Unnatural Conduct

Chapter 13

I faded in and out of consciousness over the next few hours, or days, or maybe even just minutes. At first I'd heard voices, but now they had quited, leaving me floating in a dark, empty abyss. I didn't fight, didn't try to get out of wherever I was; I didn't seem to have the energy to. It was like some outside force was keeping me here, preventing me from leaving. A scene began to play in my mind, filling the inky blackness with a dim light.

The scene showed a dark room with walls and a floor made of concrete and wrought-iron bars making up one wall. Upon closer inspection, I realized that these bars made up a door, much like one might find in a dungeon or a jail cell. Which, I realized a moment later, was exactly what this was.

A small chamber pot sat in one corner of the dark room, and a small, barred window provided the only source of light. A pile of hay lay in the corner opposite the chamber pot. It was there, on the hay, that my mate sat, staring around the cell and growling constantly.

My breath caught at the sight of him, and then became furious as I noticed his injured leg that looked much worse than mine was. Blood was dripping down from the wound, and no one seemed to be coming to his aid. I wondered why he wasn't making any move to escape, but then I noticed them... the silver shackles that chained his hands to the wall, not even allowing him within distance of the bars of the cell.

The site of Xavier sitting there, his leg battered and his clothes torn and body dirtied, yet his expression still defiant, had me furious. I felt my power well up inside of me, and I made no move to push it down as it tried to unleash itself upon this dream-world, tried to free Xavier from his bindings.

My efforts, however, were to no avail, and I realized that was because this image wasn't real, it was simply a projection of what was actually happening. Someone was showing me something that I couldn't change, likely to infuriate me. It did just that.

I lashed out my power some more, whispering incantations that grew louder as my efforts to free him failed, over and over. He didn't even look at me... it was like he didn't know I was there. Definitely a projection then.

"What do you want, you bastard?" I shouted, my voice echoing throughout the confines of my mind. I wasn't talking to Xavier, no... I was talking to whoever it was that dared to show me this image, dared to provoke me like this.

I want you to return home, my daughter.

The voice that came through my head was as smooth as silken honey, but it carried an ancient power to it, one that I knew had been around for a very long while and had experienced more than I could imagine. I could tell it was a woman's voice, though it did carry a rougher, more untamed edge to it, and I could tell it was used to giving out orders and not getting disobeyed.

It took me a moment to process the words that seemed to be coming from everywhere and yet nowhere at once. I knew one thing for certain: I remembered my mother's voice, and this voice did not belong to her.

"You're not my mother!" I shouted into the abyss, my power growing even more enraged and chaotic inside of me.

Ah, but I am. You are a Princess after all. Didn't my Tenebris tell you as much?

The voice practically chuckled, and I could feel a type of wicked, dark glee weave itself through her words and cascade into my mind.

"Where are you?" I demanded, although a small, rational part of me knew that I probably shouldn't be ordering this person around, no matter who she claimed to be. The power in her voice was just too great.

You know where I am. I hope to see you soon, my dear.

And with that, the image in front of me faded, leaving me alone in the darkness once more. This feeling, however, lasted for just a moment, and before I knew it I was gasping for breath and light was streaming into my eyes. I was back in my own body again, back in the real world.