A/N: As always, posted to my deviant art first. Hope you enjoy and remember to R&R
She came awake with a gasp and an awful feeling of not being able to get enough air into her lungs. Her breathing was fine but the feeling did not disappear. She became aware of a weight on her chest. Her vision went in and out of focus and it took her a while to eventually make a cat out of the bright orange blur. Her hand rose weakly, trying to push the cat off of her.
Teekl only made himself comfortable between her breasts and tugged on the psychic link with his master, sending the image of the waking girl. Much to his displeasure, the girl forced herself to sit up and he slipped down her shirt. He snarled at her, not that she could see it.
Her eyelids felt as if they were made of some stiff heavy metal in need of a good oiling and her head didn't feel much better. She left them drift close as she fought to control the nausea rising in response to her movement. She opened them in a rush when she found that she had briefly succumbed to the pull of sleep. Her body trembled with weakness but the weight of the cat bothered her after a while and she pushed the thing roughly off the couch.
Teekl's fur stood on end. His claws dug into the carpeting. Feline lips were twisted to bare teeth as a low hiss passed through them. This, was how Klarion found Teekl moments later when he got the door open and walked into the room. He shot his familiar the nastiest glare before blasting the cat across the room. Teekl turned and hissed at his master before fleeing into the kitchen.
Fortunately for Klarion's plans, the girl's gaze was focused on his dark silhouette and she couldn't make out anything she didn't look at directly for the moment. He realized his near-slip and shot another glare in the cat's direction. He was tempted to lean against the doorway until she said something but remembering the woman outside the door, stepped fully into the room and pulled the door closed behind him.
He gave her a winning grin and began walking towards her as he said, "Glad to see you're awake m'dear. I have to leave soon but you should rest. You've had quite a nasty fall. Hit your head I'm afraid."
She stiffened as he got closer. If he picked up on it, he gave no indication other than stopping and walking around the couch towards the kitchen beyond. She followed him with her eyes until he passed through the threshold and into another room. Her muscles relaxed and she settled back down on the couch. She was more comfortable knowing she was alone in the living room but she still strained her hearing in case he or the cat decided to sneak up on her.
Klarion held back a groan as he entered the kitchen. The fridge was practically covered with pictures of the family. Teekl grinned down at him mockingly from atop the appliance and the witch boy made a sour face at him. He began tearing them down until he realized he needed a way to dispose of them. The trash can? She could look through it. Out the window? He didn't feel like redoing the wards on it. He stopped thinking about it and just lit them on fire like the rest.
"What was that," the girl's voice called from the other room.
He scrambled for an answer while looking around the kitchen for an excuse. On the table there was a scented candle. He smirked to himself as he snapped his fingers and a flame rushed to life on the wick.
"Ah, just lighting a candle. The kitchen light is out," he called back, almost laughing at his deception.
The girl must have been satisfied by the answer because she didn't reply. Klarion pulled Teekl off the fridge and stroked him for a moment before turning to walk back into the other room.
"Meow?" Teekl questioned.
The witchboy stopped for a moment, a thoughtful frown crossing his face.
"Oh!" he said and squeezed the cat distractedly before continuing, "You're quite right my dear Teekl."
He focused his sight on the bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling of the room. After a moment, a faint popping sound came from within it and a lone wisp of smoke trailed out of its base. He listened for a moment for any signs that the girl had heard him before he remembered that her hearing was human and dull.
"I do apologize for having to leave you alone after the injury you've had but I really must take Teekl here to the vet," he said as he stepped into the room.
Halfway across the room, he stopped and turned his head to look at her.
"How rude of me, leaving without telling you my name. I'm Klarion, and you are?" he said.
She blinked, confused at how long it took her to bring up the information. She frowned and bit her lip. Suddenly, she smiled as her own name bubbled up from the murky depths of her turbulent mind.
"Madison," she said.
"Nice to meet you Madison," he said with a smile and made his way to the door.
Klarion was out the door and across the hall, having learned his lesson about teleporting in well-lit areas with the lady still passed out on the floor, when Madison began to wonder what sort of vet was open for visits at such an odd hour. She frowned at the door. Something wasn't right about that guy at all. Unfortunately, she was too tired at the time to investigate further and fell into a more restful sleep than she'd had earlier.
Sometime later, hunger pangs dragged her out of the embrace of sleep. She pouted, certain that she was being deprived of some wonderful dream before she remembered where she was. She sat up quicker than she thought she'd be able to and looked around frantically. She was alone. If the guy and his cat had returned, they were incredibly silent. She heard nothing but the sound of distant sirens.
It was still dark but she sensed that dawn was not very far away. She brushed away the urge to remember. She had bigger problems. Nothing hurt. There were no bruises, no throbbing, no aches, and her head was remarkably clear. In fact, she felt incredibly well aside from the clawing hunger in her belly. She hadn't fallen. He had lied to her.
She questioned her new theory when she got up and was hit by a wave of dizziness. Perhaps, she had merely passed out and he only thought she fell. She wasn't convinced by the thought and made her way into the candle-lit room as she was not brave enough to start her search in the dark hallway. Besides, she reasoned, the room seemed the most logical place to put a kitchen.
It began to feel like going into the lit room was a mistake. From within the flickering light, the darkness in the other room made her skin crawl. Just looking at her own shadow made her shudder unpleasantly. Fear struck with a cold grace at her heart. Every sound sent shocks up her spine.
She shook her head. Her fear was misplaced and she knew it. Now that she could see, she noticed tiny cuts on the palms of her hands. She may have fallen, she acknowledged, but if she'd caught herself would she have hit her head hard enough to knock herself out? It didn't matter. She wouldn't stay. She'd be gone by the time he got back from the vet or wherever he had really gone.
Or at least that's what she thought before trying the door in the room she'd woken in. Still, since the handle had turned she convinced herself that it was only stuck. The window in the kitchen soon proved her wrong.
She eyed the dark hallway warily from the kitchen doorway. There was no reason to be afraid of the dark. Yet, some dark memory stroked at the edges of her consciousness. It whispered promises that deadly things would find her there, crush her, steal her breath. She brushed the feeling away with a frown and walked into the hall.
The decided she'd start at the end of the hall and work her way back towards the kitchen. That way there was less of chance she'd be caught in one of the rooms when he came back. Assuming of course, that he wouldn't walk in through the door in the next few minutes.
The door at the end of the hall turned out to be the bathroom. A street light blazed bright beyond the opaque window in the shower, flooding the room with dim amber light. It was narrow and would definitely be difficult but she thought that she could fit through it if she had to. Unfortunately, the window, like the one in the kitchen, wouldn't budge.
"Who the fuck locks a window that small?" she yelled as she slammed her hand against the tile.
She'd been kidnapped. He'd kidnapped her. It was hard not to panic. Even if she got out she didn't actually remember any phone numbers to call and she didn't have money anyway. She could go to the police. And tell them what? She was still hungry to boot.
Her stomach led her back to the kitchen. She would have checked the other rooms but having convinced herself she was the next victim of some deranged serial killer, she was afraid of what she would find. The darkness suddenly seemed a whole lot more friendly now that it possibly kept her from seeing severed limbs. Morbid humor was not a reaction she wanted to be having in that situation but it was either that or scream and she wasn't sure he wasn't standing outside the door or watching her.
The stark white light of the fridge mingled with the more sensuous light of the candle. She paused for a moment at the sudden realization that she really liked the honey-hued glow of the candle. Her newfound love of the candle was short lived as she noticed that the fridge was empty of any actual food. Now, the apple-cinnamon scent of the thing seemed to exist solely to mock her.
Swiftly, she walked across the warm linoleum and snatched the candle off the table. Fortunately, it was rather thick and the glass was not hot enough to burn. Later, she would rationalize that low blood sugar and the extreme stress of being held against their will was enough to drive anyone insane but for the moment, she flung the thing at the kitchen window. Abruptly, the room was swallowed by the heavy drape of darkness.
"Do you often try to set yourself on fire?" a voice drawled from somewhere behind her.
Madison felt her entire body stiffen. She hadn't heard the door open. She was distracted and emotional but she would have heard that door open from where she was. Maybe he'd been there the whole time. Why hadn't he made his presence known sooner? Why do serial killers do anything? She didn't like where that train of thought was going.
Light returned to the room. Had he lit another candle? No, there in front of her, as if she had hurled it at the window, the apple scented monstrosity burned merrily. Her heart jumped into her throat. She'd flung that candle, seen the shards fly through the air before the light had abruptly died.
"Boo," he whispered right next to her ear.
For the second time that night, or rather for the first time that morning, Madison passed out.
"Why do they always do that?" Klarion asked, "It's like they've never seen magick before."
Teekl wondered whether his master was serious in his query or if he was just mocking the humans he encountered. He didn't see the point of doing the latter when the girl wasn't conscious to hear it and he refused to consider the former. There was simply no way his master was that stupid. Fortunately for Teekl, his master was too preoccupied to notice the cat's train of thought.
"Ah, this is going to be so much FUN Teekl," he said giddily while bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Teekl meowed in response.
"Of course I still want to know how she piggybacked on my ritual but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with it!" he dismissed the cat's concerns.
The girl began to shrink and was soon enveloped in a red bubble that hovered over to where Klarion was. When the orb got too near for comfort, Teekl leapt to the floor and stared at it. Ignoring the cat, Klarion moved towards the bedroom he'd picked out for his guest.
"When she wakes, Teekl, I get to convince her that yesterday was all in her head. That's going to be fun. It's going to be even more fun somewhere down the road when I do magick in her presence again!" he said as the covers pulled themselves over the girl.
Klarion walked further into the room and leaned against the window. The sky was beginning to turn grey as the sun rose behind the cloud cover. He liked storms. Raindrops began to hit the window, first a few and then a multitude in a disharmony of sound.