1000 Lifetimes

Surprise Surprise

They arrived at Lamia's house after a short walk. And it was quite apparent that his parents certainly had plenty of money. The house had three floors as well as an attic. It had a large yard and in the front she could see a dog unlike any she had seen before. It stood at three feet tall on all fours. It was whiter than snow and gave off an aura almost as disturbing as Lamia. It's eyes were ice white and felt as if he could see into your soul. There was a fence on the border of the field that stood about five feet tall. It had a gate at the front with a stone path down to the door. As well as an alternate path that seemed to lead to the backyard.

"What kind of dog is that?" Amara asked.
"I can't remember. It's been a while since I've needed to answer that." Lamia replied.
"Does it bite?"
"Just don't make him mad."

Lamia unlocked the gate and opened it for Amara. She walks in and begins to feel... Cold. The dog quickly jumps up and runs to them. Faster than any dog she had seen before. It glared it's teeth, as if ready to attack her.

"Stabit!"

The dog stops. Almost unrealisticly from how fast it was going. It bows and begins to walk towards the door into the house.

Amara can't move. Feeling terrified that she had almost been attacked by a beast of a dog.

"What's it's name?" Amara asked
"Pruinae."
"What?"
"Pru-nay."
"Oh... What did you say to it?"
"Stop."
"What language is that?"
"Doesn't matter. Come on inside."

Lamia begins to lead the way inside, and as Amara begins following, he stops. He turns around and begins to scan the area around the house. Looking for something. He looks left and right, until hos eyes fixate on one location. In the trees about 30 yards away, he stares.

"What is it?" Amara asks, confused.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Come on."

He pushes gently on her back, urging her foward. She gets to the door and notices that the dog had moved from it's spot beside the door. He was now next to Lamia. She never even realized she had walked past the animal. Whatever Lamia saw, the dog clearly saw it as well. They both stared at the tree line. Until Lamia finally looks down at his companion.

"venari."

And even faster than when it ran to attack her, the dog ran to the fence and jumps over it with ease, and sprints towards the trees, disappearing behind the tree line.

Lamia continues watching a while after Pruinae disappears. Amara stares towards the trees, trying to see what they saw, to no avail. He turns around and gestures with his head to follow him inside. They head inside and Lamia closes the door behind them. She begins looking around and was amazed at what she saw. Architecture like she had never seen before. Paintings that look centuries old. Small statues that seemed to come from all over the world. He watched her and smiled at her amazement.

"Go on. You can look around." He told her with a calming voice.
"You're parents won't mind?" She smiled at him.
He shakes his head, "my parents died a long time ago. I've been on my own for a while."
Amazed to hear this she asks, "how old are you exactly?"
Hesitating for a few seconds, he replies, "seventeen."
"Is that an answer or a question?"
"Are you gonna look around or not." He smiles back to her.

She begins walking up and down the hallways admiring all the painting and relics that were on the shelves. Lamia followed close behind making sure she didn't get lost going through the hallways.

"Follow me." He says tapping her on the shoulder.

He leads her up the stairs bypassing the second floor and going to a closset on the third. He opens it reveal a hatch on the ceiling. He opens it and pulls down a ladder.

"Come on." He says to her.

He climbs up and helps Amara do the same. The room is pitch black, and she calls or for Lamia who seems to have vanished. She calls out for him but he doesn't reply. And suddenly, the lights flash on. Revealing that the entire attic had been turned into a library. Row upon rows of books lined the walls and counters and shelves bookcases. Hundreds upon hundreds of books were neatly placed on each row. Her eyes widened at the sight. Few people knew that she adored to read, and the sight of all of these books, had her eyes sparkling. The first time in months that her eyes had any true happiness in them. She turned to see Lamia. Smiling at her on the far end of the room. She had seem him smile before but not like this. This smile seemed so genuine. So real.

"You knew didn't you?" She asks
"Little bit yeah."
"How? We just met today."
"Lucky guess I suppose."

She began walking around the room. Grabbing book after book and taking them to a desk in the center where she could sit down and read.

"I'll leave you up here for a while. Enjoy your reading."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go look for Pruinae. It's. Been a while since he left."
"Oh... Well be careful. It's getting dark... Oh my god it's getting dark. What time is it?"
"About 9:30."
"Oh... You don't mind if I stay the night do you? I really rather not go back home..."
"Of course. You're welcome to stay."
"Thanks." She smiles in appreciation.
"No problem. Now I gotta go find Pruinae."
"Okay. Be careful."
"No promises."

He smiles and heads down the ladder. She stays in the room for a few hours. Swapping from one book to another. However, as much as she loves to read, she hates sitting still. She decides to take a break and explore the house a bit more. She goes back down to the bottom floor as she already more or less familiar with it and decides it'll be easier to find her way around.

As she's walking through the halls she passes by several doors. Some of them have to be bedrooms she imagines, but also thinks that the bedrooms would more likely be on the higher levels. Out of curiosity she opens the next one she sees. Near the back of the house, she found the next one. She opens the door to see nothing but a small hatch on the ground. She opens it to reveal a staircase leading down. There's no light in there and she can't see a light switch. She figures it would probably be easier to explore a different room, but the fact that this lead to a part of the house she didn't even knew existed, was too tempting. She begins searching for a flashlight and a few minutes later she finds one. She heads back to the door and right before descending, she remembers something quite important.
Lamia.
It had been hours since he left, and she had no idea what had happened to him or his dog. She thought she should ask for permission before snooping around peoples houses, but her boredom and curiosity got the better of her. She begins going down the stairs until she reaches the floor. She can't feel a switch on the walls so she turns on her flashlight.

And almost as quickly as she turned it on, she drops it. The room was completely dark. And even though you would never be able to tell, the look on her face was pure shock. The light fell at an angle to where what she first saw was still visible.

On the wall... Were dozens of pictures of her. The more horrifying thing about this was... She had never seen the places these photos were taken. Never wore the clothing she had on in the photos. She grabs to lights and begins looking at the other walls. She sees candles and matches along the walls and counters and lights them to see the whole room at one time. All around the room... were photos of her. Letters that matched her handwriting perfectly. There were even drawing of her. Paintings. Some of these places didn't even seem like they were from this age. Showing castles and villages in the back ground. Strange, ornate clothing on some. And on the far wall, there was on painting. Bigger than the rest. She walks up to this painting of her and another man, hand in hand. Her eyes widen as she realises the man in the painting... Is Lamia. She steps back from the painting. Almost terrified. And as she gets further away, all the candles blow out in one swift motion. One after another in quick succession. The room begins to feel ice cold and as she can't see, she attempts to turn on the flashlight, only it wouldn't. As if the batteries had been taken out.

She turns around to head back up to the main floor and run home. But freezes. On the far side of the room... Staring at her... Were bright... Glowing... Yellow eyes.