We continued on in a similar fashion for more than a week. One morning, we got a call from Antun. I put it on speaker. “Good morning, my lovely friends!” His voice rang out with gusto – way too much for this time of day.

  “Morning,” I drawled, still groggy. “We’ll see if it’s a good one or not.”

  “Ignore her, Antun. She’s just a grumpy butt in the morning. What’s up?” Michael was more a morning person than I, even though it was that low a bar I had set already.

  “How is life as roomies?” Antun inquired brightly.

  “It’s fine, but Antun, when do you think it’ll be safe to assume that I’m no longer a target for Nikola? I’m really tired of looking over my shoulder all the time.”

  I leaned against the kitchen counter. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the microwave door. I had a fairly bad case of bedhead. I tried to comb my fingers through my hair, snagging it in places.

  “I’m hoping soon. My sources at the police and ranger stations are keeping an eye out for suspicious activity. Once he starts hunting, there should be a trail. The question right now is what’s his diet? Is he picky with his blood or not?” Antun added, making it extra gross.

  I shuddered, “Part of me really doesn’t want to know, but I know my safety depends on knowing. Still.” I made a gagging sound.

  I poured my coffee, getting out the creamer and making it just right. I sipped from the side of the mug, smelling the aroma and letting it wake up my face.

  “Antun, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t call first thing in the morning just to ask how things are over here. What’s this call really about?” Michael furrowed his brows in concern as he waited for a response.

  It was quiet on the other end for a moment. In a strained voice, Antun started, “I think I may have pinpointed Davor’s motivation to become a god. If Nikola is anything like Davor, it might be the same for him. I don’t know how I didn’t connect the dots before, but he talks about it over and over in the journal.”

  “What?” I asked, feeling impatient.

  Antun must’ve picked up a paper from the rustle we heard on his end. “At one point, Davor wrote it most succinctly: “What good is living forever if I have to hide?” Davor was sick of living in the shadows. He wanted the respect and fear that is given to a god to be his own, and there is certainly no way to do that if no one knows you exist.

  “’However,’ Davor went on, ‘for now, I must hide in order to save myself. I am not powerful enough to take on an entire village, let alone a city or more.’ He goes on to complain about not wanting to hide, not wanting to wait but feeling compelled to for survival.”

  There was a pause while he let the awful idea settle. “Anyway, the point is, Drew, he wanted everything that comes with being a god but didn’t have the power to make it happen. Guys, what if Nikola is similar to Davor in that way? Drew, from what you remember, did he seem like the kind of guy who would want to be a god?”

  I didn’t want to think back on how it was around him, how frightened and small and weak I felt. But I did remember one thing. “He acted in control the whole time until I fought back, then he was angry. He didn’t calm down until I was… until he was done.”

  I swallowed back the bile that threatened to rise. I looked at Michael, letting him know that I needed to be done with this conversation. I needed to leave, now. I couldn’t handle any more Nikola talk.

  I took my mug with me to my room to get ready for work.

  Michael finished the call with Antun by himself. I took deep breaths, counting to ten in my head, holding the breath, and counting back down, trying to focus on the numbers and not on the memories.

  Thirty minutes later, Michael knocked on the frame of the bathroom door, getting my attention while I was putting my hair up. “How are you doing? I wanted to give you some space so you could focus on your breathing.”

  He leaned his back against the frame. “My therapist called them mindfulness exercises, the breathing. Are you counting in your head while you do it?”

  I nodded.

  So did he, “I do, too.”

  “Do you still go to therapy?” I asked.

  Michael chuckled, “I didn’t want to scar them. I mean, a sudden craving for human blood doesn’t really sound normal, does it.”

  I laughed, “No, I suppose not.”

  I looked at myself in the mirror thinking to myself well, I guess this is just going to have to be good enough.

  I looked tired but not dead tired, the concealer doing a decent job of hiding the circles under my eyes. I had to wear mascara to look like I had lashes at all, so that particular item was my daily staple.

  Autumn was well and truly here, a bleak season in comparison to our one “nice” season of summer just before it. It wasn’t raining, but the clouds threatened to, dark and heavy.

  I had begun to layer my clothing again, needing the extra warmth while I walked.

  Michael followed behind me by about a block, far enough away so that we weren’t seen walking in to work together but close enough if something were to happen.

  I stalked through the doors of the building, trying not to shiver at the temperature difference.

  I rode the elevator to our floor. It was the only time where I was out of reach if something were to happen…

  Breathe, I need to breathe.

  I didn’t want to call attention to myself the second I got to our floor.

  I heard a ding and the doors opened. I stepped out, walking toward my desk.

  The neighboring elevator arrived shortly after with Michael. He went straight to the break room to get our coffees ready.

  I didn’t like drinking so much coffee, but sometimes that kick of caffeine was enough to make life not seem so awful.

  Coming back out, he didn’t see Sarah coming from the side. She bumped into him, making one of the mugs fall out of his hands. Swifter than I could see, he had bent down and caught it, some coffee sloshing over the side.

  “Oh my goodness! I didn’t see you there, Michael! Are you alright?” Sarah had grabbed a napkin from somewhere and was trying to wipe at Michael’s shirt in an attempt to wipe at the spilled coffee. There was just one problem with that: he hadn’t spilled any coffee on his shirt.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “Sarah, Sarah! I’m fine, really. This door ought to come with a warning sign.” He continued to our desk, leaving her behind.

  “That was quite a catch, the mug.” Michael looked over his shoulder at her comment. “I don’t know of anyone who could’ve caught that. It was pretty amazing.” Sarah smiled at him prettily.

  “Thanks, I’ve got pretty good reflexes.”

  I rolled my eyes from where I sat at the desk.

  Michael continued walking toward the desk.

  Sarah watched after him, her look a mix of frustration and… adoration? Did she have a legit crush on Michael? For whatever reason, the thought made my stomach knot up.

  There’s no reason to feel anything right now, quit it, body! It's not like I… just… oh, stupid body!

  Michael set down my mug and went to his side of the desk, powering up his computer and setting himself up for the day. I looked at the open DM on the screen, someone wanting a second look at a procedural report for a different floor of the building.

  Okay, time to focus.

  Before long, it was approaching time for lunch. I had packed lunches for once, one for me and one for Michael.

  Michael pulled his lunch out, apparently planning to work and eat at the same time. I understood; sometimes, you get into a good rhythm and don’t want to stop.

  Sarah walked by our desk on her way to the elevators.

  “Hey Michael, you wanna come join us for lunch?” As if I was an afterthought, she looked at me. “You too, Drew, wanna come?” I felt so wanted. Even so, my guts twisted.

  Michael slowly turned his head, his eyes still on the screen. He finally had turned too far to see his screen, his eyes snapping to her. “I’m sorry, what was that, Sarah?”

  She looked a little perturbed. “I was asking if you wanted to come down to the cafeteria with the rest of us for lunch.”

  A look of comprehension flitted across Michael’s face. “Ah, that’s what you said. Thanks for the invitation, but I’m really on a roll with this contract. Maybe next time?”

  Sarah gave a small smile and nodded. She didn’t wait for a response from me before walking to the elevators, others waiting for her there. She looked back at the desk and caught my eye. What was that look she was giving me? Was that jealousy? No, it read darker than that.

  Like it was my fault that Michael had decided to stay in for lunch. Granted, it partly was, but she didn’t know that I had made his lunch along with my own.

  I decided to ignore Sarah. I went ahead and got my lunch out too, setting it on the desk. I unwrapped my sandwich, taking a bite before setting it down to chew. I looked over at Michael’s side.

  He was still focused on work, but he was simultaneously eating, reading, and with one hand, typing.

  “Hey Michael?” I waited until I had his attention.

  “Yeah, Drew?”

  I lifted my brows suggestively, looked at the elevators, and said, “I think you might have an admirer in the office.”

  “Really? Who?” He couldn’t possibly be that blind, could he?

  I looked at him a moment longer before shaking my head. “No.”

  Michael looked utterly confused, then a tad angered. “What do you mean, “No?””

  I put my elbows up on the desk, twining my fingers together in front of my face. “I mean, if you are that oblivious to the women around you, I’m surprised that you ever go on dates.”

  He drew himself up, “Hey, I’m not oblivious! I bet I could guess it. Is it Sarah?”

  “You just picked the last woman besides me that you’ve spoken to.” I wasn’t about to admit that he got it right on the first try, yeah right.

  Michael shifted in his seat, “Well, I know of somebody in the office who might have a crush on you.”

  That hit me out of nowhere. “What’re you talking about?”

  “You’ve got an admirer of your own and you have no idea who it is.”

  “Well, who says I want an admirer, hm?” I asked him.

  He didn’t respond for a moment, looking thoughtfully down at his lunch.

  “Fair point, but sometimes, feelings catch a person off guard. Like with my parents, they didn’t meet until they both had stopped looking for love, then it landed in their lap.”

  “Who says I’m looking for love?”

  “Isn’t everyone? In some way?”

  I thought about it. There was more than just romantic love, I knew that. I mean, I loved my parents as my family and that’s totally different. But was I really actually looking for love? I had to admit, being alone did sometimes get a little, well, lonely, even if it's how I’d prefer to spend my time usually.

  Love?

  “Did I trip you up?”

  Oh, that’s how it was going to be.

  “No, but we can agree to disagree.” I took another bite of my sandwich. “I am completely fine without love,” I spoke around my food, not caring that it was rude.

  Am I? I’ve gone so long without it, but with it…

  The look on Michael’s face held pain. “No one is completely fine without love. Maybe mostly for some, but never completely.” He grabbed the apple from his lunch and bit into it, crunching and snapping, and his teeth tore a piece away. His brows remained furrowed as he looked back at his computer, clicking on something and making a note.

  I took that as my cue to let Michael get back to his work.

  ? ?? ?

  No…

  I was back in the white room.

  How did I get back here?!

  I have to get out!

  The room was tilting as I ran to the door, pounding with my fists until I heard a click. The room snapped straight again. The click sent me scrambling back, trying to hide behind my kitchen chair in the center of the room. Why would one of my chairs be here?

  Nikola stood there, his plain face a mask of calm, his smile slight. There was no life in his dark eyes.

  “Ms. Nelson, you really shouldn’t have done that. You made me do such awful things to bring you home.”

  He tossed something towards me, like a bowling ball. No, not a ball. A head. Michael’s head. His face stared at me from the side, his eyes dead and unseeing, his face forever twisted in agony.

  I heard screaming. All I could hear was the screaming.

  I tried to crawl away from Michael’s head to get as far away from all of this as possible. I clawed at the back wall, willing another entrance to appear, to get me out of this hell.

  Nikola walked slowly in my direction. He passed Michael’s head, then the chair, prowling ever closer.

  I recognized the scream. That was my voice. My nails shredded at the foam and tore at the back wall, my fingers bleeding from the effort. I spun around.

  Nikola was right in front of me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. Even my screaming had stopped.

  He grabbed me by the neck, his thumb stroking my jawline to soften the blow. “Ms. Nelson, you really should’ve just stayed put.” Then he was on me again, biting and sucking.

  I thrashed – useless.

  He continued to drink my blood, the pricking of his teeth a terrible burn.

  I screamed.

  ? ?? ?

  “Hm, Drew?” Michael rubbed at his eyes with his finger. What had that sound been? There it was again, a moan. “Drew?” He stood up from his mattress, padding slowly toward Drew’s room.

  “Mmm, no.” She must’ve been sleep talking. He turned around to go back. “No,” she said louder, making him turn around. “No, please. No.” She squirmed in her bed. “No, stop. No.” she began to thrash, her covers thrown off by the sudden movement. “No!” Her voice was getting louder.

  Michael ran over to the bed, grabbing one of Drew’s shoulders. She didn’t wake up, just kept thrashing. He had to put his hand on her other shoulder to try to keep her still. “Drew, wake up! It’s just a nightmare, you’re dreaming! Wake up! Drew! Drew!” He was shaking her shoulders.

  Her eyes burst open, her pupils little more than dots. “NO!” she screamed again right in his face, not fully awake.

  “Drew! Drew! Wake up, you’re okay! You’re okay! Wake up!”

  She was taking in big lungfuls of air, as if she had been sprinting for miles. Then she started sobbing. She sprang from the bed, hugging Michael around the neck as she continued to cry.

  Michael hugged her back, one arm holding her close and the other hand rubbing circles on her back. “It’s okay, Drew. You’re safe.”

  She continued to cry, her tears and snot leaving wet streaks on Michael’s shirt. Her hands fisted in his shirt as she went on. They stayed that way, sitting together, for a long while.

  “You had a nightmare.” It was more a statement than a question. Drew nodded. “Nikola?” Her shiver was answer enough.

  He held her closer. “Hey, you’re safe now. You’re home. You’re home.” He didn’t need to know the details. Knowing that she was dreaming about Nikola, it was plain to see that it would take a much longer time for her to feel safe again. Michael continued to hold Drew, rubbing soothing circles on her back as she tried to steady her breathing.

  “I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice shook but her words were firm.

  “You don’t have to. I’m right here, you’re safe.” But he could tell from the look in her eyes that she didn’t fully believe him. He pulled her back to hold her face. He looked into her eyes as he said, “As long as I’m here, no one is going to hurt you. Okay?”

  Her eyes pleaded for it to be true. “I promise. I’m not going anywhere.” Drew’s eyes were wide and glittered as another tear rolled down her face.

  “Do you want me to stay here?” She nodded so hard he thought her head would come off. He picked her up, adjusting to sit more centrally on the bed. He tried to set her down but she refused to let go. He said nothing and just held her, understanding that sometimes, you just need to be held.

  Thank you for reading! Don't forget to comment and follow!

  I recently set up a Patreon with bonus content, including pictures and lore. Go scratch that itch, you know you want to.