When the wrapping has been pulled back and the contents revealed; an unearthly quiet blankets the office. The woman sits still as a statue, her gold evening gown pooling around her feet, hands clutched white as bone around the camera. Her eyes alone move slowly towards the white cylinder resting on the desk, a shiver passes down her body and she closes them. Moments tick into minutes as Miranda struggles with her own mind ... and loses.
A horrid shriek pierces the silence as she hurls the camera into the fireplace with all the strength she possesses. There is no trace of humanity in her face as she flees from the room, leaving behind swirling papers, packing peanuts and the burning stench of film.
All night the slight figure ran through the streets of Lamar without any rational thought or direction; there was only the panic of a beast trying to escape. Her heels had long since broken, the hem of her dress and her bare feet became caked in the dirt and grime of the city. Finally, in the early hours of the morning, the woman broke clear of the city limits into the quiet surrounding farmland. The incessant clamoring in her mind, like wings beating against a cage eased somewhat and she slowed; her thoughts becoming her own once more. Confused, Miranda looked around trying to remember where she was and why.
She stood alone in the center of a field, the moon shone brightly overhead and on the gentle breeze that lifted her hair came the whispering and gibbering of inhuman voices. She whirled trying to place the sound and saw nothing. The next breeze brought an all to familiar low chuckle to her ears and she froze. "Silly little girl..." the voice whispered, and with a sob Miranda attempted to flee once more only to run straight into the man from her nightmares. "Pere" she choked as he clutched her tiny wrists to his chest. He smiled and released her, and began to circle her as a hunter would its prey.
Miranda stood rigid, rooted in place. She was held captive by his touch and his gaze. Uncontrollable shivers ran up and down her body as he walked around her, his hands caressing her neck and chest. He stopped behind her and put his hands lightly on her throat, leaning down to match his great height to her small frame so that his face was very, very close. He slid he teeth apart slowly and ran his tongue on the edge, each word he spoke laced with cruelly seductive intent. "You are still mine."
Miranda made a desperate whimpered cry in the back of her throat.
"Yes oh yes," he whispered close to her ear. His nails drug along her flesh as he squeezed his hands.
"I don't want you!" She managed to choke out.
"Oh but everything about you says you do, little dove. You stand there under my gaze, of your own free will. Every nerve in your body cries out for my touch, my blood, my voice." He runs a hand down her hair as if stroking an animal.
"No...Naaate" she breathes, barely more than a whisper.
His hands close tighter about her neck, forceful now. "That disgusting filth of a Nos that was always pining for you? Don't think I don't know why you're here little dove." Cold cruelness radiated from his body and something inside her snapped to hear the ugly words about someone who meant so much to her. She twisted from his grasp and turned with her hands raised as claws to strike him, but before she could a bestial look crossed his face and in a blur of motion he clutched her throat and lifted her high into the air.
"Developed a backbone have you, weak little girl?" he snarled. He pulled her against his body, "Make no mistake about it, whatever has happened between then and now it is nothing. Nothing!" His voice became soft and she closed her eyes, helpless before his beauty. "Mine," he whispered gently to her. He stepped back and released her and she fell to the muddy ground on her knees; her long, dark hair fell in front of her face hiding the blood tears that had started to form.
Minutes or maybe hours later, she felt hard hands lifting her and before she could struggle she had been bound and blindfolded. A woman's voice reached her ears, "Take her back and confine her. I have business but I will return shortly."