The moon was half hidden beyond light cloud cover over shokushu and there was a light, almost misty rain falling making everything shine and seem like something out of a dream. Most of the students were either either asleep or heading that way looki

For once in her life, Anne was among them. After a hard days study covering more information that she thought she would ever need, and a PE lesson where she was forced around that track so often she felt she would pass out from exhaustion Anne was frankly glad to be going to bed.

"Besides" She thought "Its a day off tommorrow! I don't have to do anything and can sleep in!"

Stripping off her school uniform and folding it neatly away Anne took a quick look at her underware clad self in the mirror by the focusing in on her own huge green luminous eyes.

As she starred suddenly it felt like it was the mirror looking back at her...

With a start she jumped, shook her head to clear it and finished stipping off her bra and panties and putting on her soft flannel pyjamas, quietly padded to her bed and climbed in, tucking the covers tightly around herself.

As she snuggled up to herself under the covers, shut her eyes and let sleep take her, her last thought was "I wonder why we dream"

A barely audible groan escaped the student's lips as she was finally permitted to rest, freed from Lujuria's sadistic needs to satisfy himself. Her naked form, slick with perspiration, settled over the bed that had seen much use in recent times even as her roommate was in a similar state, slumped against the wall, already unconscious.

And of the man of the hour himself, Lujuria was already dressed and quite energetic once again, all of the strenuous activities doing very little to put a dent in his stamina and exuberance. Casting his gaze back at his partners, the monster grinned mockingly at them. "Thanks for the fun, brats. Still not enough but it'll do." His attention elsewhere now, the two were already forgotten by him as he sought out yet another prey, his appetite compelling him to satisfy him yet again. In times like these, he could no longer remember how he was any different from his avaricious brother. Well, barely remember, really.

Chuckling softly at the hazy memories of his former existence, Lujuria's gaze turned to a mirror, and without any further need to remain, the monster stepped through, disappearing from the room. What was it he had heard before?

Mirrors were but doors to other worlds.

That had been his father, the Marquis, who had said it. The memory only annoyed him. Moving from mirror to mirror, the monster peered out at different images. Some, empty rooms. Others, filled with girls up late, chatting happily together. Yet more, of students hitting the books rather late or already fast asleep.

Then, he came upon a most interesting sight, that of a green-eyed student standing in front of the mirror, staring at herself.

Given that he couldn't be seen in the mirror, not by these humans at least, Lujuria smirked as he gave her a look over, admiring the sight. And then, that came to an end as the girl gave a slight jump and began getting into her pajamas. Amused by this, the monster thought briefly at how these people were so give to paranoia and fear of the unknown and the unseen.

Once she was in bed and under her covers, eyes closed and settling into a peaceful sleep, the monster stepped through, bringing himself back into the world once again, anticipating the fun he would have soon. Already savoring the thoughts of tormenting this girl as he had so many others, Lujuria approached her. She was already fast asleep, from the look of things, and he found himself pondering just whenever she might be dreaming or not. And that thought gave rise to something interesting for him to ruminate on.

His hand reaching out to touch the female, the monster watched as his fingers made contact with the girl's body, his powers reaching out to touch her mind, to mingle with her thoughts, to see just what it was, if any, that she was dreaming about.

And more than anything, his powers would ensure that she remained asleep, unable to awake without his permission. This would certainly be fun, he could already tell. It always ended up being fun, but this promised to be more so than the usual.

As Anne ran through the corridor chasing a orb of light she rounded a corner, her feet clad only in stockings working fast to maintain some sort of balance as she slid on the polished wood floor - fingers lightly touching the wall as she picked up pace again gaining on the dancing orb.

"C'mere!" she called with a breathless smile as she ran, feeling like she could run for hours.

Anne was having a blast - this was the 3rd glowing ball she had chased so far in these gorgeous wooden clad corridors - running past doors some open and from what she saw as she ran a mixture of old desks, pictures and seats all sitting around like they belonged. She had run past a long series of high windows earlier where the moon had cast its light over the entire hall as she flew through it giving everything a silvery glow. The hall had desks neatly pushed into the sides which were in turn panelled with well polished and worn oak. Although the entire place felt deserted it also felt like she should be here and that all was well in the world.

Skidding around another corner she passed a long length mirror which she caught a glance of herself as she ran. She was wearing a short one peice dress which was made of pure silk and its colour matched her eyes - a pure green that shone when the moonlight caught it. The dress's straps looped gently over her shoulders were just wide enough not to cut into her shoulders and the skirt itself was fitted perfectly to her, not impeding her in any way as she ran. Her breasts were also being held quite naturally without needing a bra as the bust prevented them from moving around too much instead just gently supporting where they naturally stood. All in all a perfect dress. The stockings she wore were clipped firmly in place and she was enjoying the sensation of sliding around the corners in them. At some point her hair had freed itself from its bun and was now streaming out behind her.

As she closed on the orb it stopped suddenly causing her to go skidding past it before doing a little loop-the-loop in victory as Anne crashed into a large highbacked chair upholstered in red leather. The orb wiggled a little in mid air almost taunting her and as Anne picked herself back up completely undamaged it shot off the way she had just come from.

"i'm going to get you!" Anne called happilly - knowing that she would eventually, and then all would be right with the world - Until of course she let it go and chased another one.

A most strange sensation, being the guest in someone else's mind when he had played the charming host to so many within his own. No, this time the monster experienced something new, a most curious feeling indeed. This time, he was the guest. This time, he wasn't playing with the home advantage. This time, he was the invader, and he discovered that this was something he rather enjoyed being portrayed as.

It made things more interesting, which was a good thing as boredom was beginning to grow into a real beast of a problem. If there was ever a problem with being, in a certain regard, all-powerful, it was that things tend to grow dull far too quick.

All the same, it also had an advantage in the fact that finding new things to do was relatively easy. Still sporting his smug smirk, Lujuria finally broke through into the dream realm, which too felt curiously similar to some of his powers. There certainly had to be a reason for that but at this point, the monster couldn't be bothered to find out. Not when he had a student to fuck with.

Already accustomed to moving around in a world like this, the monster was already off, hunting down the student. After all, if he was the invader this time, might as well act like it. Though, it would be prudent to be careful, as even Lujuria was not entirely sure as to what would occur once his powers began messing with the girl's dreams. In his own head, it had always been safe for him as he was forever anchored to himself. In another's mind, there was only the unknown.

If anything, the unknown could be unsettling even to a monster like Lujuria, the thought slightly disturbing to him as he scanned around the corridor and what open doors there were, seeing only peculiar things and absolutely no one at all.

It was at this point that he could see something approaching his way, something that looked very much to be like... A glowing sphere of light, flying around under its own power. If he hadn't been aware that this was only but a dream, it would have certainly seemed strange to him. Not wanting to mess with the dream just yet, the monster faded away, allowing the ball to go on unhindered.

Anne leapt! Her outstretched fingers touching the orb as it flew, her fingers flowing through the light it emitted like it was a tangible thing as her body stretched through the air, hands closed around it, before pulling it close to her bosum as she landed and slid for a few meters.

As she sat up she gently opened her closed hand watching the orb sit there bobbing happilly around in her palms looking as happy as Anne felt. With a grin she brought it up to her lips and gave it a little kiss, which caused it to made long soft chime that echoed around the room, filling it with a pure noise that gave a simple peace to all who heard it. As the chime began to fade The orb leapt from her hands and started spinning around her, picking up speed faster and faster as she watched laughing like she was 5 again being entertained by a new shiny toy until it shot upwards to the ceiling.

Just before it impacted Anne felt a minute tremor run through the entire building not unlike a earthquake shock from many miles away. Nothing serious but just like the land on which she sat shifted slightly to correct itself. As the tremor ran through her she saw the Orb burst into multiple different shards which rained around her like fresh christmas snow, dusting her with glowing motes of light. After a few short seconds they faded from her leaving her sat in darkness, the only light shining in from the door which was just enough to illuminate the room to see that is looked like a old style office complete with desks and a picture of a elderly lady with a kindly smile and long grey hair tied in a bun and peircing grey eyes that seemed to laugh. As she took her eyes from the picture, she saw that the room had suddenly brightened again there was a new light bouncing around the door daring her to chase it.

With a cry of joy she started running after the new one that shot off through 2 new rooms that she hadn't been in before and down a long corridor. As her feet pumped on the smooth surface trying to gain as much speed as she could something flickered at the edge of her vision causing her to glance to her left, her eyes locking for the briefest fraction of a second with... something in the air before she was past it and her vision was again full of the orb. Dismissing whatever she saw from her mind she dashed onwards although she didn't feel /quite/ as full of happiness as she did a moment ago.

From what he understood, human dreams were so chaotic and random, literally allowing for anything to happen as they slept in such a state where even the most unrealistic of eventualities would appear realistic to the subconscious mind. As far as he was concerned, it was just further proof of their inferiority compared to superior beings such as, say, himself.

Narcissism alive and well in him, Lujuria watched as the student took off after the glowing orb, huffing at such a simplistic dream. Following her, the monster watched as the girl kept on interacting with her dream. It was quickly getting boring, naturally, for someone like him. Thus, it was then that Lujuria smiled his usual smug and sadistic smirk, deciding that the time had come for him to... lend a hand.

His powers spreading through the dream until he had a firm hold on the student's subconscious mind, further ensuring that she could not, would not, awake from her dreams without his permission, the monster smiled as he stared at the girl's back. 'Dreams are boring, little one. Let's see how you like this...'

Yes, a nightmare would be a good way to begin things off.

The ball of light began to slow down as she was chasing it, growing weaker and weaker until it faded away, leaving her in an almost total darkness. Whenever it was the effects of Lujuria's powers washing over her or a premonition of the things yet to come, a shiver wormed its way up the girl's back as the wooden walls began to creak and groan...

Suddenly, a heavy thud could be heard from ahead, where the student had been running down toward, as cobwebs of gleaming red-orange light began to spread across the floor, as if they were slowly shattering under some unknown pressure, followed by another foreboding thud.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud! Thud! Thud!

The shadowy outline of a man began to come into view, though it appeared all wrong. For if the outline were measured against the student's own height, then the man was not a man, but rather a giant of a man, thickly muscled. Another thud brought the giant even closer, and things became clearer.

The man appeared to be wearing only a butcher's apron, stained with brown and well-worn, almost ragged. Beyond that, there was only a cowl around his head, obstructing the man's visage from sight. More than that, it was as if there was naught but total darkness in the cowl, drinking in all light. Other than these pieces of clothing, the being wore nothing else, nothing to cover the fact that it looked very much like blood splattered across his body, along with a massive blade in his hand.

And the thing suddenly growled at Anne, a hand stretching out to catch her as she had sought to catch the balls of light, another step bringing him even closer to the student as it roared at her, as if to try and frighten her into fearful submission....

'This is gonna be good!'

Something was wrong.

Anne felt a tingle run straight up her spine as she ran causing her to slide to a stop. Her head swayed from side to side as she looked around as the orb she had been chasing faded to nothing leaving her world in complete darkness.

*Thud*

Something was Very Wrong indeed...

*Thud*

Light started to re-appear in front of her as cracks of blazing orange light started to form in front of her, spreading out towards her slowly.

*Thud*

The walls shuddered again and the spiderweb of cracks started to accelerate rapidly towards her, causing Anne to take a step back.

*Thud* *THUD!* *THUD!*

Each one casuing her to take a further step back against the spreading cracks in the ground. "This isn't right" Anne said out loud, her voice containing a slight tremble "This cannot be right!"

She could see the cracks and she could feel the pure oppression from it bearing down on her making her tremble, not just from the impacts of the house.

Her eyes could see everything that was happening, but at the same time she could almost still see the house around her even thought it was still pitch dark except for the hell-like glow given off in front of her, the images superimposed over her vision like the afterglare from a lighting bolt.

*THUD!*

With the last thud an outline of a bearlike man appeared in front of her. Horrifying in its dimensions and appearance Anne took a involuntary step back, its mask, and its bear like arms reeking of death and danger, the orange lighting from the cracks in the floor giving it a even more fearsome aspect that added to the oppresive darkness surrounding her just made her want to curl into a ball and cry

As Anne took another step back the man roared a deep, bone chilling sound, its hand reaching towards her. She took one further step backwards and ran.

As she ran down the corridor in pitch darkness the oppressive fear from that room left behind leaving just almost a echo of it. As she ran, effortlessly navigating a couple of rooms aided by those strange after-images burned into her eyes her mind started trying to figure out what had happened, as the sense of wrong-ness she had felt a moment ago hadn't lessened. She took another sharp turn into another room, as dark as the ones before and slid to a stop turning and looking around, her breathing rapidly returning to normal.

While the room she now stood was pitch dark she could still "see" the doors and broad outline of the room glowing faintly in her minds eye. Moving a hand in front of her face the images didn't dissapear at all and she most definately couldn't see her hand! She could most definately /feel/ the vast presence of that.. thing moving slowly towards her but the danger she felt had diminished almost like it was centred on that area, and she had outpaced it, just as the orbs had occasionally outpaced her earlier

With a start she realised that if she was the orb then she was far from safe and the game had turned. Uncertaintly swept over her as she stood there, part of her wanting to run, but part of her wanting to fight.. fight against this invader in her own house, fight against this.. this wrongness! It shouldn't be here!

Anne blinked. "Where had /that/ thought come from?" she wondered shaking her head as if to clear it. Standing still for a few more moments she collected herself before taking a step forward, looking around at the darkness but still not seeing anything, but somehow knowing she wasn't alone, and the feeling of oppression still hung wisp like around her like the tattered shroud of one long dead.

Lujuria watched in pleasure as the girl, his chosen prey, took off in fear from the monster he had forged out of nothingness. It was merely the beginning, truly. For before the night was over, he would take the silly girl and force her face into the horrors he would unleash upon her. The monster he had crafted was merely the first of many, and certainly not the most frightening of all...

After all, what was yet to come would be nothing less than the very stuff of nightmares... 'Run away, little girl. Flee all you want. But you'll find no escape. No, not when you're a prisoner in your own body, your mind hostage to my will...'

Thud!

The giant did not allow the girl to flee so easily, already lumbering toward her, its monstrous weapon dragged behind, the rusted metal scraping loudly against the cracked floor. The cracks only continued to serve to cast the being in an intimidating light, still spreading outward. As if it were an infection, the cracks began to spread across the walls too, breaking everything the student had dream up and paving the way for the true nightmare.

Thud!

Great as its strides were, the girl was still faster than the giant and was easily capable of outpacing him, as long as adrenaline and fear coursed throughout her body.

Thud!

Already, the heavy footfalls of the giant grew weaker, as if distance was placed between the two at an extraordinary rate, and why not? It was still her dream, infected by his powers as it may be...

In time, silence fell upon the hallway, still untouched by the darkness of Lujuria. Only for the moment, unfortunately. Ahead of Anne, another sound could be heard. The sound of something solid banging against the walls lightly.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Even despite the darkness, the outlines of another being could be seen, one far more slender than the muscular giant. In fact, it appeared very much to be just a young man, dressed in casual clothes, with a hood over his head.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

In no time, the newcomer closed in the distance between the two, not at all intimidating. In his hand, a baseball bat banged against the wall, as if out of dreary boredom. Despite the horror that she had escaped, this one appeared relatively innocen-

Tap. Tap. Ta-

The man stopped. His head lifted up to look at Anne. Where there should have eyes, there was only bloody gaping holes, bereft of their orbs, and yet... there was the sensation of being stared at. Hungrily so. And below them laid a mouth missing its lips, leaving only a bloody mouth bared at Anne, teeth filed down to sharp points and stained with red.

The bat no longer made noises.

The man could be seen more clearly now, and his clothes was, horrifyingly enough, soaked in dark crimson, and heavily tussled with as if he had been in fights. Worse yet, the baseball bat was not only painted in blood but sported numerous spikes and nails and razors, truly a deadly weapon.

Then the macabre visage smiled, teeth pulled into a terrifying grin before speaking. And when he spoke, it was in no human voice, every word rattling in his throat in such a manner as to send shivers up the back of even the bravest soul. With every word, the insidious being took a step closer to Anne, bat now banging against the wall harder and harder...

"One, two, lock your doors! Three, four, Keep them windows shut! Five, six, pray and pray real hard! Seven, eight, better hope you live! Nine, ten, BECAUSE I'VE FOUND ME A NEW PLAYMATE!"

As Anne stood there the moon came back as if an obscuring cloud had moved, its light shining through the windows and lighting the room again. The additional light was like a soothing balm to her nerves and that strange afterimage in her mind dissolved as the moonlight touched it. As she stood there in peace for a few moments she took a long breath in, still feeling the oppression but greatful for the few moments of respite.

Tap.

Anne paused with the first Tap, her eyes focusing on the sourse of the noise trying to identify what was causing it. It seemed to be a hooded... man? So where was the tapping coming from...?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

With each tap the man came a little closer. After the previous hooded monstrosity that Annes mind had conjoured up she really wasn't in a trusting frame of mind and she felt her heart start to pound again as adrenaline started to creep back into her system.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The bat... the bat that is... "Ohhhh" Anne moaned softly, forlornly as she realised that the bat was a weapon... the moonlight showing off gleaming objects embedded in its wood.

Tap. Tap. Ta-

The figure stopped, and the tapping stopped as he looked at her through gaping holes that seemed to be his eyes, its mouth opening showing a row of pointed, red stained teeth as it inhaled a breath that should never have been taken in this, or any world

Anne had seen enough. Her feet slid slightly as she turned and ran again, her feet light on the ground

"One, two, lock your doors!"

She rounded her first corner and lost sight of it. The words came with a rattle that sounded like it was from beyond the grave causing Annes spine to almost clench in fear.

"Three, four, Keep them windows shut!"

She made it half way down the corrior before she saw him round the corner after her, that tooth-laden smile splitting his face in two causing Annes breath to catch for a second.

Five, six, pray and pray real hard! Seven, eight, better hope you live!

She rounded another corner, her feet finding perfect purchase on the smooth ground as she ran.

Nine, ten, BECAUSE I'VE FOUND ME A NEW PLAYMATE!"

With that last shout Anne screamed. The scream was torn from her throat reverberating off the walls and windows sounding for all things like a banshee had also joined in the fun. As she scremed her fear transformed for a split second into anger. Pure, undiluted rage. As her feet still lightly ran her hand brushed over one of the chairs that were against the wall. This one being a light looking thing upholstered in a green faded leather, its low back holding some sort of emboss on it.

As she screamed her hand ran over the emboss, gaining a grip on the top of the chair and as she gripped the chair her feet stopped finding a purchase on the ground, her toes spread wide and she turned, pirouetting perfectly, back of the chair in her hand. As she completed, the turn she released the chair and it flew end over end down the hall directly at where the creature would be coming around the corner, The chair flying straight and true as if propelled by the scream which was still echoing from the walls.

As Anne watched the chair fly and heard the scream, her green eyes wide, part of her blazed with righteous anger, while the other part was shocked and almost scared more with herself than what was going on.

'Now, this is a real show!' Lujuria watched as the macabre figure chased after Anne, following suit as if he were floating through the air, much like the dream being the water in which he swam through. And he was the shark, naturally. A psychotic, narcissistic, sex-addicted shark, yes but all the same...

But then suddenly, the monster he had created suddenly slammed into the wall even as he had turned the corner, thrown aside by what appeared to be a chair. A green leather chair, evidently. Which had broken apart into pieces.

And of the monster, the damnable thing was on the floor now, crumpled up into an heap, wher-

Thwack!

... Where the spiked bat had finally come back down from being spun around randomly, lodging itself into its wielder's skull. Rather painfully, if the man could even feel.

'.... How amusing.' Lujuria smirked as he snapped his fingers again, bringing the creature back to life again.

Groaning loudly, the monster pushed itself back into an upright position, got back to his feet. With what sounded to be a rather annoyed grunt, he then wrapped his hands onto the bat and wedged it off. It certainly came off.

Along with the fucking head.

The ceiling suddenly painted in blood as it spurted in a violent geyser from his neck, the man nonchalantly rubbed the back of his neck as if it had been nothing troublesome. Only to discover that he no longer had a head. His free hand felt around the bloody stump for the missing head when-

"Oi! Over here!"

Bringing the bat up into view, there was clearly the head, still stuck onto the end of the weapon, grinning. "Guess I didn't have a good head on my shoulders! But no matter!"

The 'body' shrugged as it began walking toward Anne again, its free hand grabbing onto the head and ripping it away from the bat, the 'head' appearing in quite a bad state as it had its skull nearly fractured open and was even missing bits and pieces of its hair and flesh, which hung on the spiked bat.

"Now... WHADDYA SAY WE SPLIT YOUR HEAD OPEN TOO?!"

Anne was exultant. Her eyes were bright as she watched her chair fly through the air, a triphumant grin spread over her face. The thing rounded the corner just in time for the chair to meet its face, smashing it off its feet and slamming it into the wall, its bat arching overhead to land squarely on the dead things head making a dull wet sound that sounded horrifyingly sickening in the sudden silence after the peircing note of the scream and the thunderous noise of the impacting chair as it smashed.

As she watched the last few bits of the chair finish sliding across the floor, the last echos of the scream finished reverberating around Anne suddenly felt tired. Her heart slowed and she took a shuddering breath before standing up straight eying her handwork.

"What?" She said softly to herself, from the empty space where the chair had stood, to her hands, to the bloody mess of chair and body against the wall. She thought of how she felt as she threw the chair... Powerful. Strong. Righteous. But at the same time it scared her, that she was capable of something like that.

Annes thoughts stopped and her eyes widened in alarm as she looked at the body... that was moving.

As Anne watched the thing grasped the bat that was lodged into its head and there was suddenly a sickening tearing noise like someone tearing a rich bloody steak in two with their bare hands and she saw a fountain of blood majestically rise from the stump of the neck spraying over the wall and the ceiling, the fountain of blood seemingly moving in slow motion lit by the moon giving it a ethreal appearance, almost like it was the blood had silver in it.

"Oi! Over here!"

"Guess I didn't have a good head on my shoulders! But no matter!"

The thing started to find its feet while the head smirked at her

"Now... WHADDYA SAY WE SPLIT YOUR HEAD OPEN TOO?!"

Anne turned and ran.

As she ran she felt the fear of the situation worried the edges of her mind. "How can you stop what is already dead?" it almost mocked her.

Rounding another corner she sidestepped through a door pushing it shut behind her, her eyes scanning the room for anything she could use.

There was an exit the other side, a old light fitting, a unlit fire in the corner and just like in most of the rooms a old desk with a large leather-backed chair. Looking briefly over the desk she saw a letter opener on it. Picking up the letter opener she let out a bark of laughter, thinking of that horror movie she saw back when she was younger. Her, the heroic heroine standing guard against the hordes of the ravening undeadwith a letter opener.

Her smile faded as she contemplated the small peice of metal and wood in her hand, wondering what she could... or even should do next.

"I'm in trouble" she thought to herself. "And this is still wrong."

As wrong as all of it might have felt to the student, there was little she could do about it. Indeed, as long as the monster's powers held sway in her dream, it would be a nightmare without escape, without respite.

Moving through the wall as if he were naught but a ghost, Lujuria smiled as he was met with the sight of Anne clutching a letter opener in her hands. Such a meager weapon to strike down the horror he had unleashed. Still, there was the matter of how his creation had been struck down by a chair. Even if it was a dream, he did not expect the student to lash out that much.

He had simply expected the silly girl to be filled with fear and terror, to be concerned with only fleeing and staying ahead of the 'monsters'. After all, he had come for the thrill of the hunt, and if his creations were being battered aside so easily...

Well, that was just no fun at all!

Silence permeated the girl's immediate surroundings. No heavy footfalls of giants nor the persistently consistent tapping of violent baseball bat-wielding psychopaths came to alert her to such dangers. Instead, she was confronted only by the fog of war, cloaking the known dangers in an impenetrable shroud of the unknown, giving them permission to move beyond her knowledge and lurk within the darkness from where they could once more spring up from...

Even then, there were other horrors to confront. There would always be others. And already, they lurked within the room, merely waiting for the opportunity to strike. Until then, Anne was left with a silent room.

The only thing that was wrong was the fact the silence was standing out far too much, eerily so. It was the silence that came with the moment when others ceased what they were doing and merely stared at the newcomer. She was most certainly not alone.

Far from it.

As Anne stood there she listened for tapping, or battering at the door, or anything to signify that she was under attack again she clutched her letter opener causing her knuckles to whiten. Somehow it was a comfort in her hand even though it would have had no effect on anything except possibly an agrivated envelope.

As she listened in the darkness, she could feel her heart thudding away in her chest. Solid. Comforting. She could hear her breath as it escaped her breast. But that was it. No tapping. No screams. No threats. Nothing. In many ways this was worse than that hollow tapping from earlier, or the bone jarring Thuds.

But she wasn't alone. She /knew/ it. She could still feel that feeling of oppression still, and it felt close to her. As she stood there she listened trying to pick out anything. Any sound, noise or any movement she felt that feeling intensify, almost like there was a hand closing in around her slowly eliminating the world around her leaving her isolated from everything and everyone. As she stood there in the darkness and the silence the last remaining light from under the door faded leaving her in pitch darkness.

As she looked around at the darkened room, her breathing started to come faster as anxiety set in. She could hear her heart beating, each beat sounded louder to her ears almost like the darkness was amplifying the sound. Her mind started to conjour up horrors around her. That ogre of a man standing outside waiting for her to run. That hooded thing standing in front of her grining... Taking a step backwards she clutched her little letter opener and started to feverently wish for some light.

As if in answer to her thoughts suddenly there was a dull WHOOMPH! in the fireplace as the fire roared suddenly into life causing Anne to jump. "EEP!" she emitted as she whirled around. The fire caught like someone had poured petrol on it and thrown in a match and in seconds the fire was blazing happilly to itself.

As she took a step towards it she felt the wamth of the fire envelop her, giving her a safe harbour against the gloom, the snap and crackle of the burning logs eliminating that oppressive feel to the silence as quickly as it had desended. As Anne turned back around to the room she looked around and saw her shadow lengthen across the room its long form seemingly dancing to the snap and crackle of the fire behind her while the rest of the room was bathed in a warm glow driving the darkness back and reflecting off the old wood panelling.

However, the feeling that she wasn't alone hadn't gone and no matter how she looked she couldn't see anything. Forgetting for the moment about the strangeness of the sudden fire she tightened her grip on the letter opener, her eyes scanning the room, trying to see what she could feel was there.

Lujuria grinned as he watched what had occurred, the girl yet again compelling things to happen outside what designs he had crafted against her, the sight of her conjuring a fire merely by wishing for it. Given that he was inside her mind, a connection being formed merely by touching her, it should have been no surprise that he could 'see' her subconscious mind, 'hear' her thoughts. It was an advantage that he had enjoyed quite a bit.

Though the act of summoning a fire, when it had been unplanned for by him, reminded him that he was in her mind instead of her being inside his. He could tell that there were risks involved. Not many were capable of it but there were those who could manage what they dreamed about, through lucid dreaming. Already, he could see how that could be a potent weapon against him. Here, in Anne's mind, it was no longer an arena beautifully suited to his needs. It was potentially a battlefield, where he was no longer quite so invincible. The monster could take quite a pounding, physically, and dish it out a thousand fold, if he was properly motivated to do so.

But here, if she was to get a grasp on her subconscious, to get a handle on lucid dreaming... As unlikely as it was... The monster had no doubt that it would be a battle of the wills, mind pitted against mind. It was a good thing, however, that even if she managed that, he was no weakling. After all, could there be anyone more sadistic, more ruthless, and more cruel than Lujuria?

Such a thing was laughable!

Instead of bringing in yet more monsters, he decided to put himself into play, to engage Anne head on and see what he could make of her. It had always been a favored tactic of his, bringing his strongest card into play to test an opponent's defenses first. The fact that he was even considering doing this with a brat like the girl would have been highly unusual to those familiar with him. It was, in essence, the predator recognizing a potential danger and approaching with caution.

From behind, the monster shifted from being separated from the dream and becoming a part of it now. Fading into view, he appeared every bit as real as Anne, if not dressed in a rather different manner, his clothes filled with various shocks of color and visual imagery, every bit the image of a young punk musician, and far different from the horrors he had unleashed.

"What are you doing?"

Anne took another step forward, her head turning from one side to the other, but all she could see were those old pictures, that desk and the reflected gleam of old polished wood.

Nothing.

"What are you doing?"

Anne nearly jumped out of her stockings and felt like she should now be clinging to the ceiling or at least a lampshade.

With a whirl she rounded on whatever had said that brandishing her letter opener in front of her her eyes focused on... a young man. Not like the monster she had already seen but by all accounts someone that would have looked entirely at home with a large guitar strapped to his chest.

His hair was spiked up, his clothes were a veritable kaleidoscope of colours that at once clashed but at the same time fit. He was stood leaning on the fireplace just off from its centre like he had been there all along looking completely nonchalant

Anne /knew/ that he wasn't there before... So where had he come from? He didn't look like any of those things she had seen before but at this point she wasn't about to take chances.

Speaking very firmly to her pulse she got it back under control and, still threatening him with the letter opener she spoke.

"I was here first. I should ask the same of you!"

If Anne actually thought about those words before they came out she would have died a little inside. They were unlike the normally shy thing that avoided people. But here, in this place they felt entirely natural. After all, with those last two things she was in no mood for a third!