Page 54 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

"Soon," he hissed, "You will be inside the Castle of Illusions, child. I wish you to grant me a boon, and I shall grant one for thee."

She jerked her head no in denial, yet her head didn't move at all. Yet, he seemed to understand her movements, for, against her will, her head slowly turned upward and she gazed into the most hideous face she'd ever seen. Undead and unliving, ghastly and skeletal, eyes glowing with green light like an aurora of death.

"I could end you here, dearest Tabitha, and eat your soul like you never even existed. Or, you can hand me the Relic of Souls and I'll return you to earth and gift you the perfect life you could ever dream of. Your father happily at your side, a perfect man who will worship your very toes, the most prestigious career in the history of mankind, you could live in infamy, as a goddess of word. All I ask of you," he hissed, his words traveling like a slow passageway of slothfulness, "Is you gift me the relic in exchange."

Her answer was ready and apparent. No!

Cruel, icy-cold fingers dug into her face as he leaned closer to her. Tentacles of something touched her waist and legs like slithering serpents that came from inside his robe. "You will do this for me, Tabitha Burke, or everything you have ever known will die."

In a flash she saw an image in her mind of her father crying over her grave. Then, the scene shifted and she saw her father in some lavish office putting a gun to his head and ending his own life, she saw Kane left in the woods with maggots crawling across his pallid dead body, eating his flesh from his deadened gaze, a bullet hole through his brain, her friends, she saw, caressed by death's ardor falling into madness and leaping to their death from a city skyscraper. She saw the entire city of St. Louis, her hometown, in an uproar as buildings burned and people rotted on the street, babies in strollers, the elderly dropping like flies, as a ghastly plague killed them off one by one.

"All that you know will die if you don't give me the relic, Tabitha. All that you have ever loved or held dear with fall sick with plague if you deny me this order. Give me my wish, and I will grant you rewards beyond your imagining. Never falter again, be loved and craved by all; be rich beyond your wildest dreams, win anything you've ever yearned for—all I seek is the Relic of Souls. Give me this, and I'll give you all."

Somehow her vocal cord worked, and with each word, a cold breath of air fogged her mouth. "I-I don't know where it is—"

"Shh, child. You are soon upon it, and it, soon upon you. Give me this relic, and I shall make your dreams come true."

"I—I c-c-can't."

"Then all will perish."

In her mind she heard the screams of little babies, saw the city engulfed in a nuclear blast, a violent blast like a bomb detonating and desecrating everything it touched—millions dead, lying in rubble, limbs torn asunder from their bodies. Tabitha wept harder, tears freezing like icicles on her face.

"I don't know where it is," she squeezed out hoarsely as his magic strangled her throat in a bruising grip.

"You have no choice…Tabitha, obey me!"

At that command, his hand fell away from her face, and Tabitha demurred, nodding obediently. "Yesss, massster," she hissed back, her eyes alit like green orbs.

His skeletal fingers caressed her cheek once more. "Good, child. Now return from whence you came." He pressed his icy palm to who forehead, suddenly, the world around her spun out of control.

"Tabitha. Tabitha! Tabitha!"

She recognized her name but not the person shaking her awake.

Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and an entire room of strange beings were staring at her, and she knew not where she was or who these strangers were, only that she had to get out of herenow!

Screaming in terror, Tabitha bolted up and heard a loud clatter behind her as a chair slammed to the floor.

Faces came into view as the vision of the golden dimension vanished, as did the terrifying figure of black and green man.

Breaths chaotic and disjointed, Tabitha scrambled and sprinted for the door. The heavy footfall of feet giving chase behind her, only intensified her fear.

She ran into a bright sunlit word as the creepy visage of the spectator ghost seemed to vanish from her brain. She tried to recall his face, his touch, his words, knew it was of utmost important, yet the more she tried to remember, the further it went away. Tears streamed down her face. Heat blasted her cool skin like a burn, and soon she was spun around by a tight grip and she hollered in fear, smacking at the intruder.

"Tabitha, calm down! It's only me! Tabitha, can you hear me!" The voice of the perpetrator was unrecognizable through her bleary state of mind. She only knew she needed to get out of this place right now before the entire world died in a massive massacre, and it was all her fault! She couldn't get her brain to work. It was like she'd been electrocuted or discombobulated. What was wrong with her? Her entire body was shaking to the bone as if she'd been in the freezing cold. A large hot hand scorched her face as it cupped her cheek and she screamed and clawed out in reaction and heard the man hiss in a breath.

Skin globbed under her fingernails from her attack and she spun around swiftly and tore off down the endless street with no trajectory in mind, only knowing she must get the Relic of Souls now!

"Tabitha!" the man roared at her, but she didn't care, she had to get out of here; she had to find the Relic of Souls before it was too late! Whoever spoke her name, she didn't recognize, didn't know him, which only heightened her uneasiness.

"Stay away!" she threatened right before she slammed right into a stall door. Her face cracked against the hard surface and she stumbled back, her vision going fuzzy, and then she was caught in the man's arms. She fought like a hellcat, clawing and screaming for all she was worth. "Let me GO! Help me! Somebody help me!"

Onlookers halted in their steps and stared at them with trepidation and unease.

Tabitha fought and squirmed but the big man was too strong, he panted and fought against her. "God dammit, woman, what is the matter with you!"

"Get away from me! Somebody help me!"

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