Sleepless Nights

by Chaos-walking88

An evil awakes inside an old abandoned church, thrirsty for power. It seeks revenge upon a world that keeps him locked away in shadows. All the while young Eric trys to get a restfull nights sleep, but pophetic nightmares plague him in his sleep. (please forgive me I'm not good at summeries the book is worth the read)

Children of Darkness Sleepless Nights

By: Lance Jones

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Book 1

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 1 Nightmare

His complexion is a pale pasty white with dark shadows under his eyes. Eric regards his reflection in the mirror with sleepy mixed emotion, for the past several weeks nightmares haunted his dreams and what little sleep he did get was short and light. Eric bends over the sink and splashes water in his face and leaves watching his reflection walk out of the mirror. He sits down with a sigh waiting for the minutes to pass before it was time to leave and take on yet another day of prison, also known as school. The doze was light but he could still see those dark eyes gleaming so full of promise and yet so full of deceit, like open doors into the very gates of a hell that no man has yet to see. His eyelids slide open and he stands shouldering the pack with a grunt. Everything seems heavier when sleep becomes more difficult Eric thinks absently as he walks out the door. The day has begun. The bus slows to a stop, the doors open with a hiss in front of them, and everyone steps aboard without saying anything.

Time passes quickly and he steps off the bus along with everyone else and walks to the library, like he does every morning. Eyes watch and assess the people that pass him judging them; like they judge him, he watches couples hold hands and flirt with each other silently wishing he had his own, one that wouldn't use him like the last ones had. Eric sees her and sighs unsure why he still hangs around her, stupidity he guesses.

"Hey…"

"Dude, you look like dog shit." She says in her usual banter.

"Well thank you, you're too kind." He says smiling.

"No seriously dude you look like shit…" she pauses eyeing him closely. "You're not sleeping again-"

"Nikki don't start this on me again." He looks down yawning. "It's these stupid nightmares."

She scowls at him, Eric feels the spark of anger ignite the fuel within his mind as a series of curses, and shouts fly about in his mind. "I'd advise you to drop the subject before you even begin it. Its not you I'm sure of that… I'm not even sure what it is." He says calmly rubbing his temple. To his relief the bell rang and put an end to the madness he turns and walks to class, and sits down only to realize that he left his backpack behind, he gets up and sprints down the hallways avoiding the people easily feeling what little energy he has drain away with each step. He skids to a stop and slings his bag over his shoulder and feels the many textbooks shift throwing him onto the ground with a heavy thud. People around him start laughing he smiles and gets to his feet as the 1minute bell rings and Eric smiles and walks quickly back to class their laughter following him. Eric manages to sit down just as the final bell rang for class to start.

Tick…tock…tick…tock…tick…tock… The time seems to slow as the lunch bell gets closer and the teacher drones on about something that he already knows. It rings and everyone stands and rushes out the door like rats from a sinking ship clawing and pushing their way out the door, then you get swept up in the current of moving bodies all rushing to lunch pushing and shoving and clawing their way forward. Eric looks up in time to see a large dude rushing his way forward seeming to use his girth to move the crowd. A girl looking rather lost glancing to and from the messy papers in her arms got shoved into a wall sending her stuff everywhere. Almost automatically, Eric walks over and helps her up, they stare at each other a moment admits the crowd after a moment he kneels down and gathers her things. "You should be more careful." He says smiling

"I know." She replies and Eric glances up at her to see that she was watching him intently with her hazel eyes. She looks back down as he gathers up her things they stand up together and gives her, her things back feeling his heart racing in his chest. No, no, no! I will not be doing this again, his mind screams at him. The two of them stand there staring at each other in the deserted hallway. "My teacher said I have lunch next … would you mind if I followed you?" She said ending the seemingly endless silence. "Yeah, sure." Eric says feeling like he forgot something.

"The name's Shannon by the way." She says smiling

"Nice to meetcha I'm Eric." He says awkwardly mentally face palming himself. She smiles giggling as she watches him.

"So where you from?"

"I used to live by the Deadwood forest in a small village called Carrion.

"I've always wanted to go there and explore the area, is it nice over there?"

"Its beautiful over there, but the wolves." She pauses. "They're getting out of control." She says as they walk up to the shortest line. "The wolves?" He asks.

"Yah, they've been everywhere lately. My neighbors little boy disappeared right out of their back yard. So we decided to leave before things got worse." She says as the line moves forward.

"Well glad that you're safe." He says and smiles when she blushes a little, he is struck by her looks

"You're beautiful…" he says before he can stop himself her smile widens she looks down at her feet her face almost scarlet. "Thank you." She says the line moves forward and he trips over his own feet and falls, Eric blushes not saying anything mentally cursing himself. "You alright there?" she asks smiling.

"Yea, I'm fine. Just my feet got in my way." Eric says blushing as she starts to giggle.

"I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't be laughing but it was so funny!" she says starting to laugh and he stands there listening to it, amazed. This is how it happened the last time! Think dude! Think! His mind screams at him.

For the first time in a long time he smiles, and means it. They finally got their lunch after what seemed like forever. The two of them walked in silence to find an empty table to sit at. They find a table with a single chair he sits his tray down letting her sit while he gets his own and sits down beside her.

"May I join you?" he asks smiling in a gentleman like tone

"Well of course you can." She says all sweetly with this evil looking smirk at the corner of her lips.

"well thank you malady." He says smiling

"You're so sweet!" she says then leans over and kisses his cheek quickly and Eric feels his face go scarlet. They sit there in awkward silence for several minutes deep in thought. it was Shannon who spoke first. "So, what do you think of Mr. McKee?" she asks in between bites of her pizza. "He's awesome! We're talking about legends and stuff today its something about." He pauses to think. "An old church somewhere in the middle of nowhere." Shannon's eyes go wide. "wait… Does it have a lot of old gargoyle statues nearby?" she pauses. "I've seen the thing, creepy as hell, but it was only a dream." She says sitting her pizza crust down. "I'm not sure, but he says he's been looking for some stone that's supposed to be buried there."

"I'm not really sure." She pauses shuddering. " The entire place was dead silent and I felt like I was being watched…. I felt like they were going to drag me inside kinda like the gargoyles were watching me.." she says as the bell rang.

"Well I think Mr. McKee will love to hear that." Eric says getting up.

she chuckles. "Whys that?" she asks.

"Because he has been looking for it for the past 3 years he's asked almost everyone, but most people think he's crazy or don't even know what he's talking about." Eric says walking slightly in front.

"Ah. Well then." She replies and the two of them walk in silence to class Eric steals glances back at her every once and awhile as they navigate the crowded hallways. As they walk he begins to realize his legs are becoming heavier with each step, but he keeps moving like nothing's wrong as they step into class. Mr. McKee is already preparing with posters and a presentation. "Ahh welcome now! I welcome you newcomer, I've been expecting you." Mr. McKee says without even looking. "I assume you need a seat, Ms. Green." He says looking at Eric. "I see you have done met young Eric here." He pauses. "He is one of my brightest students. You can sit by him if you like." He says going back to his work, Eric watches as he pulls out a photo-copied picture of a large ruined church but it was fuzzy and old looking.

"I've seen that before." Shannon says and Mr. McKee stops what he is doing and turns to face her.

"Impossible… you're lying." He pauses and sees that she's not paying attention to him but rather staring at Eric." If you've seen it what does it look like?" he asks and so Shannon tells the exact same story she told Eric when she finished Mr. McKee just stared at her. "My god child." He says simply absently picking up the picture of the building. "It felt creepy being around it even if it was just a dream, it's a lot less creepy on paper." She adds when she sees the picture. But Eric didn't hear her he had done fallen asleep at his desk.

Eric looks around and everyone seems to be frozen in place the lights flicker and go dark above him. The classroom seems to fade and distort and hes standing in blackness a laughter comes from the darkness. Jeering laughter surrounds him as a graveyard slowly comes into focus, hands shoot out of the ground and the Earth begins to move and crack as rotting bodies drag themselves out of the ground and surround him, Eric turns around and a dark cloaked figure is standing behind him, it grabs him by the throat and lifts him up. "My time to rise is near." Eric stares straight into the dark pits of his eyes as he fights for breath, he felt his body grow cold and he relishes the thought of death.

He hits the floor gasping for breath blinking stupidly looking around at the class staring at him. "whys everyone starin at me?" he says in between gasps of breath sitting up rubbing his hand across his cheek pulling it back and looking at a large red smear. "what happen?" he asked disorientated. "I do not know, nor can I explain it. But I will try anyway, you were sitting there asleep as I was going over the lesson and you. I don't know. You got up out of your seat and stood there and your nose started bleeding and you started turning purple and gasping for breath." Mr. McKee said. Eric gets to his feet his mind a blaze with trying to piece everything together using a desk as a crutch. Shannon walks in with a school nurse close at heel and she keeps her head turned away from the blood. The nurse asks a lot of annoying questions that nobody seemed to be able to explain so they just stood around in stunned silence. "eh. I don't see nothin' wrong wit 'em. "She said and walked out the room everyone's eyes were glued to him it seemed. The time seems to have stopped. "Just go home. I'll teach this next class." Mr. McKee said running his fingers through his thinning hair. Eric got a paper towel and mopped up his face and threw it in the trash Shannon came over and helped him up. "Sorry blood makes me squeamish." She said smiling her face was deathly pale they followed the class out the door. "I seen it I seen it lift you up." She whispered her eyes scanning everyone to see if they heard.

"You seen what?"

"I don't know what it was but the overhead light started flickering and it was there then you fell and it was gone." She said her eyes were watchful. Eric just shambled along not saying anything feeling like all his strength left him.

"I'm fine." He says smiling. She frowns and takes his arm and locks it with hers.

"yeah right. You need sleep even though that … that thing might be there." She said

Eric couldn't think of anything to say so he remained silent, he walk to his car almost automatically, forgetting Shannon was there. "You drive? Do you think you're able?" she asks a worried look passing over her face. Eric mumbles something and gets in the front seat Shannon rushes around to the front of the car and sits in the front seat. She looks around amazed at how well he's taken care of his car. "It's a 07 Saturn ion." He says smiling. He pulls out and drives away the tiredness disappearing almost instantly upon him hitting the road. "This feels much better." He says smiling. "If you want you can turn on some music." He says. She turns it on and waits a minute and deems it a worthy song. "Sound of Madness, Shinedown." He says absently.

"Do what?"

"it's the name of the song that's playing."

"Ah. Good song." She says smiling

They fall into silence for most of the drive listening to the radio.

"so would you like me to take you home?" he asks handing her his phone."Type in your address and then hit start then tell me where to go." He says smiling.

he pulls to a stop in front of her house getting out and opening her door for her. "You know my house is like a block down the street. In fact we passed it." Eric said smiling as they walked up. "Oh really, well maybe I could come over sometime." She said smiling

"Well I don't think I'd mind too much." He smiles. "Well here you are." he says fixing to turn and walk away but gets bear hugged before he can turn around, he hugs back surprised then she's gone. Eric feels his heart race in his chest as he walks down the front walk to his car its dark grey color shining in the sunlight. He drives home in silence but his mind is going over everything that had happened. He pulls into the driveway and goes inside he absently walks up stairs. Eric undresses and falls face forward onto his bed and was asleep. He slept without dreams for the first time in months and he woke up several hours later with a knock on his front door. Eric pulls on a pair of jeans and goes down stairs feeling rested he hears the knock and opens the door, his eyes widen in surprise. It was Shannon. "how'd you get here?" he asked

"well I figured you wanted this back I just realized I had it." She pauses. "its kinda got your address taped on the back I took off its case cuse I spilled some water on it and I figured you'd need it back." She says smiling

"well c'mon in." he says and steps aside. "Sorry just got done with a nap."

"Good! So did you sleep well?"

"For the first time in months that I just died and didn't move till I woke up." He said smiling

"well I'm sorry for interrupting."

"Nah, don't be you're fine. Wanna watch some TV or a movie?"

"Why not? Got any good horror movies?" she asks smiling.

" Well since I have Netflix I'm sure I do. What kind do you wanna watch?"

"Well I've heard insidious was a pretty good movie."

"Haven't seen it yet so wouldn't know." He says smiling she sits down next to him as he flips through the movies. "Ah there it is! Hey want some popcorn?"

"hells ya! What's a movie without popcorn." She says smiling as he gets up. Eric finds the movie popcorn and puts it in and stands there watching as it cooks. He comes back into the living room to see that she's laying across the couch with this evil smirk on her face, he sits on her waist.

"Not fair! You're just mean!" she says squirming under him smiling

"You're the one who stole all the seats not me." Eric replies standing up and she sits up near the arm of the couch and he pulls her over and sits in her spot smiling. "Well turn on the damn movie!" she says smiling

"that sounded like a demand, so nope." He says grinning.

"You ass! Turn on the damn movie please!"

"well since you asked me so nicely I will!"

They both start laughing as Eric turns on the movie. He spent much of the movie watching her several times they had jumped she was sitting in his lap by the end of the movie.

"So what did you think of the movie?" he asked as the credits were ending

"It was awesome! I loved it, how bout you?" she asked looking at him

"It was pretty good." She stands up and stretches, Eric stands up and pokes her stomach and she laughs. She looks down at her watch. "Oh crap! I should be going now."

"Well let me get some shoes and a shirt on and I'll walk you home."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be down here." She said

Eric goes upstairs and puts on a clean shirt and socks and comes back down.

"You ready to go?" he asks.

"Why yes I am."

"well ladies first."

Shannon walks in front and Eric opens the door for her they walk down the street talking about the movie and hundreds of other things like they knew each other for years, the conversation dies as they approach her front door. "You want to meet my parents?" she asks standing at her front door.

"Sure."

"well then follow me." She says opening her door and stepping in Eric follows a few steps behind. Before he even knows what happens he's pinned against the wall his feet dangling several inches to a foot off the ground. "Daddy! Why do you have to scare my friends like that?" Eric hears her say from down the hall. Eric gets a good look at the man's face the sharp jaw line and the high cheek bones and lips pulled back to reveal shinny white teeth the canines seemed sharper than most people's he's seen and it feels almost familiar but he can't seem to place his face. "Nice to meet you Mr. Green." Eric says politely. "Nice to meet you as well…" he pauses."Eric Holloway." Eric puts in."Ah, yes. Nice to meet you Mr. Holloway I apologize for scaring you." Mr. Green says smiling as he puts Eric down. Eric notes how Mr. Green avoids the patch of sunlight that is coming through the door he walks over automatically and closes it. "sorry about that my dad's a little over protective of me. He must like you." Shannon says smiling. "why do you say that?"

"well if he didn't like you he would of just thrown you out the door." She says thoughtfully. The two stand in silence for a little bit and Eric notices how dark it is, all the shades are drawn and not a square of light can get through. The place is filled with antique furniture and a large silver sword engraved with jewels and an engraving on it that he couldn't read but it seemed like it said wolfsbane on it mounted on the wall. "I see you eying my sword my young friend. What do you think of its magnificence?" a voice said behind him. "I think its awesome. It must have been expensive." Eric said in awe. "Oh yes it was, but its been passed down from my family generation to generation. Soon my daughter will receive it and then her children from her." Mr. Green said in relish. Shannon came up and hugged him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder and Eric could feel his face grow hot. He stood there stupefied wondering what to do. Eric walked home deep in thought he felt himself falling for someone again he knew he had to find something, some flaw that could slow it. First things first, does she like me? His mind remains silent with no answers. Thousands of questions and no answers for any of them.

Shannon came up, hugged him from behind, and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Boo!" she said giggling. She let him go and he realized she seemed more beautiful in the fading light, that or his eyes are playing tricks on him her face seemed more colored and less pale. he feels his heart race in his chest she leans in and kisses him, Eric stands there his heart seeming to have stopped in his chest, he could see little black dots fill his vision and he was dimly aware of hitting the ground.

Eric wakes up with his head in Shannon's lap he felt her fingers run through his hair, he sits up suddenly unsure why. He looks around confused feeling fear creep into him from the base of his neck he looks over at Shannon and quickly gets to his feet, those eyes. Their his that unknown thing that has the dark soulless eyes. He holds back a scream as her face begins decomposing the skin slides down revealing her pink muscle and the skull under that. Shannon's hair turns to a frail white, but those eyes, those manic eyes that eat their way into your soul.

Eric awakes with a cold chill running through him and the sun peeping though the window in a panic he checks his phone 6:45. "Shit!" he rushes upstairs pulling off his clothes and putting clean ones on barely keeping his balance as he pulls on some clean pants. He grabs his backpack and rushes out the door and watches as the bus pulls away. "Well damn." He says. Eric walks inside and grabs his keys almost forgetting he had a car, he shakes his head sadly. "Sometimes I amaze myself…" he says walking into the garage watching the door raise up he watches as the bright morning sun slowly eats the shadows of the garage he gets in his car and starts the engine listening to it hum he backs out shielding his eyes from the harsh sun and drives to school.

Arriving soon after 7 he starts heading to his usual spot: the library, but he detoured and headed to where everyone else hangs out, the flagpole. He was shocked to find Shannon already making herself known to his friends Eric smiled a little inside and made his entrance. "Eric! Long time no see, where ya been?" Jacob said slapping his back hard enough to sting. "Been around like always." He turned and smiled. "Trying to hide from your ugly mug." He says smiling. "Ah I see how ya are well you're not very pretty looking either. " Jacob replied with a smile. Jacob turns at the call of his name and gets blindsided by two other guys getting a noogie spinning and laughing, Eric turns around and almost runs into Shannon. "How you enjoying it here?" Eric asks her. "I'm loving it, this is normal?" she says laughing.

"We aren't normal here. We're far from normal." He says laughing. She starts walking away and a stray foot catches her leg and pulls her down and somehow Eric catches her and keeps her from hitting her face on the ground. "How the hell did I do that?" he asks himself out loud. "I don't know but I'm glad cuz that wouldda hurt." She looks at him and smiles. The bell rang and most everyone left but Shannon and Eric went back to get their stuff. "Walk me to class?" she asks shouldering her bag as they walk. "Sure, what class you goin to?" Eric asks and waits as she digs through her papers for her schedule and fishes it out.

Shannon smiles and hugs him and walks into class she waits a moment and steps back outside to watch him walk away until he is swallowed by the crowd and goes to her seat and waits for the bell to ring. The bell rings and she sits through the class half awake listening to the teacher drone on in his monotonous voice she looks around and watches as the class is slowly drifting off to sleep. By the time the bell had rang she was yawning, sleepy and ready for lunch but that's not till after this class, which according to her schedule cooking and food management. It finally rings after what seemed like 20 minutes of waiting but was only 3 minutes she stands up and stretches watching as everyone rushes out the door clawing at each other to get out first. How barbaric, she thinks gathering her things and walking out, immediately upon stepping out she is swept away by the mass of students. This place is full of mindless rats in a cage learning from their own stupidity, she thinks and chuckles. 603 Shannon thinks watching the numbers on the walls as she walks, she stops in front of the classroom and standing in front is a short curly haired teacher with a roundish belly she hands the teacher her schedule she looks at it and says happily, "Welcome! Nice to meetcha c'mon in and chooseya seat." The teacher said as Shannon walked in. she was horrified as to what she saw when she walked in: students everywhere sitting on tables, some with phones out in full view, and a couple making out in the corner. "What barbarians…" she mumbles to herself and walks in. "Whoa-ho-hooo who do we got here?" one of the larger students say doing the classic wolf whistle and his friends all go into laughing fits. "I do believe I was talking to you." He said stepping in front of her completely blocking her path with his size, she ignores and goes the other way, when she feels a hand on her backside she doesn't take a second to react. She grabs his arm, twists it behind his back, and slams his face to the desk, "Don't touch me again." She said sharply to where only he could hear her. She twisted for a moment longer to make sure he got the message and released him and walked to an empty seat completely aware that the classroom is completely silent.

The teacher walks in and attempts to get the classes attention but fails miserably and stands there a moment to let the class settle down a bit, the moment its quiet she begins before the talking can start back up. Shannon glances at the boy that touched her earlier and caught an ugly look from him and made a gesture that she was done for so she smiles sweetly at him and looks back at the teacher. As the lesson starts and the bookwork is given the teacher sits behind the desk and starts typing out emails on the computer and the class is back to normal, load and annoying. She finishes her work just before the bell and this time she was the first to get out and was thankful for the uncrowded hallway and her mind- despite herself- turns to Eric and she tries to sidetrack herself with other thoughts, but that also fails.

Shannon goes through the shortest line only to run into the dude from her last class. "What do you want?" she says angrily as she tries to get past him but he's too big for that so she stands there waiting for his first strike. "I want you to apologize for what you did earlier." He replied simply. "And what if I don't?" she responds. With that he smacks her plate out of her hands, she feels her anger rise out of control but before she can act on it Eric rushes up to defend her and she sighs with relief. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's the problem here?" he says distracting the guy for a minute. Shannon looks from Eric to the other guy, wow he's tiny compared to him she thinks. She doesn't pay attention to what's said as she picks up her food but when he kneels down beside him to help her pick up her plate he seemed a bit nervous but unfazed. He picks up the fallen plate, trashes it, and jumps in line to get another plate. Eric returns with a tray of food and Shannon stands there amazed when he hands her the tray. " You didn't need to do that." She says smiling, damn he's sweet her mind whispers, she hugs him tightly and takes the food. She playfully punches his shoulder and sticks her tongue out at him and walks to their table. As she walks her mind was screaming what the hell was that for? She sits down and a quiet part of her mind whispers, I like him, I really like him. Eric walks up behind her and gently punches her shoulder, "You're not suppose to hit girls." She says as she finishes her plate and stands. "I know." He says and pushes her as she drops her plate in the trash she pokes his stomach and he jumps back. Eric pokes her sides she giggles and pulls away smiling, they step outside and start walking to their usual hang out spot: the flagpole. Shannon looks around self-consciously wondering if anyone can see her skin burn under the bright sunlight and sidesteps into the shade. Before she realizes what happened she's on her ass staring up at the dude from class-she thinks his names Chris- is standing over her but before he can do anything Eric steps in front of him, " You wanna mess with her you gotta go through me." He says and Chris looks down at her like its her fault for what he's about to do and gets this shit eating grin on his face. Before Eric could defend himself Chris punches him in the face and Eric staggers backward only to be caught by Chris's friends and held unable to move his arms and Chris begins pounding his face, chest and gut as Eric struggles to get free. Security whistles blow and several security guards run up breathing heavily, Shannon looks up helplessly and sees Raven sitting on top the flagpole she nods and she flies away, Shannon looks back down at Eric and something that she thought she wouldn't see cross his features did; anger. By this time, every one by the flagpole had started watching the fight, Chris steps back long enough to see the rage on Eric's face and is knocked off guard by it. Eric rotates his right arm and loosens the kids grip on that arm and elbows him in the face the kid lets go staggering backward, with lightning speed he grabs the collar of the other kid and flips him over his own back and onto the pavement. Eric spits out a mouthful of blood and looks around to applause from his friends and other onlookers the security guards take the three aggressors away saying something about him not needing to worry about being in trouble. Shannon walks over and pats him on the back before he is surrounded by people from around the flagpole, Eric smiles through busted lips and yells enthusiastically, "That was fun, I wanna do it again!" Shannon pulls him away and mops away the blood from his face resisting her urges for feeding on him. When his face is clean she kinda looks at him and realizes how pretty his grey eyes were. Before she can stop herself she kisses him on the lips she feels the shock go through him but he kisses back nonetheless, she pulls away blushing when she starts hearing "OOOOOOOO get some Eric!" coming from his friends, she smiles when she sees him blushing. "Wow…" he says in a daze. "Let's take you to the nurse to get you fixed up." She says leading him by the elbow to the nurse's office he seems to be in a daze ether from the pain or happiness she doesn't know, but judging from the smile at the edge of his lips she can only guess his emotion.

Shannon walks in with Eric in tow and the nurse seems to be waiting on them "Yer late geetcha butts in here so I can geet a look at ya and fix up yer friend." She said pointing a finger of warning at them. "Git to class y'ong lady. " she said blocking her path and pointing at the door, Shannon starts trying to protest but retreats backward when the nurse steps forward. "Out." She repeated sternly and Shannon turns and leaves looking back as the door closes behind her. She walks to class in silence, her phone buzzes in her pocket she glances around and checks it, its her father. "Hello?" she answers, "You know your-"

"I need you home. Now." Her dad interrupts.

Eric Holloway pulled into the driveway and parked next to his moms car, hoping that she was still asleep. He turned off the engine and sits there a minute looking at his reflection in the mirror his eyes were already starting to blacken and his lip was swollen and looked like a summer sausage was on his face. Deciding its time to go inside he pulls himself out of the car and walks up into the house. He steps inside and the house is silent and dark except for the sound of the TV, his mom sits up looking confused, and starts barraging him with questions. "I got the shit beat outta me! Okay you happy now?" he says looking down at his feet, mom is just looking at him in stunned silence. "Sorry…" he mumbles and starts going upstairs. "Was it over a girl?" his mom ventures hesitantly, Eric pauses at the landing and looks down. "yeah, it was…" and continues upstairs. Eric collapse onto his bed and lays looking upward watching the ceiling fan spin in endless circles while his mind wanders to just after the fight, his lips tingles and his cheeks redden a bit from the memory. Now he absently wanders what that kiss meant, was it a thank you, or was there something more behind it. As his mind wanders though the corridor of his thoughts he drifts off into a dreamless sleep. He awakes several hours later with a major headache he glances towards his window to find the sun setting in the west . he groans as he rolls over his head throbs with each heartbeat, getting to his feet was rather difficult so he just sits there with his head in his hands. Waiting for his pulse to slow to where the pain in his head was manageable and makes his way downstairs going slow and steady, and goes into the kitchen too look for some Advil. After finding the bottle he takes 3 out then after a moment's thought puts one back in and takes them with a glass of tea. Collapsing onto the couch wouldn't be a good idea he thinks staring at it for a moment and lowers himself down grateful that the remote is next to him and flips on the TV.

Shannon walks inside wondering what was going on that she was pulled out of school for, and sees her father and Raven standing in the main hallway, she narrows her eyes at Raven who stands just behind her father. "I assume you know why you're here, do you not?" her father says in his soft calming voice of his. "I do. Kinda." She says looking at her feet. "Raven, as you know, was there and witnessed the incident at the…. "he trailed off a moment. "The flagpole." Raven puts in. "Ahh, yes. The flagpole she says there was a fight, involving that Eric boy and a few others. I'm not concerned with that, but I am most displeased at what you did after." He looks at her and Shannon merely nods and looks down at her feet. "You have feelings for this one don't you?" he asked

"Yeah, I do. He's really sweet and nice and he doesn't seem to anger or…." She trails off.

"You know the risks involved. It happened to you before." Her father says grimly

"yes father." She says and walks past him keeping her eyes on the ground and goes to her room with Raven following close behind her. Shannon stands there a moment staring at Raven then collapses on her back with her hands covering her face, she lays there like that for several minutes as Raven stands there silently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I wasn't suppose to tell." Raven says hesitantly, sitting beside Shannon on the bed.

"You're fine…" she sits up, thinking." Do you think you could do a little bit of spying for me?" Shannon asks slowly as her thoughts form in her mind and is relieved to see Raven smiling back at her under her jet black bangs.

"Yeah! I'd love to!" she says still smiling brushing the hair out of her face.

"Good, I just want you to watch Eric for a few days, see if he acts differently or something like that." Shannon says her face lit up with expression.

"Sounds like a plan, so 3 days should be good?" Raven asks, her body shrinking and her bones snapping and reconfiguring themselves into that of a small bird, the clothes that once held a girl fell to the floor empty except for a small lump. Shannon bends over and pulls Raven out of the clothes, "You must hate that." She says and the bird in her hand gives her a squawk and flies out the open window into the setting sun.

Shannon sits there staring out the window thinking about him and what she should do, a knock at her door pulls her away from her thoughts. Her dad steps in a little hesitantly at first but he continues anyway, "You know I only want whats best for you. I do not want you to be hurt… " he pauses to find the right words. "… when what happened last time happen again." Shannon finishes for him. " I know that's whats worrying me the most." She pauses and looks at her father. " but it seems its already too late… this guy, is different. I just can't place him. He fits in with the crowd but he's, I don't know. Detached from it?" she pauses again. "its just that no matter how stressed his day has been he still somehow manages to help people solve their problems… he's an odd one…" Shannon dissolves into her thoughts again and her father just watches her. "I will follow your decision whatever it may be." He says simply and walks out the room silently. Shannon walks over to her bed and lays down and stares at the wall and falls asleep.

She awakes the next morning with a cold chill tracing its way up her spine, she hits the alarm turning it off and knocking it to the floor in the process, she stumbles to her feet and closes the window looking out briefly and goes to the bathroom. she slides out of her clothes and stands there staring at her reflection in the mirror her fingers tracing the large scar just above her heart from an injury long since healed and long since forgotten, she turns and steps into the shower and turns on the water and stands under the cold spray until it warms up. She steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around her and walks to her room and gets dressed, putting on her favorite Tee shirt and a skirt that matches. Looking at the clock she smiles and decides to visit Eric she puts on a pair of sandals and walks out the front door and into the crisp morning air. It takes her several minutes to walk to his house but she doesn't care the smile on her face widens as she gets closer to his house. She almost bounces up his front walkway and lets out a light tap on the front door and she stands there with her hands behind her back standing on her tiptoes smiling almost beaming. He opens the door and a mix of shock and happiness crosses his bruised face, he holds up a finger and closes the door she smiles and sits on the railing and waits for him to return. When he comes back out he is wearing all black, a black polo shirt, black jeans with the black leather boots he always wears. She smiles at him, he's adorable her mind says and she smiles even bigger. "Good morning, howya doin?" he asks, she looks at his face closely and see's the swelling on his lip has gone down a lot since she last saw him but his eye is looking worse, "I'm fine, actually I'm perfect." She says wondering how he could be in such a good mood. "You look like crap…" she says then instantly regrets it and waits for the anger that is soon to follow. He smiles big as he can," Well thank you." He pauses and looks at her and his eyes widen a bit. "Y-you look amazing." He says smiling still. "Well thanks." She blushes and looks at her toes. "You want me to drive you to school?" he asks, and she looks up and smiles her cheeks still a little pink. "Sure." He takes her hand and she laces her fingers though his without second thought, and he walks her to his car and opens the door for her and walks over and sits in the driver's seat. Shannon sits there in silence waiting for him to find his keys in his pockets, it takes him several minutes to find them and she just sits there watching him silently. "Well don't I feel dumb…" he says looking at his hand where the keys were the entire time. "I do that a lot too." She says giggling a little bit, "Now can we get to school already." She says, Eric sits up straighter. "Yes ma'am, to school it is." He says starting the car and pulls out onto the road.

They sit in silence for most of the trip to school and he pulls into a spot near the back of the lot. "I hope you don't mind a little bit of a walk." He says as he gets out, she opens her door and gets out and she steps out of his car and he walks her to the flagpole, she felt her heart racing in her chest as he took her hand and gave it a little bit of a squeeze and she squeezed back and looked at him smiling. "So? Um…" Eric tries to say but doesn't. Shannon looks up at him and kisses him already knowing what the question is. "Yup." She replies simply and hugs him tightly feeling his heart beating against her ear. She smiles and looks up at him, "Shannon?" he pauses, "Do you think you'd like to come over for dinner at my place, say 6?" he asks

"Sure! I'd love too, am I gonna get to meet your parents too?" Shannon asks hopefully.

"No, just my mom."

"What about your dad? Do I get to meet him too?"

"No…" he says after a pause.

"Why not?"

"Because… he's gone." Eric paused and looked at his own feet. "I don't know what happened, he just up and left one night. He acted a little weird the last few months… Then poof, gone, no good-bye no reason just gone…" he said studding his feet shaking his head a little bit.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know…"

"I Know you didn't its fine, I cant really change the past now can I…" he said smiling a little.

"So? Whatcha gonna make me tonight?" she asks happily.

"I donno I was thinking…. I'll find out when I make it." He says smiling.

"Ahh, the whole surprise thing isn't it? I see how ya are, big meany!" she says giggling

Shannon hugs him tightly. "I can't wait." She says

Eric smiles as he sets the table his mom should be here any moment and Shannon should be arriving in, he checks his watch half an hour. He paces around in the kitchen wanting time to move faster hoping she likes what he made although who doesn't like BBQ pork ribs he thinks as he starts the mashed potatoes and corn. The phone rings causing him to fling a spoonful of mashed potato gunk onto the wall. He picks it up and its mom. "Hey you on your way?" he asks. "No, sorry kiddo. I gotta work late again tonight." She says. "Alright then…. Well supper will be here when you do get here."

"Alright. Well the boss is yellin so gotta run." She says and the phone beeps and goes silent, Eric puts the phone down as he absently cleans up the mess and goes about resetting the table.

Just as he puts the final dish on the table there's a knock at the door, he walks over and opens the door and smiles and then does a double take, and looks her up and down: sandals a skirt that lines up with the top of her knees and a black top. "Whoa… Oh and uh, m-mom couldn't… she had to work late." He turns to leave and she stands out waiting. "oh um yea, c'mon in!" he says blushing . "that's fine but I would really like to meet her one day ya know. Smells wonderful by the way, she says sitting at the table. Eric sits down in front of her, "oh um… crap gotta close the door." He says getting up tripping over the chair leg and falling on his face, he gets up and gets the door as Shannon tries to stifle her giggles. They dish out their plates and start eating. "Oh wow… this is amazing! Did you make this yourself?" she asked in between bites.

"yeah I did, I thought id make dinner and I've never made this before, not without help." He said grinning.

Eric starts gathering the dishes and takes them into the kitchen with her close behind, he opens the oven door and pulls out a small lopsided cake and sits it on the counter. "The presentation gets an F but I think the cake tastes better, first cake I've made and it stuck… " he trails off. Shannon smiles and cuts herself a piece of cake and tastes it. "well done." She giggles and shoves a piece into Eric's mouth smearing it all over his face. "Oh.." he paueses grinning widely. "You wanna play it like that?" he says and steps closer to her slipping on icing and pulling her on top of him. "Hi there!" he says smiling. "Hows you?" he asks, she giggles and licks cake off his face, "I'm good, I'm very good." She looks at him still smiling and kisses him then gets to her feet and helps him up. "Um… you got cake on your face… like up everywhere." she says smiling. "I wonder why?" he says laughing and walks into the bathroom and starts washing his face. He walks out and goes into the living room and gets hugged from behind.

Eric gets an idea and turns on his computer and hooks it to his tv and after a moment he has some music playing. "oh my god I love this song…" she says still sitting on the couch he walks over and extends his hand. " May I have this dance?" he asks

"Why certainly!" she gets up smiling taking his hand.

"You know… I just realized I don't know how to dance." He says smiling

"neither do I!" she says taking his hands

After several minutes of awkward swaying they start dancing to their own tune, smiling and giggling as they do so. She leans up and kisses him smiling, "You know, this has been the best date I've had." She says after she kisses him, "But its my turn to take you somewhere on our second." She added before he could reply. "oh, well what do you have in mind ?" he asks

"Well I was thinking of a hiking trip into the woods maybe we could camp out there too." She says smiling. "Well I'm free on Saturday." He says grinning.

"Perfect." They sit down on the sofa just listening to the music that's playing, Shannon lays her head on his shoulder and smiles up at him. After a few minutes she lays down and puts her head in his lap and looks up at him smiling, Eric puts his back against the arm rest and pulls her into his lap and she slides her arms around him putting her head on his chest. They sit like this for several minutes not saying anything. She lifts up her head and looks at him. "I love you…" she says finally, his grey eyes seemed to sparkle, " I love you too." He says but he looks troubled.

"What's wrong?" she asks reading him like a book.

"last time…." He pauses, "last time someone told me that… they didn't mean it… and the time before that." Anger passes over his face then sadness. "I don't want to screw it up with you." He gets up and walks into the kitchen with hands in his pockets. Why must they always lie whats it to them am I just like- his train of thought is interrupted when she turns him around, she doesn't say anything he can read it on her face and he wraps his arms around her lifting her off her feet.

"You know, I kinda need to breath." She says smiling.

"oh, sorry" he lets go. Smiling he walks back into the living room and sits in the oversized chair, she follows and sits in his lap cross ways and lays her head in the crook of his arm. "What do you wanna watch?" he asks. "I don't care anything is fine with me." She says smiling, her phone rings in her pocket and she struggles to get it out, "Hello?" she says, listens, "Alright I'll be there in a few." She looks at him apathetically as she hangs up, "I gotta go home. Walk with me?" she asks getting her shoes on and Eric follows suit, " I wouldn't miss it, besides I don't want you to get kidnapped." He says grinning. She takes his hand as they walk out and looks at him smiling, "I cant wait till Saturday." She says, "yeah 3 days. 3 long days."

Laying under the stars the light orange glow of the fire on their cheeks shadowing their eyes as they stare up towards the heavens. "See that one there? Yea that one." He guides her hand to where he was looking she lets out a giggle. "See that one's Aryans belt." Eric says a cool wind gusts from behind them and Shannon cuddles up close to him wrapping her arms around his waist. They lay there for endless minutes listening to the sound of bullfrogs croaking and crickets singing, then she rolls on top of him and in the firelight he could tell that she was smiling, she kisses him he could feel her tongue slip into his mouth and he felt his face grow hot. After what seemed like an eternity she pulls away still smiling and he smiles up at her with his arms around her back. " I love you." She says after several minutes of silent staring, his eyes widen and his cheeks burn as she comes in for another kiss. This one was shorter but no less sweet. "I love you too." He barely chokes out. They lay there staring at each other for several minutes unaware of the golden eyes watching them.

A chill runs through him and a gut feeling is screaming: Danger! Danger! The world around them is eerily quiet. The fire burns low and a thin mist creeps around the base of the trees. "Let's get back to the tent." He whispers pushing her off gently she seems to of caught on as well and he follows her to the tent. A howl sounds nearby causing them both to jump several more issue a response a bright orange flash illuminates a silhouette of a huge humanlike thing standing outside, he pulls Shannon up close to him several more seem to be coming from the surrounding woods grunts and snarls along with the sound of ripping fabric and whimpers. Eric's muscles are tensed up ready for all the possibilities that can happen he sits with Shannon in his lap and his arms around her they sit still as statues waiting for the inevitable. As if on cue a furry claw rips through the tent wall and a wolf-like face pokes its ugly face inside without hesitation he throws Shannon down and lays on top of her he hears the howl and can hear the tent being ripped to shreds he tries not to scream as one of them digs into his leg and drags him several feet backwards. Eric rolls onto his back seeing 3 of them standing over him he closes his eyes and feels their teeth dig in to his side.

Shannon is instantly on her feet her eyes glowing with hot fire her canines are longer the wolves scatter confused she pulls out several silver stilettos from her sleeves and throws them hitting one right between the eyes the rest retreat into the woods. She looks down at Eric motionless in his own pool of blood. "I'm sorry there's no other way I wouldn't of done it!" she screams into the woods she lifts him up and lays his head in her lap, she kisses his lips and moves down to his neck she whispers, "I am so sorry." Then draws his blood into her. She wipes her lips feeling his blood run through her and she bursts into tears and lifts his limp body off the ground and puts him on her back and begins running.

She can hear them chase after her but brake away as the woods end she takes him to her father he should know what to do she thinks. Shannon slows to a stop a large black raven sits on a streetlight and flies down and lands in front of her. "Raven I know its you stop with the games." She says exasperated. The bird slowly changes into a girl wearing a black knee length overcoat she looks up through her hair brushing it out of her face with the back of a hand. "Well you're no fun." Raven pauses. "He don't look too good…." She stares at Shannon and nods. "Help him… please! Get father he'll know what to do." Shannon says trying to keep calm as Raven takes to the sky, she carries Eric to the grass and lays him gently down his eyelids flutter open a moment and he mutters something and lays still. She paces back and forth biting her nails. Raven flutters down and lands on her feet her feathers melting into the black overcoat she wears. "He's on his way." She says kneeling beside Eric. "what happened to him?" she asks after a little bit of silence. "It's those damn wolves!" she screams into the night causing Raven to jump a little bit. "No need to yell my child." A calm voice says from the shadow of a nearby oak. "Father!" Shannon gasps. "Calm yourself child I am here at aid." He walks swiftly seeming to glide over the ground. He runs his hands just above Eric's body, "Have you bitten him?" he asks already knowing the answer. "You may have saved the boys life, but he is of taint he has that of wolf in him as well. Your friend may not make the night." He stands lifting Eric up effortlessly. "We must go. We seem to have drawn eyes on us." Father walks into the shadows and disappears from view.

Chapter 2

Things To Come

Eric woke up with the taste of copper in his mouth, he rolls out of bed staring at his own feet not recognizing them. Things have never been so clear. He walks up to a mirror and stares in horror at the red stained gauze, almost no skin was showing underneath it. "Welcome to the land of the living." A voice says. Female, it takes several moments to process the sound of the voice and who had used it. "Shannon?" he turns smiling, she rolls her eyes. "Of course! Who else could it be?" She asks. "I dunno. I almost forgot who you were." He turns back to his refection and pokes at the gauze. No pain. He begins to unwrap himself from the gauze, Shannon stands there watching. Waiting. The gauze came off all at once from his torso and hung from his hand, Eric stands staring dumbfounded at his refection, and at the scars that now dominate the right side of his body, huge bite marks and deep claw marks seem to be in random places, and the memory of the pain sharp in his minds eye. "So I don't guess those were just dreams I was having?" he asks sighing. Shannon looks at him and hands him his glasses. "I don't need them." he said. Those words echoed in his mind and bounced around. "I don't need them…" he repeated again almost to himself wondering why those words are so significant. He stares at himself in the mirror with those words bouncing around in his head not making them compute and also dimly aware he's standing in his boxers. His knees buckle and he sits hard on the bed rubbing his forehead, he leans forward and puts his head in his hands. "What happened?" he asks more to himself then to her. Shannon puts a hand on his shoulder and sits next to him. "Well, we were in the woods, making out, and watching the stars next to a campfire. then Wolves attacked us, well mostly you…." She drifted off trying to find her thoughts then continued. "After that it all happened so fast that I don't really know what happened, the next thing I knew is you were laying there bleeding to death so…" she trails off. "She bit you." Her fathers voice says, when its clear that Eric doesn't understand he continues. "You see, we are Vampires, we do not belong to any clan, in fact we are. What is the words? Ah, yes. We are outsiders." He says staring at him but deep in thought. Eric looks around and then back at his reflection, blushing when he realizes he's standing in his boxers in front of everyone. Shannon's father walks out of the room. "So…" He pauses to make since of what he was going to say. "Does this make me… A Vampire?" he asks after awhile, Shannon seems like she wants to say something. "What? You think I'm mad at you or something?" He smiles. "I've always known that they existed. Never thought I'd be one." He smiles. "Besides we can kick some ass when needed." He pauses a moment. "If you're a vampire, then how can you stand in the sunlight?" Shannon looks at him a moment wondering if she should tell him or not. "The difference between me and you is I was born, not bitten. So I guess I'm half human? Well I'm half of something, dad never really talks about it. All he's said to me about it was 'You were born not bitten.'" she trails off, Eric walks over to her and hugs her tightly. "Well whatever you are. You're perfect to me." She punches him in the arm. "Ouch!" he says overdramatically and falls onto the bed, she sits on top of him smiling down at him. "Oh I sowie I didn't mean to hurt the pwor wittle bowy." She says in a baby voice and leans down and kisses him on the lips. She gets off of him and walks out of the room and leaves him to his silence. After a while he falls asleep.

The moonlight filters in through a large hole in the ceiling , Eric stands in the middle of the floor unable to move anything except his head. Shafts of dust clogged moonlight filtered through the ceiling in several places. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. A body falls through the largest hole in the ceiling making a sickening thud. It lands directly in the middle of the room landing next to an overturned pew. He looks around more and realizes he's standing in the middle of an old church long since left to nature to keep it tended. Silence. Then he hears a low moan of pain. A gargoyle lands and perches on a large pile of stone. A low grumbling sound comes from the center of the room just underneath the body. The floor begins to shake as a stone pillar rises from the center of the room. The blood slowly drips down the sides and seeps into every crack and pore. The sounds of stone cracking and the front of the stone pillar began to fall. From within two red glowing eyes open, he steps forward enough to where his face is shadowed and looks up with open mouth and fills his cheeks with the blood of the body. Then those eyes stare directly at him and inhuman claws reaches directly at Eric.

Eric sits up suddenly feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He looks around hearing the tick of the clock on the wall. The house is silent utterly silent, no voices no sounds of movement, silent. Eric pushes open the door, more dark and shadows, he flicks on the light switch almost automatically and is blinded by a solar flare of light. No sign of any one, he sits down on one of the stools and listens. The soft sounds of car tires whispering down the road, crickets in the grass, the wind rustling the trees, everything sounds so much sharper, heightened senses he guesses. The door opens the sounds of footsteps and Eric gets to his feet. "I see you're awake." Shannon says walking up behind him. "Yeah, a car horn going off woke me up." He lied turning around and facing her. She smiles and kisses him. "We've got ourselves a plan." She says pulling back a little. "A plan? Plan for what?" Eric asks pushing her back gently. "Simply put your death." her father says before she can finish. "Well your faked death. You see I have several doctors that are under my control as well as a mortician. We need it to look as real as possible. Since I do not want your mother to think that her son has died under my care, I've told her that we arrived home just a few hours ago and that your asleep in the car, so you are to go home tomorrow and then things will fall into place soon." He says smiling a bit. "Now its best you try to get some sleep, the sky's should be overcast most of the day so it is save to move in the sunlight. Just wear something to cover as much skin as possible."

He's on his back staring up into the rotting rafters of an old building, the feeling of a cold stone slab is underneath him, movement catches his attention he turns his head slowly and can see the shadows moving, shadows with pale gray faces and pale red-orange eyes in shallow sockets. A sound from another room causes his skin to crawl, the shadows all flow out of the room. He turns his attention back to the ceiling, the stars shine through a large hole just to his right exposing the room to a pale gray white light of the crescent moon. The sounds of large wings flapping and a huge black shape swoops down. A shadow looms over him and claw like hands reach for him, and tear into his flesh. Screams try to escape his throat but seem to be trapped inside his throat. The shadows with the pale gray faces tear into him ripping flesh from muscle then suddenly calm. Large claws pull him up through the rafters and he's staring down at all the greedy shadows watching him fly upwards. whats going on?his frantic mind keeps repeating over and over again. Now he's over the top of a large abandoned church with a crumpled steeple and roof with dense woods surrounding him on all sides. Weightlessness. The feeling of falling. The church is coming up fast all he can do is close his eyes. But too late. He lands with a sickening crunch the bones that weren't broken now are.

Eric wakes up screaming in Shannon's lap, he closes his mouth and silences the screams and wipes the sweat off his forehead. He wraps his arms eagerly around Shannon's waist and buries his face into her neck and shoulder. "That was the same dream I had earlier… But it wasn't the same dream." he pauses. " I mean it's the same place… But its like I was a different person." He says into her neck, feeling her fingers run through his hair, he pulls back. "I've had nightmares before, none were this vivid. It was like I was there." He stares into Shannon's face for comfort but can see the worry in her eyes. " I-I know I f-felt it. From the moment you crawled into my lap I felt the pain… " She trails off. Eric hugs her tightly and gets up. "Well I'm going to take me a shower, and try and clear my thoughts." he says shaking his head. "Okay, don't use all the hot water." she says smiling a little. "Okay I'll try not to!" he laughs and walks to the bathroom.

He stands letting the water run down him feeling the water scald his skin as it runs down his back and shoulders. He turns around and lets it run down his chest and stomach he closes his eyes and sits down pulling his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around his knees letting the water come down around him as his mind goes over the dreams. But as always nothing fits. he rests his forehead on his knees. "Hey! Don't drown in there!" A voice calls from the other side of the door, Eric stands and reluctantly turns off the hot water, he stands there and drip dries watching the steam rise from his skin. He leans out and grabs a towel and begins to dry himself off with it, slowly getting dressed.

Eric steps outside feeling the drizzle hit his face, he pulls the hood over his head and begins to walk home dressed in black. Walking up to his house it seems empty and abandoned, just like it always does, he smiles. "Home, sweet home." he says walking up the uneven pavement to his door, he pulls out his keys to unlock the door when it swings open and his mom is already hugging the breath out of him. "Did you have fun on your trip?" she asks eagerly. "Yeah I did, it was amazing!" He said not knowing what she's talking about, he vaguely remembers Shannon's dad telling his mother something about a trip. "Where all did you go and see? C'mon in pizza just arrived." Eric follows her in thinking as to what he was going to say then he remembers his dream. "Well, we visited an old Catholic Church, It looked pretty run down, I think there's an old abandoned town around it as well." He says smiling. "So how did you like a taste of the Old World. Things haven't been the same since the terrorist attack wiped out the capital…" She trails off a moment lost in her own thoughts. "The war brought a great nation to its knees, now The Confederation of States is what government is left too, each state acting as its own country and fighting amongst themselves." She sighs. "You came home wanting pizza not a history lesson." she says with a smile. She gets up and walks into the dining room and comes back with a box. "I found an old game, Risk. But it needs three players. You still dating that girl? Call her over." She smiles and starts setting up the bored, "What color do you want? Black?" She asks. Eric dials Shannon's number almost by memory. "It seems like shes already here…" he says hanging up. He walks to the front door and shes standing there smiling, a light rain begins to fall outside.

Eric smiles smugly as he rolls the dice, he looks on the board and smiles, they teamed up against him, but he turned in his cards and beat them back North, and South America has been captured and he's crossing into Africa and Great Britain. The dice land, and his mothers dice lands soon after, Eric grins and removes two of the eight tokens on her country. He attacks again imagining the war that ensues on the ground in all its glory as he the victorious general leads his troops into victory. Three more tokens fall at the loss of one, he rolls again and loses 2 more at the loss of her one, he rolls and wins, in his brain a flag is being raised in victory over the fleeing troops. He turns his attention to his troops arriving in Great Britain, imagining an invasion force similar to D-Day, back in the long ago WWII. Her forces fall within one roll. He grins and takes his victory cards and hands the dice to Shannon who's scowling over at him, which causes him to grin more. She reroutes her troops to defend against Erics force which is 40 strong, and attacks one of his mothers smaller countries and takes it.

Once again its Eric's turn, envisions sitting behind his two front war and sending his troops to final victory, Shannon only has 3 territories left and his mother has 5 left. She looks down and sees a stack of cards in front of her. "What do I do with these?" she asks Shannon, "You turn those in and you get armies…" she hands over the cards and Eric's heart stops her cards will give her 53 armies., he reluctantly takes the cards and watches as his mother counts out 53 little army tokens and places them on her country, the only one that can get him into Australia. She attacks, wins, attacks again, and again and again. Eric watches in stunned silence as his mother takes out his troops one by one with a smug smile on her face. "The best strategy is to wait for the opportune moment to strike." She says smiling rolling a dice and taking out Eric's last army battalion, the battle was even worse in his head, the skies darkened and the sounds of thunder roll across the skies, paratroopers begin to fall opening their shoots to fall on his bewildered troops. Now his mother advances ruthlessly through his clamed territory with ease and setting up a perimeter around her newly claimed territory. "The victorious now turns into the defeated…" his mother says triumphantly.

Hours later Eric sits dumbfounded at his defeat, he stands and starts clearing the bored while his mom sits back and puts her hands behind her head. "It's been a long time since I played." She says staring at the ceiling. "Well, I gotta go to bed, work tomorrow." She says getting up. Eric and Shannon sit alone listening to the storm that rages around them, lightning flashes, thunder explodes above, and the rain pelts at the windows. Eric walks over and picks up the remote. "Wanna watch some TV?" he asks, Shannon comes over and sits next to him and lays her head on his shoulder, "Sure." she wraps her arms around his waist and smiles. "What do you want to watch?" he looks at her smiling. "Lets watch something gory." A large explosion outside and then darkness, powers out now the only light that is seen are the numerous lightning flashes. "Or we could just sit here in the dark." She adds. Eric gets up and walks to the window and looks outside. "I know somethings going to happen, I've been happy for too long, something, I don't know what is going to get fucked up." He says still staring out the window. "What do you mean?" Shannon asks getting up. She walks over to him and slides her arms around his waist and rests her chin on his shoulder and watches out the window silently. "I know how you feel on that one." she kisses his neck from behind and slides her hands up his chest. Eric smiles and turns his head and kisses her back. Lightning rips through the air outside sending a crack of thunder that shakes the house.

They go upstairs and Eric strips to his boxers and Shannon puts on one of his shirts and takes off her jeans and crawls in bed beside him. "So what now?" she asks rolling onto her side and putting her hand on his chest. No reply, nothing but the sound of the wind and rain and constant thunder rattling the windows. She lays there staring at the dancing shadows. She lays there watching him as he sleeps, she leans over and kisses his cheek, he smiles and his arm moves slightly. A few minutes later his body goes ridged and the expression on his face turns into fear, his eyes dart about under his closed eyelids. His arm comes up and shields his face, she looks at his torso and she can see the anticipation of impacts like someone's punching him, his body jerks to the right and then to the left and goose bumps cover his flesh. The arm protecting his face drops to his side, he slowly begins to sit up. Then his eyes fly open and he lets out a tremendous scream and curls up into a little ball clinging to her tightly sweat pouring out of his body.

He opens his eyes and looks up at her and then buries his head in her chest. Shannon runs a hand through his hair. "It's okay... It's all over now..." she says. He looks up suddenly."No, its just beginning." He says rolling onto his back, she wraps her arms around his chest. She slides down feeling his weight on top of her and she falls asleep listening to the dying storm around them.

Eric lays there listening to the storm die around them, he feels her arms wrap around him, he smiles to himself, sleep seems tempting just close his eyes. But no, every time he did fall asleep something happened. He lays there for a long time just to make sure she was asleep, he waits just a little longer before he slides himself out from her arms and silently pulls on his jeans. He stands there watching her steady breathing , he leans over and kisses her lips gently. "Love you, always will. But I'm sorry I have to do this." She smiles in her sleep."Goodbye, see you soon hopefully." He says pulling on a shirt as he walks downstairs. He pulls on his combat boots as walks out into the night. After a few minutes he gets into his car and sits behind the wheel, he sat unsure whether or not he wanted to do what he had set out to do. The time on his phone was 3:53 AM. "I could go back..." he says to himself already losing his motive and his own reasoning behind going. "Its nice and warm inside..." He puts his head on the steering wheel and sits there for several moments, then he opens the door to his car and the interior light came on as he steps out, closing the door behind him he walks back into his house and sneaks back inside. When he's inside he realizes how quiet it is in the house. He goes back upstairs and gets out of his clothes and slides under the blankets almost instantly he can feel her shift and her arms wrap around his middle. "Life is good..." he thinks to himself as he falls asleep.
Erics dreams shift and fade the way all dreams do one minute hes dreaming of flying a spaceship battling aliens and slowly it shifts to him laying in the grass next to Shannon watching the white fluffy clouds above them. This dream fades to a new dream, one where shannon is walking towards him, he stands there watching her move closer to him. Then suddenly she turns around and walks the other way, she turns and gives him a sly smile, the faster he moves the further she seems to be, she's always just out of his reach. His heart lurches in his chest, his mind keeps asking itself "Why won't she stop?" hes running at full speed trying to catch up to her she stops and turns around to look at him the world around them starts fading and melting away, their no longer standing in a park with swings and trees, now its complete blackness. Just him and her. The form of a large church looms overhead, its massive stone walls rises up out of the blackness just behind Shannon. The stones shine with newness, as if it has just been built, slowly the rock begins to chip and fade away portions of the church fall through leaving behind only wooden beams to be seen, a wall collapses on the right leaving a gaping hole in its side. A wall on the mighty stone steeple slides away in a cloud of dust. Shannon stands at the entryway motionless. The world around them slowly comes into view, dead tree's on both sides weathered gravestones on the right, looking like jagged teeth jutting up from the ground, large shapes moved just out of his vision. Shannon starts blurring one second shes laying on her back in a growing dark pull and the next shes standing there in front of him, she begins to fade away, Eric reaches out to grab her but shes no longer there. The moon in the sky begins to drop towards the horizon rapidly, and just as rapidly the sun rises and falls, the moon goes through 4 full cycles before it stops. Eric looks back at the church a red glow seems to be emanating from inside, The heavy wooden door opens slowly and two glowing red eyes watch him from the darkness.

He awakes laying on the floor with shannons shocked expression staring down at him, "Four months..." He says quietly to himself. Shannon looks more confused. "Four months until what?" Shannon asks. "Four months until... until it begins." He says softly not sure what it means himself. Shannon helps him up and hugs him tightly. "I love you." She says and kisses him. "I love you too." He says hugging her tightly. Eric starts getting his clothes on, and goes downstairs with shannon following suit. "Want some breakfast?" He asks. "No thanks, how bout we watch some tv?" she asks. "Sure, just let me get a bowl of cereal." He says as he opens the cabinets, he pours the cereal and milk in the bowl, everything seems to darken, he feels his heart start to race in his chest, Eric turns to get a spoon his world spinning out of control, he feels his knees buckle first then he collapsed to the floor his cheek pressed up against the floor, unable to sounds of the tv fills the silence, he tries to push himself back up but he can't get his arms to move. "Hey is everything okay in there?" She calls out. Eric tries to answer but can't get his mouth or lips to move. Several minutes pass before he can see Shannons bear feet pass in front of his vision, she rushes over and pulls him into her lap, Eric feels his head fall forward limp as she pulls him into his lap, now all eric can see is her blue jeans. He feels her hands on his neck. she lets out a low groan. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" she says her voice cracking. Eric is pushed onto his back his head turning slightly to his left, now he has a good view of the cabinets. An incredulous thought occurs to him. my cereal is getting soggy.. he laughs at himself for even thinking of that. Shannons voice sounds throaty and full of tears when she speaks. "I don't, he's not breathing." She pauses. "I found him like this when I woke up." She waits a moment. "Okay." and silence. The silence lasts only a few minutes but for Eric it seems like hours. A heavy booming knock and the so and of the door opening, the sounds of heavy soled shoes walking around, his head lolls to the side and he gets a nice view of the floor. They roll him over and now he stares into the dark brown eyes of a paramedic who shines a light into his eyes. "No dilation." He says, a hand presses on his throat for several seconds. "We don't have a pulse! And he's cold as a dead fish." They lift him up again and then they lay him flat on his back.

Eric rolls out of his house his head lolling from one side to another outside a crowd has gathered. "Oh woww." a few say. "What's happening to him?" others say. "Is he going to be okay?" Questions ask but get no answers. The sound of a car door slamming, a bump causes his head rolls to the other side and he sees his mother rush up to him. "Oh my god whats happening?!" She asks, her RN badge flipping in the air. "We are taking him to Central hospital, Mrs Holloway we need you to stay calm why we do our job." Eric sees shannon collapsed on her knees crying with her head in her hands Erics heart fell then, the wheels leave the ground and he gets shoved forward, he gets the last glance of the cloudy blue sky. The doors are slammed shut over his head, the fabric over his shirt tares, orders are given, Eric's mind remains fixed on the image of Shannon on her knees crying. He feels a tingle that goes through his body. "Clear!" another tingle stronger than the last, and the sound of a steady BEEEEEEPPP of the EKG machine. Flatlined. Dead. That term strikes him funny, his mom told him many times that shes been there when someone flatlines and how horrible she feels afterward. She wouldn't have thought about it happening to her own son. His heart sinks in his chest, his mind once agains to why this is happening. "Should we take him to the hospital?" One asks the other. Silence falls and Erics eyes look from one man to the other. "No, it'd just be wasting time, we'd just have to file more paperwork than normal." The man disappeared from view for a moment. "Lets take him to the morgue." and the man sat back down and stared out the back window. Erics mind is left to wander the halls of his mind, going from thought to thought like going room to room. Whats making it to where I can't move? If I'm dead why am I still thinking. Questions keep coming with no answers seeming to show themselves. The motion of the ambulance stops "We're here." a voice from up front says. "Wow that was fast." The man on the left says to the other as he stands up. The doors open and sunlight rushes in and he's pushed feet first out the double doors, they drop the wheels down and push him in through the double doors. "We got another stiff here for you, you need to sign here here and here. " the man says pointing to the spots on the paper. "Ah, whom do I have here I wonder. A mister Eric Holloway." Footsteps echo down the hall and Eric begins to move forward down the hall. " Take him to autopsy room 4." a voice says, " You got it boss." the other one replies. Down the hall he goes, hes long since given up on trying to move his limbs or body, a deep foreboding flows over him. " Hey Pete come help me transfer him over onto the table." The voice says. A few moments later he's lifted and moved over to the cold steel table. A minute later an over bright operating light gets turned on and blinds him briefly he tries to close his eyes but they don't respond all he can do is look away from its brightness. The sound of water running behind him as the guy washes his hands and begins prepping. Within minutes the man is standing over him with a scalpel or some other sharp flesh piercing blade in his hand, he leans over slightly and brings the blade down and presses it against his skin, but doesn't puncture it he slides it down making mental note where to make the 'Y' incision, he then turns and lays the scalpel down on a metal tray of instruments. Footsteps fade to the other side of the room, the high pitch whining sound sound of a drill fills the room and makes his skin crawl and a chill go down his spine. The doors open "Hey Dale, how bout you let me take this one, go ahead and take rest of the day off." Another voice says and the sound of the drill dies. "You sure? It's only 7 we got a few hours left before closing." The one named Dale says. "Yeah I'm sure, you're fine, go have your day off." For several minutes the sounds of footsteps moving busily around. "You sure Dr. Fitz?" the question was heard again as the door closes muffled talking echos into the room. Several minutes of silence pass before the sound of the door opens again. "Well, well well, Mister Holloway I just saved you from getting your brain examined." He pauses as if waiting for a response. "Yes, I know your mind is still present and active, while your body remains limp of all signs of life. It is a product of my own doing, each dose contains enough paralytic agents to keep you paralyzed up to 48 hours. You should need another dose here by tomorrow morning, that should keep you here until after the plans have been arranged. You may need sleep so sleep it should make time pass a lot sooner for you." Dr. Fitz says his voice moving further away and closer as he walks around the room.

Shannon pases about with tears streaming down her face, Erics mother sits collapsed in an old leather easy chair her face pale with dark shadows clinging to her eyes. After a few more steps she collapses onto the couch and pulls her knees up to her chest and rocks silently back and forth. "You need.. need to go home." Mrs. Holloway says pulling herself up to her feet, Shannon remains immobile on the sofa a moment later or an hour later shes not sure how long but his mom came back with a rather large bottle of liquor. "You need to get home, I'll drive you." she gets to her feet the bottle of Crown left on the table sure to be remembered when she gets back and shannon follows silently out the door.

They sit outside her house, behind Eric's car, his mom sits behind the wheel staring at the car in front of her possibly remembering how she gave him the car and his reaction, but she'll never know. "What do you want to do with his car?" Shannon asks through tears that had just begun to stream out of her eyes. "Keep it... I don't need it, I have my own car." she says fighting back her own tears. Shannon opens the door and steps out into the cool air. The car pulls out without waiting to say goodbye. The wind cools her skin as she walks up her front walk, her mind going to Eric, wondering how hes doing and if they opened him up and really killed him. She pushes the thought out of her head, couldn't bare the very thought of him being away from her side. She remembers the night clearly, them out under the stars, then the sudden change in him he warned of something but couldn't of thought what had attacked him. They ripped him to bloody shreds his guts were in a pile beside him when Shannon had finally fought them off. His blood was flowing the life out of him faster than she could control, she tried to put his guts back in and quench the bleeding but desperation took over her, she leaned down and bit his neck drawing what little blood into her as he had. His body spasmed and shook for what seemed like forever, then finally he lay still and immobile. Her father came and took him away, while shannon lay there crying and pleading that he survived. She quickly pushed the thoughts out of her head, telling herself that he woke up just fine before stepping inside her house.

Shannons voice drifted into the coffin, he lays there in the dark listening to the somberness in her muffled voice. Soon her voice drifts away completely as his thoughts take him away, soon he finds himself fighting sleep. The Church looms up over him suddenly causing a tingle of fear to sit at the base of his spine. "We must rise again!" A voice said with so much power that it shook the stones of the Church. "...From the shadows we will rise..." It continues. "We will reclaim the day and bring fear into the night." Eric opens his eyes and is surprised to find himself standing with both Shannon and Dr. Fitz staring at him in disbelief. Eric sways a moment his pale gray eyes turn fiery red and let out a primal scream that shook the walls, he feels his legs give out under him but remains on his feet. Shannon rushed up and hugged him without another thought, Eric wrapped his arms around her shakily. "What happened?" he asks, Shannon pulls away from him, and looks away. "You were... speaking, as if you were giving a speech, but it wasn't your voice. Your lips never moved..." she trails off. Dr. Fitz was pacing around mumbling under his breath. "He shouldn't be able to stand right now, he's got another four hours of medication in him... How could this be?" He became aware that he was being watched and falls silent. Shannon looks into his face searching it for answers. "What's going on with you?"

Eric sits on the roof of Shannons house staring up at the moon shining its pale light upon the night. His mind going over everything as he stares at the moon, nearly full. Its been a full week and the lunar month is almost over, which leaves 3 more cycles before something bad happens. A creek from behind and he turns his head. "Can't sneak up on me like you used too." he says smiling at Shannon. "Well there goes my fun..." She pauses. "Why are you out here, you need sleep." She says putting her hands on his shoulders, he looks at her and she leans down letting her hair fall into his face. "Come on to bed." Eric kisses her. "I'll be inside in a minute." he says as she walks inside. He feels himself slide as the shingles loosen. "Better get inside before I fall off this damn thing." he says as he gets to his feet.

He climbs in next to her after stripping into a pair of shorts, she rolls over and puts a hand on his chest and snuggles up to him. He can't help but smile to himself, but soon his mind begins to wander. "Where is the Stone? Find it!" A voice explodes out of the silence, images begin to float past his vision of a dark red stone softly glowing in the shadowy gloom, he felt it pulse in his hands when he picked it up its insides swirl around, Dark thoughts and evil things came to mind and seemed to fill him. The Stone falls from his fingertips and the thoughts fade. The sounds of a chant he cannot understand fills his mind a beast with hard leathery skin and dark wings folded next to a dragon like body lunges at him and he swings a sword slicing it just above its left eye. It howls in pain and lunges again, its red eyes glowing he brings the point of the heavy silver sword down through the beast's skull. It fell back on its haunches screaming in rage and pain a thin dark stream leaked out of its mouth as its skin turned into stone, he removes the sword from its head with a sickening pull as stone consumes the head and fills the wound. The dark stream floated in the air for a moment then Soren held up two parts of a red stone the dark stream flowed and danced between both the halves of the stone before he brought them together with a blinding flash of light. Behind them a stone church stood, wounded by battle...

Eric wakes up gasping for breath and covered in sweat breathing heavily, he looks around and see's Shannon laying curled up next to him. He pulls the covers up and over her bare shoulders and kisses her neck and lays back watching the ceiling. The silence passes as he lays there his mind wandering from thought to thought. Movement on the roof causes him to sit up, he smells their scent, he goes to the window and sees them flowing down the street and over houses in riverlets. Howls sound and birds take to the air, moments later shannon joins him at the window. "I've never seen them retreat like that... not in this number." Shannon says looking over his shoulder. "This isn't good at all.." A scream from outside car alarms blaring and the howls of the wolves joins the calamity outside.

The silence between them grows as the month wears on, shannon sits with her hands in her lap. She looks up and watches Eric stare off into space before snapping back into focus. Its been almost a month since the wolves flead from the forest, with every day that passes Eric drifts farther away, his mind seeming to be elsewhere, at night she grows accustomed to listening to Eric talk to himself. The features of his face has changed too, his eyes seem to have grown mad, crazy almost and deep shadows have dug in around them, his face has thinned and hallowed considerably now his face seems almost skull like with his skin hanging onto the bare bone. She watches him silently trying to form words that she couldn't find or anything that would bring him back to her. She sits longer contemplating what shes going to say or do, finally she gets up and crosses the room quickly and wraps her arms around him and presses her lips against his. Cold, his lips were stone cold against hers, she notices the look of shock in his eyes, she felt his fang tear into her lip, he pulls away confused. Shannon puts her hand up to her lips and pulls back blood, a look of concern crosses his face, he blinks twice, and for a moment the old Eric is staring back at her but it lasts only a moment. "You haven't been feeding have you?" She asks already knowing the answer, she turns and walks to the kitchen and when she returns Eric is gone...

"I hurt her!" he roars at himself. "I-I didn't mean to!"

"You inconsiderate bastard!"

"I didn't mean to hurt her I swear!"

Images flash in his eyes of her body laying there ripped to pieces.
"You murdered her, you ripped her apart with your own hands!"

Eric regains his senses and realizes hes running and slows to a stop, tall trees stand around him. The moon shines its light through the trees. "Go..." The Voice commands. It urges him to step forward. He takes a step fighting the force that compelled him to walk forward. Soon he is running through the trees agiley avoiding each one. He stops when he enters a clearing, jagged tombstones reach out of the earth at odd angles and a mist shrouds the bottoms of them, at the center of the graveyard sits a massive stone gargoyle on a pedestal. Many more gargoyles sit on pedestals along the massive rusty iron fence. Eric walks forward past the headstones and veers around the gargoyle in the center and passes through the gate with the gargoyles leering down at him seeming to try to grab him from their perch. Out of the mist a church looms out over head, its stone crumbling revealing several large gaping holes lined with jagged stone and timbers. His eyes travel up the steeple several large holes on one side from where the roof fell in taking parts of the building with it, and over time the thing has begun to lean. A chill races up his spine and sits at the base of his neck. "Bring me the stone my son..."

"Before the rise of the next full moon, and nothing will become of her..." Images of Shannon pass before his eyes, Eric steps back turning and runs from the place.
"It'll come to me, all in good time my son..."

Eric stops running when he leaves the forest and turns to face it feeling his skin crawl, shannons voice reaches his ears he turns and sees her running to him and he catches her in his embrace. "What the hell happened to you?" she asks her eyes wide.

"Im not sure what happened... why?"
She pulls out a mirror and shows him his reflection, his face has hollowed out, he bared his teeth and was surprised to find them sharpened points, his eyes were dark pits with red pupils reflecting the moonlight.
"Well fuck.." he says glancing at his hands and then brings them to his face his skin was dark the ends of his fingers have razor sharp claws extending from long bony fingers.

Eric looks at her, "You sure?" he asks "Yeah, the guys a drunk, no family no friends and just lost his job, you need to feed, before you become dangerous." she says as they both watch a guy stumbling down an alleyway Eric approaches the man from behind, he turns "Who dat?! wwhos der?" the man turns around drunkenly, he throws the bottle of half full scotch down at Erics feet. "Eh who arr yew?" Eric bares his fangs and latches on to the screaming mans throat drawing out his life and putting it into his own, slowly the man stops screaming Eric is overwhelmed with the feeling of enjoyment, the taste of the blood. The feeling of fear the man felt energized him and thrilled him to the bone. Eric pulls back and leaves a gaping hole in the mans neck, blood dripped down Erics chin, the wound on the man's neck was fresh but didn't bleed with no more blood to flow through him."I'm not all demonish? Right?" he asks looking at his hands. "There you are..." Shannon whispers to herself before wrapping her arms around him. "I didn't know I went anywhere." he says into her ear with a slight smile.

He stands leaning over the sink regarding his own reflection, his grey eyes, pale face and dark shadows clinging to the undersides of his eyes. Not much has changed, and yet everything has changed. His ears perk up, utter silence. He lets out a sigh, a sudden scream from outside pulls him back into the real world. Eric rushes out the front door the light hasn't yet touched the horizon, several large shapes swoop down and land near, huge leather wings and glowing red eyes. He runs out and jumps on the back of the one closest to him, but before he could land the thing has turned and was now facing him. Before Eric could react the gargoyle grabs his torso and flings him into shannon. "The girl..." one of them says in a guttural tone and before he could regain his footing, they have begun dragging Shannon away screaming and fighting trying to tear free. Eric chases after them he runs with his hand extended and hers reached out for his just a few inches apart before the huge creatures take to the air digging their talons into her, she screams out and Eric continues to run trying desperately to catch up to their massive forms becoming smaller with each step he takes. He can hear her screams fading into the distance.

Time is wasting… A voice in his mind tells him. He looks around scratching the back of his neck, the feeling that someone is watching him is strong. He walks back inside and turns into Shannon's room, and Raven materialized in front of him. Eric jumps back not expecting her to be there, she stands there silently hair hanging in her eyes wearing that same old black jacket she always wears. They stand there for several moments without hesitation she pulls out a glowing red stone from around her neck. "Get her back." She says and walks past him without another word. Eric holds the stone in his hands feeling its pulse. The feeling of power flows through him, like he can conquer the world with his bare hands. After a moment he slips the stone into his jean pocket. "I'm coming for you Shannon, don't you worry. I have a plan." He says as he tracks down Raven.

Chapter 3 The Inn of Ill omen

Eric's car slows to a stop near an old sign long since forgotten and entangled by vines, but its message is still clear "Last stop for 100 miles, next right." The air smells like rain and dark heavy clouds fill the darkening sky. Eric puts the car back into drive and continues slowly forward keeping his eyes on the trees for any kind of break. At first he almost misses the old one lane dirt road that was almost overgrown, he turns his car into it minding the steep ditch on either side. The lightning flashes and several seconds later the deep growl of thunder rolls overhead. He looks down at the speedometer and sees the gas light is illuminated. "Shit. Just what I need." The digital read out said 1 mile left in the tank. He turns off his car right as a huge fat raindrop hits his windshield followed by several more moments later. Getting out of the car was hard not only was he fighting against the wind the trees lacerated the side of the car pushing it closed, he silently hoped that his car would make it out without a scratch. He finally made it out of the car, he locked it automatically and trudged through the thick grasses that made a path forward.

The feeling of being watched was almost overwhelming, he keeps scanning the trees on either side seeing them move and sway in the wind. The rain began to fall, at first it was light but it quickly escalated into full downpour. "Well fuck you too." He said to no one in particular, a bright flash and a huge explosion close by caused him to jump back and land on his ass, the electricity in the air caused his hair to stand on end. His heart was racing in his chest as he got back to his feet, fighting the gusts of wind that kept pushing him back. The flashes of lightning and explosions of thunder came more rapidly with every minute that passes, he silently cursed himself for leaving the car when he knew it was going to start storming outside, but he cant do anything about it now so he just continues forward fighting the wind.

(Work in progress, to be continued)