A loud banging noise and cursing from across the street diverted my attention. I noticed a moving van with several hefty guys carrying furniture into an apartment building. A short, chubby man dropped a chair, and the taller one swore at him. The mildest word in his vocabulary was “you fucking baboon.” The shorter man wasn’t shy at all; his choice of words wasn’t much better. He hurled angry words back that ranged from “moron” to “psycho slave driver.” A third man joined in, shouting words I wasn’t familiar with, and I decided I was better off not knowing. They sounded as if they were going to kill each other within seconds, although their body language suggested they were just blowing off steam.

“Looks like you have a new neighbor.” I turned to Carl, who stepped out to snap up the next painting from the van.

“Oh… yeah, someone is moving here from the City,” he responded. He turned and rushed back inside, clutching his prize close. I looked again, and suddenly my heart took a hard flip in my chest as a striking, handsome man appeared at the front door.

He was simply stunning, the most beautiful man I had ever seen. Tall, yet, as I estimated, was an inch or so shy of six feet. The sight of his chiseled features and perfect body awakened some sleeping butterflies in my stomach. He walked, or rather glided, down the steps, his entire body moved in perfect harmony. The faded jeans and a tee-shirt he wore highlighted his well-developed, yet not too muscular body. His dark reddish hair fell in smooth waves down to his angular chin and onto his neck. One stray piece of hair tickled his forehead; absentmindedly, he flipped it away with his index finger. The sun caressed his light, copper-honey skin. I couldn’t possibly look away. He was a Hun; I felt it.

I became a little light-headed as I stared at the stranger. He stared back, parting his perfect lips as if he wanted to say something. I felt as if a powerful magnet were pulling me toward him, and I nearly gave in to this magical force. I began to turn and started walking toward him in a trance-like state. He seemed to be under the same spell-like influence and took a small step toward me. Then he stopped, and  I did as well, but it took great effort to do so. What’s happening to you? Are you crazy? I knew that if he had asked, I would have followed him anywhere. I was confused and mesmerized, not able to drag my eyes away. He turned away, pretending to bend down to pick up a dropped chair. Then he straightened up in slow motion and without even touching the chair, glanced at me again. Our eyes interlocked for a long moment, and then his face lit up with a bright smile. I smiled back and, at that moment, nothing else mattered. The whole world disappeared, as if a tunnel connected us to each other.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I shuddered. I looked at Bela, and then shook his hand off my shoulder, annoyed. I turned toward the other side of the street to see the stranger still watching me, but his smile was gone.

“Your jaw just hit the sidewalk.” I heard Bela cackle, as he spotted the reason I stopped dead in my tracks. “He’s not so bad, but I’m definitely prettier,” he declared, looking across the street. He rotated his hips and flipped his hair in a fashion that would label him as a feminine gay man. He must have sensed it was not the time for stupid jokes, and stopped the imitation. Seizing my waist, he planted a deep and long kiss on my lips. “You’re mine. He can’t have you.” He smiled mischievously as I squirmed out of his embrace. However, I didn’t miss the serious flash of his eyes, which lasted only for a fraction of a second, as if he meant it and was trying to hide his true feelings.

“This is so not happening. You jerk!” I smacked his face away, not taking my eyes off the runway model across the street. He looked at us for a long second and turned away. A look of sadness played on his perfect face. “What did you do that for? He liked me. He liked looking at me; I know it. Now he thinks we belong together, and I lost even the remotest chance that he…” I ranted, choking up, hitting Bela’s shoulder. At that moment, I truly hated him.

“What? Ouch.” He probably sensed that I was furious at him. His expression turned apologetic.

“Happy, much?” I fumed following him.

“I’m not sorry,” he exclaimed still retreating. “Pretty-boy there would just break your heart. I know his type.” He grew serious.

“And just what do you mean by ‘his type’?” I snapped.

“Handsome—I’ll give him that, yet self-absorbed and cold as ice,” he said.

“You don’t know that. I don’t think so. He seems so… Is he really?” I tried to defend my attractive man, although I had my doubts. I looked across the street; he had disappeared through the front door. It’s probably too good to be true.

It is well known that falling in love can cause lovers� worlds to grind to a halt. However, in the case of Ilona, falling in love while coming to terms with a new life-changing ability to re-arrange the human body provides more than a challenge.

Ilona has been in love with her unsuspecting best friend, when a dashing stranger explodes into her life. The sudden magnetic feeling frightens her. Will he break her heart, or will he bring true happiness? A sinister dark man appears, Ilona connects his presence with the series of mysterious deaths around her. She is an emergency room doctor, born into an ancient tribe which still exists hidden amongst us with its fiercely enforced rules. She doesn’t know much about her heritage besides legends and rituals that she continues out of respect for her parents. She begins to remember the forgotten instructions concealed as rhymes her mother was teaching her since she was a small child and discovers that she can rearrange the human body to its healthy state. This ability is exciting as well as frightening. She is conflicted between having confidence in her intelligence and inherited abilities while having no confidence as a woman. Her insecurity created barriers which keep others out, and I also keep her caged in. She has been evacuated from her easy and steady life, and is forced to face the unknown.