When I was down to my underwear, I walked over to the bed, briefly glancing at the window and seeing nothing but that damn sign.
Kingston Plaza…like the bloody land of Kings or something!
Fucking typical!
I tore my face from it, not even bothering with the curtains before I crawled beneath the sheets and turned out the light, closing my sore, tired eyes on everything that was now wrong with my life. And like all those nights before Lucius had become a fixture in my life…
I dreamt of a Vampire King.
“Amelia…my Amelia…my Khuba.” The moment I heard this being whispered in my ear, every muscle in my body tensed before I heard that consuming voice of his cooing down at me,
“Be easy, sweetheart…calm for me,” he told me, and I found I could do little else but obey, relaxing back as if feeling myself sinking under. Which was when I finally opened my eyes and saw Lucius leaning down over me in the bed. He was dressed how he usually was, in some dark suit only without the jacket. A tight fitted waistcoat that was a dark red this time and the black shirt underneath was rolled at the sleeves, showing his thick leather glove. But despite how sexy he looked, there was a haunted look to his features.
He looked…worried?
Actually, he looked as if there was a pain behind his eyes and it was one I couldn’t understand. Did he feel guilty that I had discovered his secret? But surely, for that to happen he would first have to have felt something for me. Could it be possible that he had fallen for us both?
No! I was not doing that! I was not going to that dark place.
Which was when I started to mutter,
“This isn’t real.” And I knew it wasn’t because there was no way he could have found me. At least not this quickly. I had left no traces since leaving behind the Ferrari. There was also no reason why he would come looking for me, unless he had been ordered to do so…had my mother put him up to this? Gods, the idea was sickening.
“It’s as real as it needs to be,” he told me cryptically, making me frown and turn my head away, which was when the bed started to shift beneath me. I felt strange…as though it was made of a liquid I couldn’t yet feel soaking into my skin. But then I looked down at myself and saw that I was back to wearing what I had been before I had changed, swapping clothes with the flight attendant.
It was the last thing that Lucius had remembered me wearing and that’s when I realised this was his doing, not my own. This was Lucius’ control, something that was confirmed when he rose from the bed and without touching me, he beckoned me closer with his hand. I felt myself floating up, being pushed from behind by the body of vapour that the sheets had turned into, before then evaporating from my skin. One I knew that in reality was naked, as I had stripped off when I had collapsed into bed at close to five in the morning.
But still, I rose up without commanding my own body to do so and soon stood facing Lucius in a shadowed room, that barely allowed anything to be seen other than Lucius and myself. Which was when I realised what this was.
“Am I in the Void?” I asked knowing this was a state of mind that was like a blank space the Supernatural beings of the world could access and bring others into if they chose. From what I understood about it, this was a part of the mind that could be used for communication or allowing another to access memories, visions or even a method of control. It was usually a protected place, but that protection only relied on how strong the person was at blocking others out or how strong the person was that was trying to get in. Now, from what I gathered, you could allow this connection if you chose to do so. But for Lucius, well he was the master of commanding the will of others, meaning that there was no one strong enough to block him. Well, no one other than the witch and well…me and before she became one of his Vampires, my mother.
But then it also made sense why he was here now. As it was becoming obvious that during the times I slept my mind was left vulnerable to a certain extent. No doubt added by the emotional state I was in. Which also made sense as to how the witch had been able to access that part of my mind. And right now, it was how Lucius was breaking into my Void against my will. Something I could tell was taking its toll, as Lucius looked strained, telling me this was taking a lot of his energy. But then…he wasn’t the only one.
I knew this when he ignored my question and I found it near impossible to resist as he commanded in a stern tone,
“Come here.” So, I stepped towards him, looking at my feet disappearing in the grey fog that surrounded us.
“We are in your Void,” he told me, being honest despite the fact I already had gathered as much. I looked around at the black open space around us that looked like an endless room.
“Why?” I asked wondering why it was I hadn’t yet slapped him or screamed at him for breaking my heart. Or was keeping me calm all part of it?
“You will know soon enough, now turn around,” he commanded making me do as I was told, and it felt strangely as if I had become a puppet in the hands of a master manipulator, being forever pulled the way he wanted me to go by invisible strings. It was as if my body belonged to him and my mind was nothing more than the remote he used to get me to do as he wanted. He almost seemed matter of fact, or was he just trying to get the job done quickly?
“Now, I want you to look inside this mirror and focus on the last time you saw your face.” I frowned wondering why he wanted me to do this and was about to tell him no. Especially when remembering now what it was and before I could stop my foolish self, it started to appear. The mirror above the sink in the hotel room. It was all starting to appear in front of me, only now there was a dark shadow behind me. I even raised my hand to wipe away what seemed like the never-ending tears on my face. I also saw that I was wearing what I had been, the untucked shirt over the tight, ripped pencil skirt.
I looked down at the dried blood on my hands and found myself tightening my fists.
“Tell me who fucking hurt you?!” he snapped seeing for himself and the moment he did, I plunged my hands into the water, telling him in a tone void of emotion,
“You did.”
Then the tap came on and I grabbed handfuls, splashing it all over my face scrubbing away the tears that continued to fall. I glanced to Lucius to see him snarl to his side, tearing his eyes from the view of what he had done to me.
“What comes next, show me!” he snapped, clearly struggling with the reality of what he was demanding of me. I pulled the plug letting the water drain, watching it in slow motion as if the water symbolized my life. I then started to drag the shirt over my head, and unzip the back of my skirt, before letting it slip to the floor. There should have been a bruise on my knee from using it to break that guy’s face, but I knew that, like my hand and my head, I had healed already. Thanks to Lucius’ blood in my system, I couldn’t help but wonder how long that piece of him would last within me? Days, weeks…maybe a month or two?
Maybe if I just started running…maybe if I just ran and ran and ran until I could run no more, maybe then I could get him out of my system? I looked behind me around the incessant space and asked myself if I started now, would I ever find the end, or would I die long before?
“Back to the room,” Lucius said in a strained clipped tone that told me he was losing his hold on controlling this Void of mine. But even so, I couldn’t hold myself back from doing as I was told. Which meant that the moment I turned around, he stepped back so I could take a step forward, and in doing so my surroundings changed. The Void morphed into the room I was staying in and like I had done before passing out, I walked towards the bed in just my underwear. Then just before I was about to get into bed, mimicking reality, he spoke.