The Beauty Faded

"The devil was beautiful... but soon, his beauty faded, until all he had left was chaos."

Beneath the cloak was a hidden man with glowing sepia orbs which constricted abnormally under the street lamp.

Her beating heart seemed to pound in her ears, making her deaf to any surrounding noise. Due to her absent response, the man continued with a hair-raising softness in his tone.

"But the law of this world is meaningless when even man can become God. And you, Mei, are God's exception..."

When Mei rouse from sleep, clutching at her thumping chest, her eyes gradually frost over with the prolonged silence.

Today marks the two year period since the day she was drugged and abducted.

Turning to the side, she met a familiar wall which blocked any view of the outside world. Her hair moved with her faint actions and furled gently down the side of the bed.

She lowered her gaze.

There was no window, nor any curtains or photos, just an empty wall flanked with peeling paint. At this point, she couldn't even discern whether it was night or day - time was now a blended concept.

The darkness of the room almost swallowed her whole, yet the dimly lit corridor from outside revealed the barred door in the corner which could thwart any attempt at escape.

Whenever she tried to look out via the gaps of the bars, each time it would prove to be futile as all she could see was a world etched in charcoal.

At times, it rang with the sobs and aggravated shouts of others who were just like her; trapped.

But it's been months since she last heard a single noise...

Mei closed her eyes and the beauty of them were momentarily covered by the shield of her fluttering lashes.

The suffering, the loneliness, the look of building insanity to leave vanished under those heartbreakingly closed eyes.

Silently, the pearl-shaped tears began to roll tenderly down her cheeks.

Her sobs were stifled at first, like the pain was enough to be locked down, but as her lips trembled and her tiny form shook with emotion, she couldn't possibly find a point to stop.

Then, like a pin drop there was a stir in the quiet.

Suddenly, the sound of screams which came like punctuation drove her to an end. She blinked the remnants of tears away from her watery, bloodshot eyes and instinctively pulled herself up with a blurred look armed toward the slamming door of the once lone corner as a dark imperious figure slipped like smoke into her cell.

Time slowly passed, the figure of a domineering being hidden in the shadows of the shade.

She was stunned speechless and involuntarily clutched the thin layer of sheets against her thrumming chest.

The figure moved toward her, slow, with an elegant lilt to his steps.

Mei was high on vertigo, and she didn't care for the smoke filling her lungs, or the petrified screams in the halls - it all paled drastically in comparison to her wish to survive.

Had she received a thousand years worth of luck? Just when she thought all hope was lost, was there finally a possibility for her to be saved?

"Please..." She croaked. Her vocal chords dry. "Please...please save me!"

She felt him take her hands, pulling her into his arms like a delicate figurine. A cry immediately sprung from her lips, but a pair of charming golden eyes held hers so intensely that the cry died almost the same instant it came.

A dangerous curiosity filled the air with a sickly sweet scent.

Her captor grinned down at her with a Cheshire cat smile that devoured all in its path. That same sickly sweet scent reached her. It was a dizzying experience, slowing her senses and making her eyes flutter like a butterfly in escape. Feeling weak, she froze in her captor's arms like an obedient little doll.

The devil's cruel intention was already a success.

"You're not the least bit cautious of who I am?" The man's voice gradually blew into her ear which came out low, almost too low to decipher. She paused, then shook her head tentatively.

"I - I..." She trailed, her voice laced with wonder before her brows came together in concentration. "W-Who are you?"

Below the dark hood of the man was a surreptitious smirk that tugged hatefully at his lips.

"Me? That should be the least of your concerns..."

The darkness clung to his fractured skin, his breath flush against her own. His pupils dilated, the swirling warmth in his eyes replaced with the glow of crushed crimson roses. She swallowed, dread seeping into her heart as his elegant lips pulled back to reveal a row of sharp canines painfully crack in his mouth.

A gasp escaped her lips, legs quivering so violently she would have fell if not for the tight hold the man had on her shoulders.

"After all," He snarled in her ear, his head lowering to scrape her frail neck with a pair of dangerously sharp fangs. "I'm just a lowly slave."

She didn't know of the horror show that was happening both in and outside of this hell house.

She didn't know that when she lost consciousness, the man's face broke into a demonic grin.

She didn't know...that outside of her prison, the world began its slow demise.