Nightwolf

“You’re…” he begins, then clears his throat. Licks his lips. “You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever known.”

I’m beaming at the compliment, considering how long he’s been on the planet. “You didn’t think it would be like this with me?”

He gives a shake of his head. “Dreams could never compare.”

Then he pulls out of me, and I’m hollow inside without him there.

He lowers me to the ground, zips up his pants and picks up my discarded jacket, putting it over me. I absently put my arms through the sleeves, moving slow, my body and mind still trying to catch up.

“Come on,” he says, taking my hand. “I need to fuck you on a bed, like a gentleman.”

“Like a gentleman?” I say, looking down at my ripped leggings and underwear, the fact that he completely decimated what I was wearing, and now I have to walk back to the house sans pants and panties. Thank god my jacket is just long enough. “Would a gentleman do this?”

“I have many sides,” he says with a wry smile, though that heat in his eyes never really leaves.

I’m starting to find that out, I think.

We head back down the trail to the house, and it takes most of the walk for everything to clue in.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so happy.

I wake up with a start, eyes flying open, staring up at the ceiling.

The room is completely black, and so quiet that I can hear the waves pounding the distant shoreline, and Wolf’s soft breathing from beside me.

We fell asleep in his bed, a tangle of naked limbs, after going at it for most of the day and night. I think we finally gave out after midnight, though he could have kept going. Fucking a vampire is like being with a horny teenager who just discovered sex for the first time and is constantly hard, except in this case, Wolf has more skill in the bedroom than any human being ever could.

I mean I saw fucking stars.

I attempt to reach over and touch Wolf, just to make sure he’s there since it’s always a bit scary when you wake up in a strange room, but when I try, I can’t. I can’t move my arm. I can’t move anything.

And that’s when the pressure hits.

All at once it pushes down on my chest, nearly cracking my ribs, and I open my mouth to gasp and no sound comes out. I stare at nothing and then realize the darkness is growing, like I’m seeing shadows beyond shadows and they’re coming for me, wanting to consume.

And on top of it all is this thing on my chest. I can see it clearly now, something black and winged and brimming with malevolence.

Oh my god.

Wolf, Wolf, please help.

I try to move my head to see him but I can’t. I’m so trapped, so helpless.

And then his breathing deepens, and for a moment I’m scared he’s falling into a deeper sleep, leaving me alone, but as it deepens it becomes more ragged. Wet. Gurgling. Like there’s something in his lungs, and that’s when I realize that it isn’t Wolf beside me.

No, that isn’t Wolf at all.

Ice-cold terror fills my veins.

Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

The thing on my chest adjusts its weight but when I stare at it I can’t see the shadows anymore, it’s just this darkness.

And out of the corner of my eye, there’s movement.

The bed jostles slightly.

Whatever is lying down beside me is moving.

Slowly sitting up.

Pure panic stabs my chest, over and over again.

Oh god, please, someone help.

Solon, I think hard, trying to send the message, since he’s the only mind-reader I know. Please help, please help!

And the thing beside me sits up even further and I’m staring out of the corner of my eye as it comes into focus.

It’s a woman.

The woman in the hospital gown.

And this time she’s looking right at me.

A face full of blood, of brains and grey matter smeared across her forehead, into her eyes, falling off in chunks from a giant wound in her head, her hair tangled and matted.

I open my mouth to scream but there’s only silence.

And the woman reaches for me with shaking, bloody hands.

Hands that seem so familiar that they strike a chord of sadness inside me and yet I can’t even begin to know why.

Suddenly the door to the room swings open.

“What the fuck?” Wolf cries out and as he does so, the woman and the creature on my chest suddenly dissolve into a flock of ravens. Actual fucking birds.

The ravens fly around the room, flapping their black wings and letting out deep growls, a whirlwind of feathers and chaos, and then fly right over to Wolf.

He ducks and the flock of ravens fly over him, around him, and down the hall that’s dimly lit by a nightlight.

I jump out of bed and run over to Wolf in the doorway, his arm going around me, my hand on his chest, watching as the ravens fly down the hallway then swoop in formation down the staircase. The sound of their wings beating fill the air, echoing, then disappear.