Chapter Three
Phantasm
She stood on a dais overlooking a room full of demons. Their sleazy eyes roamed down her naked body
as their approvals of what they saw echoed off the chamber walls. She stood
stone still afraid to move, afraid that the slightest sound would trigger them
to attack her. It was as if she was
paralyzed unable to move or breathe. She suddenly felt like she was
suffocating, the lights dimmed and smoke started to seep up from the cracks in
the floor. She started to tremble panic
quickly taking over.
She looked up and
was shocked to see Whistler walking towards her. Whistler? She hadn’t seen
him in years but he still looked the same with his cheap zoot suit. She looked into his eyes and the panic
receded. Her breath returned to her
lungs filling them with oxygen. She
took a deep breath and tentatively reached out to him. He smiled at her and shook his head,
stepping away from her. She watched
him as he made a stately bow and a flourish with his hands. She looked beyond him and saw the figure of
a black clad demon walking towards her.
Her belly tingled
with a sensation of fear and lust as she peered through the smoke that now
filled the room trying to make out his features. He walked closer talking the steps of the dais one at a
time. He stood before her but the
darkness covered his face but it didn’t matter, she didn’t have to see his face
to know who it was. She felt him in her
soul.
He took one small
step and his face was in the light. The
beautiful face that could so easily make her yearn with unbridled lust or tear
her heart to pieces. She didn’t know
what to say, she didn’t know if she wanted to say anything. Seeing him, even if it was only in a dream
and she knew it wasn’t real, brought back the horrors of that day; the day he
literally destroyed her world and pushed her into the darkness.
She looked into
his eyes and saw sadness reflected back at her. She smiled slightly at him “Angel?” He smiled at her reaching out a hand that lovingly caressed her
check. She closed her eyes feeling the rapture of his hand on her skin. She
could feel his love for her and it filled her heart with warmth. Warmth that she had been missing for months
and it made her smile deepen. She knew that he loved her; she knew he didn’t
mean the things that he had said.
She longed to
hear his smooth deep voice whispering words of love in her ear. A lock of his
silky hair tickled her check and she felt his cool breath on her face. She wetted her lips with the anticipation of
his touch when she felt his hands grasp her upper arms. But this was not the touch of a lover; this
was the brutal hold of a demon. Her
eyes snapped open and she found herself staring into the glowing red eyes of the demon.
“Angel?” She asked. He leaned his forehead next to hers
“Shhh...”
The true face of the demon emerged and he cruelly smiled at her
while tightening his hold on her arms, bruising her soft skin.
“Angel, you’re hurting me?” Her voice squeaked out as tears formed
in her eyes.
He laughed at her and without a seconds hesitation he threw her
into the horde of demons surrounding her.
Their claws swiped at her naked body, tearing her skin open, her blood
flowed freely down her body and onto the floor filling the cracks. She felt razor sharp teeth puncturing her
skin. She struggled trying to get free.
“ANGEL, HELP ME PLEASE?” She called out
only to hear the cruel taunting of his laughter. She continued her struggles but they were to no avail as the
demons continued to maul at her.
He stood above
her watching her struggle, horrified and turned on by her terror all at once.
He raised his hands and the demons stopped and parted for him. He leaned down
and pressed his hand to her chest. Her green tear-filled eyes looked up at him
pleading with him to help her “Angel…please, help me?”
He lifted his
hand to her cheek tenderly holding it then he smiled at her as he punched his
hand through her chest grabbing a hold of her heart and ripping it out. She
screamed with excruciating pain as she stared at her beating heart held in the
hands of the man who was her lover and her tormentor. Looking into her eyes he brought her heart up to his mouth and
swiftly sunk his teeth in draining her life, draining her hope, draining her
love.
She jumped up and scrambled out of bed clutching her racing
heart. She frantically looked around
the room, where were all the demons?
Where was her lover? Confusion
set in as she realized that it was just a dream. But it felt so real! She
could still smell the smoke. She looked
down at her body searching for claw marks, searching for teeth marks. But there were none.
Taking deep breaths she tried to calm her self ‘”Snap out of it
Buffy it was just a dream, just a dream.” Sitting back down on the bed she took
another glance around the room. Her
eyes landed on the still sleeping form of Riley. He was lying on his back his
arms stretched above his head and the sheet was low on his hips. She looked at him trying to find some sort
of desire for him, he e wasn’t bad looking for a guy he was sort of cute.
So why was it that when she looked at him half naked the way he
was now that she felt absolutely no stirrings of desire. No need to take him in her arms and just be
with him. No desire to share her heart
or even her every day thoughts with him. How could she feel nothing when Riley
touched her yet be incredibly aroused by a demon in a dream that hated
her? A man, who with a simple look,
enflamed her desire and made her soul soar with feelings of passion and
love.
Thinking about the dream she closed her eyes, she could still feel
the way her body trembled with anticipation, waiting for him to touch her, to
claim her. She could feel his cool
breath on her face lightly blowing in her ear.
The way she had shivered when he finally touched her.
She opened her eyes, now annoyed, what
was wrong with her? How could she still
want him so much after all the cruel things he had said? He broke her heart and shattered her soul,
yet her body still reacted to him even in dreams. She got even angrier as she realized that no matter how much she
shouldn’t she still considered herself his.
Her hand lifted to the bite mark on
her neck. She ran her fingers lightly
over the sacred bumps of his bite and felt the tingling of desire the second
she touched it. She would never let
Riley touch it. It was too
personal. It was her reminder that at
one time he had loved her. At one time
he had considered her to be his girl.
She longingly remembered that day; she
could still feel his fangs breaking her skin and sinking into her flesh, she
could still hear the loud slurping noises he made while he drank her life’s
essence. She could feel his hands on her back pressing her closer into his hard
chest. The way it felt like they were one joined both physically and mentally;
two souls touching each other in the most intimate of ways.
The mere memory of the most erotic
experience she ever had turned her insides warm and set her body on fire. She
leaned down on the bed. Her hand moved up to her breast squeezing it and
drawing light circles around her hardening nipple. Biting her lip to keep from moaning, her other hand wondered down
to her belly slowly circling her bellybutton then slipped under the elastic of
her panties.
She stilled her hand and her eyes
snapped open. Was she seriously going
to pleasure herself with thoughts of that bastard when she had an able body
right next to her?
She looked over at Riley who was
sleeping peacefully. She lowered the sheet
that covered his body and her hand snuck under his drawers. Watching his face
she grasped his dick and started pumping him until he was hard.
He started to softly moan but she
could tell he was still asleep but she didn’t care. She didn’t want words of
love from him; she didn’t want soft touches and gentle thrusts. She wanted only to forget.
She pulled her panties off and
straddled him. With one hand on his chest and the other on his dick she guided
him inside of her. She closed her eyes trying to feel his heat, trying
desperately to feel anything but memories. She started to ride him, not caring
if he was awake or experiencing pleasure, she increased her pace violently
slamming herself down on to him.
Riley now wide-awake opened his eyes
and watched her. She had her head
thrown back and her eyes were tightly closed as she rode him hard and
fast. She was pinching and pulling on
her nipples and her mouth was open as her tongue snaked across her lips.
He would have been completely turned
on if it wasn’t for the fact that not once had she looked at him. Not once had
she called out his name. And the
brutality of her actions only made it seem as if she was reaching for something
that she desperately needed but would never find.
With one final slam, she came over his
cock and her motion slowly stilled.
Riley watched as she opened her eyes and looked into his, coldness
reflected back at him, a coldness that chilled his bones. She patted him on the
cheek and got off. She walked over to
the closet and pulled on a pair of pants and shirt. Then pulled on her boots and without a backward glance to him
walked out of the room.
**
Angel’s eyes snapped open and he sat
up frantically looking around the room.
Where was she? Where were all
the demons? The rational part of his
brain told him it was a dream. But it
felt so real. He could still smell her
scent of fear and arousal. He could
hear her pleas for help. He ran his
tongue over his fang he tasted the blood of a Slayer. He closed his eyes as he savored the taste.
The small drop of blood that was there slowly ran down his throat and he glorified in it. The demon inside him screamed and moaned for more. The taste awakened his every desire and want, his every need for her body beside him and her sweet voice in his ear.
Blood? How can that be? It was a dream there’s no one here but
me. I’m in the hotel and she’s two
hours away in Sunnydale. But there was
a definite tang of copper in his mouth and his nostrils were filled with her
scent. He closed his eyes and saw her
standing naked in front of him, he smelled her arousal, he could feel her
smooth skin, and his body tightened with desire.
He remembered the mixed feelings he
had, those of the man, to hold her comfortingly, to shield her naked form from
the eyes of evil. And those of the demon, the intense lust at seeing her so
open and vulnerable, how he just wanted to throw her down on the floor and take
her violently before all of them, so they would see that she was his. And the way it felt to sink his teeth in her
heart. Oh dear God the taste of it; her pure essence of everything he wanted
from her; her blood, her passion, her love.
The man inside him wept at her tears and the demon reveled in it.
Getting out of bed he walked over to the
window and peaked through curtains. He
had to think about this rationally and logically. Looking at the dream as a whole it really was just a
retrospective of what he did. He did
throw her to the wolves. He did break her heart.
He lowered his head in shame as he
remembered how he had pushed her away.
Maybe the dream was just a result of the enormous amount of guilt that
he felt. Maybe it was just his
shattered soul torturing him with visions of his actions.
But this dream was so real. It was just like the other dreams he had
shared with her every touch, sound and taste were in 3D. He started to wonder
if maybe something else was going on.
The other times they had shared dreams it was because of The First. Maybe something or someone had a hand in
this. Maybe he wasn’t slowly losing his mind.
He ran his hand through his hair; he
didn’t know if he could take another dream like that it was too much for his
already wounded soul. But she was so much a part of him that he didn’t know if
he could dream about anything else.
There had to be an explanation for all
of this and he was going to find out what it was even if he lost his mind in
the process.