I made myself get up early today, pulling on the same clothes I'd worn to work last night, and convincing Austin to let me bring Corgan up to FL and spend the day there. For one thing, I didn't feel like being alone in the apartment all day. Two, I was pretty sure I'd be working again tonight. And last of all, I had some research to do. All I told Aus was that I was bored.

I was nervous to have the dog at the store with me. He was three years old and still pretty hyper, though he was beginning to settle down pretty well. I had gotten him when I was seventeen, just before our parents had died. I hadn't had a lot of time to spend training him the first year. I was struggling to finish up high school so I could move in with Austin. I got emancipated pretty quickly after the deaths and managed to graduate early in January. Then I had to gather up all of my things, make sure the house sold, and make the move across the state, back home to my sister's apartment in Englewood. It was a pretty stressful year. I'd had my parents attorney to help make sure all the legal paperwork was in order, but sometimes I feel like, Austin was so far removed from everything, and I was dealing with most of the finite details, I had grown up to some degree faster than she had.

Then there was Corg. He was like my own personal project. I had taken on the responsibility before I had anything more important to deal with, and I would be damned before I backed out of it. Poor guy got ignored a lot though. Now I think I baby him to make up for it. But he's too sweet not to. He's a little cardigan corgi mix, black and grey with blue eyes. I named him after a musician, but everyone thinks it's because of his breed. He's not terribly bright, but he'll do anything to make me happy, so I can usually use that as a training device.

This morning he was in rare form. He curled up in the floorboard of Austin's Camry and just looked up at me with those bright little eyes full of love. We got to the store and he walked with slack on the leash, situated himself on the floor next to my chair, and comically, rolled over on his back with his feet in the air and went to sleep. Austin made me the deal that she'd bring me the books I asked for as long as I was the one to walk the dog every two hours or so. I could deal with that.

I started my task with the notepad I had grabbed last night. I'd shoved a couple of dollars into the register this morning to cover for it. I had written down a couple of things before I left the store, and apparently I'd woken up in the night and added to it. I usually remembered waking at night, and I hadn't sleepwalked since I was a little girl, so that was unusual.

Try to remember

Pain/itchy

Tattoo?

m'ai peu becou pas folie du tou???

Then, and this was weird:

February

Feathers

Hair BURNING

When I read that, the hairs on my arm started to stand up. I figured it must have been a dream that prompted me to start writing last night so I had ATX pull all the books on dreaming in our database, then I started pouring over those and some psychology texts I had looked up before I locked up last night. I read about visual and sensory hallucinations and possible causes. It was all pretty scary. I had no history of mental illness and the lists of diseases that could contribute to these kinds of hallucinations we're pretty out there. I knew for a fact I hadn't done mushrooms or jimson weed. By two o'clock, I was tired of reading and starting to get really hungry. It was a bit warmer outside today than yesterday so I told my sister I was going to head across the street to Potbelly's and I'd bring some food back for us. She kept Corg up front under the counter until I came back and we had meatball subs, Zapps chips and diet Dr. Pepper. With my brain and tummy full, I decided to take advantage of the couch in Stella's office and get a few hours of sleep before I started my shift behind the counter tonight. I lay down on my side and Corgan curled up against my chest. I was smiling for the moment.

You know how sometimes you can only remember snippets of a dream and other times it's like watching a movie in HD? Try combining the two. This is what was happening to me while I slept.

I saw a man. He looked familiar but I couldn't quite place him. He was crouched down in front of a headstone. The stars were out. He turned to face me and my vision blurred into a blinding light. When it cleared the man was gone and there was a woman standing across a grassy expanse. She was fair and her hair was blowing back, glowing in sort of a halo effect around her upper body. As she came closer, the brightness that encompassed her darkened, and her hair began to burn. Then everything went black. I heard a melody, familiar but I couldn't quite place it. Then I saw myself in a grey mist with a cloud of black downy feathers swirling around me. I started screaming, but no sound came out.

I sat straight up on the couch in Stella's office. I couldn't catch my breath. It took a minute for my vision to clear and I realized I wasn't alone. Stella was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa, leaning on the edge of the cushion near my feet. She was in that dazed state they fall into sometimes. I blinked my eyes a few times to make sure I was finally awake. "What the fuck?" I whispered but it still brought Stella back to the here and now.

"I couldn't wake you. I didn't smell any drugs or alcohol. Your sister is worried."

"What time is it?" My head was throbbing and my leg was worse. I felt like I had just run a mile on the healing bones.

"Ten thirty. Abel is out there alone. I think he's managing, though, for your benefit." She was talking about her great nephew. Stella looked about twenty-one but she was more like seventy years old. Five years ago she had tracked down her descendants. Her sister's daughter and grandson were willing to bring her into their lives. She was one of the first vampires to re-associate with their living human relations. She was very unconventional as far as vampires were concerned.

Abel was eighteen and a junior at the local UT branch. He was studying psychology and working part time for his aunt whenever he had a chance. He was tall, dark and overconfident. But he was good company when I was stuck behind the counter for a long shift and business was slow. I had been looking forward to spending the evening catching up with him. And now he'd worked better than half of the shift alone.

I glanced at the end table where I had lain out my research, the notepad and my laptop. The pad now rested in Stella's lap and she was twirling the pen swiftly through her fingers. I needed some caffeine. I needed some kind of normal. Where was the dog?

"Stella?"

"Your sister took him home. I'm supposed to call her when you wake up. She's going to have questions. What's going on inside your head, little girl? Where did you go for all that time?"