Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“That is what you think, my lovely little Hanna…”
Out of the darkness, a pale hand appeared. It had long fingers that seemed to have too many joints and each was tipped with a razor-sharp, pointed black nail.
As she lay there, unable to move, the index finger hovered over her face and then dipped down and began to write something on her forehead.
Hanna screamed and writhed helplessly. It felt like the Dark Entity was etching her skin with acid! But though she struggled as hard as she could, the cold weight on her chest wouldn’t let her move until he was done.
Finally the hand disappeared again and the blazing red eyes looked down into hers.
“The next time I come to you, you will welcome me—even beg me to take you,” the low, demonic voice snarled in her ears. “Once I shove my cock in your tight little pussy and fill you with my burning seed, you will be mine. And then I’ll take you with me…soon you will be my wife!”
“Never!” Hanna gasped again and then the weight on top of her seemed to squeeze all the air out of her at once. With a breathless gasp, the world around her faded and everything went black.
4
HANNA
Hanna woke with a start in the middle of her bed. By the relentless Florida sunshine streaming through her windows she thought it must be almost noon. Her body was drenched in cold sweat and she felt sick to her stomach.
At first she couldn’t understand why she felt so bad, but then she remembered the Dark Entity’s visit the night before. The cold weight on her chest, squeezing the breath out of her…the vision she’d had of the pit of damned souls screaming and begging to die so the agony would end…and most of all, the Demon’s assertion that she would give in to him and that he would take her once she did.
He wants to fuck me! And once he takes my body, he’ll have full access to my soul, she thought.
The idea of the demonic entity entering her body caused her stomach to rebel. She stumbled off the rickety pull-out bed and barely made it to the bathroom before the contents of her stomach came up in a hot, loose rush. There wasn’t much—she hadn’t had time for dinner the night before, though she’d eaten the rest of an appetizer one of her customers didn’t want. It had been Jalapeno poppers and now Hanna regretted every spicy bite.
She leaned over the toilet bowl, tears stinging her eyes as the bile stung her throat.
Maybe it was just a bad dream, whispered a small, hopeful voice in her head. Just a really bad, terrible, awful nightmare. After all, he’s never been able to cross the wards before, right? So maybe you just dreamed the whole thing.
Hanna wiped her mouth on a swatch of toilet paper and flushed the toilet. Maybe it was just a bad dream. Maybe she was finally going crazy—just like her parents thought she was all those years ago.
Rising on unsteady legs, she rinsed out her mouth in the tiny, stained sink. Then she splashed water on her face and looked at herself in the rusty mirror.
“Just a bad dream,” she told her reflection, willing it to be true. “Just a nightmare. Just…”
The words died on her lips as she felt a burning sensation on her forehead. Her eyes were drawn upward and in the mirror she saw a line of fiery script appearing slowly, an inch above her eyebrows.
Hanna couldn’t read the language it was written in, but the letters burned as they appeared, refuting her pathetic hope that last night had been nothing but a nightmare. The Dark Entity—the Demon—had marked her somehow. He had put his sign on her and now she would never be free of him!
“No! No, no, no, no—NO!”
Hanna didn’t realize she’d shouted aloud until someone in the next apartment hammered on the thin wall and shouted,
“What the fuck?” in an angry, sleepy voice.
Pushing away from the mirror, she ran back to the main room of her apartment and grabbed for her purse. She scrambled madly in it until she found what she was looking for—a thin, golden wire that was meant to fit over the temples.
It was a Think-me—an ingenious Kindred device that made telepathic communication possible. Hanna’s Aunt Luna had given it to her, instructing her to use it in case of emergencies. Well this was an emergency, all right—possibly the worst one she’d ever had!
Hanna closed her eyes and concentrated, picturing her aunt as she always saw her. Aunt Luna had platinum blonde hair which she dyed blue and purple and she only wore clothes that were black or white or a combination of the two. Now Hanna reached out to her aunt, sending out a plea for help.