Free Ancient Blood: The Fallen by Renea Taylor Page B

yawn, I snuggled deeper into its comforting warmth, yet wakefulness continued to nudge at the edges of my sleep, until suddenly the slumber that enveloped my brain within its fog cleared in one giant leap, and I sat up with a gasp, my eyes wide and sweeping the room.
    My heart thudded madly against my chest like a caged bird, while fear raced up my back and panic clutched my stomach in a nauseating sphere of uncertainty. The events of the night before slammed their way through, insisting they be heard, but as my brain acknowledge what my eyes were seeing, my fear lessened and slowly, ever so slowly the realization that I must have suffered a nightmare sunk in.
    Nightmares had terrorized me in my adolescence, but as I'd passed from a child into an adult, the nighttime terrors had eased, becoming less frightening in their intensity.
    However, they'd never completely ceased, never quite managed to mitigate into non-existence, and this one had very much reminded me of those of my youth, yet it was so unlike them!
    Nonetheless, I was beginning to feel confusion, for a myriad of questions bombarded my brain as I was gazing at the contents within my bedroom, and in that lay my discombobulation, for I didn't even remember coming to my room.
    The last I could recall, I was exiting my studio and standing within the darkness of the hallway just outside it. From there, everything that had occurred next was a blank, an area of non-existence, unclear.
    Unless ...I heard my inner voice whisper, wanting to refuse even the possibility that everything that had been involved within my nightmare was reality. That, in fact, I had been outside, that the paralyzation of my body had been real, that any, and all of it, could have been anything other than what I, unbelievably, wanted it to be…a nightmare!
    My stomach quivered with unease, and dropping my head, I drew in deep calming breaths as I softly murmured to myself, “a nightmare, it was just a damn nightmare, that's all.”
    Oh God I hope it was just a nightmare!
    However, even as I thought the words, I knew the truth, and as chill bumps arose on my flesh, chasing one another in procession across my shirking skin, I tossed aside the sheet, pushing to the edge of the bed and rubbing at the bumps, I lowered my legs, touching my feet to the hardwood floor as I found myself chocking back a budding sob, panic flushing throughout my system.
    Unable to be still any longer I stood, feeling my legs give a slight quiver beneath me as I shuffled my way towards the bathroom, trying my best to assure myself with each step I took that none of it had been reality, yet again my gut told me it was.
    However, by the time I stood before the sink my legs felt like limp noodles and I quickly lowered the lid on the toilet, plopping down on its surface before my legs completely gave out and I found myself on the floor, then dropping my head into my hands, I felt my body quiver with anxiety.
    Fifteen minutes later though, I was hurtling out of the house, completely giving up on the effort of denying the events of the night before, as it had been thoroughly squelched upon seeing the black smudges on the hallway walls. The slam of the door echoed behind me with a thunderous boom as I leaped from  the porch and ran to my pickup.
    I took the rutted drive at a fast pace, paying for my carelessness by having my insides jarred to bits and a slight case of whiplash, however, as I pulled out onto the street I began to breath just a tiny bit better.
    Some of the tenseness that held me in its grip was easing, and I tried to sort out what I knew to be fact, and what remained questionable within my mind.               However, eventually I gave up and found myself doing my best to enjoy the drive.
    The wind was blowing in through the rolled down window, cooling the perspiration that had sprung up within the heat of the morning, as well as teasing my hair, causing it to lift and whip around me as it caressed my