Serpentine Desires

The prey

My mind stirred, and something drifted through fog and shadows before reality finally tugged me awake.

I blinked, as my senses slowly focused on something soft and warm against my skin. Velvet sheets beneath me, plush and thick, and a fur blanket that cocooned me like a stolen warmth I didn't remember inviting.

I exhaled and a small sound escaped my throat, simultaneously reaching out to clutch the sheets around me, feeling an odd combination of haven and confusion. Where... where was I?

My vision slowly cleared as I looked around the faintly lit room. A soft glow danced across the walls in uneven flashes. I caught the scent of burning firewood—a pungent, smoky smell that felt sharp against the chill hanging in the air. Inviting up to some extent. I blinked again, noticing the flicker of flames coming from somewhere nearby, their crackling sound giving the illusion of a small, roaring beast trapped just out of sight.

Flames... my throat tightened and I instantly was hit by the memories.

For a moment, I couldn't tell if the scene was real or a cruel mirage my mind was playing on me.

My head throbbed, every attempt to think too deeply met with a dull ache, like memories submerged underwater, unreachable and unclear. The last thing I remembered... flames, yes. And a pair of eyes watching me viciously.

I shook my head and the ache intensified. I let out a groan, clutching at my temples as if the pressure might somehow pry the memories free. But instead, a wave of nausea rolled through me, and I forced myself to take a deep breath, my eyes still struggling to adjust.

My hands curled around the sheets, and I pulled them closer, instinctively using them to cover myself. The texture, the warmth... it was almost comforting. Almost. But the unease still gnawed at me, making my heart beat faster.

And when I felt the velvety texture being too close... I realised... I was naked.

My eyes widened and I shuddered. Judas... where did he bring me? Where was I? And... why was I here?

When I finally forced myself to sit up, I noticed something I hadn't registered before: an enormous window—no, more than that, a wall of glass. It stretched from floor to ceiling like an expanse of pure transparency that opened out to... nothing. Just snow. Blindingly white, stretching endlessly in every direction, as if the world had been swallowed up by ice and frost. I'd never seen snow like this before, an ocean of white as far as I could see. No trees. No markers. Just empty, white vastness.

I shivered, wrapping the blanket tighter around my shoulders as I draped my legs over the bed and dragged the sheets with me. The silence was heavy, too suffocating I could die and was broken only by the occasional crackle of the fire. How long had I been here?

My mind was still a mess of fractured thoughts and snippets of the forest flashed through my head. I tried to think back, to piece together the gaps, but the effort felt like pushing against a solid wall of pain.

And then, a scent—one I recognized instantly—filtered through the haze, sharp and familiar. My pulse spiked, my heart racing as I turned quickly, dread and anger boiling in my gut as one.

There he was. Judas.

He'd just stepped out of the bathroom, hair damp and clinging to his forehead, water glistening over bare skin, shamelessly stark naked. And that sight... my stomach clenched instinctively, a visceral reaction to the sheer danger of him standing there in all his raw power. That monstrous thing between his legs—a sight burned into my mind, unbidden memories flashing of how many times he'd taken what he wanted, ruthlessly and unapologetically.