Awakening ~ Part 1

"Is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?" -A Dream Within a Dream, Edgar Allen Poe

Jude sat bolt upright, eyes snapping open as he gasped.

The nightmare dissipated as reality came flooding back. But reality had its own problems.

A shriek to the left drew his attention. Frantic and confused, he turned. A young woman was scooting away from him as fast as she could, her hand held up as if to ward him off. Her pretty face was constricted in horror, blue eyes wide with fear. But it was the long waves of her hair, red like wine, that drew his gaze.

Who was she and why did the deep burgundy of her hair stir something in him?

"N-no," she stammered in her retreat. "You w-were...you were, dead. You were dead!"

A fragment of nightmare surged into his mind at her words; the cold, hungry darkness gnawing at him as he tried to scream. He flinched at the memory. It was so vivid it could have been real. A moment later it was gone and he was left reaching through the fog of things he could almost remember. What the hell happened to him? And what did she mean he was dead?

How did I get here? he thought. Where am I?

Jude decided to ignore her panic and find the answers himself. Brushing wisps of dark hair out of his eyes, he looked around, finding it somewhat difficult to pry his gaze from those blood red tresses.

There wasn't much to see. He and the woman were in a room that was maybe ten feet by ten feet. What little light there was streamed through a small hole in the wall in front of him, yellow and flickering. There were no other windows or exits, and everything was made of stone or maybe concrete. A chill hung in the air but it was nothing compared to the frozen torment of that nightmare. Strangely enough, it didn't bother him.

This is a cell, Jude suddenly realized.

But how had they gotten inside? That hole was barely large enough for a cat to fit through, let alone two adult humans. More importantly however, who had put them there? He tried to recall details, anything from before, but it was like trying to grasp fog. After a few long moments, he finally managed to remember one thing.

Tanya had texted, asking if he wanted to hang out at David's tomorrow to discuss the latest book in the series they all read. He'd said yes. My phone. Jude dug his hand into his pocket but it was empty. A quick search of his jeans revealed that his wallet was also missing. He paused when he noticed that his silver ring was gone too. Of course those would have been taken. How long had he been here?

Silently, Jude wondered if tomorrow had already come and gone.

He turned back to his cell mate, eyes again drawn to her hair for reasons he couldn't explain. She was wedged into a corner, as far away from him as she could be. Knees hugged tightly to her chest, she rocked back and forth like a scared child; eyes squeezed shut. Still, tears left dark streaks down her face.

"Please," she whispered pathetically. "Please, please, please. I just wanna go home. I just wanna go home."

The woman must be loosing her mind, if it wasn't gone already. But what about him? He felt...calm almost cold, detached even. It was like he was someone else, somewhere else. Yet...they'd both been taken prisoner. They were both trapped. Shouldn't he be freaking out too? Maybe he was still dreaming? Maybe I'm just in shock. He remembered reading an article about shock.

"Hey," he called out, hoping to put his calm to use. "Shh. Calm down. Do you know what's going on? How did we get here?"

At the sound of his voice she flinched and her eyes fluttered open. Blinking, she turned her face in his direction and drew in a shuddering breath.

"P-please," she repeated. "I-I don't k-know anything. I just want to g-go home."

That wouldn't do. She had to know something. "Come on. Look, just tell me your name. I'm Jude. What's yours?"

"A-Ashley."

"Ashley," he repeated. He had to reach through the fear or he'd learn nothing. "Okay Ashley. I don't know what's going on, so I need you to answer some questions for me. Can you do that for me, Ashley, please? It's important."

She blinked some more and this time her eyes seemed to focus on him as some of the fear left them. The frightened woman gave him a hesitant nod.

"Okay, Ashley. How did you get here?" And why can't I look away from your hair?

"I-I don't really know."

"You must remember something, anything."

"All I know is I-I was leaving the El C-Con Mall where I work. I take the night shift because I have classes during the day and..."

As she spoke, Jude began to feel a burn growing in the pit of his stomach, as if he'd downed several shots of whiskey on an empty stomach. Had he been drinking? Maybe he'd gone out with Tanya after all. She liked to go out drinking. As the thought crossed his mind, he realized his throat was raw too, and out of nowhere came a sudden thirst. But of course there was nothing in their cell to drink.

"...My car was only a f-few feet away," Ashley said, her words pulling him out of his thoughts. "It was dark. The closest light had burnt out or something and I couldn't see all that well. I t-thought I heard something and I got scared. T-three people had gone missing recently. I got to my car and r-reached for the d-door."

Her expression suddenly darkened with fear. She hugged her knees even more tightly to her chest. Her gaze moved away from him as she stared blankly off into the distance, remembering.

"T-there were eyes," she moaned. "Horrible red eyes in the reflection of the window. I s-screamed and t-tried to turn around b-but everything suddenly went black."

He felt a sudden urge to be closer to her. Was it sympathy? A desire to give comfort and ease her pain? Whatever it was, Jude listened to it. He partially rose and shuffled over to the poor woman. When he neared, she didn't flinch and barely seemed to register his presence. Pulling her into his arms, Jude was shocked by how warm she was and how cold he himself suddenly felt.

And as the acidic fire within him began to burn worse, working its way up his chest, he was reminded of the nightmare. It had been cold and dark, but the dark had burned.

"Shh," he whispered, gently caressing that striking red hair of hers. "Everything's fine. It's just the two of us here."

"B-but the eyes," she went on, trying to extract herself from his embrace.

"It's okay, Ashley," he said, drawing her head down to his chest. He had to keep her calm. "Just tell me what else you remember. What happened after everything went black?"

She swallowed and stopped fighting. "I w-woke up here. Alone. Everything was black. There wasn't any light. I tried to get out, tried to call for help, but my purse, my cell phone were both gone. I-I screamed for what felt like hours. N-no one heard me. I don't know how l-long I've been here. I fell asleep..."

The pain continued to worsen though Jude tried to ignore it. Something was seriously wrong with him but he hadn't the slightest idea what. It was more than just alcohol on an empty stomach. Even his throat was beginning to feel like it was on fire. He took a deep breath, inhaling her scent in the process; the pain in his throat eased somewhat. F**k she smells good.

"And then?" he prompted.

"I don't...I don't know," she said, more calm than she had been before. "I woke up and there was a b-body. Your body, laying in the light from that hole in the wall. I ch-checked you but you had no p-pulse. You weren't breathing. You were d-dead."

He closed his eyes and breathed in her scent again. This time, instead of lessening his pain, her intoxicating aroma only made the inferno within him intensify. He shuddered, trying to fight against it, unable to understand what was wrong.

Ashley stiffened suddenly, growing still against him.

"J-Jude?" she whispered, fear once more threading through her voice. "I c-can't hear your h-heart beat. Why d-dont you have a heart b-beat?"

"What are you-" Jude gasped as the pain suddenly spiked, fracturing his thoughts.

Smells so good. Fire. I need...

He was only vaguely aware of her pulling away from him. Agony engulfed him, bringing him down on his hands and knees. Jude blinked back ...No tears? He couldn't seem to get enough air. Something tugged at his mind, some instinct or dark, inner voice. It drew his gaze towards Ashley, who had backed away from him.

"Only she has what is needed to douse the fire inside of you."

At the sound of those words in his mind, Jude was filled with a strange new urgency. His gums ached and his entire body now felt like it had been engulfed in the flames of whatever it was that was tormenting him. It was almost exactly like the dream. The darkness was all around and inside of him, so cold it burned. He was being consumed.

"Please," he bit out, reaching a spasming hand towards her imploringly. "Make it stop."

"Jude?" Ashley whispered. "What's wrong with- oh my God! Your eyes! They're just like the ones from-"

The only light suddenly went out.

A scream tore itself from Ashley's throat. Somehow, despite the utter darkness, Jude could see Ashley's face contorting with fear perfectly. Shoving him aside, she tried to move in the blackened cell, but managed to trip over his legs. Panicked, she kicked at him as she crawled to the wall where the light had shone through. As Jude looked on in anguish, she began hitting her fists against the concrete.

"Help me! God! Somebody help me! Please!"

Ashley's terrified wails only made Jude's pain worsen. He felt as if he was being devoured from the inside out. His painful thirst grew worse and shadows seemed to move in the corners of his vision, as if a candle were flickering. He thought he saw eyes of red fire peering at him from those same shadows, but they were gone in an instant. I'm losing my mind.

"A river flows within her," said that same dark, cold voice from before. "Merely take her in your arms. Drink from it and your suffering shall pass."

He couldn't think straight and yet the voice in his head, the words were so clear, the message a lifeline. What if it was right? Could she make it stop? Jude didn't know but he had to find out. In desperation, he hoisted himself up off the floor and lurched towards her. White hot knives of pain pierced him everywhere and again each time he moved. But Jude couldn't bring himself to stop; something pulled him onwards as if he were nothing more than a puppet.

Ashley turned, seemed to know he was coming and let out another shriek before running to the opposite side of the cell. Pressing her back as close to it as she could, the woman cowered there, shaking her head back and forth as tears poured down her face. She'd long since grown pale.

"N-no. Stay away from me. Stay away!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears. Jude threw himself at her, grasping Ashley's shoulder with one hand, the other trying to get a hold of the arm she struck him with repeatedly. She struggled, refusing to quietly give in, but that only filled him with a new kind of rage.

She has what I need! The only thing that will make it stop! Why won't she just give it to me?

He wasn't quite sure what it was that he needed, but he succeeded in pinning her arm against the wall. Triumph briefly surged within his chest just as something ripped through his gums, making it impossible for his mouth to remain closed. A strange crimson glow illuminated Ashley's face, casting her features in morbid relief. Red shadow flickered at the corners of his vision. It only served to make the fire burn hotter.

"Oh my God!" she screamed. "Let me go! Get off of me! Let me go! Help!"

Instinct told Jude to bury his face in her exposed, straining neck. Or was it another voice whispering to him in the dark? Just as he reared back, his mouth open wide, her knee shot up between his legs. White light exploded behind his eyes, momentarily blinding him as his lower extremities buckled from the sudden pain. Snarling, his grip on the frantic woman tightened and his weight dragged her down to the floor with him. Cold fire searing every part of his body, Jude rolled himself on top of Ashley.

Her other fist shot out and collided with his nose but the pain it caused was nothing compared to the hell he felt. Straddling her, he was desperate to pin her arms to the floor. Maddened by everything that his body was feeling, the sensory overload, he let out an animalistic roar. On the heels of another of the woman's screams, Jude surged forward, biting into the soft flesh of her throat. Ashley's body arched up, a surprised gasp escaping her lips.

Hot liquid spurted into his mouth, coating his tongue. The taste was unlike anything that he had ever had before; sweet and tangy and spicy. Jude swallowed it greedily, pulling heavily at the wound he'd opened. And just as the voice in his head had assured him, the river within her cooled the fires that licked at his being. It chased away the cold and the darkness that threatened to consume him. His weakness and pain were washed away and in their place he felt strength and calm begin to grow.

Beneath him, Ashley shuddered and a few words escaped her lips, barely audible. "Please...Jude...stop..."

With the liquid ecstasy flowing from her into him, Jude felt his awareness expand like never before. Suddenly, he could feel the sensation of his clothes brushing against his skin like a thousand whispers down his spine. Ashley's flesh was softer than any animal he'd ever touched, smoother than silk. Her scent, so many things that mixed into it to make it hers, was intoxicating. The taste of what he was drinking, words could not describe it. He could suddenly hear the rushing of the blood within her veins; the breath she drew into her lungs and exhaled like a wind inside his ear. And the pounding of the heart within her chest that slowed the more he drank what she had to offer.

"Please, stop," he heard her plead once more. "I...don't...I don't want to die...Jude..."

But he didn't want to stop. Pulling harder against her throat, he tried to take it all. But a cold voice, different from the one in his head, stopped him.

"That's right Judas. You have done well. Finish her."

His name, his true first name, pulled him out of the maddening haze he'd been lost within. Jude opened eyes he'd been completely unaware he'd closed. Beneath him lay the woman, his cell mate, Ashley, helpless. A ragged gash in the side of her throat trickled dark red blood, identical in color to her hair that had first mesmerized him. Recoiling in horror, he looked up to where the voice had come from.

A tall, slim man dressed in a black robe stood only a few feet away. Though the cell was pitch black, lightless, Jude could see clearly. The man was paler than anyone he'd ever seen; like a corpse. And his eyes were two pin points of fiery, burning orange. This can't be real.

"Hello my child.”

Author's Note

I really think I'm too hard on my characters sometimes.