I’m walking around a dark space and I see a dark figure among the shadows; only see a silhouette but it’s a familiar one. Cautiously, I approach it and reach out my hand to tap on his bare shoulder. When he turns around, I am greeted by a familiar smile that eases my fear of the dark. His warm hand finds its way around my waist and he pulls me against his body. I feel the warmth radiating off of him, as he kisses my lips and down my neck, pulling me tightly against him. When I feel him lapping at the crook of my neck, something in the back of my mind alerts me that something is not right.

I pull away to look around and suddenly I feel a sharp pain lance through my body. When I look at my neck, all I see is blood and an evil glint in his eyes as he drinks in my expression of fear. His smirk turns into a wild smile before he lunges at me! ‘No!’ I yell and try to push him away there is no escaping my fate. With a final snarl, I feel his teeth connect with the vulnerable skin over my jugular and I scream!

I blink my eyes rapidly, feeling my breathing and heartrate elevated beyond. My hands automatically reach for my neck and I frantically look down at my body.

No blood.

A sigh of relief escapes me but I can’t help but feel a bit uneasy this morning. Outside my window, I hear birds chirping loudly and try to rationalize to myself, if there was danger, they wouldn’t be singing as much as they are now. I look out and see that the sun is not in the right position for it to be morning. In fact…

It takes me a moment to remember what happened before I fell asleep and I remember what or rather who put me to sleep. From the looks of the day, I’d say it was still the same day. I must have been out a few hours!

I have a sudden need to get up, feeling suddenly energized. When I sit up and test my ankle with a cursory roll, I am elated that it doesn’t twinge as much as it did that first day. I feel the sudden urge to go for a walk and think this would be a lovely time to test out how much my foot has healed so far. I look around, and yet again, there is no one in the house. He’s probably outside doing chores around the cabin – I really do need to find out more about him, especially with how intimate we are getting. I’ll probably find him on my walk but I should probably take it slow no matter how good my ankle feels.

When I exit the cabin, the sun’s brightness was also too intense for my eyes. Shielding my eyes and keenly listening for something in the distance, I am disappointed that all I hear are the birds and insects buzzing about. I go back inside and quickly change, this time deciding to bring a towel just in case.

I started on the path that I took earlier towards the waterfall but didn’t so much as find an ax or signs of my mysterious lover around. When I reach the site of the waterfall, I’m disappointed yet again when I don’t see him and sigh heavily. Unconsciously, I make my way to the water and slowly wade in calf deep. Images from that dark dream sits as well as a heavy pit in my stomach and keeps me from feeling as carefree as I felt the day before. My line of sight follows up the waterfall as I stare blankly at something behind it.

I suddenly remember that I saw a cave behind the falls and something drew my attention to it once again. Moving further closer to the rocky wall to get a better look at the entrance, I search for a path or means to get to it. Following from the cave mouth, I let my eyes settle around the perimeter and see a somewhat narrow walkway leading from the top of the rock formation down behind the waterfalls and to the cave itself. Walking backwards to get a wider view of the rocky alcove and I stand where the trail ends looking into the semi-circular cove. My eyes see a clear route from the top of the ridge that comes down and around towards the wooded area just beyond the road I am standing on.

I let curiosity get the better of me and decide it’s time to test my ankle and go for a bit of a walk and hike up the gradual incline. Taking my time and going slow, I finally make it to the top of the ridge and scout around for an easy way down towards the cave. Fortunately, when I have to walk across the river, there is already a crudely made wooden platform made of three tree trunks laid side by side. I found a sturdy branch to use as a walking stick to stabilize me as I made my way across the precarious structure. There was a clearing in the grass where someone has trodden through and lead me to the rocky track behind the waterfall leading to the cave. Carefully, I leaned heavily on my staff, not wanting to tempt fate and reinjure myself on my way down even though I may be fully healed.

When I finally made it to the cave entrance, it was dark and damp, as one would expect out of a place behind the waterfall with a flowing river above. I peered into the darkness not sure what I would see but as curiosity got the better of me, I found myself taking a step inside. A cold draft yawning from within the cave blew past me, sending a shiver down my spine and something deep in my gut set off alarms that something about this place was off. It wasn’t safe and I needed to leave.

Once the draft died down, a gamey musk lingered in the air and as I took a step closer into the cave, only the ambient light from outside reflected off the slick rocky surface. Silhouettes and hard lines were all I could see but as my eyes quickly adjusted to the dark conditions, I relied on my other senses to guide me. The further I walked in, the stronger the smell become. It was pungent and cloying and distinctly metallic.

Blood.

I know, once I recognize the scent, alarms are blaring in my head, reminding me of my dream but something keeps pushing me to go forward, to find where it was coming from. The stink is extremely strong now and I was about to come to the source just around the rocky wall. A very distinct silhouette against the cave wall startled me and I dropped my walking staff; it clattered to the floor with a slam in the quiet. 

When I reach down to pick it up, my fingers brushed against something fluffy, almost like a pelt and I jerk my hand away quickly but not before I saw images flash in my mind:

A beautiful woman, with luscious curly black hair going down her back, her perfect complexion, a deep ebony tone enriched in the sun compared my own olive hue made her all the more majestic. Dark grey eyes glowed in the darkness and her lips spread into a secret, seductive smile as she looked out at the cave opening expectantly.

The tall, graceful, woman sauntered in to greet whomever was meeting her and they soon engaged in a heated kiss that turned passionate as clothes fell away and hands grasped desperately for one another. When their love making turned desperate , she was attacked by at large white wolf and it latched at her throat before letting her dead body drop to the floor. The wolf then proceeded to tear into her chest to eat her heart and howled; it’s haunted call seemingly still captured within this cave.

Suddenly, I am back in my own body and I scramble away from the corpse before me.

“What the hell did I just see?!” I blindly reach for my staff and pull myself up.

“Shit! I need to get out of here!” I say to myself self-consciously looking towards the exit to this enclosed tomb.

This place reeks of death and I don’t feel safe.

I start to run and right when I am about to reach the entrance of the cave, the entryway is blocked by a familiar silhouette. I’ve see his shape for the past three days and I just don’t want to believe that he is the one blocking my way. Beside him, I recognize the outline of a wolf and breathing is has become difficult.

“What are you doing here?” He asks in genuine surprise. My eyes never leave his profile, even as his furry companion enters the cave, comes behind me to inspect the corpse and then stands like a lurking shadow. With that canine behind me, my panic starts to mount and I can’t stop myself.

“I think that’s my line.” I quip wearily to him as I inch backwards.

After a bit of a pause, he seems to get a hold of his senses. “I suppose there is no need to hide anything at this point.”

“What are you talking about?” I question him, suspicious of his sudden admission and take a step back as fear really takes a hold of me.

I momentarily forget about the wolf behind me, so when I back up, a growl comes from it and I yelp as I jump to the side backing into the wall. The wolf stares me down, all the while a low rumble emanates deep within its chest as it walks up to my supposed-savior and nuzzles his leg.

Suddenly it all makes sense!

The coincidental chase through the woods and fainting, the food and hunting, the occasional howls at night and the odd mannerisms and seductive behavior. I felt very close to him and he’s been leading the wolves and me all along and to what end…? Then it finally hits me.

I’m the prey.

The pieces of the puzzle now all in place seem so glaringly obvious and I cannot help but feel naïve and used but most of all angry.

“I see you’ve finally figured it out.” He states as he saunters towards me, dismissing his wolf companion with a flick of his hand. Now, with his wolves gone, he is standing practically against me with his nearness and I push further back into the wall, but only feel the harsh jagged edges of the rocks at my back. “It’s taken me this long to get you where I want you.”

“The whole time…I can’t believe I was so blind.”

“Don’t be too harsh on yourself. I had no intention of actually involving you in the hunt at all. I had a plan for years and survival has been hard but that all changed with your appearance at my doorstep. It actually worked in my benefit with an added bonus. With you in the picture, I had a rather flawless plan at my disposal; not to mention I had some help from my companions.”

At the mention of help, my mind wandered back to the first day when I was panicked and running for what I thought was dear-life itself. I start thinking about how scared and helpless I was against a few wolves on the day of my arrival but was thanking any and all the deities in the heavens for allowing me to stumble into Mr. Beautiful-I-Will-Save-and-Heal-You. But he was the one behind it all! My fear instantly transforms and I am furious! So much so that I suddenly lash out and sucker-punch him in the gut.

How dare he?!

I kick him in the shins hard for good measure before I hightail it and run out of the cave yet stop dead in my tracks as there seems to be no safe path down. My staff is still in the cave and there is no way I am going back and have him catch me. I look down at the ledge and then back up the way I came from. I can scramble on all that gravel and loose rocks to get back to the top. Staring down at the base of the waterfall, I realize I can’t be more than two or three floors up in height and make a split decision to take my chance there.

I jumped into the deep blue pool, and hear a shout from behind me just as I splash into the cold depths of the pool, kicking my legs as fast as I can to break the surface for air. Wading my way to the shore until I could finally stand, I got up carefully and made sure not to fall as I maneuvered around the slippery and loose rocks at my feet.

I’m happy none of the wolves are waiting outside the cave or around the waterfall for their master and start running into the forest. Not wanting to take any chances for them to regroup, I run as fast as my legs can carry me through the woods and past all the crazy trees that cast skeletal shadows against the damp floor. Fear and adrenaline fuel my run and I can’t help but look over my shoulder to make sure nothing is lurking beyond my line of sight. 

My heart is pounding and my breath is coming up short as the woods open up and more light up filter through up ahead. With renewed strength from seeing a clearing before me, I breathe a heavy sigh of relief once step out from the woods where all this mess started. I actually step into a clearing with tall, dense grass and take in the wide plains with no threat in sight. I slow my pace to a mild jog out into the field of wild flowers and low brush where a few large boulders sparsely populate the area. When I finally slowing down to a walk to look back at the dark ominous forest that is at a distance behind me, I scan the area until I see that no one is around me at all.

Once I am certain that no one is there chasing me, I stop dead in my tracks and breathe. My lungs are burning now from over exertion and my adrenaline high leaves me completely worn out, so much so that I sink to my hands and knees in relief.

When my breath slows to a normal rhythm, I start to sit up so I’m in a kneeling position and rise again but my world is suddenly turned upside down with a loud thud! My back hits harshly against the grass covered earth that offers barely any give and a quick flash of light fills my vision as though I am literally seeing stars before my eyes from the impact. When I try to get up, a slight growl comes from a source above me and I freeze completely as I am push down once again and a weight settles to keep me in place. The white wolf from that flash or dream in the cave! I feel the blood drain from my body when suddenly he morphs into a person. 

It’s him!