Prologue


I saw him first in a dream.

I was running through some sort of version of my flat, trying to climb through the thick darkness enclosed in it, away from something. My feet were heavy, like I was trudging through tar, slowing down my pace. I couldn't look down, around me, or above--I could only stare forward into the wall of black that was settling in front of my eyes. My neck was unmoving.

My chest swelled with an anxious throb, heart stinging from running, trying to break though the cement hold on my feet. I was out of breath, mouth gaping, sucking in air that felt like water. I could see a window in front of me, open, inviting me to an escape.

I could hear the thick, heavy foot falls closing in behind me.

Somehow I broke through the hold on my feet, clambering to the windowsill, gripping it with white knuckles. The frozen air nipped at my nose and cheeks, tousling my hair with a sudden breeze. Safety. I lifted a leg to haul myself through the opening, fingertips tingling, propelling out into the air, out into safety, away from the creature stalking towards me, leaving it far far behind.

But I didn't make it to that window.

I never got to feel that breeze, that life, that safety, so close to me that it hurt. Burned.

The tar on my feet had stopped my movement all together, climbing up my legs, making me sink into where carpet once was. It oozed and bubbled as I twisted, desperate to get away, the goo reaching my waist. My living-room was dissolving around me. I twisted around, my neck finally breaking free from its iron hold, to try to find an alternate route of escape.

Instead, I came face to face will my monster.

Pale, thin, hollowed. Human.

His eyes were neon, a thick emerald that reminded me of rain forests and earth, churning with too much emotion. Two dark scars were chipped into his porcelain face, resembling a teardrop under each eye, mocking me as I opened my mouth to scream, cry, make some sort of noise.

He was beautiful.

I had never been more terrified.

The tar was at my neck now, rising up to my chin, my fingers sliding below the surface. The creature was kneeling, cupping my face with black leather gloves, eyes suddenly hidden by a black hood, delaying my fall into the darkness for another moment. He leaned down, thumbs tracing my jaw, dancing slowly across my lips, my cheeks, the lids of my eyes as he forced them closed.

He murmured something I couldn't hear, his lips brushing the tip of my nose, hissing out a sentence I would never know.

With a savage, violent push, I went under.

- - -

I woke up on the floor, curled up in an oversize comforter.

My bedroom was dark, the noises from the street outside rolling in. The light from my open window fell across my head, casting shadows on the wall.

Something warm was pressed against my side, an arm splayed across my hip haphazardly. Small puffs of breath tickled my neck, making the fine hairs on my neck stand on end. I turned slightly, the comforter shifting around us both, catching a glimpse of silver hair. I turned around fully to face my roommate, taking in his smooth pale skin and the small bit of drool clinging to the corner of his mouth. He looked overworked and exhausted, the dark rings under his eyes out of place. I took a glance at the clock on my bedside table—almost three in the morning. I gave a small groan.

Shifting the pillow half under my head, I adjusted it so that both of use were able to use it, still careful not to wake him up, before settling back down into my make-shift bed. I closed my eyes warily, suddenly unable to keep them open, mind flashing back to the feel of leather-clad fingers pushing my lids down. I curled up closer to my roommate, chilled from a sudden, sharp breeze that wafted in through the window, shivering slightly. I forced myself to sleep again, needed to sleep again, evening out my breath, slowly concentrating on relaxing each of my muscles from head to toe.

I was gone before I reached my shoulders.