At one point he was teasing me about my accent and i laughingly told him that i didn’t have an accent. It was in that moment, the moment i laughed, that the atmosphere in the room changed. The sound of my laughter died on my lips and my breath caught in my throat as i watched his expression change from something light hearted and relaxed to something dark and intense. i had no idea what had happened, but i knew something was very, very different. i didn’t say anything, i just watched him with big eyes as my heart tried to pound its way out of my chest. He slowly leaned forward in his chair, unblinking as he looked at me as if he’d never seen me before. When he spoke his voice was still deep and calm, but all traces of my friend were gone and in his place was a Dom.

That instant, that moment, where the change happens from one to the other: it’s sudden, jarring, and complete. It reminds us that there’s only one thing as fast as the speed of light: the speed of dark.