A Real Nightmare

Pawn

CHAPTER FIVE

Everything felt so far away. A hazy film covered her eyesight and as she tried to blink away the fog with no luck, she sighed frustratedly, her was head was swimming, thoughts a jumbled mess. She laid on the floor staring at the blurry ceiling unable to make out which room she was in just by judging the ceiling. Kat sat up rubbing the soreness from the back of her head. She had hit the floor pretty hard, it was pounding as if she were hit with a two by four.

Katerina closed her eyes and took deep breaths, exhaling long and slow. Upon reopening her eyes, she still couldn't see, but what she heard twisted her stomach in tight knots a whimper tumbling from her lips.

A low, deep snarl sounded directly at her right ear, hot rotten breath blew the hair away from her cheek, she stiffened, her back straight as a rod, holding her breath as she glanced out of her peripheral vision.

There was nothing there. But Kat could feel its presence. She could feel the searing hot warmth radiating from its body and penetrating into her right side. The rancid smell rotting flesh, the suffocating smell of sulfur caused her stomach to roll, nausea creeping in.

Her heart was pounding as if trying to escape a cage, her nerves felt as if they were burning as her body flooded with raw adrenalin. A soft whimper escaped her lips once more, earning her a loud growl from the unseen animal, creature, whatever it was.

"Are you scared Katerina?"

She tried to remain strong as his words caught her ear, trying to focus on her location rather then give him the satisfaction of playing his game. Katerina shifted, her eyes squinting as she sat up, she couldn't even make out if she was in her own home or somewhere else. Choosing to rely on her sense of smell to tell her where she was, she inhaled as low as she audibly could and came to the realization she was not in her home. How had she been staring up at a ceiling one moment and not realize she had been moved...where had she been moved? Wherever she is now smells of dampness, and mold. It was too cold to be a home.

Her mind spun, 'I could try and make a run for it, if I die...I die fighting'. 'He's going to kill me anyway, what choice do I have?' She thought to herself. It was a fight or die situation and regardless of the consequences, she'd face the devil head on.

"One word from me and my hounds will rip you to shreds. I'm sure by now you've quite figured out that your far away from home. I can make you do whatever I wish. And right now I want you to scream. Beg me for your life. Show me that paralyzing fear and gravel at my feet, because I'm far more superior then your kind will ever be. I hold all the power one could hope for. I am the puppet master of a real nightmare. I am the big bad wolf of fairy tales, only much worse. If you try to run, I will not hesitate to sick the hounds on you. One way or another I will get what I came for."

Kat tried to speak but her lips wouldn't physically move. She tried wiggling the rest of her limbs and found she could no longer move any part of her body. A grim look appeared on her face. How could she fight the devil when the devil didn't play fair? Kat inhaled, his words replaying over and over like a record on repeat. The information just wasn't processing. He has Hounds but she can't see them. He can make her do what he wanted, but how? How is that possible? Why can't she move? What had he came for? She didn't have anything of value on her. So what did he mean? What did he want with her?

Questions kept pouring, clashing around inside her skull like high winds in a thunderstorm, pulling trees up by the roots, breaking windows by the sheer force of it.

"Why you? Well, Darlin, I'll tell you. I know you're in contact with something that belongs to me. And as a added bonus, you're a weak, vulnerable, pathetic human," he spat the words out as if he were disgusted with the human race. Was he not humans as well? "and breaking you will be as easy as slicing a warm frosted cake. I will break you and you will tell me what I want to know. I will rip the information out of you one way or another. Blood and guts galore. The more bloodier, the better."