Things that Go Bump in the Night

Chapter 45: The Mind of the Monster: Real Nightmares and Fake Realities

Blood.

A deep breath.

Juniper's blood.

No...No...God No....Not again. NO!

I reached for her limp body, trying to stop the bleeding but every time I touched her it seemed to get worse, my hands keep making every wound bigger. The more pressure I would put on a wound the more it would bleed. I was covered in her blood. It was everywhere. I couldn't stop her bleeding. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, what had happened to her. Her skin was cold and her eyes were closed. I couldn't tell if she was breathing.

"Juniper wake up?" I begged. "Juniper, who did this to you?"

Her eyes opened then, not looking at me but at some place behind my head. Her hand raised, shaking as her finger pointed to the person who had literally torn her apart. I whirled, expecting to find someone behind me but all I found was a mirror showing my own reflection.

And then everywhere I turned there were mirrors, everywhere I looked I saw myself.

"I-I d-didn't." I tried to say, my breath coming in and out in wild pants. "I couldn't have." I begged, pleaded with the images I saw surrounding me. My mate, my dying mate, shook her head a hardness creeping into her eyes that held more hate that I ever thought possible.

"Not you...him." She mouthed as she pointed again. I looked around desperately, still thinking I was seeing my own reflection...but the hairs stood up on the back of my neck when I realized that my reflection did not move the way I did...that my reflection wasn't me.

It looked like me.

But it wasn't me.

My eyes were darker and my face primal looking...frightening. The reflection smiled at me and I saw the glimmer of sharp white fangs.

My wolf.

"No...No....Why?"

Mate will love us. We will make mate love us.

His voice echoed in my head but his lips did not move in the reflection.

Mate. Will. Love us...or else.

The reflection smiled sadistically, blood dripping from his mouth to stain his chin. I reached up to my own face, rubbing my chin and coming away with a red palm.

No. No. I was not having this dream again. Please for the love of God...

The knocking sound that ripped me from the nightmare I was having, made a loud grow escape me and my hand automatically reach over to the other side the bed protectively only to find empty sheets. The determination made a vicious snarl roar though my lips without my permission and my body was out of the bed and tearing apart the room before I could stop what the beast inside of me was doing.

Mate? Where is Mate?  The beast snarled in my head, making me wince and whimper when we both finally figured out where we were.

In a hotel. At the tribunal. Miles away from the girl I ripped apart the room trying to find.

Mate is safe. Mate is at home.

The creature inside of me concluded in a forlorn but resigned tone before it faded completely from my consciousness. As the beast disappeared I slumped onto the bed and put my head into my hands. It had been a while since the creature had taken control of me so fully...so violently. The evidence of the lack of control that I had in this situation was visible all throughout the room. A chair and table were overturn, the carpet was ripped and the light fixture was hanging onto the ceiling by two wires. It was disorienting when the creature inside of me took over my body like that. It was like I was trapped in my mind, seeing everything that was going on but not being able to do anything about what was happening. What my body was doing.