Aislinn opened her eyes to find herself standing in the middle of a long dark alley. The heavy black sweatshirt she wore did nothing to protect her from the bone chilling wind that whipped through the alley. She shivered and shoved her hands into the front pocket. The dark cloudy sky was tinted a sickly red color and the rain that fell from the heavens was black and vanished just before it reached the ground. Aislinn quickly pulled her hood up to keep the disgusting substance out of her hair.
As she walked out of the alley she found herself caught up in a pack of people going about their daily business. To her horror all the people bumping into her were like ghosts, semi-transparent and without faces.
What the hell was this? A dream? No, a nightmare.
After a few minutes of struggling she was finally able to free herself from the throng of ghost people who seemed completely unaware of her presence. A tiny bit of the fear growing in the pit of her stomach vanished when she recognized where she was, it was the same street she and Levy and taken a stroll down on their day out together.
With no set destination in mind she ended up following the crowd of ghost people down the street with the hope that she'd be able to figure out why her mind had conjured up such a world, or at least find a way to jolt herself awake.
Any moment now I'll wake up
Aislinn kept repeating that phrase as she continued to walk down the unending road, the fear steadily growing stronger with each step she took until she was trembling. No one she'd passed so far had looked in her direction, let alone tried to harm her in any way, yet she found herself growing more and more terrified of the red tinted world filled with ghostly denizens and black rain.
Her steady walk slowly turned into a jog and eventually into a full blown sprint. She glanced in every direction to find the way out but no matter what street or alley she chose to follow, she always found herself coming back to her original starting point. She finally gave up when her fear induced adrenaline rush faltered. She sank to her knees in the middle of the street, tears threatening to break free as she tried desperately to catch her breath.
As she sat there, silently begging herself to wake up, she caught a glimpse of something white in the corner of her vision. Her heart skipped a beat. Who or what could that be in this world of sickly red and inky blackness?
She forced herself up, her shaking legs aching in protest as she took her first tentative step in the direction of the brilliant white color. She turned the corner to see a figure dressed in white, obviously a man, walking away from her.
"Levy?"
Relief swept through her. She called out to him several times but he didn't acknowledge her or even look back so she had no choice but to follow him. It seemed the faster she walked after him the farther away he became until she found herself stumbling just to keep up with him. It wasn't until her legs gave out and she tripped that he turned around to face her.
"Levy?" she whispered, squinting in the dim light to see his face.
A shiver of dread ran through her when the figure removed his white hat and let his eyes meet hers. It wasn't Levy, no, to her surprise and utter horror, it was the man from the bathroom. He and Levy looked so much alike she actually entertained the thought that they could be twins.
"Not the person you were expecting to find?"
"No, why are you here?!"
"Why indeed." He replied. He took a step forward and was right in front of her.
He ran his hand through his blonde hair in a similar fashion to Levy. He blinked and the silver color of his eyes changed to glowing crimson, just Like Levy's had done. He smiled, his canines lengthening to long fangs, reflecting the dim light from the nearby street lamp. Aislinn bit her lip silently to protest the wave of fear that washed over her.
"What? No cute little moan for me?" He asked, keeling down and reaching his hand out to touch her cheek.
"Don't touch me!!" Aislinn yelled, slapping his hand away as she crawled backwards.
"You're afraid of me and rightfully so, I am a monster and you see me as such but Levander, he's the same as me yet you don't see him the same light, why is that?"
"Because I know Levy would never try to hurt me but you will."
He laughed. Aislinn had to cover he ears to try and block out the terrifyingly sweet sound of his voice.
"I am a vampire and so is Levander, it is in our nature to kill. Somewhere deep inside you, you know what he really wants, you've seen it in his eyes, eventually his blood lust will override everything else and he'll devour you to satisfy the hunger that rages inside him."
"No, I don't believe you." She replied, her voice quivering slightly.
"Yes, you do, you just don't want to admit that I'm right, you don't want to admit that the man you're falling in love with isn't human and it's just a matter of time before he snaps!"
"Levy would NEVER hurt me, he would leave me before it ever got to that point!" Aislinn countered, though, in all honesty, she couldn't quite bring herself to believe in her own words.
"Would he really? Oh I doubt that. He wants you more then anything, he craves you more then anyone he's ever known. His lust drives him to dominate you and you make it so easy for him."
In the blink of an eye he forced Aislinn down on her back, using his body to pin her to the ground. She tried to struggle but he had the same unbreakable strength Levy possessed. She cried out for help but no one came, none of the shadow people passing by them even acknowledged their existence. He let her struggle until she wore herself out then he forced her hands up over her head and held them there with one hand.
"I just had a splendid idea! How about I take you for myself? You are very beautiful and you smell absolutely mouth watering..." His voice no longer sounded sweet to her ears but it was still incredibly hard to resist the compulsion she heard in it. He pushed her hair out of his way and took a long deep breath in.
"Stop it! Stop it! Let me go!" Aislinn commanded, trying to knee him in the groin. He easily deflected the blow then used his knee to keep her legs open.
"Your feeble attempts make me want to laugh," He whispered coldly, grabbing her chin with his free hand.
"S-stop...please..." She begged, tears welling up to blur her vision.
He ignored her pleas as he forced her head to the side before licking down her neck. He bit down hard. The incredible pain that radiated through her body brought her screaming out of the nightmare.
She sat up, bringing her hands up protectively around her throat as she struggled for breath and tears began to stream down her cheeks. Of course there was no wound and no blood but the intensity of the pain in the dream left her shaking violently.
"
Csitri
, baby, calm down, calm down, I'm right here!"
Levy's voice pierced through the veil of the nightmare still holding Aislinn in its thrall like a sword. Like a weight had been lifted off her body she felt her desperate will to fight back return along with a strength only a cornered person on the brink could possess. Her eyes snapped open and although she knew it was Levy's blue eyes that met hers, her mind, still partially trapped in the nightmare, could only see the eyes of the man who'd attacked her.
She screamed blood murder as she began to punch, kick, and claw at any part of his body she could reach. After Levy's initial surprise at her erratic behavior he didn't have much of a problem holding her down until she kneed him in the groin then smacked him as hard as she could across the face.
