unlikely acolyte

strange, he thought. this almost reminded him of the things his little sister claimed to have dreamt about, too.

the feeling of being watched clawed up the boy's back like rose vines, thorns digging in to every nerve and crevice of his skin. it actually hurt, in a way - one beyond the limit of conscious thought, a pain that existed only in his mind, but gnawed from the inside out. as soon as he thought about it, the pain got worse, and once reality came back to him, it dwindled into a mere passing thought.
a straight corridor, a labyrinth; all of it felt the same. he knew the place like the back of his hand, somehow, yet felt his head spin the moment he tried to stray from where he had stood this entire time.
he stopped, slumping in both unease and resignation, for now at least, and rubbed his eyes. that he didn't feel, so this was most definitely a dream. not that he didn't know this, of course - the occasional reminder kept him grounded for the most part.
gabriel dragged his hands down his face, letting out a sigh. he hated when it was like this - lucid, but not within his control. like he was inbetween reality and the mindscape, as if he was both asleep and awake at the same time; it damn well felt like it, he'd say. it was a fucking headache to even begin to comprehend. so he didn't. he had better things to do, often reminding himself. there is no point in arguing with his subconscious, he concluded. thoughts often went like this. 

that's when he felt the hand on his neck.

cold, claw-like fingers barely touching where his carotid artery was. it sent no less than a thousand chills through his entire being, causing the boy to flinch and hold back a shriek in response. he was elsewhere, now - a room, no longer a labyrinth. superficially inviting - the fireplace was lit, at least.
blue eyes scanned the room, hand placed firmly over the part of his neck that was just exposed. the carotid, of all things? a strange thing to catch one's interest, he mused. gabriel took a step in order to turn around and properly observe the scene, but was met with a shadow (one he swore wasn't there before, even if he wasn't paying attention); looming, watching. the blonde suddenly felt like he was being suffocated by a demon's gaze.

he wasn't wrong, honestly.

"you," a voice called, yellow eyes glowering from the darkness like a cat in the black of night. "come closer."

gabriel did not.

"are you listening, boy?"

he exhaled firmly, whipping his head around to face the direction of which the voice was coming from. the glow of eyes pierced him in a way so brittle that he could break. 

"no."

the curious look of amber shifted into a squinting glare.

"i beg your pardon?" it called. "you dare speak to me in that tone?"

oh no, the adolescent snorted. he'd angered it, how scary. it was scary, but he'd sooner be caught dead than let you know that part.

"i said no," he repeated. "i don't feel like getting dizzy for the sake of humbling someone."

silence. hesitation, mouths opening to speak but with a lack of words to go with.

"i admire your attitude, child, but that does not give you the right to disrespect your superiors." what the hell was this..whatever this was- talking about? disrespecting superiors my arse, he mumbled, unaware that he was thinking aloud. gabriel respected his superiors, that was a given - he, however, did not respect haughty pricks who had the audacity to test his patience yet shied away at the possibility of showing their face.

the figure moved from its place, now just a little closer to the boy. amber eyes, still glaring knives into his chest to the point of metaphorical suffocation (it all felt very real nonetheless), caught the flame's light from where it stood; catching only the supposedly human stature of the thing and a pair of fangs resting upon a rather disgusted scowl.

shivers ricocheted along his spine once again. they'd never stopped in the first place, but this one was particularly violent.

"what was that?" the voice asked, daring, challenging him to talk back. "perhaps i wasn't clear the first time, is that it?"
it paced closer, looping around the blonde before heading back the way it came, figure looming in the shadows. "kneel," it hissed, back still turned. just like that, gabriel felt heavy in his legs, pulled to the ground on one knee. his breathing turned shaky. a "very good" escaped its lips, now twisted into a blood boiling grin.
"now," it spun on its heel to face him once more, leaning down a little, crooning. "what was your name, little one?"

every nerve in his body felt like a string, and he was the puppet. it felt like he was on autopilot, as one might describe it.
"gabriel."

silence, soon broken by a few soft laughs seeping through the cracks like ivy. "gabriel?" it repeated. "a befittingly angelic name for a little saint such as yourself."

that last part was laced with venom so volatile and he felt it burn, burn, burn - the words stung his skin upon contact, not out of hurt but out of anger. his temper was deadly calm, breaths drawn in as deep as they were silent. amber was now met with gentle blue, calm before the storm. eyes were oh so deceiving, the two souls were unreadable.

"don't mock me." he growled. it was just loud enough for the standing individual to hear, and god, it was music to his ears. he laughed again, cackled even. this one is so entertaining, it sighed, cocking its head to the side as it bore its fanged smirk. "you're a funny one, gabriel. it's a shame i have no interest in keeping little rats like you around."

christ, this arsehole was dead set on pushing every single one of his buttons. what the fuck did you just call me, he wanted to say. spit that venom right back at this prick, make them eat their words, explain exactly why you don't fuck with him without so much as a single fucking word. he inhaled sharply, stopping himself - no, that's exactly the reaction that it was trying to coax out of him, like a predator studying its prey to make note of every and any weakness it can find. it pissed him off even more to acknowledge that he was more than likely just putting on a show for this..thing, which seemed to find great entertainment in making him itch with agitation. he released that breath, softly, nonchalant. if this motherfucker was so devoted to seeing gabriel squirm, it wasn't going to get it. his usual mask of complete detachment washed over him - it came handy in situations where emotions were the key to one's loss.

the figure studied him again, drinking in every little change in the boy's expression, down to the last twitch. somehow, he felt more uncomfortable being gawked at than having a literal hand place itself on his neck, the thought of which made him shiver, three times over. he was almost resisting the urge to curl up into a ball and hide. "short of a response, are we? did our poor little guest run out of clever remarks for the evening, hmm?" the other chimed; voice taunting as ever, each syllable dragged out to add insult to injury. he cursed under his breath, warranting a little chuckle from the former. it was like fucking christmas up in here, good lord.
"fuck off," he spat. it came out automatically - either that or he'd lost the ability to care about his own dignity. this is a dream, he reminded himself once again, though as true as it was, the phrase seemed more and more superficial as time went on. as his face twisted with every remark, as the room spun and twisted before his eyes, this was real and fake at the same time. reality's seams were a faint blur, nothing mattered. nothing mattered, he repeated, under his breath this time. he tore the fear-made shackles from his feet, rising gracefully from his kneeling position to stand tall, rigid, almost mirroring the figure before him; same air of arrogance cutting at the edges, sharpening him like a knife.
silently, those catlike eyes, almost glowing from the lack of light followed his own, giving away no hints at the owner's expression. the blonde caught a glimpse at a half-raised eyebrow in his rise, inhaled slowly as his hand balled into a fist, knuckles white at the pressure. he bound forward towards the other, movements so brisk you'd think he could fly, exclaiming some sort of profanity as he threw his fist straight towards the figure's face.

his wrist was caught, locked by a hand so unnervingly cold. there was no warmth in its grip, but it was crushingly strong. the other hadn't even flinched, he registered, eyes darting between his own hand (which he had started to lose feeling in) and the face, unfazed and bordering just a little too close for comfort. really, any distance was too close when it came to this motherfucker. but at least he could see it a little better. it looked somewhat humoured.

"i thought you'd try that," it whispered, nails on a chalkboard as the sound remained unsettled in his ears. yellow pupils squinted at him in faint exasperation. its grip around gabriel's wrist tightened, closed as he felt an agonising click shoot up into his forearm and down his fingertips. "i'd finish you off, but i already told you - i have no interest in keeping little rats like you around."

the blood drained from his face. he felt sick from the pain, wanting to cry out and snatch his arm back but somehow being frozen in place and time. a sickly sweet smile arose from its silhouette, light once again catching those deadly sharp fangs. he could almost feel them sinking into his veins like a knife. he winced at the thought and everything burned again and it hurt, it hurt, it kept hurting.

"be on your way. it's time for you to wake up, little gabriel."