Page 10 of Blood Lust

She growls low, and I begin to see a shape take form in my head, a woman with severe eyes and brutal features.

We must become.

Become what? It seems like she stalks closer to me. I pull away, avoiding her.

Become one.

Nope.

Absolutely not.

Stay far the fuck away from me.

I cannot.

We must join before we wake. It is the way.

Theonlyway.

I have no idea what she’s talking about. I only know I need to escape.

I died.

This must be a demon.

She must be here to take my soul down to the underworld.

Or eat it.

Or something…

She doesn’t like that.

We are the same. We must become.

She keeps saying that, but I’m not buying it. I am desperate to get out of this darkness. To get to a place she isn’t, wherever that may be. My breathing increases with stress until I’m panting, and I feel her getting closer to me. She is reaching out to touch me, and I am certain that’s the last thing I want right now.

I want to push back, to fight her. Fear is sinking into my stomach like lead. The cruel woman is almost upon me.

“NO!” A very real scream rips through me, tearing at my throat as it does.

Eyes snapping open, I jerk upward with a deep gasp for air. I can still feel the water in my lungs from the lake claiming my soul. A few minutes pass, and I catch my breath, accepting that I am not actually dead, despite clearly remembering dying.

A nightmare? I try to calm myself and shrug off the strange dream of a terrifying woman.

Taking in my surroundings, I am in a dark room, a lantern sitting on a nearby table, the only source of light. I am dry, and my clothes are different. The bed I lay in is covered in the smoothest bedding, pleasing to my skin. There’s a quilt over me, warm and snuggly. I swing my legs to the side of the bed and get hit with vertigo. Swaying, I prop myself up with my arm.

My arm?

My arm had been dislocated or broken. I flex it now, rolling my shoulder. It is fine.

There’s no pain. I distinctly remember the pain.

I touch my face, my temple. There are no wounds.

I should be dead.

I did die.

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