Forsaken Blood

- AWAKENING -

Alone in Sophie's dark house, Layla begged for sleep. Her eyes burned and her ears rang as she lay on the soft couch.

Deep voices echoed in waves through her head and played with her mind. They washed over her in warping tones like an ancient and evil chant. Had she lost her mind like Jeremiah said?

Layla let out a sigh of relief as the voices faded away and she pulled the covers up high around her neck.

Her heavy eyelids closed and she felt a heave from deep within her chest. It was magnetic, it felt like she was being wrenched,as if her soul was being pulled or torn from the flesh.

She tried with all her strength to fight, but her physical body was paralyzed. Was she dreaming? She didn't know, but she watched from the third person like a fly on the wall as her soul freed itself from her body and fell into the black abyss. A black hole opened up in space and sucked her down into the whirling nothingness.

Misery overwhelmed her as she fell deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Her eyes were closed, yet she saw with her mind's eye that this was no normal dream. She heard her name called over and over in many different tongues. It felt like a lifetime as she plunged into the dark until she finally gave attention to the call.

Vision flooded back to her and she crashed onto a road. There were cars that had been windblown apart, decrepit houses, and a sky lit with red and grey. It was snowing, she reached her hand out, but as she caught the flakes, she realized they were grey ash.

Layla felt like she knew the place all too well, as though she had been here before. The feeling of evil lurked on every shadow, yet she felt at ease.

A distant voice warped in and out, "hello Layla, I have been waiting a long time for you."

Layla span around and screamed, "who are you? Where am I?"

Her heart was racing and in a flash, a woman appeared before her. She stood tall with long red hair that frayed out in maddening knots, and yellow eyes that had no pupil.

The world span around Layla and she felt as though she might lose the strength in her legs.

"I am Ardat," the woman said, "and you are my daughter."

Layla's mouth dropped and she managed to say, "your daughter?... am I dead?"

Ardat smirked at Layla and said, "I have called upon you, to let you know you will be joining us. Not here, but in the physical realm. And this, well this is no place for you... yet."

Layla couldn't bring herself to speak, the life from her very soul felt like it was waning, as Ardat spoke again.

"I want you to meet my brother Rezaal. You will tell him I have sent you, my daughter, to live in his care, until my time comes."

"No..." Layla managed to whisper.

"Do you really want to try that, daughter?" Ardat laughed as though gravel was grinding in her throat.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and Layla had no real control on anything besides her thoughts. Voices began to fall down from the sky like crashing rain but she couldn't make out the words. She could feel her body, it felt like it was rising as if she were being pulled toward the sky. She couldn't breathe, she was burning up. Ardat smiled and faded out of reality and Layla gasped for breath, yet it was too difficult. She was going to suffocate.

***

Sophie shook Layla's limp body with all her might. Her niece was limp and lifeless, yet still alive. She could hear her murmuring and thrashing on the couch. She felt her forehead, Layla was burning up, she knew she wasn't on this plane anymore, was she lost in the netherworld?