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Chapter Fourteen: Thomo-rrow is Another Day

Thomas was running; he passed silently through alleyway behind the bar and out into the street. Before he knew it, he was passing the bench where he had first met Panda. As he passed it he could have sworn he saw a box wrapped in a pink bow sitting exactly where she had been sitting the first time he saw her. He pushed on, cutting through the park. Ahead on the path he could see a group of three standing off to the side and staring at him. As he got closer, they came into focus; it was Emily, Naomi, and Cook. He wanted to stop and talk, but he couldn't; out or the corner of his eye he thought he saw dog collars on Cook and the redheaded girl and it seemed that Naomi was holding them on a leash. He shook his head. He had to be imagining it; perhaps he was dehydrated. After all, he had been running for a long time. As he was passing the lake he saw Katie and Effy waist deep in the water, but as he looked at them, the water around them turned red; they looked at him and beckoned him to join them—smiling with sharp teeth that dripped blood. He was breaking into a cold sweat and he pushed onward. He was almost out of the park; he could see the exit and was filled with the certainty that if he could just get out everything would be fine. If he could just make it. There was someone blocking the path out, standing just in the archway, and as he came closer he could see it was Panda.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry Thomas." She began to cry.

He couldn't speak; he pushed past her, but there she stood in front of him again.

"It's my fault," she said. "Not hers."

It didn't make any sense; Thomas jogged in place while he decided what to do. He couldn't look her in the eyes.

"Thomas," she said. And out of reflex he looked, but she wasn't there anymore.

Freddie stood in front of him. "It's not her fault. It was me."

Thomas looked around to find himself back in the alley way; he needed to run—it was all he could think. He rounded the corner again and was stopped dead in his tracks by Freddie.

"Ok. I don't know how to work this whole controlling your dreams thing, but you have to listen to me. Ok?" Freddie said. "Because trying to get through to you with all this subconscious stuff going on just isn't working."

Thomas stopped and the street around them began to fade away. "What is happening?" he asked.

"You're dreaming," Freddie answered. "A very vivid dream that I don't really know what to do with…but you are actually more observant than you think…but the important thing is. Panda wasn't kissing Effy. That was me; I possessed her."

Freddie paused as the last of the color and shapes faded from the dream leaving only the two of them in a pool of light surrounded by darkness.

"This is going to be really hard to explain, but I need you to listen carefully and remember this when you wake up," The ghost continued.

It was finally dark enough to leave; Katie and Effy were fixing up each others hair since they couldn't use mirrors. Effy stepped back and turned around slowly.

"Yep, the boys will be drooling like always," Katie assured.

"Yeah, you too," the blue eyed vampire said after her friend had turned for one last once over.

"It's too easy, really," Katie mockingly sighed.

"Well I'm going to go before Panda comes over and…whatever she was planning to do," Effy said.

"Yeah, go on ahead," she said with a twinkle in her deep brown eyes. "I'm going to hang back and give the boys a fighting chance."

The other girl raised an eyebrow, but she was hungry so she shrugged and headed out quickly. Katie stood at the window and watched as her roommate disappeared towards the club. She waited about fifteen minutes before going back to her room and picking up her phone.

"Hey mom," Katie said. "Yeah, I'm fine. How's James? Good."

She breathed a sigh of relief; her brother's hand was healing well and he seemed to be normal still. She wasn't sure how to feel about it all; it was the first time she'd ever hurt him without it being on purpose and in retaliation for him spying on her.

"No mom, Effy needs me to stay with her…" she lied. "Well her dad's gone, and she got back from the hospital to find her mom is off with some guy. I just don't want to leave her alone right now. Love you too."

She hung up and instinctively sniffled and dabbed at her eyes even though she wasn't physically crying. Katie fidgeted with her clothes and then headed out the door to catch up with Effy.

"So, what's been going on here?" Emily said as she came around the side of the house.

Katie went stiff and then swung around. "What?"

"Since when do you live at Effy's?" Emily asked.

Truth be told, she was hurt that her sister hadn't just told her about this move. The fact that it had been kept a secret made her suspicious. Emily was frustrated because she wanted to talk to her sister about the big change in her life, but she couldn't bring herself to when there was obviously something Katie was hiding.

"Since I wanted to," her sister replied. "What does it matter?"

"Nothing," Emily said. "Just thought you might tell me if something big happened."

Katie eyed her intently. "I am pretty sure you didn't talk to mom. So who exactly…" she rolled her eyes. "Panda. Of course, I told her to let me tell you myself in my own way."

"It slipped out," Emily tired to smooth things over. "She really didn't mean to say anything and she didn't say much—just that you were staying here with Effy and…"

"It's so not as bad as it sounds," Katie interrupted. "I haven't killed any of them, they just pass out and I stop."

"…Wait…What?" Emily said.

"And it's not like I asked for it, but it happened. I have to have blood so the best I can do is leave them aliv,." Katie continued, ignoring her sister's look of shock and confusion.

"…Wait…What?" She repeated.

"So I'm a vampire now! You don't get to judge me; I only bit James and he's fine. I just talked to mom and he's perfectly fine. So I could be doing a lot worse you know." The vampire finished.

Emily just stared not able to even blink.

"What?" Katie spat.

She didn't know what to say. Finally she shrugged and took a deep breath, "So? Cook is alive and he turned me into a werewolf."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Naomi's sarcasm is starting to rub off on you."

She thought her sister was being pretty glib about all this. Here she was, pouring her heart out about how she had been turned into a vampire and all she could do was try to laugh it off by saying she's a werewolf.

JJ had started his search that morning outside Effy's house; he assumed it would be one of the first places Freddie would try to go. After that he tried the shed, but still there was no luck. He had even swung by Naomi and Emily's even though he had to be careful not to be seen; he wasn't ready to explain this just yet. He had spent the whole day looking for the friend he had worked so hard to bring back to life. He couldn't think of anywhere else to look. The only thing he could think to do was head home and hope that maybe Freddie was there looking for him; it was a long shot, but he was out of ideas.

As he trudged home feeling defeated. A car zoomed close by, splashing him with muddy water from the street.

"Shit! Shitification!" JJ exclaimed. He stared after the car, music was blaring from it as it swerved down the street and out of sight.

Then it dawned on him that there was one place he hadn't thought to look yet. He turned around and headed for the club.