Thank you to Sean for reviewing this story before submission.
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A loud crack of thunder awoke me. I sat up slowly, feeling groggy and slow. Blinking a few times I turned my head slowly and took in my surroundings. I was laying in an enormous canopy bed. Across from the foot of the bed a fire was dying in a large stone fireplace. The room was very bare and plain, non-descript cream-colored wallpaper on the walls, a somewhat worn burgundy carpet on the floor. In the light from the fireplace the carpet almost looked like blood pooled across the floor. There were no signs of anything modern in the room, no lights or signs of electricity. I didn't sense the shadow standing in the corner near the head of the bed until I turned to rise, and then I saw him.
At first I wasn't even sure what I was looking at. I saw a shape, a form, and then all of a sudden realized it was a human, and as the light from the fire shifted his face took on the characteristics of a man. Before I could even open my mouth to speak he had stepped forward and pushed me back onto the bed, straddling me and pinning me in one swift movement. I was so startled I didn't even attempt to resist, I just fell back against the bed and stared up at him, speechless. Looking up into his eyes I was mesmerized. He seemed familiar, but at the same time he seemed a stranger. Who was this man?
In an awkward attempt to ask him his name I stammered, but he quickly placed a finger against my lips, silencing me. He spoke softly, in a deep measured voice. He said he had been watching me, waiting for me. Bringing his face close to mine, so close his lips were nearly brushing my lips, he whispered that I was his life, his soul-mate, destined to be his. A million thoughts rushed through my mind, but not a word escaped my lips. It was if he had me entranced.
A moment of silence hung between us, his breath slow and even, mine fast and a bit harsh. A sudden flash of lightning and crash of thunder startled me. Despite his weight on top of me I lurched against him, a reflex from the noise. In an instant his lips met mine and he pushed me down into the softness of the bed. Feeling no desire to resist him, this total stranger who seemed not quite a stranger, I relaxed beneath him, and began to return his kiss. His hand slipped behind my neck and he cradled me closer to him. I couldn't help but notice how cold his fingers were, they felt like ice. But his lips...his lips were so warm.
His kisses became more passionate, and before I realized what was happening I felt his free hand gliding easily through the buttons down the front of my gown. He drew back and slowly pulled my gown down past my shoulders, exposing my breasts. My nipples instantly hardened from the coolness of the room and I shuddered with a chill, or was it with pleasure? I could see the look of approval on his face and for some strange reason it made me glad. Was I so eager to please him, a stranger?
His lips returned to nuzzle mine, then he worked his way across my cheek and down to my neck where he nibbled contentedly for a moment. I let my eyes close and drifted, imagining this was all an incredible dream. His fingers found my nipples and pinched, gently at first, then a bit more insistent, tugging and pulling at them, then kneading my breasts. His lips wandered from my neck over my shoulder and then down to my breast. He glanced up at me for a moment, his eyes hard to read. They seemed full of so many things. Lust. Power. Knowledge. Wisdom. His eyes looked so much older than the rest of him. He licked his lips with a somewhat sly smile and for a second I thought I saw something red near the corner of his mouth, something that could almost look like blood, but then with a flick of his tongue I realized there was nothing there, it must have been my imagination.