Screams from the Dark- By: Asha Night

Chapter 1- Voices

She lay in her usual cold bed, waiting for her secret lover Drayman to come to lie by her side. It had been a few weeks since she'd seen his dark profile, waiting at her window. She used to keep the window open so he could just slide inside and surprise her, by waiting nude in her sheets.

Her clock ticked away, it was half past twelve, and she figured yet again he wouldn't come. Her tears stain her pillow shams and she doesn't even bother wiping them away. Her depression now keeps her stuck in bed.

She knows that she is worrying her mother and frequently she is asked why she is in a slump and stays in bed all day long, barely even bothering with school and her work. All around Farea, she keeps her head down as she walks from store to store, hoping to see her lovers face. Just one look could save her, save her from a fall.

She hears whispers on the wind, calling out her name: Drachelle. She is worried that the voices are all in her imagination. Not her love's voice, with insanity sinking in to her system.

But tonight, she fears this is the end. She is worried he will never return. She chides herself for loving one of them. Knowing that it is forbidden and is foolish since they usually take lovers of their own kind, knowing that only they can handle such passionate loving. Besides, she wasn't one of the fairest one of the women of this land and of his kind. It was foolish to even think that one of them would or even could love her.

It had been almost a century, since it was written of the fairytale of the human girl who became known as Princess Aranya. And she figured that it was only luck that got her where she is now today. And it also helped that her lover was the Prince Mayner. But what of Drayman, he'd never spoken about his past. Who he exactly was, but what she knew was what he was. She'd woken up one morning after a meeting with him and found marks on her body.

It hadn't bothered that he'd taken something so precious from her. But, she figured that maybe since he'd only taken a little, he must love her and not treat her like his nightly meal. She must mean something to him.

She rolls over onto her side and slips to her usual dreamscape of eternal night and shadows. She is haunted by the silhouette of her lover. "Come to me Drachelle. Come to me." He calls out to her. "Come to me love. My pale faced love, with the raven hair. Come to me. Come blue eyes. Come. I am waiting for you." She runs as fast as her dream legs can take her, but he keeps slipping away, farther into the mist. A coy smile flirts with his lips.

She twists and shudders in under her sheets as the cool night air, tickles her legs. A presence fills her room with some truly needed heat. She is lulled awake, drawn from her deceptive dreams.

She looks up and sees a familiar silhouette at the foot of her bed. She places her hands on either side of her body and sits up to take him in. As usual he's wearing the: I'm the Prince of Darkness outfit. Saying look at me, I'm a child of night. Fear crosses her mind. Oh gods, is it really him? Or are you playing a trick on me yet again?

The dark silhouette walks closer, crawling atop the sheets, making them ripple as he closes the distance between them. He touches her face and rests his lips upon hers, asking her, so am I real? Tears well inside. It is him. "Drayman?" she asks him. "Yes, Drachelle." He says, annunciating the last syllable in her name. "You're really here.this is you?" "Yes." He answers, being a man of few words.

She falls back on to her pillows, clasping her hands upon her breast and then her cheeks. "By the gods, I didn't think you'd return. Where have you been?" "I'm sorry Drachelle, but I am not at liberty to answer that. But I am here. Are you okay? I should have known not to leave you without warning."