 
### Dance of Desire

#### By Lily Green

#### Published by Publications Circulations LLC.

SmashWords Edition

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, companies and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

The following story is for entertainment purposes only. This book contains sexually graphic scenes depicting consenting adults above the age of 18 engaging in passionate sexual acts. This story is intended only for persons over the legal adult age. By downloading and opening this document, you are stating that you are of legal age to access and view this work of fiction. Mature readers only. Reader discretion is advised.

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**~ ~ ~ ~**

### Chapter One

"KAREN, what the hell is that?"

Cassie pulled her fingers out of her brown hair where she'd shoved them in frustration. Karen walked to her, bringing with her the pungent smell of industrial strength bleach and super cleaner. Karen was the resident manager and caretaker. She perused the stain on the floor as Cassie finished putting the last part of her new bed frame together, then she crossed to open a window for fresh air.

"I still have no freakin' idea, kiddo." Karen shoved her hands in her jumpsuit pockets. "That's my last, best idea on spot removal and it's not even making one damn dent in it. Sorry. And I know the feeling. I had one of these in my apartment, too. Just figured the last resident manager had left it, which doesn't explain why she'd just bolted and left all her stuff, though."

"Really?"Cassie's expression said that was strange.

"Yes. Really. My boss was vague and prickly on the subject. The company should've just kept her deposit, not all of her belongings. Who just leaves all their stuff and wanders off? Maybe she just cracked under pressure? Residents can be wicked odd." She sighed with annoyance, blowing wind through her lips like she was whistling. "What could have made that thing?"

Both young women stared at the large stain staring back at them from the corner of her new bedroom. It was big, and dark. It gave the feeling that it was crawling up the wall- _of course it wasn't, how could it?_ -but it just got under Cassie's skin somehow.

She frowned at Karen."How'd you get rid of yours, then?"

Karen shrugged. "Didn't. Still there under a big rug my last boyfriend stuck me with."

Cassie stomped her foot in frustration."This place is new! Half the apartments aren't even lent yet. There was a janitor and resident manager here before you. How long could she have lived here?"

The manager shrugged before speaking."Couple of months, maybe? Been here just a couple of weeks myself, Cassie. And to tell you the truth, I keep finding these marks throughout the building."

"Everyone has one?!"

"No. But, Jimmy-down the hall and other side?"

Cassie made a face, remembering. _That man is distasteful,_ she thought.

"Well, Jimmy has one, too. But not the Carsons, that retired couple with the energetic redheaded little girl and boy? Or Ms. Samson, that wicked tough chick, who lets _everyone_ know she's a die-hard celibate, abstaining from sex and all things carnal. Not a good conversationalist, that woman. But you didn't hear that from me." Karen sighed again."I have to check with my boss to talk with the owners to get with the builders, Cassie, but it keeps slipping my mind. I haven't been getting enough sleep. This is not right. Really bugs me and feels kind of nasty, you know?"

"Yeah, and it ruins my design plans," Cassie said.

Karen nodded in sympathy.

Then she suddenly got an idea. "Well, now I know what to do with this."

Cassie grabbed a rolled-up synthetic rug and rolled it out, covering the blemish. Both women moved it and made it flat, covering the part of the stain on the floor, but not the part staining up the walls at the corner. It was an ugly rug, too.

"My grand auntie's," she explained. "Insisted I 'christen' my 'first home away from home' with it. She said that it was accidentally drenched in holy water once and has been lucky ever since. I love her, but I hate this old rug. It still has a good sheen, though. I think it's made of rayon. They don't make that anymore, do they?"

Karen almost shook her head, then shrugged, clearly not certain.

Cassie shook her own head, still not feeling the joy over the solution. She now had a spot with a louder spot on top of it. Plus, the original stain was staring back at them with malice from where it crept up the corner's walls.

"Put the bed over it, kiddo, covers the whole damn thing. That's what I did downstairs. Diagonal in the corner, works the room better than squarin' it."

"Huh. Let's see." They dragged Cassie's new bed frame over, then lifted it over the rug. "Yeah. I think you're right."

Minutes later, they had the foam mattress on and Karen had to leave after her phone buzzed and she read the message.

"Gotta go. Jimmy's got a 'drain straight into hell,' he says." Chuckling and rolling her eyes, she left.

Alone, Cassie dressed her bed then lay down on it for a little nap, glad to be out of that creepy motel with the neighbor who stood in his doorway and watched her every time she stepped outside. Or in a dorm, where kids-well, young adults-out on their own for the first time, acted like crazed hedonists all day, every day. She didn't mind a drink, sex, or getting a bit smashed on one or the other, but being smashed on both, perpetually....

Okay, her cousin's antics and horror stories about college life were turning out to be true. The stories of guys and girls who'd didn't know from where they'd gotten some icky STD. But, oh my god, it was worse here.

Not know how you got pregnant and by whom?! That is too drunk or too stoned. And it is crazy, too crazy even for a movie.

That's why she had wanted her own place. She needed the distance from the constant pressure of daily impromptu dorm parties and tomfoolery as she stretched her own limits and explored adulthood in the big city, without a roommate to distract her or drag her into some long, extended crying jag about her last broken relationship.

Anyway, she presently needed a little rest from moving in and dealing with the unclean- _at least it felt that way_ -like a mark of Cain hidden beneath her bed and a clean but ugly rug-before she'd go across town to meet her new friends from school.

Her new bed was especially comfortable so Cassie burrowed in and drifted off into Dreamland on a gentle, warm cloud.

And, in the way of dreams, when your life was in flux, she dreamed of leaving home and entering her new apartment, of moving to a big city that was completely new to her and far from all she'd previously known, in order to attend school as a new freshman at a college the size of a city itself.

Young Cassie dreamed deeply of being an adult with adult responsibilities now, and of a world that was new, wide, and at her feet.

She grinned while she dreamed, pleased to see that what she had envisioned from online pictures and paper brochures hadn't done justice to the actual places inside the college-the quad, the library (the extensive physical one and the extensive online one, both interconnected with county, state, and fed libraries, too!), the president's old mansion residence, and the oil baron millionaire heritage mansions that were now part of her school's real estate. Plus the new corporate-sponsored tech labs.

"But you don't know anyone there," Mom said.

"I'll make new friends; good friends."

And she had, as she now dreamed of her new friends in and out of class.

She smiled happily, still in her sleep, exploring with excitement the busy streets and the shopping near to her apartment-laundry shops, coffee shops, internet cafes, a little mall, a burger joint with fattening to-die-for sandwiches and fries and brownies, and a small family-run grocery store. This was her home and place for now-these were her people. And there would be more people more places all fascinating and wonderful!

And, again, in the way of dreams, she walked from one step to another, stepping from college to being surrounded with her friends, taking no notice of the change in the quick dream transition but immediately loving how her possible new apartment was located at the far end of the corridor, on the second floor, at the corner.

It was a completely new building, too, only a few months old.

But Cassie didn't know that it replaced an older building that had been over a hundred years old, and that it had burned _"to the ground in intense heat and leaping fire like Hell's own fire,"_ the news article had read in print and online.

It hadn't been empty during that blaze, either.

Cassie's dream view was as clean and precise as her mind. Her mental schematic included the entire rectangular complex-meaning that in her dream perspective, she could see all of it, like a 3D blueprint. It had a garden square section in the middle that wasn't yet thriving with greenery-okay, it was just dirt, so far. All doors faced the main, encircling corridor. Each tenant had the choice of a view of the surrounding city block area, or a view of other tenant's windows from the facing buildings.

Cassie's corner apartment was bigger than the others beside and opposite hers, which were still vacant, at least for now. It overlooked the street and a park and...

And that gross stain on her bed.

Well, on her dream bed, not under it. Either way, it intruded into her mind's dream.

She scowled in her sleep. She would have been surprised if she were now watching herself dreaming, whimpering a bit, as if she were frightened. Then her alarm went off.

And it quickly dragged her back to this reality. She resurfaced sluggishly, briefly seeing a 3D blueprint of the city, too, especially her university campus with dark, writhing, and gross stains dotted across and encircling...

"Uh!"

Cassie awoke fully, startled upright from her nap by real alarm. And with the shock, she immediately forgot what she was dreaming about. It quickly faded into unreachable nothingness. She could not even remember what shocked and scared her so much that she woke up.

She turned and saw the gold lettered business card propped on the table by her bed, beside her alarm clock. It was one of several given to her by her friend Krystal. She said a _"maybe cute, tattooed guy in a hoodie and sunshades, with delicious lips for kissing"_ had given it to her to distribute to her friends. And she was gushing when she said it, which surprised Cassie because it was so un-Krystal-like.

Cassie hadn't seen the hot, hooded guy. She was on a mandatory library training session when the guy walked up to Krystal and gave her the cards. They were passes to a club _"for free entry, plus one, and a free drink,"_ was what he apparently said. Krystal said the club was one of best in town and really hard for just anyone to get into.

_"Bring all your friends, Sweet Girl. There's always room for the smart and beautiful,"_ was the last thing the guy said before leaving, according to Krystal.

Cassie had asked if the hoodie guy had said he'd be at the club, too. Krystal hadn't asked. She'd hoped, but had been too shy to ask. He must have really been impressively magnetic to get K all wet and waxing poetic, even with tats, a hoodie, and dark shades. She often said that she only liked guys who were clean, open, and honest.

And then she suddenly realized... "I'm going out tonight! For the first time, out on the town with my girls; all night. Oh, wow!"

She leapt out of bed, grinning ear to ear, and paused to take a look around her new adult residence-all hers. She still had some unpacking, decorating, and settling in to do but she'd accomplished her dreams. She was grown up now, had moved out on her own and would be _"moving up in the world,"_ as her Dad would say.

Looking at it and feeling it all around her felt so good.

She went to get ready.

### Chapter Two

CASSIE JUMPED OUT of a city taxi with her free card held tight in her hand and rushed to get in line at the nightclub to wait her turn.

"You!" The guy on the door waved her out of line, past those who'd been waiting much longer.

"Me?" Cassie stopped, dead in her tracks, like a deer spotted by a hunter.

"Ah, come on, man! You let the cute girl go in? She just got here!"

The guy on the door shrugged to the complainer. "What can I say? She'll lighten up the place. Go right on in, miss."

"I do have a card for free entry." She held her free card up.

The door guy didn't even look at it. "Of course you do."

As soon her card was stamped, Cassie stepped directly inside a throbbing, pulsing, living environment. The place felt like nothing she'd ever been before. It was sensational. Amazing. It was magical.

Alive!

"Want ta dance?" a total male stranger abruptly asked, looking very intent-too intent.

Okay. A little less "magical." The man's approach was a bit unsettling, in fact, making her feel suddenly like she'd entered a room of hunters and she was a delicate, edible prey.

"Um. No. But thanks."

He frowned, like she'd led him on and done him wrong. She was glad when he stalked away. She quickly looked around for her friends.

Oh, there.

They waved her over. They were sitting in a cozy corner; three young women clustered around a glass table on lavish, cushioned sofas.

"Hi, Cassie," greeted Lauren, their ringleader, with her dark hair and slanted eyes. "You are late!"

Cassie rolled her eyes as Anne scooted closer to Krystal to make room for her. She felt harried and off-balance. It was always like that when she'd planned to be extra early so she could get her bearings but managed to end up late. "This isn't class. I can be a little late. Traffic is horrendous in this city at night. Could've gotten here faster on a cow." She giggled. Then she took a breath, settling herself, before leveling her gaze at her friends. "Hello, bitches!"

"Yeah!" they all chorused together.

From the looks of it, she wasn't really so late, although she could see her friends had all downed at least two drinks each. Even Krystal, though hers came with umbrellas and straws. Looking sideways at Anne, she found the blonde distracted. Following Anne's green-eyed gaze, Cassie saw a young man at the bar and Anne was playing a flirty-eye game with him.

"I thought you were a prude," Cassie said to Anne, who shot a double-take look at her.

"A prude? Girlfriend, there is no such thing as a prude in a bar full of hot, available men!"

"Don't get your hopes up, dear," Krystal piped in over the music and noise and between sips of her drink. She flipped a lengthy bit of auburn hair off her golden tan shoulder. "Like that all-male dorm next to mine. But I bet, at least half of the beautiful men in here love beautiful men, too."

They all giggled like crazed chicks. And many a man was watching and circling to approach them. While men were working up their nerve, Cassie's group was complete and they officially began their evening, ordering drinks and food to share, sometimes dancing with an occasional guy and with one another, too. Girls could do that. It just made guys want them more.

"I've never been to a place like this. I love it! We have to come back. A lot. And often- _very_ often," Cassie declared as they came back to sit and have more drinks, becoming louder the more they drank.

Cassie bounced on her sofa seat. The entire place was furnished for high society yet professional and comfortable, too. The blaring sounds oozing from the speakers, the lighting, the courteous, smiling service-all of it seized something deep inside of Cassie.

Her old town had nothing like this-a town she'd never been out of for more than a few hours, where it only took twenty minutes to drive all the way through, anyway. If you drove very slowly.

It was mesmerizing in this city, and she could get easily drunk by the ecstacy of being care free for the first time in her life. She danced with her friends again. They were playing one of her all-time, sexy old favorites, The Eagles' _Those Shoes_. She was feeling it in her body and loving the sexy guitar and throbbing-

"Dance with me."

The warm voice slithered through her and seemed to come out of nowhere, a total unexpected surprise. _How bossy._ And she should feel offended, she sort of thought. But his voice was more of a seductive purr than a command, spoken into the deepest and centermost of the swirl in Cassie's ear.

Contrary to being offended, Cassie was instantly all a-tingle, even before she slowly turned to see him. "Damn."

She'd been afraid he was going to be like one of those radio performers, a great voice with ogre face and body.

But no.

Not even close.

He was a gorgeous hunk. Fucking gorgeous. His skin was a delicious, edible shade of brown. His looks were somehow exotic, tropical, and fascinatingly _other_. His eyes were so remarkable that she wanted to fall into them.

He led her away from her friends, through the crowd that parted for them. He led her across the dance floor, stealing her away from her present dance partner, Anne, who was left standing there with her mouth open.

A tall person bumped into them as they walked past. The person was androgynous, someone beautiful but clearly gave off the feeling of being male. He bumped shoulders with her gorgeous hunk in that challenging way males do as they passed each other. They exchanged a pointed look before they passed.

Cassie forgot it immediately as her gorgeous hunk returned his attention to her. She liked the way he looked, square-cut jaw but not too square, with sad, smoldering eyes and a well-muscled build. Everything about him whispered hot... hard... soul-stirring sex to Cassie.

She'd never had hot, hard, soul-stirring sex, just regular vanilla sex with past boyfriends too few in between. But if he liked...

"What's your name?" she asked Mr. Gorgeous Hunk as they started to sway.

He laughed a bit as he moved around her, as if checking her out at every angle. She so wanted to squeal in delight, but that wouldn't be sexy or cool.

"Not yet. I'll tell you later," he finally answered.

Damn, he moved well like-really well. He was so mesmerizing that others stood, lurking about to watch him twirl her, move her, hold her against himself. He watched her and she liked him watching her. She'd giggled and squirmed a little at first, every time he brought her close to his body.

He'd pull a little half smile at her reaction. So sexy.

"You have to get used to me holding you, Beautiful. I like the way you move, the way you feel against me."

"Y-You do?" she stammered. _Uncool, Cassie._ "All these dancers, you can do better than me."

His reaction was a quick, deep frown. "No, I can't. You're right I shouldn't be with you. You're far above me, Beautiful. But I can't resist you."

_What the flying fuck. Could he really be that into me? Probably a very effective line... very effective._ She mentally tried to back pedal her emotions away from him. It wasn't working.

The man passed his hand over empty air at the edge of the bar and materialized a drink.

_Wow! What a great trick! How'd he do that? He's like a magician._ Cassie clapped at his magic. He took a sip then handed it to her. She gulped it down thirstily, and she wanted to get back to dancing with him, fast.

She made a face. "Odd. Tastes sweet and something... funny." She actually belched! Not a demure little burp but a full-on belch. Cassie was horrified! But he didn't seem to notice or care.

"A special recipe from my exotic homeland-Cleveland, Ohio," he said with mock importance.

That made her laugh out loud. Okay, she was officially drunk. But she sobered when he stared at her with a look of awe, so full of yearning. "You're so beautiful. You shine with light. Go away with me?"

His request was so abrupt and seemingly real that part of her screamed, _Yeah!_ Another part, the part that was still her mother's child, said, _Whoa, girl!_ Speechless, Cassie involuntarily shook her pretty head. Okay, she wasn't feeling so much the sophisticated city girl just now. She felt confused ad immature.

He laughed sexily before shrugging with a shyness that seemed in direct contrast to his self-assured look. He whirled her out to dance again. She was a bit dizzy. No, she felt more like she was a top spinning and enjoying the spin as she clung to his hard arms.

"Man, you smell fantastic," she blurted.

"What?"

She shook her head, thinking it was embarrassing to repeat her impulsive comment. He did though. He smelled like no man she'd ever smelled before, like exotic spices and intoxicants. Like wrapped in sweet things, coconut and flavored with sexy, irresistible MALE scent. She was done giggling like a schoolgirl since they were now rubbing against each other with serious intent, hard enough to generate flames that could set the club and the world afire.

She didn't know where she got that thought. Hot. Fire. Both of them were inflamed...

She didn't know where her friends were. She wasn't even thinking of them. Cassie wanted this nameless man inside her.

She felt _him_ , felt his lengthening cock against her. She closed her eyes. It felt like he was already inside her, plumbing her deepest secrets. Flames, yeah. Pure, blue fire. It was already there, licking around inside her, making her moisten in welcome. Heat curled inside her, like fingers beckoning from his sex to hers, making her ache for him as she felt the manly part of him grow harder, wanting her.

Cassie's answer came as she rubbed herself against his hardness, which was something she'd never done in public or in private before, and she didn't even notice. She burned for him. She felt bright and radiant as the sun for him, even if she was also feeling very wild and wanton. Like an animal in heat.

Gazing into his face, she didn't find any expression that said he'd expected this kind of behavior from her. Or that he was disgusted by it.

His expression said he was surprised that she was so pleased to be with him and so open to showing him her pleasure.

Or maybe I'm more than a bit drunk and reading too much into this? But it felt good... to feel like this. So free. Like this...

Cassie was completely lost in her erotic shamelessness, breathing deeply-panting really-like she was ready for penetration.

"Beautiful, you're ready."

_For what?_ The thought chugged slowly through her hormone-flooded mind.

He seized her tightly to him, making her open her eyes, half-lidded like a sleepwalker. She was burning up, his body hot and hard against hers, her crotch wet and humid and hungry, as she clawed at his muscular back to hold him closer to her. She felt his hand kneading her ass cheek while she rubbed her aching body against his, and in her head...

The world shifted. A hazy distortion.

A bird flew past her view! It was close enough to make her flinch.

A dove. A white dove. _What the hell...?_

"Did you see that? A dove! In here."

Annoyance flitted across his expression and he glanced across the floor, but she didn't see who he saw. The annoyance left his face before he looked at her again. "No, Beautiful. I only see you. I only want you. Say 'yes' to me. Now."

Cassie was panting hard and was horny as hell but..."Really? No white dove? You didn't see that? Wow, man. You're really getting to me. I'm so... overheated." She wiggled against him, but stopped. It felt too damn good. "I-I need to sit down."

She pushed away from his hot, firm grasp. And it was hard, like he was a huge magnet and she a tiny iron shaving trying to peel away from him. Even his fingertips felt to her like they didn't want her to go.

His expression was one that simply seemed to state that he couldn't believe she could leave him.

### Chapter Three

BUT CASSIE WAS ABLE to stumble away from him and through the thick crowd back to her girlfriends. She was subjected to a lot of teasing from her drunken friends, especially from Anne and Lauren.

"Ah, our sex kitten has returned from the arms of that glorious, godly Dionysus. Or is he more of a down and dirty sex fiend? We need details, Cassie!" Lauren crowed. "Lots and lots of details. What's he taste like? Have you slipped him the tongue? Does he love it three-way? How fucking huge is his fucking tool?"

And Lauren made a "this big" fishing reference the full length of her reach, from left to right. And they all laughed at her crudeness.

Krystal rolled her eyes, a bit pink in the face with embarrassment and too many fruity drinks laced with rum. Then she giggled hysterically a long while before quieting and sitting overly straight and dignified, as if she weren't at all sloshed.

"Ha-ha, girlfriends," Cassie retorted. Then, she welcomed further teasing with her own drunken announcement. "There's only one way I'm ending tonight. With _that_ man."

She gazed with longing at her masculine dance partner who was waiting for her. He was _really_ waiting for her where she's left him. The odd thing was... it seemed like he was surrounded by a force field as he stood isolated by himself. Others reached out to him, but his eyes-those eyes-were only for her.

_I must be really drunk,_ she thought in exuberant intoxication, closing one eye then the other, to just look at him and that field. _He can't really be naked there, having more than two hands and... two cocks?_

She giggled at herself and her hallucinations. But as he came to her, to claim her, she stared at his crotch. It moved like there was a thick, long cock growing down _both_ his left thigh _and_ his right.

Someone laughed and bumped into her, and all of Cassie's friends and her entire new world became a noisy, slurring blur....

CASSIE WAS DREAMING. She was in the club with a gorgeous hunk who was leading her away from her friends. The noise in the club died down as a tall, androgynous person with a white dove tattoo high on his neck bumped shoulders with her gorgeous dark hunk while they passed each other.

She heard them both acknowledge each other with stiff civility.

"Paulo," the androgynous one said.

"Gabriel," her hunk said in return.

CASSIE SLID SLOWLY back into consciousness late the following morning, curled up in a fiercely tight ball, like a frightened hedgehog protecting itself from a slobbering and laughing wild jackal.

"What...?" _Who's laughing?_

Only part of her brain functioned. It was Sunday. She no longer did church on a weekly basis and there was no need to hurry or agonize about classes. She cracked a red, achy eye open at the clock. But it wasn't there. Or, more specifically, she was not laid on the bed properly. She tilted her head.

"Oh. Eleven." In the morning. The sunshine bleeding around her window curtains told her.

Hung over, flaming thirsty and hungry, too, she uncurled and felt fuzzy, like she'd forgotten something. Normal sensations had yet to return to her limbs, her body in general, and her head.

"Oww." Her insides hurt. Down there, as her grandma would've said. Didn't she just have her period a little while ago? She couldn't remember just yet.

Cassie lurched fully upright with a groan and sat on the edge of the bed, feet on the floor, before creaking to a bent stance, like a super-elderly old woman, to stumble her way to the bathroom.

"Fucking hell...!"

She abruptly realized the state she was in.

She wasn't wearing her blouse from last night. One of the solid straps of her bra was ripped completely loose. The bra itself was pulled down exposing her breasts. Her skirt was made of sturdy twill. It was slightly torn in the middle but still on, folded or yanked up- _Why would I think 'yanked up'?_ -and caught high inside the waistband.

She looked around frantically. Her panties were nowhere to be found! The waistband was on the floor and completely destroyed, like someone had ripped them open and torn them from the delicate missing fabric. The apartment air conditioner was on, breezing through her soft and trimmed pubic hair.

She was sore as hell almost _everywhere_. Even the lips of her vulva hurt. And they were slick, wet. Her thighs, too-slick with wetness and were sore.

Like I've been fucking all night.

Then, she... she couldn't recall...!

H-How'd I get home? I went out with the girls. We partied at that cool club and... and....

She felt fear growing inside her and she wanted to panic. Cassie tugged down her skirt and rearranged her breasts in order to cover herself even though she was completely alone. The bra was so messed up that she threw on a sweatshirt. Halfway clothed again, she still wanted to panic. But she took deep, slow breaths and tried to be logical.

She tried to figure out how she'd gotten from way across town all the way back to her apartment without remembering it. She tried hard, but only remembered sitting back down at the table with her drunken, happy girlfriends after dancing with that gorgeous, hot guy she'd been flirting with.

No...! That's just not it.

He'd come back for her and she'd stood, his strong arm looping around her, his touch sending electrical shocks of joy, lust and amazement.

And then... and then... Cassie didn't remember past that moment! A silent, primal shudder coursed through her spine like cold fingers tipped with long, pointed nails.

No, it can't be.

She realized she really had to piss so she finally made her way into the bathroom to sit down, slowly, and pee. Slowly. Because it hurt like hell.

Her breasts hurt, too. The nipples were painfully sensitive and felt abused.

She gingerly tugged the sweatshirt up and off, then gazed at herself in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door. Her breasts looked tortured, reddened and bruised in the bright bathroom light. She gazed downward at her crotch. Her thighs looked red on some spots, too. She was tender all over.

She began trembling. Cassie tried not to sob but she sniffled anyway and wracked her brain to remember.

What could have happened last night to leave her in this wretched condition? But she had no more good fortune with her memory than before.

She did remember the man, her man, nameless, exotic, and dangerous but not a rapist. Not a maniac.

But how could she be sure? Would she know what a rapist looked like in real life? Looking in the mirror at her appearance again, she looked like a doll three hysterical toddlers had fought over.

She washed her face and fought for calmness.

Who to call? Who... Lauren! She rushed outside and grabbed the phone. She called Lauren.

"Wh-What? Wh-Who's this? Oh, Cassie." Lauren half-muted the phone to talk with her roommate. "No, Anne. It's Cassie. Don't talk so damn loud, woman. You're up already, C? It's only noon-ish. Ah, not even."

Since Lauren was still in bed, Cassie kept her questions straightforward.

Laurie's answers were fairly clear in return. "No, C, you didn't leave with him. That gorgeous creature did catch you when you passed out, though. He carried you out for us, and held you until we got a cab. Hey, Anne, wasn't that cabby the most asexual person you've ever seen? He's male but he's just so gorgeous and lovely. Oh, don't tell me to shut-Ow! My head-up."

She listened for a while until Lauren could talk clearly again.

"All us girls brought you home, C. Just us. Not him. Left him standing all sad-eyed and gorgeous on the curb. We drove off and he disappeared back into the club, I guess. You, well, we, well, you was, um, were too drunk to go with him and you were awake. Kinda. But kept mumbling gibberish."

"Like what? What was I saying?" she asked.

"Something about, maybe, 'Come with ushshsh.'? Or that's the way you said it. So whatever you were thinking 'bout or dreaming, your secret's safe. He didn't come with us. Ah, just thinking about that hottie... all pure man, that one, and the possibilities of his cock makes me wet."

"And me?"

"Least you were kind of walking, stumbling when we got back. You're heavier than you look, d'you know that? We just dropped you on your bed and locked the door on our way out. Then we went home ourselves."

"Why'd you trash my clothes? And where was my underwear! And why am I sore all over?"

These questions were followed by a long pause on the other end of the line. A snort came through, as if Lauren had dozed off in mid-consideration.

"Go back to bed, Cassie. You're still talking gibberish and my damn head hurts. My brain hurts. I have no idea where _my_ panties are, honestly, let alone yours. See you in class tomorrow. Bye."

The line went dead before she could say anything in return.

Terribly confused and scared, Cassie checked the door and found it still locked like Lauren said. Her keys were inside with her. She calmed down a bit.

Okay, that was logical and matched what Lauren had said.

She must've missed something, some small clue. So she examined her clothes and her body in the mirror again, and stretched her body to find all marks that she could. There were bruises. If she hadn't been... she couldn't even say it. What really happened to her? Why was she bruised all over? Were they all so drunk that they might have dragged her from the cab towards the elevator and possibly banged her up like these? Or maybe the elevator wasn't working and they dragged her up the stairs?

It did not explain her womanhood hurting.

She took a deep breath. "Ahhh! Cassie Shea Watsen, you cannot hold your liquor." She pointed to herself in the mirror. "I do not know you, girl."

She blinked sleepily. Maybe she was mistaken? Maybe something could explain this, but she just couldn't get it right now. No, she wasn't... no of course not. She blinked again, and looked back at the mirror.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed.

Her mirror was gone. Her reflection was gone.

Instead, the mirror frame gaped like a doorway into a dark, putrid smelling cave. The doorway's framing breathed as if about to bow out and explode open.

Then her glimpse into Hell was gone.

The mirror was back with her own frightened, wide-eyed image. But her heart raced like hell.

### Chapter Four

SHE FROZE like an animal too frightened to run but panting like she had been running for a long time. Finally, she shook her head and decided she was still feeling the after-effects of her drunken stupor.

_What could've been in that 'Cleveland' drink?_ she thought a bit. _You did mix drinks, Stupid Girl. What you were drinking, tasting everyone else's drinks, and whatever his 'magic' drink was._

What if she had caused her bewildering state of undress? What if she had been so drunk and so horny that she ripped her clothes up and did everything else? She had never... but what other explanation could there be? She certainly remembered how she pined for her dace partner. She certainly remembered feeling lust so strong she would have let him fuck her if there had been a chance for them to find a place somewhere where they could be alone.

Later, she washed down a few analgesic pills with a lot of water. She was really thirsty. Then she peeled off what was left of her clothes, dumped them into the dirty laundry, and took a long, hot shower to get cleaned. She followed it up by a long hot soak in the tub to reach those parts of her too sore and unreachable by the shower.

The comforting heat of the water washed away her fears. Dry, relaxed and bundled in her thick, fluffy robe, she prepared a light meal and watched TV with the sound down low as she ate. It was something to take her mind off the throbbing headache brought about by her hangover. The pain pills, water and food weren't helping dim the rhythmic pain as much as they advertised.

Without noticing though, she got back to being impatient and dissatisfied, half forgetting her meal as she flicked through channels, never staying on one for more than a couple of minutes.

She finally finished her meal without tasting it because her mind kept wandering to her friends, to the club last night, and to the gorgeous man rubbing his hard, hot body against hers.

God, he'd felt good. Smelled unbelievably good. Better than chocolate and more addicting. And he had such promise for being good naughty. I'd like naughty sex. Hell, I'd like any kind of sex with him!

Cassie pressed her knees together as her uncontained thoughts of him started to make her cunt wet and throb that it ached. She remembered grinding her ass and crotch against his hardened manhood through his jeans. It was maddening, how wild and wanton she had been with him last night.

She sighed. _You cannot hold your liquor, OR your hangover, sister._

Later again, she grabbed a thick and heavy class book to study and get her mind distracted. She took care and had a reasonable pride in her ability to stay focused and precised whenever she was studying. And anyway, she really wasn't the kind of girl who fantasized too much. She suffered only the occasional day dreams and her feet always reached back for solid earth. It resulted into high grades and honors when she graduated.

That's why her parents hadn't minded footing the bill for her to come here and study in a better, more expensive school. They had been glad when a great apartment had come available. She wouldn't be in a dorm with all those _"possible negative influences."_

"Only one more week, Cassie dear. If you don't get a good, safe apartment in one more week, you're coming straight back home."

But she soon realized that even studying wasn't working. Her focus kept unraveling and slipping into all the wrong places. She was thinking of the hunk again when she caught herself staring at the book and not reading.

"He was hot... but not that hot. Was he?" she asked the room.

No one answered, of course, but her body reacted and started to throb and ache again when she thought how it would have been like had she brought him here and they fucked each other like crazy all night long.

She would have felt like this in the morning, she conceded, if that really had happened.

But it did not happen, according to Lauren. And her friend had no reason to lie about something like that.

Her textbook slipped from her fingers and clunked unto to the floor, pages bent, when she suddenly realized that her cunt felt exactly like she'd had a big man with a big cock fucking her all night. That hunk had felt big against her. And he'd felt really strong and athletic.

"Ahh, you're stupid, Cassie. How could you accuse the man if you can't even remember anything? He never could get in without a key."

Something still kept bothering her and she tried to focus on what it was. But it kept slipping away when it felt like she was getting a grasp on it.

I am tired. I am so fucking exhausted. Perk up, already.

She stood up and washed the dish she had been eating from, took another quick shower just to wash off any lingering thought of icky things, and put on a lightweight, oversized shirt. She meant to fully dry her hair but her hair dryer's whining loudness hurt her head. She took two more aspirins and decided to let her hair dry on its own.

Okay, Cassie. Stop fighting it. You've partied too hard and just need to sleep the rest of the day. Hopefully, you won't wake till Monday morning, when you'll feel totally fine. Oh, alarm.

Good, responsible girl that she was, she made certain her alarm was set, just in case. Then she gently laid her head on the pillow.

About ten seconds later, she finally grasped that vague thought that kept getting away like a slithery snake. She kept thinking about it until she was half-asleep. Just before she completely dozed off, some slid into place, like a puzzle's missing pieces.

I may have been able to take off my blouse and even rip up and lose my panties. But, really, how strong could I get, even violent drunk, to rip a bra strap in two? Or ram my tits into a wall? Or masturbate so hard that it hurt to pee?

She shifted herself around the bed trying to get comfortable. Her sore tits were not happy. She drifted off and fell into an odd dream, must have been fed by her unresolved anxieties and questions. In her dream, she watched as her friends talked about her while she was passed out in her bed.

_"Okay, she's good,"_ Krystal said as the others moved to leave. _"Let's lock the door. Oh, and leave the keys by the door so she can find it when she wakes up."_

In the dream, her friends were leaving and locking her in. Her clothes were intact and in their proper place as she laid prone on the bed, not moving.

Then... he was just there-her dance partner. The gorgeous hunk with the magician's hands materialized before her. He came out of nowhere and he was just there, staring down at her with his warm, heavy lidded, sexy eyes.

_"What are you doing here?"_ he asked her, even when it was him who was in her room. She was awake and looking up at him with eyes pleading in need.

She wanted to fall into those sad eyes of his. He looked like he was in pain. But he smiled.

"I am sorry, but I am glad. You are my reward, Beautiful. Give yourself to me. You want me, don't you?"

She wanted him, but she didn't move since she was still wondering how to ask how he'd gotten in.

"You resist me?"

No, no, I want you.

He smiled. _"Oh... I know you do. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't summoned me, Beautiful."_

Then he bent and he started to kiss her. She immediately kissed him back, and the kiss turned into something hungry and alive and fiery. His hands were both rough and tender as he explored her, as he did away with her clothes in wanting to reach her skin. She, too, tried to tear his clothes off of him. She wanted to feel him. She wanted his naked skin against her naked skin. She wanted to burn for him.

I need you... I want you...

_"Yes, Beautiful?"_ He'd answered as if he'd heard her mind speak. But he soon paid no heed to her because he was suckling on her tits, pulling at them gently but firmly with his teeth and devouring them.

_Ow! There!_ She'd found her voice. No. That had been a shout in her head. She had no voice. _Ow. It hurts..._ she whimpered.

_"The pain will become pleasure, Beautiful,"_ he stated, roughly parting her thighs with his own hard thighs.

There was a wrenching noise as he tore at her bra, and another smaller ripping sound as he yanked her panties off of her body, exposing her sex. He lowered herself and she felt her ass leave the bed as he lifted her lower torso and glued his mouth on her cunt.

Ahhh... ahhhhhh!

He kissed her there like he was French kissing her mouth, his tongue flicking at her clit like it was her tongue and slipping inside her folds like they were her lips. She shivered and trembled and shook with pleasure! She had never been subjected to such expert manhandling. He continued to draw on her clit, slipping it between his teeth and sucking that she found herself screaming, though it was all inside her head.

She imploded. Or exploded. Whatever... it was a full-blown orgasm and it threw her into an ocean of heat wave that did not release her until he was done. And then he rose, fully-naked, and he came back to her, and she could feel his meat nudging at her soaked opening as she groggily came back to earth.

What the fuck... how could you... it was so... I have never...

_I can do more,_ he promised. And she realized... he just talked to her without speaking!

And then he pierced her. She cried, startled, at his hugeness. She was already wet, so wet from her juices and his saliva, but it was still an excruciating, wedging fullness.

Ahh! No. You're too...

It had been a long time since her last boyfriend, and he had not been as big as the meat that she felt wedged inside her sex right then. She felt like she would burst.

She struggled against him, or thought she did. This magician was too much. He held her to him like he had more than two hands, strong hands like vices, and she wiggled and pushed away from the pain. But for some reason, he started to become lesser... like he was getting smaller, yet still very hard. She thought that couldn't be possible the pain was making her think crazy things. But it was true, he has lessened that the pain melted into manageable discomfort. She opened her eyes and he was looking at her, his eyes inquiring.

"Better?"

In answer, she pulled him closer, reveling in the pain and sensation, like she wanted him more than she feared the pain. Then he moved, and the pain mingled into something so good that she was moaning hard and long inside her head. He began to earnestly fuck her, full and hard and getting faster. His urgency was so intense that he never let up, even for a moment, even as she came again, and again, and she cannot stop cumming.

This really must be a dream because that was just impossible, to have a hundred orgasm in just one fucking session?! But he moved like a whip, and she was burning, and she was still cumming. He was consuming her, eating her up like he was fire and she was dry leaves.

Yes. Yes. Yes, Beautiful. Cum for me. Cum! We'll be here all night... you will keep me alive...

And she came, and she came, and she came until it was dawn and she had nothing more to give...

### Chapter Five

THERE WAS LIGHT everywhere and Cassie felt great.

She was soaking up the sun in a beach chair facing the sea with a pineapple fruit shake in one hand. Everything felt calm and she made a mental note that she deserved this; a reward for all her hard work about... something.

She shook her head. She could not remember what. But it had been hard work and it had depleted all that she has. She had to take all the sun that she could get. She needed the sun so much, but she couldn't explain why.

She saw people working on banana boats, playful people dangling from parachutes being hauled by speed boats. But most of all, she saw gorgeous Paulo the Latino, or maybe a Greek transplant hottie from the hotel she was staying. She'd hired him for a full-body massage- _the Complete Paulo Package._

Cassie hadn't made that up. That was the ad. Clearly it was meant to be suggestive. She hoped to find out if Paulo's package was really "complete" as it promised.

Initially, she'd just wanted a regular massage. But after seeing him, she thought he looked vaguely familiar. _From school, a store, a club...?_ She dimly remembered cushy sofas she'd bounced on. But, Paulo, here and now, smiled at her, his eyes bright and happy, his smile to die for, and she stopped trying to remember.

What happened to his sad eyes?

She didn't know where that thought came from. She felt surprised for a moment, but then it suddenly did not matter because Cassie felt positively lascivious as she gazed at his smiling, handsome face. She wondered if she could get him to go back to her room with her and lock herself in with him and fuck him till he begged for more.

His sweet, angel-like smile made her sigh. His lips were almost femininely sensual. He kept combing his hair back against the breeze with his wicked fingers. He was a wonderful masseur but she still felt "tense"-but not from tired or cramped muscles. At least not "cramped muscles" in her limbs or back.

Paulo had just finished her... well, finished massaging her back and the backs of her thighs and legs. Now she'd flipped over to lay on her back and he was just massaging down her thighs. Cassie tensed her muscles on purpose, to make him knead the muscles longer. Naughty, naughty Cassie.

"You're so tight, senora."

_You have no idea. Damn it._ Now, she worried that she might explode.

"Relax, Senora Cassie. Give in to me."

She relaxed, but that delicious "tension" he generated in her was still there, deep between them. He was now kneading down her lower leg. He touched a particularly sensitive cluster of nerves that made her core nearly burst.

Cassie stifled a moan -- or a giggle. She wanted to do both. She saw him glance furtively at her through his thick, long lashes, probably to check if she were watching him. Of course she was, but she had on her super dark sunglasses. Paulo's powerful muscles flexed divinely in his tight shirt and his beautiful hands were... magic. She looked downwards and she almost grinned.

Is that a substantial hard on for me, Paulo, dear?

Cassie's intense, shielded stare and the naughty things brewing in her mind had her breathing in tune with Paulo's. Finally, she couldn't control a low moan from escaping her lips. She hadn't noticed it. All she knew were the ticklish feelings every time he touched pretty much any part of her. They were shooting up tender nerve endings from his fingertips, though her, straight to her. She did not know if he intended this, but by this time she did not care.

Magic fingers, sexy-fingered Paulo. You might as well just take those delicious fingers and poke 'em right in my cunt.

She closed her eyes and savored every sensuous moment of her limited time with him. Time was passing, the clouds slipping by overhead signaled so.

She knew that she might get carried away and someone might hear, although she truly felt no one else was in the beach but her and gorgeous, dark Paulo. But she knew she was wrong. The beach had people enjoying the sand and the water before she focused her eyes at Paulo. She tried to control herself and stifle her moans to a sigh.

He looked at her, not boldly, like you'd think a hot guy like he was would look at a woman or a massage client. He gazed up at her shyly, under his lashes, again, with those remarkable eyes of his. And the sun came out again, chasing the clouds away.

"How are you feeling, Senora Cassie?"

She nodded, unable to talk. Everywhere his hands landed and his fingertips touched her was pure heaven. She also felt the sun's heat, the pressure and warmth of Paulo's strong hands, the scent of coconut oil, and the breeze that ruffled his hair and tickled her softly against her cheek. Without thinking, she slid her hands over the plastic and metal edges of the beach chair, gripping so hard her knuckles paled.

I swear I'm going to get as tense and drawn tight as a bow and spill all over....

Their world darkened again, the warmth of the sun slowly dissipated and a cooling breeze took its place. Each time the breeze hit her she felt cooler and cooler.

Then colder. It was like an iceman were blowing his frigid breath on her, making her nipples stand more erect with the chill that crept up her skin. But Paulo's hands only burned hotter, and so did her body. She imagined her nipples poking so hard they'd cut two revealing holes in her bikini top. Would he like seeing that result from all his industrious work?.

Paulo's two hands kept kneading her, warming her against the very cold breeze. The rest of the world fell away. His hands were making her needy, until they slid down her shins to her sensitive ankles.

She frowned behind her glasses, eyes still closed, as she realized she felt him using his entire hands now, not individual fingers together, almost like he wore fleshy mittens. _Huh._ It felt so good, though, that she didn't want to burst the bubble by looking. She just wanted to enjoy. She wanted to purr, while wondering how he could make his hands feel like that, firm but almost boneless. It was as if she felt a gentle, rolling motion of something fleshy and muscled, almost like a hand-sized tongue on the delicate inner sides of her shins all the way up her thighs and into her center as she parted her knees for him.

Damn. He's not pretending now. This isn't playing anymore. God, it felt so good..!

She moaned again as he teased her by massaging away down there.

"Paulo, you are magnificent. Again, please."

She really shouldn't ask it of him or encourage him. She didn't want him to lose his job, or to stop. But, really, this man's exquisite skill, and that tongue-like maneuver, made her feel so damn good, heightening her libido and cranking it way higher. The delicious rolling motion continued between her thighs-seductively, slowly, again and again. Each part of her body was tensing and aching in answer. It felt so good that she stayed that way, tense and resisting.

Can I cum, just from a massage? Mmmm. With him fuck-massaging me like this? Mm-mmm...

Cassie knew if she let her muscles relax in any way into the massage, she would involuntary shiver and moan, and _that_ would give away what was really happening to her. But she was so damn close. She didn't want anyone stopping them. She didn't want him stopping.

His magic-filled hands gripped hers, making her hands release their taut grip on the edge of her beach chair. She welcomed the shift, knowing her hands were next to be touched. She was pretty certain that she really would come just from glorious Paulo's massage.

What the hell?!

Like a freak lightning storm, it hit her. A pair of hands was grabbing her wrists, but her inner thighs were still being firmly held and massaged by another pair of hands!

Cassie's eyes flew wide open to utter darkness. She was completely lost right away, not knowing where she was, certainly no longer feeling like she was by the water, under the sun and getting a massage any longer.

_Everything_ was suddenly... intensely, dark. Her heart pounded and she didn't notice one of the hands releasing her wrist, allowing her to rip off her sunglasses.

Yeah. The sun was gone. The beach -- gone. Ocean -- gone. The darkness was like a dense blanket upon her. Like being immersed in Indian ink.

"Where am I?"

A hand seized upon her freed wrist, imprisoning her. When she tried to pull and squirm free, she couldn't. Cassie tried to control the fright but it was like a pack of startled birds within her.

_"Wh-What's going on, Paulo? Paulo?"_ she demanded.

Then she realized -- she wasn't awake. She was still dreaming. And she was still with the man from the club of lust. She cocked an ear to hear Paulo answer. Nothing. Although the warm rolling, tongue-like massage still touching between her thighs continued quite aroused. Her eyes frantically searched the dense darkness.

Finally, a little bit of light revealed the dim outline of the silhouetted person in front of her. She was about to utter words of protest or a demand for information, but there was only one man in front of here so she calmed down a bit. It could only be Paulo.

Right? That was logical.

With two pairs of hands?!

She opened her eyes wider in the solid dark to adapt more quickly to the radical change in the surroundings. She finally got a good look at the "person" who was caressing her so intimately.

_Fuck!_ This wasn't good. It wasn't a clear picture, but it certainly wasn't Paulo!

And a clear, whispering realization flashed as a feeling first in her mind. Her dream was continuing... and she was still getting fucked. It truly never stopped.

And then she was cumming... cumming again!

### Chapter Six

CASSIE SCREAMED!

Or she _thought_ she was screaming because her throat felt like she was screaming full out. Even the tenseness in her neck muscles told her she was. But there was no sound coming out of her mouth! None whatsoever assaulted her eardrums.

When the orgasm died down, she struggled against the strong hands, all four of them from _one_ man -- god, her dream was becoming a nightmare! – and tried fighting against him. But her arms and legs were firmly pinned.

The only way she could move was by using her full weight to try to flip and launch herself to the side using her torso and hips. And she was making some headway, until a third pair of hands appeared before her, then gripped and pinned her shoulders back.

There was still no one else with her but Paulo. But _this_ wasn't sweet, handsome Paulo. The figure in front of her was wrong. It still gripped her ankles, her wrists, and her shoulders. Without releasing them, he now stood up to his full height.

Terror's sickening grip seized Cassie. She fell silent and motionless, entirely petrified where she was. The logic was wrong, the common physics of it were off. What she was seeing was wrong, even if it were all inside a dream. If the many pairs of strong hands restraining her had gently let her go, she would still be frozen.

Tears streamed down her face involuntarily. Her body shook on its own, trembling out of control. She wanted to plead for mercy but her tongue wouldn't obey. She'd lost her voice to fear.

This wasn't Paulo.

_This_ wasn't human.

When the figure had gotten up from its knees, its many hands had never left her shoulders or wrists or ankles. Even with the minimal light she could see that it was hunched and not fully standing straight, but it was towering high above her, taller than any man she'd ever heard of or seen.

A big and fleshy thickness touched the goose-fleshed, chilled skin of her stiffened legs. It touched and tasted the tender, defenseless insides of her nude thighs. The "tongue" felt heavy, like a great python slithering over her bare skin.

She flinched when another one touched her. It slowly snaked and crept over her thinly-clothed body. The first "tongue" inched its way up from her shins over the tops of her thighs, then made a more direct route between her thighs.

Cassie's mind was locked in. She wanted to both freeze in place and run away and of course couldn't accomplish either. She felt one of the snaky tongues graze too closely to her tightening vagina, her thin bikini no protection, as it continued slithering heavily over her belly.

And in spite of it all, her body started humming again. Her breathing came in quick gasps as she tried to fight the next orgasm while both _things_ heavily slither over her skin and encircled her tits, displacing the thin fabric with their weight and friction, while twisting and slithering around her nipples. The things were sliding back and forth, back and forth, and around and around upon her, and she moaned against her will because it felt good, before finally gliding upward to her neck.

Cassie strained her neck to keep her head away from them. But the two slithering things found her throat and wound around her outstretched throat with a whispering, scaly rasp.

Cassie's quick gasping stopped because she couldn't breathe! She tried to gasp but nothing came and she panicked and shook, ineffectually fighting against the huge, multi-limbed silhouetted creature still shrouded in darkness. Her body was going limp, as it was burning up the last of the oxygen in her lungs and blood.

The entire time, her mouth gaped open in vain, her tongue bulging forth. Cassie stared at two glistening black pools, the murky creature's eyes staring back at her.

Is this how I die? In terror while I never stopped cumming? Is there such a nightmare like this? I don't understand this. If this is a nightmare, WAKE UP!

As the heavy darkness folded tighter around her, another heavy slithering thing took a firm position between her legs, completely filling the space between her thighs. The thing pushed against her thin bikini bottoms. Her mouth opened wider.

Oh my God, I am cumming again... oh my God... ahhhhhh!

It passed. Sweat trickled down her brow and her neck was slippery with it. And yet, as the thing worked, she could feel herself cumming again.

Oh no... how can I survive this? Okay, yeah. This is how I die.

She wished she could see his face at least, not this thick, inky darkness. _Paulo._

As tears slid from her eyes, Cassie lost consciousness. She did not even had time to be grateful for it. Everything just... stopped.

CASSIE AWOKE shaking violently, and whimpering.

Her mind was able to function just enough around the fear to register that the foot of her bed had creaked. The entire bed jolted upwards abruptly, as if an exceptionally weighty object had just fallen from it, and landed without any noise upon the floor.

She tried very hard to not breathe so loudly that she couldn't hear what might be in the darkness of her own bedroom. She forced herself to stop shaking from a nightmare that was so vivid but was quickly sliding away into nothingness, replaced by her instincts screaming about a possible nearby danger. She couldn't move, and her limbs felt so heavy that the lamp felt miles away.

There was a dense intensity in the black, as if something were near and heavy, like too much humidity hanging in the air or when someone leans over close to you in a dark room. You can feel their presence, even if you could not quite feel them.

And though she couldn't fully explain what she was sensing, all the hair in her body stood on end. Why wasn't any light coming in from the moon outside her window, or from the street lights, or the security lights off the side of her building? She strained her ears, too, to catch any sound. She heard nothing \-- not the thrum of the air conditioner or street traffic or night insects. She heard nothing but her own heart hammering furiously against her ribs, as if it wanted to break out and escape.

The darkness wasn't helping her calm down. Within it, her eyes played tricks on her, creating images out of thin air and black ink, like darkness folding or reshaping itself; images that appeared substantially real to her frightened mind, and felt tangibly alive to her inner terrified animal.

A chilly breeze touched her exposed body, like from a doorway briefly opened then closed. And though it was just a momentary occurrence, the sudden chill it brought was enough to startle her. Cold breath blew on the naked inner skin of her thighs.

Cassie bolted from the middle of her bed and scurried to the upper far corner where the headboard met the wall. And then... there was light everywhere! It suddenly exposed the furniture now; as if whatever had sucked up or blocked it before had finally left.

But where? How? Did she just woke up now and the darkness was part of the dream... the nightmare... that she couldn't suddenly seem to remember, too? Like it left with whatever nastiness she had felt when it was still dark... or when she was still dreaming?

Nothing was moving or lurking. Just her normal inanimate things still lying where she'd last laid them. She took comfort in the solidness of the walls, and she slowly felt much calmer, secure with her back pressed tightly against her apartment walls' reliable solidity. But, like the breeze, her comfort was fleeting, as she noticed the cold of the wall at her back.

Her back was bare!

Her fear escalated once again. Her gaze darted about the dark, but could see nothing. This wasn't the first time she'd slept in an oversized shirt, but it was the first time she'd ever awoken without it, without knowing when she'd removed it. Even during a really hot night.

And it wasn't a hot night. Not tonight.

She eased down and knocked the little bed lamp over, reaching for it from this angle. But the room did fill with shadowed light, despite the lamp being askew. Cassie stared around her again, upon her bed, the bare floor covered by the hideous, heritage rug that alone was probably giving her nightmares. She kicked at her covers, as if she believed a rat might be within. Then she fell upon them, casting them in all directions, like she'd desperately lost something.

But Cassie found no oversized, sleeping shirt. That was enough to send Cassie into a full-fledged, screaming panic.

A screeching sound caught her attention -- the sound of a car driving away fast along the street nearest her apartment. It stirred her, such a normal sound that it gave her courage. She hugged herself as she tried to collect herself back together.

Before she lost her resolve, she immediately jumped out of bed and ran for the door to find the light switch. The room was immediately flooded with brighter light. The abrupt change from shadows to bright, safe light caused her to shut her eyes to shield them from the sudden illumination.

She shifted her weight, feeling something underfoot, and she stared down at it.

It was the sleeve of her sleep tee. Just the sleeve, torn ragged.

She stood glued to the spot by the door, under the bright light, not picking up the thing beneath her foot as she fought to analyze the situation.

Look for the logic. It has to be here somewhere.

She needed to make sense of it. She had never been a sleepwalker. Even when she was drunk, she never wandered off or do something she could not explain later when she woke up.

Cassie screwed up her face and attempted to recall if she'd gotten up to pee. Maybe, once coming out of her bathroom she had discarded her shirt altogether before slumping back into bed. She didn't recall that, but it was the only explanation. She walked to the bathroom and back, twice. Even cautiously got on hands and knees and checked under her bed. Nothing.

Where was the rest of her shirt?! Why would she tear it apart? She certainly didn't eat it. Although, she did check to see if she felt, well, full. She didn't.

Cassie started to laugh, but then she saw something far more unsettling.

The foot of her bed bore a deep, large indentation that should have been gone, after all the time she'd spent cowering in the corner. It was as if someone-or something-had been in here.

Whatever that was, it must be heavy as a tank.

### Chapter Seven

MONDAY. A.M.

Cassie was not able to sleep after that. She managed to get back to bed, but she didn't turn the lights off until the sun rose outside. While she sat, she stared at everything with her darting eyes. She saw nothing, becoming startled by every little sound she heard, whether a chirping bird in the dark of early morning or distant car doors slamming as other people came home from their night shifts or left to start their day.

When the sun finally poked through the blinds of her bedroom windows, Cassie finally stood up, shook her head clear, still not knowing what to make of the entire night. They had a few extra credit sessions on human logic versus instinct, human reason versus fear back in honors class in high school. Her arguments for the superiority of human logic and reasoning over baser, thoughtless animal instincts, superstitions, and fear, had gotten her excellent class points and grades, _and_ an award certificate.

She recalled that it was possible to control life through reason, by simple clear logic in the bright of day. However, once she sighed in relief and fully relaxed into the day, was when something became obvious.

"Ow! Ow." Soreness! Her entire body felt sore. _Again._

She moved each arm, each leg, bending every joint and bent her frame from the waist -- every part was sore. Even her wrists hurt. There were subtle hints of bruising on both. She didn't know what to make of that and decided to dismiss it. After all, the bruising was faint, although painful.

She started to walk to her small kitchen. "Ow!" Her ankles felt sore, too.

Self-preservation triggers came again, and hair stood all over her body. Suddenly, there seemed like something was within the silence, weighing on her. She scurried to her small couch, then sat and pulled her feet up to take a closer look at her ankles.

They were there, the same subtle bruises around her wrists, like large hands had held them tight.

No.

The vivid nightmare of last night flooded back into her thoughts, and it overwhelmed her. The intense panic she'd felt before came rushing back.

She remembered seeing _something_ in the thick darkness.

Although Cassie was now wide awake, sitting on her own couch in a large urban city near her chosen university, she shivered, unable to stop remembering something -- the slithering feel of things crawling all over her body. She suddenly knew that little memory came from her forgotten nightmare.

A nauseated feeling whispered within her.

What kind of dream was it? What nightmare, no matter how fearful, leaves marks on the dreamer's flesh?

Cassie suddenly felt very naked and all too vulnerable. But she couldn't fight fear if she could not find explanation for it. She had to be brave. She stood in front of her full-length mirror and observed all that she could see. Like with her wrists and ankles, there was a subtle bruising and sore spots around her neck, as well.

And her breasts were tender and sensitive to the touch overall; except for her nipples and areolas and the surrounding flesh, where all normal sensations were numbed and noticeably flushed with bruising, as if she had enormous hickeys! She did not!

"Breathe, Cassie. Breathe. Just breathe, girl. Calmly. Deeply. Breathe."

She scrutinized her tits more closely and noticed that, even without stimulation, her nipples were standing intensely erect and that her areolas and the area around her areolas protruded, as if they'd been sucked or pinched hard for a long time.

The thought of which made her cunt ache in reciprocation, and she frowned at the feeling; she didn't want to feel that, not now. Not yet. She need more sun. She felt too exhausted, too drained... what?

What? What happened? Where did those thoughts came from? Why the sun? Why did I feel exhausted again ...?

Another memory that sneaked from her nightmare.

Cassie's gaze darted here and there about her apartment. She needed to get out. Now. She needed to be anywhere but here. Taking a quick shower and sliding into a loose and soft turtleneck sweater and jeans to hide the bruises on her neck and wrists, Cassie nearly ran all the way to school and classes, postponing any possible hope she didn't really have of finding solid answers to her questions.

She didn't really feel as certain that she would find answers. It was something that had never happened to her... until now.

"C? DID YOU drunk dial me Shunday?" Lauren mumbled with a slur soon as Cassie slumped down the corridor to her first early-morning class. Anne stumbled into Cassie's blurry-eyed view to lean against her roomie.

"Yeah. She did. Though I didn't actually hear her. You talked to her, L, so there is a slim possibility that someone dialed the wrong number and you, my hung-over roomie, only thought it was Cassie."

"Do you even really remember me saying Cassie called?" Lauren asked as she squinted with out-of-focus eyes at Anne.

"Not really, no. It was hard to hear you from down the hall and down on the floor."

Cassie stared at Anne with a quizzical look and her friend explained further.

"Couldn't walk, most of Sunday. Cleared up late last night. Spent the whole day on all fours. Bathroom. Kitchen. Bathroom, again, quickly. Amazing stuff they serve in that club."

Krystal crept over to their little group. "Wow, you guys look like you got run over by the same freight truck that did me wrong. What's wrong, Cassie? You okay?"

"Just a migraine."

"You and me both."

It happened to them, too. Ahh, that couldn't just be coincidence. It could be that drink, as Anne had said. Maybe they also had the same nightmares I did, and couldn't remember, like I had. That's the logic. It must just be the drink.

Feeling suddenly alright, she walked with them. Actually, they all stumbled into their early Monday class.

CLASS AFTER class came and ended, one after another, yet Cassie couldn't make sense of any of it. Her mind was a complete, blurry muddle and her fears lingered with her.

Even in class she saw ghastly forms, like loose autumn leaves flitting by in the wind, the grisly forms were everywhere and nowhere. They were outside her class windows, in the faux wood patterns of her desktops, in the gnarled bark of trees, and in the writhing clouds high above. They were like malevolent angels or winged monsters stealing upon her to have a glimpse and hide before she could fully focus her own gaze upon them.

Cassie even saw them when she tightly closed her eyes. She was now worn out and slumped outside of her first afternoon class, her back against a solid stone wall, as her elderly but jovial college adviser rounded the corner and spotted her.

"Is something wrong with your eyes, Ms. Watsen?" he said formally. He was teasing, really, since he was a man about whom nothing was formal.

"No, Harold. I'm just really tired. I didn't get enough sleep. Slept... badly."

"Well, you're in college now, Cassie. You're mother's not here to hold your hand and soothe your brow. Don't hurry yourself to slaughter. Take measured steps. There are a lot more parties, dinner parties, weddings, and other opportunities of debauchery that you can go to for the rest of your life. Don't try and do it all in these first few weeks of adult freedom in school." He playfully squinted at her squinting at him. "Eye drops will help, I find. And, my door is always open. It's the one that says Dr. Harold Fink. It's written in Braille, too. If it comes to that."

He waited for her acknowledgement and smile, which she gave because she couldn't help not liking the kind man, and then he left her. Krystal quietly leaned against the wall beside her, telling about her Sunday, as Lauren and Anne walked up.

"Once I'd loaded up on aspirin, lots of water and soft pillows, I slept through until this morning. That was the biggest hangover I've had in a while. Well, ever, really. They must make those drinks extra potent. That's probably why you can't see straight today."

"Yeah," Cassie giggled, softly.

They all joined in but, in a peculiar way, their laughter soon grated on Cassie's nerves. It even made her cunt hurt. So she stopped laughing with them, and also stopped really acknowledging them at all and went to her next class sooner than necessary, because she knew they weren't in it.

It was like that all day, like all vital energy had been squashed or sucked right out of her. Like most people feel when they broke up with someone special, and didn't know what to do-didn't have the energy for anything else anyway.

Her feelings didn't make sense. She liked her new friends, but not today. She just couldn't connect with them or bear their whining about their discomfort.

Cassie's limp attitude was noticed by her friends but they left her alone, thinking it was just a problem she wanted to deal with alone. Or that she still had a ghost of her hangover or she had that and her menstrual period arriving, too.

Hell, they were all dragging still, too, so no one was all that curious.

It was a long day for them all. Plus, her body remained sore. The bright and busy day was too brief, as well. The shadows were already lengthening and spreading to everything, making Cassie's fears grow.

Her heart raced with the realization that she was going back to her apartment soon, the same one she'd been so ecstatic to move into just days ago.

Either way, she didn't have to say goodbye to any of her friends, since her last class was with a totally different group of people. She dawdled after class with them until they cheerily said "goodnight" and left for home or dorm. Then Cassie loitered about on campus, at the Commons, unwilling to go home, as the day darkened into night.

Without direction, Cassie finally walked off the school grounds with no plans of going back to her apartment. She let her feet take her away from school, as buildings were locked and others went into dorms or wherever their lives led. She headed in the other direction, away from her new home.

Then she found herself in one of the coffee shops near where she lived anyway.

### Chapter Eight

"DAMN," she cursed under her breath. Exasperated, she ordered espresso and chocolate crinkles -- the first bite to eat she'd had all day.

With no friends to distract her or class notes to take, Cassie sat down in the corner facing the door with her back against a solid wall and the entire room visible to her view. She again tried to make sense of how she could get such bruises as the ones on her body, and pain like in her nipples and other parts, while totally alone and asleep.

"Maybe you're possessed," she quietly whispered to herself, then shuddered.

She also steered her thoughts away from her dream that she knew in her gut was actually a nightmare though she did not remember what happened in it. Slumping, she picked at the sugary crinkles and crushed one into dust as she obsessed over the dream that had turned on her. It was too much of a coincidence that the bruises had appeared in exact spots where she would be held if she had been fighting. What was scared was... was she fighting in her dream? And what was that feeling of dread, that inly darkness, that scary presence when she woke up? Was that also part of the dream?

And where the hell was the rest of her shirt?

She was still trying to analyze what happened to her on her second round of espresso and chocolate crinkles even though at the beginning, she wanted to forget them. She decided to find a logical -- medical -- explanation and signed onto her netbook to avidly search the internet.

By the end of her second cup of coffee, Cassie had believed she had a medical condition and decided that it would be best to get an appointment with a professional to find out for certain. Women sometimes exhibited a trait of being easily bruised when nearing their period. It was often a sign of anemia, too. Perhaps she was anemic and had grabbed her own arms... and ankles... and neck, in her dream and....

Okay. That explanation should be good, but it doesn't fit.

It didn't explain her shirt, how it disappeared except for the torn sleeve. And that indentation at the foot of her bed!

She shoved away her cup. Maybe she'd had too much caffeine, chocolate, and sugar and not enough protein. The coffee shop was closing so she had to leave. Cassie trudged back out into the lonely darkness, taking note of the cafe door being locked behind her, before slowly treading the path towards her apartment building.

THE NIGHT night felt thick. She felt its weight upon her.

You are just imagining things. There's nothing in your apartment to fear. Grow up, already. There's nothing in the proverbial closet or under the-

Someone blocked her view and pushed at her, making her trip and fall back on her ass.

"You voracious slut!"

It took a second or two to realize it was a man, then another to understand who it was.

Jimmy screamed down in her face, his eyes wild, rimmed with dark bags as if he'd not been sleeping. Oh, and his eyes were glazed with craze, too.

"You fucking slut! What have you done to him! Polluted him with your bright lust and your insatiable angel's cunt!"

Cassie's heart was pounding. _What the hell was his problem?_ _Who was he talking about?_

From behind him, Karen appeared running around the building's exterior through the bushes and trees that landscaped it with a large flashlight.

"Hey-hey-hey! Jimmy! I've told you about that shit!" she shouted at him. Her appearance caught Elise's attention. Karen looked ragged and beat, her hair standing up every which way. Being the super of an apartment building with Jimmy and his "pipes-to-hell" was telling on her.

"You, too!" Jimmy shrieked at Karen. "You keep him from me! He protects me from THEM! But YOU'RE playing with him, DISTRACTING him, from ME!!!"

Then, he ran into the building, his mail left scattered in the entryway.

"Well, he's calmer today," Karen snarked in a sarcastic deadpan. "You okay, Cassie?"

Cassie stood and took a quick inventory. She had no injuries, not from the last few seconds, anyway.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's his problem, Karen? And who's this guy he's talking about?"

Karen shrugged. She looked like she was about to fall down on the lawn and sleep. "Not sure who he's talking about. He was gushing about -- oh, the day before you moved in -- about running into this 'amazing, hot, sexy guy' in the locker room at some gym or something. That they'd hit it off, right away. Guess Mr. Amazing Hot Sexy Guy is wandering off the path already and Jimmy's gone from feeling his oats to getting the full-on crazies joneses for his new man." She lapsed into silence a while, as if she'd forgotten something. "I think he _thinks_ we're detaining his lover in our beds."

Cassie made a wry face but Karen was too tired to answer it with her own. "You do know he's crazy, right? Not to be judgmental or whatever."

"Preaching to the choir. You haven't seen a cat out here, have you? Ever since I moved here, my cat keeps hiding under furniture like she's hiding from stuff and, last night or two, she's high on top of other stuff, instead, like she's trying to see what's coming before it gets her. She darted out this morning, and I haven't seen her since.

"Then, again, maybe I wigged her out. I had some crazy wild sex the other week myself with my own amazing, hot, sexy guy. That man fucked me sore, in the best way. But, this week... I woke up the other night with the screaming meemies. And I don't drink or do drugs."

She glanced at Cassie with a look of embarrassment. Like she had not planned to say too much. Then she realized Cassie had no clue what she was saying.

"Screaming meemies. Nightmares. Been having these intense, super horrific nightmares, lately."

Cassie scrunched her face. "M-Me, too."

"Huh. Strange. Wonder if it's like that girls' menstruating-in-sync stuff, except it's nightmares."

"I-I wouldn't know. Do... Do you have any bruises?"

Cassie thought she saw Karen flinch, but then the woman shook her head. "Yes, but that's creepy. Impossible. Or..." She looked up at their residence. "Maybe, we've moved into one of the places like they have in horror movies and the place is eating our brains and doing... things... to our bodies," she teased.

Cassie's eyes went wide with surprise. She hoped Karen would do a stagey movie ghoul's laugh. What she had said was absurd. She didn't, thankfully, so Cassie said nothing, although she got an impression that Karen wanted her to say something. She'd already asked about the bruises and Karen had already said she'd had kind of rough sex, so bruising...

Cassie couldn't think more than that. Having two of them experiencing this was terrifying.

Then Karen sighed. "If you see a striped tiger cat, Cassie, grab her for me, if you can. She's been zipping about all spooked. God, I am so tired all the fucking time! I just want to sleep like a normal person again."

They both started in. But Karen paused with her foot on the step of the building's threshold to look up at their building again.

"Are... are you coming?" Cassie asked, hopeful that she'd have company part of the way in, especially if Jimmy was lurking in the halls somewhere.

Karen nervously shifted on her feet, almost like she might be considering running away. But that was a weird thought to think about your super. "Nooo. I-I'm gonna go for another cup of super-caffeinated coffee, I think, before I turn in."

Karen turned on her heel and walked away from the building she managed, as if her heels were on fire.

"But, the coffee shop's..." Cassie's sentence trailed off as Karen nearly ran out of sight of home.

She took a deep breath or two. Or three. Then she finally turned and stepped inside alone. Maybe she was ill because the halls seemed to be longer, more silent, and far emptier than she'd remembered. If she were ill, that'd put the difference in perspective. Even the elevator's quiet rattling and stomach-unsettling motion was wholly disturbing.

A sudden, dark movement in the hall out of the corner of her eye had her jumping, afraid it was Jimmy or one of the horrible things from her dream. But it was a striped cat frozen in place, watching her with its wide-eyed fixed stare, until it slunk away a few steps before darting out of sight.

### Chapter Nine

FINALLY, Cassie reached her door.

She quickly shoved her apartment door open, as if to startle a possible intruder, and her hand darted in to find the light switch.

CLICK!

Her entire apartment was bathed in bright light. Cassie's eyes darted to every corner and minutely swept every inch of the floor and wall and ceiling before she fully stepped inside and reluctantly shut the door behind her.

It felt like she was shutting herself within.

She swallowed hard. The air in here felt heavy, humid, thick with... something.

_My imagination is running away from me again,_ she told herself. Stop it!

That did not stop her from straining her ears to check for anything. But nothing was out of the ordinary. She justified that the air felt heavy because the apartment had been closed all day, with the windows locked and the air conditioner off so the air inside had had no circulation.

It's just muggy humidity.

The phone suddenly rang. Cassie started at the sound, jumping clear off the ground like a frightened cat, her heart pounding. Then she laughed at herself.

"Calm down, stupid, it's just the phone. Ugh, stop ringing like that!" She grabbed up the receiver. "Hello!" she practically shouted.

A pregnant pause answered her query.

And then, "Cassie? It's Mom."

Cassie almost slumped to the floor in relief. And then she felt her eyes getting rapidly warm. It felt so great to hear her mom's voice!

"Hi, Mom! How are you?" She walked to the windows then unlocked and opened them. The gush of cool night air was refreshing and seemed to lighten up the place, giving Cassie some comfort and assurance. She shook her head and relaxed even more.

"I'm fine, baby. Missing my little girl, though."

"I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm grown up, remember."

"Well-"

"I know. I'll always be your little girl. Always."

Light, bubbly laughter warmed Cassie's heart through the phone. "Exactly, young lady. I'm so glad you're finally out of that transients' motel, though. How's your first apartment?"

Different parts of Cassie's inner person were screaming.

"Horrendous!"

"Haunted!"

"Terrifying!"

"It's... remarkable," she answered. That seemed a neutral statement from a grown woman on her own who wasn't going to cry to her mother at every mysterious creaky sound. Or nightmare. Even mega-nightmares she couldn't even remember. "I haven't been sleeping too well here, though," she ventured, not too childishly, she hoped.

"You've stayed in hotels with us and yeah, you have always been very listless when you are not sleeping in your own bed here. I guess you've never outgrown that, huh? But it will pass. You're just adjusting to grown-up life on your own." Her mother sounded wistful, and also like she was trying to convince herself to be calm and let her daughter be a full-fledged adult.

A part of Cassie wanted to sob in hysterics and asked them if they could come and get her right now? That it wasn't working out and she wanted to leave this place, board the bus, and just come back later for her stuff-with them.

But grownups should not bitch about being on their own when they had been bitching about wanting to grow up and be out on their own as soon as possible.

So they talked a little longer about classes and her new friends. She skipped the details of what happened-not that she fully knew what had happened-when she and her friends had gone out to their first classy nightclub together.

"No, I didn't drink much." Not much as the other girls, she was sure. But her mom did not know that, and she did not want her to worry. It wasn't' going to happen again. Not if she could help it. Especially since everything started since that night.

Again, could the drink be the culprit? Maybe, that magic man slid a powerful drug on it and she was suffering from withdrawal ever since?

She also didn't mention the "magic man" with his possibly too magical drinks to her mother because that might lead to her blurting, without anything to support her theory that, _I think we've fucked, Mom, but I can't figure out how he could have gotten in and out of my place. And I'm sore, bruised, and am having a hard time pissing._ She could not prove that. Or maybe she was just going crazy? "How's Dad?" she asked instead. And her mom transferred her to her father.

"Hey, Dad. Yeah, I don't stay out too late and I walk strong, not timid, like you taught me."

Before long, she'd said goodbye to Mom and Dad. They reminded Cassie to always have cab fare. Her Dad said that he didn't care what she said; he was going to buy her a new car to make certain she didn't ride with any oddballs on the bus, dangerous men with cars or motorcycles, or evil cabbies.

That made her smile. She knew her Daddy. He was serious.

After her call, she prepared a healthy meal and sat to eat it in front of her internet-linked TV monitor. There was a new episode of a show she liked that she'd wanted to see. But Cassie didn't absorb any of it. It proved to be a distraction, though, something to keep her from thinking about what lurked in the back of her mind. She was merely whiling the hours away until bedtime.

After the show, she did some homework. Then she decided she could not put off going to bed. All the lights were left on, no matter how bright.

She slipped into her pajamas, closed her bedroom door, and locked it behind her. Not that she had any concerns that someone might get in. Of course not. She laid down in her bed, pulled her blanket up to her chin, and tried to relax, to drift into sleep. She normally would do so within five-to-ten minutes, tops.

Not tonight.

The bedroom light was directly above her and despite her self-assurance, she was still terribly afraid. Could anyone come inside a locked door? It's hard to sleep when you're too afraid to even close your eyes, or that you're used to sleeping in a nearly pitch black room. But the lights were all on and it was so damn bright.

Cassie opted instead to place a pillow above her head to get a little relief from the relentless light shining into every corner of her room. It seemed better, instead of lying on her side or turning off the light altogether. This was just some adjustment her inner little kid had to go through, she assured herself. A night or two of this and she'd be fine.

But she tossed and turned and became more tensed. In fact, her body was more at full alert lying tensely curled up in her bed than she'd been all day on the street or in class. Her heart would not stop racing and her thoughts would not stop chasing her heart's racing beat.

So she took several slow and deep breaths. She opened her eyes wide. Maybe keeping her eyes open until they'd close on their own would work. She stared into the dimness under her pillow that was blocking the bright light. And, for a long time nothing happened.

Finally, as she stared at her fluffy pillow, her tension slipped, and dropped little by little.

Cassie began drifting through pleasant imaginary scenes and happy half-memories, as if escaping from her current plight of nameless fears. And, finally, without noticing it, Cassie slipped into the arms of sleep.

Her last thought after a glance at the time was: _It's the Witching Hour somewhere._

The clock's mechanism made a slight swish, which she didn't hear, just as it struck three a.m.

### Chapter Ten

AACK! Aaack! Eeeewww!

She opened her eyes in a place that had no pleasure, no sun and fun. This place reeked of blood, both old and new, and of decaying flesh. _Human flesh,_ she knew. There was no cold or even cool here.

Dim lightings shone... faint, reddish, and glowing, as if from distant, unseen flames bouncing off the irregularly shaped walls of the cave. Or an underground cavern?

Where the fuck is this? How'd I get here?

Lava, there is lava here, too, burned through her frantic thoughts when she saw the room lit with the scorching orange-red of lava, like living light somewhere near but out of direct sight. Hot sweat was already pouring from her body, trickling from her brow to chin, down her neck, from her armpits and from her very sides, and below.

It slid down her body from every pore, like salty tears.

Her sweat converged as if drawn together down to her toes before dripping off. The hot ground far below hissed and hungrily consumed every kiss of sweat it received. No visible source of white light was in this place. Only the faint, hellish red glows upon the misshapen walls.

No. She was wrong, she realized, as three hazy moving orbs of dark red with fiery bright accents which had been on the periphery of her vision before, now zoomed in and out of her line of sight.

_"Aaaaarrrrggg,"_ Cassie screamed as pain struck her body. And she remembered. As if she could truly forget such pain. _"Stop! Please!"_ she pleaded.

How long have I been here? When did I get here? How is this happening again?

All she knew for a definite certainty was the pain-it grew sharper, hotter, and more painful. But, she didn't know why or how.

A mist of multiple grays she hadn't realized was surrounding her disappeared and reappeared without any apparent pattern until it eventually seemed to linger in front of her, gathering itself together into something more solid.

Not to be forgotten, the three fiery ruby orbs had brightened and now arranged themselves in a downward-pointing triangle to loom near her face. Her impression, between the moments of excruciating pain, was that the orbs were watching her.

No. Not again. Control it. Control-

She wretched again at the smell of putrid rotting flesh, and much of what she'd retched up -- chocolate sprinkles and other chunky stuff she didn't recall eating -- disgustingly slid down her nude body. The only saving grace was her sweat, which was so profuse, ran in torrents down her and rinsed it down and off.

Oddly, Cassie didn't actually recall that she had puked before, but somehow she knew she had vomited, again and again, for like the hundredth time.

_How long could I've been here to do that, so many times?_ she wondered, her mind fuzzy with exhaustion, heat, and dehydration. _How could I actually still vomit from an empty stomach?_

What was it?! The fiery dark red orbs and the multi-layered grayness now abruptly formed a wraith-like figure with tentacled limbs before her. It spoke. To her. Its voice was painfully reverberating through her.

_"Your reshishtansh ish foolishhh..."_ the tentacle wraith hissed, the sound slithered around painfully inside Cassie's cunt. _"I willsh break you!"_

Cassie thrashed, cutting and bruising her wrists. Her shoulders felt disjointed, completely snapped apart. It was like her arms and shoulders were no longer a part of her abused body. Her battered shoulders were tightly stretched beyond their limits as they took the heavy strain of supporting her entire physical frame from the cave's slick ceiling as she hung suspended, entirely exposed and naked, drenched in her own sweat.

Her head and body again resonated to the monstrous monster's mouthless voice. _"Shpare yourshelf, foolishhh girrrrl,"_ it taunted. _"Giiive yourshelf to me!"_

Cassie could hear her ragged panting, also hearing in her head its "voice", piercing her mind with every syllable. She distinctly heard a slithery "ushhh" instead of "me."

_"Giiive yourshelf-to ushhh!"_ the voice repeated.

Is... Is this a d-d-demon...?

Before her question could fully form in her mind, the mist rapidly lost its solid-like form, dispersing before it completely disappeared. The pointy, nail-like tips of its octopus-like, sucker tentacles the last thing that trailed out of her view. Even its three fiery red orbs disappeared, all in the blink of an eye. Her eyes darted about as best she could in her painful suspended position, trying to see if the monster, demon, or whatever it was reassembled to the side of her.

A sudden pain shot deep into the base of her spine, making her fingers and toes splay out in unbearable pain.

_"Giiive yourshelf to meee!"_ the creature howled from behind her. Another wave of pain pierced through her and consumed her, from her shoulder blades to her tender ankles.

_"N-N-Noooooooooo... never!"_ she managed to scream hoarsely, more from the fear of the worst thing she could never imagine happening to her if she gave in. If this was what she got from not giving it, what more when-

She flinched when she heard screams-other screams. A man and a woman, their hysterical screams in counterpoint, from either side of her, like some sadistic musical phrase. They weren't far away though Cassie couldn't see them. The place was so large and filled with utter darkness that she wasn't certain if they were even in the same cavern or just in adjoining cavern "rooms."

Both of them screamed again. _"Aaaaiiiii-"_ And then their tortured voices were cut simultaneously, abruptly. It made her wonder not just who they were. Why they, like she, were here. But also, why had they both stopped screaming at the same damn time? To terrorize her further? As if this wasn't enough?

Cassie flinched again and shivered when the grey mist abruptly reassembled itself and reformed in front of her. She could feel its cold presence, its "body" taking up space. This time, its triangular dark ruby orbs were brighter and larger. Some sickening feeling inside her decided without any other reasoning that it's bigger and brighter because it has fed.

From the others, it's fed. That's why they're silent now.

The Wraith aggressively pulsed with dark hues of jeweled flames and blood in its ruby red eyes and multiple shades of gray form, as it undulated on its tentacles.

Not understanding clearly what it wanted increased her terror. It poured from her like her sweat, hot and relentless, exhausting her in the oppressive heat. The creature growled. And, finally, she understood what it meant. As if the meaning had been transmitted directly into her mind and flesh.

_"Fuck,"_ she muttered, then braced for more pain.

_"Shtupid girl! We will break you, you will shurrender. You shhhall giiive yourshelllff to uuussh,"_ the creature declared with utter conviction.

Us? How many...?! There. Are. More? If only one creature causes this much pain...!

Her eyes darted about as her vision filled with tears and sweat. She looked hard, but she saw nothing certain in the reddened, grayish and inky black shadows. Like the trapped animal she was, all her thoughts scampered wide and far from her, while her pain magnified tenfold, making her body tighten and bend taut as a bow with its demand. It was so painful that she could not scream. If she had, her ears were so numbed by her own raw shrieks and the demon's "voice" that she hadn't heard her own voice screaming.

The voice was frustrated with her and the creature's manic howling filled the cavern, filled her with such throbbing pain, like explosions of knives from different parts of her body, all at once, to center deep in her core. Not once did she ever bleed. Her sweat poured out in hot rivers down her body, dripping and sizzling to the ground, the steam rising back to her to make her boil all the more in the heat.

Cassie's vision dimmed and became small and pointless. She panted for each smothering breath as her body became dehydrated. Each breath was coming shorter and shorter, gasp after gasp, as wave upon wave of unbearable contraction of pain cut into her ability to stay awake.

But she did not succumb to the nightmare. For some reason, Cassie managed to fight the desire to surrender, as the beast said, and give herself to them. She somehow knew that whatever would come after her surrender would never be as worthy as what she would give up. But she could not know where she had find the strength to stay alive.

Until finally, miraculously, Cassie fainted away.

**~ ~ ~ ~**

**Read the next book by Lily Green:**

**If you like this book, you will also like Nightmares and Illusions...**

THEY STARTED LIKE THE WILDEST DREAMS WITH THE MOST ARDENT LOVER SHE'D EVER MET

BUT WHEN THE DEMONS START TO CALL...

Cassie's dreams are horrible nightmares where she is bound and tortured by demon monsters in their hellish dimension, and they want her soul. How long can she hold out? She has no control and can't reason her way out of their power. She's weakening with exhaustion, and every good thing that she has is being siphoned away.

Her girlfriends and neighbors are having exhausting nightmares, too. Isn't that strange? And who's the "secret hottie" one girlfriend won't stop talking about but refuse to name?

Can a chance meeting with her gorgeous dance partner from the club, Paulo, become more than loving sex? Can he be her refuge and protection against her nightmares?

Or is this magical man, with the strange and frightening tattoos that resemble much of the monsters in her nightmares, a part of it all?

**Unravel more of this fascinating book, continue reading** **Nightmares and Illusions** **...**

**~ ~ ~ ~**

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A Taste of Grace

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#### Free Bonus:

#### Nightmares and Illusions

#### CHAPTER ONE

CASSIE WOKE UP slowly, a dreamy lethargy about her. She pushed the smothering pillow from her face. She was glad to have been able to sleep despite all her apprehensions the night before. She stretched to get the sleep out of her bones.

Searing, white-hot pain shot through her body.

"Ow! Fuck! Oww!"

Every single part of her was painfully sore. She felt banged up, like she'd been tortured.

All at once, her mind cleared. Everything came into sharp focus. She would've shot straight up from bed but she could barely move. She felt heavy, her muscles and bones felt thick and incapable of proper movement. Her sheets felt damp and uncomfortable.

Gingerly rolling her body to the side, she gradually got herself upright until she was seated on the bed. Every movement hurt. Inch by slow inch, she finally was able to swing her legs and plant her feet on the rug. The familiar texture of it between her toes and under her feet put her at ease.

_It may be an ugly-ass rug but it sure makes me feel at home,_ she thought.

As she stood up, her thighs all the way to her ankles felt stiff and strained – it reminded her of the first time she tried to do Cross Fit.

Rolling her shoulders back was painful, stretching her wrists and arms were painful; so she moved as little as possible.

However, none of the muscular tenderness she felt had prepared her for what she saw when she turned to make her bed.

On the bedspread was a large damp spot in the shape of her body that took up the middle of where she had just laid. She stared at it dumbfounded.

_What the hell? Night sweats? I'm decades away from freaking menopause! Was it that hot last night? I could never sweat that much, could I? At least I hope it's sweat..._ her thoughts trailed off as she landed on another possible explanation to the unusual wetness on her bed.

Curious and anxious to prove to herself that she did not just urinate in her sleep, she reached out to touch an edge of the stain. She pulled her fingers back as soon as she was able to. Not only was the bed wet, but the spot was warm to the touch.

"No. No-no-no-no-no!" she said to herself over and over.

Her face was a mixture of disgust and embarrassment as she bent over the bed. She inhaled and immediately felt relief wash over her for a second when she determined that she didn't pee on herself while sleeping. Still, the volume of the liquid that took up her bed sheets was very unsettling.

She shook her head as if to clear her mind of the incident and move on.

"Okay, Cassie," she started telling herself aloud. "It's there. It's done. Better to just clean up, grab something to eat and down a couple painkillers. Might have been a hot night but who knows and who cares. Let's just get on with the day."

Her pep talked cheered her spirits a little. And then flashes of horrible, half-remembered memories resurfaced in her mind. She recalled her wrists being bound over her head. She remembered the absolute terror that she was feeling.

She stared at the disgusting wetness of her bed and rationalized that it was the clammy wet spot in her bed that had caused her inner fears to run wild in her dreams.

"Ach, I'm disgusting!" she admonished herself.

She made her way to the bathroom. A quick shower would snap her out of this funk. Right, it's just what she needed. And she'd have a good day.

The water was delicious, running from the top of her head and down her body with soothing freshness. It felt like her worries were being washed away. It felt so good that Cassie even began humming. Then when she felt a twinge somewhere, she looked down. She gasped at what she saw and finished her shower as fast as she could.

She wiped the mist off the mirror and stared in horror at the reflection.

"Oh my God..."

Large circular bruises dotted every inch of her upper torso, her front and her back. These new ones weren't even a bit subtle. They looked too perfectly round to be hickeys.

"Damn."

There was no running away from it. Something was wrong with her nightmares. But they couldn't be real... yet... of course... something must explain why when she was tortured by monsters in her dreams, marks were left on her body when she woke up. She supposed she should be grateful that she even woke up. She felt lethargic. Even her brain felt rustic. But somehow... somehow she knew, if she even dared think she could succumb to the monsters when they say surrender, she would be in a lot more trouble.

Like not waking up?

_This is impossible,_ she thought as she shook her head. This must be psychological, a reaction of her brain to the new changes that were happening to her life.

But if it were so, weren't they too much? Like... like it was almost paranormal. Like she was being hunted?

Again, she remembered that menacing presence she felt when she woke up after a forgotten nightmare two nights ago. She closed her eyes very tightly, and convinced herself that it was impossible. There couldn't be supernatural creatures in a building built just recently.

But her body had started to shake uncontrollably. Same thing as happening to her hands even as she put on her clothes. She needed to get out of here now!

Without checking what she'd grabbed, she stormed off for school, slamming the door behind her.

CASSIE was earlier than usual, hoping she would find a temporary relief in the logic and clarity of class by being among other people. The normalcy was a far cry from the vivid living nightmare she had been suffering through the past couple of days.

Any other time she'd have dismissed it all as absurd. That she was probably hallucinating with all the stress she'd be going through at school. But there had been absolutely no other explanation for it. She was being haunted. Or maybe her new place at the apartment complex had been built over an old graveyard or a burial site, like in horror flicks. Absurd, she thought as she shook her head.

Then it occurred to her that some of those films were supposedly based on true events. Stranger things have happened to real people living real lives day by day.

Cassie's hope of a temporary reprieve from her turmoil proved short-lived since her thoughts of a possible haunting wouldn't let up. Her growing paranoia was starting to seep into her day-to-day. She was skittish, easily startled by sudden loud sounds, and she cowered at shadows. Her body was having a visceral reaction towards her residence.

"You lost a few pounds since the weekend, Cassie?"

Cassie was startled by Lauren's comment. It was her second class of the day. While it barely registered that Lauren was addressing her, just the sound of her voice was enough to make her jump. Clearly, Lauren had gotten over her hangover and she looked impeccable as always.

Cassie admonished herself for acting like a nervous Nellie.

"Um, I don't know. Haven't really been checking. Maybe," she mumbled.

Naturally, losing a few pounds would've been a compliment. But under the circumstances Cassie felt far from celebrating dropping a dress size. Eating food had taken the backseat lately. Her head hurt, not just from the overall soreness, but she suspected from all the dehydration since all her bodily fluids may have very been on her bed back at the apartment. She shivered, as if she were jolted by an unexpected electrical shock.

"What's the matter, Cassie?"

"N-Nothing," she stammered. "Must be all the caffeine in my system."

"Right." Lauren peered at her. "So, you've been seeing that hottie from the club?"

"No!" Cassie exclaimed. Lauren looked at her harder, suspicion in her eyes. She didn't believe Cassie's answer, making her even more nervous. Luckily, Lauren soon gave up and left her alone.

Unfortunately, just like the day before, Cassie had started to see "things." Ghastly faces, demons, sinister unexplained creatures plagued her all day. Other people were oblivious to these hideous beings. Everywhere she looked, there they were. She saw them in the soup and in the grass. The cloud of smoke of a nearby smoker held menacing specters that took her breath away.

There were times, too, that she felt as if she was being followed. At one point she thought a man in a hoodie was stalking her.

Then again, when she had a flash of rational thought she'd laughed at her ridiculousness and say _"But this is a freaking university! Every student has a hoodie! You're being silly, Cassie!"_ to herself, her laughter hollow, unconvinced.

She shook her head and wrung her hands in a feeble attempt to rid herself of her own paranoia.

#### CHAPTER TWO

IT WAS GETTING late.

The crowds of students on campus were thinning out as everyone went home, to work, or somewhere else. Cassie was desperate to some place to go to other than her haunted apartment. A few night classes were starting but Cassie wasn't enrolled in one.

Instead, she sought comfort and headed to a dorm apartment just off campus. She had to grin at the closed door before she knocked. On it were posters and clippings of hot men. Seemed a little high school girl-ish but she thought it was fun.

She shifted her backpack of books and rapped on the door. Someone threw the door open and yelled at her.

"Well, look who's finally crawled out of her cave and graced us with her presence! Get in here!" Anne commanded as she stepped back to let Cassie into the apartment. Anne shared the place with Lauren and she bounded towards the couch. "Krystal didn't come with you? That girl is such a chicken. She said she might come over after classes. Which means..."

Cassie, Anne, and Lauren all looked at each other.

"Not happening!" they said in unison.

"You looking for a free meal, Cassie?"

"N-No. Um. Do you have the notes from Simons' class, Lauren?"

Lauren nearly choked on her soda. "You were right there!"

Cassie did her best to look noncommittal. She shrugged. "Brain hasn't been functioning this week."

"Neither has Lauren's," Anne piped in. "I slept a little funny myself. Hell, I think I'm starting to think her nightmares are contagious," she giggled, her laugh had a touch of hysteria. "Here, I'll email my notes to you both. Simons does the same lecture in my class as she does in yours."

Cassie was a bit crestfallen. She had hoped to spend at least a half hour to copy the notes, and then she'd stall for more time with some inane conversation. But with a push of a button, had sent the email and Cassie had no viable reason to stay.

"So, _why_ isn't your brain functioning, Lauren? Nightmares?" Cassie asked.

Lauren blushed, which was uncharacteristic of her. She looked embarrassed about something. "No particular reason," the other girl said.

"I say she just needs a man," Anne volunteered. Lauren shot a glare at her roommate, who backed away, hands up then giggled. "Hey, I think she's been getting serious about some hottie, or at least some serious action!" Then Anne ducked, laughing as Lauren sent a pillow in the direction of her head.

Cassie was curious. "Really? Who?"

Anne continued, in spite of the obscenities Lauren was yelling her way. "She won't say, and I haven't figured it out yet. But mark my words, I will!

Although I can't figure how he gets in her locked room, I never catch him in the morning. He has to be someone we met at the club that night. Maybe the blond...?" Lauren shook her head "no." "Well, L finds the males of our student body to be such boys. She wants 'a man.' The Asian guy with the gorgeous eyes? No? And the way she's been moaning in her dreams. Yikes. He must be really good in bed! Who is it, Lauren? Tell us. We're friends. I'm your roomie, and I pay half of everything so tell me!"

"Not happening." Lauren crossed her arms, stood up and stalked out of the room.

"Well," Anne commented, loudly. "Whoever he is, he must be seriously packing some hard dick between his thighs!"

"Shut up!" Lauren called from the bathroom.

They laughed at that and changed the topic. And later, Anne asked Cassie to stay for dinner, much to her relief.

Their meal was good. Anne may be a student but she could actually cook. It was a homemade pizza. Nothing frozen or microwaved here.

Several times Cassie wanted to confide in her friends about everything. But seeing how Lauren was being scrutinized and ridiculed didn't really help. Besides, what's there to tell? That she thought she might have been raped by a ghost? That her dreams after that night involved really twisted torturous acts against her body? That the bruises on her skin resembled those that she'd gotten while she was struggling in her sleep?

As if Anne could read her mind, she asked, pointing to the black and blue marks on her neck. "Hey, how'd that happen? That sure doesn't look like an ordinary hickey to me!"

Cassie hearts raced. "What?" she asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice and instead tried to reach for the pizza.

Anne caught her wrist. She turned over Cassie's hand to expose the underside of her wrist. There, peeking slightly from the sleeve of her sweater were rope burn marks. Anne dropped her friend's hand.

"What the hell, Cassie!" she exclaimed.

"Listen, I know it looks bad but really, it's fine." Cassie said as she took a bite out of her pizza. "Besides, it's really none of your business, okay?" she said, managing a weak smile.

"If you say so, Cass," Anne said cautiously. "I know that BDSM shit is all the rage nowadays but... promise you'll be careful, okay? Oh, and take lots more vitamin C. It'll help heal that faster. In fact, have some of mine," Anne continued as she got up to look for her vitamin supplements. Cassie nodded her thanks as she took the bottle Anne offered her. "My sister sells them online. I have more than I really need."

Before long, it was time to head back to her apartment. Cassie anxiety started to grow as she said her goodbyes.

As she walked she couldn't help but feel sorry for herself.

Her first apartment. Haunted.

Her steps slowed as she caught sight of the forbidding building. Then she straightened up and said aloud, "No. I'm not going back,"

She hurried past it, her steps intent and determined. As she walked deep into the dark of the night, she didn't care less of any of the dangers of being out alone at such a late hour. She just kept on walking until she felt drained and sleepy. She didn't even know where her feet were taking her anymore.

But in spite of her weariness, a renewed sense of conviction took over. She just about had it with whatever she was going through the moment she slept at her apartment. Whatever that shit was she wouldn't allow it to happen again. Ever.

She _swore_ to herself, with all her heart and soul – that she wouldn't go back there that night, or ever. She'd find a way.

"God help me, I'll find a way, somehow," she breathed.

But as luck would have it, her feet just lead her back to her building. The very place she vowed to stay away from just moments before. It was almost as if she were being pulled back there. Over, and over again.

She snapped out of her reverie long enough to realize where she was.

"Dammit!" Cassie said as she turned on her heel to start running away from the dreaded place. She would have, if not for the man.

"Oof!" Cassie said as she ran directly into a tall, hard body.

"Hey!" the guy said in protest.

Cassie started to mumble a half-hearted apology when something behind the man caught her eye.

A taxi was parked at the curb.

#### CHAPTER THREE

HER APPREHENSION ABOUT going home had come to a head and all Cassie wanted was to be anywhere but her apartment. The taxi gave her a much-needed shot of hope at an escape.

Cassie broke her gaze long enough to take a closer look at the person – the taxi driver – she had run into. He had delicate features for a man – he looked almost feminine. And then his outfit did not match his face, as they were hardcore hip-hop complete with the bling, the baggy pants, and big shirt.

Cassie was horrified that she'd run into someone, and yet was in even more terror when she realized she was home. "I... are you on break, Mister? Because I'd really like to get out of here."

The driver chuckled a bit. "Sure looks like it, Miss." He twisted his torso for one last stretch and beckoned Cassie to come walk with him to the car. "Where ya headed?" the driver asked as he unlocked the cab and opened the door for her.

"Am open to suggestions. A-Anywhere, but h-here," Cassie could not stop her voice from shaking.

"Alrighty then, little angel. Anywhere it is. Name's Gabe by the way," he said with a flourish as he shut the door and walked to the driver's side.

Cassie looked around her. The name "Gabe's Gypsy Jitney" was on the medallion. Something about the taxi made her feel at ease. The sweet smell of some sort of incense wafted in the air. She didn't know why, or how, but she felt that the incense was clearing her mind of cobwebs. She was suddenly thinking more clearly.

As the cab pulled away from the curb, Cassie realized that she really had nowhere to go. She couldn't really ask Gabe to drive around all night. She didn't have enough money for that. She also didn't want to go over to any of her friends. Too many questions that she'd rather not answer. She'd just been at Lauren's and she didn't know if she'd be welcome at Krystal's. All of them would wonder about the bruises and why she was afraid to go home.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

_I really have nowhere to go. I wonder how much it would be if I took this all the way to my parents._ She hastily wiped at the tears. No. She was not going to give up now. She just needed to sleep – a safe, dreamless, long sleep.

She caught the driver watching her in his rearview mirror. He smiled when he saw her looking. "Long day, Miss?"

She nodded. "Exhausted." Cassie looked again in the mirror, her gaze meeting her driver's bright eyes, and a flash of recognition came to her. She had seen him before. At the club!

The club! The club she and her friends had gone to the other night – she could hide out there for few hours. And, she thought to herself, he might be there. That nameless hunk she had danced and flirted with. The one she thought had...

Cassie drove the thought away from her mind. He didn't. That's it. Her friends said they had left her in her apartment and had locked her door. He did not come with them, so in case he had some kind of Spiderman ability and could climb walls, he had not come inside her apartment like a few flashbacks into another nightmare was telling her. She could not remember the whole of that dream though. Why couldn't she remember the good ones?!

Hopefully, he is not dancing and holding tight to some other girl rubbing up against him. That's my job. Shit, I'd pay to have that job.

She giggled a little hysterically in spite of her exhaustion. She relayed her instructions to the driver.

"Do you know where that is, Gabe?"

He smiled, almost smugly. "Absolutely."

Cassie sighed, breathing in more of the warm, lovely scent in the cab and dozed off. So after what seemed like only seconds, she was transported across town.

"We're here, Miss," called the driver gently voice.

"Oh. Really?" Cassie looked out of the cab, her eyes drowsy. She'd arrived, all right, and the disappointment hit her. "It's closed."

"Sign says 'closed for maintenance, go to our sister club..." the driver trailed off when his eyes moved somewhere else to the right. "Wow. He's a looker," he cooed in admiration at a man just passing the club, under the light of a fading street lamp.

Intrigued, Cassie looked towards that direction, too.

It was Paulo! The guy from her dream! She had a flashback about a guy giving her a massage in a sunny beachfront and in her dream, he was Paulo. Or...

No. This was _the_ guy! The hottie she'd danced with who had all those magic drinks. She couldn't be mistaken even when she had been helplessly drunk that night. Why else would she dream about him if not after meeting him?

Not minding the muddling of her thoughts – she had been quite familiar with muddled thoughts the past few days anyway – Cassie hastily paid the driver and leaped out of the cab before the man "Paulo" could get away.

"Hey you!" she yelled, and the man stopped. There was no one else there except him. It was quite late already, and all the other customers to the club must have gone to the sister club. She clumsily rushed over to where he was and nearly fell at his feet if he had not caught her. She should have been embarrassed, but her relief at seeing him was much more intense than any other feeling she might have had.

_He'll make it better_ , she thought. _He'll tell me what really happened. He'll take care of me. He'll make the nightmares go away!_ were the thoughts that rushed through her head somehow. Everything started that night. He was in her dreams. He must know something about all the weird things that had been happening to her!

"Hey, take it easy, lady!" Recognition dawned on him as he got a closer look at her face. "It's _you_!"

He remembered her, and Cassie was pleased that he did. The look on his face certainly showed his delight at seeing her. But the light in his eyes was quickly extinguished as he did a quick scan of their surroundings.

His gaze was particularly penetrating when it passed over the shadows and the darker alleys. It was almost as if he feared they were being watched. It was late, and the clouds had obscured the moon. The nearest street light chose that moment to die, leaving them in darkness and making her move closer to him.

"What brings you here, Beautiful?" he asked in his tender, low voice.

"I, uh..." She looked back for her cab and saw nothing. Cassie looked up and down the street. Nothing. Where did it go? She did not even hear it leave.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, uneasy. If she didn't know any better, she'd think he was just as alarmed as she was.

"There was a taxi cab..." she explained. "Gabe's Gypsy Jitney. Right there. I rode it from across town... didn't you see it?"

He let out a heavy sigh saying, "Always interfering."

"What?" Cassie asked, confused.

He made a face. But he did not look angry. He just looked grudgingly annoyed. She was almost sure he was talking about Gabe the cab driver because she knew he knew him. She distinctly remembered the two men bumping shoulders and looking at each other like they knew each other but they belong in different companies so they shouldn't be friendly or something like that.

"Sorry, Beautiful. Wasn't paying attention. I saw nothing, and then I saw you." He smirked, amused. "Well, I saw you nearly fall on me."

"Yeah, it's been that kind of night..." she thought. And she just faded. She was just so exhausted and her knees gave way underneath her.

"Whoa! Are you high?"

_High? No!_ "Exhausted. Just exhausted," she gasped. "I can't sleep, haven't slept, mustn't. Won't..." She was becoming more confused and delirious, her speech was starting to slur. She wanted to cry. She felt like her brain was giving up on her. "Where's my cab? Did I even pay him? Or was he a she? I'm so tired, I can't remember. So sleepy..."

"Come with me," she heard him say determinedly. "My car's close. So is my house."

He slipped his strong arm around her and she leaned hard against him, feeling really good to be with him. He smelled _wonderful_ , except she thought she smelled female cologne on him, too. She closed her eyes after he had guided her inside a car that was parked beside the road.

She realized that he smelled of both male _and_ female perfumes. A jolt of memory of how they'd danced in the club that night came to her, so vivid she could almost taste the liquor she'd been drinking then and her overwhelming hunger for _him_. They had both rubbed hard against each other like crazed cats in heat.

Fueled by the combined scents that seem to cling to him, Cassie's own insecurities reared its ugly head. Jealousy ate at her at the thought of her "Paulo" dancing with another. Her blood boiled at the possibility that some clingy girl rubbed against his hard body. Maybe it was even some eager boy grinding his ass on Paulo's crotch! Though she had no idea if the man swung both ways, but she wouldn't be surprised if he did.

She sneaked a glance at him as he drove.

_Who wouldn't want him?_ she thought. And then her thoughts took a more pitiful turn. _Who have you been with since I last saw you? Who was with you tonight? Who had rubbed herself at you so well that she'd left her perfume all over your shirt?_

Her pangs of jealousy were so intense, so foreign to her that she didn't quite know how to feel. Why was she so territorial? She barely knew him and yet she didn't want others touching him...

They soon arrived at his place. Cassie was still able to appreciate the charm of the weatherworn row house. It was dwarfed between much taller, more substantial brownstones. Oddly enough though, her vivid daydream of her time with him at the club was still so fertile she could smell "club" in the air of his place. So she tried to calm her imagination.

She was so caught up in checking out his place that she missed him discreetly shuffle a few papers on a nearby table, covering what seemed to be an unusual map. Had she had been more sober or alert, she'd have noticed that the map had his apartment right smack dab in the center of it, not to mention the other markings that it contained.

"Can I get you something to eat, Cassie?"

Her stomach growled, answering for her! She needed more than a couple of veggie pizza slices. She'd not eaten anything else all day.

"Yes, please, Paulo."

He froze, a perplexed expression on his gorgeous face.

"What?" She paused, too, not certain why he was on alert. In fact, he looked alarmed.

_What the hell did I just say?_ She didn't recall. Just "yes." And "please." With a questioning expression on her own face, she watched him take a slow deep breath before he said anything further.

"You called me Paulo. My name's not Paulo – or not what I use. It's Saul. But the nearest to me... a very long time ago, they called me by the Roman name Paul."

"What? I thought..." _You were so busy being in heat and rubbing up against him you didn't really get his name! Paulo – that was your dream guy's name, idiot!_

Saul was still staring at her. "Odd. Paulo with an 'o' is another variation for Paul, Beautiful. In present time, today, Paulo is Italian. I must look Italian to you. Or Portuguese. I've heard it before. To some, I look Greek. Or biracial, sometimes black and white, sometimes other combinations. But, no one has ever called me – "

"I-I won't again."

He gazed at her a long while, so long she became uncomfortable. "It's okay," he said eventually, with a gentle smile on his face. "You can call me that. Or Paulo. Or Hank. Or Joe. I'll answer to anything you want to call me. I'll always answer to _you_ , Cassie."

She felt her cunt wet itself at the sound of his warm voice saying that, to her. At the moment, she felt very close to him. It was almost intimate, but not exactly that. It felt more than that; like they had been together as lovers for a very long time, able to communicate just by the look of the eyes, by the smiles on their faces, and by the beating of their hearts. A time before now... a long time ago.

But that's... absurd.

She blushed and turned away, finding food upon the table for her and gratefully giving herself to it before she further embarrassed herself.

Thank you. We hope you enjoyed this preview. If you would like to continue reading "Nightmares and Illusions" of CHAINS OF THE INCUBI series, the book is available for download in your favorite book vendor websites.
