Re: Who needs a prince when you're a queen?

Chapter Nineteen: The schemer, crossroads and Matrix

A large head of a woman was looming over me. 

She was a total beauty- her ebony hair was flowing freely in the wind, her eyes were shining black orbs, her lips a luscious red and she had a beauty mark just under one eye. Wait a minute, she seems so familiar. Could it be-

"TOMIE!" I shrieked out loud. 

The large floating head just gave me a smize. She then averted her gaze and turned to look at something behind me. 

I know that it's pretty stupid to turn one's back against an undead psychopath, but at that time, her bewitching looks and mysterious aura drew me to follow what she was looking at. 

Two doors of different colors stood parallel to each other. One was a bright red and the other was a cool blue. I raised a brow at the color combination.

"Wait, is this some sort of a Matrix thing? You know, the red pill and blue pill stuff?" I confusedly asked and turned to look around- only to see that Tomie's beautiful floating head was gone, only to be replaced with a person who seemed to be wearing a . . .  Ghostface mask?

A thousand questions rushed through my head, but suddenly, an oh-so-familiar voice echoed across the space. It was smooth and mellifluous, however it was also the type of voice that sounded cocky and teasing.

"So you decide not to wake up and would rather stay here in this desolate dream?" 

Albeit not seeing him physically, my instincts immediately thought of him and I could not help myself from grunting in annoyance. Rolling my eyes, I called out. "Where the heck am I, Valentin?"

He chuckled out loud before answering. "Now, now. That's not the right manners to greet your master, right?"

I groaned inwardly. "You still have that fetish?"

Once again, he laughed, but decided to avoid the question. "Everyone is terribly worried for you, Marcella."

Seeing that I was not replying to him, he continued. "Why are you still sleeping?"

"If I wake up, will you not kill me anymore?"

"How I wish I could," he mused. "But then, where's the fun in that?"

"You are crazy."

"And you are an idiot," he retorted. "How could you let yourself be used a human meat shield? You say you hate that prince and yet you shielded him- even going so far as to take that wolf's bite in his place. You may have a hero complex but unfortunately, you do not have heroic instincts."

I placed my hands akimbo and raised a brow at him. "And what, pray tell, should I have done in that moment?"

"You know, Marcella, you are quite a confusing creature. You say you do not care but then your actions completely oppose your words. You say you want to survive and yet here you are, dawdling in some dream so bland that it should be called a nightmare instead." 

I was too attacked that I could not even find it in myself to refute his words.

"Nevertheless," Valentin proceeded with his string of attacks. "I am still  a benevolent being, after all. I could have just let you sleep until the fated day but here I am, trying to bring you back. Surely, I must be saint."

I pursed my lips at his words. He could have just killed me and finish his job however he still chose not to and was even offering his help. Was Valentin this generous before? Still, I could not shake off the feeling that something was amiss.

I tried to push away the thoughts in my head and spoke. "Well, I must offer thee my thanks, O Gracious Master. May this humble subject of yours ask thee of thy assistance?"