(Samuel's POV)
Leaving her side wasn't easy, her sweet fragrance and warmth were pulling me back towards the bed. Sacrifices...sacrifices.
"Be careful," she said. "Shall I come?"
Great!
The floor was freezing cold beneath my bare feet, reminding me of the pleasantries I was leaving behind. I never knew about the feeling of being cold, not until I'd become a human. My poor senses were bombarded with challenges and yet were not designed to deal with them. What a joke! I didn't want to go.
"Nope," I said. Blind I might be, but I could take care of the problem.
Heading to the brown color of the stairs, I began to wonder how one changed the colors of objects, whether one even could? Could this brown be made a pink just to add some variety to my daily experience? Unlike the rooms which permeated the colors of its occupiers, the stairs had many users, going up and down, who had left behind no trace of their essence. What remained behind was the same ugly brown each time. Hmmm....it was intriguing, for sure.
I tiptoed down careful not to make any sounds. There were no colors in my vision, not until I turned the corner. Grey. It reminded me of a curling cigarette smoke, slippery, foggy, mysterious. The color tagged behind like a sticker as the person walked slowly. This was no possessed soul, just as I thought, but I didn't recognize who the person was. I'd never seen him before, at least not after I'd become human. Even if I did, I wouldn't know how to identify him, colors had not been my specialty. Was that even a male? The strides gave nothing away but my gut told me yes. The person was light on the feet, gracefully sliding on the floor. The pace was unhurried. The sound of each foot rising in the air and stepping down was the same. It was as if he was on automat. Was he sleepwalking? Probably. Just like Diana was. Or was this all but a coincidence, a man pacing in the Mansion because he was unable to sleep? One could only hope.
He stopped and I held my breath, wishing the darkness of the hallway would hide my presence. I plastered myself to the wall. He didn't turn around which made me believe he was indeed sleeping. Instead, he turned right. He was heading for the gate. That took away any hope that I would be heading back to bed, back to Diana. I had to see this through. Was he going to open the gate?
How did the shadows speak to them? How did they master the talent to command them? Though I had heard their voices at times, I had not understood their speech. How did Diana? How did this person? Questions were piling up.
I turned the corner, I hadn't decided yet about when to interfere, how to wake him up. Should I talk to him? Should I shake him?
I was naive to think any of that was an option, had been an option. When the color of doom came crashing over my head, I knew I had misjudged the whole situation. The person was awake. Wide awake.
Just before my vision blackened, I had a last glimpse of the grey standing right before me. He had the oranges cloaking his grey like a warm blanket, he was thrilled. Thrilled to have captured me.
************
I tried to rise from the blackness that engulfed me like massive ocean waves. A headache throbbed right between my temples, like a beating heart. How I wish the body would heal itself. The curtain beneath my eyes, trying to trap the pain, made thinking impossible. Worse, I realized I couldn't move my arms or legs, I was tied like a mummy. Had I thought I had this?
"Hey!" I said but there was no one in the room.
Who was the mysterious figure? It was clear he was not in a hypnosis state. Why was he helping the dark shadows? I tried to move my hands, the harsh rope chaffed at my wrists each time I rubbed against them, trying to decompose the flakes that held them together. Each attempt cut my skin like a sharp knife. Soon, the crimsonness of the blood wet the pale braids coating them in a vivid red as the rope dug into my flesh deep enough to delve the skin.
Shit! Of all the stupid things I'd done, this was the worst. How had I let my guard down?
Things to be grateful for: Diana was safe. She didn't know I was cooped like a chicken, tied like a helpless lad. Best, all would be reset in the next loop. Nobody needed to know.
But, it wasn't meant to be.
Just as I was trying to free myself with another heroic effort, her violet dashed into the room, dwindling the hope she was safe and sleeping in bed. Of course, she had no obedient bone in her body, what did I expect?
"Samuel!" she said. "What happened to you? I was worried, followed your scent."
I was the human-vampire king, her lover, her mate.... and here I was, a tightly packaged failure!
"Would you like to untie me?" I said, unable to help the tightness of my voice.
"Oh, sure...sure. Who was it?" She used her fangs to cut off the rope.
"I don't know. Never seen him before."
"We need to find him before he lets in the shadows. We don't have much time left."
"No need," I said. "I'm sure he's long gone by now. I've been here for some time now." It hurt to admit that. "And, to be honest, I need the practice anyhow. I need the shadows. I still don't know how to hurt them. We'll go to the kitchen in the morning and then..."
"Samuel, we've been through this. You are nuts. I'm not burning you."
"Do you want to stay here forever chasing the shadows loop after loop?"
"No."
I knew I had her. "Well, then." She remained silent. It was a worried silence.
"Let's go back to bed. We still have a few hours left. It's best to get some sleep." I took a breath of relief when I got out of the ropes and blood circulation rushed back to my limbs. "I thought he was sleeping," I said. I needed her to know that I wasn't incompetent.
"He wasn't?" she asked.
"No."
"But, that means?"
"Yes, it means whoever he is, he's working for them."
As we walked back, I kept looking around, trying to detect the grey which had kidnapped me. But, as I'd suspected he was gone. Though the Mansion was blanketed in a peaceful and heavy slumber, I couldn't help but wonder: Were the shadows already in? Had he already opened the door? Were they waiting for the morning to attack? Should I already be burning myself?
It was the tug of Di's hand as I paused on the stairs which made me decide. I wanted to enjoy the remaining few hours in her arms. Before the burn, before the possession. The pleasure right before the pain. That was fair. Wasn't it?
***************
I nuzzled her neck, inhaling her scent. Hmm...I brushed my lips against her skin. She didn't even stir. She was sleeping peacefully and I was afraid to do what I needed to do next. Wake her up. The beauty was about to turn into a beast.
"Di," I nudged her.
No response. "Di, we need to go to the kitchen before they come in." I shook her more violently.
"Leave me be," she said curtly, not even bothering to open her eyes.
"Di!"
She pulled the pillow over her head to silence my voice.
There was no waking her up. I would try the only thing that had worked before. I lifted her and threw her over my shoulder. She woke up the moment she found herself upside down.
"Put me down!" she snapped, her voice still laden with sleep. "I want to sleep."
"No, not possible."
"You are a monster," she said groggily, staying silent for the rest of the way. I wouldn't be surprised if her eyes were closed once more. I chuckled. You could take away everything from her but not her sleep.
I dumped her ungracefully on the kitchen floor and then she cursed.
"C'mon, we need to boil some water."
"What?" She remembered. Yep, the beauty was now awake. Horror had pierced her slumber.
"Noooo!" she said. I had already poured the water on the kettle.
The water started hissing within minutes like the swoosh of the wind. Diana was pacing on the floor, agitated, panicked.
Others started arriving. The early risers. Greetings came one after another. "Morning."
"Morning to ye, too."
I saw Belle enter the kitchen, carrying the same aura of disappointment from last night.
"Oh you are here?" she said, spotting me. "I looked everywhere for you last night."
No, not again. I needed an excuse to leave the room. Now! "Diana!" I called out. She was hiding from me among the crowd of newcomers. "C'mon, they will be here any minute."
Diana was silent.
"What's going on?" Belle asked, holding my hand.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing."
"I need to talk to you. Can we sit down?"
No that wouldn't do. Minutes were ticking, we were running out of time. I grabbed Belle, my arms went around her and I kissed her. She melted into my arms, her whole body trembled, her hands tugged my face, drawing me deeper into the kiss.
Pain seared through my body as I pushed Belle away.
"Shoot," Diana said, unable to believe she had risen to the occasion, once more by jealousy. She had finally poured the hot water over me."Oh my God, what did I do?"
The pain burned, radiated from my back to my thighs, taking away all my breath. It was more painful than I could ever have imagined. I needed the shadows before I collapsed into oblivion.
Belle was screaming all this while, trying to get ice.
"Take my blood," Diana said, nicking a vein.
"No, " I pushed it away. I couldn't do this again, I was so close, I needed to find out.
"Please," Diana begged.
The pain was increasing in waves, making speech impossible. The possession would be a mercy now. I almost took her wrist. Or the ice cubes Belle was trying to put on my body.
I didn't.
When the shadows came, the screams were like a lullaby to my ears.
I faced the shadows, flaunting my burns even as I tried to push the pain away. When the shadows took a bite my scorched flesh, I screamed. It was Di, I noticed who was trying to keep them away, and when she pushed her wrist to my mouth, I didn't have the power to resist. We sat next to one another, me drinking her blood, and the vamp shadows drinking ours.
I had burnt myself for nothing. Correction, I had made Di burn me for nothing.
And, then they screamed. It is then I noticed finally what they were afraid of.
I looked at us, sitting beaten, exhausted like that on the floor. Di's amethyst violet had stitched to mine like a beautiful needlework, the two were interwoven like lace, and the medallion on her chest glowed with such power that the shadows couldn't come close.
But, what shocked me most, was that shadows were metamorphosing into solid bodies under its luster which projected into the room like a high power laser. Theirs was a shapeless body, a flow of energy frozen into solidity looking like an octopus. But the fact they had one didn't escape me.
Shoot! I was not possessed, but many in the room were. The next loop wasn't coming. I was still hurting. That meant one thing:
We needed to get out of here. It was time to run.
As always, thanks for reading. Hope you are enjoying the story.
Alena