The Reunion of Loved Ones

24. Traumas & Nightmares

Lana walked to the mirror and looked at herself. Although she appeared to be herself at first glance, something crucial had changed about her. Her skin was deathly pale and had a grainy pigment, as if it were centuries old. Suddenly, a wave of intense nausea overwhelmed her. Afraid she would be sick, she collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. Her mouth seemed to be on fire. Her hands and eyes ached. She buried her head between her knees and rocked back and forth for a while, hoping the pain would soon subside.

It felt like an eternity in her discomfort, but eventually, the pain and nausea slowly diminished. Lana waited a moment, then stood up. She wanted to walk away, but felt a strange urge to look in the mirror again. It was as if the mirror was calling her. Lana eventually gave in to the feeling and turned back to the mirror.

She screamed when she saw what was looking back at her from the other side. Two bright yellow eyes with slit-like pupils stared at her from her deathly pale face. She looked like a feline, ready to pounce. Two snow-white fangs protruded from the corners of her mouth, and when she tried to touch them, she saw ten dirty grey nails on her fingertips. She had become a monster. A creature of the night. An undead. A child of the devil.

Lana was startled when the door to the room flew open. Seithre and a whole group of elves stood on Lana's doorstep. But they were no longer elves. Everyone had two puncture marks on their neck and the same monstrous appearance as Lana. They had all transformed into vampires. Silvaporta had become a city of the undead. They called to her with their demonic voices. She backed away until a wall blocked her path. The vampires advanced on her, their arms reaching out for her. There was no way to escape as the door behind Seithre slammed shut...

Lana woke up with an icy scream and tried to free herself from her blankets, which had wrapped around her like a cocoon. Dana and Ivana were also wide awake from her scream and looked around sleepily. Dana had drawn her dagger and looked at the front door with a suspicious frown.

Lana saw why. A door had indeed slammed shut, and now a dark figure stood in front of it... 'Vampire,' Lana mumbled in a trance and lunged at the figure without thinking. This undead would not claim any more victims. She might be doomed, but no one touched her sisters.

As she passed, she grabbed her own dagger from her travel cloak hanging over one of the dining chairs and tackled the figure to the ground. The figure screamed in shock when they saw Lana charging at them like a wild bull with a knife and pushed Lana off. The figure hastily crawled away, and Lana made to strike again when Ivana roughly grabbed her around the waist and pinned her against the wall.

'Lana, wake up!' she snarled and slammed Lana's wrist against the wall, forcing her to drop her dagger.

Lana trembled as she saw all the deathly faces again: 'They are here, Iva.'

'Who is here?'

Lana began to cry in fear. Truly, since discovering that Seithre had bitten her, she couldn't stop weeping. She had thought her tears would have dried up by now, but at the slightest provocation, they returned. 'They are coming to get me. I belong to them now! We are all monsters.'

Ivana gently urged her to be quiet and said softly, 'It was just a nightmare, Laan. You're safe.'

Lana pressed herself against Ivana, crying, who looked at Dana worriedly. Dana stroked her messy hair and pulled the trembling figure off the ground. Now that the light was on her, Lana saw she had attacked the eldest daughter of their host.

'It's just Tamara,' Dana said soothingly to Lana and put an arm around her sister as well. 'There is nothing wrong. There is no danger here.'

'I'm sorry,' Tamara said miserably. 'I didn't mean to wake you. The door blew shut behind me. I was just about to apologise when I saw you waking up. But Lana attacked me before I could say a word.' She looked at Lana indignantly.