In her dreams she'd always felt free. Invincible. Even in the darkest nightmares she'd felt at home, at ease, and at the final moment – when the blade was about to touch her throat or the hand to hit or another, usually gruesome, way to die was about to happen – she'd always been saved by a dark man. His skin was white, snow and ice, his clothes black or deeper dark, his tone so calm or sometimes deep and dark and shallow, everyone listened to him in the dreams when he made them disappear. Then he'd turn to her, open his mouth so as to speak – she always woke up, wanting nothing more than to return to him, finally hear what he had to say, for after ten times she'd woken up, he'd started to look so confused about something, and she was sure – oh so certain – that anything he had to say, was something very important.

In her dreams, she knew she was dreaming, knew because something felt a bit off, something was always wrong. She felt so confident at the beginning of her dreams, awaited his arrival when her dream self was about to be killed, wondered where he was every time she had a good dream. Wondered why he never sought her in those dreams. She would have very much liked a chance to talk to him, find out what he was doing in her dreams and, most importantly, who he was.

(Her waking hours were spent in an office somewhere around the town, meeting an occasional friend, once in a while on a date, some parties, but mostly she was home doing something or another.)

Now, dreaming, she felt unnaturally cold (even for her dreams) and wondered what was going on. When the cold disappeared, she wondered whether she should try to wake up. But then calmness washed over her and she continued walking down a road that reminded her of the main street of the town she worked in. She met no one and asked herself, again and again, whether this would be a good or a bad dream and where everyone was. In a normal dream – any other than this one – she always met people, good or evil or grey (or white-coloured dark saviour) and spoke with them or shouted in terror, somehow anyway in every dream she had contact with them.

As if on cue, a large amount of people emerged from the house, which she, after the initial shock, recognized as her own. Even though she'd never turned from the main street to her home street, and she normally (always) needed to take the turns to get where she was. Now she stared at all the persons, wondering who they were, why they were in her dream, why they'd been in her home.

”Hello,” all of them whispered. ”Hello, hello, hello. How have you been, where have you been?” They crept closer, their hands in front of them. ”Do you remember us, or have you forgotten?”

She stared at them, unable to move, and suddenly a flood of memories rushed into her mind.

”I love you.” And he kissed her.
”Why'd you leave me?” And she shrugged.
”I need you to come back.” And she laughed cruelly.
”I'm sorry.” And a change.

And all of them were suddenly so familiar, all of them were red-eyed and evil and he wasn't there. She didn't feel the familiar warmth. She was more afraid than ever before (but her memories begged to differ, that once--).

”We want you finally. He won't save you this time, he can't save you every time. And why had he removed your memories?” This time the voice was not from every mouth but a small doll's. It was soft and warm and the fact that it was evil inside made her shiver. ”You are ours, you've always been. You've always belonged with us. You know that, don't you?”

She went still, felt she couldn't move. But she managed to shake her head and she wondered whether this was a dream or not and wished the man who'd saved her, who was in her memories, would come and save her. Just like he always did.

But there was no one. No one to help her as the evil dolls and persons and what-nots kept getting closer and closer.

”Tell us, why'd you leave us for humans and him? Does he treat you well as he promised? And why is he not here with you?” It was another voice, so heart-breaking and so familiar. ”You were promised to me, you know. You should've been mine.”

She opened her mouth, finally. ”Why can't you leave me alone forever?”

A laugh, a cruel one, excruciating. ”You silly girl. You're just as evil as we are, you know you don't belong with these people you're living with. You belong with us.”

”Mother!” She wasn't quite sure, at first, whether it'd been her or not. ”I do not belong with you. Any of you. You always complained about my niceness, and then I fell in love and somehow I escaped but after that you found some way to make me vicious. Why, I wonder, why do you want to ruin me?”

”You still feel like that? You still feel?”

Suddenly she felt cold. She felt a foreign presence, someone trying to invade her mind. She didn't let the presence any further without a fight. But she couldn't stop it, she had no means for that. It went through her thoughts, her memories. It shuffled through them fast enough to lose her in her own mind.

”My, my,” a voice said and the attack in her mind brutally stopped. She came out and tried to catch her breath. ”He didn't leave you alone even when you so viciously used him. He just changed you. I no longer wonder why it was so hard to find you even in your dreams. He was protecting you.”

”And I will continue protecting her,” his voice said, demanding, deep

She turned to look at her left as all of them turned to look at the same direction. And there he was, staring calmly at all of them and beckoning her to him. She took a step towards him but was stopped by a cry.

”Oh no, not this time. I won't let you.” It was the one who'd told her she was promised to it. ”She's mine for eternity, promised by her family and the devil, she is.”

She felt faint. This made sense. She thought that she knew that all of the nightmares had been a part of their plan to tire him (they weren't, they'd never been sure they'd been in the right dreams even if they had), even though she still wasn't quite sure who he was – she'd never known, she finally understood.

”You have no right to her. She's her own person, especially since she is so unlike any of you. The devil knows this, yet it made the deal. What did it take from you, your soul?” His face was stern and he stared the person/thing down.

”I gave her myself for eternity after my death.”

The laugh he gave was so cold. ”She? Ah. I assume your expected life to be quite long. So you believe you'll live long before she takes you.” He looked at her and concentrated on something, at the same time willing her to him.

Now there was nothing to stop her as she took the first and second and finally the last step to him and so she stood next to him. She felt him as a cold breeze and wondered how he could survive such coldness.

”You've learned,” said a new voice, so warm and welcoming and a bubbling laughter followed the voice ”I'm glad to see that even though I don't appreciate you meddling with my business.”

She turned towards the new voice and her breath caught. There was a beautiful creature (because it as nothing she could've named) that was from neither sex, its voice purring and seducing. But suddenly the creature changed it had long claws, it was so black and big, it had a tail that ended into a fire, slashing back and forward, it was so horrifying and she screamed: ”You bastard!”

The laugh was both warming and welcoming as well as cold and cruel. ”You remember me in that form? I didn't think any of you had seen my true form or the one closest to the true one. You are a rare thing.”

She felt fire in her veins and it was in her eyes, too. ”You are so full of yourself, you are so sure of yourself. Take Mather Lunus and Peotr. I'm not going to be a piece in your game. Either you free us of it or take your toll already, you should know you won't have it your way.”

The creature breathed heavily and stared at her.