The sense of it, warm and balmy, had been almost a comfort. Rhythmically beating against her neck, as her eyes flickered open and shut. The room was still dark and she could hear the low murmur of her phone from the bedside table, playing music softly. Blurred notes, playing an unfamiliar melody.

She had been in the blissful moments between wakefulness and sleep, as the breathing warmed the skin of her neck. Soothing her into consciousness.

The music played on.

She hadn’t wanted to move; the bed becoming like a cocoon. The weight of the blanket on top of her, almost wrapping her entire body in warmth. The presence of another person beside her.

The breath on her neck.

Her body had switched on in stages. Her head clearing the fog slowly, as she became aware of each part of herself. One arm had been trapped under her torso, her mind telling her to move from her side to her back.

Another part of her had wanted to stay in the bliss of sleep. Screw her eyes shut and ignore the outside world for longer.

Something stopped her from dropping back off, just as she would have done at any other time. A voice in her head, a warning. Something not right with what was happening.

A hand clamped over her mouth, just as she was about to scream.

Natasha didn’t know where she was. What was happening? Did anyone know she had gone? She didn’t know how long it had been since the previous night, when someone had taken her from her bed, hands grabbing and incapacitating her before she could react.

She could hear a noise, but couldn’t place it. A low, humming sort of sound. She imagined it was what people who had tinnitus heard constantly. She was becoming more aware of the smaller things, now her other senses had been shut off. She couldn’t see, couldn’t touch. Couldn’t move.

She could smell, but didn’t want to think about what it was that was around her. The rotting smell of decay. Couldn’t allow herself to consider what that might mean.

No one knew where she was.

There was only one reason for her being there.

Natasha tried to move again, screaming into the cloth in her mouth. Her screams echoed back into her head, but they didn’t escape her mouth. Her struggle to break the binds that tied her was similarly useless. She was unable to move much at all, a few inches with her hands, her legs. She was almost stuck fast, roped and bonded to whatever it was.

She didn’t know how she had got there. It was a blur of darkness and noise. A hand over her mouth as she slept, then an arm across her throat until she had seen bright stars and then, nothingness.

There was no reason for her to be there.