14

She could hear the horrific cries, the incredibly uncanny screams coming from the throats of men. They were steadfast, just like the darkness that crept along the edges, smoothing over the grass, encasing the forest in sheer velvety blackness.

Fear prickled uneasily down her spine, forcing her to her knees. She felt them coming, felt it in the tingle that trembled through her body.

Lilith!

The darkness spat an ominous trim frame and in one hand, bared a syringe. She moved to get to her feet.

Lily…

The voice that followed was so unlike the booming baritone of the man barreling toward her. It coaxed and gentled, but when she turned, the vision before her, forced a scream from her throat.

A man, yet not a man, more a beast, with eyes trimmed in red and a mouth that bared a full-set of glistening white fangs, extended an arm toward her.

She peered at the man who held the syringe, moving toward her, yet somehow, time kept him at bay. She knew him, a part of her wanted to go to him and she would have, but it was the beast that rushed at her and swept her fleetingly into its arms, sinking its fangs deep into her throat.

Lily woke to her own curdling scream and clamped tightly on the rising rush of panic that erupted.

She pressed her body firm against the headboard and did a quick once-over of her apartment, listening, her ears straining; sounds of the night permeating through her feeble apartment walls.

It had been a week since she returned from Romania; one long spineless week. Every night, a repeat of syringes and fangs, and always ending in her death.

Fear curled itself around her spine and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake it.

Jackson and Ruby had called countless times, filling her answering machine to the brim, but she hadn’t returned their calls. She had no logical explanation for them. What could she possibly say that wouldn’t make her sound cynically insane? She awoke in her hotel room with one badass headache and sore arm, dressed from head to toe in mud-caked clothes with no recollection of how she got there and oh by the way, my father drugged me?

She hadn’t felt anything, just a numbing sensation as she moved about the room, collecting and gathering her things. It wasn’t until she entered the hall that she felt a sudden panic, an immediate urge to get the hell out of dodge.

Every imaginable emotion had passed through her body, emotions, such as abandonment and betrayal, even irrationally insane repeatedly traveled her thoughts.

She hadn’t cried until she was safely within her apartment, far from analytical stares. She had cried until her eyes were swollen and aching.

She felt strangely numb on the inside, her mind in disbelief as to what truly had occurred. She could still vaguely see him. It just wasn’t possible; she tried telling herself continuously, eyes that burned precariously red and razor-tipped fangs were only something forged of Bram Stoker.

Had she imagined it? Had the drug somehow enhanced her conjured phantom?

She couldn’t make sense of it, didn’t dare. She had yet to truly feel what all had occurred. The shock of it, the reasons, was beyond her knowing, beyond the emotional pain.

She felt a sudden rush of tears and became angry. She wasn’t this person, this pathetic, sniveling woman cowering in the shadows of her apartment.

Inhaling a deep breath, she pushed herself out of bed and hurried to shower. She needed to get out of her apartment and throw herself back into a sense of normalcy.

“What’ll you have?” Lily pasted a smile on her face as she gripped her notepad and peered questionably at the middle-aged couple sitting in her booth.

The woman, with her fashionably crisis 80’s due and cheap lipstick that ran somewhat wayward of her mouth, snapped and popped the gum she favored while her date, whose white tee stretched severely over his protruding belly, took his leisure time observing the menu.

She inhaled a deep breath through her nose; so much for a sense of normalcy.

“I’ll have the t-bone steak-“ he paused and glanced up at her over the edge of the menu, “-make that rare.”

Her stomach churned.

“I’ll have the garden salad.” The woman intervened, snapping her gum.

Resisting a cringe that nearly broke surface, she gave a curt nod and stalked from the table.

She flattened her hands on the surface of the bar and breathed deeply through her nose, all of a sudden feeling a body come up beside her. “We need to talk.”

She turned to face Ruby. “Table five ordered a t-bone rare and a garden salad, can you place the order?”

Ruby’s green eyes surveyed her suddenly grim and pale face. “Are you alright?”

Lily hurried to the bathroom before she would unfold; knowing Ruby would follow once able.

“What’s going on with you?” Ruby demanded when she entered the women’s bathroom.

“What do you mean?”

Ruby’s ivory face flushed an angry red. “Lily McDermott, I’ve been your sidekick for a nigh five years, don’t you dare play ignorance with me.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Did her voice sound as pathetic as she felt?

“Try me.”

Lily shook her head, “I can’t.”

“Let me get this straight, you return from Romania without word, don’t return any of my phone calls, you look like you’re about ready to crumble into a pale mess of pieces and you can’t tell me why? You can see why I have a problem with this?”

Lily held up a hand and was startled to see it trembling and quickly dropped her arm. “I just need some time.”

Ruby moved toward her and gently gripped her shoulders, all the concern in the world etched onto her face. “Whatever it is, you can tell me, Lil.”

She nodded, “I know, I just can’t right now. I have to make sense of it myself.”

Ruby sighed and dropped her arms. “Okay.” And than she asked, “Do you want to stay at my place?”

She shook her head, “No, I need to be alone, just to clear my head.”

“Understandable, but you know what I think?”

“What?” she asked.

“I think you should get a cat.”

Lily cracked a smile, “Maybe.”

“Ladies!” a loud thumping on the swinging door jolted them both and Ruby rolled her eyes skyward at Jackson’s muffled voice coming from the other side. “We have customers!”

“Alright!” Ruby shouted and than, in a hushed, angry huff, “-you overbearing jackass.”

“Ruby!” Lily hissed warningly.

“There’s my Lil.” Ruby winked, tugging lightly on Lily’s arm.

“You’ve been somewhat unavailable tonight, McDermott.”

Lily peered up from cleaning off her last table to where Jackson stood, leaning against the back of the booth.

She tried focusing on the cloth in her hand and some absent-minded scrubbing of the table to avoid his probing stare.

“You uh, going through some things?” he persisted in a slightly hushed tone.

“If she wanted to tell you those things, Jackson, she would have done so without your prying.” Ruby chimed, coming around the corner.

Jackson straightened and cast Ruby a sharp meaningful glare. “Don’t you have something to clean?”

Ruby cast a glowering stare at Jackson and disappeared behind the bar.

“I’m fine, Jackson, really.”

He slipped into the seat to peer more curiously at her. “You didn’t return my calls.”

“I know I’m sorry.” She straightened and offered a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

He did the unthinkable and reached across the table to take her hand in his.

It hadn’t been Jackson’s unexpected touch that jolted her from her skin, but the violent stirring of a menacing growl that came swiftly and possessively in her mind.

Mine!

She wrenched free of Jackson’s grip and stumbled backward; the black velvety voice erupting in her head causing her to loose her momentum.

Jackson rushed to his feet, taken aback by her sudden fear. “Lily, I’m sorry-“

“I have to go, Jackson, I need to go home.” She threw her cloth down and ran out of the grill, not caring if Jackson would let her go.

She was relieved when she reached her apartment but alarmed by the setting sun. With the sunset, came a rerun of syringes and fangs.

She settled onto her sofa and curled into the comforter. Surely she must have imagined the voice? She was tired, practically falling asleep on her feet.

She wasn’t the type of woman to be frightened of her own shadow. She had been given many years of neglectful, tough love that developed thick skin. She was no delicate flower as her name would portray her.

Her eyes grew heavier and the room darker.

Sleep could not be eluded.

She was very tired, so tired that she felt weightless. She welcomed sleep, welcomed it with weary arms, but she sensed suddenly that she wasn’t alone, and this propelled a swift adrenaline through her veins.

“You’re mine, Lily.” murmured a black, velvety hiss.

She was incapable of moving and a shudder of fear passed through her.

“I’ve marked you for mine.”

His voice shimmered in the dark, echoing along the walls, streaming through the air like an invisible caress stroking her.

She shook her head, feeling very foolish for there was nothing physically there, but she felt him, watching.

“No.”

“Yes!” came an avid growl.

She felt her chest rise and fall with a sudden breath triggered by an unexpected touch that worked its way up her calve.

She stiffened as strong, masculine fingers trailed her leg, smoothing over her skin like licking flames, working their way higher.

She grew breathless and began to twist with a rush of heat, curling its way through her body.

Her eyes sought the darkness, sought the frame of the man who possessed her, and strangely, the darkness shifted, revealing her phantom seducer.

The darkness wrapped his muscled frame, outlining every impeccable line. A noise erupted from somewhere in the dark, and she realized it was her phantom, releasing a deep, animalistic growl, as his hand cupped her thigh.

She felt herself fall prey to his dark charm and would have freely given herself, but as abruptly as it started, it ended, sunlight streaming through to sever the haze.