Warning: Incestuous rape scene.
Sera had only gotten two hours of sleep before she received the call to return to work. An eight year old girl had been brought in for an emergency appendectomy. The surgeon on duty was Dr. Blackwood. He always requested her specifically to be in his operating room; especially when it came to performing surgery on children. She was already horribly meticulous about her duties, but even more so when a child was the patient. There was a special place in her heart for children. She believed no harm should ever come to a child whether it be on purpose or on accident. Checking, rechecking, and triple checking her equipment and dosages, she sought to make the surgeries for them pain-free and complication free. She also kept a stock of sanitized and disinfected stuffed animals sealed in plastic bags to give to the children before their surgeries to assist with easing their fear.
Sera turned on the coffee pot before going to take a cold shower to bring herself to full wakefulness She hurriedly dressed in black yoga pants and an oversized white t-shirt with the word monster emblazoned on the front in purple. It wasn't that she was advertising her inner self; it was something she wore to work out in. When she did exercise, she trained like a crazed beast, punishing her body as if to atone for her less suitable and downright inhumane actions. Once she grabbed her coffee, she was out of the door. Being in too big of a hurry to get to work, she did not see the hulking black car sitting at the end of her road. She was also oblivious to the fact that she was followed all the way to hospital. The black car went unnoticed as anything unusual even though she had to wait for it cruise past her as she trotted through the employee parking lot to get into the hospital.
The surgery took longer than expected due to the appendix bursting during the procedure. This little hitch upset her greatly because it would put the child at risk for serious infection while extending her recovering time. Once it was over, Sera left the operating room without a word, hurriedly stripping off the sterile surgical gear to be wearing only her light blue scrubs. She needed a cup of coffee and a cigarette. Snatching the pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her locker, she shoved a couple of bills into her pocket. The coffee would have to wait. Her nerves needed to be soothed first. Priorities. To squeeze in a bit of exercise for her health, she took the stairs down to the employee smoking area outside at the back of the hospital. Truth be told, she did not have the patience to wait on the elevator. Everyone has their vices. The top three on her list were coffee, cigarettes, and murder. As soon as she hit the back door, she put the cigarette between her lips and lit it on her way to sit on one of the many wooden benches with the funny looking huge plastic ashtrays that looked like stanchions on each end. She chose one of the flat benches without a back, laying down it. Closing her eyes, she inhaled a long draw from the cigarette before lazily blowing out the smoke. She shivered from the early morning air that was still a bit cool despite it being the middle of summer. The chill lingered along her spine. There was something else grating on her nerves - that unpleasant feeling of being watched. She cracked open one eye, glimpsing around the courtyard. Empty. Grunting loudly at her own paranoia, she closed her eyes and sucked on the cancer stick again. It was ironic how many health professionals smoke despite working with patients suffering the atrocious results of cigarette smoking. The sound of someone clearing their throat startled her so violently she nearly fell off of the bench.
"Dammit!" she growled, sitting up with her legs straddling the wooden planks beneath her. Her eyes instantly fell upon the source of the noise. There was a man sitting on the bench next to hers. He was perched at the edge like some massive weird bird, a great hulking vulture in human form with bushy black hair, a skinny body, and clothes three sizes too big. His blacker than black eyes were set in a gaunt, pale face with circles under them that made him appear as if he hadn't slept in years. His eyes. She gazed into his eyes and felt as if she were falling into a bottomless, sucking void. There was nothing there; no emotion, no soul, just...nothing. Without warning, an eerie red luminescence like the light reflecting in an animal's eyes filled the tarry black nothingness.
Sera gasped, looking away. When she turned back to look at him again, he was gone. After finishing her cigarette, she stood up from the bench to go to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. That was all she needed-to begin hallucinating again. She told herself that particular phantom appeared due to her lack of sleep. However, hallucinations had been a part of her past. Seeing things and hearing things had helped her deal with the real, living horrors of her childhood. The man had looked like a demon. She had dealt with demons and angels as a child. She thought that was long over with. Her father had been a demon; a demon who visited her bed each night, stealing her innocence and her soul. Her mother had been an angel; as guileless and naive as the word implied.
One night, her angel had not taken the special medicine the demon put in her tea every night to keep her asleep. Her mother had awakened in the middle of the night to find herself alone in bed. Then she heard it; the grunting and snarling coming from her daughter's room. When she entered the bedroom to find her husband raping her daughter violently, time stopped. The look on her mother's face would be forever burned into Sera's memory. She had turned pale with her mouth and eyes opened wide in big round circles of shock. Her mouth snapped closed with a popping sound but her eyes remained blank and unseeing as if she had suddenly gone blind. Without a word, she turned to leave, closing the door behind her.
"Go after her," the demon ordered her. After slapping her across the face, he accused, "This is all your fault. If you had not tempted me with that body of yours, none of this would have happened. Get out!"
"But it's my room," Sera rejoined in her small childlike voice. She was sixteen years old, but she was still a frightened child. The nightly visits had begun soon after her twelfth birthday. Her body was changing, becoming more womanly as she grew breasts and developed curves. Her father, the sick bastard that he was, had taken notice of the changes as well. Her mother had lost his sexual interest years ago. Unwittingly, she had gained it. Her mother was childlike, helpless, and on the verge of losing her mind completely. Her mother had no idea this had been going on for years right beneath her nose. She had protected her mother from the truth, hiding her awful secret because she was afraid it would be the thing to totally obliterate her mother's fragile psyche. But the truth always has a way of asserting itself just as it had this night.
Sera pulled on her robe, ignoring the slick yet sticky sensation of the blood trickling down her thighs. She hurt deep on the inside; physically and emotionally. It always hurt. He made sure it hurt and hurt a lot. Rushing from room to room in the house in search of her mother, her anxiety grew when the shocked woman did not appear in any of them. Then she smelled smoke. Her mother must be in her workshop where she spent most of her time sculpting pottery. Clutching the bottom part of her robe to hide the blood on her legs, Sera ran to the little building with smoke billowing from the chimney of the kiln.
"Mom! Mom!" she cried, the heat from the pottery furnace nearly knocking her down when she opened the door. She saw her mother standing at the open door of the kiln, staring inside. "Mom! What are you - oh, no...MOM!"
Sera watched in mute terror and disbelief as her mother's clothes began to smoke and catch on fire due to her proximity to the kiln that had become a doorway to hell itself. Her voice could still not be found and she was unable to move while she observed the surreal sight of her mother crawling into the three-foot square opening of the pottery oven.
"Sera? Sera?" a voice called in the distance. Someone was trying to bring her back from her terrifying visit to the past. "Sera..."
"Dr. Blackwood," she gasped, opening her eyes to be looking into a set of kind pale blue eyes. She nearly tipped her chair over backwards when she jumped in surprise due to his unexpected closeness. Her hand was being held tightly in his to prevent her from crashing to the floor. Most men who got that close to her died. However, she liked Dr. Blackwood. He was a kind man who truly cared about his patients. That was a rare thing to find in doctors nowadays. Most physicians only saw dollar signs and just another body to be cut and sewn up, not a real human being.
"Sera," the benevolent doctor muttered in a slightly chiding tone. He pulled her back to an upright position, placing all four legs of the chair on the floor. He pushed a lock of his shoulder length, deep red hair back over his ear while he sat down in the chair across from her. "I'm really sorry to have called you in when you were supposed to be off today. You're the best at what you do. I know the patient will be in good hands with you there. It keeps me on my toes as well."
"It's all right. I don't mind," she told him, stifling her yawn. She took a sip of her cold coffee and grimaced. How long had she been sitting here asleep and having nightmares about the past?
"I'll buy you a fresh cup," he offered, standing back up.
"Never mind," she murmured, smiling at him. "I think I'll just go up to the roof top for a nap instead."
"Don't get sunburned. I know all about having white skin and getting sunburns," he said. Yes indeed he did being a blue-eyed redhead with light-colored freckled skin. He handed her the soda he had bought for himself. "Here. Take this then. I'll text you in an hour to make sure you don't stay up there too long."
"Yes, sir," she returned, feeling a genuine sibling type affection for him. There were a few human males that had managed to weasel their way into her good graces and her heart. So far, none had captured her attention as a love interest, just a friend.
Despite her dark hair and eyes, Sera had painfully white skin. She did not allow that to stop her from getting into the sun. There was always sunscreen. After changing into her black string bikini, she slathered on about a gallon of SPF 30 before heading to the roof where several lounge chairs awaited. Many of the female employees sun bathed during their breaks. She chose the chair closest to the edge of the roof and furthest from the door. After laying down her towel, she made herself comfortable on the plastic lounger. She understood why cats liked to sleep in slivers of sunlight and stretch lazily. The combination of the warmth sinking into her muscles while she elongated them felt really, REALLY good. Indulging in a lengthy feline stretch, complete with quite a bit of sighing and groaning, she sprawled out to relax. Just as she was beginning to float away into that fabulous parallel universe called sleep, she heard a low chuckle. Sitting bolt upright, she saw that odd man sitting like a gargoyle on the raised brick edge surrounding the roof top.
"Are you real?" she asked, standing up to move toward him. She expected him to disappear before her eyes at any moment.
"Yes," he answered curtly, his eyes remaining locked on hers. He did not move a muscle as she came closer.
"Who are you?" she inquired, raising her hand to his face. She allowed her fingers to hover just over the surface of the skin on his cheek.
"You can call me Rue," he told her, wrapping his bony fingers around her wrist. He smiled when she flinched and tried to pull away. "You can touch me."
Sera could barely breathe as he pressed her fingertips to the flawless white skin of his cheek. The only thing that marred his unblemished skin was the dark, bruise-like areas under his eyes. She doubted his skin had been exposed of the light of day often in his life. Today was one of those rare days since he was sitting in full sunlight on the roof top. Her ability to breathe deserted her entirely when he dragged her fingers across his cheek. His milky white skin was soft...so soft and smooth under her fingers. Her eyes followed the path of her fingertips as he pulled them over his dark red lips - red like blood. He was somewhat beautiful and definitely enchanting. A male Snow White. The pink tip of his tongue darted out to lick each fingertip. She gasped and tried to jerk her hand away.
"Don't," she mumbled, still attempting to pull away from him. "Don't do that."
"Why?" He released her hand, extending his hand to push his fingers through her shiny brown hair. It was just as silky as it looked. He grasped her hand, using her forefinger to trace his lips again. Pressing his other hand against her heart, he could feel it beating against his palm. It felt as if a butterfly were trapped under his hand and trying to escape. He had seen what she was capable of; she may look and feel fragile but she was definitely not a delicate butterfly.
"What do you want?" she whispered, her brain muddled with confusion. She had never seen this man before in her life. He was a total creep and acted like some kind of antisocial deviant. He had approached her in a highly unusual manner before proceeding to commit some highly inappropriate acts. Despite his bizarre appearance and his excessively aberrant behavior, she found herself drawn to him. She felt as if there was something between them; a bond that defied her understanding. The only thing that alarmed her about him was that he excited her on a carnal level. No man had ever done that.
"I want you," he answered in a shockingly bold way. He took her face between his hands, his eyes traveling down to her lips. He stared at her lips that had become swollen and red with a sudden rush of blood due to sexual arousal. Her breathe puffed across his lips in short, hot bursts. He knew she wanted him too. A ravenous hunger enveloped him as his eyes traced her slightly parted lips. Her tongue snaked out to moisten them which made them all the more inviting. His eyes moved back up to hers that were shiny and half closed giving her a sensuality that excited him all the more. He wanted to eat her alive.
"I know what you are," he whispered, moving his lips closer to hers. "I saw you last night. I watched you as you plunged the knife into the body of that man...again...and again. Thrusting it in hard, then pulling it out to do push it in once more...harder...deeper," he stated in a low voice that had become a seductive purr to her ears. His lips were so close to hers they grazed hers occasionally as he continued to speak. He felt her fingers twisting into the material of his loose white shirt, growing tighter, hanging onto him as she grew weak with lust. The fingers of one of his hands buried themselves into her flowing locks while the forefinger of the other slowly slid down her neck and back up again. His eyes met hers once more and he breathed, "I felt the pleasure...the passion along with you as you stole his life from him and made it your own. I know what you were feeling. I've felt it too. You see...I'm like you. I've killed people before...and I love that feeling. The power, the control...the satisfaction. The high of taking a life is like gaining immortality. It's like being a god."
Sera could hear herself panting. Her knees felt weak and her body was trembling. They were both freaks. She found it thrilling that she had found one of her own kind; a man who truly understood her, a man who shared her desires and appetites.
"Close your eyes," he whispered, untangling his fingers from her hair.
Sera did as he asked, breathlessly awaiting his kiss. Instead of an earth shattering kiss, she received a face full of hot air from the breeze blowing up the side of the building. Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but empty air in front of her.
"Fucking tease. What a bastard," she growled. Sitting down on the wall, she concentrated on slowing her heartbeat while fighting to regain control of her unruly body and runaway emotions. What the hell was wrong with her? Where did this guy come from and where did he keep disappearing to? She did not need another demon in her life but one had found her. This one she believed she would like.