3 AM

      Every night Nora Bailey would lay in bed, turned facing the pale blue wall. One of those cheap dollar store dream catchers hung there.



      In the center was painted a gray and white wolf; regal head raised, furry ears perked. To the side of the wolf hung a round, full moon. Beneath that stood the noble pack; their paws almost invisible by the snow that blanketed the ground.

She had stared at that picture for the last six years; thinking about everything and nothing in particular. Sometimes, as she stared, she would get a feeling as though someone was standing behind her. A mad, frightening creature---more terrifying than anything her imagination could possibly conjure.



                Sometimes the fear was so real, so paralyzing that she could not bear to turn over, knowing—just knowing that whatever monster, whatever demon assigned to torture her—would be there.

This bitter January night was no different. The evening found Nora alone, in bed, her eyes staring blankly at the television screen in front of her. Her eyelids felt so heavy tonight for some reason, as though giant anvils were perched atop them. Nora fought to stay awake, that old, familiar fear always a present heaviness in the pit of her gut.

         

          Nora did finally manage to fall asleep a few minutes before 3 AM. She Norally liked to sleep during the day---when it was light out---when it was safe to close her eyes. But, she could never keep her schedule the same. Nora’s life was one dictated by her emotions. Her hopes, her dreams, her fears. She lived inside a prison of her own mind---creating monsters out of ghosts—demons into flesh.

         A cold, bitter wind stirs the Pine trees surrounding the tiny trailer. The night air is still, silent. Nothing moves, nothing breathes. It was though the world has stopped—all life blown out like candles on a birthday cake.

         Nora stirs in her sleep. A tingle starts in her toes and slowly works its way up her legs. In her dreams, Nora is flying and there is music---singing---the most beautiful singing she has ever heard. She is floating among the chorus of angelic voices, floating in colors so bright and beautiful not even the most skilled artist could replicate.

         As Nora dreams, the warm tingle continues upwards past her thighs and nestles deep inside the shaded V between her legs. Her back arches and she lets out a deep groan as her sleeping body longs for relief---but she is left wanting.

The shadow watches from the corner of the room, thoroughly enjoying his effect on her. He plays with her unconscious mind. The black smoke tendrils of his essence dipping like a painter into different thoughts—polluting her mind—exploiting her fears—fulfilling her lusts.

         Nora’s eyes flutter open then and she blinks, slowly surveying the room. She had been dreaming of sex again. Almost every night it seemed. It was to the point now where she did not want to wake and whenever she did---it was always much to her disappointment. Nora sighs, shoulders sinking. The sensitive nerve endings at the core of her still tingled, but, as with every night she knew there would be no release.

Masterbation had long ago lost its fun and with all the diseases, mixed with the unwanted drama of dealing with another human, was enough to keep the idea of random sex forever at bay.



What was left to do then? Bury the emotion just as she did with every other thing she felt. Nora stuffed it down, way down into the darkest abyss of her soul. The pain and anguish writhed like maggots and her once warm soul had become cold and barren.

Nora plucks a cigarette from the red and white pack on the table. She takes a pull and then cocks it to the side of her heart shaped mouth. She picks up the little metal razor blade. It glints in the soft yellow glow of the bedside lamp. She brings it to her arm and slowly slides it across the inside of her lower arm.



Tiny little blood bubbles appear and the black shadow groans with ecstasy. It is almost too much to bare now. Seeing her this way…so broken…so...hopeless. She was his. She almost belonged to him completely now.

A mixture of relief and despair floods Nora’s chest as hot salty tears spring to her eyes. The lines of bright crimson on her flesh become blurred. The inner anguish continues to build like a silent crescendo as images of her own death flash on the projection screen of her mind’s eye.



She sees herself lying in a bath of her own congealed blood, wrists slit wide and gaping, eyes frozen open in an expression of immortal despair. The black shadow observes with indifferent curiosity---watching silently as Nora brings the razor to her wrist. She pauses for a moment—carefully studying the intricate blue veins pulsing beneath the pale flesh.

The shadow sees suicide, although it is not he who has put the thought in her mind. No. Nora’s rabbit hole went much deeper than any dark thought he could conjure. Her mind was a dark one all on its own. And it is at this precise moment that the shadow decides to show himself.



With barely a speck of conscious thought; he materializes. First as black shade then as a heavy cloud of smoke.

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” The man says, his silken voice taking on an almost sing-songy tone. Nora lets out a strange gasping sound and jumps to her feet. The razor falls to the bare wood floor beneath her.

         A man stands in the center of the small room. The essence of him is so overpowering that Nora feels lightheaded. He smiles at her and a creeping familiar warmth begins to tingle at the core of her. No other word but flawless describes his face—almost as though he has been chiseled from stone. His head is shaved except for a small patch of dirty blonde locks that he kept wound behind him. On either side of his head were tattoos of intricate designs and foreign writing.

         

He is dressed well in a black vest suit complete with black, shiny shoes. He stares at her from behind ocean blue eyes. His gaze pierces like crucifiction nails and he wets his full, red lips, knowing what she desired, knowing what drove her mad. Nora cannot speak. Her mouth is sandpaper. Her fear was intoxicating and he wanted to take her now, but it was too soon and he had to wait. Wait until it was just right. Until she was…just ripe.

         

He clears his throat and placing his hands deep in his pockets he says,

“I was saying that you shouldn’t do that---kill yourself, I mean. It would be days—maybe even weeks before anyone found you.

My concern isn’t for myself, of course, as I’m not the one that would be stuck here in this pathetic dump for all eternity with nothing but the wretched stink of my own rotting corpse to keep me company.”

Nora opens her mouth to scream, but his massive hand is atop it before she can blink. He pulls her tightly against him pressing himself against the white panties she wore.



Such thin material, weak, flimsy, easy to rip—that was all that separated him from his intended goal. But, he thinks with a grin, wasn’t that the way with all things?

Nora struggles to free herself and the shadow laughs with delight as he reads her true desires. Clasping his hand tightly around her mouth, he jerks her head back and whispers softly in her ear,

“And would you scream, beloved, if I did those things that your inner beast cries out for? Would you try and cast me out? Have me exorcised for simply…fulfilling my duty?” He runs his lips softly along her ear lobe down to the vulnerable inner curve of her neck. He pauses at her carotid, enjoying the feel of the pulsing artery against his lips. Nora trembles beneath his touch and her raw reaction exilerates him. 



In the struggle, her cuts open back up. Fresh blood begins to drip from the wounds and it stains the front of the plain white tee she wears. Noticing immediately; the man lifts her arm, gently bringing the crimson liquid to his lips. His mouth is hot, wet against her flesh and he lets out a soft groan as he drinks the flowing life force.

“Stop, that’s gross!” Nora cries, jerking away. The man stumbles, his blue eyes dazed.  He licks his lips, like a hungry predator, relishing the taste of her. Nora sinks into the wall, wanting to run, but too terrified to move. Memories from long ago crash like a massive tsunami over her mind’s eye.

“Oh God She whispers, her voice trembling along with her frame, I know you. I know your voice. I’ve heard it before.” The shadow merely nods, his face expressionless. He silently waits as more images flood her mind.

“When I was a teenager and we went ghost hunting. It was you. It was your voice I recorded. I listened to it for months, trying to figure out what you said.” Nora begins to pace the tiny room now, mad, like a police detective finally putting all the pieces together.



“Every one said I was crazy. They all left—they left me here alone because of it. Her dark eyes narrow to knife point, They left because of you.”

Something collapses inside the shadow made man and the flames, just burning embers up til now, begin to roar and lick against his gut.

“Blame me if you must, my dear Nora, but even you cannot will yourself to believe such lies. They left because they wanted to. Simple as that. I may have played a part in their departure, but it was only minor, at best, I assure you.”

“Who are you?”

The shadow says nothing, a devious smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

Nora lets out a shaky breath and then, “Are you a demon?”

Still nothing. He is as silent as the tombs, but her desperate expression pulls at his ‘heart’ strings and he decides to give in…a little.

         “Ask me a question I can answer”

Nora thinks for a moment, sucking in a deep breath. She holds it in and then slowly exhales.

         “How did you come to be here?”

The shadow thinks for a moment and then replies, his voice smooth as silk,

“That summer night, when you first tried to communicate with spirits. You thought it was a game, something for fun, but then I let you hear me.  I knew you would chase me after that and it has been rather fun. Watching you…trying to figure me out. It was…cute—your curiosity and the energy you expended on me---I drank it up like sweet elixir”

Nora listens intently, her dark eyes wide with trepidation. Her heart pounds like wild horses inside her rib cage and she longed to run away and melt into his essence all at once.



“But, I have felt you even before that” Nora insists, her voice tiny.

Her dark eyes dart back and forth inside her skull as she struggles to understand her current predicament. The shadow can only chuckle. Humans and their arrogance. Even when all is truly lost---they still think they have it all figured out. If they only knew the game had been set, the chess pieces moved and placed wherever deemed necessary---or sometimes---not necessary.

“You have felt me before”

He steps forward, instantly filling the small space that separated them. Nora inches backwards until she feels the cold wall behind her. He braces his arms on either side of her, pinning her like a caged animal.

“Here”

With one hand against the wall, he uses the other to descend between her thighs. Nora kicks, biting at him, struggling to free herself from his death embrace. The darkness only laughs as he runs his fingers along the seam line of her panties.

“The first time you witnessed that horror movie. I watched you—watching as the beast ravaged the woman, plunging himself inside her, filling her so deep as he sunk his teeth into her neck. The other children looked away in terror, but you, you beloved Nora, couldn’t get enough. You fantasied about that for years after---quietly desiring to become the sort of woman who would attract such a beast.”

He presses his massive frame against her, smoldering heat emanated from him. “Quietly giving me the strength to grow into such a beast.”



Nora’s head is spinning. His touch is heroin in her veins. She squeezes her eyes shut and then asks, her voice trembling,

“You’ve been with me since I was a child?”

The shadow man shakes his head, removing himself from her. He backs away, plucking one of the cigarettes from the pack on the table. He brings it to his lips and, Nora notices, it is lit without him using a match. He takes a long pull, then, sitting down on the sea foam colored comforter, he replies,



“No. Children are part of the untouchables. But, I did watch you, hoping—if such a creature as myself can do—that you would give in to the darkness. That you would choose to feed your hunger instead of denying it. And you did--deny me--for many, many years and my existence was a miserable one—more miserable than The Fall.”

The shadow pauses for a moment, his blue eyes faraway, remembering something from long ago. He quietly chuckles, shaking his head. He takes a long, deep pull and then slowly exhales. The gray smoke swirls about him like the souls of exorcised ghosts. He turns his attention back to her, his eyes hungrier than ever.



“Before the Fall?” Nora asks, the pit of her gut a glacier.

His eyes grow dark again and that familiar fear, that permeating heaviness invades her. Suddenly, he is on his feet and in one fluid motion she is yet again a slave to his embrace. When he presses himself tightly against her, she does not resist and her submission causes him to sink further, claiming her body with his own. His essence invades every sense, the smell of him, like burning cedar, assaults her nostrils. The shadow buries his face in the soft locks of her brown hair, his voice a hot whisper against her ear.



“Have you ever wanted something so badly? Something so..sacred..so special. And you aren’t worthy to touch it, and you know you aren’t worthy, but the hunger, the goddamn---“His voice quavers and for the first time Nora senses something human in him.

He pulls back to look at her, his eyes like sharpened spears. And no sooner does she see the vulnerability when it is gone, like the delicate, gossamer spider webs she found covering the lawn in the early summer mornings.



“What do you want?” Nora asks, refusing to give in to the paralyzing fear. The shadow looks at her, hungrily devouring her with his eyes. He chuckles, shaking his head.

“You don’t know?”

Nora manages a wry smile. “But, that would seem so obvious. I mean wouldn’t a creatu—person, such as yourself have an interest in more…diabolical things?”

The man cocks his head to the side, feigning confusion.



“I just mean, why would an angel waste time on a human? We’re pathetic, we’re---we’re disgusting. All we do is kill and destroy. We—we”…Her voice trails off. She feels herself shrinking beneath the intensity of his gaze. She felt as though at any moment he would crush her. With not even a thought; he could squeeze her heart in his massive, scarred hands, stopping it forever.

“Who said anything about angels?” He says instead. An amused smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

Nora is still searching, still trying to figure..it…out.

“But, you said ‘The Fall’ and the only Fall I know of”—

But, before she can finish he is against her again, but this time it is not his desire that she feels, but his hand wrapped tightly around her throat. Teeth clenched, he whispers harshly against her ear,



“Do not speak of things you have no knowledge of, little human. I have battled arc angels long before your ancestors even existed. I was here before the light..when the earth was ruled by shadow. I am the thing that mortal men fear. I am the night.”

“Then what do you want with me?” Nora screams. If you are so great—so powerful then why me? I am nothing…I am no one.”

Her despair is like a drug and he a junkie. The shadow releases his grip from around her neck then kisses the delicate skin, instantly making the redness disappear.



“That’s just it, Nora. You believe so much that you are nothing—that you are worthless. This belief keeps me with you…keeps me drawn to you..like a month to a flame.”

Hot tears rush to her eyes and her body heaves as it is racked with sobs.

“Why do you make me suffer so?” Nora weeps, burying her face in her hands.

The sinking feeling returns at the sight of her, but he forces it down into the desolate waste land where his soul once resided.

         “Wish me to go away” He offers, fighting against the desire to grab her and hold her.

         “Would you really go?” And his ‘heart’ sinks at the question.

         “Yes. If you willed it so.”

         Nora brightens. She lifts her chin, a spark of courage flashing in her dark eyes.

         “I control you then.”

         The fire roars inside the pit of his gut and he struggles to keep it from rising.

         “No. Only my effect on you.”

         Nora thinks for a long time. Her mind is open to him, but he does not look inside.

         “You grow stronger because of my suffering.” She finally says, her voice flat, emotionless.

The shadow tries to think of another way to answer, but there was no other answer. Not one that would give her any sort of peace.

         He simply nods, lowering his eyes.

         She lets out a shaky breath, steadying herself against the small writing desk for support. She wants to ask the question that burns at the core of her. The question that has haunted her all these years. The question that kept her both prisoner and willing participate in the shadows of her mind. He knows the question even before she asks it and he sighs beneath the weight of it.

         “I did not cause it. Only HE has the power over life and death.”

Nora whimpers, warm tears cascading down her cheeks. He sees that his answer offers no comfort and at the risk of his own demise, he longs to console her.

         He lowers himself onto the bed and pulling her toward him, situates her atop his lap. He cradles her body against him, reveling in the sensation of living flesh.

         Her body weeps from the years of sorrow she has tried to keep at bay. She weeps for the child she lost. And the shadow holds her close, so close against his empty chest.

         “I want to die. Please, just let me die. I can’t bare this pain anymore.” Nora sobs, her face buried into the crook of his neck. The flames are a roaring inferno now and his blue eyes take on a terrifying expression---like a great white before the kill.

         

With one fluid motion he is on top of her, the enormous weight of him pinning her effortlessly.  Nora cries out, struggling desperately to free herself. The shadow lets out a deep growl, furious that she still resisted him.

         “Say it again. Beg me for death.” His eyes are wild now and Nora gasps as she sees the bright glowing flames of hell itself dancing inside them. She opens her mouth to scream and he only laughs. He brings his mouth to hers, hungrily devouring her like the beast he was. The beast she had created. He kisses her fiercely, rough, without feeling and then, the less she resisted him, the gentler he became.

         He releases her hands and she moves them to his head. She caresses the tattoos, running her fingers along the circular, foreign designs. He groans, wrapping her tightly in his arms. When he lifts his eyes to hers, they are quiet again, the roaring flames now smoldering embers.

         “Oh, my love. My beloved Lenora. Don’t you see? I could never hurt you. It is because of you that I live.” Nora can only nod, her head spinning again. She closes her eyes, allowing his hands to freely explore her body. Ignoring the fear, she feels herself giving up, giving in.  He pulls her tee shirt up, and buries his face in her full breasts. His mouth explores every inch of them, taking one and then both in his mouth at once. Nora’s breath catches in her throat as she can feel him, enormous, throbbing, aching to be one flesh.

         Without thinking, she spreads her silken thighs, offering him full access, but he firmly resists.

“I can’t. I can’t..enter a human without permission.” Nora’s temples pound. Every emotion swirled like a whirlwind inside her. Hope, death, love, despair. Every dark thought---every time her chest filled with sorrow---every time she brought blade to vein---hoping, praying for the courage to press down hard enough. All of it all. All had been at his hands. He lived because of her suffering, existed because of her grief.

“Come inside me…please.” Nora whispers and she watches as the blue eyes above her roll back in their sockets. He lets out a deep groan and whispers something in a language she has never heard before. And then, jerking her panties off, he unbuttons his slacks. Never taking his eyes off hers, he positions himself at the entrance of her, rubbing the throbbing head of his cock against the soft, velvet folds of flesh spread wide before him.

Nora writhes beneath him, pleading for him to fill her all the way, but he resists. Thoroughly enjoying his effect on her just as he had done through her dreams so many times before. Spreading her thighs as far as they will go, he finally relieves both of their hunger. He plunges himself fast and deep inside her.

Nora lets out a choked cry as the size of him causes her delicate skin to stretch. She clings to his muscular frame, whimpering with pleasure as he rips her apart.

He whispers in that strange language again and Nora’s body begins to convulse. Her skin is burning, every inch of her electrified. He plunges himself into her, so deep inside her and all Nora can do is scream and claw his back like a rabid feline.

The shadow laughs, his blue eyes hell-flames again.



He buries his face in the tender crook of her neck and baring his teeth—he sinks his fangs into her neck. Warm blood floods his eager mouth, soaking his tongue and he drinks from her deeply---drowning in her life force. Nora groans, her essence slowly fading. She feels him growing inside her, stretching her so wide she felt she would explode. “Oh God, oh please” Nora cries out and the release is so much that fresh tears spring to her eyes. Her body shakes and jerks as wave after wave of orgasm assault her.

         “I want to, the shadow growls, almost losing himself from the warm soaking, but if I do you will be mine forever. I will possess you.” Nora sighs. She wanted to both exorcise him and invite him into the deepest recesses of her soul. And with this thought his willpower is gone—he empties all of himself inside her. Groaning and growling she sees him transform into the beast he truly was---the same beast from the film she had seen so many years before.

         Her head reeling with terror, she can only surrender all to him, drinking up his darkness with a thirst she never knew she could harbor. When he has finished, he lay still atop her, his cock still throbbing, still releasing his essence deep inside her womb.

         “You’re mine now. Forever.” He whispers between gasps. His seed is so much that it completely fills her and begins to leak slowly down her trembling thighs. It mixes with the blood from her tearing, forever binding them to each other. He lay atop her like that for what feels like an eternity and Nora’s eyes begin to grow heavy. She fights to stay awake, that old familiar fear rearing its ugly head again. But, she has seen the face of this fear, felt the touch, trembled at its embrace.

         It is still dark, still bitterly cold when exhaustion finally overtakes her and although the shadow knows she will never again fear the night, he stays with her anyway. He entwines himself tightly around her, protecting her, watching as she drifted off to sleep. It was a peaceful sleep, a deep one. Free of crippling fears and sexual escapades. He would let her rest. She needed her strength. After all, she belonged to him now and they had all the time in the world.