Taken Over

   His head snapped to the side, but his forward momentum was barely knocked off balance as he plowed into me. His arms wrapped around my waist as we fell back. I took most of the impact of the hard floor as my body bounced painfully off of it. A startled cry escaped me, I wanted to scream but he was on top of me, tearing ferociously at me. My shirt ripped beneath his savage assault. His face was a mask of fury and blackness, though he was enraged with me, he did not shred my skin. It was apparent that he was able to keep enough reason to not kill me now; that would ruin all of his wonderful future plans for me.

   I tried to fend him off, tried to deflect his hands as he pushed and pulled and grabbed brutally at me. He seized hold of my hands and slammed them over my head with one of his hands. He was so strong, so unbelievably, inhumanlystrong. It seemed as if he had a million hands, seemed as if he were everywhere at once as he leaned over me, leering with vicious intent.

   He grabbed hold of my cheeks, squeezing painfully. I winced in pain, wishing that I could slap his hand away, wishing that I could slap him. “By the time I’m done with you you’re going to be begging to die. Begging for me to kill you.”

   I had no doubt that he was right as I glared at him, but he was going to get one hell of a fight before then. He grabbed hold of me, hauling me to my feet by my wounded throat. I tried to pull away from him again, but he held tight. His nails were sharp against my brutalized skin; his hand was tight in my hair as he jerked it sharply forward.

   He had only dragged me forward ten feet when the low growl pierced the air. I tried to turn, tried to see where the noise had come from when I was knocked violently aside. A small cry of surprise escaped me as I bounced roughly off of one of the tables and fell to the ground. The flashlight went tumbling into the darkness. Its beam bounced around the room, flashing blindingly over the walls as it spun. I didn’t know what was going on, could barely make out anything as I blinked rapidly against the flashing brilliance. The sounds of a brutal assault were loud in the room.

   I scurried away, scrambling on my hands and knees as the table next to me skittered into the blackness. I jerked back, frightened of getting hit by the heavy piece of furniture as it was kicked violently back at me. My heart pounded with fear as I searched for the door, but my vision had been compromised by the flashlight. I couldn’t make out anything within the room. My skin crawled with horror. I could hear the violent sounds of punching, the grunts and snarls of the fighters, the cracking of furniture and bones as the fighters rolled and tore at each other.

   I didn’t know who my savior was, or if they were even wi

   A startled cry of terror escaped me as hands clawed at me, trying to gain purchase in my hair or ruined clothes. I fell, rolling out from underneath them as someone reared out of the night. Fury and fear pulsated within the room; whoever had been seeking me was knocked forcefully aside.

   That was when I spotted the flashlight. I scurried forward, crawling swiftly across the floor as I reached for the small, gleaming torch. My hand seized hold of it as an echoing snap resounded through the room. Everything went silent. I froze, my hand wrapped around the handle of the light as I waited breathlessly in the dark. I had never heard that sound before, but I knew instinctively that it had been the sound of a breaking neck. I didn’t know who had won, I didn’t know if Ian was going to grab hold of me again. I didn’t want to move, didn’t even want to blink. I was afraid that any small movement would reveal my location and that the assault would begin anew.

   Something moved within the room. My heart leapt into my throat. I couldn’t stay like this forever, I had to move. I had to know. I spun suddenly, flipping over as I aimed the beam in the direction of where I had last heard anything. I had hoped to use the flashlight to blind whoever was left with me, even if it was my savior. Instead, it revealed a horror far worse than anything I ever could have imagined. A horror that left me cold, empty. Dead inside.

   Ian was on the floor, his neck twisted at an u

   Cade’s shoulders were hunched, his head bowed. Blood splattered his clothes; it streaked over his hands and arms. I stared silently, breathlessly, afraid to move even an inch. There was something wild, something savage about him that frightened me. Something that I did not recognize but that instinctively terrified me.

   And then he turned toward me. A small mewl of horror escaped me, my hand shook on the flashlight as I took in the sight of that blood splattered face. I didn’t recognize the eyes gleaming out at me, barely recognized the beloved face I knew so well. Because that face no longer existed. It had been replaced by the monstrous, nearly unrecognizable face before me.

   Black, everything about him was black. From his entirely black eyes to the black veins standing starkly out in his face.

   Primitive. Violent. Deadly. Those words screamed through my mind as I gaped in revulsion at him. Inhumanalso.

   I felt something inside of me breaking, splintering, and shattering into a thousand pieces as bits of my heart and soul disintegrated. His eyes narrowed. He didn’t seem to recognize me as his completely onyx gaze slid slowly over me from head to toe and then back again. He shuddered, rage blazed from him as his eyes returned to linger upon the ruined remains of my shirt. The blackness had been slowly receding from his face; it surged back to life, racing through his veins once more as his eyes found my bloody neck.

   I was ashamed of the soft whimper that escaped me. Ashamed of the complete lack of control I suddenly had over my body, ashamed by the crushing sense of defeat that descended over me. His gaze came slowly back to my face; he stared at me for a long moment before the black slowly started to creep out of him again.

   My heart was breaking, my body felt numb. I felt deadened and empty. I didn’t understand any of this; I just knew that there was a strange sense of finality enclosing me. A strange sense that this was the end, it was all over. That there was nothing left within me.

   He rose slowly, with a strange grace that made me want to cry. That grace, that haunting beauty, those dark piercing eyes, and strange strength I had seen him exhibit were slowly, and finally, begi

   I’d been a fool to think he’d actually loved me. He was a monster, monsters could not love.