Consumed: A Dark Paranormal Romance Page 7

  “No, I’m not on anything. I think I’m just tired,” I answered.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she pressed, looking pretty concerned.

  The bartender had left us both at the corner of the bar. Since it was early, we were two of only a few patrons here. I stared at Donna, wondering if I could trust her and at first, I shook my head, but then I began to talk. I told her about Antonio and then what had happened with Markos. I told her that I had fucked him, but I left out all the embarrassing, shameful details. And then, I told her how I had woken up in New York with absolutely zero recollection of how I got here.

  Her concerned look only grew stronger, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t, now that I had started. The words just fell out of me as I blurted out my story.

  I told her that I was seeing him. Hearing him when I shouldn’t, and she began to look uneasy and more anxious than before.

  “Kass, are you sure? I mean, nothing really adds up. And now you tell me you’re hearing his voice? Seeing him when he isn’t there?” she asked, and I saw her knuckles whiten as she leaned toward me. She was trying to hide it, but I was scaring her.

  “I just need some sleep. My boss made me take tomorrow and the weekend off. Told me not to come back till Monday,” I replied, trying to fix the situation.

  “Kass, I think I should get you home. Finley, put her on my tab and I’ll settle later,” Donna said, and the redheaded bartender nodded in agreement. He looked at me nervously and I could tell my earlier episode had freaked him out. He probably just wanted me out of his bar, no matter the cost. I mouthed an apology to him before Donna led me out and onto the street.

  We walked about a block before she said anything more.

  “Listen, Kass, I want you to get some sleep. If any more of this weird hallucination stuff happens tomorrow or over the weekend, I want you to call me. I’ve got a good therapist. Maybe you’ve got PTSD from one of your dangerous missions in the past or whatever and something about this Markos dude triggered it,” she goaded gently, and I shook my head.

  “I’m fine. I just need some rest,” I replied eventually.

  “Don’t do that, Kass. Let me help. I’m worried about you.”

  She wasn’t going to stop until I allowed her to help me. I sighed, defeated.

  “Okay, I’ll call you,” I eventually promised. Donna meant well, and I adored her for it, but whatever this was, it would go away. I was sure of it. My ordeal with Markos was just too fresh in my mind. Once more time passed, I’d be okay. I had to be.

  She walked me to my door and led me inside. There was a bottle of wine on the counter and she pointed to it.

  “Yours?”

  I nodded.

  She popped it open and poured two glasses for us. The two of us plopped on the couch and pulled up Netflix. After browsing for a bit, she chose a show about some college drama about revenge and untold amounts of sexual tension. I tuned it out eventually and lost myself in my thoughts. The more I tried not to think about Markos, the more I did.

  I tried to pay attention on the two dumb blondes in the show vying for their professor’s attentions, but slowly, it became hard to focus. The edges of the television went hazy and the world dimmed into a shadow. I felt as though I was sucked into a dark bubble. I could barely hear anything, and I could hardly see. Eventually, the clouds parted, and I screeched when I saw what came next.

  There was a cross on top of a platform. I watched, as someone that looked exactly like me was tied to it, so that my back was bared, my naked ass trembling. It was as though I was having an out of body experience and I couldn’t control anything about it.

  Markos walked out of the shadows and I whimpered frantically. In his hand was a long, dangerous-looking bullwhip. I gulped, my uneasiness growing quickly uncontrollable.

  He cracked it over my head and the sound was deafening. I screamed in terror. He turned back to the version of myself that was tied to the cross and swung the whip at her. A single angry red welt popped up across her ass and I screamed, feeling the pain as if he had hurt me instead. He did it again and again and I lost track of where the whip fell. On my ass, on the backs of my thighs and then, he raised the whip, aiming for my back.

  “Fuck, Kass! What’s wrong with you!”

  Suddenly, the vision blurred away, and my hearing returned. I was back in my living room, sitting next to Donna as she shook me roughly.

  “What happened,” I whispered, feeling a rather scratchy hoarseness in my throat.

  “You were screaming. It was like you couldn’t even see or hear me. Fuck. That was scary, Kass. Really fucking scary. Something is going on with you,” Donna said, her voice high and pitched with her fear.

  After a while, her breathing calmed and I could tell she had come to a decision.

  “I’m not leaving. You’re going to take a Xanax and then you’re going to bed. No more Netflix for you.” She grabbed her purse and dragged me into my bedroom. I didn’t fight as she undressed me, taking off my suit top, then my shoes and the rest of my clothes until I was left standing in my underwear.

  “Where’s your pajamas?” she asked.

  “I don’t have any,” I finally answered, to which she sighed.

  “Get in bed. I’m gonna get the Xanax and some water. I’ll make myself comfortable on the loveseat here in your room for the night. Do you at least have some leggings and a t-shirt I can wear to bed?”

  “Middle drawer in my dresser,” I replied quietly as I climbed into bed. She left the room and came back with her purse and a glass of water. She shoved a small pill in my hand and told me to swallow it. I took a drink of water after I did, and she pulled the covers up and over me.

  “Did you see the marks on my ass?” I asked, and she looked at me with a confused expression.

  “I don’t know what you mean, Kass. I mean, we all have a little fluff we don’t like, but I always thought you had a fantastic figure. No need to get worried about it now,” she answered.

  So, she couldn’t see the welts from his belt either. I sighed and closed my eyes. The sleep aid worked quickly and before I knew it, I was in a dark, dreamless sleep.

  I didn’t wake up till noon the next day.

  When I opened my eyes, Markos was sitting next to me. I could feel his palm as he petted my hair and I mewled with terror, but my body reacted feverishly to his touch. It was as though his touch was amplifying my desire, even more powerful than before.

  “Markos,” I breathed softly.

  “Kassandra. I demand that you give me everything. Every single inch of you.”

  I whimpered.

  My vision wavered and my hearing dimmed, as though I was trapped, deep in the ocean.

  Again, I saw myself on the cross, only this time, I was bent over, and he was fucking my ass. I saw the red marks of the whip all over my body and I began to sob as I felt the sting of each one. My ass clenched, and I felt him stretching my tight hole once more and it was just as humiliating as it had been the first time. I watched, almost in a fascinated horror as his massive cock slid into me, over and over again. It was surreal. I was watching this from afar, but I could still feel everything he was doing to me. Fractured into two pieces, fated never to be whole again.

  I was terrified.

  My eyesight wavered again, and I found myself back in my bedroom.

  “Kass! Please come back!” Donna screamed, and Markos faded away. Her green eyes stared down at me with fear.

  I shook my head and rubbed my eyes.

  “That was a fucked-up dream,” I said sleepily.

  “You’re damn right. You were just lying there, rocking back and forth while you clutched your head, whimpering the whole freaking time. It was fucking terrifying,” Donna exclaimed.

  “How long have I been asleep?” I asked, trying to change the subject. The more these hallucinations occurred, the more uneasy I became.

  “Just over two days. It’s Sunday, early afternoon,” Donna replied. She was trying not to appear too anxious, but she wasn’t doing a particularly good job of it.

  “Wow. I guess I was really tired.”

  “Yeah. You slept solid until now. Must have been some nightmare, though, to wake you up.”

  I nodded.

  “You could say that,” I replied.

  “You’re sure you’re okay, Kass?”

  “I’m good, Donna. It was just a dream. Where’s Nicole?”

  “She was at her boyfriend’s for the last day or so, but I think I heard her messing around in the kitchen a little while ago. She was asking about you,” Donna answered. She made a face. “You know, she’s kind of a bitch.”

  I chuckled. Little did she know how right she was. With a smirk, I climbed out of bed, trying not to visibly wince when I felt the soreness in my ass, either from the whip, the belt, or his cock, I didn’t know.

  “Want to go get some breakfast, or lunch, I guess? I don’t really want to deal with her today,” I suggested, and Donna nodded.

  “Let’s get out of here. I was going a little stir crazy watching you sleep,” she replied.

  The two of us changed. I threw her an extra pair of jeans, and I pulled on a pair myself. We left my apartment, and luckily, we didn’t run into Nicole along the way. Just down the block was a small family-run diner. Donna dragged me straight to it, opening the door and pulling me along until the two of us slid into a booth. In no time at all, a slim brunette waitress had taken our order. She brought us coffee and I took a sip, sighing with pleasure at the taste.

  “How are you feeling?” Donna asked hesitantly.

  “I’m alright,” I answered, not knowing what else to say.

  We were quiet for a little while and the waitress brought our food. I dug in, masking the sounds of our silence with my meal. I had ordered pancakes and sausage, comfort food for my whirling mind, but it didn’t calm me.

  Instead, I began to hear screams and moans, the sounds of flesh smacking flesh, and more cries of pleasure and pain. I tried to ignore it, but they grew louder. It was starting to hurt my head.

  If I wasn’t careful, Donna was going to think I was losing my mind.

  I blinked, and I swore I felt someone’s fingers in my hair. They felt like Markos’, powerful, sure, controlling. They felt evil.

  Donna stared at me, suspicion in her eyes.

  I turned, but there was no one there. Rubbing the back of my neck, I breathed a sigh of relief. I shivered, just slightly, but then the sounds faded away. For the rest of our lunch, the sounds and visions let me be and as time went on, Donna began to grow more comfortable. By the end of the meal, she was her old sarcastic self, rather than protective momma bear she had been with me for days.

  “Listen, I gotta go run some errands and get some homework done before class tomorrow. I’ve got an exam I need to study for, but fuck, Kass, you call me if anything weird happens. Swear on the soul of your future firstborn child,” she demanded.

  “Scout’s honor,” I replied with a grin. That seemed to pacify her. Finished with our food, we paid and then headed out of the diner and once we were outside, she insisted on giving me a tight hug. Eventually, we went our separate ways. I went back to my apartment and holed myself up my bedroom. I watched Netflix from my computer and turned the sound up in case Nicole was home, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t at that point. I hoped she’d gone to stay the night with her man. It would be better for me that way.

  When I was alone, everything seemed to get worse. The episodes came more frequently then, and they began to escalate in intensity. Like Markos was gaining more power with each passing hour.

  He would appear all around me. Sometimes I would be naked and sometimes he’d tear the clothes from my body. I’d hear screaming and then I’d hear moaning. I wasn’t sure if it was myself or someone else.

  I was only vaguely aware of the setting of the sun and the rising of the moon. For periods of time, I would have stunning clarity. I could watch an entire episode of Supernatural and my sense of sight and my hearing would remain normal.

  But then, it would all go haywire.

  Eventually I fell asleep and, in the morning, the blaring sound of my alarm woke me from my heavy slumber. I hadn’t dreamed at all. It had been so peaceful. I just wanted to close my eyes and go back to the serenity of it all.

  It was Monday though. I had to return to work.

  I blearily pushed myself out of bed. Like a robot, I brushed my teeth and got dressed, slowly piecing myself together into normalcy. I made coffee and was relieved to see that Nicole wasn’t there. She’d been absent for much of the weekend, freeing me from her constant judgmental glances and bitchy negative comments.

  Yawning, I drank my cup and blinked my sleepiness away. For a while, all was silent, but eventually, the screams and moans returned once more.

  There was no explanation for where the sounds were coming from, except for the dark recesses of my mind. What the fuck was happening to me?

  I ignored them for a time and gathered my things, continuing on my usual commute to work. The subway swayed back and forth, and I could have sworn that I saw Markos in the crowd. His dark eyes always found mine, promising both sweet seduction and unfathomable pain. But then he’d disappear, and I was left lonely, bereft, and always searching for him.

  The subway pulled up to my stop. I stood and exited through the doors, walking up onto the streets and down the block to my office building. Like a robot, I walked inside and took the elevator up alone. The doors opened, and I entered into the main hub, surrounded by cubicles and people rushing this way and that.

  That’s when everything began to fall apart.

  The images before my eyes began to waver. The world grew dark, as if a fog had fallen suddenly over the Earth and everything around me grew misty and out of focus. Fires burned around us, and I realized that they were torches, hooked along a row of pillars.

  For a moment, they looked like glittering stars.

  The haze drifted away, and I realized I was in a large hall, like an ancient tomb or temple devoted to the gods of old. Turning my head, I saw that I wasn’t alone, that Markos was by my side. I was kneeling next to him and I looked down at myself. Completely naked, fresh blood dripping down my breast, I scrambled trying to figure out where I was injured. It didn’t take long for me to come to the conclusion that I wasn’t hurt. It was someone else’s blood. Had I killed someone? Had he?

  I breathed in nervously, drawing my bottom lip inward so that my upper teeth scraped against it. I cried out at a sudden pain and drew my hand up to my mouth.

  My teeth were too sharp. I’d cut my own lip with them.

  “Clumsy, warrior,” Markos purred, and my body roared with arousal.

  Where the hell was I? What was this?

  “Look at them all,” he said softly, and I did. I looked out into the hall and it was full to bursting with naked women and men. They mulled around, as if they didn’t know what to do and Markos scoffed beside me.

  “Kneel!”

  Every single person in the temple fell to their knees.

  “Look at them all. Humans were meant to submit to us. They crave subjugation. They once demanded freedom, but don’t you think it’s better this way, Kassandra? Because of you, they have a new kind of liberty. Now they serve the two of us,” he continued, and I looked on in horror.

  Markos pointed to a petite blonde woman in front of him and crooked his finger. She came to him without a single complaint. He petted her cheek gently and she cooed at his attentions. Gripping her upper arm, he pulled her to him and she laid her head on his shoulder, exposing her neck to him. Like she was asking for it.

  The vein throbbed in her throat and I could smell her. The iron in her blood called to me, as though it was a delectable piece of dark chocolate that begged for me to take a bite. I salivated at the scent and I began to have trouble quieting myself.

  With horror, I watched as Markos leaned forward, baring his teeth as he met my gaze. He wasn’t just a criminal, he was true evil.

  He was a vampire. He was a devil and his evil ran deeper than I could have ever known.

  Blood dripped down her throat, a red so stark against her paleness that it burned into my memory and I knew I would never forget the sight. I should be disgusted and terrified for my own sake, but as I watched him drink deep, I decided that I wanted a taste too. I craved her blood just as much as he did and I knelt there, petrified with shock.

  Markos reached out to me, beckoning me to come forward and have a taste and I screamed.

  Arms reached for me and my vision blurred between the temple and my office. Somewhere off in the distance I heard Nicole’s voice screaming, Lynn’s kind tone trying to calm the situation and I knew all was lost.

  “She’s insane. Get her out of here.”

  “She should be committed. This isn’t the first time this has happened,” Nicole said ferociously.

  “She’s lost her mind.”

  I screamed bloody murder, feeling Markos’ pull more strongly than ever.

  “Get her out of here. There’s PTSD and then there’s bloody fucking nuts.”

  “It’s not safe for her to be here. She shouldn’t even be let free into the public like this.”

  “I can’t even send her home. She’s too far gone,” Lynn screeched.

  The great hall full of naked, kneeling humans faded away completely and I was left staring into the concerned, panic-stricken faces of my coworkers. A large group of men held my arms and legs, keeping me still.

  I didn’t even know if it was real. I didn’t know if I was actually in the real world or if Markos had forced me into his.

  I’d seen his teeth. I’d seen him bite a woman and even worse, I had wanted to bite her too. Had he turned me into a vampire? Was I a monster just like him?

  Right before my eyes, he appeared. Behind him, Lynn and Nicole stared at me, unsure what to do with me and he just grinned. He had won.

  I was the only one who could see him.

  He was consuming my mind and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

  Someone came up beside me and I felt them stick a needle into my throat. The pain was sharp at first, but then it dulled as the fluid pushed into my veins and then, everything went dark.

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