23 Does This Seem Like a Dream?

Although Diane's head was already filled with countless questions for the rest of the day, the one which came off the loudest was; 'What happened to the dress I wore that day?'.

It was true that she hadn't noticed it among her pile of dirty laundry, so where the hell could it be?!

She got home to microwave some food she'd bought from the supermarket. Although her body never seemed to add more lose weight no matter what she ate, it might be advisable to cut down on eating too much oily fried rice. 'I'll do that next time'.

Hastily making her way into the bedroom, she threw her bag down on the bed before moving to search the laundry basket.

'Not here'.

She checked the handful of clothing in her wardrobe.

'Where the hell is it?'.

In a panic, she moved to check the living room, then the bathroom before giving up. 'Could I have come back naked? Holy shit!'. She slapped her forehead at such unconventional thoughts. 'No... that would only mean I'd been raped'.

She shook her head vigorously in an attempt to get rid of such morbid ideas.

"If I was raped, I would know".

But the fact that Josh was becoming unpredictable - could he have done other things to her?

The microwave clicked and she moved to take out the hot plastic before washing the handful of fruits she'd bought.

'There's one last place...'. Diane rushed back to the bedroom leaving the tap on. Swiftly dropping to her knees, she dug a hand under the bed. Her fingers closed around a cool fabric, yanking it free.

But her heart throbbed at the sight of the black garment in her hands. It reeked of dried blood and also bore a pungent smell.

'Blood? Like the one on the mirror?'. Her eyes sideways to face the body-length mirror. She caught the mirror grinning back at her.

"Why am I smiling?". She rubbed her face to find her lips curved up. The smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.

With shaking hands, she slipped the fabric over her head and stepped in front of the dressing mirror.

"I'd have to get rid of this". She frowned at the evidence before her eyes. With no signs of a recent injury on her, it would only make her more of a prime suspect.

She gradually took it off to remain in her underwear. It was while rushing to the kitchen she'd caught the shadow of a figure in the living room.

Her head slowly turned to find the figure of a grown man sitting comfortably with his back to her.

Diane slapped her forehead in disbelief. "When did I fall asleep? Shit!". She stomped her feet on the ground in anger knowing that the only thing that would wake her was the alarm clock set for 6:30am!

And it was barely 6pm! Twelve hours of sleep was too much!

Unlike other days, he didn't seem to be moving so she walked toward him before reaching out to tap his shoulder. "Touch me and I'll break you". His familiar hoarse voice sent chills down Diane's spine as she managed to retreat two steps.

He got up before trailing around the couch to stand before her. Diane who was shaking in her boots couldn't bring herself to look up due to his immense murderous aura. 'Shit! What's this? Why the hell am I shaking?". She mentally argued. Other days weren't like this - but for some reason today, she couldn't move.

With perceptive eyes, he looked down to scan the little woman before him. His lips curved in amusement at her reaction, "Scared?".

For some reason, those words made her body feel light. As if annoyed at the fact that he'd been looking down on her. "Why would I be? This is merely a dream". She raised her face with a grin which dropped faster than you could say 'du la potatoe'.

For the first time, she could see the face of the man before her clearly. His emerald eyes burrowed their way into her soul and there was something so sinister about them.

His broad shoulders seem to loom over hers, dominantly towering over her small frame. She gulped down the lump forming in her throat, there was only one word to describe him, 'gorgeous'.

His jaw clenched in annoyance as his right palm cupped her chin to tilt it upwards. "Does this seem like a dream to you?". There was a hint of menace in his tone as he leaned down to kiss her - pausing only a breath away from her lips.

'Why didn't she resist? Didn't she feel my intent to kill?'. Succubi were as weak as humans in the demon realm, especially when you weren't trapped in their dream world.

Diane felt her blood rush to her cheeks as she avoided his gaze.

The gesture angered him as he shoved her down to the floor before kneeling above her. "You're still feigning ignorance? Woman!". He bent over to meet her lips before roughly kissing her. He grabbed her hair before yanking at it to hold her steady.

She tried to squirm away but his grip around her waist held her firmly in place.

Suddenly, he stopped. He pulled his head back to survey her features, "Remove the spell". He frowned at the woman whose face was filled with embarrassment.

"Spell?".

Succubi often manipulated their victims with a charm from their eyes. Although there was a limit to how many people it could be used on, longer periods could result in side effects such as extreme hatred after being released. Her maximum amount was about three people.

For weaker creatures such as humans, it would start off as love, then steadily move to possession, worship before obsession. Those were the safer stages at least-

The next stage was doubt. Doubt to how deep the feeling of love was for the succubus.

Vanity. The individuals would ask themselves questions like, 'why must others look at her?', 'why can't I have her all to myself?'.

Lastly would be…..

Well, no one has ever reached that last stage as the men would often give up their lives to save the succubus.

Once her eyes had charmed him, he'd begun to find it impossible to resist her. Luckily, he was still at the 'possessive' stage. "Death is too good for you". His eyes narrowed as his face dropped to her neck.

Diane felt his sharp teeth digging into her skin as she whimpered in pain. Today, it seemed to hurt more than usual as he raise his face, she caught a glimpse of the trickle of blood rolling down his chin.

Drake licked his lips clean. There didn't seem to be any trace of fear on her face...

Would he have to give her a taste of her own medicine before she could understand? Since killing wasn't fun when the victim didn't have the expression of fear.

"MaryJane". His left thumb traced down her jawline. "I'm going to sleep with you. For real this time-". His expressionless eyes met hers before narrowing. "Until you can't stand".