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I turned, but there was no one there. Rubbing the back of my neck, I breathed a sigh of relief. I shivered, just slightly, but then the sounds faded away. For the rest of our lunch, the sounds and visions let me be and as time went on, Donna began to grow more comfortable. By the end of the meal, she was her old sarcastic self, rather than protective momma bear she had been with me for days.
“Listen, I gotta go run some errands and get some homework done before class tomorrow. I’ve got an exam I need to study for, but fuck, Kass, you call me if anything weird happens. Swear on the soul of your future firstborn child,” she demanded.
“Scout’s honor,” I replied with a grin. That seemed to pacify her. Finished with our food, we paid and then headed out of the diner and once we were outside, she insisted on giving me a tight hug. Eventually, we went our separate ways. I went back to my apartment and holed myself up my bedroom. I watched Netflix from my computer and turned the sound up in case Nicole was home, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t at that point. I hoped she’d gone to stay the night with her man. It would be better for me that way.
When I was alone, everything seemed to get worse. The episodes came more frequently then, and they began to escalate in intensity. Like Markos was gaining more power with each passing hour.
He would appear all around me. Sometimes I would be naked and sometimes he’d tear the clothes from my body. I’d hear screaming and then I’d hear moaning. I wasn’t sure if it was myself or someone else.
I was only vaguely aware of the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon. For periods of time, I would have stunning clarity. I could watch an entire episode of Supernatural and my sense of sight and my hearing would remain normal.
But then, it would all go haywire.
Eventually I fell asleep and, in the morning, the blaring sound of my alarm woke me from my heavy slumber. I hadn’t dreamed at all. It had been so peaceful. I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to the serenity of it all.
It was Monday though. I had to return to work.
I blearily pushed myself out of bed. Like a robot, I brushed my teeth and got dressed, slowly piecing myself together into normalcy. I made coffee and was relieved to see that Nicole wasn’t there. She’d been absent for much of the weekend, freeing me from her constant judgmental glances and bitchy negative comments.
Yawning, I drank my cup and blinked my sleepiness away. For a while, all was silent, but eventually, the screams and moans returned once more.
There was no explanation for where the sounds were coming from, except for the dark recesses of my mind. What the fuck was happening to me?
I ignored them for a time and gathered my things, continuing on my usual commute to work. The subway swayed back and forth, and I could have sworn that I saw Markos in the crowd. His dark eyes always found mine, promising both sweet seduction and unfathomable pain. But then he’d disappear, and I was left lonely, bereft, and always searching for him.
The subway pulled up to my stop. I stood and exited through the doors, walking up onto the streets and down the block to my office building. Like a robot, I walked inside and took the elevator up alone. The doors opened, and I entered into the main hub, surrounded by cubicles and people rushing this way and that.
That’s when everything began to fall apart.
The images before my eyes began to waver. The world grew dark, as if a fog had fallen suddenly over the Earth and everything around me grew misty and out of focus. Fires burned around us, and I realized that they were torches, hooked along a row of pillars.
For a moment, they looked like glittering stars.
The haze drifted away, and I realized I was in a large hall, like an ancient tomb or temple devoted to the gods of old. Turning my head, I saw that I wasn’t alone, that Markos was by my side. I was kneeling next to him and I looked down at myself. Completely naked, fresh blood dripping down my breast, I scrambled trying to figure out where I was injured. It didn’t take long for me to come to the conclusion that I wasn’t hurt. It was someone else’s blood. Had I killed someone? Had he?
I breathed in nervously, drawing my bottom lip inward so that my upper teeth scraped against it. I cried out at a sudden pain and drew my hand up to my mouth.
My teeth were too sharp. I’d cut my own lip with them.
“Clumsy, warrior,” Markos purred, and my body roared with arousal.
Where the hell was I? What was this?
“Look at them all,” he said softly, and I did. I looked out into the hall and it was full to bursting with naked women and men. They mulled around, as if they didn’t know what to do and Markos scoffed beside me.
“Kneel!”
Every single person in the temple fell to their knees.
“Look at them all. Humans were meant to submit to us. They crave subjugation. They once demanded freedom, but don’t you think it’s better this way, Kassandra? Because of you, they have a new kind of liberty. Now they serve the two of us,” he continued, and I looked on in horror.
Markos pointed to a petite blonde woman in front of him and crooked his finger. She came to him without a single complaint. He petted her cheek gently and she cooed at his attentions. Gripping her upper arm, he pulled her to him and she laid her head on his shoulder, exposing her neck to him. Like she was asking for it.
The vein throbbed in her throat and I could smell her. The iron in her blood called to me, as though it was a delectable piece of dark chocolate that begged for me to take a bite. I salivated at the scent and I began to have trouble quieting myself.
With horror, I watched as Markos leaned forward, baring his teeth as he met my gaze. He wasn’t just a criminal, he was true evil.
He was a vampire. He was a devil and his evil ran deeper than I could have ever known.
