Chapter 8

Dark. Everything was dark.

That was an understatement—it wasn't just the absence of light. There was something else. Something that made me feel suffocated. The air felt heavy on my skin and the darkness felt like it seeped into my pores. Blink after blink, everything remained dark. There was no haze or shadows, just..black.

I had to be awake. My eyes were wide open and I could still feel the cool fabric of my satin camisole against my skin. My bare feet were on what felt like cold marble and a strand of hair grazed my cheek. Had I not gone to sleep just like this? Was I sleepwalking?

A chill ran through my body as if in response to something immediately next to me. I hesistated as I walked forward, expecting to stumble or run into a wall. But the marble like floor was smooth at every step, no end in sight.

I paused for a second, trembling and rubbing my arms in an attempt to comfort myself. It was more than just cold; there was a feeling of dread draping over me.

"What kind of dream is this?" my voice came out hoarse, and I had to swallow hard before trying to speak again. "Hello?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to force myself to wake up. I pinched my arm and bit my tongue. Nothing worked. My body wouldn't respond. I could almost feel as if there was a thin veil between here and the waking world I knew I belonged in.

I had remembered something I read once, in a book about lucid dreaming. There was this moment before dreams were created, a stage of nothingness. A void.

—click—

The sound of a door closing in the distance startled me. The sound echoed loudly to where I was standing, making me spin around towards the source of it. There was a sliver of light in the distance, but it didn't comfort me at all. I walked towards it, my feet mainly moving on their own. The closer I got, the more the light grew, and with it, an unnatural fear in my body. The need to run coursed through me, but I was now at the cracked door.

Then I heard it, a dark and almost inhuman voice.

"Come in."

I felt compelled to obey the dark voice that crept behind the door, so I pushed it open slowly and kept my eyes down.

The room was dark and cold with faint sconces lining the velvety walls. As I walked across the gold-speckled black marble flooring, I caught my reflection in a mirror to my left. It was me, but the reflection almost felt out of sync with my body movements.

Closer." The voice was louder now, commanding my attention.

Afraid, I kept my eyes glued to the floor, the cold air clinging to my skin. I knew the voice was coming from in front of me, but I could feel a presence behind me as well. As I continued walking, a figure was becoming visible in the dimly lit room. I could see only his legs and the black throne like chair behind him. When I tried to lift my gaze though, my body froze with fear.

"Look at me."

It was a whisper that came from his lips and it was enough to force me to lift my gaze, though I soon regretted it.

In front of me, there was a tall man with shoulder-length jet black hair, dressed in an all black suit. There was an eerie aura to him. When I met his eyes, I froze. His bright, icy blue eyes were glaring down at me, and in that moment, I knew I had to run. There was a jolt of electricity coursing through my limbs, begging me to move, to turn around and get to that door.

But my body remained still.

"What? Is there something you wish to say?" This man asked, his bright blue eyes looking at me with contempt.

I shook my head and kept quiet.

"I promised you that you would get to meet her. Here she is again. What do you think?" His gaze was now directed behind me.

A dark and older-sounding voice replied, "It all depends."

again? I've been here before?

Pieces of my previous nightmare came to mind, running through a dark hallway, running into a vase, cutting my wrist and the overall feeling of fear was hard to forget. But I couldn't remember this man's face or voice. Was this really a dream?

It was instant. Goosebumps trailed down my neck and back, my body frozen and afraid.

"This has to be a dream..." I whispered to myself, my body trembling and my eyes squeezed shut.

"A dream, you say?" A pair of lips was at my ear, the voice was low and hardly audible.

I couldn't understand, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that this was nothing more than a semi-lucid dream that had gone horribly wrong. I tried to hold my breath in an attempt to trick my body into waking up, a technique that used breathing irregularities to wake your body out of sleep paralysis, but not even a technique I was so used to worked. So, being the person I was, I tried something different.

"Yes—" my voice escaped in a squeak, "why are you in my dream?"

"My dear, open your eyes."

I slowly opened my eyes to see the same pair of bright blue eyes before me, glaring me down. I could feel hatred from his stare. I could almost taste it. He looked at me with such contempt and somehow managed to smile before saying anything else.

"This is no dream." The voice from behind me chimed in again, whispered on the tip of my ear. His hands followed his voice, threatening me, wrapping over my waist and the other cupping the front of my neck and chin. Fear ripped through me, I could do nothing. I was frozen still, and the man in front of me showed no hint at wanting to save me. His disgusting smirk was the only thing he showed.

"I wonder what you taste like." His hand tightened around my waist, pulling me close against his body. Though I couldn't see him, feeling the curve and indents of his chest and groin area, were enough to snap me out of whatever hypnosis I was under and start to struggle. I wiggled and shook in a vain attempt to break free from his hold.

"Keep moving like that and I'll do more than just taste you.."

I froze. "Please—don't."

"Stay still." His voice was closer now, whispering against the skin on my neck and traveling towards my shoulder. Meanwhile, those bright blue eyes glared at me with disgust, holding my gaze and making it impossible to look away. I could feel lips slowly brush against the skin of my neck. From there they traveled back to my shoulder and slowly brought themselves in an area between both. I felt his tongue trace back and forth as if searching for something with urgency. He suddenly forced my head to the side with the hand that he kept under my chin.

"Please—" my voice was barely a whisper when I felt his teeth rest on the surface of my skin.

Searing pain. I could feel my body give way beneath the bright blue stare. It felt as if my flesh had been torn apart at the very seam of my shoulder. I could feel his lips over my skin—his bite, deep and painful. As if that wasn't enough, he dug deeper the longer he held me pressed against him. There was no escape, there was only the feeling of fire coursing through me before my body began to give further, unable to stand on its own. Though he made sure to sustain my weight, I wished for nothing more than to just be dropped and left for dead.

The man that drank me in seemed strong in stature, despite the fact that I couldn't see him. The hard contours of his body against my back, he seemed to be pure muscle. There was no way of escaping him, let alone escaping the man before me.

"No you don't," blue eyes tilted my chin up, "you aren't allowed to die princess, not yet."

I watched his eyes close as he bit into his wrist, a trail of bright red liquid had started. Before I could even blink, he pushed his wrist against my lips and forced the liquid into my mouth. There was no struggle I could give besides pressing my lips tightly together.

"Drink," he ordered.