Page 44 of Dark Captivation

I glared murderously at him wiping the water from my face.

“Remember me!” he begged, emptying the second vial all over my forehead.

Furious, I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, baring my teeth. “Hey, would it have killed you to warn me? When you said we were going on a date, I didn’t expect a baptism.”

“Wait, did you just say I could have my memories back?” I wiped my eyes dry with both hands.

“It’s possible, but it should have worked by now. My energy isn’t melding sufficiently with the water. Maybe if I…” Tossing the green and final vial into his mouth he grabbed me by the shoulders and drove his lips into mine.

Cool liquid flowed from his lips, passing into my mouth. The water plunged down my throat before I was fully aware it was even there.

“Please. Please tell me that it worked. Do you remember anything now?” Malek clasped his hands in prayer.

I swallowed the last of it, and blinked, falling into a daze.

Oh, something was happening alright, but what? It felt almost like I was drunk but also sober. Dreaming but also awake. My vision blurred, Malek’s face morphing into something that was distorting it. It was like looking at him through a fun house mirror.

“I feel strange.” I gripped his shirt for stability.

“Do you need to sit down? Let me help you.” Malek’s voice slowed, dropping several octaves, making him sound like he was talking through water.

My lungs fought the air that squeezed into my chest. The air felt like lava, burning me from the inside. My eyes shuttered closed as I coughed.

Visibly worried, Malek took a hold of my shoulder asking me something but I couldn’t fully make it out.

“Sun-ny. Sun-ny!” He cried, his voice was choppy and turbulent.

My blood ran as cold as ice and my eyes broke open. Staring back at me, where Malek should be, was a dark hairy beast with talon-like claws and fangs that reached the base of its thick neck and flashing red eyes.

It looked like a horrific mix of a wolf, sasquatch and bear. Blood lust mirrored in its eyes and the eerie feeling of impending danger quickened my heart.

A beastly grumble vibrated up its furry throat and it lunged at me. My instinctive need to live suppressed the haze enough that I was to swing my body out of its line of rampage.

I took to my heels, racing for the exit. The monster growled ferociously and I screamed.

It relentlessly pursued me, his howls fracturing the air that filled the cave.

I entered the tunnel that led to the outside.

The muscles in my back contracted violently as I summoned the shift. Mellow was my only hope to survive an attack from a beast of this size.

My back muscles loosened, and the shift never came. I thought Mellow had refused me, but I knew better. Something in that water dulled my senses too severely for me to summon enough power to shift.

Outside the cave, the cool air stabbed my sweaty skin like icicles. My head jerked left and right as I desperately searched for a branch to strike the beast with.

“Stay back! Do you hear me?!” I threatened.

A loose branch rested on the ground under a nearby tree. I advanced on it as fast as my wobbly legs would take me.

A rough hand yanked me back, as I was a meager foot from the branch. I cursed, fear and anger flurrying through me.

I punched the beast's chest and its face as hard as I could.

In response, the monster just stood there calmly. It then drew a single dandelion right up close to my face. I was so confused I didn’t know what to think as it sucked in a breath and blew the dandelion’s fluffy pollen into my eyes.

Like a switch had been flipped, the haze cleared as did my disorientation. Finally, I could see the beast for what it had been all along, Malek.

Images and sounds shot through my head. A million memories a minute played through my mind’s eye like a movie. First in bits and pieces, then in large gulps of time, it all came flying back to me.

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