CHAPTER 2
1578 Words
The figure laughed softly, a sound deep enough to curl my toes. His hand kept tracing slow, deliberate patterns along my skin.
“Right now,” he murmured, “I want you to come for me. Your pleasure feeds me, beautiful one. And I am very… very hungry.”
Heat bolted through me as his touch slipped lower, teasing, testing the edges of my control. My breath hitched, my body betraying me entirely. If this was a dream, I didn’t care anymore. I was falling into it—falling into him.
“What do I call you?” I managed between breaths.
His lips brushed the shell of my ear.
“Dragomar.”
The name alone wrung a moan out of me, my body clenching around the sound.
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered, fighting the wave rising inside me.
“Because I need you, Kira.” His tone sharpened into hunger. “Be my beautiful temptation… and let go.”
His fingers pushed deeper, torturing me with pleasure until I broke entirely.
I came loud and helpless, covering my face with both hands, my body shaking. When it was over, I collapsed back into myself, exhausted to the bone. I stayed there until morning light touched my skin.
The moment I woke, the connection snapped into place.
It was me.
I had summoned something—and it had crawled into my dreams like a lover made of shadows.
I needed answers.
I called Elena on my way to work and asked if I could see her grandmother. She agreed without hesitation. All I had to do was get through the day.
That required an ungodly amount of coffee, vitamins, and pretending I wasn’t one bad blink away from passing out. When the clock finally hit six, I exhaled:
Thank God it’s Friday.
I caught the bus to Granny Bia’s house, where incense and sage always hung thick in the air, the tarot cards sat waiting on the table, and she remained curled in her favorite chair like an old oracle guarding forbidden knowledge.
“Hello, Granny Bia!” I greeted, as Elena and I stepped inside.
“Hello, my darlings. Sit. Tell me what troubles your spirit.”
“Granny Bia… I think something went wrong during the ritual.”
“So you didn’t see anything?”
“Oh, I saw something.” A shiver ran down my spine. “But it wasn’t a person. It was a shadow.”
“Impossible!” she gasped. “Give me your hand.”
I placed my left palm in hers. Her eyes scanned my lines with growing confusion.
“There must be a mistake. This is… unusual. Did the shadow speak to you?”
“Not in the mirror,” I admitted. “It came in my dreams.”
Her face fell.
“Oh, child… you are in danger. We must act quickly.”
“What do you mean? What’s happening to me?”
“You opened your home to a moroi.”
“What the hell is a moroi?”
“Dark entities,” she said gravely. “Born of shadow. They feed on humans to survive.”
“You mean like a vampire?”
“Much worse. Vampires cannot enter your subconscious. Moroi can.”
Cold stabbed through me.
“How did this happen? I followed your instructions. Why me?”
She pressed her lips together, thinking hard. Then her gaze darted to my bag.
“The rings. Your parents’ rings.”
“What about them? I have them here.” I pulled them out and handed them to her.
She examined them briefly, then tossed them onto the tarot spread, face-down, and flipped each card one by one.
“Oh, child… these rings are not blessed.”
“What? But they’re my parents’ wedding rings.”
“Did your parents marry in a church?”
“I… I assume they did.”
“No. Don’t assume. Ask.”
My hands trembled as I called my mother.
“Hey, mom. Quick question—what church did you and dad get married in?”
“Church? Oh honey, we didn’t get married in a church. You know we’re not religious.”
“…Right. Thanks.”
“Kira, are you okay?”
“Yeah, just checking something for your anniversary rings. Love you.”
I hung up, throat tightening.
“They didn’t get married in church,” I whispered.
Granny Bia nodded gravely.
“That is how the moroi reached you. The rings were not blessed. The ritual opened a door, and he walked right in.”
“What do I do now?”
“You fight him. For now, he is still bound to the other dimension—he has not fully manifested. I must find a way to banish him. Until then, you must keep him away.”
“Tell me what to do.”
She burned sage around me while chanting under her breath. Then she handed me a small bottle of bitter-smelling infusion and a pouch of sharp-scented herbs.
“Drink this before sleeping. Keep the herbs under your pillow. They will weaken his hold.”
I left her house feeling fragile but determined.
On the way home, I sensed someone behind me. My pulse skyrocketed. I lifted my phone, using the camera as a mirror. A hooded figure followed me closely—but his posture looked… normal. Human. I stopped abruptly, pretending to search for something in my purse.
He walked past me without glancing.
My breath whooshed out.
Just paranoia.
But then, near my building entrance, I spotted him—the guy from earlier that week. Dark hair. Beautiful eyes. Hood pushed back now, revealing a smile too devastating for my current mental stability.
Of course he lived in my building.
Of course.
I should’ve said hi. But instead, I stomped my foot like a toddler and marched upstairs, cursing my entire existence.
Inside, I barely closed the door when a text came in:
“Got an extra ticket for a concert. Want to come?”
Yes. Anything to avoid sitting in silence waiting for a shadow to crawl into my dreams.
I showered, dressed in something sexy, grabbed an Uber, and met my friend Mona downtown. We drank, danced, laughed — until I was just tipsy enough to forget the darkness clinging to me.
She begged me to stay over, but I insisted on going home. I had herbs, potions, and apparently… a demon to fight.
Back in my apartment, I downed the infusion, took a cold shower, and collapsed onto the sofa before I could reach the bed.
Sleep ambushed me instantly.
“Kira… Kira… my beautiful…”
His voice slithered through the dark.
I froze.
He was here — but invisible, lingering somewhere in the room.
“I see you treated yourself tonight,” he growled, amused. “Cocktails and whatever that witch poured down your throat.”
“Leave me alone,” I snapped. “I know what you are.”
“Oh really? Does this mean we’re not friends anymore?”
“Friends? What you’re doing to me is twisted!”
“Twisted?” he echoed, amused. “Delicious one, I feed on pleasure. Tell me — has any man ever given you half as much?”
“That’s not the point!”
“Then what is the point?”
“You’re a monster. You want to hurt me.”
A silence.
Then, softly:
“Do you truly believe that?”
I hesitated.
He hadn’t hurt me. Not physically.
“You—you used your powers on me. I didn’t consent.”
“Oh, but you did. The ritual was an invitation. Divine consent, as humans like to say.”
My stomach flipped.
“No. I take it back! I’m uninviting you!”
His tone deepened, velvet over steel.
“Your voice trembles. Your thighs tighten. I hear your blood singing, Kira. If you truly wish to break the bond… I can teach you, beautiful one.”
My breath hitched, my fists clenching.
“You… would?”
“I would,” he purred. “I am timeless. My hunger is vast, but not cruel. I do not enjoy force. I enjoy the chase. The teasing. The sound your breath makes when you try to resist me. The way your beautiful body betrays you…”
His voice dropped lower.
“I wonder how you taste, delicious one.”
I couldn’t think. His presence coiled around me, arousal fogging my thoughts. My hand slipped between my legs before I could stop it. I was already sensitive. Already close.
He felt it.
“Tell me, tempting one,” he whispered. “Do you want to learn how to break our contract… or do you want to uncross those beautiful legs and finish what you’ve started while I watch?”
“I… I…”
My body chose before my mind could.
My legs fell open. My hand moved.
The orgasm hit so violently I cried out his name.
“AAAAAAH—”
Dragomar smiled in the shadows.
He did not touch me. The herbs were working.
He remained distant, but present enough to remind me he owned the night.
“By tomorrow,” he said softly, “get rid of that vile mixture. Then I will tell you how to break the bond, beautiful one.”
A pause.
His voice sharpened.
“You still want that… don’t you?”
- Writer
