Jude Stephens Read Online Free

came over and began licking my face and
eventually I calmed down. I felt exhausted and welcomed the warm
softness against me as Bullet lay down beside me once again.
Without even realizing it, I drifted off to sleep.
    I was dreaming. I knew this was a dream, yet the
word vision kept popping into my head. I was walking along a rocky
beach. I saw a path that led into a grove of trees. Unconsciously I
moved toward the path. Bullet walked beside me. It was cool beneath
the towering trees and we walked for a little while in comfort.
When we broke free of the trees we were still on the dirt path but
walking through a large meadow with the hot sun beating down on us.
I hoped wherever we were going wasn’t too far. The path took us up
a slight incline and when we reached the top, I stopped to stare in
wonderment at what lay before us. It was a village of sorts. I
suddenly felt as if I’d stepped back in time a hundred years or so.
It appeared to be a replica of a Native American village.
    Not the kind with teepees, but with several
longhouses. Enchanted by the scene before me, I stepped up my pace
to hurry for a closer look. As I got closer to the outskirts of the
village, I slowed down to smile at a young boy who was playing with
a ball in a net attached to a long stick. He stopped, looked at me
and Bullet with shock, and ran off toward the village. I looked
down at Bullet and said, “Look what you did. You scared that poor
boy. Maybe you should stay here. A huge wolf is not conveying a
picture of friendliness I suppose.”
    Bullet cocked his head to the side as if he was
amused with me and continued to walk beside me. When we reached the
edge of the village I saw people had begun to gather outside their
huts. Some of them were dressed in authentic Native American
clothes of tunics for the women and breechcloths for the men.
Though several wore jeans and work shirts. Even though the people
were strangers to me, I felt no fear as I walked forward. It felt
as if I had been here before even though I knew I hadn’t. When I
came abreast of the first group of people, they quickly bowed their
heads. The same thing happened as I walked down the path between
the longhouses.
    When I reached the end of the
path, a group of people parted to reveal an old woman who, though
looking frail stood strait and proud. She wore a tunic of soft
deerskin with beautiful intricate beading around the
bottom.
    Without even realizing why I was doing it, I bowed
my head to her in a show of respect. She stepped forward and took
my hand between her gnarled ones.
    “ Nya:weh segeno, Welcome, Sensay.
You are here in the spirit world and we await you in this world.
Come quickly. You have much to do and learn.” With that she turned
and walked away. As I watched she turned slowly and much to my
astonishment gave me a saucy wink.
    I stood there for a minute not knowing what to do.
Bullet nudged me with his wet nose and got me moving. I turned to
walk back down the road and found myself up against a hard male
body. Strong arms wrapped around me so I wouldn’t loose my balance.
I looked up and found myself looking into a pair of hard black
eyes. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. There was no
smile on the man’s handsome face. He had short black hair and a
days worth of dark stubble along his jaw.
    His denim work shirt was open, and I couldn’t stop
myself from staring at his smooth chest and down lower where he had
the tightest and most defined abs I’d ever seen. I knew
instinctively this man didn’t get those abs from visits to a
gym.
    I could picture him with his shirt off on a hot
summer day, chopping wood, sweaty and breathing hard.
    I heard the man give a mocking little chuckle and
realized that he was aware of my imaginings.
    All he said was, “You better toughen up little
Sensay. Stop letting the fucking vampires make you cry.”
    I pulled out of his arms and quickly walked back the
way I had come. The man may be hot but he was also rude