...Her mind was spinning; she couldn't seem to think straight. It was ironic to think that the people whose lives were dedicated to wiping out her kind lived so close. Aurora closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she couldn't let her auntie find her like this, questions would be raised and she would not know how to answer them. Aurora somehow managed to get up the stairs and into her bedroom: she needed to be somewhere that would calm her, help her mind to settle. It was already starting to get dark outside; sitting on her bed she decided to go out into the garden. The fresh air would help and she loved going out to sit in her little shed.
Aurora opened the creaky door and ran her hand blindly across the wall in search for the light switch. Moments later the whole shed burst into light. Multi-coloured fairy lights adorned the door frame; a huge lamp stood in the corner, throwing shadows across the walls and a sofa bed sat right in the centre of the shed. This was her safe place- no one was allowed here without her permission- she had made her grandmother put spells around it for that reason alone. She plopped down on a chair by the window and opened it wide letting a surge of cool air in. Leaning her head on the window sill she let her eyes drift over to the slayer's house: the lights were off but she was sure that she saw the curtains of one of the rooms shift.
It disgusted him to that he couldn't take out the vampire and that it was still able to live despite how close he was to it; he was one of the youngest but also one to the best slayers they had. James looked out the window and saw the vampire walking back into the house. The reason why he was so good at his job was because he knew what it entailed and he wasn't scared by it. Some people would think him a murder but he had no regrets killing if it meant that he could look after the people around him. In his mind he wasn't killing living beings but monsters that deserved it. If he had it his way, he would have stormed into the house next to his and slaughtered the monster there. But James knew that there were rules to follow- he couldn't just barge in- he had to assess the whole situation, know how many vampires lived there before he decided to get himself and others killed around him because of his hotheadedness.
He was never hesitant- being hesitant got people killed and he couldn't let that happen. Thinking about the vampire in that school full of humans made him shudder- how many innocents' lives had it taken? But the only thing that puzzled him was that he never saw the thirst for blood that he had become accustomed to seeing in those monsters' eyes. Never had its resolve broken even though it was surrounded by easy targets for a next meal. James heard the front door closing softly followed by the happy singing of his mother; he quickly exited his room and went down to greet her.
The evening went by uneventfully Aurora tried to make it out as if everything was all right and Liliya seemed to buy it but Luke not so much. After dinner he took her out of Liliya's hearing range to talk.
"What's the matter, did your day go all right?"
"Everything's cool like always, I'm just a tad tired," Aurora replied not looking directly at him.
Next door's kid goes to your school as well, is he all right?
She tensed at the mention of the slayer, "I never noticed," was her short reply. Her uncle realised that he was not going to get anything else out of her so he nodded his head and left to help Liliya in the kitchen.
Lying on her bed later that night she thought about what was going to happen tomorrow. How was she going to get through the year alive if the slayer was monitoring her every move. But too tired to ponder on it any longer than necessary she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.
The smell of blood was overpowering- it wafted to her nose as she stumbled through the dense woods, Decaying leaves and broken twigs littered the ground; the moon's light could barely penetrate the thick canopy of trees above her. Even with her enhanced eyesight she could hardly make out the different shapes around her: they seemed to taunt her, make it seem as if other things were present around her. Sharp branches reached out towards her; snagging in her hair, ripping roughly into her skin. It was as if they wanted to keep, ensnare her in their trap and keep her there forever. But she didn't let that stop her and she picked up her pace, ducking under trees but constantly looking behind her. She needed to get away, away from the oncoming danger. She was too occupied with that growing need in her that she missed the uprooted tree in her path that sent her flying to the ground; sharp twigs and shards of glass attacked her knees and it took everything she had not to shout out in agony. She could feel a harsh stinging pain in her leg as she lay on the forest ground panting. A thick fog was starting to gather, creeping slowly towards her; she lay there her body hurting so painfully that it made her unable to move.
She knew that that was all he wanted, to make her feel pain, revel in it, laugh as she withered away. She could feel the blood trickling down her leg but she lay there not wanting to move. The ever present fog still inching towards her, encasing her in its ghostly tendrils was making it harder for her to see around her but also to her horror it was making it harder for her to breathe. She scratched at her throat trying to relieve the constricting pressure from there but it was impossible, like grappling with air. So she ran her hands over the forest ground feeling for anything to help her when she faced him directly. But instead they were met by a wet, sticky liquid. Instantly the pressure around her neck lessened and the fog slowly began to lift. The black liquid coated her hands, she slowly brought them to her face to examine but she already knew what it was. The metalic stench filled her nostrills as she franticlly started to look around for the source.
There lay a body as if it had always- its mangled form lay right in a clearing in the woods that hadn't been there before. The moonlight illuminated the corpse giving it an eeriy glow. Not far from the body lay what she took it be the body's insides. They were neatly arranged side but side, glistening in the moonlight. She crept closer to the body as dread filled her and her heart began to beat painfully hard in her chest. But she didn't stop inching towards the form on the ground. A little gasp escaped from her mouth as she saw the familiar face in front of her.
Aurora's eyes shot open. As she took in her familiar surroundings her breathing began to return to normal. "Just a dream," she muttered. As she settled back in her bed the grotesque images from the nightmare flashed into her mind and her eyes remained open for the remainder of the night.
