Sylvie

Sylvie couldn’t believe her eyes.  She watched as the UFO emitted yet another light, this time matching the gray of the glass.  One by one the vampires all stepped under the light and disappeared from view.  When Kigatilik poked Sylvie with one of his dragon heads, she turned to face the creature she loathed. “What?  They went through the door, why does that matter to you?”

Immediately after the question was asked, Sylvie’s vision froze in place.  Lumbering over to Franco, the wispy dragon flipped forms once more and covered the man’s head. 

“The skull…the fucking skull.” Sylvie muttered as the vision shifted once again.

-Alan knows there is something about the skull…but what?-

Settling back into the near present, Sylvie was again standing on the farmland that held the door.  She looked around and noticed Kigatilik was nowhere in sight. 

-Good riddance, beast.-  She internally thought, -Covered in snow, the houses still up.  Alan hasn’t started construction yet.-  Without warning, the vision went dark and the stars appeared once more in the sky. -Okay…what now?-

Flashes of familiar green lighting streaked through the sky, with such magical force that Sylvie felt the power within the vision.

-Denise Crow…what in the world does she have to do with this?-

Mystery had been the usual means for Sylvie’s third eye to deliver a message, yet this time, the answer had been given without hesitation.  Within each of the standing windmills a silver plate had been affixed to a point on the ground.  Imprinted on the metal were obvious vampire bite holes with little swirls leading down into the holes. 

-Blood drains into the hole..I get it.  Five plates.-

Sylvie counted the plates to be sure, all five were present and all five hidden within the windmills.   Lightning flashed down at the ground in multiple streaks as if pulled by a rod, melting four of the plates into silver sludge, and made the blood within the devices drain out and settle harmlessly on the ground. A few seconds after the metal was turned to a puddle, Sylvie heard the familiar hum of the quartz she’d seen earlier.

-Powering up?  How were they down in the first place?-

Brief flashes of Franco and four others under a blood barrier desperately shaping the silver while the diamond-eyed mist monsters attacked, echoed in Sylvie’s mind.  Slowly and methodically Franco managed to get the five silver plates in place, creating a seal that drew the diamond creatures back into the portal.  

-By the time you finished, it was just you.  Sorry, Franco

When the flashes of Franco ceased, Sylvie was standing face to face with the last silver barrier.  Hearing a light whistle, Sylvie watched as Alan walked into the windmill and began tossing the millstones out one by one.  Sylvie witnessed Alan find the plate and pull it from the ground.  Sylvie ran out of the structure in time to witness the blue lightning arc once more over a spot on the ground that should have had the portal.

-My god!  I didn’t realize… the pond is missing in the present.  So..what did the lightning just connect to?-

Slowly Sylvie watched as the ground where the door should have been, became saturated with some type of liquid and then formed a bog the size of the doorway.  

-Unreal.  Alan, I can’t believe…-

Moments later ten misty white claws ripped their way out of the bog, and pulled the remaining cloud free of the murky liquid.  As the gray matter drained away from the bone-white mist, the creature's diamond eyes took in its surroundings.

Sylvie felt the exact same horror coming from the vision of the beast as she felt when Kigatilik was close by, when it all hit her.

-They are the same.-

Sylvie screamed and cursed her beast.

- Kigatilik, you tortuous fuck, I will get even somehow!  You and the wisps are the fucking same thing?  Unbelievable!-

Sylvie watched as the white mist took the form of a ghostlike woman with long hair and flew off into the distance.

-Alan..you..Ugh..Kigatilik..you..both..bastards.-

It all made sense to Sylvie at that moment.  All of the strange happenings during the month, the sudden appearance of The Cross-Killer and how Alan manipulated her.

-You want me to fix MY shit?  It’s really your fucking mess

A calm yellow light bathed Sylvie for a few seconds, and the vision changed a final time.  Sylvie saw a laminated calendar with a blood-streaked circle around October, 31st - Halloween.  Turning to face a window when a myriad of screams started, Sylvie walked over and pulled the curtain away.  Outside were hundreds of beasts, led by the white ghost,that grabbed and consumed people as their fear overwhelmed them.

-Fifteen days, we have fifteen days before the things…-

Sylvie paused as a name popped into her mind.

-...the Shadewraith’s…Shadewriath’s…take down the city.  Franco’s skull, start there.-

Akin to a door slamming shut, Sylvie’s third eye closed quickly and roused the soothsaying vampire from her slumber.  Incoherent to everything except the fact that Casey was holding her, Sylvie began trying to speak. “Shadewraith…Alan…Franco..”  She rasped softly. “C-Casey?”

“Yes buttercup?”  Casey responded gleefully. “You are just waking up sweetness.  Give yourself a moment to gather your senses.  It’s only myself, Amber and you.”  Casey ran her hand over Sylvie’s flushed cheeks, caressing her softly. “Are you hungry?  I have bottles here.”

Upon hearing Casey’s gentle voice, Sylvie stopped trying to talk or even get up.  She vaguely heard the offer for blood, but unlike prior incidents where a vision came on without warning, she wasn't the least bit hungry.

Having heard her master's name, Amber righted herself on the sofa and inquired. “You said Alan just now, Sylvie.  You saw him in the mix?”  She looked confused at Casey and shrugged, “I suddenly got really defensive.  I didn’t want to.”  Amber chuckled and patted Sylvie on her leg, “Shadewraith..is that what the diamond-eyed things are?”

Nodding weakly, Sylvie slowly peeked open her moonlit eyes. “My word, That was an exceptionally long blackout.”  Sylvie took a deep breath and while she loved the scent that Casey had, she got an unfamiliar one from Amber. “I smell the change, Amber.”  Sylvie’s eyes stayed as full moons, “Alan?  You are his ward?”

“I was holding off saying anything until you were more yourself, Sylvie.”  Casey quickly responded before Amber had the chance. “I have been told the story, it’s an accident at best.”

“Is this what you want, Amber?”  Sylvie’s tired voice floated between the three women.

Twisting one of her platinum locks, Amber initially hesitated and didn’t answer her former mistress.  Once her hair was tightly wrapped around one finger Amber found the courage to speak. “It is.  I am hoping this doesn’t wreck our friendship.”  Amber began crying softly, “We’ve been and seen so much, I couldn’t handle things if you weren’t still in my life, Sylvie.”

Very tired of talking internally, Sylvie nodded before speaking once more. “We have been through quite a bit.”  She affirmed, “Let me answer your question about the diamond eye things.  The name came to me as a whisper in the dreamstate.  That is the term I plan to use, but I have no real clue what the fuck they are.”

“Hey!”  Casey lightly shoved Sylvie, “That’s my fuck’n line.  No stealy.”

Laughing for the first time in what seemed like days, Sylvie felt her strength return and she sat up.  When the long cornrows fell across her eyes, she perked one of her thin eyebrows. “Really, Casey?  I am not sure I like these.”

“You owe me, young lady.”  Casey pointed between her legs. “You locked up in the middle of a really good moment.”

Amber belted out a laugh and stood up. “Getting a bit personal for my liking you two.”  She looked at her watch, showing fifteen minutes to four in the morning. “Alan said I should come to his condo about this time.  I am going to gather a few things and probably stay there for the time being.”  Amber leaned over and gave Sylvie a tight hug, “Rest assured, Sylvie.  He promised to release me if I ask.  As it is, I am not sure about Veronica.”

Returning the hug in kind, Sylvie waited until the former blood bunny let her go before settling back in Casey’s lap. “Alan is knee-deep in this, Amber.”  She focused her new moon eyes, “Be careful, he might not be totally truthful to you.”

Little more was discussed before Amber collected her things and left the house.  Sylvie closed the door and watched until Amber was out of sight. “I am wary of telling you the vision until she is out of earshot.  Alan is a big part of this mess, pawning it off on me.”

“Some friend.”  Casey offered and grabbed Sylvie. “We are going to discuss this in our room, my little heart-plush.”

Sylvie reached over and grabbed the two bottles of blood, then let herself get led back into the bedroom. “I love that you fed me and I could feel your sunlight most of the time, thank you dolly-darling.”

Casey looked over her shoulder with a seductive grin on her face, “I can’t wait to hear what happened, love-puppy.”