Chapter 7

Nikola was having a nightmare. In his sleep he'd kicked the blankets and sheets off of him, his hand fisting into the mattress below him and his heels pushing against the footboard. There was sweat from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, and his back was arching off the bed with every second whimper that fell out of his mouth.

His brow kept scrunching and softening then scrunching again, while his eyes moved desperately around in their sockets.

A flash of lightning cracked above him and lit up his bedroom for a brief second, accentuating his distress. His thrashing become more wild, as if possessed.

He let out a pained cry as he arched off the bed particularly hard, nearly bending his lithe body in half.

Suddenly his eyes bolted open and his body went rigid, before arching up once again, ripping a feral cry from his lips.

Nikola, with all his might, rolled off the bed and fell with a painful thud to the hard floor. His limbs not strong enough to hold up his weight as he arched again, like a spooked cat, his spine bending up in a half moon shape as his nails dug into the floor.

The wind rattled against the eaves of the cabin and the sound hit him like a bag of bricks had been dropped on his head. It was deafening. The whistle of the wind through the trees was so loud he could barely hear himself cry out in agony as a hand came off the floor to clutch the side of his head.

It had to stop! It all had to stop!

Suddenly he flipped on to his back, arching once again. His body writhed against the hard wood, as if his bones were trying to claw out of his skin.

Nikola's hands tensed, his muscles taut all the way up his arm, splinters were digging into the space under his fingernails drawing trace amounts of blood and he could smell it, it was driving him crazy.

The wind blew a tree branch against the pane of a window and the resulting scratch was a sound that crawled up his spine and bit into his neck. He felt a vicious tug in his veins, like God was pulling something from his very soul out into the open for him to examine.

Nikola's eyes widened as he felt the change come to the surface. His face stretched forward and down, a cold blossoming from the center, between his eyes, and spreading to his ears. His jaw hung wide and open as he felt his teeth grow, catching his lip on one of them and instantly slicing through it like butter, only to have the pain instantly drift off into nothing, but the coppery taste that briefly touched his tongue seemed to fuel him.

Then it was pulled back and he was back to normal again, panting, shaking, and terrified, but whatever was trying to broach him had held off for the moment.

With this reprieve Nikola scrambled up to his feet and went over to the basin, messily sloshing the water on to his sweaty face. He caught his reflection in the small square of glass he was using as his shaving mirror, and he took a long look at himself. He was pale, the bags under his eyes darker, narrowing his already gaunt face. Sweat lined his brow and saturated his shirt, now cooling, causing his long body to shiver.

What was happening to him?

Then he heard a sound, softly at first, but there. He looked around the room for the source of it but it was not there, it was coming from somewhere else. Down the hall!

It was her! His heart lurched and he came to stop at his bedroom door, his ear pressed against the hardwood. He could hear soft grunts and sighs, the gentle shifting of bedclothes, punctuated by the steady thump of a young excited heart. There was another sound, more masculine, more desperate...him. Nikola felt his nostrils flare and the hair at the back of his neck stand on end. He hissed. They were together, not just with kisses and a spoken oath as he'd believed, no, they were together as close as one could be with another. His nails dug into the wood panel under his fingertips.

She'd promised she'd stay, but she had left him to have a tryst with her secret lover.

An anger, physicalized like never before burst through and erupted in his throat in the most pained and feral howl ever made by a man.

Helen heard his scream and instantly got out of the bed, leaving John's embrace instantly.

"Nikola!" her heart stopped.

She quickly put on her robe and rushed out into the hallway.

James and Nigel peeked their heads in from their bedroom door as Helen ran past to Nikola's bedroom door.

"What's happened?" asked Nigel, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"I don't know, he was sleeping peacefully when I left him...I should've never left him," Helen said as she pried open the door. "Nikola!"

The room was empty, the window was smashed and the basin had been tipped over and spilt all over the floor. Helen gasped at the sight. She felt something crunch underneath her feet. Nikola's shaving mirror.

"I thought you said he was sleeping peacefully last time you saw him," muttered Nigel.

"He was...at least, I thought he was," Helen went over to the window. "We have to find him. Something is affecting him this way."

"Where do you think he's gone?" asked James.

"Anywhere but here."

~~~~Elsewhere~~~~

Nikola ran like the wind through the forest , the entire world was a blur around him and he himself didn't even know where he was headed, he just ran. Ran until his lungs burned and feet ached, ran until he couldn't run anymore. That was the plan anyway.

Despite it being the middle of the night he could see everything before him.

He just wanted to be away, away from this place, away from her. Away from whatever monster was trailing behind him.

All too soon the land before him was starting to fall away. He was reaching the cliffs that led to the rushing river below.

Where was the bridge? He knew they crossed one on their way here. Where the hell was the bridge?

Nikola stopped as his feet met the edge of the cliffs. The bridge looked like it had been literally torn apart. It's beams curled up on either side. It was a horrifying sight to see amongst the still darkness.

Nikola whimpered mournfully. He was trapped here. They all were trapped here.

He desperately looked to see if there was any alternate route to get across. His fingers twitched nervously as he walked around the heap of debris that used to be the bridge.

"No!" he cried. "You can't keep me here!"

He shoved against the wood beams, praying for a miracle, or something other than this. When he couldn't push it he began ramming into it with his shoulder, repeatedly until his body gave and he felt something dislocate. He yelped in utter agony, whether because of his shoulder or because of his fear.

He fell to his knees clutching his arm, his eyes squeezed shut as he muttered a prayer in his native language.

Then, like struck by the tiniest stone, he stilled, his eyes opening. He could hear the river. The river! He could swim across it, easily. They were there just a few days ago enjoying the sunshine on the banks, it would be no problem to find that path and cross the river from there.

He thanked God quickly before leaping to his feet and placing his arm in the crook between a tree, quickly and efficiently snapping his arm back into its socket. The pain was intense but faded quicker than he thought it would. Nikola didn't stop to think about it, he could only think about finding that path and making his way out of this nightmare.

~~~~Author's Notes~~~~

Short and sweet, a little bit taken from a previous idea of mine that I wrote in The Troublemakers. Eh, it works!

Enjoy!