“Take your mask off.”

The figure hesitated, his step faltering for a moment. Athena gasped as his hands tightened on hers and he pulled her sharply to one side as he stumbled. But then he held her steady and they fell in step once more.

“Unmask.” Athena repeated, slowing her steps until he had to slow as well. She could hear him smiling beneath the metal, the sound cold and empty, almost like a vacuum.

Slowly, painfully slowly, he reached up with his right hand and pulled the metal from his face. Long black hair tumbled to his shoulders from behind the metal and he tossed it back, revealing his face. Athena gasped and nearly stopped. He was beautiful.

His cheekbones were high and finely chiseled, framing the nose of a Greek god. His chin was narrow and his forehead was high, his eyebrows finely arched in an expression of amusement. His mouth was full and smiled softly. And his eyes, oh his eyes, were black as night. They were entirely black, with no white and they shimmered gently in the misty light of the Dance.

Athena found it hard to breathe as his eyes looked deep into hers. Something was wrong, and it wasn’t the lack of white in his eyes. It was as if her soul was laid bare and he could see every wrong staining it. He could see her most private thoughts. He could see what she thought of him, how beautiful he was, and it made him glad. He tightened his grip on her fingers and they began to dance faster. Athena couldn’t think to stop him. All she could think of was the endless blackness of his eyes and how deep they bored into her. Suddenly she knew.

“Let go of me Satan!” She screamed, ripping her hands away. His fingernails dug furrows in her skin as he grasped at her and hot blood trickled down her hands. A growl tore out of his throat, deep and thick, and he leapt after her, but she threw herself to the side.

“You are mine,” the Dark One howled, loosing all his beauty in an instant as he chased after her.

“No!” Athena ran away from him, dodging through clumps of mist, praying with all her being.

God, I know that I never paid much attention to you…

“Come back to me, little sinner!”

I know that I am a sinner…

“You are mine!”

God, I ask you to forgive me. If I’m going to die, I don’t want to die like this…

“Nooooooooo!”

The Dark One’s scream echoed throughout the Dance, grating in her ears like fingernails on a blackboard. Up ahead, Athena could see a light, shining brighter than the iridescent glowing of the mist around her.

“She is mine! Stay away!”

Athena ran towards the light.

God, I’ve been selfish…

“She is mine!”

I cheated on that math test…

The light was growing brighter up ahead.

“You are mine!”

I was the one who started that rumor about Ellie and the drugs…

Athena could hear the vacuum of the Dark One’s smile behind her. He was going to catch her.

Please, God…

The smile was gaining on her, parted into a wide grimace that silenced even her panting in its great void.

Please…

Suddenly the light became a blinding white and Athena could see a shadow of a figure standing in the center. Behind her the Dark One screamed again, rising to a nearly inaudible pitch. Athena clapped her hands over her heads and threw herself on the ground. She could hear the smile coming for her.

oooo

Athena jerked away, falling off of her bed. Her legs were tangled in her sheets and her hair was clinging to the sweat on her neck. She pulled the binding sheets off of herself and sat panting for a long moment. The room was still dark and the clock blinked “3:15 AM” over and over again.

Finally she stood and groped for the light switch, flicking it on. Her cat was curled up in her beanbag chair instead of on the foot of her bed. Stretching, he let out a little meow of greeting and rubbed up against Athena’s leg. She bent down and picked him up, hugging him to her in a sudden desperation. She glanced up at the cross that hung over her bedroom door. Her dad had put it up there.

Athena put the cat on her bed and piled her sheets back up onto the mattress. Then she knelt by the bed and bent her head.

Thanks God.