I woke up in a cold sweat my whole body soaked from head to toe my pajamas and hair sticking to me. I pondered the dream again, this makes three times and as if the repetitive dream wasn’t enough to freak me out I also woke up the same time each night and when I looked at the clock sure enough it was 3:00am just like the two nights previous. I shook my head hoping I could shake away my lingering paranoia, it was silly to get worked up over something as superficial as a dream and yet still I couldn’t get it off my mind. I got up slowly and carefully hoping to wake no one up, I tiptoed out of my room and carefully descended down the stairs and into the kitchen. I sighed in relief as the linoleum floor made contact with my over heated body; I walked over to the sink and filled my cup with water. I leaned over the countertop staring out the window at the moon which was covered almost completely and the forest’s silhouette was particularly foreboding this morning. I sipped some of my water and then saw something quickly dart by I leaned closer squinting my eyes and saw something else dart by but I couldn’t make out what it was.

I went up the stairs and poked my head into my dad’s room. It was dark but I didn’t need any light to know what the room looked like, the room was a dark blue hue and the rooms layout was simple, a queen sized bed a work desk with a computer chair, a nightstand on which perched a lamp and my father’s laptop, and a dresser on which is a picture of my father and deceased mother. I knew that under his bed there was a clipboard stacked with a thousand architectural ideas for the house. Everything was neat and orderly however it was clear that he was absent, probably due to the fact that since mom’s passing dad became something of a workaholic.

I sighed sadly and went downstairs again because although I was exhausted I wasn’t going to risk falling asleep again. I felt the hair stand up on my neck and I quickly made my way down the stairs again. I went into the living room and sighed in relief when I saw my brother Adoni seated on the couch.

“What are you doing up?” I demanded a little more irritated now that I got over my relief that it wasn’t an intruder.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Usually when Adoni talked to me there seemed to be a hint of sarcasm

part of being a teenager I suppose

but tonight he didn’t seem very sarcastic in fact he seemed very thoughtful which wasn’t very common for Adoni, Adoni and I are fraternal twins although when we were little you would’ve thought us to be identical. However his features changed as he got older and now the only common features we had were our eye color, a dark green.

“There’s something …” I stared at him and finished his thought “weird going on.”

Adoni nodded looking at me with an icy stare; he didn’t like when he felt vulnerable since dad was gone a lot he liked to try and be “the man of the house."

I went into the dining room and grabbed a chair dragging it into the foier and bringing it over to the coat closet. I opened the closet door and got up onto the chair blindly groping for something on the top shelf, finally my hand found the item and my fingers curled around the handle, and then I pulled out the gun.

“What’s that?!” Adoni gaped.

“It’s just for precautionary purposes….”

Adoni shook his head, “You are insane you know that?”

I didn’t respond because he was right I probably was going insane I was letting this nightmare get to me and I’m sure the lack of sleep wasn’t helping. Never the less, I put my gun in the back of my pajama pants and pulled my shirt over it.

“Want something to eat?”

“I don’t know some Mac & Cheese would be cool I guess.”

I went into the kitchen; another thing that changed around Adoni was that he ate a lot more now but I didn’t mind making his food it served as a distraction. I got out the pan from the bottom left hand cupboard and filled it with water putting it onto the stove stirring every once in awhile. Then suddenly I felt a wisp of cool crisp air and turned to notice the window open.

“Hmm… I don’t remember the window being open,” I shrugged and closed it maybe Adoni opened the window.

“Windows aren’t what they used to be are they?” a deep voice chuckled clearly amused.

I snapped my gaze over to across the room where I met my eyes with a pair of fiery dark ones. I turned around again quickly stirring the macaroni again trying to think clearly. I had no idea who the man was but he was no friend of mine or Adoni’s he could’ve possibly been a business associate of my father’s.

“My father isn’t home,”

I turned to gauge his reaction and regretted it when I did. He was actually incredibly attractive, you could see the muscles rippling under his shirt, deep, dark, mesmerizing eyes, a perfectly straight nose, and high cheekbones framed with long dark hair.

“I’m not here for your father I am here for you,” his voice was dark and he rolled his R’s in a Hispanic accent that I found incredibly alluring.

I felt my pulse quicken.

“Skylar?” Adoni called from the other room, “That Macaroni and Cheese ready yet?”

“Your name is Skylar?” I could hear the man step closer and I could feel my skin prickle with his closeness. “That’s a pretty name” I felt his hand creep slowly up my shirt and I felt my rage flare up but I managed to calm my voice.

“Thanks,” I quickly grabbed the pot and swung to hit him with it but he caught my wrist so fast I hardly saw it, but it didn’t prevent the boiling water and macaroni to sear his face.

He yelped and backed away for a moment “You little bitch!”

Adoni ran into the room, “What’s wrong?!” he looked around quickly alarmed “Who are you what do you want?”

The man growled ferociously at me tensing up his large frame and coiling his muscles, looking straight at me his dark eyes now resembling the black pits of a human skull and in a blink of an eye there was no space between us. He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up off the ground and bashed my head against the cabinets above the counter. I heard my head crack through the wood and felt the cups and glasses shatter and pierce my flesh as the remaining glass cascaded around me. I felt warm blood soak my hair, the pain making everything throb and pulsate, I heard a groan escape my lips and faintly heard someone shout my name

“Skylar!”

I could feel the blood dripping down my neck and slowly making its way down my back. I let my eyes flutter closed trying to find a calm quiet place where I wasn’t surrounded by pain or blood. Then I felt a sharp pain pierce my neck and my eyes flew open. I saw Adoni from across the room he was on the floor blood coming from his lip and a bruised eye he was crying and looking at me with a mix of fear and horror I’ll never be able to erase his expression from my memory. Everything was getting less coherent a man’s body loomed over mine and whatever he was doing needed to stop I slowly and gently pulled the gun out of the back of my pajama bottoms then held it close to his head then I pulled the trigger…

I saw blood splatter everywhere as I felt the sharp pain recede. My attacker fell everything seemed to go slow motion, I could see blood everywhere I was surrounded by it, and I looked into the man’s deep fathomless eyes frozen in shock. Then he hit the ground a halo of blood surrounding him his dark hair stained with red and tousled around him. His full lips were stained crimson.

I touched my hand to my neck and when I pulled it away my fingertips were crimson. Suddenly my heart slammed and without thinking I grabbed Adoni helped him up and ran down the street dragging him behind me. I could hear nothing but the rhythm of our feat hitting the pavement; feel nothing but my heart slamming wildly against my chest. I finally found a sewer cap and slid it aside quickly; Adoni gave me a skeptical look but then reluctantly climbed down into the sewers, me following shortly afterward pulling the cap over our heads. We made our way down the ladder feeling suddenly like we were in the belly of a beast, it was damp and dark the air was thick with the…wretched odor of the… oh my god déjà vu. This was exactly like my dream I pulled Adoni out of the light and into the darkness and heard the footsteps above and the clatter of the sewer cap; I could feel Adoni trembling and barely see his wide eyed fear. Finally, a calm serene male voice cut through the silence, “The human is quite skilled, it’s astounding really. How humans are capable of surprising you after centuries.” A more brittle harsh voice, higher pitched and female sliced through the chilly night air, “It doesn’t matter she’ll either turn into one of us or die in the process, or who knows she may turn and kill her brother,” She chuckled darkly as the light returned back to the sewers, her cackle echoing through the night.

This time my head did not fill with questions they were after me because I murdered a man I still don’t understand what terms like “centuries” or “turn” mean. Were the two voices talking about me? I put my hand to my neck feeling a warm abundance of liquid. They couldn’t be talking about me, another sound of a liquid dripping, my blood they couldn’t be…

Time crept by unnoticed by Adoni or I; I was still waiting to wake up in my room coated in sweat but it never happened.

“Let’s go Adoni.” I started climbing up the ladder Adoni following behind me. I moved the sewer cap aside and looked around warily standing and searching relieved by the sight of our peaceful quiet neighborhood. Adoni got up after me and I sighed relieved until I heard a deep, intimate voice with a hint of a Hispanic accent whisper into my ear “Nice try mi Amor.” I felt the strong arm curl around me and I knew who it belonged to even before he turned me around, and sure enough there he was. Piercing, angry, dark eyes and full lips upturned in a cruel smile, high cheek bones and a gaping hole in the side of his head. The man from before, the one I shot in the head the one I left to die in the middle of my kitchen floor. “I quite enjoy your spirit Skylar but you must be tired.” I tilted my chin and tried to wriggle out of his grip “Not tired enough to let you have your way with me.” Suddenly a tall gorgeous woman with long golden blonde hair and strange red eyes walked out, her shirt plunged low and clung sensuously to her curves she moved with an authority and grace unparalleled she headed over to my brother and wrapped one of her arms around his waist.

“Don’t touch him!” I screamed, kicking .biting, and thrashing trying to do whatever I could to get out of my captor’s grip but he didn’t even flinch or even budge. “Give up,” he said sounding annoyed as if I were nothing more than a pesky bug, “don’t worry about his death yours will be much more painful.” He leaned his head down and gripped my wrist slowly pulling his head down the woman holding Adoni mirroring his movements. Her mouth opened revealing a set of fangs, my head went whirling.

Suddenly I saw something running in the forests. “Help! Help us!”

The girl’s head lifted her eyes widening in horror in another direction, as she backed away and started to run. I felt my captor release me and I ran over to Adoni whose eyes were darting around anxiously. I looked over to them running away then turned back to the forest when a large creature the size of a bear launched itself from beneath the cover of the trees with incredible speed followed by others. They were so fast that I blinked and they were already on top of their victim’s; our predators. Something told me that I should run but instead I watched them in morbid fascination as the creature’s large teeth sank into our perpatraitors ripping apart their flesh as the vampires screamed and thrashed in agony. I tried to look away as they ripped out bones and organs but I couldn’t all I could do was stare.