Prologue

A/N

  Hey, everybody!

Nope, this isn't a new FF..., I'm still working on that.. [or, that is, I really NEED to work on that ~cough cough~]
[First, lem'me say sorry that the story is kinda... all on one side? For some reason, my email makes it like that... You see, I've been saving it on my email as a draft since I lost my flashdrive. xD]

But anyway, this is a story I've been working for the last several days. Well, obviously, the prologue to a story. It's completely different than the style I usually write in, so prepare for some... well, unusual-ness.

I've just recently read Pride and Prejudice [twice, actually, once to myself, and once out loud to my mom, both reading, in which, about the space of two weeks xD], and I absolutely loved the strange style Jane Austen wrote it in. At first, I didn't; I thought it was weird because I was used to something entirely different. Once I got over that, however, I enjoyed it highly! And I got the urge to attempt something similar. Hence, this story.

It's different, like I said, than usually, but hopefully y'all'll like it anyway :3

Please tell me what you think, and don't at all be afraid to critique!

And that's that!

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Have fun! 8]

  Hazel Chandler and her family were to arrive within the course of

the morning, an impossibly trepidatious thought for Mrs. Williams.

"Luke! My dear, never leave your books lying about so! You're going to cause

the death of me, falling over and splitting my head open! Do you so desire my end?"

"No, mother, of course not." Luke replied warmly.

"Well, I certainly hope not! Get them up, my dear, and prepare

yourself! The Chandlers aren't to be taken so evidently lightly! You

know how important they are; don't dawdle so!" Mr. Williams remained

quiet, reading his newspaper, as the youngest two Williamses, Mia and

Saffron, just a year apart, and neither of which older than seventeen,

dashed past in a frenzy to make something special of their appearances,

this being one of the few occasions they might actually meet with new

acquaintances. "Saffron! Mia! Watch where you're going, children! My

word, what is to become of me!"

"Yes, mother!" Saffron called out, "I'm so terribly sorry, but you see

I'm trying to look pretty... And I'm doing just for you! I know how 

important this is for you. I thought it would help if the Chandlers liked me."

Mia could hardly contain her giggle at her sister’s sly reply and disappeared

into another room before her mother caught sight of her mischievous grin.

"Aww, alright then, sweeties, just make sure you're on your best

behavior when the Chandlers do so arrive!"  She called after them.

    Thus, in this manner, so spent the early morning- Mrs. Williams

fretting, Mr. Williams avoiding, and two Miss Williamses fixing their

hair. Luke Williams was quite used to it after nineteen years of

experience. Hence, he remained quiet and attended to what needed

attending to as he thought about nothing more interesting than the

arrival of the guests they were to be keeping for a fortnight. The

Chandlers had written Mr. Williams a month before, requesting the

trouble of keeping them for thus time, for the city house in which they

generally resided was being updated with the newest... well,

everything. The Chandlers, consisting of a man, wife, single daughter,

Hazel, and son, Collin, were decided upon experiencing the country life;

and they, being none other than the richest guests the Williamses had

hence encountered, were imposing themselves with the knowledge of the

deepest wishes of Mrs. Williams to have such a renowned title for her

humble bed and breakfast, they would be taken care of with the utmost

civility... At least as well can be managed from a country home.

Day One

    The Chandlers were late. Fortunately, this suited Mrs. Williams

perfectly well, for she was able to finish last minute tidying to near

satisfaction; and the breakfast they were to serve, having turned into

lunch, had the addition of a third course. “They’re coming!” Mia,

giddy and frolicking about the house, shouted from the front-facing

parlor. “Yes, my dear, of course they are, just inform me when you see

them.” Mr. Williams muttered from behind his newspaper.

“Mr. Williams! Stand up! Stand up!” Mrs. Williams fretted, “They’re

just coming ‘round the bend! I can see their chaise. I do declare, it’s

as elegant as I ever would have imagined!” Mr. Williams sighed, and

reluctantly stood, not quite as agitated with excitement as the women

rapturously were. Luke Williams was of a like mind, although he was

rather more curious than his father.

     Mr. Williams considered the whole charade completely unnecessary,

as he personally saw the arrivals simply what they were- people, who

happened to have a lot of money. Mia and Saffron, on the other hand,

had similar expectations, both of which delighting in new company, and

therefore, new gossip. However, Mia was more interested in this than

her sister, for Saffron, unbeknownst to her relations, had other

schemes that were developing steadily. Mrs. Williams had the sole

thought of glory, praise, and lots and lots of money if the Chandlers

were good enough to talk to others of their society about her humble

bed and breakfast. Luke looked forward to new company and hoped to find

among them a similar mind, spirit, and, of course, one who must admire

books.

  "Here they are!" Mrs. Williams rushed to the front door and nodded to

Harris, the butler whom they had kept on for as long as she could

remember. He was an old fellow, but did his job well enough, and Mrs.

Williams rather enjoyed talking to him, for he was a good listener,

even if he was deaf.  Harris opened the door, admitting the Chandlers.

   “Oh! How quaint this is!” Mrs. Chandler, the leader and entrepreneur

of this vacation, strode into the room.  She was adorned in pearls from

bracelets to buttons to necklaces, and as elegant as she was, her

clothes were tight-fitting on her large form. Collin Chandler followed

behind her,  enormously physically different, considering his vergiform

appearance and modest vest. He seemed resigned to be there. Behind him

came Mr. Chandler, tall and broad, followed just a moment later by

Hazel Chandler in a simple gown and single loop of pearls around her

slender neck.

   “Welcome! Welcome, to my humble home, Mr. and Mrs. Chandler, Miss

Chandler, Master Chandler!” Mrs. Williams trilled and curtsied much

lower than entirely necessary. “This is my husband, Mr. Williams,” Mr.

Williams bowed his head, “And my daughters, Mia and Saffron.”  Mia

immediately curtsied and greeted them, but Saffron stared at Collin

Chandler until he happened to glance her way; She bowed her head and

curtsied, “Charmed… I’m sure.” She murmured quietly.

“And this is my son, Luke Williams.”

 “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“My,  my!” Mrs. Chandler babbled, looking about the room without the

least bit of forbearance. “Small, to be sure, but such a darling

atmosphere!”

“Of course it’s going to be small, Mother; it’s the country after all.”

Collin mumbled.

    Luke tried not to cringe at the incivility, and ceased

listening to the exchange between the Chandlers and his mother. His eyes

fell, staring into the distance and nothing at all. For a moment, he

stared at the quilt hung on the wall; and then his eyes roamed to

Collin’s face. His eyes were brown, a determined brown, like they

weren’t going to change color for anybody. His personality appeared not

to be as Luke had hoped for, but it was too soon to judge with any

accuracy. He would give him another few days before he really accepted

the dismal character.  Luke diverted his eyes, and, momentarily, 

they fell on Hazel Chandler. He started, realizing she was staring 

back at him. Her eyes were crystal blue, and intense. They 

widened at his look and moved hurriedly to another part of the room.

***

     Lunch was, without doubt, the most unusual Luke had ever had in

his nineteen years. Mostly he remained quiet, and watched, listened to

the visitors. One minute would invite Mrs. Chandler’s remarks on one

thing or another, with the next, his mother’s mutterings of humbleness,

and hoping for the most amiable experience for her guests. Soon after,
Mia would be asking anything and everything of city life, to Luke’s dismay

of such poor civility in new company. Collin mostly grunted, remarked

with displeasure on one topic or another, and obviously couldn’t wait to
 be rid of his current companions. Mr.Williams and Mr. Chandler got
on tolerably well; at least they talked to each other a bit, which was an
improvement, at least, for Luke’s father. The strangest part of it all was,
however, Hazel Chandler’s attitude and behavior.

   Luke, sparing a glance for her once in a while, curiously wondering

what she was thinking, noticed she hardly talked either, choosing,

instead, to focus on the two courses and rather observing the faces

around her. She didn’t appear shy, only interested, quiet, getting ideas of the

individuals just through their faces. He caught her, once or twice, looking

at him, yet again, with those severely intense crystal orbs.

   Trying to identify with her, Luke determined to attempt

light conversation, as she was sitting just across from him, and

whenever there was a lull, “I hope your journey to our town was an

agreeable one, Miss Chandler.” Hazel glanced up, a bit surprised at

being spoken to, and replied casually that it was perfectly adequate.

The silence lasted only a moment before Hazel’s mother gladly took upon

herself the burden of making conversation, “By the by, I’m sure your

town of Hemmingsworth must be absolutely quaint! I can only possibly wonder how

it will compare to our, dear city! Indeed, I shall enjoy a drive through it.”

With this, Luke went back to his lunch and remained silently with his

own thoughts.

***

   The day passed more quickly than even Mr. Williams would have hoped.

While they were lunching, Harris, the butler, took the Chandler’s

luggage up to their rooms; and after a bit more of the dreaded polite

conversation in the parlor, Mrs. Chandler proclaimed herself weary with

the traveling and all this meeting of new people. “Oh, my dear Mr.

Chandler, I’m suffering from the most dreadful headache! It must be

 from that trundling drive here. And such strange surroundings I’m not

at all used to! ” Luke’s mother immediately expressed concern, offering

to send for the doctor, but Mrs. Chandler wouldn’t have it, exclaiming

she only needed to rest.  She and her husband went upstairs, leaving

Hazel and Collin with the company of the Williamses.

   Silence ensued. “Master Chandler,” Saffron interrupting it, spoke,

“Perhaps you would like to see the grounds? We have a most lovely

forest nearby, and the pathways are overshadowed from the heat of the

day. I find it quite nice to walk along the paths and get away for a

while.” Collin blinked, but agreed, almost happily, that he would very

much like to be out in the open air. Luke wondered when it was that

Saffron had started liking the outdoors so much, but remained quiet.

Collin bowed and exited with Saffron beside him.

   Mr. Williams soon gave up, retiring to his room, never one for idle

chatter, and Mrs. Williams did her best to make conversation between

Mia and Hazel. The attempt didn’t last long, however, as neither seemed

at all interested in the other. After a bit, Mrs. Williams, sipping her

tea, seemed to stop altogether making any useful conversation.

Realizing the burden had fallen on himself, Luke tried to think of

something to talk about, but Hazle took the trouble herself, “To be

honest, I’ve been longing to ask, do you have a library I might use?”

Luke glanced up, a half-smile on his face.

“Oh!” Mrs. Williams, surprised by this question from the young lady,

“absolutely, Miss Chandler! Would you like me to take you, or…”

“I can show her, Mother, if you would like me too- Miss Chandler?”

She smiled, graciously, “I would very much appreciate it. Mrs.

Williams, I hope you don’t mind my slipping away?”

“No, no! You go right ahead and do what you like, my dear.” Hazel

curtsied, following Luke out of the room.

   Opening the door their small library, Luke and Hazel entered

silently. “Are you fond of books, Master Williams?”

He smiled, “Exceptionally. No one but my father and myself really enjoy

reading, and when it comes to Father, mostly he reads only the

newspaper. Our library was essentially gathered by the past generation

and myself.”

“A kindred spirit.” Hazel smiled at him, and turned, browsing the

shelves.

Luke, clearing his throat, “Well, I’ll let you read in peace, Miss

Chandler,” and exited the room.

***

   The remainder of the day passed in near silence. Mrs. Chandler

remained in her room all that day, with her husband taking her food

when the time came, having informed them that she was abed, still, with

her headache. Collin and Saffron stayed gone until dinner, only coming

back when entirely necessary, both in better spirits than the morning

had afforded. And when Hazel returned from the library, she requested

to take a few books to her own room, and was answered with a most

welcome yes, Mrs. Williams already hoping for a most excellent review

from the youngest Chandler.

   Retiring to bed, Luke pondered his guests, letting all his amiable,

civil, and gallant faces fall way to what he really thought of them. He

wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the lot of them, their family

being drastically different from his own. Except, that is, for Miss

Hazel, who seemed rather more interesting.

   It was a long while before he could let go of his thoughts, and drift off at last.

Random Thing I Wrote While Bored

  Thalia sat. Mar played with a frying pan. Lydia did the polka with a strange boy named Alex while Kallista  sang opera in the corner. Suddenly, the door burst open and in stalked one named Skyril. Everyone stopped. Everyone stared. Everyone eyed the newcomer.
  Skyril trudged up to the bar, the spurs on her boots rattling, and ordered a root beer on the rocks and turned to to look back at everyone. They were silent. They were staring. Skyril sipped her root beer, and everyone went back to what they were doing.
  She gulped down the rest of her drink and ordered another as she watched the group's goings on. The door, wooden, old, and creaky swung open on ancient hinges to reveal a man in dirty clothes, his jacket ripped in places, and his hair stringy. It looked like he hadn't shaved for a few days. His hand was hanging by his side, but there was a pistol in it, and he trudged in, his step a lanky, lazy walk.
  Everyone went quiet once again but for the girl called Skyril. She nodded to the man, her dusty hat tipping ever-so-slightly. He found a place at the bar and leaned, placing his gun on the top. He ordered a drink and turned as everyone, once again, went back to what they were doing, only a bit more wary. The bartender swallowed and ducked back behind the counter. Skyril felt sorry for the little man.
  The newcomer nodded at Skyril, and stepped closer. Abruptly, Kallista stopped her operatic song, and came over to the bar, ordering something for herself. She looked at the man out of the corner of her eye while she drank. She walked between Skyril and the man, glancing at Skyril, and ignoring him completely. Thalia, Mar, Alex, and Lydia all watched from where they were. Thalia continued to sit, while Mar fiddled more aggitatedly with her frying pan, and Alex and Lydia finished their polka to sit down as well, watching.
  "Howyeh?" Skyril asked Kallista when she continued to stare.
"Yer knew here, ain't'cha?"
Skyril nodded, "Happen to be so. What's it matter to yew?"
The man interrupted, his voice rough and croaking. "Yer unprepared, girl."
Skyril looked at him, standing a little taller, and gulping down the rest of her root beer. "Unprepared fer whut, mister? If yew two think ah need yer help," she shrugged, "than yew'd be wrong."
Kallista immediately shook her head, but the man just grunted. Kallista spoke, "Oh, no, darlin', ah'm not sayin' you need our help, but yer knew, and you better be ready fer this town."
Skyril shrugged, "Fine. Thanks fer the warnin'."
  The man grunted and turned, staring at Skyril. She sighed, already getting tired of all the staring this town did. She look at him, "Whut do yew want, huh? If ya ain't gonna say nothin' than mind yer own business, got it, Mister?"
His eyes hardened, and Kallista closed hers, knowing Skyril had said the wrong thing. He picked up his gun and indicated the door to outside. Skyril rolled her eyes and ignored him, rather, walking to the tables and sitting. She pulled out her pistol and spun it, playing with it as she took the man's glare and gave one of her own.
  Lydia coughed, throwing a look back and forth between Skyril and the man. Then she stood, withdrew her own gun, pointing it at the man. Alex looked at her, wondering what she had in mind. Thalia and Mar leaned forward, interested in the display. She grinned, pulling out her other gun and aiming it at Skyril.
  Her eyes lit up as she pulled the triggers.

My Entry for Derek's Competition [the one I didn't win :P]

  Valkyrie groaned, and sat up. "I told you it was a trap," she said.
"No, you said it looked like it was a trap," Skulduggery corrected. "That's completely different."
He helped her up as a door opened behind them and Sadistica Tortura walked through, an unsettling smile on her lips.

  Skulduggery said, "Oh, hello." then looked at Valkyrie. "This is Sadistica Tortura she's Vaurien Scapegrace's aunt and surprisingly more successful at murder than he is."

Sadistica stopped in her tracks, "Don't ever relate me to Vaurien again. I disowned him years ago, back when he was a bartender and not as much of a failure." She glared at Skulduggery, “How did you even know I was related?”

“Wait, his aunt?" Valkyrie interrupted, shocked. Skulduggery’s shoulders lifted slightly in a shrug, "I'm afraid so."

  Sadistica pointed her long-nailed fingers at Valkyrie, "I just said not to relate me to that moron. Do you happen to be deaf?" Valkyrie laughed. She couldn't help it. Vaurien had an aunt?

  "So, like," she said, grinning, "do you two get together for Christmas or something?" Sadistica looked back and forth between her and Skulduggery. "Don't look at me," Skulduggery said, "I’ve never been able to get her to be quiet either. Except for that one time when…” Sadistica closed her eyes for a second, her hands clutching into fists. “Well, never mind,” Skulduggery muttered.

  "No,” she said after a moment, addressing Valkyrie “actually, we don't get together for Christmas, and I think you need to be quiet now or would you rather me cut your tongue out?”

“She’s a torturer for hire,” Skulduggery informed Valkyrie. “By the way, Sadistica, nice trap. When did you get into the business of trapping your adversaries? I thought you just tortured them after they were trapped.”

  “No,” Sadistica growled, “don’t you remember how this goes, Skulduggery? I ask the questions. And then you answer. And then I kill you, even though I said I’d let you live if you answered my questions. Speaking of which, you never told me how you knew. I destroyed all the files relating me to Vaurien a long time ago. How did you do it?”

  He nodded, “I can understand how that would confuse you, but, you see, I’m a detective, and detectives just know things like this. Actually, don’t tell anybody, but there’s a secret detective agency that tells you everyone’s little secrets when you get the job. It’s actually quite useful.”

  Sadistica blinked and Valkyrie spoke, “But how can she be his aunt? She doesn’t look like him or anything.”

  A rattling interrupted Sadistica’s reply and the door behind her burst open, two cleavers coming through. They grabbed her by either arm as she yelled and squirmed, trying futilely to get out of their grip. “Oh by the way,” Skulduggery said, “I should probably tell you I called the Sanctuary before we came in. Fortunately, they had a couple cleavers they could send over.” Sadistica’s eyes widened in fright.

  “Wait a second,” Valkyrie shouted excitedly, “Now I see the resemblance!”

Preview of a story

  She looked at the two of them, disgust showing on her face. They were so little, so insignificant, and yet they were the cause of all this catastrophe. How could humans so very tiny and unimporant be this evil and destructive?
  Perhaps they were posessed by demons, or maybe the two of them with their little minion basked in hatred, disdain, and disgust? Maybe they just loved to get the compassion of the people, by trying to make the solely innocent look dreadfully guilty.
  Unable to decide amongst the three possibilities, she decided the answer was all of them. Well, she thought wistfully, I wonder when their punishment shall befall them? I must say, I'm going to enjoy it.
  As she continued to look upon their little games and mockery of innocence, she saw a few walk up and stand awkwardly between them, and another group, the group that was truly innocent but for childish teasing and playfullness. Ah,thought she, the ones who can't decide. The ones who remain in between. Shame those few can't ever be involved in the real fun of the innocent group, the secret fun only they know about. Indeed, they can look upon them and chatter like they belong, but unfortunately it shan't be complete honesty. They attempt to remain on both sides, or perhaps it is neither... Either way, they think since nothing destructive has been done to them personally- that they shall get out free. Alas, they cannot have the best of both worlds when the worlds are so immensely different, separate, opposite, light and dark.
  She shook her head in disbelief as she saw a few defending the evil two's actions. She wondered how that could possibly be, and decided that some humans were just and simply dumb.
  She watched for a long time, learning the ways of each group. When she finally stopped, she knew the truths and the lies, knew the powers and the peasants, knew the hairs on the head of each, and she was going to enjoy having her fun with them.


Author's note
I wrote this when I was kind of half asleep... So sorry if it's not very good, but what do you think of it so far? It's sort of a preview of a story that has been on the edge of my mind, and I've only just discovered :P

Picture of the Probable House

Ok, first, I just want to say...


OH MY GOODNESS!
The last post was my 50th :D
I'm happy right now....

Okie, secondly, due to more than one request to see this picture, I shall post a quick pic I took of the house we're [probably] closing on today!
Oh, and it was a picture in the rain.. That's why everything's wet :P

Oh? And by the way, that's not our car... it's not even our RENTAL, as a matter of fact. It's our realtor's car :P
In case you were wondering.....

The Living Skeleton

  Henry's mouth hung open as he stared at Skulduggery. Skulduggery looked back at him, unmoving, but it was already too late. "You-... You're... You're a skeleton..."
Skulduggery shrugged, and Henry jumped back in surprise. Skulduggery made a sound like he was clearing his throat awkwardly and replied, "Yes, yes I am, actually."
  Henry stared, his mouth, once again, agape, "No, no way. You must be... you're a... I know! You're animated, right? You're... you're like a Halloween decoration... right?"
Skulduggery paused for a moment, then lifted his arms in robotic fashion. When he spoke, his voice was devoid of emotion as he tried his best to be a robot "You... caught me... Henry. Good... job..."
  Henry slowly shut his mouth, and he put on his most intimidating withering glare. Skulduggery kept up the act for a minute more before he gave up, dropping his arms to his sides.
"Ok, no, I am not Halloween decoration, and may I just say, thank you so very much for demeaning my character." He straitened his tie and stood a little taller.
  That's when Henry started asking questions, and Skulduggery began explaining the world of magic.

Part VII: Necessities

  Skyril sat up in bed, a surprised look on her face. She glanced around the room, and realized two things: her neck didn't hurt from when the werewolves had bitten her, and she was home, sitting in her own bed. She gasped, looking down at her arm and discovering it wasn't broken. She rubbed it up and down, stretching it out, not believing her own eyes.

  Climbing out of bed, she realized she was wearing her pajamas- the ones with little kittens all over them, and there was sunlight coming through her window. She walked over to it hesitantly, wondering what on earth could possibly be happening. Parting the curtains, she squinted at the sunshine and saw her neighbors across the street walking their dog.

  She shook her head. "This isn't right..." she muttered to herself. Sitting back down, utterly confused, she recalled the last thing that had happened to her. Skyril had been in the Nightmare's world, sitting on a borrowed bed. How had she gotten here? When? How was she no longer wounded?

  Something was wrong. It had to be.

  Skyril moaned and muttered, tossing over in her sleep on the bed, in the house, on the street, in the world of the Nightmare's as she dreamed the Nightmare's dream. And the Nightmare watched her, laughing at the thought of the fun she was going to have.

***

  Israel stood in the street, his arms crossed as he stared at a point in the air. NJ stood in front of that point, looking back at Israel and saying once again, "She's here. This is the exact spot. I can feel it." Her other hand was clutching Kallista's head, and the backs of her fingers were glowing with intricate, blue designs.

  "Well..," Gepard muttered, "she must be awfully small, I guess."

Raven walked around NJ and where she was pointing. Then leaned against a nearby wall and crossed her arms as well. "NJ? You do know Skyril's larger than an atom, right?" She raised her eyebrow at her skeptically.  NJ sighed, letting go of Kallista's skull and dropping her arms to her sides.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why, but it's that spot. The link between Kallista and Skyril led me here. I'm not sure what's wrong..."

  Israel nodded, "Alright, well then, since I doubt the Nightmare shrunk Skyril considerably, we're going to need to figure what's going on here. NJ? You're absolutely sure that you're right and it's that spot in particular?"

She paused for a second, thinking, then nodded, "Yes, it was that spot."

   "Ok, this means we're going to need to do some research. NJ? Take us to your master."

NJ blinked, and made a face, "China's not my master!"

Israel laughed, "Oh, I know. I've just always wanted to say that."

***

  Skyril crossed her bedroom and poked her head out the door. There wasn't anyone there, but she turned around anyway and went back to her bookshelf. Selecting And the Darkness Rained upon Them, the bookcase slid by, revealing to her, her weapons. She picked up one of the guns, checked for ammo, and stuck it behind her back, under her shirt. Selecting two knives with straps, she snapped them around her legs, and lastly, she hefted her mallet, a grin spreading across her face.

"Oh, how I've missed you," she muttered as she walked back to the door and exited.

  She padded barefoot down the hardwood floors, pausing only once when it creaked beneath her toes. She needed to fix that. Walking again, she came to the first door, a guest bedroom. The door was open so she peeked in. Nobody. She ran to the closet and swung the door open with a roar, but there was nothing in there except a few empty racks and hangers.

***

  Raven sighed happily as she gazed at China, then shook her head, bringing herself back to the real world. She knew China affected everyone the same way, but it was so annoying. NJ was talking with her, and her hands spread for a moment, then she shrugged her shoulders.

  It had been a quick drive here, and Israel decided it was best for NJ to broach the subject with China since NJ was already one of her students. Going over to her, they greeted each other with a, "Ah, hello there, Miss Maverick. How has your sigil practice been going?" And a, "It's been going well, China, thank you. That trick you taught me last week was really useful, but listen, I have a question to asked you and I was hoping you have some information." Then the two of the walked out of earshot, and Raven forced herself not to follow behind China, gazing at her fondly.

  Raven realized she was staring at her again and looked away irritably. Her gaze roamed from the books to Kallista, who was reading one in the corner, to Israel, who was pacing and trying to avoid looking in China's direction, to Gepard, who was just leaning against the wall and staring at China with a scowl as he fought the feelings bubbling in him at the sight of her.

  A moment later, Raven was watching her again, and sighed, impatient for NJ to finish her conversation. She walked over to the nearest bookshelf and read the titles, The Love of Magic, Orsiphith's Guide to Avoiding Wisps, Better Early than Happy. Walking down the shelf, she continued examining them half-heartedly until she heard NJ speaking. She trudged back quickly, hoping to hear good news.

  China had disappeared into the library, thankfully, and NJ was telling them what she had learned.

"So, I told China I had some very interesting information for her if she could help me out with any information she might have of her own. She agreed, of course, always happy to be well-informed, and I explained everything to her- about how Skyril was kidnapped and captured by the Nightmare and everything. Well, she didn't know anything about how Skyril contacted Kallista, but she could help somewhat with our other problem."

  "China said that she had heard things about the Nightmare and had read books about it. She explained that the Nightmare seems to disappear with whomever it has capture, but is actually still in that same spot."
  "So why couldn't we see it?" Gepard decided to ask the obvious, yet required question.

NJ nodded, "This is where is gets interesting."

***

  Having searched the whole house, Skyril sat down on the couch and looked at the phone sitting next to her on the coffee table. She saw there were three messages so she shrugged and put them on speaker to listen. An electronic female's voice echoed out of it, "You have... three... new messages. Message one, July 9, 2012, 3:27 A.M." Skyril's eyebrow rose at the early hour someone had called her.

  A moment later, Israel's drunken voice came on, "I so regret saving your filthy life." Skyril sat up, a frightened expression on her face. The sound of Israel spitting came on the recording followed by, "You killed them! It's all your fault. I should have left you to the Nightmare. It's your fault they're dead, and I... I," His voice got choked up, and Skyril stood over the phone with a horrified expression. Killed someone? Who was dead? What? What? "You're pathetic. You go 'round every day pretending you've got amnesia or something, won't even fess up for being the cause of their deaths." He hiccuped and the phone clicked as he hung up.

  The electric voice came on a moment later. Skyril sat back down, her head in her hands "End of message. Message two, July 9, 2012, 11:36 A.M." An angry voice filled the room, but she didn't recognize it. "I don't know why I involved myself in trying to rescue some girl I don't even know. I guess it was because your friends" he seemed to spit the word out with disgust, "thought so highly of you! Skyril Oblivion. This is Gepard Valk, and I want you to know I think you're a little less than dirt. You go around, day to day, pretending everything's great. You didn't even go to their funerals. What kind of 'friend' doesn't go to the funerals? I'm sorry I met you."

  Skyril's eyes crinkled up, and tears slid down her cheeks. She had done something awful, and she couldn't even remember. She shook her head, trying to recall and seeing a flash of a girl screaming, a building burning down. The electronic voice came on again. "Third message, July 9, 2012, 2:00 P.M." The voice was China's, "Meet me tonight at the park. You know which one. Midnight."

  Skyril looked at the phone and nodded, realizing she did know which park. She would be there.

***

  "Wait," Israel said as he looked at NJ with a slightly confused expression on his face, "let me get this straight. So the Nightmare exists through everyone's worst fears, but it takes the form of its victims for the fun of it and to have a physical shape, right?"

NJ nodded. "Correct so far." she said.

"Ok, then sometimes, when it has snatched somebody, it will disappear into another dimension that it controls while it plays with the person to its heart's content before finishing the person off and returning for more meat?"

"Yes," NJ responded. "Well, sort of. Ok, not exactly. It's more like the Nightmare has its own dimension where it takes its prey to play with. It can do whatever it wants there, yes, but it doesn't disappear. Not entirely, that is. It leaves a sort of a... Well, think of the Faceless Ones. Remember when they came here? There was a sort of string connecting them from one dimension to the other so that they could come back here after they were thrown into the other world. That's basically the same thing that happens with the Nightmare except there is no Isthmus Anchor because it doesn't need one. It controls the other dimension, and therefore simply leaves its invisble string and can come and go when it pleases. It doesn't usually come back while its victim is still alive or... sane, though, because if it comes back, so does the person."

  Israel nodded absently. "So where does this leave us? Do we need a teleporter?"

"Actually, no" NJ shook her head and turned, pacing back and forth a few steps. "China said this part was really hazy, and that there are several myths and even attempts a long time ago to try to get the Nightmare to return from its world for one reason or another. That seems to be impossible, though, but there are other myths that say people have gotten into the Nightmare's world. Of course, they're still hazy, but there is one fact that keeps springing up." She stopped pacing and looked at Israel. "You're not gonna like it, though."

***

  She had visitors. She smelled them coming a mile away, and if she hadn't, she would have sensed them some other way long before they arrived. Of course, she wasn't looking at them as visitors, at that moment because instead, they were purely meat, food, flesh, blood, things to fill her boredom if she could just get out of that tiny cage she was forced into everyday before the sun went down. She roared, her clawed hands grabbing and shaking the cage bars in front of her, the vampire trying to get free before the sun shone again. Alas, it was already too late, for dawn was breaking.

  The visitors had come early, moments before the sun decided it was time to get up. The vampire she was stumbled back, screaming in rage at its failure to escape the enclosement yet again, for skin was growing, forming bright and beautiful. It grew, and suddenly there was hair sprouting from her head. Brown hair blooming and falling to her shoulders as her eyes sealed over replaced with gorgeous green, human eyes. Her fangs shrunk last, and with a whimper, Bridget Whiplash was back.

  She sighed and got dressed in a t-shirt and jeans to appear adequately before her guests. The cage had already clicked open when the sun had risen so she stepped out, closing the door behind her and walking out into the open. Before she saw them, she knew there was five of them, and she assumed they needed something from her. Unless they were her friends, but the few she had were either living in, or vacationing in Australia anyway, so it couldn't be- she stopped in her tracks, sniffing the air and grinned.

  Bridget walked out of the Vampire Inn muttering, "Why, Kallista, you shouldn't have."

Kallista waved at her with a laugh, "I can never surprise you when it comes to steak, can I?"

Bridget grinned, "Afraid not."

Kal produced a plate of only-very-slightly-cooked steak from behind her back and handed it to Bridget.

"Mmm, breakfast," she mumbled. "Well, would you, um, like to come into my humble... Vampire room, and watch me eat while you tell me who the rest of these people are?"

  "Hey!" Israel said defensively, "what about me?"

Bridget looked at him for a moment. "Oh, and Israel, of course."

***

  Skyril sat on a swing in the park. She glanced at her phone. Six to midnight. She wished, then, that China would sometimes be early. Unfortunately for her, China tended to prefer being fassionably late. Skyril sighed, playing with a small dagger in her hand and started swinging back and forth. After the phone calls, she had tried to remember for hours what had happened, but could recall nothing further. She hoped China could possibly clear things up. She was worried that China herself was going to be mad at her for some reason or another even though the message on her phone didn't sound angry, but on the other hand, when would China go out of her way to meet up with someone like Skyril in the middle of the night to give her some friendly advice?

  No, there had to be some alterior motive for China's calling her. Skyril swung higher, wondering what she could have possibly done to Israel and Gepard to make them hate her so badly. Who had she killed? What was her fault? Skyril sighed again, trying to think about something else. That was what she had been trying to remember all day. It wasn't going to do any good to be distracted while she talked with China. Hopefully, China would have some insight into what had happened and would tell her.

  "You're here. I thought you might be."

Skyril looked up, startled  by the sudden voice, and saw China walking up, her black clothing bathed in moonlight. Skyril skidded to a stop on the swing and stood, trying to keep her mind on her questions at the sight of China. "Why did you call me here? I know you're not one to help a friend in need, so what's going on?"

China looked at her and shook her head, "No, and besides, you're not my friend so I wouldn't be helping you even if I was that kind of person. No hard feelings."
Skyril shrugged, already knowing that bit anyway.

  "The reason I called you was for two things. I wanted to see if you would come, and I wanted to give you a, shall we say, proposition."

Skyril looked confused, "To see if I would come? Why would you want to see that?"

"Because, my dear girl, if you had not come, it would have proven to me that you were faking it and you truly remembered. However, you did come, and that leads me to believe that you've been honest. You're suffering from amnesia, aren't you?"

  Skyril sat back onto the swing, looking down at the dirt. "Yes," she said, "I can't remember anything since... well, I guess it was a while ago... I don't know."

China nodded, "And that leads me into that particular proposition I was talking about. You see, there's this certain book I want. I need you to get it for me, Skyril, and if you do that, I promise I'll tell you everything."

Skyril looked at China suspiciously. Nothing was ever as simple as it seemed when it came to this woman, "What book is it you want?"

"The book? It's unimportant to you- only a title. The tricky part is where it would come from."

Skyril sighed, "Get to the point."

A smile spread over China's lips, "A small mansion in Australia called Elysium Asylum."

***

  "You see, Bridget," Kallista began to explain, "we need just a bit of your blood, if you don't mind." They were sitting in her room. There was furniture to make it as homey as possible with a cage in the next room. There were two couches, an armchair, and a coffee table. She was sitting in the armchair while Gepard, Kallista, and Raven sat on one couch with Israel and NJ on the other. NJ sat and listened, rather surprised this odd group knew a vampire, were even friends with her. Well, at least Kallista seemed to be, and Israel seemed pretty calm. Gepard, on the other hand was glaring, his arms crossed over his chest.

  Bridget took a bite of her steak and glanced at Kal, "You need some of my blood?"

Israel took over the conversation, "It's kind of hard to explain, really."

Bridget shrugged, "Alright, try me." She took another bite of her steak happily.

"Ok, you know when you have bad dreams at night? Well there was an actual being who caused those a long time ago. Fortunately, this Nightmare monster was locked and sealed, but recently, it has broken out somehow and kidnapped Skyril. We got NJ here to track down where the Nightmare was because the Nightmare can change into anything, even air, but when we got there, she pointed at nothing and said that was it.-"

"Well it wasn't actually nothing..." NJ trailed off when everyone looked at her, "nevermind."

"So," Israel continued, "we went to China for help to see if she knew any way to find the Nightmare. She explained that it has its own dimension and there's a string connecting ours and its sort of like with the Faceless Ones a while ago except there is no Isthmus Anchor and no way to make the Nightmare come back to this world. However, there is way to go to the Nightmare's world, and to do that, we need vampire blood."

  Bridget had stopped eating, the fork half-way to her mouth as she listened. Israel looked calm, but almost sheepish at the same time, wondering how Bridget would react.

 She nodded,  "... Alright then, sounds interesting. Just give me a minute to finish my steak."