazy; absolutely nuts!' Kaitlyn though as she ran after Peanut.

Kaitlyn could feel the wind picking up and blowing girt into her eyes so she couldn't see; where was Peanut? "Peanut? Peanut, come back here!" She called frantically into the forming storm. As Kaitlyn ran down the street she started to feel lightheaded and dizzy, the black sparkles appearing in her vision just like that morning. She kept running, looking for Peanut but the sidewalk started to ripple in Kaitlyn's vision and she stumbled and fell to knees.

At that moment the rain started and Kaitlyn was soaked through in seconds. When she looked up she saw a faint outline of a person and those annoying black sparkles. Kaitlyn tried to ask for help and collapsed at their feet.

When Kaitlyn woke up she wished that she hadn't; her head was pounding and she felt incredibly nauseous. Kaitlyn could hear the rain hammering on the building and the wind howling. Where was she? How had she gotten here? Where was here? If she wasn't hurting so much she probably would have panicked but it was hard to hold onto any thoughts for any length of time.

"So, you're awake," a male voice said from across the room. Kaitlyn blinked owlishly as light entered the room. She couldn't see what the man looked like because he was backlit by the open door. But his voice felt smooth and flowed over Kaitlyn like honey.

"W-w-where am I?" It was hard for Kaitlyn to keep the tremor out of her voice.

"You are in my bed at the moment," was the sardonic reply. "But I am guessing that was not the intent behind your question."

Kaitlyn just stared at him.

The man sighed, "I live a few streets over from you, I believe. While you were out chasing your dog you fell at my feet. With the storm coming in I decided that I should not leave you out at the mercy of the elements. And as you were unconscious I could not invite you in, so I took the liberty of bringing you inside."

"Well, ummm, thank you for bringing me in out of the storm," Kaitlyn smiled tentatively at him. "I'm Kaitlyn. And you are..."

The man bow extravagantly, "Pleasure to meet you Kaitlyn. I am Dylan, Dylan Fairfax; at your service."

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Fairfax."

"Dylan, please. I dislike the title 'Mister'" Dylan smiled charmingly at Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn grinned back at him and winced as she moved her head too much and it started to pound more.

"I ... Do you have some Tylenol or something else that I could have? My head is killing me."

"I will see what I have; I should have something that might help." Dylan turned to go and said over his shoulder, "Oh, by the way, your dog was setting up such a ruckus that I put her in the kitchen until you're feeling better."

"You found Peanut? Where was she?" Kaitlyn couldn't believe her ears; her Peanut was safe!

"Peanut? You named your lab 'Peanut'?" Dylan asked incredulously. "Never mind. I will go see if I can find you something for your pain." He closed the door softly behind him leaving the room in shadows.

Kaitlyn curled up in Dylan's bed and hoped that her head would stop throbbing soon; it was making it difficult to think. Something just felt ... peculiar. But she couldn't figure out what it was. So she lay there, waiting for Dylan to come back with something for her head. A few minutes later (or was it a few hours?) the door to the room opened again and Dylan reentered and walked over to the bed.

"I figured that since you do not know me, I would not give you a reason to distrust me with anything that I could have possibly tampered with. Here, take this" He handed her an unopened bottle of water and a couple of sealed blister packs Tylenol.

Kaitlyn sat up and reached for the water and Tylenol, as she did so the sheet slipped down and she realized that she was naked! She grabbed the sheet to cover herself "What did you do with my clothes?"

Dylan set the water and Tylenol on the bedside table and took a step back. In the dim light Kaitlyn could see that his skin was a very light coffee colored and his hair was black; she couldn't see what color his eyes were in the low light. But he looked annoyed at Kaitlyn's question, as if she had just maligned him.

"You clothes," he said coolly, "are, currently, in the dryer. I did not think that you wanted to be lying around in wet clothes."

"Oh," Kaitlyn said quietly. "I, I am sorry. I wasn't expecting to wake up naked in a strange guy's bed." Kaitlyn could feel herself blushing.

Dylan looked at Kaitlyn and nodded, "Apology accepted." He smiled at Kaitlyn, "Besides, watching you blush made up for it, especially watching it spread." He winked at her.

"It is much easier to undress a person then it is to dress them. Over on the chair you will find a bathrobe that you can wear until your clothes are dry. Unfortunately I don't have anything that will fit you other then my bathrobe. I do not think that this storm will let up any time soon, if you want to take a shower and clean up the bathroom is through the door over there," he pointed to a door that Kaitlyn hadn't seen before. "In there you will find towels, shampoo and soap. When you're done you are welcome to curl up in bed and sleep or come out and have some food."

Kaitlyn blinked at Dylan. "Ah, thank you. I would love to get cleaned up. Well, after the Tylenol anyway."

Dylan smiled, "I will give you some privacy; enjoy." He turned and walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Kaitlyn popped opened the pill blisters and cracked the seal on the water bottle and tossed back the pills. She laid back and closed her eyes, waiting for the meds to kick in. Kaitlyn couldn't help wondering about what color Dylan's eyes were. Where they brown? Hazel? Blue? Why was she fixated on his eyes?

Kaitlyn sat up again, slowly this time, and her head didn't start throbbing in response. She gingerly climbed out of the bed, feeling a little self conscious at being naked in s stranger's bedroom. She hurried to the bathroom and easily found the towels that Dylan had said were in there. She turned on the water in the shower and while waiting for the water to warm up she explored the bathroom. The bathroom was set up in earth tones Kaitlyn noticed as she looked around. When she didn't find anything out of the ordinary she laughed at herself. "What did you expect to find in here Kait? It is just a bathroom like any other, "she muttered to herself.