Slowly, slowly, she stirred from her slumber. She yawned deeply and lifted her hand to rub the sleep from her eyes. There was a hard pull at her wrist, a few seconds of pain, and then her eyes shot open. She turned her head and a sound, more of a moan then a sigh, escaped from between her dry lips.

She relaxed back against the pillows and closed her eyes. She fell back into the hazy world between dreaming and waking. Her mind stumbled aimlessly across the images in her head. It tried to sort the files into real events and dream memories, but she wouldn't allow it.

How sweet those dreams had been. She preferred them to the harsher memories of the past evening. She hoped to drift in her mind deeper, wonder for eternity.

Something was pulling her back to her surroundings. She fought desperately to stay where she was now. Finally the struggle became too much, and she let herself be pulled back.

Wet heat against her thighs. She couldn't will herself to look. It was surely something unpleasant. Blood...or heaven forbid, urine. The thought made her try to pull away. The tug at her ankles caused another moan to escape. The wetness was gone quickly, as was the heat. Her thighs now felt stiff. She must have fallen asleep again, the blood now brown and crusty on her flesh.

A deep voice in the air around her, worming its way into her head, forcing her to hear, but not to listen. The man's voice, a droning inside her head, felt compassionate, lovely. It was a trick. She would open her eyes and she would see the terrible face of her torturer.

Intense pain. Her nipples being pulled and pinched. Was he biting her? An image of this monster's teeth sinking into her flesh, ripping the nipples from her breasts came to her mind. Tears slid from under her tightly closed lids. They slipped down her face and into her ears. Water in her ears, she was drowning. She would drown in this horrible position. She struggled against her restraints, and the humming voice returned. She steeled herself and slowly began to open her eyes. The light hurt and she squinted. She wouldn't die here, not without facing her attacker.

She opened her eyes fully. The large, looming figure lunged at her face. He covered her face with warm kisses. She realized, with great relief, that her mind had still confused things. Her Master was at her side. Her dreams had been real, her terror the true nightmare she had dreamt. He stood beside her, a candle in his hand and her heart and soul on a string.