Page 21 of Of Blood and Smoke

The past twenty-four hours had been exhausting and I wanted to be well-rested before my follow-up interview at Ipomoea Pharmaceuticals, so I went to bed and didn’t bother with dinner.

I tried to think about anything but my dad and mentally went through my whole wardrobe trying to put outfits together. Something that would be perfect for the higher-paying job I had my fingers crossed for. Finally, I had an outfit in my head picked out to wear—black pants, black heels, and a navy-blue button-up shirt with lace detailing. It’d have to do.

When sleep finally claimed me, it was restless. I tossed and turned, frequently waking up. I tried to roll over for the millionth time, into sweet oblivion, when suddenly I was trapped on my back as if I’d been tied down.

Paralyzed, I moved the only part of my body I could and tried to scan the room. The air had a blurred quality again, almost like peering through water or a thin layer of smoke.

My heart was pounding in my chest, rebelling against the foreign sensation of not being able to move a single muscle. I tried to relax enough so I could think, my automatic response having been sheer panic.

Underneath the sound of the blood rushing in my ears I heard rustling, the sound of something or someone moving. There was a black mass to my right, just enough outside my line of vision to be barely identifiable as a figure.

I recognized the sound of my cellphone being placed on my nightstand.

Focusing on my arms, I pulled as hard as I could. There was no reason I should be glued to my bed, and I didn’t understand what or why this was happening. As soon as I was free, I was going to Google being frozen and awake in bed, I couldn’t live like this. If I could understand it, maybe I could stop it.

My arms were not listening to me, and I was getting more scared. What if this became permanent at some point? Suddenly, it felt like my arm broke free. I could feel it moving, but not see the motion. Instead, I was staring at my arm lying on the bed even though I could feel it going up and down. What was happening to me? Was I dead? How was my arm moving butnotmoving?

Terror filled me and my heart started pounding so hard I just knew I was going to die of a massive coronary attack in my sleep. It felt like I was choking as my blood turned to ice, washing from my head down to my toes before receding. My first thought went to my dad and how this would kill him if everything else didn’t.

Stress induced heart attack?

I was beginning to wonder if I had died and was now having a panic attack in the afterlife and that heaven was bullshit. I couldn’t feel my lungs, but I tried to take deep breaths anyway. What were you supposed to do when you were dead? Finding myself trapped on a mattress had never entered my mind as a side effect of having left the land of the living.

My bed shifted, and I slid my gaze toward where I sensed the motion. How was I feeling the things happening around me but not my own body? Nothing made any sense.

The black cloak with a silver zipper was back. The faceless man. My lips tried to form words, but I could only hear them in my mind. The figure moved a little bit, and I saw theman holding my journal open. It’d been in the drawer of my nightstand. He flipped a page, obviously reading it.

Humiliation and panic tore through me at the sight of my privacy being violated. Not even Brett had ever gone so far as to go through my personal things. My arm, the one that felt separated from my body, swung out trying to punch him in the shoulder and make him stop but it went right through him as if he weren’t there. The only sign that I had any effect on him was the turning of his head.

He still had no face. Just the hood with dark hair sliding forward and the impression of a man. If there was such a thing as auras, this man’s would have been unbelievably powerful, and so alluring it was deadly. It felt like I was being sucked into his orbit with promises of dark and delicious unforgettable sin.

Was there sex when you were deceased? Surprisingly enough, even though I was paralyzed, embarrassed, and possibly,probablydead, desire lit my blood on fire.

My invisible arm fell back to the bed when I heard him snap the journal shut. He then stood up, towering over me.

This is how I die for real.

If this was death the man must be here to drag me to hell.

But is hell supposed to feel so seductive? What the hell was wrong with me? Even without seeing a face, I just knew he was beyond beautiful. I had no explanation for feeling that way and zero excuse for how the space between my thighs dampened just by being near him.

Well, okay maybe because the last time he was here he ate me out like a man dying of thirst in the desert. If I’d been able, I was positive I would’ve started crying from shame.

My pulse was racing as he climbed over me, caging me in. I was powerless to resist while his long fingers smoothed my hair back from my face with the gentlest of touches. There was nothing I could do when I felt his soft lips skate down the side ofmy face and skim along my neck before he nibbled at my collar bone.

In my head, I was screaming. “Who are you, who are you?” The words never left my mouth though I could sense the vibration in the air.

When I tried to lift my arm free again, it didn’t work. I couldn’t figure out what the difference was, this time. Whoever this man was, it seemed he had the power and authority to keep my body immobilized. It scared me to think what that could mean. Was he some kind of demon? A figment of my imagination?

“Are you some kind of hallucination?” I asked him, feeling the soft fabric of his head covering drag along my chest. I could’ve sworn I heard a low laugh from the stranger in response to my question. “I’m dreaming all this up.”

“No, Little One, you’re not imagining me.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.He heard me.

Can you hyperventilate when you’re not really breathing?

“Shhh...” The man attempted to quiet me, to soothe me. I felt his gaze while he rubbed his thumb up and down my neck. My eyes closed, seemingly of their own accord and it felt like I’d somehow nestled back inside my body, cocooned under his spell. A sigh left my lips, nearly waking me when I realized I physically heard the wisp of air leave my mouth.

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