You know that feeling in your chest when you're waiting for something to pounce?
When you're playing hide and seek, and you know that the seeker is about to rip the pillows right off of your shit hiding spot. Or when your in the theater, watching a scary movie and the stupid main character is slowly opening the closet and you know the demon is going to be right behind it, waiting to make you scream. So
you stay, waiting, coiled as you expect that moment. That moment when the pillows are ripped off, the moment when the demon jumps in front of you.
That feeling defined my current existence, as I waited for my own moment of painful terror.
Waking up being carried into a church was not my ideal birthday circumstance, especially at 1 in the morning.
Gabe's strong arms were holding me close
to his chest. Carrying me through a dark entryway. "Nina..." I groaned, as my head pounded.
"Sh. It's gonna be fine just stay quiet" I heard her say from behind me. I was relieved to hear that she was with me. Was it all a dream? The monster? The golden eyed man? The memory of his fangs grazing my neck reached me. I touched the tender skin to find nothing there. My memory was hazy.
"Set her down" I heard Havana command, as I was placed down on a soft cushion. The high, wooden roof above me begun to light up, making me squint my eyes as Havana's face dragged across my line of sight. "What happened...?" I groaned, touching my stomach which felt sore.
"Mikeee!!" I heard Nina scream, her loud voice echoing across the empty and large room. "Damn it woman I'm coming!" An unfamiliar voice entered. "Put her up" I heard him say again. Hands big and small slipped behind my back, lifting my back onto another cushion.
I fluttered my eyes open to see that we were laying on the floor of the nave, clad in thick red carpet. A glowing shrine with Jesus starting right at me was illuminated in one of the many carefully sculpted corners, all holding light and gold accents of color in the gorgeous marble.
A sudden surge of pain convulsed through my body, in the spots where the strange disfigured monster cut into me.
I looked down at my stomach to see dried blood on the silky satin.
So then it was real? I wasn't dreaming?
The sharp ache echoed through me and I cried out, opening my eyes fully to see Gabe and Havana by my side. It felt like period cramps, all over my body. Hell is what it feels like.
Gasping for air, I cradled my arms to myself. My eyes greeting a crouched Nina and another man who I believed to be the owner of the voice I heard. They were stirring liquids together, tossing powders in and mixing herbs.
"I- I don't remember Christian-Catholics brewing potions" I coughed out in a weird slur, leaning into Gabe who looked at Havana cautiously.
Another pain rung through me, this one they noticed because I let out a blood curdling scream at the intensity of this wave. It felt like someone was placing hot knives all over my skin, cutting into it down into the bone.
"Shhh, it's okay, it's okay. It's gonna be fine Artemis" Havana cooed, as Gabe rocked me in his lap. I tried to ask what was happening with my body, but it came out as a gurgled choke. No pain I'd experienced could compare to this.
Nothing.
The man Nina was with was tall and scrawny. His chocolate skin was dotted with freckles, and a blue cap was on his bald head. He looked to be in his mid-40's.
YOU ARE READING
The Wicked & Divine
RomanceI thought that if I let go of the barrier between us, that everything would finally topple down, that the blissful pressure would crush my bones and split my veins and I would not know how to stop it. But letting go of my ideas and opinions about hi...
