Teetering on the edge of sleep, I slip into dreams of destruction. A silent battlefield strewn with the dead where warriors have battled for their lives.

Death.

It’s everywhere. Bodies hacked to pieces, marking the thickly packed snow in a carpet of bright red. The place has the aroma of stale blood.

Barefoot, the cold burns into my soles making me shudder as it sucks the heat from my skin through the thin material of my night dress. Déjà vu. I’ve been here before, but I don’t remember when or why. Fear slices through me. Wherever I am it terrifies me on such a primitive level I can barely breathe.

The landscape melts away in a swirl of white, the snow beating around me in a frenzied whirlwind. Blinking in confusion I find myself in an office. Swanky, upmarket, I can spy a London skyline beyond the window. Words, soft and murmuring mingle, indicating both male and female. Although I can hear them I see no signs of the owners. They’re spectres. Ghosts out of sync with my dream world.

There’s something about the desk by the window that draws me. Intuition. A gut feeling I can’t ignore. Padding slowly across the carpet, my gaze fixes on a frame. Face down, it’s been left abandoned against the wooden surface.

I must see it. The burning need comes out of nowhere. It takes a hold so strong my hands move before I give it thought. Clutching the corner, my fingertips caress the edge before I flip it over.

A girl stare’s back at me. Long black hair loose, it tumbles around her slender shoulders. There’s a smile on her face which doesn’t reach her eyes. Deep blue and haunted, they carry a burden of a thousand secrets. Pain ripples through my forehead. I know her. How, I’m not sure.

“Mavi, I won’t stop until you’re back in my arms. If I have to tear down the gates of Heaven to achieve it, I will.” There’s raw emotion in the male voice. So much pain as it echoes through the room.

He’s lonely. It throbs in his every word. Why does he sound so familiar? His voice cradles my mind and holds me safe.

Chanting fills the air. Male voices mingle, magic throbbing in every word, as they weave their enchantments. My dreamscape shifts like the ease of waves lapping against a beach.

A maze of empty halls lit by flaming torches stretches before me. They twist and turn, drawing me deeper into their shadowy obscured embrace.

Feet barely touching the stone floor, I venture like a phantom further within. This place is familiar. I don’t know how but the surety resonates through my soul.

“I can sense you, my Flower. Do you think you can hide from me so easily? We are bound. Your dreams are a place of secrets I will shred apart to find you.” Anger transforms the same voice. It chases away the sense of peace I felt and replaces it with fear at the sudden intensity of his emotion.

I find myself standing in a great hall. A fire is burning merrily in the huge hearth. Its warmth caresses my chilled skin. Before me sits a throne of human bones which gleam bright in the light from the fire place. My eyes latch onto the enigmatic presence of the stranger.

There’s no mistaking those green eyes. Intense, burning. I know them. The owner is strikingly handsome with a perfect, yet cold, arrogance to his face. Clothed in an expensive suit it extenuates the broadness of his shoulders and hints at the muscled body beneath. Sophisticated, suave but somehow, I know he’s not as civilised as he looks.

As if sensing my scrutiny his attention snaps my way. Everything around us blurs away. Nothing else exists but the blistering connection between us. The sheer energy he wields around him makes me drop my gaze to the floor. He makes me feel defenceless. My stomach clenches into a knot with fear.

Silence. It takes me a moment to realise there’s no noise. As if someone has muted the world with a single thought. A pair of expensive black shoes appear in my line of vision. He doesn’t speak a word just stands before me, waiting. I’m afraid to look up. Afraid he’ll disappear in a puff of smoke.

Licking dry lips, I hesitantly raise my eyes. A mouth slams down on mine. When I gasp his tongue finds its way inside. The assault is aggressive, demanding me to submit. As I struggle his kiss shifts becoming sweeter, more coaxing.

“Don’t, please, let me go.” I whimper, somehow finding the strength to turn my head away.

Grip hot and menacing, he holds me in place. “Mavi, at last you have come back to me.”

The voice is familiar, but my addled brain can’t place it. “Who’s Mavi?”

There’s a change in his fearsome expression, subtle and fleeting. “I’m not in the mood for games, my Flower.” His finger traces my lips. “Your dreams betray you.”

“My name is Sarah...I think you have me confused with someone else.” It still sounds like it doesn’t belong but I say it all the same.

He stares at me with such a piercing look I fear I might disintegrate.

“Is this one of Gabriel’s tricks? He thought he could keep you from me? Double-cross me? This was not the deal and he should know better than to try and play games with me because I always win.” With purpose, he backs me up against the wall.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

I see calculation and something malevolent dance across his handsome features before he drags me closer.

“Then I’ll make you remember.” He licks my neck, making me shake. “Mavi.”

Shoving at his chest, I frown. “I told you that’s not my...”

A large hand manacles my wrists, pinning them above my head to the icy stone wall. “I’ll call you whatever the fuck I want. No matter the name, I know who and what you truly are.”

He attacks my mouth again with such ferocity it shatters my resistance.

I need him. It’s like a sickness in my blood. A certainty. I’m unable to express this feeling with words.

Fingers stroke the moist heat between my legs. I fight the urge to clamp my thighs together. “Yes. Yes, please, I need you.”

“That’s it, babe I can make you feel really good. You know you want it.”

A wave of coldness creeps over me. It’s not the voice I was expecting. Not deep and commanding as it should be. It lacks the wickedness that makes me lose control.

Snapping awake, I find myself on my back, a naked male body pressed to my bare side. The hard length of an aroused cock pulses against my thigh as it rubs suggestively.

Panic setting in, I push him away. “Ethan? What the fuck are you doing? Stop it.”

How did he get in? The chair was barring the way. The door was locked. I vividly remember turning the key and making sure no one could get in. And why the fuck am I naked? The night dress I had fallen asleep in is nowhere to be seen.

His brown eyes, dark and glittering, he gives me a sensuous grin subduing my struggles. “What’s the matter, love?”

“I’m not in the mood.”

I don’t like his expression. Handsome face flushed, it’s ugly and predatory.

“You were just moaning like a bitch in heat. Don’t tell me you weren’t dreaming about fucking me.”

His touch makes my skin crawl. “I said no. Fuck, Ethan, can’t you take the hint?”

He doesn’t like my outburst.

“What’s the matter? Don’t like it rough?” He sneers. “We both know you do, so you can drop the frigid bitch act.”

Jerking a hand up, I claw at his face, my nails leaving red welts in his flesh. “Get off me.”

Flipping me onto my side, he uses his larger body to pin me down. One hand imprisoning my wrists on the pillow by my head.

“I don’t think the pills are working like they should.” His raw voice is brutal against my ear. The hand around my throat squeezes. “I can’t afford to let you remember.”

“Ethan, what’s going on?”

Kelly’s concerned voice draws his attention. Tilting my chin, I see her silhouette in the hallway.

“Change of plans. She’s starting to remember. We need to give her the injection now.”

“We should contact him and wait for his arrival. That’s the correct protocol.”

Ethan’s fingers tighten around my windpipe, ringing a choked cry from my chest. “There’s no time. We need to keep her subdued and controlled.”

Stepping closer to the bed, she comes better into view. Long blonde hair rumpled from sleep, she’s in nothing but a silky, short, black night dress, her delicate hands resting on her slender hips.

“You’re just scared he’ll find out you’ve been fucking the merchandise all week as well as me. Do you really think he’s going to like your sick game of playing fiancé? I told you when you started it that it would only lead to trouble.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“I’m not getting dragged into your shit when you get caught. We were only supposed to watch her and keep her in the dark. I won’t let you jeopardize my shot at immortality.”

Ethan’s answering laugh is humourless, malevolent. “Oh, please, do you really think I was about to pass up the opportunity to test out this cunt? All those rumours she was hexed and so far, my dick has done nothing but fit snugly in her pussy. You’re just jealous I fucked her first.”

Padding to a drawer, Kelly slides it open. “You may like living dangerously, but even a sleeping tiger will eventually turn on you if you keep fucking with it. You know what she’s capable of, and her reputation, as well as I do.”

“Just give her the damn injection, Kelly. I’m tired of listening to your bitching.”

With his weight, he wedges his knee firmly between my thighs. Shuddering in revulsion, I can’t bare the feel of his eager cock pressed against my buttocks. A scream builds in my chest, bottled by the pressure of his grip, still strangling me, keeping me from escape.

Rape.

This fucker has been taking forced satisfaction from me.

The smell of semen and sweat seep into my nostrils. A flashback. I’m lost in a nightmare of pain. Brutal hands. Grunting, panting, his body moving over mine. The burn of his seed inside me as he ejaculates with a groan. How he dismounted every time, leaving me defiled and weeping.

Rage.

It hits me like a tsunami. Primal, hot. A droning sound explodes through my head. I recognize it’s a tune. There’s something about the notes that makes my lips creep into a sinister grin.

Red shimmers over my vision and I lose all sense of awareness.