Sara felt her blood freeze inside her veins. she couldn't decide whether her heart was beating way too fast or beating at all. she stared at the man carefully as her knees shivered under her robe, wanting to believe that this was just a bad joke, a prank the priests were pulling to punish her for trespassing. but an inside voice told her it was all real, the man whom she thought was her friend was looking at her in a way that screamed danger, he reeked of evil and malignity, and she knew he meant his words, but there was also something else.

''You look surprised.'', Patrick asked innocently while approaching her, his steps, unlike how they appeared, were not random nor careless, but perfectly studied, the girl in front of him looked as frail as a feather and knew nothing about the place she was in nor had any basic skills of self-defense. However, he chose to be careful just in case the rumor he heard about her was true. he wanted her cornered, that is when she would be the most vulnerable.

''What? What are you...Why are you doing this?'' Sara asked, trying to not sound as terrified as she really was. She didn't know what to do, nor the place she was in. the emptiness she was grateful for earlier was not of help now as no one was around to help her. Patrick, as if reading her thoughts, took another step forward while she took one back, only to be stopped by the rack behind her.

''Killing you? Simply because I have orders to, Young Lady. However, that would be quite the waste, don't you think?'' Licking his lips, Patrick ran his eyes over Sara's body, from head to toe and back as if he was undressing her, his gaze, had something animalistic and disgusting, something dark that made the girl in front of him instinctively wrap her arms around her shivering body.

''I must admit, I wasn't able to stop picturing your body since the time I saw it this dawn, Fucking Hell, how can a lass have such perfect body?''

''That was you...'' Sara's whisper was barely audible even to herself as realization hit her.

''It was pretty early, I didn't think you would be awake, it was supposed to be a quite death. Strangled by your pillow, my orders stated, however...'' Patrick stopped to close his eyes for a short second as if remembering the scene. '' Instead of being in your bed, you were laying on the floor, naked, the dim light of the candle reflected by your wet skin, I was fascinated for a second, My body ached for you, So, I decided your death could wait a bit longer.''

''So, you tricked me to come here, to your trap.''

''Maybe you are not so naive after all, Now.'', Patrick pulled a dagger out of his sleeve, the blade visible in the dim light, Sara stared at it, Petrified, ''Make this worth my efforts and I might consider the possibility of keeping you alive.''

Every cell in Sara's body urged her to run away, scream, kick and fight but her mind was dulled by fear, her knees felt weak and lax, her voice buried under a solid lump.

''Don't...'', Sara's warning sounded more like a helpless begging due to her throttled voice as she saw his hand getting near her.

''Then stay still and... Fuck...''

Not waiting for his next words, Sara moved suddenly, trying to overrun him, acting on instinct, Sara used her full body weight to push the man out of her way, but with her petit frame, she only managed to destabilize him. taking the little chance she had, she darted toward the bars but the man quickly got a hold on her, grabbing a fistful of her hair, pulling her back to him while covering her mouth with the same hand he used to hold the dagger, thinking the close sight of the blade would browbeat her into submission. However, the girl, driven by a primal survival instinct, jerked and moved violently, trying to free herself from his iron grip.

Angered, Patrick pulled her hair violently, the move causing the dagger to graze her neck, she gasped in pain, the wound wasn't deep nor big but it was enough to draw blood. tears rushed to Sara's eyes as she started crying loudly, not only because of the painful wound, not only because of her burning scalp, but mostly because of the terrifying idea of being defiled and killed.

''You little cunt...'' Patrick cursed under his breath, tightening his grip on her even harder, "You don't need to be alive for me to fuck you.''

Patrick raised his hand with the dagger, ready to end the girl's life, However, his hand froze midair as he lost all sense and control over it, perplexed as well as scared, he focused on the eeriness that surrounded them suddenly, it was too heavy to ignore, and the air became somehow unbreathable, all while Sara, who turned whiter than a sheet, sensed the additional presence in the room.

Looking around him, Patrick's eyes were caught by the few drops of blood that splashed on the book the girl was about to inspect earlier. but before he could make any conclusions, the book was opened by itself, the dark pages kept on flipping none stop as if they were being blown by the wind, only that the room was completely closed with no openings for any wind.

Both Sara and the priest were petrified. and in a second, she felt his grip loosen over her hair, followed by the rest of his body collapsing, Sara took a step away from him, not knowing what scared her most, the dark book, or the vicious priest who was lying motionless on the ground with his wide lifeless eyes completely white. he was dead, Sara thought. ripping her eyes off him, she looked at the book which pages were not flipping anymore, taking cautious steps toward the rack, she looked at the book with her teary eyes. at first, she saw nothing in the black pages, but right from the darkness, a pair or red eyes emerged, and stared back at her.

There was nothing but the red irises in the middle of darkness, however, Sara couldn't ignore the intensity of the gaze. the eyes were not a painting on the book, she told herself, they were alive and real.

The red eyes gazed at the angelically pure ones, Sara kept on staring into the eyes for few seconds before she could feel them wondering deep inside her head, they were penetrating and hypnotizing and stared directly at her naked soul, flipping her insides like pages, she felt herself being read and discovered like an interesting book that had no power over the hands holding it. her mind, unable to endure all the intensity, soon surrendered to darkness.

Darkness, Endless darkness around her. she was standing in the middle of it, cold, vulnerable, naked to the eyes, lonely and scared. many hands emerged from it and tried to touch her, in the same disgusting manner as the priest. she helplessly tried to shield her body, protect it from the violating touches, from all the filth those hands carried, the darkness then started having a red glow to it, and the hands turned into red eyes.