Page 2 of True Sacrifice
In a blink, my eyes opened as I felt a rush of pain in my stomach. A large pair of wide blue eyes stared back at me in horror. My gaze flicked down to the burning pain I felt in my stomach. It was because there was a knife in me. A knife held by this fucking blue-eyed creep.
I screamed. I screamed out in pain and fear. This was the worst fucking nightmare I have ever had. Everything felt too real as the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I was about to die by some weird ass fucking serial killer.
My scream shocked him enough that he blinked several times. A sudden look of realization washed over him. He turned with dedication in his stride and walked away from me. An altar sitting in the middle of some weird-ass symbols and writings waited for him. He started chanting. This wasn’t fucking singing. It was definitely chanting this time. Never read from the spooky ass fucking book you dipshit. Ahh fuck, murdered by a serial killer or sacrificed to Satan. Those were my options.
They had tied me to a chair, a strap across my chest and my thighs. My arms were bound to the armrests, my legs to the feet. I was well and fucking stuck. The only thing I could think to do was to tip the chair and hope to fucking break it. I rocked my body weight back and forth until it finally tipped on its side. Blinding pain shot through me as I hit my head on the cold stone floor. I could feel the floor around me growing warm. My eyes fluttered closed.
Faint chanting pounded through my head, and I felt the very stone under my body tremble. The chanting turned into blood curdling screams, but even they soon faded away. I felt myself dipping deeper into a quicksand of darkness.
Something touched my face. Warmth and security flowed through me, temporarily pulling me back from the abyss. I felt a pull towards the sensation and wanted more.
“Yes.” I heard the low growl all around me, seemingly bouncing off the walls back at me as the darkness advanced again. This time swallowing me whole.
Maybe I didn’t die, and it was one intense dream. The darkness receded as I fought to open my eyes. I was pulled from the deepest sleep of my life, and my body wanted nothing more than to lie cocooned in my cozy bed all day. That concert had exhausted me. Other than the weird-ass murder dream I had, the rest of the night was deep dark sleep.
I stretched a bit, groaning. I hadn’t opened my eyes yet. I was working up to it. Today felt like one of those days when I would stay in bed. What was one more day to collect myself? A quick email to my professors to see if I could make up some of the work would at least be progress.
No. Last night, I had decided it was time for a change. I needed to get back out there in the world and stop sulking around like a ghost all the time. Today, I was going to grab life by the balls. No one, not even me, would get in my way today.
Opening my eyes after my little pep talk left me confused. It was darker than I expected. As in, still the middle of the fucking night kind of dark. I sat up to grab my phone and check the time, but my phone wasn’t there. My entire table was missing. There was a table there, but it was not mine. Realization hit me in the side of the face, as if I had mentally slapped the fuck out of myself. This was not my fucking room.
Panic gripped me, and I grabbed my shirt, lifting it to inspect my stomach. I sighed in relief as the skin there was whole and smooth. No sign of a stab, no pain or tenderness. My relief was short-lived, since I still didn’t know where I was.
I looked around, spotting a floor to ceiling window. My bare feet hit an oddly warm stone floor. I opened the curtains and saw a vast city sprawled out beneath me. I had never seen a city like this one. The buildings looked like they were made of stone, carved into the nearby hills and rocks. There was no sun in the sky but a faint glow from several concentric rings. Red rivers snaked through the landscape. An eerie glow emanated from them that faintly illuminated the land.
This wasn’t home. I had no fucking clue where I was. This was not what I meant by changing my life when I went to bed.
No knock sounded at the door to precede the stranger who burst through. He filled the doorway with his size, and I scurried into the corner of the room furthest from him. He didn’t move into the room, content to watch me from the doorway with a hint of amusement in his eyes. He leaned his arm against the frame.
I took a moment to study him. The faint red glow of light seemed to cast his skin a crimson shade. His hair blended into the shadows but appeared long and swept back. He wore a black shirt, buttoned, with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. A short beard covered his face, styled to a point at his chin. He looked like a rock star, but not the singer. He could have been a drummer, though.
Oh fuck, I got kidnapped by a stranger from the concert last night.
“Please, let me go home. I promise I won’t say anything.” I went with begging.
Short Girl Tip 17: Let Them Underestimate You.
He fucking smirked at me. Guess big bad here likes them small and weak. That’s ok. He will learn soon enough that I am far more than meets the eye. You can’t grow up in a small farm town without learning how to hold your own weight. Plus, the self-defense classes my mom insisted I take now that I was living across the country. At least Sheila had every class with me.
Fuck. Sheila.
I hope she didn’t get dragged into this shit. That girl could hold her own and had an attitude that would make most men cry. She was as ruthless as she was beautiful. If they had her here, they were fucked.
The man finally stepped foot into the room, flicking a switch, he turned on a light. Well, sort of light. I looked around to see hundreds of milky white crystals growing in a band around the top of the room. They came in all shapes and sizes, some a foot long, while others looked more like glistening glitter. Soft light emanated from them. They were seriously cool.
He continued toward me slowly, until reaching the bed. He took a seat at the end. His hands fitted together on his lap and looked me up and down. Fine, I could look in the better lighting as well then.
He had horns. Mother. Fucking. Horns. Growing out of the top of his skull. Curling back horns. They were as black as his hair. I gasped as I realized even in the soft white light, his skin remained red. It was a softer shade now, more of a tint of red, but definitely red. Black tattoos covered what little skin I could see on his arms, and he even had a few on his hands. Black fitted slacks and shined shoes gave him every bit the look of an important businessman.
I just stared. It was probably rude of me but give a girl a break. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the abducted by an alien scenario. Must have been a more advanced class of self-defense for this type of shit storm.
“You don’t get to probe me.” I pointed at him with a stern look on my face.
He tilted his head as if he were studying me. That fucking smirk still on his face. Shit, maybe he didn’t speak the same language as me.
“Home.” Pointing out the window and into the sky. “Earth.” I tried to mime a circle with my hands. I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing.
He barked out a laugh but controlled himself quickly.
