A Lovers War

Chapter 5

Demitri had flashed me back to my apartment. “Are you sure you’re ok?” He asked with a concerned tone. His eyes held compassion.

“I’m fine, I’m just a little shaken.” I walked over to my bed and began to take the boots off. My feet were sore, that will be the last time I ever walk out of my apartment practically naked. I began to massage my achy feet. “Are you leaving now?” I asked giving him an annoyed look. He was still looking at me like I was a helpless child. “Damnit Demitri, I’m fine. Now go, I’m sure Lamond would like an update.”

I heard him take a deep breath and let a long one. “Fine Astrid, whatever you say. Get some sleep because we’re gonna go back at it tomorrow.” He paused and gave me one last smile before disappearing. The room was silent again, and that made me feel at ease. I was tired, and I was tired of the sights and smells I had come in contact with tonight.

I looked at the clock and it read 10:27. That was the only thing I liked about hell, time was always a lot slower. Thank god, now I can actually get some sleep. I practically peeled the clothes off of me, they had stuck to me from the sweat. I cranked the air conditioning up and lay back in bed praying I fall asleep quickly.

The room was black. I couldn’t see anything but a small light in the center of the room. A loud blood curdling scream rang in my ear. I turned violently around looking in every direction but the only thing I could see was that small ray of light it was barely bright enough just to illuminate my face. “Hello!” I yelled out at the light. No response came back. Where in the hell was I? I walked closer to the light and found a beautifully decorated throne near the back of the room. It was covered in floor length black satin blankets.

I heard growling. I looked down at the feet of the thrown and found two hellhounds fighting over a human arm. They were grotesque. Black wetness oozed off of their decaying bodies. The black decayed skin fell to the floor in a wet sloshing sound. I shrieked. Both of the hellhounds looked up at me when they heard the noise I had made. Bearing there rotten but sharp teeth at me they hissed and focused their full attention to me. “At ease boys,” came a silky smooth voice from behind the throne. A man dressed in a business suite appeared and he bent down on his knees to pet his ugly creatures. They began to wag what little tail they had left and licked the man in the face.  The mysterious man wiped off the rotten flesh the dogs had left behind on his face and redirected his attention towards me.

“Who are you?” I demanded. I was getting aggravated, I had no clue where in the hell I was and I wanted answers.

“Astrid, Astrid, Astrid. You should really have more respect in your voice when you talk to me. I could kill you where you stand right now if it pleased me so.” His voice was pure arrogance. He took a step closer to his throne and sat down. The hellhounds had laid back down to fight over the human arm again. He smiled at me as he ran a hand through his hair.

“And who the fuck are you?” My voice picking up anger. I didn’t like to curse that much, but this guy was pissing me off.  I put my hands on my hips and said, “Why am I here?”

He threw his head back laughing as loudly as he could. Apparently I had missed the humor in this conversation. He stopped suddenly and started straight into my eyes. His facial expression had gone cold. “You insolent bitch.” He yelled. The air around him had begun to swirl. He was using some type of power. The hellhounds immediately stood up, they were on guard now and were poised to attack. The man’s eyes began to glow an ember red and his hair stood straight up on its ends.

My body was trembling; the power he was emitting was amazing. I tried to access my power but every time I attempted it I came up empty handed. “What the hell have you done to me?” My question stopped him mid power up. Suddenly the room stilled and the hounds began to whimper.

“Ah, Miss Astrid my theory has worked.” He said beaming with delight. “Your powers are useless her in the dream realm. My mind began to piece things together. The look of shock must have shown clearly on my face because he began to laugh again. What is so damn funny?

“Why am I here and who are you? I’m tired of playing these games.” My voice came out ragged.  A sharp pain brought my attention to my hand. I had been clenching my fists so tightly that blood had begun to rise through the little crescent moons that my finger nails had left. I can feel pain in this dream? The putrid smell of the decaying hell hounds brought my attention back up to the mysterious man sitting on the throne. He was still sitting there with the cocky grin on his face, god how I wished I could wipe it off.

“Astrid, you are beautiful. I wished I didn’t have to kill you soon. I could always use another whore to fill my bed at night.” His words vibrated through my very being. Tears threatened to well up and fall but I wouldn’t let that happen. Then I felt it. My power began to fill my entire body. It felt like little tinny pricks all over my body. The center of my body began to warm slowly at first but then it hit all at once it was like being slammed into a wall. Guess what asswhole my powers do work here.

His eyes showed panic, he knew he had messed up. You never provoke a woman, especially by calling her a whore. “Fine, you win this time but you will be seeing more of me next time. I can promise you that one beautiful.” He winked at me then disappeared.

I felt like I was slung back in to my bedroom. Hot tears had fallen down leaving my pillow wet. I looked down at my stinging hand and sure enough blood was smeared. Who in the hell was that! I looked over at my clock and it was 12:49 in the afternoon. My body was still on fire from my where I had almost let loose my power. My mind was racing I had to figure out who this guy was. I couldn’t tell if he was demon or if it was something else entirely but whatever it was it felt familiar.