Chapter 83 The Angel’s Nightmare
\[Lilia\]
“Lilia!”
I woke up from the distant voice that called my name. However, when I peeled my eyes open, I couldn’t see anything within arm’s reach. Everything that surrounds me appeared to be shrouded in shadow.
Pitch black.
Where am I? What am I doing in this place?
The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in Kael’s bed after we'd made love with each other.
The strength left in my body was sapped, and sleep took me soon as Kael draped the blanket over my body, and since then I didn’t remember going somewhere. The thought of it made my stomach feel funny, but it was soon replaced with dread as I veered my gaze around me.
Had I been sleepwalking? No, I never had some sleepwalking incidents before. However, what could have been the reason behind this? Why am I even in this place? After what occurred with Flavio, I don't remember going out on such a late night or even being given permission to do so.
I tried to recall everything that had transpired, and they all went into a blur. One time Aya and I were having fun and making an adventure across Italy, then met a person whom we thought was a good man who happened to be a bad guy, holding us captive and almost killing us.
I fell on the rooftop and I thought I was going to die, yet something unbelievable happened and I lived.
Kael went and saved me from plunging to my death. Was I somehow imagining all of that? The lovemaking? Had it really happened? Or, perhaps that were only images conjured up all in my head before I died?
This place.
This void atmosphere. So empty and cold.
It wasn't hell, right? I mean what am I doing in this place? Was my prayer became for naught and I was forsaken? Yet, hell was supposed to be hot, was it?
“Lilia!”
The voice that cried out to me once more drew my attention as it reverberated in the space between us, giving the impression that it originated at the peak of the mountain. I turned around, but there was not a single object that could be seen in any direction around me. There is nothing except a huge void filled with an infinite amount of darkness.
“Who are you?” I called back, twirling around in hopes that I would see the person owning the voice, or at least answer me back. However, my voice only came out merely as a whisper and nothing louder even though I tried shouting.
“My little angel.”
That voice.
I instantly went rigid upon hearing the voice. My heart feels like it plummeted to my feet, and cold beads of sweat broke out from my temple. It wasn’t so distant anymore, in fact, it spoke directly right behind me.
I remember that voice.
It was the strange man from the hospital that visited me. I remember it now. The first time I tried to escape Kael, but I got lost in the woods and bitten by a snake. I could never forget that voice. Although I haven’t seen his face, I knew it was him right away.
But, what is he doing here?
“Who are you?”
Instantaneously, I spin around as I have the distinct feeling that he is standing very close to me, almost as if I can feel his breath on the nape of my neck.
However, something strange happened. I was no longer standing. One moment I was on my feet, but then in a blink, I was lying on a single white hospital bed, my hands were bounded with chain cuffs on the side. Suddenly the world around me morphed into a hospital room, similar to the one where we have been ambushed, with all the medical equipment surrounding me, specifically the beeping monitor blaring eerily.
A man, materialized in front of my bed. He was leaning down closer to my face, however, I couldn’t make out his face, no matter how hard I tried to look into his features. It was all blank and blurry.
What is happening? His spindly fingers reach out to my face, touching my cheeks with his knuckles, tracing down my facial contours with his head shaking.
“It should have been me, not Aslanov,” he continued, ignoring my question as he moved his hands to my hairline and brushed away the errant locks of hair.
Aslanov? Does he mean Kael? What does he want with me?
“Who are you?” I croaked quizzically, tilting my head away, recoiling from his touch, getting too uncomfortable.
“Shh, my angel. I’m coming, I’ll take you away from him,” his wrinkly index pressed on my lips, his thumb rubbing on the side of my mouth, instantly raising the fine hairs on my skin and I did my best not to flinch and bit my inner cheeks, holding back my revulsion.
What is he saying? Why is he taking me away from him? Did he mean to purchase me instead of Kael?
“What are you talking about? Who the hell are you?” I demanded, leaning away from his touch, yanking the chains clamped that bounds me, trying to get myself free, but it was a fruitless attempt and the cuffs bit down on my skin, instantly eliciting a hiss out of me soon as a stinging pain erupted around my wrists.
I send the faceless man a sharp glare, mustering all the courage left in me not to cower.
He scares me, I could feel it in my bones.
This man is anything but good. From his sinister voice, even though he speaks so calmly, his presence’s shouting at me to flee. To get away as far as possible as I can get away from him.
However, I could not move. I was trapped in this bed. Nowhere to go. My chest heaving rapidly, falling and rising while my heart hammered so loudly in my ears.
He only laughed at my futile attempts, leaning even closer. His cold lips pressed on my forehead, placing a light kiss while caressing my face in such a delicate manner. A shudder of revulsion swirled down my spine, silently praying that the mattress I laid on would swallow me whole and take me away from this desolate place.
“Bye, my angel, for now,” he whispered before he leaned away. Only then, I feel relieved.
However, the world around me begins to warp, distorting as though being sucked into a black hole. The man who had been standing next to my bed vanished into thin air, and then all of a sudden, my bed popped out of existence like a bubble.
The next thing I know I was back on the rooftop, and I was falling. My arms and legs flailed into the air.
“Ahh!”
A loud scream ripped off my throat, a sharp pain piercing my chest as I keep on screaming.
The fall takes its time, it feels forever, and this time, there wasn’t any net that caught me, nor Kael that saved me.
There was just an empty void that I keep on falling into.
My throat was hoarse from shouting.
This is going to be my death. I am sure of it.
But then, a pair of enormous hands shot from the sky, reaching out to me and gripping my shoulders.
My body shook violently. I don’t know what happened but Kael’s voice rang in my ears.
“Shh, it’s okay kukla, I’m here.”
Just like that, I was jolted awake, a familiar face first came through my sight.
“Kael?” I griped, utterly confused as though what had transpired.
What was that? Panic suddenly rose into me. My heart pounded even harder against my ribcage as I frantically moved my gaze around.
“Where is the man? Kael, there was a man. He said he’s going to take me away,” I rambled in hysterics, trying to get off the bed and make my escape, but Kael’s huge hands held me back in place, calming me down as he pulled me into his embrace.
“It’s just a dream, kukla. I am here,” he cooed, cupping my face into his hands and wiping away my tears. I hadn’t even realized that I was crying. I looked around me, only to realize that I was back in his room. I stared at him, my body still visibly shaking underneath the thick duvet. I pulled out my hands, staring at them with my short breaths.
“I’m not dead,” I uttered in relief, shifting my gaze up to him. He leaned down and kiss the tip of my nose, caressing my cheeks, erasing the memory I had with the strange man.
It was just a dream. A nightmare.
“Yes, you’re not dead, kukla,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around me and leaning my head to his chest. He took my right hand, intertwining his fingers with mine, and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of my palm.
I listened to the cadent beating of his heart against my ears, it helped to settle my racing nerves, and somehow my breathe evened out eventually as a sense of security filled me up inside. His other arms snaked around my waist and cupped the flare of my hips, pulling me even closer with his leg slipping in between mine.
“I am here, no need to be scared, kukla.”