Darius's mind was floating again. Floating down, floating away. . .just floating. It was almost as though his memories enjoyed crashing down on him and breaking him nearly in two. He couldn't help but wonder whether he had really made the wrong decision all those years ago.

He could see it, clear as day. Or rather, clear as the night sky that they were standing under. Her dull red hair seemed almost perfect in the moonlight, her thin lips barely pink, her body that one iota down from perfect. . .one would never expect that she was a vampire. Hollywood seemed to have screwed up a lot of
things for a lot of people.

He was willing to admit that he had once shared all the common misconceptions about vampires. The allergy to garlic, the holy objects burning automatically. . . all of it. The he met Shae. Shae was lovely in her own way and Darius made the mistake that most mortals make. He fell in love.

At first, they wined and dined like a normal couple. Then after about four months, he woke up one night to find her gone. No note, no clothes, no nothing. Nothing was left but the memory of the night they met.

Darius went wild, searching the room, the bed, everywhere - looking for something that said Shae was coming back. Said that she was coming home. Alas, he found nothing. His heart was broken. He had lost all feeling. His body went numb and his heart had all but stopped.

His dog had even noticed that something was wrong. She'd go in and sit next to him at night and Darius wouldn't even know she was there until she ran her head up under his hand. She'd always been a huge dog, and she stood almost as tall as his hip when he stood. She whined, nudging him. He stared at her and seemed to look right through her.

The dog's name was Mila. Mila waited until Darius's eye slowly fluttered shut and he began to snore softly. She grabbed a blanket in her mouth carefully and covered his legs, avoiding the food wrappers and crumpled paper bags on the floor. Taking the time to make sure that he was truly sleeping, she trotted outside.

She made it to the woods behind Darius's house and went into the thicket to change. She wanted to test her theory. She hoped it would pan, for his sake.
_____________

Darius was sitting in his living room, blankly watching television. He wasn't paying any real attention to the glowing box, but it was something that gave him white noise to hide behind. He hadn't been in the mood to do much of anything but hide behind white noise lately anyway.

First, he lost Shae. And now, he lost his dog somewhere in all this mess and confusion. Mila had always given him some comfort in his pain. . . At least she stayed next to him until he fell asleep after one too many hours of being awake wondering and hoping. He shook his head and leaned it back. he was in for another long day of floating in and out of memories and foggy sleep.

There came a knock on the door. Darius rolled his eyes towards the door and didn't bother to move. It was probably some neighborhood kids wanting to scare the shut-in, or some neighborhood theologian trying to get him on the track to an expensive, so-called salvation. He'd been fine with ignoring them before, so why start caring now? He was ready to fall asleep again when the knock came again.

This person was either very persistent or very annoying. Usually annoyances left pretty quick when they figured out he wasn't coming to the door. Persistence usually turned into annoyance. But he could feel this one was different. So he shook his head, ran a hand through his unkempt hair and got up to do just what he was refusing moments ago. He was going to open the door.

Walking to the door, he opened it and called out, "Yes? What is it?"

A young lady was smiling at him from the bottom of the porch steps. She had a pretty head of burnished gold hair that had the shag look, tiny gold hoop earrings, gorgeous cream colored skin, a lovely rounded figure and nice green eyes. The thing that was odd had to be her choice in clothes.

She had on a red t-shirt that had "Hound Dog" printed on it, an orange skirt, and two different tennis shoes of different colors with no socks. She had a pretty smike and she was holding a plate of food to her chest like it was a lifeline. When he'd opened the door, she almost seemed to wag her butt while she was just waiting there. . . He figured that was just his mind messing with him. As he was about to comment on her appearance, she spoke.
"Oh hello Darius! I came to see you as soon as I could. . .I hope I'm not too late?"

Darius blinked and extended a hand. "Not at all. And you are . . .?"

The girl smiled again and dipped her head, but quickly put her hand in his and shook it awkwardly. "I'm Mi-- er, Mina. That's right, Mina. . ."

Darius let go of her hand after a while and smiled himself. "Well, Mina, I'd invite you in, but my house is a real disas--"

"Oh that's fine! I love messes! I like playing in them and all!" Mina was confused. Wasn't Darius like all human males? Why was he taking so long to notice her shape and stuff?

The man nodded and shook his head again. He smiled for the second time in a long time and looked around. " I usually have a dog running around here, but she's been missing...hope you like dogs."

Mina smiled back and scratched behind one ear a little. "I LOVE dogs! I bet she's comin' home soon though. Wouldn't worry."
As she walked in, Darius's only though was, Well, what's one more memory for the books?