Scorpio Love Read online

  Scorpio Love

  By S. TAMANAHA

  Copyright © 2011 S. Tamanaha

  All rights reserved.

  Dedication

  For Johnny

  CHAPTER ONE

  Even as she boarded the plane, Susan questioned the sanity of what she was doing and tried to find some rational explanation for the dreams that had plagued her every night for three months and had finally compelled her to buy a round-trip ticket to Los Angeles. She heard and felt the plane fire up its engines and watched from her window seat as it taxied down the runway of the Honolulu International Airport, picked up speed, and then made its ascent into an almost cloudless sky. The plane flew just off the coastline of Oahu for a while, passing Sand Island, downtown Honolulu, Ala Moana Beach, and then Waikiki. From the air it was startling to see how nearly every square foot of land on this side of the island, from the shoreline to halfway up the mountains, was occupied by high-rise office buildings, condominiums, commercial structures, and homes. But the weather was temperate, the ocean warm and beautiful, and she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Just past Diamond Head, the plane veered slightly and headed out across the open sea. As she stared out of the window at the endless blue of the Pacific Ocean, she thought about the events that had brought her there.

  Her mother had died in July of that year and her passing had forced Susan to remember the death of her father several years earlier. His unexpected passing had thrown her into deep depression. She had lost the only person in the world that she could talk to about things that really mattered to her and her only reason to continue practicing law. So, on her twenty-ninth birthday, she gave her notice to the small law firm where she had been working for five years and began searching for a job that would offer her the opportunity to do work that she would find more fulfilling. She found it in the non-profit world as a director of a program that helped low-income individuals improve their financial status through education.

  Not long after her mother’s death, when her mind was filled with thoughts of her father, she had attended a fundraiser for another non-profit organization. She didn’t particularly enjoy these types of events, but her organization had purchased tickets and she had been asked to attend. As part of the evening’s entertainment, there were table magicians and fortune tellers—some read palms, others used tarot cards, others read auras, and still others used crystal balls and pendulums. She was born under the astrological sign of Scorpio and naturally interested in such things, but she was always wary of those who claimed to have the power so she simply watched while others had their fortunes told.

  As she strolled around the perimeter of the room where vendors were selling a wide variety of items, she came across a table where objects made of crystal and glass were being sold. She had always been attracted to such objects and had been looking for some time for a crystal ball to use as a decorative piece in her home. In the middle of the table, she saw one that appealed to her—a medium sized ball made of clear natural quartz resting on a pewter mount that resembled the talons of a dragon, her astrological sign in the Chinese zodiac. As she stood there admiring the piece, the woman who was selling the items walked up to her.

  “That’s a very nice crystal,” she said. “I have one here, though, that you might like a little better.” She led Susan to the end of the table and pointed out a quartz globe almost the same size as the one that she had been looking at. This one, however, sat mounted on a pewter stand that resembled the claw of a bird. “It’s the claw of an Eagle,” the woman said. “Like you.”

  Susan looked up at her, not understanding. She noticed then that the woman, who appeared to be in her early sixties, had striking dark green eyes that were piercing, yet kind. There was a noticeable peacefulness about her; a calmness in the way that she moved and spoke.

  “You are a Scorpio, are you not?” the woman asked.

  Susan frowned slightly. “How did you know?”

  She smiled. “I can always spot a true Scorpio. Did you know that the other sign of a Scorpio is the Eagle?”

  “I’ve read that somewhere,” Susan said. “I’m not sure what it means.”

  “Scorpios who are Eagles can soar to great heights and accomplish things that others would consider miracles by sheer will power. They have within themselves the power to manifest their dreams as long as they truly believe. Dreams play a very important role in the life of an Eagle.”

  “And you think that I’m an Eagle?” Susan asked.

  “I know so,” the woman replied. “And one with an old soul.”

  Susan smiled slightly. She wanted to think of herself as an Eagle but wasn’t sure if that description applied to her. “How much for the crystal and the stand?” she asked.

  The woman lifted the piece from the table and turned it over. “The sticker says a hundred and fifty dollars but, of course, five percent of that price goes to the charity hosting this event.”

  It was more than Susan had intended to spend, but she decided to buy it. “All right, since it’s for a good cause. Do you have a box for it?”

  “Certainly.” The woman wrapped the piece carefully and put it into a box then gave Susan change for the hundred and sixty dollars that she had turned over.

  “Do you have a store where you sell more of these things?” Susan asked.

  The woman handed her a card. “It’s really my friend’s store. I’m just helping him out this evening.”

  “Well, thank you. I might stop by to look at what he has.”

  “Thank you,” the woman replied. “And remember, trust in your dreams.”

  Susan took the crystal globe and Eagle’s claw mount home and placed them on the table beside her bed. Not long afterwards, the dreams began.

  In her first dream, she knew, more than saw, that someone was pointing a gun at another person and that the gun had fired and seriously hurt the victim. It was as though she was looking through a heavy veil that only allowed her to see shadowy figures and prevented her from seeing any details of her surroundings. A strange dream, yes, but easy to dismiss.

  However, the dream kept recurring and each time that it did, the details become a little clearer. Eventually, she saw cameras and lights and people moving about in what appeared to be a huge warehouse or hangar. She realized then that the incident was taking place in a sound stage and that what she was witnessing was a scene that was being filmed. Several nights later, she was able to see the actors in the scene—just vague figures at first. One actor was seated in a chair and being held at gunpoint by another actor who was standing over him. The actor holding the gun fired and the other actor fell violently off the chair. Someone screamed. As the dreams continued, she realized that the gun that was fired should have been empty. A terrible mistake had been made and the actor seated in the chair had been fatally wounded. Each night, the dream returned and revealed additional details to her. She saw people setting up the scene, adjusting the lighting, fixing the boom microphone, and positioning the cameras. She saw the face of the actor who fired the fatal shot and saw him just prior to the scene being handed a gun. And then she saw him—the actor who had been shot.

  At first she saw him only from a distance, walking around the set and getting ready for the scene. He appeared tall and well built. Then, as the dreams became clearer, her vantage point shifted. She was closer to him now, but she always seemed to be behind him, never able to see his face. Night after night, she failed in her attempts to identify this man. She grew frustrated. Turn around, damn it, she thought to herself in her dream as she watched him with his back to her speaking to one of the crew members. He turned then, as though he had heard someone call his name, and she was looking at the face of a man who was the epitome of handsome. He had dark blonde hair and chiseled features, a
strong jawline, and a tall straight nose. But it was when she looked into his eyes—eyes the color of the sea—that something happened. Something stirred inside of her. She didn’t understand it. If she had to put a word to that feeling it would be…“recognition”. She felt as though she knew him even though she didn’t recognize his face. Was he even real? Did he exist? She had never seen him in the movies or on television. Then again, she seldom went to the movies or watched television.

  She stopped at a supermarket on her way home from a meeting the following day and began looking at magazines. If the man in her dreams was real, his picture and, more importantly, his name would probably be in one of those magazines. She didn’t have to search for very long. There, on the cover of the latest US Weekly magazine, was the man that she had seen in her dreams, his deep blue eyes staring right at her. He did exist. His name was John Alexander Hellstrom and he was Hollywood’s latest sensation.

  According to the rather brief article in the magazine, he was a fairly new arrival in Hollywood. After securing a minor role in a daytime soap opera and guest starring on a few television series, he had been selected to play the male lead in a made-for-television romance movie that she had never seen. The movie, which had apparently provided him with numerous opportunities to display his perfect physique, had catapulted him to fame and earned him the designation of hottest Hollywood hunk.

  Currently, he was starring in his own television series in which his character was a wealthy playboy who was actually an American covert operative for a special government agency. The series was apparently very popular and it was easy for her to see why. The main character seemed to be a combination of James Bond and Bruce Wayne—Batman’s alter ego—and was being portrayed by an actor who looked better than both of those fictional heroes. The playboy aspect of the character also provided the producers with the opportunity to offer weekly doses of drop dead gorgeous women for the men in the audience. A handsome male star, beautiful women, action, and intrigue—how could the series not be a commercial success? She concluded that the set for that series must be the place that she was seeing in her head.

  A few other magazines contained photos of him but not much more than the standard bio information which failed to provide her with the kind of information that she was looking for. She did, however, discover something interesting. He was also a Scorpio, a few years younger than she was. She wondered whether he, too, was an Eagle.

  She discovered that his series was still airing weekly on the Fox network and decided to watch it one evening. The first time that she heard him speak, a shiver ran through her. His voice was deep and rich, the kind of voice that she had always been attracted to. She loved listening to his voice, but she didn’t particularly enjoy watching him act. She preferred watching him in her dreams when he wasn’t in front of the cameras.

  The dreams continued to reveal more and more details to her but nothing about how to locate this man or when the incident was supposed to occur. And each time that she saw his face and looked into his eyes, she felt that same stirring inside of her, that feeling of recognition. The feeling grew more intense with each dream until she knew, without a doubt, that she and this man were connected somehow. Looking into his eyes and watching him move around the set, she sensed so much about him—about the kind of man that he really was. He might be Hollywood’s newest sensation, but she sensed a kind of loneliness in him, as though he didn’t quite belong in that environment. He interacted with those around him, talking and smiling, but she saw him a few times when he was alone and she knew that the persona that he displayed while he was on the set and in front of the cameras did not reflect his true self. She felt as if she knew his soul—as though she had known him before, and loved him before, in another lifetime. As she continued watching him in her dreams, she realized that her soul still loved his.

  In this lifetime, though, he was a Hollywood star, the dream man of hordes of women, and she ... well, as far as she was concerned, he could never be attracted to her. It was highly unlikely that they were meant to be together in this lifetime but, for some reason, she had been given this glimpse into his life in order to save him.

  One night, as she dreamed, she saw a crew member holding up a device that marked the segment of the film before they started taping. On it was the date: October 24. It was her birthday and it was only three weeks away. However, there was nothing on the device that indicated the time of the incident and there didn’t seem to be any clocks on the walls or anywhere else. She looked around for someone who might be wearing a wristwatch that she could get a glimpse of. Several people wore watches but they were moving around the set. The only time that the crew members stood still was when the filming of the scene began and they weren’t still for very long since the accident occurred just shortly after they began to film. After several attempts, she was able to make out the time on a crew member’s wristwatch just before the fatal scene took place—6:17.

  But was it morning or evening? She could only see the inside of the sound stage so there was no way of telling what time of day it was. She surveyed the crew members. Most of them were not particularly neatly dressed or well groomed so it was difficult to tell whether they had just gotten up or were at the end of a long day. Then she saw him sitting off to the side and waiting to film the scene. She moved closer to him in her dream, studying his body language, and then she looked into his eyes. She could feel his weariness and his impatience and she knew—it was evening.

  Now she knew the date and time of the incident but she still had no idea how she was going to get into that sound stage and close enough to him to warn him of the danger. Every scenario that she could think of just made her appear to be an obsessed fan. She saw the copy of the US Weekly magazine that she had bought lying on her bedside table and a plan came to mind. She made a phone call to a friend and asked for a big favor.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Susan’s flight landed at the Los Angeles International Airport at 4:20 p.m. on October 24, nearly a half hour later than originally scheduled. She had brought only a small carry-on bag with her so she was able to exit the terminal quickly and get a taxi almost immediately. In her purse was the letter from her friend that identified her as a freelance journalist working on an article for the Honolulu Warrior magazine—her ticket onto the studio lot. Traffic was heavy, something that she hadn’t anticipated. By the time that the taxi delivered her to the front gate of Fox Studios, it was nearly 5:00 p.m.

  She was scheduled to meet with an administrative assistant at the executive offices at 5:00 p.m. The assistant, she had been told, would process her paperwork, provide her with a pass, and arrange for her to be taken to the sound stage where John Hellstrom was filming his series. Once there, she would be allowed to interview him between “takes”. The assistant was nearly thirty minutes late for the appointment and then encountered problems finding Susan’s press pass. Susan forced herself to appear calm, but she was becoming anxious as the minutes ticked away. Finally, the pass was found and the assistant contacted someone else to take Susan to the sound stage. By the time her escort delivered her to her destination, it was already 6:12 p.m. She barely made it into the sound stage before the doors were closed.

  The stage was much larger, with more equipment and crew members moving about, than she had seen in her dreams. She had planned to warn John Hellstrom about the mix-up in the prop guns during an “interview” session. However, after showing a woman holding a clipboard her pass and paperwork, she was told that they were about to start filming again and that she would have to speak to Mr. Hellstrom during the next break. She was permitted to watch the filming as long as she was quiet and didn’t interfere with any of the workers. She made her way towards the area where the scene would be filmed, walking quickly yet trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. If her dreams were real, she knew that the scene they were about to film would be the scene that had been relentlessly haunting her. She heard someone calling for quiet. Her heart was racing as she
picked up her pace. She heard someone else giving orders to the actors. He called for action just as she reached a place where she could see what was happening. It was as though she was walking through another one of her dreams. Everything was exactly as she had seen it. John Hellstrom was seated on a chair and the other actor was saying his lines. Then he pointed the gun that he was carrying at John Hellstrom’s head.

  This can’t be happening, she thought. All those months, all those dreams, only to be too late? She dropped her purse and her bag and bolted onto the set.

  “No!” she shouted, pushing away the actor’s arm just as he pulled the trigger. The gun went off, firing a blank into the floor.

  “What the hell just happened?” a voice boomed from behind the lights. “Who the hell is that?”

  John Hellstrom was on his feet, obviously confused. She looked up at him. “It would have killed you,” she said. “Fired that close, it would have killed you.”

  Someone grabbed her and began pulling her backwards.

  “Get your hands off of her!” he said angrily. “Cut the damn lights and somebody tell me what the hell is going on? That gun was supposed to be empty.”

  “Where’s the prop manager?” someone else shouted. “I want to know who’s responsible!”

  People were scurrying around, talking excitedly, some of them shouting. She stopped listening. They had temporarily forgotten about her and she retrieved her purse and bag from the floor and quickly made her way through the chaos. She was feeling sick and she had to get out.

  She made it out of the sound stage and began walking. She was disoriented and wasn’t sure whether she was walking in the direction of the main gate but she continued on, trying to get as far away from the sound stage as possible. She breathed deeply to try to calm herself, but she couldn’t stop the tears that welled up in her eyes and blurred her vision. She had nearly been too late.