Season of the Witch

Part 2

 You woke up with a start, sitting straight up in your bed. Your shirt clung to your damp, sweaty skin as you untangled yourself from your sheets. Your mouth was incredibly dry, almost cottony, and you nearly fell to the floor as you stood up. Your mind was trying to process something, something you couldn't put your finger on, but it wouldn't let you push it aside, letting it nag at you. Shuffling into the kitchen, you grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it at the sink, gulping down the tap water before getting another glass to quench your thirst as you thought.

"Good morning, Fawn." you jumped, the glass slipping from your hands and shattering into pieces on the floor. Everything rushed back to you in a flash. Leaving Danny's apartment, the web searches for the curse, the shaking, the fear, the strange man that was in your apartment. "I wish you wouldn't have done that, I already cleaned up your mess from last night."

You froze, partly scared to move and cut yourself on the shattered glass, and partly because the voice was right behind you, so close that if you moved, you were sure his lips would graze your ear.

"I'm not going to hurt you." the man informed you, his voice strangely soothing. "I swear on your soul."

"My soul?" you whispered, glancing over your shoulder at him. He smirked and shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's not worth much, but it is something." he twirled a lock of your hair around his finger. "Did you sleep well?"

"Please don't," you turned your head, tugging your hair from his grasp. He let it float out of his hand, continuing to smile at you.

"Are you still afraid of me?" he tsked at you, angling his chin towards his chest to give you the biggest doe eyes manageable.

"I-I don't even know your name..." your hushed breath fanned across his face. Straightening up, the man grinned, standing back and tugging on the lapels of his crimson, satin suit to make sure they were even.

"My name is Samuel," he introduced himself. He stared at you expectantly.

"Oh, uh I'm-"

"No need." Samuel cut you off dismissively. "As you slept I took the liberty of going through your things." He continued, rattling off your full name, height, and weight, proudly. You pictured him rummaging through your bag in the early hours, studying your driver's license. "That's more than my people care to know after a bonding. Usually you don't learn the other's name until after the fornication."

"The what?!" you nearly jumped out of your skin, inching your way away and around the island, away from him. "There will be absolutely no fornicating!" Samuel watched you back away into the living room of your apartment with a smirk, and when you were close enough to the door, you turned to throw it open and run out.

"Going somewhere?" you were nose to nose with Samuel as he arched an eyebrow mockingly.

"Let me go," you whispered. "Please, this was just a mistake and I'm really sorry. Let me go find my friend, and we can fix this."

"Little Fawn," Samuel raised a hand slowly, as if you truly were the skittish woodland creature he named you for. He brushed your hair back from your face, gazing down at you. "There is no undoing what has been done. We are bound for eternity by a stronger magic than you can comprehend." you could feel your face fall from fear to despair, and something in the being in front of you softened, only slightly. "But if you want to see your friend and have them tell you the same thing, then so be it." You didn't want to believe him, but a small ache in your chest hinted towards him telling the truth. "You should bathe, you reek of perspiration."

Samuel stepped away from you, and nodded towards the short hallway that led to your bedroom, the bathroom on the way. You moved towards the hall, glancing over your shoulder to make sure he wasn't following you. The tall man just watched you, giving you an innocent waggle of his fingers to usher you along.