MANIPULATED Book A (Sequel to Tempted)

16. Ask And You Shall Recieve

He takes you inside the cold, dark castle and just within a couple steps, you already get a chill.

Your and his shadows stretch across the tiled floor in front of the doorway, letting red light flow into the large open space and give the area around you a red hue.

The interior is old, you can tell from the chipped stone and musty air, but there's something about it that's enchanting.

"Let's go to my office..." Dark says in his usual deep tone. "I'm sure you have many questions."

"You're sure as shit I do."

"And I will do everything I can to answer them."

You frown. "You'd better."

He keeps his calm and monotone state and gestures with his hand towards a hall. "Let us head this way." Then he takes the lead and you walk three paces behind him.

He takes you through the seemingly endless halls, twisting and turning around corners. Usually, you would be annoyed, but the sights you see are surprisingly breathtaking. A strip of red carpet follows the path and branches out to each new hall. You pass a multiple doors, some double and some single, all a black wood. Then in some halls there are tall windows that reach the ceiling that look out into the red world, still continuing to give a red shine to the back stone walls.

The lighting overall is dim, but you are still able to see very shape and color. Every other space between a doorway holds a torch or candle, plus there are black chandeliers hanging from the carved ceilings between pillars.

The architecture is astounding, and very strangely, comforting.

Dark brings you into a long room. It must be his office because inside is a desk and the walls are lined with bookshelves. Behind the desk against one of the walls is a fireplace with a carpet and sofas. At the end of the room on the smallest wall is a tall window that brightens up the room in red.

You hate to admit, but it's cozy.

"Take a seat." He gestures to the black leather couches. "We shall chat here."

You do so in the seat as far away from him as possible.

"May I offer you some tea?"

"I just want to know the truth."

He nods, but somehow a with a flick of his wrist he summons a cup of a steaming liquid next to you on a table. He hold one in his hands as well. "It is Black Rose Tea. Made from the rose pedals of black roses that are grown here in this very castle's garden. It soothes the nerves and returns the body to a relaxed state. I use it very often myself when I am upset, but at times I use it just to acquire the taste, for it is quite enjoyable."

You eye the black tea with curiosity. Then you take it in your hands and bring it to your lips.

The tea is the perfect temperature, and it automatically soothes your throat and warms your skin. The scent of bitterness fills your nose from the steam, but the taste is completely different. More sweet with a hint of bitter. Bittersweet is the only thing you can think of to describe it. You already feel the effect it has on you. You feel less uptight, and you loosen your muscles you didn't notice were tensed before. You feel like you can breathe again.

"Okay..." You start as you take a breath. "Tell me everything you know. What did Anti want to do to me?"

"Let me start by explaining his goal. Antisepticeye doesn't like the idea of me ruling over him, correct? So to prevent that from happening, he must be the one to take the power."

"Yeah, I got that."

He exhales and his eyes narrow at your interruption. "If you know all this then I shall skip ahead. You are a part of him, and he is a part of you. He is using you for power."

"That's not-"

"'True?' Try again. He brought you here for a reason and you agreed to it. He is stronger with you here with him and so he is using it to his advantage. Has any of this been a lie so far?"

You respond softly, "No."

"I continue: Antisepticeye needs you here for his own strength and power. So, he had planned to keep you here."

Keep you here? As in forever?

"Keep me here?"

"He wanted no part of human to remain inside of you. The surgury he wanted the doctor to perform would remove the human aspect of your soul, so that you would be prevented from ever being sent back to your world. And you should know that without both a human and nonhuman soul, you can't travel between worlds. You would be trapped here with him, and he would constantly be at his full power. Once the human soul is removed, it can not be put back."

Why is this something Anti would do?

"As you may know, I am a being that has two souls merged into one body. Antisepticeye wanted to do a similar thing. He originally wanted to remove the demon part of your soul and merge it with his own. That way he could be as far away from you as he needed and still be at full power. But he can't. That's just the way he was created and that's how he is. So, he decided to remove the disposable part of your soul: the human one."

You can't ponder this so you let him keep speaking.

"Back in the woods, you escaped just in time."

"You saved me from him."

"Indeed," He sips from his tea cup, then puts it down. "But unfortunately now, Anti knows you are here."

Your stomach drops. "How?"

"You are still connected to him. You still have a piece of his soul within you because he never got the chance to remove it. He can still feel those violent and extreme feelings within you. And he will want to come running to you, correct?"

"But I haven't felt anything... At least not in the way you described. Nothing... Extreme."

He smirks a little that sends a chill throughout the room. Suddenly this place doesn't seem so cozy.

"You will once I tell you one last truth: I can not become king when I have captured the other's soul." He looks dead into your eyes, unmoving and unnaturally still. He wants to catch your every reaction to his next words. "Likewise, I become king when my enemy's soul has been killed."

You can't feel your body's presence.

"You are a foolish girl, (y/n)."

There is no warmth in the room anymore.

"You have fallen right into my trap, and now he is coming right to me. And this will all be over... Very soon..."

The cup in your hands emanates a black smoke, a tangible substance that wraps around your body, plugging every hole in you preventing your breath. It inserts itself into your ears and eyes and into your mouth, slithering down your throat and making you gag. You struggle against but, but it has wrapped around your body so tight, you can't move. Your vision becomes foggy and everything becomes shapes being drowned in darkness.

Dark then snaps his fingers and you go unconscious.

A/N

VOTD
(vine of the day)

ChRIs! Is ThaT a WeEd!?!?!?

no it's a cray-

Im CaLlInG ThE PoLiCE

*beep beep beep*
911 what's your emergency?