Near Death
"How did I get here?" she asked him as she saw his shadow come into view. She could barely see him through the darkness, just the outline of his tall, slender frame, but she knew it was Nathan.
Confusion and disorientation was flooding her mind. Where was she? Where was everyone else? Why was she left? Was this real? She could see a faint white light flowing towards her. Then his voice calling to her, the light touch of his whispering tone, almost a hissing sound, the insistence, urgency for her to speak to him. "Victoria? Victoria? Can you hear me? It's all over. They've finally destroyed our planet." he said. "But I'm here."
She tried to hear him, tried to focus on his voice, the waves of warmth drew her to him, as if his breath was a few inches from her ear. "Listen to me. You'll be alright. We have to get you well."
Victoria looked down at her body and saw her bloody blackened T-shirt, ripped and barely hanging on her body. As she realized that she could feel the wounds pulsing with blood and pain, the slashes, bit marks, and deep cuts, she remembered who had given them to her. "You sliced me up? Whhhyyyy?" and then her voice died away, gurgled into silence.
"Noooo, Victoria. Listen to me! It's nothing like that. It's part of your rebirth. I’ll explain it to you," he answered calmly. "Listen to me. You're weak. You’ve lost a great deal of blood. Just relax and focus on my voice. I will heal you. Don't fall asleep. Hear me! Please, hear me." His voice was fading in and out.
And then she realized she was dying; all the blood, her own blood had flowed from her into him, into his body. She couldn't gain the strength to open her eyes. The pain was rising. She could feel all the wounds on her body, screaming in agony, mocking her for what she had allowed to happen, what she had allowed her boyfriend to do.
Images from the night before began flying through her mind as she struggled to stay conscious. Nathan had asked her to stay the night with him. Somehow the common ritual of exchanging droplets of blood before their lovemaking had turned into a fiendish nightmare. The last thing she could recall was seeing a silver knife in his hand as he looked into her eyes. "I love you," he had said as he slipped the cold steel of the knife into her left side. Over and over he had sliced into her chest and stomach, licking her body as the blood flowed from her wounds.
And now he was calling to her as she lay dying at his feet. Why was he calling to her, why was he letting her die if he had loved her so, why had he attacked her?
But she didn’t care. She just wanted to sleep and end this nightmare. She wanted peace. Sleep started to overtake her. Yes, peace, she thought. A dream entered her mind as she drifted off to sleep and she felt such warmness beginning to permeate through her body that she let the vision come. Nathan was standing in front of a white light, keeping the rays from getting near her. The light started to encircle him, whirling around him. His body seemed to radiate and begin to glow a golden brown. His muscles flexed and expanded, filling his slender frame to a well-defined shape. And then she saw his face. His features changed to a reptilian nature, his cheeks hollowed out, the skin around then sunk into his skull. His nose tightened to a point. Long sharp teeth fell over his lips. His eyes were blazing a meadow green. His stare surged towards her, entrancing her to hold his gaze and she heard him say, "This is who I am now, and this is who you will become. Let's begin this together, a new world and a new race. This is why I summoned you. We are to be the future."
A horrible roaring sound interrupted the dream and then suddenly she felt the floor again beneath her. She wasn’t dead; she was hanging on. He was kneeling over her, patiently waiting for her to regain consciousness. She groaned when she felt the pain rising in her chest with the few moves she tried to make.
"Let me slowly roll you over so you're on your back. I've got to clean your wounds...don't worry; you'll be okay now," he whispered.
When she was resting on her back lying on the floor, she tried to open her eyes. But she couldn't. The pain was so brutal and a surge of coldness was starting to take hold of her again. Her arms and legs were growing very cold. All she could do was roll her head to the left, trying to open at least one eye so she could see him. Had he changed as in her dream?
Close to her ear, Nathan whispered, "You won't die, but we have to heal you. I know what to do. Will you trust me?" She could feel his warmth, the energy radiating from him as he held her hand and circled his thumb around and around on the inside of her palm. Slowly she started feeling such peace and oneness with him that she couldn't say no. This had to be right. How else could she live to see another day if she didn't let him help her, she wondered. She nodded in agreement, and surrendered herself to him.
to be continued...
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