Around me various curios, statues, glittering gold, red hues…

It’s the backroom of a shop I occasionally visited, Mr. Chan’s antique store…

The old man, Mr. Chan, sits before me.

The smell of incense is in the air…sounds of traffic near by.

I’m…   I’m…  Where am I?

The old man, wait, I know him…

“Mr. Chan?”

I can’t quite understand him.  Kinda fuzzy.

I hear birds…can’t see anything…a little now…a bit more in focus…

“Ah! It seems you aren’t in the cemetery just yet young one!”

Did I die?  Is this death?…

I’m still aware of myself, I guess that’s a good thing.  Though I can’t see or feel my arms, or any of my body for that matter.  Not good…

The pain is gone.

If I’m dead, is this heaven?  Is this hell?

…the growing anxiety of fear.

“Too long, too long have I waited to draw forth a life with this most ancient of artifacts,” Lilly rambles to herself, or at me, I’m loosing track.

“Wait!  Stop!  Don’t!  What!?!?”, I find myself pleading even though this has got to be a dream.

Isn’t it?

She straddles me.  The stone arrowhead draws across my chest, splitting the skin.

For a moment I wait to open my eyes and find I’m laying in bed, gotta get up for work in a few hours.  But instead, I feel pain.  Pain unlike that which I’ve ever felt before…  My chest, my insides, burning as she slashes away at me.  I smell blood.  I can even see steam rising…

I have become nothing more than an unwilling observer of my own death.

“Who are you?”

She pulls back and for the first time I can see she’s dressed like one of those geisha from the samurai movies. Incense is burning somewhere.

“I am Lilly”, her voice…a soft whisper. But as she continues, it grows louder, more firm, into that of a teacher lecturing a student…

“It has been so long. So many years have past. Everything has changed! I remember when you first began to build this city upwards…now look at it!”, her thoughts flow quickly from one to another, “But now it’s all over! My time has come again…oh, how I have waited! And what fun we are going to have…”, she lets her voice drift.

“Bring it to me,” she orders to another in the room.

“H…h…here it is, m…m..my lady,” responds the laughing man who I can see for the first time as he steps closer, handing something to Lilly. He is a small creature, human, but fitting of being called a creature. Wrinkled skin, unkempt hair…he walks with a limp. However, he is well dressed in a black suit with red tie.

Taking the object, Lilly again approaches me. Her gaze fixated with mine. But her eyes…no longer are they a gray blue, but instead, completely white!

How long was I blindfolded? Everything’s hazy, out of focus. Blink. Shapes begin to take form, recognizable objects. Bodies. A face…a woman’s face…

“Well now, isn’t that better?” she slyly remarks.

I try to speak but cannot find the words.  My mind has become blank to all but this woman hovering over me. She…she’s stunningly beautiful!  I cannot begin to describe how captivating, how unlike any other woman she appears. Long, thick flowing black hair.  Her youth shows in her milk white and flawless skin.  Lips…they’re the color of a cold blue ocean. Eyes…I can’t look away from her eyes! The reality of my current predicament is fading into the background…

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

Her words shock me back…

I manage to force out a single sound… “Who?”

The shriek startles me.  A woman’s voice.  Deep, rough, ear splitting, but still a woman’s voice. 

“Y…y…yes, my mistress”

It sounds like the laughing man, but only weaker, more humble…obedient.  The sharp object is no longer at my throat. 

“Is this the one from the club?”

“A…a…as you requested,” the laughing man stutters, “H…h…he’s been bathed a…a…and prepared.”

I wriggle and can feel the rope against my bare skin.  My jeans, shirt, all my clothing is gone.  But, I have no time to  ponder that mystery…  She speaks again.  Closer.  Nearer.  She sounds different…sultrier.  More…feminine. 

I feel the heat of her breath along side my face.

“Now, let us remove this blindfold.”

What happened? Think. Well, that would be easier if it wasn’t for this
splitting headache. Start there… Someone hit me. From behind. I was
on 14th and… I remember the shock of the blow, the pain. Now this.

Laughing.

“Hello? Who are you? What do you want?…Damn it, let me go!!!”

Foot steps coming closer. A scraping sound.

Something is being pressed into my throat. Cold, hard, sharp. I feel
it’s edge…  You know how I thought this can’t be good, well, this
REALLY can’t be good.