⛩️
I blinked, fragments of memories flashing behind my eyes like a broken film reel.
The club. The girlfriend. Her hands wandering where they shouldn't.
My head throbbed, each pulse sending daggers through my temples. I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn't budge. Something tight cut into my wrists.
The boyfriend. His friends. Their faces when I put them down without breaking a sweat.
I shifted, feeling the hard press of a chair beneath me. My ankles were secured to the legs.
Screams. So many screams.
"What the hell?" I whispered, my voice raspy like I'd been screaming for hours.
Those... things. Not human. Definitely not human.
More flashes. Disjointed. Violent.
Claws raking across my chest. The strange euphoria of pain.
I remembered blood. My blood. So much of it, painting the floor of the random club where I'd been working security for extra cash.
A woman. Horns curling from her temples. A tongue too long, too serpentine.
That tongue lapping at the wound on my chest, her eyes rolling back in ecstasy as she tasted me.
"Mmm… Fuck."
"Isaiah."
The voice pulled me from the memory, but I couldn't see its source. Something covered my eyes.
The red-haired woman. Fighting. Moving faster than should be possible.
"Isaiah."
My necklace. Where was my necklace? On the floor. Silver glinting in strobe lights.
"Isaiah."
The redhead beneath me. Her taste. Her scent.
"Isaiah!"
My eyes snapped open.
Darkness. Complete darkness.
My head throbbed with the mother of all hangovers, each heartbeat sending a spike of pain through my skull. I tried to reach up to touch my temple, but my arms wouldn't move.
Something bound my wrists behind me. Rope? Zip ties? I couldn't tell. My ankles were similarly restrained, secured to what felt like chair legs.
I pulled against my bonds, the chair creaking beneath me.
"What the fuck? Hello? Anyone there?" My voice sounded rough, like I'd been screaming.
Soft laughter floated through the darkness. A woman's laugh.
"Finally! I was getting so bored watching you twitch and mutter."
Footsteps approached, the sound of heels clicking against a hard floor. I tensed, straining against my restraints.
Cool fingers brushed against my cheeks, making me flinch. They traced my jawline, almost tender in their exploration.
"Who the hell are you?" I demanded. "Where am I?"
The fingers moved to the back of my head, finding the knot of what I now realized was a blindfold. The cloth slipped away, but the darkness remained for a moment as my eyes struggled to adjust.
Then I saw them—eyes inches from mine, with irises unlike anything I'd ever seen. A pattern like a lotus flower spun slowly within them. The face around those eyes came into focus: heart-shaped, with full lips curved into a smile that didn't reach those strange eyes.
Pink hair framed her face, falling in soft waves to her shoulders. Her hands still cupped my face, thumbs stroking my cheekbones.
"Hello, Isaiah Angelo," she murmured.
She stepped back, giving me a better view of her. Tall and slender, wearing a dress shirt and a plaid skirt that barely reached mid-thigh. Thigh-high socks ended just below the hem of her skirt, leaving a strip of pale skin exposed.
She moved to a chair opposite me, crossing one leg over the other before apparently changing her mind and letting her knees fall slightly apart.
Something strange caught my eye. Points of heat, like thermal imaging, glowed across her body—one at her throat, another between her breasts, a third at her navel. They pulsed with a rhythm that matched my heartbeat.
I tore my gaze away and took in my surroundings. The room was small and windowless, every surface covered with yellow paper inscribed with red symbols. They crawled across the walls, ceiling, and floor in patterns that hurt my eyes if I looked at them too long.
"What the fuck...?"
She tilted her head, those lotus eyes studying me with unnerving intensity. "So, Isaiah Angelo..." She leaned forward, elbows on her knees, chin resting on her interlaced fingers. "Are you a Shaman or a Demon?"