Peace. There was no other way to describe how she felt as she blinked opened her eyes onto a seemingly new world. Catherine felt as though she were waking from the most wonderfully peaceful sleep of her life. She smiled at the feeling of being herself once more and blessed the world for its warmness- then a thought struck and panic consumed her. She was in bed. She had been outside, she had been wandering, she had seen…and now she was in bed again.

"Oh God."

Had it all been a dream? And now she felt her stomach drop with anxiety and fear. It twisted and turned like a rung out rag and she felt the prickled heat of sweat forming on her body. If it had all been a fantasy then that meant that the world had not changed, she was still as lonely, isolated and possibly as mad as the day before, the week before, hell, the year before.

She sat up quickly in bed and felt a sudden dizzy head rush. She begged the world silently to not let it have been a dream. She prayed to gods she had never believed in to make this awakening one that was to lead her into a new life. As she tried to make her eyes adjust to the darkness of the apartment she noted once again that dark, damp smell; earthy, deep and dangerous. Catherine squeezed her eyes with her hands, all she wanted was to become less disorientated, she wanted to stop this panicked feeling that was writhing in her stomach like a bag of snakes. She wanted, more than anything, that peaceful calm feeling that she had experienced briefly only a few seconds before. That island of sanity seemed so far removed now. She had known since moving here that one day the loneliness would lead to a breakdown of some sort but the thought of losing her mind terrified her. Now here she was, sat in bed with no idea of whether she was awake or asleep. How could she trust anything again if she could not trust her own feelings? How would she ever know what was real and what was fantasy? All she wanted was to open her eyes and see her wild creature stood in the room, then she would know that she was sane and awake and rational once again. But the thought of opening her eyes and seeing nothing terrified her- it proved surely that she had indeed snapped. As disorientating as this morning had been; the lack of sleep , the horrible fear of the nightmare, the overwhelming tiredness confusing her mind, the one thing she had taken for granted was this it was, in fact, real. But when she had seen him- seen his blue eyes in the daylight, when she had felt him- felt his warmth and his power under her hand- that too had been real. Hadn't it? He had to have been real! But to wake up here in bed once again surely proved that it had all been in her head. She could not trust her own senses; she was no longer able to identify what was dream and what was reality. Catherine did not want to open her eyes, although she knew she would have to. What if by seeing nothing she had finally proved that she was mad? How could she live with that?

Slowly, reluctantly and with her heart in her mouth she did open her eyes.

She noticed something: she was wearing clothes. She stared at her arm and saw fabric that was alien to the bed. She felt her neck and discovered a collar: this was not her night-time attire. She ripped the covers off the bed and saw trousers, socks and a belt; she looked at the side of the bed and saw her shoes placed neatly side by side on the floor, next to them laid her nightgown, crumpled into a heap.

Her anxiety broke and she was filled with euphoria once again. She was fully dressed in bed! She had got dressed after a night of sleeplessness, she had gone outside, she had seen…

Catherine slowly moved her eyes around the room. The dark, damp smell still clung in the air, but now she knew it was impossible. Her shower had to have been almost 24hours ago now, the smell of which had frightened her so completely once she had woken from her nightmare of the snarling beast must have long passed. It had been 24 hours at least given how dark the light was coming through the curtained windows, this was not the smell of the shower any more, this was the smell of…

"A snarling beast." her mind whispered.

She slowly scanned the darkened space that surrounded the bed. She could have turned on the lamp that was next to her but instinctively she knew that darkness was his natural territory. Seeing him in the daylight had sent her into a narcoleptic sleep so instant and so sudden that she had missed the rest of the daylight hours, now she had awoken as a creature of the night, and she in turn was now seeking the true king of the darkness.

Dark shapes seemed to be everywhere in the gloom, but none seemed to fit. He was still here, she could feel it inside her, the smell of him, the presence of him had filled her small apartment. Her eyes stopped by the front door, a shape loomed in the darkness. The door was parallel to the bed and as Catherine was sat upright she was staring directly at him, staring directly into the blue eyes of the beast at the door. Her heart was pounding now, not out of fear but out of excitement, again she begged the world to let him be real. She could not see him but she felt his stare and she was transfixed by the invisible gaze of those blue eyes. They stood like this and many seconds passed, he in the darkness and she awake at last.

More time passed and not a movement nor a sound was made.

More time passed and Catherine became less certain that there was anything there at all. Had she finally lost her mind and was now engaged in a staring competition with her letter box? She needed to know, needed the proof of her eyes, and so she spoke.

"I am awake, I think, but I feel as though I am in a dream."

Silence follows.

"Please won't you tell me if I am dreaming?"

Nothing but silence answers. More minutes pass. Catherine begins to lose hope.

"I am living in madness?" Her voice breaks at this strange sentence, tears were forming. An overwhelming panic is about the break to the surface, a panic so terrible that once started it may never stop- it is one of a hopeless and desperate self-discovery that you have indeed lost your mind and you are absolutely powerless to do anything about it. Her heart beats faster, she begins to shake, her breathing quickens as the panic attack begins to overwhelm her, more dizziness follows and just as she reaches the crest of the attack, just as she is about to be consumed by madness…

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." Speaks the darkness.

At the sound of his voice she throws herself out of bed and runs to the door. There at last she can see him: her wild thing. Catherine cannot control her relief and throws her arms around him in a tight embrace. She relishes the feel of him, the solid strength of him, the smell of him as she stands quivering, clinging to him like a drowning woman to drift wood.

"What's your name?" she mumbles into his shoulder.

"Lucian." He replies and stands patiently still as this frail mortal holds him like her whole life depended on it.