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It wasn’t a vision, it wasn’t my mind or my paranoia.
He was here, in the same room I was, and yet, I just stood frozen in fear.
He dropped his finger from his mouth and stretched his palm out for me not to make a move, a warning. But I already knew how quick Nightmare was to react without remorse or second thought.
This was it.
I was going to die today. Instead of red staining the white snow with my blood, it would be the hard, white sparkling floor below.
His eyes lowered from my face to my scar. Not one trace of emotion passed through his dark eyes when they returned to mine.
He took a step closer, and I reacted, taking a step back as I spun to face him. He didn't appreciate the movement as his head craned to the side with puckered lips.
Two steps later, and I stood petrified at his proximity.
My heart drummed inside its cage, faster, heavier. His clean and faint cologne swirled around, and my lips couldn’t hold the shaky breath that escaped between us.
Nightmare leaned forward and his breath brushed my ear as he said, “We match.” His white teeth peeked through his smile as he winked with the eye that held the thick old scar over his brow.
Time now held its own clock, hanging all of its power over me as I stood at its mercy and brink of existence. It was as if I had no control over my own body. As if I was a vessel, and my soul had exited along with my will the moment I saw his face.
“This will be fast,” he murmured, the same blade that had once pierced my neck now pressing into my ribcage. “Don’t talk. Don’t move,” he warned, but it wasn’t needed. The sharp edge of the blade had already pricked through my thin shirt and into my skin.
One slight movement, and Nightmare would drive the knife deep into my side and through my ribcage. I knew the way his knife could slice and dig without effort.
Then I felt his touch on my hips, shocking me. The little movement I’d made was enough to feel the tip of the knife breaking skin.
I locked my jaw, keeping a hiss from coming out, and halted any further movements while the knife continued to sting. His hand stilled for a second as his eyes watched me carefully before he continued to move his hand lower.
But his touch wasn’t sexual.
His touch searched the places where pockets could hold things; he was looking for something.
It didn’t calm or help my body from feeling uncomfortable, from hoping his hands would stop running over my body, or the reminder that it wasn’t an option as the knife threatened cooperation.
“Fuck.” Nightmare’s agitation wasn’t lost, his low curse bouncing around us. He removed his hand, then the knife.
“Everything okay?” Ilias’s voice carried from where I’d left him. Across the shop.
Nightmare quickly raised the knife to his lips. Traces of blood was smeared on its tip, and my body shook with threatening tears. Each step he took backward, the more my chest bounced and my lips quivered.
Then with one swipe of his hand, he held the far end of the curtain from the opposite side where I’d come in, and slipped out of the room. He was gone along with his shadow as if he’d never been here. But the sting of his knife had left yet another reminder.
Tears pooled in my eyes, my teeth trapped my trembling lips, and my body wobbled as the tears finally spilled out of my broken soul.
ILIAS
Roberto kept swaying side to side since he’d given us some space, his smile never left. The beads of sweat that formed over his shiny head were new after I’d asked why couldn’t Davina go into the other dressing room.
I kept my eyes on him, watching his every move as his body screamed for me to take notice.
The longer Davina tried on clothes, the more the blown light bulb bothered me.
As upscale as this shop should be, the more it didn’t make sense. Shouldn’t they be working on it?
“Everything okay?” I said, knowing Davina would be able to hear me, but when I took a step away from the wall, Roberto's swaying sped.
Davina didn’t answer.
