Elara's eyes snapped open.
She gasped, drawing in a sharp breath like someone surfacing from deep water. Her amber eyes darted around wildly, trying to orient herself.
'Where...?'
She was lying down. Something soft beneath her. A bed?
But that didn't make sense. She'd been in that strange lake, watching Viktor and that black woman—
Elara blinked hard, shaking her head. The image of the endless water was still there, overlaying her vision like a transparent film. But underneath it, she could see ceiling beams. Moonlight streaming through a window. The familiar contours of Viktor's bedroom.
"Did I... wake up from a dream?" she whispered, her voice hoarse.
She moved to sit up, suddenly aware of her nakedness. Her hand grabbed at the white bedsheet, pulling it up to cover her bare breasts.
That's when she saw her.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, cross-legged and completely naked, was the black woman from the lake.
The succubus.
