Raindrops pitter-pattered against the forest leaves as forty-one-year-old English woman Aurora Anderson sat at a cafe near it in the countryside of Moscow, Russia. She took a sip of her Americano coffee looking out the window. She found the sound of the rain beating against the glass of the window soothing and relaxing.
The door of the cafe chimed as it opened and in walked a man of early forties with a dark beard and dark hair.
Aurora looked up when she sensed she was being watched and caught sight of the man and her heart began to flutter against her chest. She thought he was handsome. She looked away quickly as she suddenly had sexual images of kissing and making love to him.
"Hello," a deep soothing male voice said, grabbing her attention. It was him with his coffee in hand.
Her heart beat faster against her chest for him as she looked up into his olive green eyes.
"Hi," Aurora said.
"Is this seat free?" he asked, motioning towards the chair beside her.
"Yes."
As the man sat down, the sexual images Aurora had before came again. She took a sip of her coffee.
"I am Nikolai," he introduced himself.
"Aurora," she replied, shaking his hand.
The sexual images came again before her of them making love. Her green eyes met his.
Aurora took her hand away and swigged her coffee back and then stood up to leave. She put her hooded anorak green coat on.
"Leaving so soon?" Nikolai asked with disappointment.
"Sorry, I have an appointment. Nice to meet you." She rushed out of the cafe to the rented car and got in shutting the door, breathing heavily. Aurora pulled down the hood of her jacket and started up the engine. She glanced back at the cafe and saw Nikolai watching her. She drove away. Something about him made her feel uneasy.
That night, Aurora tossed and turned in bed with the bed sheets twisted around her. She let out a moan as she was dreaming.
In the dream, she saw the man from the cafe, Nikolai, by a lake of water in the forest. He was naked before her. She saw herself walking toward him and she too was naked. She dived into the water and then raised her head up, she giggled as he dived in as well and circled her. Their bodies became one as they wrapped their arms around each other and began making love. Each of them moaned pleasurably. Nikolai and Aurora stepped out of the water and she gasped out in sheer terror and horror as his eyes glowed brightly and grew animal fangs. He growled fiercely.
Aurora's eyes burst wide open. What the hell was that? she thought. Just a dream. Just a nightmare.
Aurora went downstairs in her pajamas and turned on the kettle to make coffee. She made herself filter coffee in the cottage she was renting in the Russian countryside for two weeks and sat at the table flicking through a magazine.
The doorbell rang alerting her.
She stood up and walked over to the front door while yawning and opened the door. Her green eyes widened in absolute shock when she saw Nikolai from the cafe and her dream standing before her.
Nikolai smiled at her. There was something different about him. He had shaved his beard leaving him with a stubbly chin, which made him even more irresistible to Aurora.
Her body screamed for him to take her in his arms and make sweet love to her, but her head told her to be sensible.
"Hi," Aurora said with surprise.
"Hi, it's Nikolai from the cafe yesterday," he said.
"Yes, I remember," she replied. She couldn't help smiling.
His eyes and her eyes couldn't shift from each other.
"How did you know I lived here?" Aurora asked curiously.