Noise was infiltrating the haze of slumber that dragged at Sarah's consciousness. Lying in a frumpled heap, cold and dazed on the stone floor of what looked like a hovel, she struggled to sit up and take stock of her surroundings. Hay was heaped on one side of the small room, and the walls and floor were unrecognizable now that she was seeing clearly. One moment she was in her Washington penthouse, waiting for the phone to ring with news of her impending trial, and the next she was here, awakening to what sounded like the bleating of sheep and shouts coming from outside. Sitting up and gingerly moving her limbs, she saw that she was covered with bruises, scratch marks and long thin red streaks, with no memory of how she had gotten here or what had transpired.
Stretching and attempting to stand, she found herself dressed in a white blouse and a long skirt made of what appeared to be a potato sack, with leather slippers on her feet. Her breasts were more than half exposed in the blouse, her dark blonde hair falling over them, not hiding the scratches that marked her tender flesh. The blouse was somewhat bloodied, and as Sarah gathered her thoughts further, a rising feeling of panic began to fill her, her frantic thoughts adding up what appeared to be impossible but what she was indeed facing. Her thoughts ran rampant, her mind trying to grasp that she was not in a dream but in another reality altogether. A loud scurrying startled her, and she looked up in horror to see a gargoyle-like creature staring at her from a shelf that was encased in the wall, leering with impossibly large green eyes, drooling slightly from its full mouth of crooked sharp teeth. It was as surprised to see her as she was to see it, and disappeared into the cavern in the wall, only to return, jump down to the stone floor and lope out of the room through the low door on the side wall.
Shouting filled her ears, louder than the bleating she had heard, and the room was suddenly filled with gargoyle-like creatures, surrounding her and making cackling noises that were deafening. Two gargoyles that stood a head taller than the rest grabbed Sarah by the arms and led her forward, out of the room, still surrounded by the sea of gabbling grey hound-like creatures. Led into a room that was a stark contrast with her former surroundings, she now found herself in a warmly lit chamber, wooden furniture and floors, red and gold velvet coverings, and the figure of a man at the end of the room, apparently gazing into the flames of the fireplace he stood before. Turning, he uttered a short command that emptied the room of creatures, and addressed her.
"Sarah, welcome home, love." He said simply, sadness in his eyes.
She was as bewildered as she looked, she knew, but she sensed that she should know this man, this black-haired beautiful man with glowing eyes. She could not utter a sound, and just stood there, breathing erratically from fright, assessing him and struggling to remember what was on the edge of her mind, when he made a motion with his hand, sighing and looking resigned. She found herself sitting on a divan, divested of her torn clothing and dressed in a simple warm dressing gown, with him at her feet, taking her hands into his and looking deeply into her green eyes with an intense dark gaze, and the memories seemed to flood her all at once.
She had been waiting for that phone call from her lawyer, for hours it seemed, hoping and praying for news of some evidence that would run in her favour. Charged with fraud, her company no longer in her hands, a jail term and heavy fines imminent unless someone could refute the false evidence that her uncle had presented in court last week, she had been startled to hear a knock at the heavy mahogany door of her suite. Wanting no interruptions, she had nonetheless answered it, and seeing who stood there before her had caused her to faint dead away, for the first time in her life. It was the last person that she would ever have wanted to encounter again, her first lover, who she would have paid dearly for never to see or hear from again. At that moment, heavily burdened with worry, it was too much.
When she awoke, she was tied to the four-post bed, naked and gagged, and the familiar dread rose up in her like bile. He was standing there, grinning, his short hair bleached and his light blue eyes shining with an evil light, already stripped to the waist and palming a short crop that would deliver endless pain and increase his pleasure. It had been six years, but she knew the fear as if it was just yesterday, and felt her stomach clench and her eyes fill. He laughed, approaching her, and began to stroke her with his hands, caressing her breasts, tickling her sides with light touches, twisting her nipples and leaning down to taste them, tracing his tongue over the buds of puckering flesh, then cruelly biting down hard and sucking on them, seeing them redden and extend. She held herself still, not uttering a sound, knowing that any reaction would be encouragement for him.
"How I have missed you, my darling, " he said softly, belying the tender tone with his angry stare.
"The last time I saw you was on Allhallows Eve, if I remember correctly." His smile became feral.
Sarah felt her body become cold with the memory of that night, how she had finally escaped him at the costume party that he had designed for erotic pleasure, with her as the intended star. She jerked at her bonds, knowing it was futile but unable to stop herself, staring back at him with hatred and disgust. Her escape that night was due to a kind stranger, a man with a limousine that had picked her up and without question had brought her to a new city, where she had arranged for an identity without slavery. He had been the vampire at the costume party, and was not part of her plans, but he had made it possible for her to completely remove any trace of herself from her former life. Without him she would have been this animal's pawn and sacrifice that night, and now she shuddered at the implications of his having found her, even as he began to caress her again, knowing what was to come.
Four hours later, with every inch of her body caned and scratched and whipped, not with the expertise that she remembered but with careless rage, she had been ready to let herself fall into an abyss of nothingness. Every crevice and contour of her body had been probed and violated, for his pleasure. Suddenly, her world had changed, the walls of her suite becoming blurred and shifting, her tormentor fading away, expressions of disbelief and rage contorting his face. No longer caring why, she awoke in the hovel, blessedly not yet remembering what had happened.
As the awakened memories now receded, she looked into the eyes of the man before her and knew that it was he who had caused her to appear here. The vampire of her dreams, Validor, the man who had helped her before, had somehow transported her. He smiled gently, seeing that she realized who he was, and began to speak to her, a low compelling voice explaining the worlds of time travel and demons, ethereal and mysterious, and her place in it. Her memory of that night had been erased, letting her live in relative safety and ignorance of what had happened. Her first lover, half-human and half-demon, had been training her for his amusement, and had been thwarted. She had been safe until her name and picture had been printed in every newspaper in the country, on every channel and news site. As she listened to her rescuer's voice, a determination began to hum in her veins, passionate and endless, a knowledge that there was only one way to ensure her further safety from her tormentor.
As if reading her mind, Validor shook his head, a knowing look entering his eyes.
"It cannot be done, Sarah, " he said solemnly.
