their warped reflections. They remind me of a funhouse. Running a hand over one, the cold surface feels real enough.
A weight around my neck I’ve only just notice has me searching the smooth metal surface with my fingertips. I find no latch or fastening. A necklace? Thick, heavy it feels more like a collar.
“Snatch? Gabriel?” Unease twists my stomach in knots when I get no answer. “Anyone?”
The woman gazing back at me leers in the reflection, her mouth stretching impossibly wide, crimson spewing from her lips. Stumbling away, my head snaps in the direction of the others. A sea of monstrous visions awaits me. Monsters holding a mask of a face.
Mine.
Behold the true you. They whisper, glaring at me with cold eyes and necrotic skin. Fashioned by your own tainted hand. Did you really think you were pure? You’re nothing but a murderer. There’s a stain on your soul that can never be removed. We wait for you with outstretched welcoming arms.
The wraith.
No. I’m not one of them. Yet how close had I come tonight in becoming one?
Panic seizes me, my ribs straining to inflate as if invisible chains are preventing them from expanding. I can’t breathe.
The perverted doppelgangers taunt me, grabbing at my clothes with their eager, cruel hands. Pushing away from them, my feet race along the corridor, my head spinning while I try not to collapse.
I feel as though I’m running in circles, the corridors a labyrinth of twisting tunnels with no end in sight. The mirrored walls close in. Reality shifts. Lights dimming, bringing a fresh bout of panic, I almost collide with a figure standing in the dark around a corner.
“Hello, sweet thing.”
The familiar accented drawl has me huffing out a sigh of relief. “Morpheus? Oh, thank god! There’s something wrong with the mirrors back there. They came alive. I think I’m trapped in a bad dream.”
As my eyes become accustomed to the gloom, I see his gleaming, perspiring torso naked from the waist up. His muscles ripple sensually under his skin as he stalks toward me.
“He can’t hear you right now.” Although his face is painted in shadows his unearthly white eyes twinkle down at me like luminous pearls. “But you can scream for him; maybe he’ll hear you. You were right, after all, I really am a monster.”
24
The Doll Maker
I see the second realization sinks in, and Robin tenses.
“M…Morpheus, this isn’t you. He isn’t you.”
Chuckling at the surety in her tone, I back her up against the wall. “I told you that waste of space can’t hear you. Two parts of four merged together. I’m in charge now. A fucking god. I can do whatever I desire. I have dominion over dreams. Whenever you sleep, I will be there. I may not possess the powers of Nightmares yet, but believe me, I can make them unpleasant for you. You’ll die a thousand different ways. Only to experience death at my hands every single night you lay your head to rest.”
“Please…let me help you.” Her hand gently rests on my cheek. “We can stop him taking you over.”
Unable to help myself, I rub into the comfort of her open palm. Her compassion, her understanding blankets me. I don’t understand them. Too used to evoking sheer unadulterated terror, these other emotions baffle me. Yet at the same time, they make me curious. They resonate as if I’m supposed to have felt them before. Reciprocated them before. None of the other women have ever had this effect on me. Devoid of anything but ruthless uncaring and callousness, I had snuffed out their lives without a thought of mercy.
“Come back to the island with me…” Her soft voice pleads.
I can smell her fear. How tantalizing and seductive, it calls to me like an old friend. Beckoning me to do what I was made for.
“You’re staring up at me like I’m a hero. That’s not who I am. I’m not that loser. That pathetic excuse for a god steeped in self-blame. He’s weak, pitiful, and doesn’t deserve the wasted life I’ve now taken in his place.” Unbuckling the front of my jeans, I ease them over my hips. “He’s no longer in control of this body. I am. Now you’re going to get that mouth of yours fucked. It’s been begging for it since the moment I saw you. Get on your knees.”
Robin’s eyes widen. “Morpheus…”
She jolts, the shock collar around her neck sending volt after volt passing through her body at the press of the button in