Chapter 8

Dark. Everything was dark. Though somewhat of an understatement, but the complete absence of light was difficult to describe. I knew my eyes were wide open. I had to be awake. I was still in my silver satin camisole and shorts though barefoot and braless still. Had I not gone to sleep just like this? Was I sleepwalking?

I tried to walk forward, waiting to run into a wall but I never did. The darkness that surrounded me was endless. No matter in which direction I walked, there was nothing.

I tried to close my eyes and pinch myself—even bite my tongue—but nothing could wake me up from such a dream.

"What kind of dream is this?" I whispered, hoping to hear someone reply to me, a figment of my imagination. I had remembered reading books on lucid dreaming and the creation of dreams. There was this moment before they were created in which dreamers recalled being in...nothing. As if a blank black page just waiting for something to happen.

The sound of a door closing startled me. I turned around towards the source of the sound. There was a hint of light in the same direction that caught my attention. I walked towards it, my feet moving mostly on their own. The closer I got, the more the light grew, eventually turning into a slit of light in the darkness. It was a door I heard. That same door was in front of my face, slightly cracked.

"Come in."

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

"Closer." The same voice ordered me. I figured what harm could it do to continue walking? I was simply dreaming.

I kept my eyes glued to the floor and walked forward until I saw a pair of feet in black shoes in front of me. I had to force myself to turn my gaze upward, but I soon regretted it. In front of me, there was a tall man with shoulder-length jet black hair and dressed in all black. When I met his eyes, I froze. Was I really dreaming?

"What is it you're looking at?" this man asked, his bright blue eyes glaring down at me.

I shook my head and kept quiet.

"What do you think?" His gaze was now directed behind me.

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

It was instant, the goosebumps trailing down my neck and back, my body frozen and afraid. I had to keep telling myself everything was a dream.

"It's just a dream..." I whispered over and over again, my body trembling and my eyes squeezed shut.

"A dream you say?" A pair of lips were 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.