A Love Beyond Time

My oasis of purity and salvation

A shadow slipped into the cool interior of the massive cave and stood prone over the couple, who were cuddling in their sleep like a pair of spent puppies. Amber eyes smoldering with jealousy and hatred, raked over the bigger of the two, who spotted a head of striking platinum hair and had his arms wrapped snugly and protectively around his partner's waist. He tightened his grip on his sword until his knuckles turned white. The long curved blade glinted ominously in the moonlight that beamed into the cave from the skylights above the sleeping dais.

Raise your sword, a voice—raspy, dark, and reptilian, yet oddly seductive—coaxed him. Raise that sword and drive it into the heart of the silver-haired man. Watch as rich crimson blood spurts out of the fatal wound and soaks through the clothes and beddings. Listen to him draw his last breath in a rattling liquid gurgle. What a glorious sight and sound that would make.

Just raise that sword and strike. You know you want to.

The voice enticed.

Then you can finally have that ethereal and lovely person sleeping beside him. To take. To possess. The one whom you have desired. Better yet, just take him here and now, next to the cooling body of the one you hate. Doesn't matter if he is willing or otherwise. It might be even better, more exciting, if he is not and fights back. But he will never win against you.

Just do that. You know you hunger to.

That voice traced cold, wet tendrils along his mind and down to his heart, leaving behind a slimy trail that made him shudder in revulsion and excitement. His head throbbed, as did his heart and his loins.

But another voice—authoritative and strong—spoke.

Do not give in to the darkness inside you. You are so much more than that. You are a protector, and you have sworn to protect him. He is so pure and innocent, and he has been through so much pain. Don't hurt him.

Two voices. One is alluring, like a lover's touch. The other is fierce and righteous, like a commander.

He hissed softly, and his handsome face contorted in agony as the pounding in his head intensified to the point of agonizing torment. The two voices rose in volume and urgency, each trying to drown the other and get him to submit to its demand. He raised a hand and hammered the heel of it to his temple. Once, twice, thrice...a low snarl rumbled deep in his throat as he attempted to rid himself of the voices and the terrible pounding.

He truly believed he was going insane.

Then, a soothing, gentle coolness tinged with a subtle flowery scent wrapped around him. It was like a cocoon weaved of the finest silk, its gossamer strands whispering along his skin and chasing away the dark agony.

And it brought along a moment of lucid respite.

In that brief flash of lucidity, the shadow realized he needed to get out of the cave, to put as great a distance between himself and the peacefully slumbering couple as possible. On that thought, he forced his leaden body to move and turn. His heavy legs stumbled and threatened to collapse. Still, he held on and finally found himself sprawled on the wide, open ledge under the moonlight.

As he panted in exhaustion, his body began to shimmer and change.

Within seconds, instead of a tall, ruggedly handsome man, a huge white tiger—sleek and powerfully muscular—stood in place. With a desperate growl, it leaped off the ledge into the shadows beyond.

----

Not long after the mysterious visitor left, Seimei startled awake from an overwhelming sense of suffocation and helplessness. His heart pounded, and his blood roared in his ears. Waves of terror and panic crashed over him, each more intense than the last, sending him into a crazed frenzy when his attempts to move were thwarted by strong restraints bounding him.