A faint beam of moonlight flares across the sleeper’s face for the briefest of moments before being swallowed by darkness.
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Acrid smoke chokes the air; Satine coughs and sputters as she attempts to breathe past it. She flails her hands, desperate to clear the space around her from the thick haze that is both suffocating and blinding her. She lashes out blindly, stumbling forward, dodging countless fires that litter the warehouse floor. A sudden gush of clean air blasts her, and she inhales gratefully, blinking several times to clear her vision. The nightmarish scene behind fades to an indistinguishable grey blob, but she pays that fact no mind.
A distant crack splits the silence asunder, and Satine jogs forward down the hallway in the direction of the commotion. Just as she reaches the T-intersection of the two hallways, a pale man with dark hair emerges to her right, sprinting impetuously forward with the desperation of one hunted. He grasps at his side tightly, but a dark stain spreads from between his fingers despite his best efforts to stem the flow. A moment later the two collide and collapse in a tangle; Satine reaches out to right both of them quickly. She struggles to pull both of them to their feet, but his race has run its course; she holds him tightly as they sink to the ground once more.
For several moments, she looks around, stretching her senses as far as she can to find whatever has been chasing him - but to no avail. She snaps her head back to look at him as he touches her cheek, moaning at the feel of the hot blood his fingertips leave behind. She stares at him critically, but try as she might, she cannot discern his features though an air of recognition hangs about him. He reaches up again, placing his palm over her mouth and nose, fingers spread across her forehead and temple as if in benediction, marking her with a bloodied handprint. A shudder of both elation and disgust run up her spine.
“Baptized in blood, both damned and saved…Does your misery really enjoy the company it keeps?” His eyes flash a startling emerald as he body takes its last shuddering breath. She caresses the hair back from his face as she feels his soul slip away in the waiting arms of death.
“Tsk, tsk, Satine, I told you not to drain them dry, you need to leave enough to let them walk…” She spins around, trying to find the source of the dry Italian voice, but no one is there…
“How can I ever trust you again?” This voice is cold, emotionless; she winces, closing her eyes tightly, but a single tear rolls down her face, cutting through the drying blood.
Several moments pass as she kneels there, clutching the man’s body tightly. She jumps as gentle finger tips brush back her bloodied locks; opening her eyes, she lets out a wail. A beautiful strawberry blonde is bent before her. “Ariel…” Satine murmurs, and the woman smiles beneficently.
“Poor Satine, has it really come to this? Hush child…There is no need to fear. The path before you is set, but still you must choose…” Ariel leans forward, brushing their lips together before giving her a soft, undemanding kiss. Satine sighs, sliding her eyes closed after a moment as she relishes the affection. “I forgive you, Satine. Forgive yourself, for redemption awaits…” And with that, Ariel fades to a ghostly, translucent white, walking through Satine without so much as a glance behind her.
The dhampir shivers softly, suppressing a heart-wrenching wail. “Oh, Ariel…what have I done?” Another tears cuts a path through the dried blood.
An eerie sense of familiarity settles over Satine again; she chances a look at the room, and stares in absolute horror. A golden man stands before her, staring in equal horror at her and the body still cradled in her arms. He takes a few steps back, muttering softly…and explodes into darkness. His eyes, having once comforted her so, become a glittering abyss of nightmare, boring through her, infecting her very soul. He laughs softly as she shrieks, casting a glance to the side as a bald man emerges from the right side of the hallway.
The man is wearing a suit of which the likes Satine has never seen before, but it is not that that catches her attention. His eyes…His eyes are as pale as death as he stares at her, a gratified smile on his face.
“Your only choice is death,” he tells her. “You are not fit for redemption.”
The golden nightmare man shrieks, and Satine responds in kind…
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A scream catches in her throat as Twist sits up abruptly, heart pounding in her chest. The man beside her does not stir as she sits there for several moments, taking in long, shuddering breaths to ease the fear.
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The moon light flares again, and the sleeper awakens, still caught in the terrible depths of her vision. She twists and turns, but the darkness holds her, silencing her screams. Her bright red hair fades to the darkest shade of midnight, clear blue eyes darkening to a frightful, stormy grey. A savage blood lust wracks her body as she struggles against her bonds, groaning at the feel of the many heartbeats around her. Several moments pass…
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Twist rubs at her face in her hand, trying to get her racing thoughts under control. She holds out her hand, and reaches for the darkness within her, but her hand explodes in a magnificent bright light. Mase stutters mid snore, and Twist closes her palm quickly, frowning. She pauses, then tries again, smiling softly as her hand fills with a thick dark cloud. She sighs contentedly, looking over at her lover…and her hand explodes once again into a bright light.
Tears leak out slowly from her eyes as she watches him sleep, a single thought repeating itself over and over in her mind.
Is who I am worth sacrificing for a man who hurts me?
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“Oh,
A last beam of moon light shines across her face, and the memory of the nightmare fades away…except for those eyes, those eyes the color of death…
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