Midnight Mates

Daymare

I was in front of a castle. My castle. My home. My sister... Where is she? I kept walking forward, and it seemed like the path was getting longer. Frustrated, I began running. And running. And running. Until I couldn't run anymore.

I saw the silhouette of a woman on a balcony, her light blonde hair flowing freely in the wind.

...Mother? No, it was-

The scene changed and I was standing before Tranquility and another woman with a dagger at her throat. I didn't recognize anything about the situation-I barely recognized myself. Old me.

Her face was twisted into a grotesque grin. Tranquility was desperately clawing at her, but she paid no mind to the blood that was dripping down her dagger-wielding arm. She let out a terrible laugh.

"I will live a normal life and you will stay here to rot!"

Tranquility gave her one last glare before Old Me-the original me-sliced her throat open. Old Me giggled and turned to face me.

"Oh... surely you didn't think this was the first time I had to cut her down did you?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she laughed again. Then she tilted her head to the side and regarded me with interest.

"Hmm... no, that wouldn't be the case would it? Stupid girl..."

Before I could ask what she meant, the scene changed again and this time I was watching myself in front of Tranquility who was sleeping quietly in a chair.

No... I don't want to see this...

I turned around to look at myself. Instead of the white hair I remembered, her hair was blood red.

"Watch. Watch yourself kill your own sister. ...What do you want to find your other sister so badly for, anyway?"

She sauntered over to me, dragging the sword behind her with a horrible scraping sound that rattled my skull. She began walking circles around me, blood dripping from her hands and her face.

"You want to kill another sister, don't you Serenity?" I shook my head.

"Stop it."

"You want to feel the blood on your hands again, don't you?"

"Stop it!"

"Or maybe you want to feel the fresh, warm blood sliding down your throat?"

She giggled and stopped in front of me. The whites of her eyes were black and the irises were gold. She grinned at me, revealing a mouthful of bloodstained fangs.

"STOP IT!" I screamed.

"This is your past, present, and future, and you will continue to live in it..."

I screamed once more and my eyes flew open. I didn't need to breathe but my chest was rising and falling rapidly. I jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. I spent a good amount of time dry heaving before I finally let my head rest against the door, tears rolling down my cheeks.

A soft knock on the door caught my attention. I stood, wiping the tears off my face with the back of my hand.

When I opened the door, Verity stood before me, once again five years old, looking up at me with worried eyes.

"What's wrong, Ren? This is the fifth day in a row..." She frowned. I sighed.

"I've had this recurring nightmare-well, daymare-ever since I had to..." Her eyes brightened with realization, and she took my hand and led me out of the bathroom and into the living room, where David, Gabriel, Luke, and Alex were sitting. David, Luke, Gabriel, and I guessed Verity were playing a board game on the coffee table while Alex sat quietly in an armchair reading a book.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the leech," Gabriel greeted me. I rolled my eyes.

"Nice to see you too, furball." I winced at the brightness streaming in from the windows.

Why is it so bright?!

I looked at the clock.

Noon. Just great.

I hissed involuntarily.

"Which one of you dogs opened the curtains?!" Luke scoffed and closed the drapes and I was once again surrounded by pleasant darkness.

"Rude!"

I glared at him until he put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Chill, Rabbit." I turned around and made my way to the kitchen.

I opened the fridge, and grabbed a bottle of blood from the bottom shelf. The contents of the bottle were gone within seconds. The ecstasy and adrenaline feeling never came. Instead, all I felt was sick. I felt like racing to the bathroom and throwing up for real this time.

"What's wrong? Oh, don't tell me you drank from some kind of rabies-infested forest creature even though I told you not to..." I didn't need to look up to know who it was.

"Why are you here, Xander?" I asked, glancing at him through my peripheral vision. He shrugged, staring at me with an unidentifiable expression.

"No reason." I stood and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Well no offense, by the last time we were alone in my kitchen all I wanted was a snack and you tried to kill me."

"Oh please, you know I was never going to actually kill you." He leaned against the countertop and looked around the kitchen, as though he was remembering what happened that night.

"No, you just wanted to ruin my life and make me immortal..." I muttered. As soon as the words left my mouth, he cringed and a bitter smile was left in its place.

"You're right... Every time I find you, all I do is make your life worse than what it was before." I used my vampire super-speed to reach where he was standing, but in a flash he was already on the other side of the kitchen.

"Xander, you know that's not what I-"

"It's fine," he replied rather coldly. I sighed and he was gone.

I ran a hand through my hair-which was difficult considering the thickness-and had a feeling like a lumberjack was hacking away at my skull. I hissed angrily and stormed into the living room to see that Daren, Garrett(with Viola perched on his lap), Steven, and a disgruntled Xander were now sitting in it.

"Have you thought about Vincent's proposal?" I asked everyone present. The werewolves and Vee shared a look, remembering what information Vincent had offered us and what he supposed solution was.

"It's really not a bad plan..." Garrett trailed off.

"I think it would be the quickest way to find your sister, the only problem is-" Steven started.

"How exactly are we going to travel across the country with this many people and not draw any attention?" Xander asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

"We'll split up. Luke and I need to visit our hometown anyway to find the witch," Viola added. I nervously cracked my forefingers and then my thumbs, while I was fidgeting with my hands.

"Then it's settled then. Operation Find Missing Sister is official," I said, with a slight smirk.

Author's Note:

No, you didn't miss anything. I left out Vincent's plan on purpose... But fear not! It will be revealed next chapter!

On a side note, it looks like Ren is having serious problems coping with murder. What's up with that?!