Three Spheres

Chapter 30 - Avenues

Humans retire to sleep when the clocks point to late at night. Vampires do not need sleep, but a large meal followed by rest is important for their well-being. Johan passes out almost instantly on his makeshift bed. Amadeo keeps his eyes open piercing the darkness. He recalls the words of his friend Fumio: "...the probability of a Witch appearance, anywhere, is 0.013% per decade". Discomfort takes over his body. He turns his eyes to Johan; his breathing is serene. Gradually, sleepyness takes over him and reality fades.

Amadeo sees intense and incessant flashes of frighteningly real situations. The City, the people, the monsters... Mooya and Gamila aren't there, but Deodoro and Emília are. He sees a huge explosion. The moon is falling...? His hands covered in blood. Human parts fly through a desolate field. He hears the horrendous crash of buildings collapsing. Static. Buzzing. Screams. The monsters are different from the ones he knows. He sees himself dying and rising, eviscerated, like the doll of a zombie ventriloquist.

"Amadeo?"

Amid the chaos of frantic images, he sees Johan fall into his arms. "What?", he asks himself, feeling the terrible heat of the blood that is already soaking his clothes...

"Amadeo!"

Suddenly, he opens his eyes. His heart is racing and his forehead is covered with sweat. He looks around in confusion, while grunting, and trying to get up. Johan holds him against the bed:

_ You're wake. It's okay now.

_ What...? Ah. _ He takes a deep breath, placing his hand on his chest _ I...!

_ Deodoro told me about these nightmares. He said I should wake you up if you were moving too much. _ Johan steps away; his concerned expression gradually dissolves.

_ Haha... Got it! Thank you, man. _ Amadeo sits down and smiles, still exhausted _ Today's was particularly very horrible. You died a couple of times and it was I who killed you! Ugh!!

_ I... I don't wanna know what that means. _ Johan frowns; pause _ Deodoro said that you always have this kind of dream.

_ Yeah... Some days are worse than others. _ He rubs his eyes _ To be honest, the feeling I have is that I keep remembering things that happened during the day. But it's always different than what really happened, y'know? _ Johan shakes his head _ Well, it sucks. I don't remember the last time I slept well!

Amadeo gets up. The clock on the wall indicates that it is just over 4am.

_ Well, I've got enough sleep. I'll snoop into the Unit's stuff. _ He approaches the door and smiles _ You wanna come?

Johan rolls his eyes. Without saying anything, he gets up and follows the blonde. The corridors are lit by green torches and the constant noise of gears is mixed with the sound of crickets. Finally, they arrive at an archive. Amadeo sings a little children's song, while he looks for something in the drawers. Johan makes a loose bun with his hair and asks:

_ What are you looking for?

_ I don't know! A map of the city or anything that might be useful for today's investigation. _ He continues flipping through documents.

_ Investigation...?

_ Hey, hey! You need to pay more attention to things! _ Amadeo hits Johan with one of the folders _ Today we're going to walk around town to try to find suspicious things, remember? We talked about it yesterday!

_ ...yes.

Amadeo threatens to respond, but is interrupted by a familiar voice:

_ Well, well...? _ Penan appears at the door _ Isn't it too early for you to be awake? _ She opens a smile _ What are you looking for, boyaas?