Only Human: Before and After

Chapter 145: Geralt Emrick

Change of POV

The moment I entered my dark dream space, I searched for hers. I had visited her space so often, that it felt as familiar as my own. Initially I had to retrace my steps and focus for awhile to be able to locate her space that felt so warm and inviting. Now, I can close my eyes and just see it. Feel it. My presence in her dream space immediately called her consciousness to it, and while I remained, her consciousness could not recede back into her subconscious dreaming. The only thing that would free her from me, was waking up.

I had planned to use this to my advantage. I would probe and observe her interactions in her dream space and obtain the information she refused to share with me. It had worked at first. Despite her strong will and excessive amount of patience, some juicy tidbits had escaped. Some I couldn't make heads or tails, but others I quickly catalogued. I knew that the woman I couldn't keep out of my mind was supposedly a wild human who had come to the magical continent recently. I had my suspicions, because for a human she had an outstanding amount of will power and an angelic taste to her that originally captured my attention. I assumed her to be another human training to be an angelic host, and so I tried to corrupt her through her dreams like I had done to many promising others.

But June was different. At first, she took every dream as it was intended, but her angelic feel did not leave or lessen. I kept on the attack, but eventually she started to manipulate the dream. She conquered it. No matter how many times or how intensely I planted the dream, she played with it like clay. She even dared to be bored of doing so at one point. I admit my frustration got the best of me, and I stormed into her dream space planning to threaten and scare her into submission. Just one glance at my face and every angelic host or host-to-be would be shaking, but she had no fear of me. When I revealed myself, she had no recognition of who I was. She wasn't a host in training or a full-fledged host. She would have known me if she were. Whether by face or name.

Initially I found it amusing. A human with so much potential that the angels were completely clueless about. She was bitter towards vampires and spat back like an angry cat when we first met. It was apparent that she was a vampire's slave in the waking world, and that it frustrated her to no end. Intrigued by how a battered and naïve human like her had such an angelic sense about her, I wanted to question her. But my curiosity swiftly changed when I noticed that this human woman was not only not afraid of me, but attracted to me.

No woman had ever been attracted to me. Maybe my power or my influence, but not me. I was a vampiric monster to even other vampires. I had an untold amount of demonic power at my disposal to where my very touch practically melted any After Realm being who received it. With one word I could have the entirety of the demon horde searching to tear you apart. That said my lack of lovers did not bother me. I was busy. I had a purpose. From the time I could walk I was set on the demons' path. I was taught all the ways to torture and manipulate what I wanted out of people by the time I could talk. I sat in on tactician meetings and councils by the time I was out of nappies. My every breath was dedicated to helping the demons win this drawn out war with the annoyingly persistent angels. The sooner the demons won, the sooner I would earn my rightful place as ruler of the After Realm. Maybe then I could play around with the notion of dating.

This surprising human woman did not know this. So she witlessly fell for my charm. Her eyes settled on me longer than necessary, and her cheeks were quick to grow red. Her heart raced when I gave her a look, and her breath caught whenever I brushed against her. I could smell her arousal, and I had to admit that I adored the attention. She herself was a refreshing sight. Her hour-glass shape, large inquisitive eyes, and playfully short auburn hair were pleasant and enticing. She was witty and fearless. Even with how she referenced the waking world she seemed balanced in the most daunting of situations.