Hers

Prologue

Prologue

She reflexively pushes a hand through her light blonde hair; her lips part slightly as her flittering gaze darts to the left and eventually behind her.  She doesn't see him yet but she knows he's there.  He's always there.  Watching her, following her, making sure she never forgets that she belongs to him.  The familiar sense of panic starts to build within her, causing her to pick up her pace.  Her hand runs up and down her arm, desperately tries to provide false comfort.  Instantaneously, it seems her lungs have shrunken and the air around her has been vacuumed away.

Where is he?  She wonders.  Shadows crawl along the ground beside her.  She closes her eyes tightly.

"It's not real.  It's not real," she murmurs, trying distraughtly to convince herself her words are true and yet, she knows they aren't.

She knows her quickened steps are useless.  If he wants her then he will take her.  She won't fight him -she can't fight him- because deep down she knows she loves him, even if she doesn't want to admit it.  She shouldn’t love him- that much she does know.  He is the cause of all her nightmares.   He is the source of her greatest fears and her deepest desires.

The darkness crawls closer and closer to her, then, suddenly, she stops.  She stands in the middle of the empty street.  Her warm air meets the cold atmosphere creating a minty fog just inches from his face.  Yes, he's here.  She knows it, she feels him.  The air around her becomes too thick to inhale.  His breath brushes her neck and makes her skin crawl.  She can picture his bright green orbs staring down at her.  Judging her, determining if she is worth his time.

"You tried to escape."  His velvety deep voice drifts into her ears.

"I stopped,” she counters him in a small, broken whisper.

"It doesn't matter," he says calmly, she isn't fooled though.  She knows the rage that must be burning inside him, but it doesn't frighten her.  Nothing he does could ever frighten her.  Out of the corner of her eye she can see the shadows moving, slithering closer to her.  They are what scare her.

"They're not real," she insists.  A dark, throaty chuckle escapes his lips.

"They're real Nicole and they're coming," he says in a dark whisper, leaning closer to her ear.  She draws her brows together, refusing to believe him, she would rather think she was insane.

"I'm not afraid," she insists.  The lie is clearly evident in her tone.  She can practically see the sinister smile stretching across his face, causing his already bright green eyes to burn even brighter.

"Someone isn't being honest,” he states.  His voice slides closer to anger with every syllable.

She flinches slightly as his icy fingers graze the skin on her upper arm.  She forces herself not to fall for his tricks.  She continues to mumble under her breath while he makes his way to the more sensitive part on the inside of her arm.  Her blood starts to rush while he begins to grab her.  She can't help but lean into it as if he is a drug that her body is desperately craving.  Her eyes are still closed whilst she continues to whisper the words that she desperately wishes were true.

"Nicole,” he says in a growl.  His grip on the panicked girl tightens.

Nicole doesn't look at him though; she doesn't even flinch at his sudden roughness.  She was expecting it.  She was ready for the pain he would cause her, maybe even welcomed it.

"Nicole,” he calls to her once more receiving, in turn, the same results.

She’s under his spell now.  He is the only thing that has ever and will ever matter.

"Nicole!"  He yells at her.  This wakens her from her daze.

She lets out a bloodcurdling scream, one that would have haunted him, that is, if he cared.  She's on the ground now with her arms around her knees, begging him to make it stop.  He pursed his lips, not caring how much she begged and pleaded.  All the others had begged and all failed to convince him that their miserable lives were worth saving.  In the end he loved watching them die.  Something about driving helpless people to kill themselves brought him a happiness he hadn't experienced since he died oh so long ago.  In the end, he would win and they would lose because they couldn't handle their own demons.  In the end, humans are weak and stupid.  They can tuck their skeletons away in the deepest crevasses of their closets and they can close as many doors as they can but in the end, it's the things these pathetic humans think they have a handle on that will kill them.

"Please.  Make them go away,” she begs him.

"Only you can do that Nicole,” he says lovingly, stepping in front of her and kneeling. 

He tilts her chin up so that their eyes are locked in each other’s gaze.  He slides the long blade that was tucked safely in his waistband, out into the cold winter’s night.  The moonlight glints innocently against the nine inch steel.  He runs his finger across the sharpened edge yet, no cut forms and no blood trickles down.

Their gazes are still connected.  Her thoughts and fears seem to melt away in his stare.  The shadow's whispers and hisses seem to have dissolved into the background.  He slips the cold metal into her hands, giving her a reassuring smile, encouraging her to continue.

She slides the cold metal against the flesh on her wrist and cuts deeply, knowing that would make him happy.  Then without taking her eyes off the man in front of her she passes the blade to her other hand and slices again on the opposite wrist.  The blood flows freely yet she feels no pain or fear.  The only thing she feels is his eyes locked on hers.  He has consumed her once again.

Her vision begins to blur as the blood pumps from her wrists.  Soon, she no longer has the strength to sit up.  The man she has come to love takes her head gingerly and lays her down on the concrete.  The shadows are close now.  They slither behind his head and move closer to her.  As the last thread of her life is severed he stands and watches the shadows take what they want.  He gives a small smile at the sight before him.

"I always win,” he says to Nicole's dead body while his face twists into its natural appearance.  He turns away, feeling stronger with the fresh kill.  The shadows gather around him and take their true forms.  He flashes his sinister smile to his coworkers before speaking again.  "Next victim."