The Demon King of Lust

Chapter 1

This isn't real.

This isn't real.

This isn't real.

I pinch my eyes shut, trying to will myself to wake up, but it isn't working.

Fuck.

I open my eyes and scan the room, waiting for his silhouette to emerge from the darkness.

"I know you're here, Victor," I say, backing up against my headboard. I turn on the lamp, but the light doesn't reach the corners. It's as if I'm seeing the world through a grainy, dim haze.

I hear his laugh first, low and melodic. It's a sound I used to love, but now it makes my skin crawl.

"Well done, sweetheart," he says, stepping forward from the dark. His muscular frame casts an imposing shadow across the room. "You've always been quick. It's one of the many things I love about you."

The words practically make me gag. He only loves me when he can't have me.

"And you've never known how to take a hint," I snap.

He takes another step toward me. He's wearing black skinny jeans and a tight dark-grey henley with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. Between his dark outfit and dark hair, he looks like a walking shadow—menacing and inhuman. His chiseled jaw tenses for a moment, but his expression relaxes into a smirk.

"What can I say, I'm a man who knows what he wants."

"And what would that be? To harass me until the end of time?"

"Cute," he says, walking over and sitting down at the foot of the bed. "You know what I want."

He looks around my bedroom then stands up and walks over to the window. He pulls back the curtain and looks outside.

"Where are you?" he asks, his eyes narrowed as he stares out into the darkness.

"Why do you keep asking that? You're here, clearly you know exactly where to find me."

"Ahh, unfortunately I don't." He turns away from the window and gives me a smirk. "You know what I see outside this window?"

"I'm not in the mood to play 20 Questions again, Vic. I want you to leave me alone."

He glares at me and his shoulder tenses as he turns back around.

"Nothing. I see nothing."

He looks at me with his brows lowered and his eyes burning with anger. My vision starts to go blurry and I fall back onto the bed. I try to reach my hands out in front of me, but I can't see them, just the softly-lit ceiling above my head.

"What... what's happening?" I ask, my voice weaker than I intended.

"This is my world, Sam." I hear him but I can't see him until his face is hovering above me. "I control what happens here. And I can make it very unpleasant for you."

My heart starts to race as I struggle to move, but nothing happens. I can't even turn my head. I swear I can feel my limbs pushing against the bed, but somehow I haven't moved a muscle.

"I can't move," I mumble. I try to breathe in, but my lungs can't seem to pull in air.

"I can make this stop. Tell me where you are. Let me find you. Give me a chance to make this right between us."

I rail against the invisible force holding me at bay, but it doesn't matter. I'm trapped, suffocating under a weight I can't fathom.

"Where did you run to, Samantha?"