A Girl Named Cirice

Chapter 1

I groaned, eyes flickering open to darkness, the darkness of hell, it must be. I sat up apprehensive, fear rattling my brain. Two dark figures lit by the flickering light of candles stood near. They did not face me as they spoke in hushed tones, one of the figures leaned to the side looking over the others shoulder. Although he had almost no need to as he was a good bit taller than the other. I was faced with a muted chrome mask of chiseled facial features. The mask stared at me with black eyes and I froze. Surely I'm looking into the face of a demon. It had a pointed chin, slicked back hair with small horns just before on the forehead, pronounced nose and laugh lines.

The other noticed his companion was no longer looking at him and turned revealing his face. The face of death, from the cemetery. The middle of his face was a simple white skull framed by black angular lines, part of his nose and upper lip where black, and his eyes had a thick black outline causing the one white eye to pop and the green one to look almost black, like his loosely slicked back hair.

The demon approached me slowly as I braced to jump off the bed, "Shhh hey it's okay, you're okay." He said, his voice a higher pitch than the other with an accent hard to discern. He made a calming motion as I looked frantically from him to Death, "My name is Alpha, this is..."

"Papa Emeritus III." Death interrupted bowing slightly, "I found you on my stroll and brought you into the Ministry. No one deserves to be left out in the cold. You had fallen and hit your head and had caught a fever."

His voice was soft and rich, almost comforting. Not quite what you would expect from the lips of Death; though Death has no name yet this figure does. I wrapped my arms around myself and realized that my coat was gone. I could also feel the soft fabric of the bedsheet on my feet, my shoes were gone. The demon moved languidly to a chair in the corner of the dark room picking up a bundle and then turned back holding out to me. Hesitantly I shifted off the bed and moving forward quickly snatched the black mass from him.

"There is a bathroom where you can clean and dress, we shall wait here." His brilliant blue eyes peering out from behind the chrome mask, they crinkled and he tilted his head like he was cringing at the realization that his words may have sounded creepy.

I kept my eyes on the two figures until the door to the bathroom was closed and I leaned against it. I unwrapped the bundle finding it was a beautiful vintage looking dress, shoes, and undergarments. I placed everything on a neat pile on the floor then checked the door making sure it was locked. But out of paranoia I also checked that in locking it I would not be locked in. Looking around I found some fluffy black towels and washcloths. Walking to the shower and after a moment of confusion figured out how to turn it on and was surprised to see that it was like rain falling from the ceiling. I watched the glass fog before stepping into the warm cascade of water. I stood letting the water wash over me before taking to scrubbing the grit and grime from my skin. Stepping out of the shower I glimpsed my gaunt, sickly reflection in a full length mirror that stood nearby. Everything about me was unnaturally pale and skeleton-like. Hair, skin, eyebrows and lashes were all white, eyes a chilling icey blue that were sunken into a face that looked too thin, cheekbones and jaw looked as though they could cut. I was looking at the figure of a deathly angel. As I looked away from the mirror, my situation became blindingly clear. If I don't do as they want... I would get hurt. Or even sacrificed to whatever hedonistic God they praised. This is not a refuge, just another prison. I put on the clothes given to me by the demon, the cut of the dress dropped all the way to my sternum, exposing my gastly ribs, the slit up the side of the dress exposed my leg up to my knee. Everything fit like a glove exposing my skeletal frame. Too much of my skin was showing, the lashings that would come from this would be horrendous if he knew. If he knew. I shook myself and placed my hand on the door handle and paused before cautiously opening it. The two men turned to look at me, dropping their conversation.