May's Mystical Mosaic

The Call of Home

I knew I shouldn't have gotten a driver's license in the first place. Driving always made me feel uncomfortable, unnatural even. But I was a good girl who listened to others. The cute and quiet type.

A year later, my friend and I decided to travel cross-country. However, she canceled at the last moment because of her jealous boyfriend.

Having already taken days off work, I stubbornly stuck to the plan. I went cross-country traveling.

Alone.

As you can imagine, nothing went according to plan.

I found myself in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire.

At first, I thought of staying in the car, but then I noticed something odd. Behind the line of trees, a structure was peeking out through the thick veil of greenery.

"They might have a phone," I mumbled, pacing around the car. "Or they might be serial killers eager to devour stray travelers."

Since the weather was getting colder, I decided it was better than freezing.

However, breaking through the cover of trees was harder than I anticipated. When I came out on the other side, it felt like I had fought in a war. My ripped clothes and bloody scrapes only served to further prove my point.

"Wow!" I exclaimed when I saw what lay before me.

After all, an enormous castle was the last thing I expected. Its colors were astonishing, different from any others I had seen.

The outer wall was the only regular-looking thing about it, gray and covered with moss, age clearly printed on its surface. However, the rest of it was divided into four colors with a building style similar to a regular castle with towers and thingamabobs.

Sadly, such an ancient building was bound to be abandoned. Who would live in the middle of nowhere in a dilapidated castle?

Still, I went on, thinking there was a warm enough place to stay the night. Besides, the wind was picking up, and I didn't want to wage another battle with the strangely thick forest to go back.

The huge wooden doors with an enormous devil-like figure on top paired with a creepy whisper I couldn't really make out didn't look inviting.

I was ready to dash out of there.

"Mysteria Alison Wellington," a strangely familiar voice said, stopping me instantly.

The next thing I knew, an invisible force pulled me in, the door slamming shut behind me, almost extinguishing the few tall candles scattered around the hall in their beautifully decorated candelabras.

I couldn't resist the call.

The call of the familiar.

"Welcome home, mistress," a raspy voice coming from a hunched-over figure suddenly appearing behind me said, making me whirl around in shock.

The call of home.

"Mysteria," the familiar masculine voice reached me from the large, ornately carved wooden staircase.

"You must be mistaken," I said shakily, determined to stop the realization from hitting me. "I'm Misty."

"My dearest Mysteria. How I missed you," the large, handsome man who was down the stairs in an instant said, hugging me tightly. "I told you crossing over was dangerous. That it could make you lose yourself. Why didn't you listen? Why don't you ever listen?"

Something darted through my mind. A vague image that shouldn't have been there, a memory so impossible I always thought it a figment of my imagination.

"I'm sorry sir, but I really don't know what you're talking about," I said, willing my words to become reality because remembering would be painful.

I wasn't ready for the pain.

"Oh, Mysteria, my crazy, crazy girl," Beau said, clasping my face into his large paws... hands, holding it gently but firmly as if it was the most precious thing in the world. "I should have known you were lying about wanting more than this castle and its beast. I should have known it was unlike you. But I never dreamed my meeting with the vampire queen would upset you this much."

"I saw her sitting in your lap!" I shrieked suddenly even though I wasn't sure where the words came from. "Who wouldn't be 'upset'!"

"Did you also see me pushing her away and almost getting killed by her coven?" Beau asked, his eyes such a beautiful shade of red, blood-red.

"I do apologize. I'm not sure where that came from," I said, trying to suppress HER, the part of me that was always strange, my dark self, my hungry self.

"It's coming from your true self," Beau explained patiently. "You want to remember, but you're also afraid of who you would become."

That was true enough, but there was also something else... feeling of... spite. Did I want to stop myself from remembering to hurt Beau? Was my 'true self' truly that petty?

Before I could decide either way, Beau's lips were on mine, immediately setting them on fire, satisfying the deep-seated hunger I had never quite gotten rid of. It burned through the layers of who I was, revealing the blazing core... the yearning for him. He was the missing piece I couldn't find, the reason I could never settle.

"Come back to me," Beau said, his lips brushing against my ear, my body shivering in delight only he could provide. "Stop punishing me and be my queen again."

I pulled him by the hair, his mane as soft as ever, and kissed him fervently, my jealousy forgotten as memories of our life surged back to me, all the joy, the pain, and so much more.

He was my beast, the person who trapped me in this beautiful-looking castle with different creatures and monsters inside. However, instead of getting the willing slave he hoped for, he ended up with the worst creature of darkness, a succubus, me. We fed off each other, almost literally, making our love the most toxic and still the most passionate one.

Whether his beast shape or his human form, it mattered not. I was passionately obsessed with both, and that I could remain in the human world without feeding on him for so long was a miracle.

"I'm back," I said gleefully. "Prepare for your punishment."

Thus, the night of utter debauchery and pain began, making the castle the gloomy, dark place that suited it the most.

Prompt: You're traveling cross country alone when your tire goes flat, leaving you in an unfortunate predicament.