Serena Deacon sat crouched in the very back of her closet with her knees hugged against her chest, desperately trying with all the determination she had within to remain as quiet as possible and pray that the call she'd tried to make to the police would be enough to send their asses to her house… she was really kicking herself right about now for forgetting to plug her phone in last night, the damn thing cut her off just as she was trying to explain to the call-taker in a hushed voice what was going on.
Booted feet crunched upon the crisp gray carpet of her bedroom and her body went rigid as a board, her heart doing a fearful flip flop in her chest… she remembered seven months ago when she first met Adrian Beaumont on a tinder date gone wrong, the guy Xavier she'd gone on the date with was trying to force her into his car after they finished having dinner, but as she hadn't had a good time in even the slightest measure as he droned on and on about how desirable and eligible he was, she told the guy that she'd be getting into her own car and going home.
He hadn't liked that, he'd grabbed a good handful of her hair and trying hauling her over to his car, yelling at her about how no one ever refused a Vincenzo… and then there Adrian was, he flew in like a pink haired superhero, he punched Xavier in the back of the head and as soon as he went down, Adrian drew a switchblade and told Xavier to stay down on the ground if he didn't want to get cut.
Turns out when he wasn't trying to beat up on a lone woman, Xavier was a sniveling little bitch baby rich boy.
Adrian escorted her over to her car and offered to follow her home in his own to make sure that Xavier didn't try to follow her and finish what he started once Adrian wasn't around to stop him… she wished now she had never invited him inside for coffee, she should have just sent him on his way after she got home… but how was she to know what was going to happen?
They talked for at least two hours that nice over coffee and day old grocery store donuts, he was so nice and funny, just the perfect most respectable gentleman… and while she wasn't really in the mood to date for a little while after the experience she'd just had, she had thought he would be a really lovely friend to have around to talk to and hang out with.
Never in a thousand lifetimes would Serena have ever suspected the darkness that lurked beneath his sweet gentleman facade, that perfect pristine mask… he had fooled her so completely…
She went to bed shortly after Adrian had left that night, she thought she would have nightmares about Xavier, but she was just so horrendously exhausted, she had fallen into a deep, deep sleep.
When she woke up… she found herself in a beautiful four poster bed complete with a black satin canopy… and her right ankle shackled to one of the bedposts…
"Daaaarling… Darling, where aaaaare yoooooou? Come on out, my darling… I know you are here… I can smell the shampoo you use… mmm, strawberries and cream… I love it when you smell like strawberries for me… hehehe…"
That unhinged sing-song voice… it still sent shivers down her spine, she bit down on her lower life lightly as she resisted the urge to cry…
She recalled the way Adrian had been when he finally showed himself in that big opulent bedroom, he explained to her that he was a very wealthy man, but he was very lonely… he said he longed for a woman with heart, intelligence and dignity… and he found all of those things in Serena…
However, Serena was turned off from dating after that Xavier moron and Adrian? Well, he was the type of man that was willing to be kept waiting, oh no, not for anything. He had poured out all the charm at that kitchen table and it just hadn't been enough to convince her anything more than 'being friends'.
So… he took what he wanted… because deep down, he knew she wanted him too, she was just too scared after her experience to admit it to herself, so really, it was all for her own good that he took her… so they, as he put it, could both have a chance at true happiness.
The man was completely off his rocker… but that wasn't even the half of it, strange things happened in that manor, some really bizarre strange things…
"Darling? Didn't you miss me, darling? I've been gone a whole 6 months… don't you want to come out and give your beloved Adrian a kiss?"
She could hear his footsteps near the bed… she heard him lift the bedskirt, likely check for her underneath the bed… Serena brought her hands up over her mouth to muffle the sound of her terrified breathing…
"Hehehe… Baby, come on, I totally forgive you for what you did… After all, I'm back now, right? All is forgiven! I'm sure you are wondering what miracle brought your sweetheart home to you… why don't you come out and I'll tell you… hm? Serena, my love… come out, come out whereeeeveeer you aaaare…"
She heard him sniffing at something before releasing a soft pleasured moan…
"Mmm, that scent of strawberries and cream… it's getting stronger… I must be getting closer… are you trying to play some kind of romantic game with me, darling? Is that it? Because… you know… after you cut the breaklines of my car and caused me to get into that wreck… well… a man can't be too sure if you are playing some kind of… sexy game… or if… perhaps… you are legitimately trying to hide from me… I should have been more careful honestly, I should have known better when you suddenly started cooperating and being so receptive to my affections, but… I just wanted to believe it so much, because I just love you so very much, honey… I blame myself more than I could ever blame you… Are you in the towel closet, darling?"
The footsteps made their way towards the towel closet just outside her personal bathroom, she jumped slightly when the door of the towel closet was ripped open, the door smacking the wall loudly.
'Stay calm, stay quiet…' Serena coached herself 'Just be quiet and the cops will be here soon…'
"No… not in there… Mmm, but I smell you so strongly… Serena, darling… don't you want to know how I'm alive? Well… sort of alive, hehe, it's complicated… it would be easier to explain if you would just come on out… Hm, where to begin… surely, in books, cinema and games… you've heard of necromancy, right darling?"
"I feel as though I am bathing in your scent now… it's exquisite… you were faithful to me while I away, right darling? I would hate to have to tear a guy's eyes out… you know… like that stupid buffoon from the night we met… his screams were like music… you were a good girl, right darling?"
Serena swallowed hard as she remembered when he had brought Xavier's head back to the Manor and threw it down on the floor before her, the eye sockets empty and bleeding…
'So he can never gaze upon your beauty ever again…'
She would never forget the crazed excited look on Adrian's face… the blood on his hands… she knew then she was going to have do whatever was necessary to get away from him and she devised the plan to lull him into a false sense of security to gain freedom within the Manor… she waited until he fell asleep and sneaked out of bed to the attached garage…
Never did Serena ever think that her brother being a car thief in his youth was going to come in handy… her brother taught her all about how to hotwire a car and where the break lines were, though she still didn't completely understand why her brother had thought those necessary things for her to know…
The next day, Serena asked him if he would run to the store for her to get some groceries so she could cook up a beautiful romantic dinner, promising him some fun in the hot tub afterwards…
Immediately after he pulled out of the driveway and turned the corner, Serena had wasted no time, stopping to grab absolutely nothing and fled to the police station to report her abduction and escape… it was then that the accident that had claimed Adrian Beauchamp's life had gone over the radio of the officer taking her statement…
She was free… at least, that was her thinking for the last six months… and this talk about necromancy… Serena thought back to movies she'd seen and things her male friends into dnd talked about with their evil aligned characters…
Was that it? Necromancy? Did that mean that Adrian was undead or something? Like not even human anymore? But… how? He couldn't have raised himself, could he? Did he have an accomplice?
She felt incredibly stupid and childish for even entertaining this, but… she heard the police radio… she googled his accident, the reports stated clearly that he was dead at the scene… she even saw his obituary in the newspaper! She visited his grave too for good measure, she made sure to spit on it.
"What was that I heard? Did I just hear something in the closet? Oh me oh my, I really think I did… Hehehe, I'm coming darling… tip… toe… tip… toe… almost there now darling… hehe…"
She heard his gleeful unhinged laugh… followed by the scraping sound on her wall that she would swear sounded like a knife…
"Isn't this fun darling? We'll have to play this game again sometime soon, hehehe… I'm at the closet doors now, my darling… I'm opening the doooors, daaaarling… Are you ready?"
Eyes wide, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest, her back pressed against the back wall as far as she could… wait… didn't she have an old hunting knife of her dad's in here? She was pretty sure she stuck it in the dark green rubbermaid tub! She threw herself at the three big rubbermaid tubs she kept in the closet and tore open the darkest looking tub, searching frantically for the handle of the knife she sought.
"Ahahaha! Found you! Oh my precious darling, I mis-..."
The minute she heard his wretched voice, Serena threw herself at him, stabbing him wildly in the chest, screaming furiously as she did. She was not going to let him imprison her again!
He stumbled back and then look at her with this annoyed kind of 'are you kidding me?' kind of expression on his pale face… she looked at where the knife handle jutting out from his chest in horror… there wasn't any blood… none at all… his white shirt was stained with dirt and grass, but… no red, not even a little bit…
"Really darling? I come back to you after a horrific car accident and you welcome me by stabbing me in the chest? Oh my sweet darling… my poor silly naive sweet darling… regenerating from stab wounds… that's child's play… it's nothing… now cutting my breaklines… now that was brutal, sweetheart… that required me to send my soul immediately to my phylactery until I could fully regenerate my body…"
A smirk curved his lips as an amused chuckle escaped his lips… Serena watched in disgusted and confused terror as Adrian pulled the knife out of his body as if it didn't pain him at all to do so. He threw it aside to the other side of the room with a loud clatter against the wall.
"You should have seen the look on the graveyard keeper's face when I dug my way out of my grave… fresh as the day I went in… only, you know… not banged up from a terrible accident… hehe… oh, the fear in his eyes… the sounds he made as I strangled him to death… it really is the little things that are the most enjoyable…"
Serena's mouth opened and closed several times as she tried desperately to make sense of what was happening right now and just couldn't… and… what in the world was a phylactery? A vessel of some kind? He said he sent his soul into it…
"You look so confused, my darling… come here into my embrace… come with me over to your bed and sit on my lap… figures you'd go right back to your old home, when you thought I was dead… silly little darling…"
He reached for her and for a brief moment, she was so frightened that she forgot to fight back, not that it would do her any good anyway… when she tried pushing away from him, the strength of the grip upon her arms was inhuman, no mere man of Adrian's build could possibly before this ridiculously strong to the point that his hold on her was effortless.
Adrian pulled her over to the bed and sat down, yanking her forward onto his lap, his arms folding around her in a powerful hug. She trembled in her tongue hindering terror, she was so afraid he was going to kill her now.
"Anyway, let me clear up some of your confusion, hm? You see, my dear darling… I have dabbled in necromancy, the dark magic of the dead… for many years… a long, long time… I successfully became undead three years ago… I achieved the ultimate form of lich… all of the perks… with a flawless tangible physical form, no rotting required… although, it does take about six months to regenerate my body while my soul is stored in a special crystal vessel should my body suffer severe damage, however it's a reasonable drawback for all the perks and benefits I gain… the power, darling… oh the power… I've managed to hide it all from you thus far… for fear of overwhelming you… and perhaps if you knew… you might have gone much farther than your old home… I'm so glad you didn't… six months is a long time, darling… I've missed you so much… how about a kiss for your sweetheart?"
He leaned in to kiss her and it was then that Serena snapped out of her terrified stupor, her struggles renewing as she fought against his hold, angling her head out and away from him as far as she could "No! Let me go, you monster! Why can't you just leave me alone!"
"Ah, ah, ah… no struggling now, darling… I am so much stronger than you, as you can clearly tell… and now that you know my deep dark little secret… hehehehe… I don't have to hide it from you anymore… I'm so very happy about that, darling, truly… now, about that kiss… I really did miss my darling so very much and I would truly adore to… be intimate… with you…"
"No! Let me go! You son of a bitch, let me go!" Serena screamed, hoping if she got loud, her neighbors would hear and try again for the police.
Adrian laughed and stood up, tossing Serena down onto the bed and pinning her down there before she could try and scramble away from him.
"Oh darling… you know I love it when you play hard to get… that look of terror always turns me on… you know what… it's been six months apart… why stop at a kiss, hm?"
Serena struggled violently, desperately to no avail trying to free her arms "Get off of me, you undead freak!"
"Oh yes, struggle… you know I like that, don't you? Oh darling, I knew you still loved me… you always know just how to get me all fired up…I am going to take you… all night long…"
The following evening's television news
A lovely brunette reporter wearing a maroon pants suit stood in front of a charming gray blue house with white shutters "Good evening, ladies and gentleman, I am Francine Craigston and this in the six o'clock news… the previous evening the citizens of this beautiful neighborhood reported hearing screaming coming from the residence behind me and police discovered evidence inside of a struggle… but the resident of this home, a Miss Serena Deacon, is nowhere to be found and is reported as a missing person, a photo of Miss Deacon will be shown shortly. Our own team of investigators and researchers uncovered that six months ago, Miss Deacon reported to police that she had been held prisoner for a month by a Mister Adrian Beauchamp, she told police she cut the breaklines of his car the night before sending him out for groceries and then escaped. Adrian Beauchamp died in a horrific car accident along with another driver in a different vehicle as a result… could this perhaps have been an act of revenge from someone close to either Mr. Beauchamp or the other driver? Now then, we'll show you a photo of Miss Deacon… please, if you see her, please call authorities immediately"