Purgatory (Part One of the Purgatory Series)

Chapter Two - Currency of Souls

Struggling to my feet, I wobbled toward the door at the far left of the room.

"Going somewhere?" a deep voice called from behind me.

I froze in place, feeling a bit like a guilty child. After gathering my courage, I managed to spin around and face the voice. A man now sat on the throne, the look on his face practically screaming his apathy and impatience. He wasn't wearing anything flashy or regal, but the way he held himself made me wary and somehow I knew I wasn't worth more than a grain of sand to him.

"I-I w-was just leaving," I managed to stutter under his intense gaze. His dark eyes bored into me in a way that felt as if he could see into my mind, viewing my every fault and insecurity.

"Without my permission?" he taunted, raising a dark eyebrow and leaning toward me.

If this was a just a hallucination it shouldn't really matter what I say, but I felt myself begin to panic anyway.

"U-um, no?"

He grinned, a sinister smile that chilled me to the bone. His teeth were pointed and somewhat bloody and stood out starkly against his dark skin. My breaths were starting to become labored again and I fought to regain control of myself. It wouldn't do me any good to pass out again.

"If you want to be reinstated all you had to do is ask, darling," he said, throwing one of his legs over the arm of the throne.

"Reinstated?" I asked in a gasping whisper.

"Of course," he replied. "Don't play games. Just give me an offer and we'll see whether I deem you worthy."

My mind was spinning, but whether it was from fear or from lack of oxygen I wasn't entirely certain.

Nothing he was saying made any sense, but then again if this was a hallucination it made sense that he wasn't making sense. Right? Wait; was I even making any sense? I rubbed my aching head and then pinched myself hard enough to bruise in an attempt to get myself out of this nightmare.

Still nothing. Deciding my best bet was to just play this out, I murmured, "I don't understand."

When I finally got up the courage to look up into the eyes of tall, dark, and creepy, he was looking at me like I was crazy. That wasn't anything new. Pretty much everyone thought I was crazy.

"How long are you going to keep up this ridiculous charade?"

The strange man flung himself from the throne and I cringed back from his murderous glare. As he approached I noticed he towered over me, and that was an impressive feat considering I was 5'10''. He was built like a linebacker and looked twice as mean. I wanted to ask him to get out of my personal space, but he seemed to be royalty of some kind and could probably have me executed so I kept my mouth shut.

His hands grasped the sides of my head and forced me to face him. I struggled to free myself, but he had had the strength of a grizzly. As soon as his black eyes locked onto mine I was paralyzed. Not from love at first sight, or anything as ridiculous as that, but from all-consuming, knee-quivering terror. Surprisingly enough I wasn't having a panic attack though. My breathing was steady and calm and despite knowing I should be afraid I wasn't.

"Calm down," he ordered, shaking me once.

His iron grip wasn't doing anything but making me feel claustraphobic. As I attempted to jerk away I stumbled and fell to my knees.

"P-please. I just want to go home," I begged.

"Come, sit," he commanded me, as he motioned toward his throne.