Twice Lived, Twice Loved

Chapter Seven

The bartender leads her to a small adjoining room and awaits her in front of a tall, embossed door.

"Your first time here?" The bartender asks as she strides towards him.

"How can you tell?" She asks, coming to a stop in front of him.

"I would remember a face like yours." He says with a smirk. She acknowledges his blatant flirting mutely, her eyes glued to the door behind him. She cannot stop her heart from picking up pace within her chest.

"Oh yes." He says, tracing her line of sight. There are questions in his eyes but it must surely not be his place to ask them because he steps aside and motions to the door.

"In there, you'll find all the nectar you need." He says and turns away. "Dine on it but avoid gluttony. My grandma says that too much nectar makes one sick." Those are his last words before he disappears behind the door. She stares after him, ruminating over his nonsensical words. She supposes that the words are a code of sorts. The nectar she seeks is whatever she finds on the other side of this door, the words about his grandma and gluttony are a warning for her to know her limits. Could this be for real? Are the answers to her questions really so close? Separated from her only by a door?

She puts a hand on the knob, she will just have to find out herself. With a deep breath, she turns it and pushes the door in. She is enveloped by utter darkness at first, and confused, she pushes the door in completely and steps inside.

"Hello?" She calls out, and she hears the door slam shut behind her, causing her to jump. In the same instance, the darkness comes alive. The next few moments are enough to convince her that she is stuck in a long, tedious fantastical dream.

The new room she finds herself in is more than huge, it is the size of great halls used to host big events. Soft strains of music reach her ears and from where stands, she can see an enthusiastic band playing on a raised dais in the middle of the hall. Several people spin to the music on the dance floor, happy smiles pasted on their faces. The scent of succulent roasted meat and sweet syrupy desserts reach her nostrils and her stomach grumbles as she remembers that she has not had a bite to eat since morning. But it is not the band, the dancing people nor the scents that causes her to stare, her jaw hanging to the ground, forgotten.

All around the room are... beings. People that are very much different from the normal people she has known and met everyday for twenty six years. She surreptitiously pinches herself to see if she will wake up but nothing changes.

Right in front of her, a lady in a tiny bikini bra saunters past, her orange colored hair flowing abundantly to her waist. When Elizabeth looks down at her bare foot, they end in talons. Around one of the numerous tables lining the edges of the room, several men sit close together. Each of them have huge translucent wings which flutter restlessly at their backs as they talk. All around her, there are people with horns, people with hooves, people reaching impossible heights, people who seems to attract shadows and others who seem to emanate light, there are tiny little people about the size of her pinky hovering and buzzing around the room, chittering away like it is just another day. Colourful waitresses saunter around the room carrying steaming trays loaded with the meals that give off the delicious aroma. A moment later, she realises that the trays do not rest but hover in the air above the waitresses' hands. A man with one side of his face human and the other side a raccoon strides past, in deep conversation with a woman whose every step causes vines to erupt from the ground before retreating. It is as if she has stepped into the biggest costume party in the whole world but she knows, deep within herself that this is no ordinary costume party.

"You plan to stand there all day gawking?" Someone pops up in front of her. She jumps and her eyes widen as she focuses on the person. He had not been there a second ago, he couldn't have... could he?

The person in front of her is about half her height. He is round, the width of his body expanding from his shoulders to his legs. At first she thinks that he is just very chubby but then she notices that the layers of fat cushioning his chin, the huge soft arms coming out of his coat are not exactly... flesh. A harder look later, she feels the remnants of yesterday's dinner try to crawl back into her throat. The man's skin is a mass of roiling flesh. It is as if a thousand little insects have stuck to his skin and they are all moving their bodies simultaneously. When she looks back up at him, afraid that she might have offended him, there is an amused tilt to his lips.

"Lunch?" He offers. She finally gets back her voice.

"Uhmm, nope." She says, backing away from him. She turns away and rapidly makes her way to the other side of the room. Some other beings notice her and she hears a few comments here and there, inviting her to join them but she keeps her eyes away from them, determined to find an empty, quiet corner where she can have a panic attack by herself. She could have sworn that it had not been there earlier but a moment later, there it is right in front of her. An unoccupied table and a chair. She quickly strides forward and collapses into it, feeling dizzy. Her hand goes to her arm and she pinches hard, wincing at the pain. Nothing changes, she is not dreaming. How could this be? Right under all of their noses, there has always been a whole other world of non-humans?

Somebody slides into the seat opposite her and she looks up. He is one of the most handsome beings she has ever seen. He has long white-blond hair, swept away from his face to highlight the beauty of his features. His eyes are like pools of liquid honey and his lips, tilted upward in a small smile are a sinner's fantasies.

"I hope you do not mind my joining you " He asks and she finds herself shaking her head fervently. His voice calls to her and she feels an answering heat begin to ignite within her. He smiles and the room suddenly appears brighter. She finds herself smiling back. He has white evenly distributed teeth.

"What is a pretty thing like you doing here all alone?" He asks. His voice mesmerizes her and if anybody were to describe her in that moment, they would say that she had the look of someone bewitched, hypnotized, a puppet before its master. He puts his hand on the table, palm up with his fingers extended and she aches to touch him. Her hand begins rising of its own accord and in a trance, she extends her fingers towards him.

Halfway to him, she freezes. There is a thought nagging at her brain, probing to enter. The moment is perfect and she is loathe to let anything detract from it but the thought is persistent and will not deterred. She finally opens her mind to the memory, irritated, ready to get it over with so she may finally be with her master. The memory that infiltrates her brain is not hers.

In a blink, clarity descends on her and she knows. This beautiful man before her is an incubus, a creature borne of seduction. They seduce and beguile as is their nature, giving their victims the height of pleasure while it lasts. But when they are done, they leave the dried out emancipated remains of their victims behind, forever thirsty for the touch of their kind, never to be satiated by even a glance again. She snatches her hand back into her lap as if burned and surprise ignites in the being's eyes. His eyes narrow as he leans in to have a better look at her.

"How?" He breathes, turning the volume of his seductive energy on high.

"Leave. You are no longer welcome at my table." She says and her voice sounds choked, as if the words are being forced out of her. Because even though she has no idea how she suddenly knows, she recognises the being for what it is,  and yet her body still aches to reach out to him.

"Interesting." He says, his breath in her face causing hers to catch. Her hands fists on her thighs. "You are not immune and yet, you are able to resist me." He says and rises. Her revocation of the invitation to sit with her would have continued to dig at him persistently, like a fire heating beneath him or like nails being slowly but surely driven into his skin until he is forced to leave her in solace.

"I have been watching you since you stepped into this chamber." He whispers and she shivers. "And I am never wrong with my prey. You knew nothing, it is quite obvious that this is your first time. So how were you able to resist me and how did you know to revoke your invitation?" He asks.

She shrugs, already feeling herself gaining more control now that he is out of the seat. "I just know." She says.

A glass appears in his hands and he tips it at her. "We will meet again, my love." He says and disappears into the throngs of crowded people.

She lets out a long breath and collapses back onto her seat, feeling the remnants of the spell the incubus had spun dissipate. That was close, she thinks. She should have fallen into the incubus's trap and become one of his many victims but she has managed to escape it unscathed, how?

How did she know that he is an incubus and how did she know to refuse his invitation, to revoke her unspoken permission for him to sit? What are these memories that invade her head at their whim? Those memories were not hers, whether they had helped her or not.

She palms her head between her hands and gives it a squeeze.

When she looks up and around once again, she sees that most of the people spinning around the live band on the dance floor are actually humans. Their expressions are frozen in blissful emptiness and they have empty little smiles on their faces. Some of them dance with partners, and in a surprised blink, she realises that many of those partners of theirs have the same long, pointed ears that the people in her dreams have. Does this mean..?

Yes, her memory provides helpfully. The people on the dance floor are not as tall, nor do they exude the same raw power that the people in her dreams did, but many of them are of the same race. Elves.

The name comes unbidden int her mind and the thought is as exciting as it is dangerous. There is a higher chance that she is stuck in a mental facility herself and all of this is only a figment of her imagination but to think like that is to imprison herself. This once, she has to trust herself. To continue to doubt herself now, despite what she is seeing with her own two eyes is to create a different kind of madness for herself. The people on the dance floor are not only elves. Her disjuncted memories helpfully provide her with the barest minimum of details about them. Some are fae, some fairies, some nymphs, and many others from several different races like ogres.

As she stares at the synchronized movement of the bodies on the dance floor, she feels an answering tug within herself to join them, to be one with them in the Eternal dance. But the wish is soon suppressed by a sliver of truth that arises in her brain once again.

To go near the live band playing is to get sucked into the magic of the dance. And to begin the dance is to never stop, ever, no matter how much you might wish to, deep down. All of the humans dance with delighted smiles on their faces but she knows that deep beneath their skin, they are all crying out for help, needing to be saved. They will dance for eternity, until they turn to skeletons and drop dead on the floor, that is, unless the are saved by someone. She feels huge regret that the person to save them cannot be her, for to go near them is to get caught up in the dance herself.

She does not know where these memories are coming from but she suddenly feels grateful for them and their guidance.

"Human. What will you be having?" A man in a black and white uniform comes to stand in front of her. A waiter.

"Just water." She says and he nods and turns to get it.

Somehow she also knows that to eat a morsel of food from the different worlds converging here is out of question. It will change her fundamentally, and she will never be the same again. She does not question the knowledge and when the bartender brings her water, she pays him and takes a sip. Water is the only thing safe enough to consume here.

The next few minutes, she observes. Apparently, there has always been a whole other world right under our nose, how many people know this? She notes the number of humans within the club, there are too many. Does the government know about this?

Her head feels light with the new knowledge and she is grateful that she is seated or she would have surely passed out by now.

At the other end of the room, she finally notices several tall, standing mirrors. A second later, she realizes that they are actually a part of the wall as the surface ripples and moves. Pale fingers part the solid material of the mirror, and she chokes on her water as she watches as the fingers turn to hands and then a tall being emerges from behind the mirror. Coughing, she watches the being straighten, and the room falls silent apart from the soft strains of music. She covers her mouth with her hand to stop her wheezing. The thick, huge beings with skin that looks like stone standing guard at the mirror bow to her while the rest of them stare in awe.

The woman that has just come out of the mirror is exactly like the beings in her dream. She stands above seven foot, delicate regal light flowing from her to bathe the chamber in soft hues. She is so bright that it almost hurts to look at her. A look at her ears shows the extremely long tips that the people in her dreams also have. She is sure of it, the woman is from the world in her dreams. But how is that possible? A memory teases her mind, but no matter how much she works to bring it forth, it does not manifest. As she gazes at the impossibly beautiful features of the elf, something about her seems familiar. She does not know for sure but she could have sworn that she has seen this woman somewhere before, in another life perhaps? It is all too much to take in at once.

The elf does not deign to glance around at the occupants of the room. With a swirl of her skirts, she glides away from the mirror and towards the door and soon disappears behind it. Almost immediately, conversation continues around the room and the occupants continue whatever activities they had been occupied with.

Elizabeth cannot take her eyes off the mirror. Ever since the woman left, the surface has returned back to a solid. But it had opened up, and she is not sure, but she can make a pretty good guess that the mirror is the way that she can also go to their world.

Her hand curls into a fist on the table, is she really going to do this? She has people here, friends that would be worried if she suddenly disappeared. She has responsibilities here too. The Ivanowsky family party is tonight and she is supposed to be the highlight. Can she really abandon all of those without prior preparations on a whim? Can she really take this risk despite all of the unanswered questions that she has? But what are the chances that she will get this opportunity again? Truly, the bar will most likely be right here if she decides to come back but is it not better for her to get her answers, get it over with and finally go on with the life she has worked so hard to build for herself?

It is a hefty decision to make and she should probably not make it hastily but she does not think that she can wait another second without finding her answers.

Also, there is the matter that she does not know what awaits her on the other end of the mirror. If she is right and it is another world, what is the guarantee that she can live or even breathe in the world? Her head hurts with trying to think it through.

But she thinks about that volcano, and running through the forest. About the chestnut-haired man, and the dagger in her chest. She cannot go through that again, she needs to find out the reason why she is having dreams like that and stop it. Coming to her decision, she rises and makes her way decisively forward. A few of the beings in the room try to get her attention but she keeps her eyes decidedly forward.

"Human. Come." One of them whispers from the shadows. "Come, let me show you your greatest wish." She ignores the voice, keeping her eyes on her destination.

"Look at me." Another whispers. "Look at me, human." The new voice grabs hold of her, freezing her mid-stride and begins to turn her around. There is something in the shadows, and immediately her memory fills the gap.

It is a face-eater, a being born with no face of its own. It collects faces from unsuspecting people by making them to look into his eyes. Immediately one makes eye contact with him, he steals your face, leaving you a blank slate. She tries to resist her head turning but the creature is much more powerful than she is. A cry escapes her lips and she wonders if anybody is going to come to her aid but then she realizes that they won't. To them, she is just one more human, just another prey. The darkness comes into view, and there is a glint of something from within the depths. She shuts her eye tight against the sight.

"Open your eyes, look at me, human." The voice whispers into her ears. She shudders and her eyes attempt to open of their own free will. She shuts them close once again, biting her lips so hard she tastes blood.

"Leave me alone!" She yells but her voice is swallowed by the rising music.

There is a low laugh and then the grip on her is gone. She feels the creature's presence retreat and fade away. Without opening her eyes, she turns back around and begins striding away. Only then does she dare to take a peek, seeing that she is going in the right direction. The rest of the room are indeed, going about their business as usual, while she had come so close to being devoured. It is a thought that should give her pause in her decision to venture into their world but she is already committed.

Half way to the mirror, cold fingers wrap around her arm and she flinches, turning around to find a tall, pale being hovering behind her. What she presumes to be frost emanates from its body.

"A dance, my lady?" It asks in a thready echoing voice.

"Take your hands off me before I cut them off." She growls, having had enough of being bullied and pushed around for one day.. The creature's eyes widen and his fingers peel away from her arm as he takes a step back, confusion in his eyes. She spins away from him, raising a finger to her arm. The area where his skin had touched is ice cold and feels hard to the touch. She curses and hurries away.

The stone men's eyes fixate on her as she gets close to the mirror. Ignoring them, she opts for confidence as she strides purposefully towards the surface. Just before she can enter however, two crossed spears suddenly appear in front of her, blocking her path. She glances at them in question.

"Identification." One of them grunts and she almost bursts out laughing. She needs her ID card even to cross between worlds? Who would have thought?

She digs into her purse for her driver's license and hands it to one of the stone-men. Though it had not been obvious from across the room, they are literally made of stone, stacked upon each other so artfully it is like one flawless body.

The stone-man that she had given her driver's license makes a grinding sound and she looks up into his stone face to meet amused eyes. He throws her license to the second stone man and when he takes a look at it, he makes the same choking sound. The two of them burst out laughing. She assumes it is laughter but she is far from sure as the only thing she can hear are grinding and cracking sounds. She is more than a little alarmed as she eyes them, she hopes they are not having a little mental breakdown right here. And what is so funny anyway?

When they are finally done with all that grinding noise, the second stone man passes her license back to her.

"You must be new here." He says and she is immediately on the defensive.

"Yes..."

"Identification is not your... human licence or whatever that is. We seek your permit to grant you entry." He says.

"Well, I don't have one. This is my first time here. Can you tell me where I can get one?" She asks.

"Of course. Molly at the back will make one for you." He points to a woman at the back of the room, busy with something she is squinting at in her hands.

"Should take about a human week to be done." He says.

"What?" She spins back to them. "I don't have a week." She would have truly run mad by then. "Please, can I get in without the permit?"

"No." The second stone man says.

"Well, you could..." The first one says. "But then you would have to sign an agreement that whatever happens to you while you are in there is entirely on you. Pesky little details like that are important to the king." He says.

"Just get the permit." The second one says sensibly.

But she is already in way over her head. If she takes a single step back now, she is not sure that she will be able to make herself come all the way to this point ever again.

"I'm going in." She says decisively and the first one hoots for her.

"My type of girl. Just make sure you don't get eaten. That is not going to be fun, for you." He says with a wide split of his lips in what she thinks is a smile.

"So, can I go in?" She asks. The second stone man sighs and the two spears pull back away from her front.

"It helps to visualize where you want to go." The second stone man says and motions for her to go on.

She smiles at the both of them. Strange as they are, they are the only two creatures in this hall that have not treated her like she is worse than dirt. They stare at her and both grow quiet as she waves cheerfully at them.

She feels like Alice about to enter the rabbit hole. The dread and the excitement congeal in her stomach and she thinks that she might be sick.

She takes a step forward, raising her hand to part the hot, silky material of the mirror. With a deep breath, she plunges into its depths.