In the Mirror

My house was quiet, as usual. I padded from my room into the bathroom, blinking against the harsh florescent glow as I tugged my hair into a haphazard bun. I went through my nightly routine, the face-wash, the lotion, the brushing. It was when I looked into the mirror again after spitting into the sink that I saw the eyes there.

They were unbearably familiar. I hadn't been able to wear my gold plated pendant since I last crossed paths with them. Hints of copper gave them their depth, giving them the illusion of echoing off into oblivion. Lines grew around them, etched into the purple skin. The pupils were harsh slits of black, slicing through the iris like rips in the fabric of the known.

"Good evening." The smooth voice greeted me. my eyes closed, warding the voice off, as if my thoughts could create a barrier between us.

I willed him to be gone. But when I looked again, his eyes still rested above me in the mirror. "What do you want, Samain?" I asked as harshly as my quivering voice would allow. "I have to get to bed." As I spoke, I avoided his gaze, concentrating steadfastly on the crack in the framing. I was afraid of what might lie in the golden depths.

In my peripheral vision, I could see a hint of an indigo mouth pull up into a smirk. "Oh, dear. Have I caught you at a bad time?" His voice, in absolute contradiction to mine, was unruffled and smooth. I felt like I might fall into it. He took a step forward, silently enough that I didn't know of it until I felt the fingers deftly release my hair from it's tie. "You're so very much like your mother." He crooned. "She never had any time for me either."

He buried his face in my hair then, inhaling deeply, creating a cold breeze against my neck. He purred with satisfaction, his face sliding down to nestle in the crook of my neck, cold, and yet smooth, like a snake. "What do you want?" I asked again, my voice stronger this time.

His mouth lifted to my ear. "You know what I want." He told me softly, his arms curling around my waist and pulling me against him. He smelled of wildflowers and earth, and his grip was uncomfortably warm, like Florida summers.

I knew.

My mouth was dry when I answered him. "I won't." There was a moment when his grip slackened, and I naively hoped that he might go away for good, and leave me be.

"I don't remember giving you a choice."

My blood froze. That couldn't be... It wasn't right... "It's my house." I stated quietly, my voice shaking even worse than before. "You can't take me away without killing me." I reassured myself. It was an ancient rule, older than time, I suspected. Samain and his kind were bound to it.

He laughed softly. "A foolish belief to rely on. Understandable, I suppose, but foolish." I think that I always knew that. But it was then that I realized it. A theory, found in an ancient book, and tested only once. "It does work, my darling Anna. You know that from your experiment with poor Beraud." He pulled back, and I was seized with a cold fear. He was fast. Sometimes I wondered if he moved faster than light. Sometimes I was too afraid of the answer.

I was pinned against the bathroom counter in an instant. Samain, always the gentleman, waited for me to gain my bearings. I stared up at him with an expression bared of masks. It seemed to give him infinite pleasure, and a sideways grin grew on his face Samain would never be considered attractive by conventional standards. His skin was too alien, his eyes too unnatural. And there was the sly look about him that always off-putting, no matter what skin tone or eye color you paired it with. But I could see how he could be. The strong, powerful aura of his. The exotic way he was a little too strange to be human.

"But Anna? There's something you must know if you're to go on dealing in things beyond you." A predatory smile spread across his face, exposing the dagger sharp teeth that crowded his mouth. His breath was acrid. "To every rule, there is an exception. And to yours? I am the exception."

With a smile worthy of a jackal, he leaned in, as if for a kiss. I closed my eyes, resigning myself to my fate. There was a tug on my lower lip, and a burst of white hot pain ran through me. I slid into darkness, my last thought of where I would next wake, if I woke again at all.