Lost in Demon's Eyes

9 - A dream so real

“Are you sure about that?”

“Well, what wouldn’t I do for my older sister?” I scoffed, going back to the living room to talk with my family about the plans.

Zia

“Why do I have to go to the Eastern European country? It only looks like a stupid tattoo!” I was protesting. I didn’t want to leave France, Paris mainly, with my friends and people I had known my whole life.

“It’s Central Europe. It is the only way for you to get rid of the sigil. It’s not a stupid tattoo. This marks you as Dantalion’s prey. And trust me, you don’t know the true nature of that demon!” Mother finally looked like she had calmed down. However, her voice was cold as ice, worse than when she used to lecture me.

“Well, what will happen then? I will be gone if he takes my soul?” I asked, not knowing anything about this spiritual thing. What was a soul good for anyway?

“He won’t consume your soul, probably. He’s looking for the Solomon’s piece in you. And who knows what he will do with it. Maybe torture it for the end of the times? Knowing him, he would torture you one day and the other he will have a tea party with you, just to see how well you’d be reacting, enjoying your suffering while you would be drinking tea. If it was tea, to begin with…”

“What else would he serve but tea for the afternoon tea party?” I still didn’t get it. Ansel, who was sitting next to me, scoffed.

“Maybe blood? Boiled intestines? Weird plants? Rat tails?” He kept being sarcastic. It was seriously annoying. Whenever he was behaving like he had the higher ground, he made sure the others would eat their fill well. I wanted to retort some stupid stuff to him, but my parents’ gazes stopped me from saying anything.

“You’re going. Make sure you pack your things. I’ll get Theo to book your tickets.” Father finally spoke up. He had been mostly silent this whole time, giving all the space possible to mother and her anxiety. But whenever he spoke up, his words were absolute. Ansel could never say anything back, feeling the Alpha’s command even without his wolf, while I was just keeping shut as it was pointless to argue with him. He wouldn’t shift his stance no matter how hard I would be trying to change his mind.

“Okay,” I said in a low voice and went upstairs to my room to pack. I didn’t have many clothes here as it was just a village. I had all my belongings in Paris, where I was living with Ansel. We had a few rooms just to ourselves with a huge kitchen and living room. It was all modern, unlike this awfully rustic hut.

I shut the suitcase after a few tries of pressing the things there properly. They would definitely send more clothes later for me, or I could buy them at the spot. I had been occasionally googling when I was taking a break from packing. They had quite a nice shopping street in the city with my favorite brands. It was definitely one of the spots I was going to visit within the first few days.

“Zia, you ready?” Ansel was impatiently calling me from downstairs.

“Can’t your beefed-up body help me carry the suitcase down?!” I yelled back at him, trying to make the suitcase stand up.

“You should grow some muscles as well, Zia.” He muttered as he was picking up my suitcase as if it was just a goose feather. He can lift it up so easily, why can’t he get his wolf out? I was staring into the middle of his back, wondering what was wrong with him.

“You don’t need to burn a hole through me. You might need me there.” His deep voice resonated through my body. I sighed.

“Fine.” I walked past him, ran down the stairs, and exited the hut. Sam was already waiting for us with a Range Rover just outside the door.

“Hey, long time no see, little star!” Sam came closer and hugged me. He was only a few years younger than my father, but he behaved as if I was his favorite child.

“Yeah, yeah, hi.” I tried pushing him away. His hugs were as annoying as ever.

“Hi, Sam! You’re driving us?” Ansel hugged Sam of his own accord, unlike me. I was always being squeezed, while Ansel was proactive in hugging other members of the pack. What I had learned ever since I was a kid, these wolf-people were always too into physical contact. They would hug all the time, stick close to me… Even more when I was a kid. I got shivers just thinking about it.

“Long time no see, Ans! Looking good!” Sam gave a bit of a punch to Ansel into his solar plexus.

“Hey, hey, hey, I’m still not there, yet!” Ansel was laughing as if the punch didn’t hurt at all and he was having fun being punched. I frowned. They were just weird and I never really understood the way they were “bonding”. I shook my head and got inside of the car, leaving them to deal with the luggage. I could say that I was a princess in this whole thing, they always did things for me while I didn’t have to do much. I was enjoying my life and studying. I took another look at the inside of my wrist. The tattoo, or a sigil, as they were calling it, was still there. I didn’t have any tattoos on my body. And I didn’t really want to have one, either. Did I sell my soul just for going from one hell to another that day?

The door on the other side of the car in the back, where I was sitting as well, closed, and woke me up from my thoughts.

“What about parents?” I asked Ansel, who was making himself comfortable in the seat as he had just gotten his butt inside.

“They’ll be at the airport. Dad had some business still, mum went with him.” He yawned as he was saying that. It was early morning, I was packing throughout the night while taking occasional naps. At least I had a few hours in the car and plane to get my lost sleep back. I closed my eyes as Sam started the engine and the car began moving to the airport.

“Hello, sweetie. Long time no see… A couple of hours, in fact.” Someone was talking while caressing my head. I opened my eyes. I was in an unfamiliar place. It looked like a cave, while I was in a very comfortable bed. I didn’t see anyone around, while I kept hearing the voice.

“Finally, we can talk!” I looked around, turning my head, checking everywhere with my eyes. There was nobody! So why was I hearing that voice?

“I’m right here, silly!” I felt a hand touching my face, turning it for me to look straight. I blinked several times. It was barely coming clear. Probably a man was standing in front of me, judging from the silhouette I could roughly see. Yet I felt that I knew this image from somewhere.

“Still can’t see well? Let’s see…” He sounded lost in his thoughts. Then something touched the space between my eyebrows, where the third eye should be. I blinked again, not knowing where that thing or sensation came from. And then I clearly saw someone really standing in front of me. I screamed loudly. A smirk appeared on his handsome face.

“You can’t be!” I said in disbelief. 

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember me, Zia?” He smiled, showing me his white teeth perfectly lined up. He took a step closer. I scrambled myself backward on the bed. His face showed discontent.

“Why are you so scared?”

“Where am I? What is this? How comes you’re here?” I was trying to keep him away with many questions coming out of my mouth. But it wasn’t working at all. He didn’t say anything. He only pointed to my wrist. His fingers got wrapped around it as he was pointing to the sigil with one of his longer nails.

“See that? This is what is connecting us. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, this is going to connect us. I will be able to appear in your dreams, I will know where you are if you are in danger…”

“But why would you need to know all of that?! That’s like a creepy stalking GPS system!” I took my wrist back from him. His lips widened in another smirk.

“Because this,” he took my wrist in his hand again, squeezing it tightly while stroking the tattoo with his fingers: “means you’re mine. Nobody is going to lay their fingers on you.” He whispered. Cold sweat appeared on my forehead and behind my neck as well as on my back and hands. I was trapped by a weird stalker!

“We’ll have enough time to talk later on. Go back, you shouldn’t be staying here for too long.” He let go of my hand, gently flicking my forehead.

“What do you mean here? Where is here?” I asked him as I was feeling the dizziness coming to my head and the world around me getting blurry and darker.

“No need to know.” I heard his voice as darkness swallowed me up.