The Midnight Within

Chapter 4

Mia was almost asleep on her sun warmed stone when the snap of a broken branch caught her attention. Cracking open one heavily lined eye, she squinted toward the sound of someone moving slowly towards her. She was not about to move for just anyone and was relived to see a familiar head of blue moving though the branches.

Stretching she sat up and swung her feet out over the large stone she had been laying on and put on her happy face. She had known her peace would be broken eventually. It always was when she visited the old overgrown cemetery In the middle of town.

Just in case it wasn't who she thought it was Mia reached for her camera and a smoke from her dress pocket. Some of the older townie's had a problem with people hanging out here, even though it was a long forgotten and neglected place. She preferred the old abandoned theme park out by the Haunted Farm but that was over an hour to get to so she tended to hang out here instead.

Lighting up, she toyed with the camera until the visitors came into view. " Well look what the cat dragged in. " One long purple braid fell into her face as she leaned forward to snag the bottle of wine from the base of her stone. " Aren't you a little early for the party? " She asked, wetting her lips as Zakk and Daniel crossed the grassy space in front of her.

"What's that? A little hair of the dog? " Zakk joked, hefting his weight onto the stone next to Mia's and tossed the butt of his smoke into the urn at his feet. The color was high in his chubby cheeks as he watched Daniel drop his long black patchwork coat onto the ground at the base of Mia's perch.

" So what brings you out here on a Friday morning? You didn't call in another bomb threat did you?"

"We blew up the school." Daniel grinned throwing his head back to look up at Mia's upside down face.

"I must have slept through it." Laughing, she nudged Daniel in the ribs. She did not like the troubled look on his face and didn't need to ask but did so anyway. " Nick again?"

" Nope, mom this time. I need to follow their rules or get out. " Daniel pulled the hair over his eyes as he slouched down against the cold stone. His lower lip jutted out, making him looks like a scolded child.

Mia's heart went out to him, having met his parents a few times she understood the look. She too had been dealing with a shitty father for a while now, except Daniel's father was not famous like hers was. "I have space you know." She said it with an offhandedness that left you wondering if she was talking about helping him out or just her way of saying, I know how you feel.

Daniel's response was to tug on the laces of her Doc Martin boots in a silent reply of thanks. They all knew she didn't have space for another person in her small duplex. Wanting to lighten the mood Daniel took the joint from his pocket, he had been saving it for later but the second he had gotten in the car he had known they would not be going to school that day. He lit the joint, inhaling the fragrant smoke with practiced ease, hi eyes following a spider up the side of their shared stone.

Relaxing he held it up for Mia. She gave them a what the hell shrug of her shoulders and reached down. Their fingers touched and Mia's heart skipped a beat. She felt as if she had been stuck by lighting but the sky was clear. Dizzy she fell backwards and kept falling. All she could think was oh shit Toto I'm not in Kansas anymore. It had happened once before, when she was about to board a plane, yet somehow this felt different, more real somehow than the vision she had at the airport. She had taken a later flight out, finding out later than the plane she was supposed to be on had gone down over the ocean.

In this one she was pushing through a crowd of kids, and catching snatches of a song. Halestorm or Evenesance she guessed. Either way it was some girl-fronted band at top volume. Smoke and sweat hung heavy in the air like a thick mass of webbing, making her want to escape this crowd. Luckily she spotted a staircase and pushed her way to it. She would have thought she was at carnival except for the fact that this was someone's house and not a balmy New Orleans night.

It was a party of some sort, Halloween or a masquerade ball, by the look of the costumes. Whatever it was it was making her claustrophobic; she needed to find a way out but every which way she turned was blocked by a party goers. When the sounds of breaking glass and screams began to drown out the music she knew she had to move, Whatever was going on she wanted no part of it. Up the ornate staircase she went, finding herself in a long empty hallway littered with empty cups and trash. At the end of the hall was a closed red door. Mia made her way down the hall. Her fingers closing around the knob.

From another door Zakk jumped out at her, making her scream. He was wearing one of those ornate animal masks and laughing. His finger pointing, back toward the staircase. More screams floated up from below filling her with fear. She screamed again when the door flew open and a half naked girl almost took her down.

'No. wait! " Mia yelled to her as she rushed past. "Don't go down there! "

"Better her than us." Daniel spoke from the now open doorway. Confused Mia turned her head to see what Daniel was talking about and realized it was his ex girlfriend Britt who had rust past her and the still laughing Zakk. He had removed his mask, dropping over the railing and did not see the impossibly tall figure standing in the shadows behind him until he stepped into the light. His long white hair was unkempt and he had the most piercing blue eyes Mia had ever seen. He grinned at them before grabbing Zakk and cutting his throat with one long sharp claw. Blood began to flow freely from the wound, yet Zakk continued to giggle. Britt screamed, dropping the clothing she had clutched to her chest and backed away as the man shoved Zakk over the banister rail and out of sight.

Mia screamed as well struggling to free herself from Daniel's grip as another figure came up the stairs, moving fast he grabbed the naked Britt, pulling her to him. Ignoring her screams he flashed white fangs and eyes of glowing blue. That's when Mia realized they were twins. Monstrous bookends covered in blood.

Daniel let go of Mia's arm, calmly stepping past her with a look of recognition, as if he knew who they were. The second twin reached out, pressing those long claws deep into the skin of Britt's creamy white breast, drawing blood. "That one is mine." The taller twin snarled as the other stopped feeding from the thrashing girl. Licking at his bloodstained lips he locked eyes on Mia and Daniel. " I want to know if they taste as good as they smell? "

Desperately Mia grabbed for Daniels arm, trying to pull him into the room. If she could get him into the room they could go out the window but Daniel was resisting her. The one holding Britt let go and began to advance down the hallway. From the same door Zakk had first come out of came yet another figure. He was shorter than the pair by almost a foot with long shining black hair and amber colored eyes. He was dressed in a fine black coat, purple velvet pants and high black boots and his voice was soft and seductive as hell. " Stand down shatter." Black closed a white hand over the one he called Shatter's arm and gave Mia a heartbreaking smile. " She is not the one."

"I want her." Shatter snarled, bristling at the black haired one.

"It's the boy we want. She's just a pawn."

Shatter grinned, his bloody clawed hand going to Daniel's throat. "I will have them both." His blue eyes were icy with madness as he slid his well-muscled arm around Daniel's waist, pulling him closer.

"Get the hell away from him!" Mia screamed again.

"What took you so long.?" Daniel said with a wicked smile of his own. That's when the door slammed shut on her, leaving her to desperately bang on the door.

Without warning she was falling backwards again, leaving Daniel and the monsters behind. Mia awoke with her head in Zakk's lap her heart still racing as she tried to sit up and got dizzy again.

" Please don't go. " Mia clutched at Daniel's arm scaring the crap out of both of them.

" I'm right here. Are you ok? You hit your head when you fell. "

" Just swear you won't go. "

" OK, I swear we won't go anywhere. " Daniel helped Mia sit up, looking worriedly over her head at Zakk, He was worried about the bump to the head but she seemed ok, brushing him off as she reached for her cloves. " Can I get a ride home? "

" Will you go to the walk in? " Zakk was holding her purse and camera.

" No, I want to go home. "

Without another word they followed Mia to Zakk's car. Both of them were worried about her, had been for some time. She was pale and a bit too thin but if they brought it up then she would tell them to get bent. They rode in silence for the few blocks to her tiny rented duplex. Mia brushing them off as she went inside. The boys waited a few minutes and then followed her in. They didn't speak as they settled into the Livingroom, knowing that when she was ready Mia would open up to them.

" I love you but I don't need a babysitter. " Mia came into the Livingroom with a cup of tea and curled up next to Daniel. They had decided to watch some schlocky horror movie about some metal heads who raised Satan with their music. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the remote from Daniel's hand.

" Hey! That looked good. " Daniel tried to get the remote back but Mia slapped his hands away.

" Out! Go play in the sunshine. Go mow my lawn or something. "


Laughing she kicked at him until he stood up with a hurt scowl on his face. She hated to kick them out but she really wanted to nap and knew that with the boys in the house a nap would never happen. So they stood up, still looking worried and tried to hang around some more, but Mia was having none of it and sent them on their way. She turned on Dr. Phil and promptly fell asleep, this time there were no bad dreams.