Chapter 27

The Future Beyond the Past

Date: July 15, 1976

Time: 10:13pm

Location: Saint Mary Hospital

What had happened? One minute she had been reading over her material while her mentor was gone and the next she was in a hospital bed with her text book over her chest. Oh right, now she remembered, after her mentor left she decided to stay behind to study in peace rather than returning to her apartment where no doubt the college kids next door were partying like there was no tomorrow. When she looked down at her watch though she saw that it was pretty late.

"Shit, can't believe I fell asleep at a time like this. Alright let's just put the tools up and we can be on our way. " she said as she threw her book back into her carrying back in a hurry.

Ever since she started college she had always been strict with herself when it came to her sleeping schedule. Ten o'clock is when she was to hit the hay and five thirty in the morning was when she would wake up and read over her notes for any upcoming test, that way her body was ready and able for the day to come, but now she had to walk all the way down the street to her apartment. What a drag.

"Book, check, folder, check, pens and pencils, check and I am set." she told herself as she threw her back over her shoulder.

Yes everything seemed fine and dandy but as she approached the door the sound of what she interpreted as an explosion came from the bottom floor. It was strange though because none of the fire alarms were going off and there were no screams. Was she crazy to want to leave the room? If something really had exploded then not only was she in danger but so were the patients as well as the doctors and nurses. With her shaking hand she grabbed the doorknob and gave it a little twist before it slowly opened on its own.

Smoke began pouring into the room as the sound of the crackling flames all around filled the air. Had a bomb really gone off? If so why hadn't the building collapsed? Holding her breath she peaked out of the room as patients and doctors began running around in a panic. What had spooked them so bad and why had no one bothered to call the police or fire department? That's when she heard it, a loud roar that shook the foundation of the building.

"Wha-What in the hell?"

Down below on the first floor something with dark green skin, bright yellow eyes and big, strong arms could be seen as it squished and devoured both employees and patients alike. She was going to puke as she backed up against the door. Wrong move though, the thing seemed to track her movements as its eyes narrowed in on her.

"No, no this can't be happening." she whimpered as she ran back inside and licked the door.

Looking around she searched for what she could use as a weapon, but as the flames began to spread her hope was slowly fading as the floor shook below her. No, it couldn't have been coming for her, it couldn't have. She was too young to become food for that thing! As she stood there though everything went silent as a deep, rough voice began to speak to her from the other side of the door.

"Little pig, little pig, let me in..." she heard as her knees buckled.

If she didn't find a way out there was no way she could survive a face off with that thing, but how? Her legs were locked of, her fear had prevent her from moving a single inch.

"Go away!" she exclaimed in a commanding voice as she threw her heavy backpack at the door.

Nothing, all it did was taunt her even more with another creepy chuckly.

"Not by the hairs on your chinny chin chin."

When everything went silent for a second time though she thought maybe it had given up. How stupid could she had been to think like that? Suddenly the door and the wall surrounding it burst open as she felt a pain she had never felt before. Her stomach, it felt weird and it hurt, and from her mouth she felt a warm liquid dripping. As her vision began to blur her eyes rolled down and saw a pipe that had been used for the plumbing had been rammed straight through the center of her stomach and out the other side. There she hung, pinned to a wall as her life began to fade.

"Hehahaha you'll make a nice desert after I've finished the main course." was all she heard as she felt her heart beginning to stop.

No amount of luck could save her from her fate, at least that's what she thought. In a blink of an eye however something crashed through the roof and landed right on the pole that the creature had her pinned with. With her hearing fading out she couldn't hear much but as darkness began to surround her she could only make out the face of a man with bright white hair that had been tied back, his eyes were as bright and red as the devil's, and his semi armored outfit gave off a very strange feeling.

"Sorry cupcake but I'll take it from here." was the last thing she heard before a loud, high pitched screech then finally darkness.

It had to had been a dream right? There was no way such a creature could exist in the real world. A creature of fairy tails and horror books, there was just no way. Still the pain in her stomach was still there for a short time as her eyes opened up.

"Ugh Jesus what happened?" she asked herself, expecting to be back in her apartment.

The pain in her stomach was still there but had gone down quite a bit but that wasn't what worried her. Looking around the room she knew she wasn't in her apartment, in fact it looked like a shop that she would find at a Renaissance festival. Jars of different colored liquids were locked behind the doors the cupboards and skulls of different animals lined the room walls, some she could identify, some she could not.

"OK who's playing me? Come on out!" she demanded as she jumped out of the bed.

Wherever she was at it didn't smell too great. Whatever, she just wanted to escape and return to her apartment and forget all about that dream. Her bags were nowhere to be seen but that wasn't the half of it. As she passed in front of the mirror next to her bed something struck her as odd and worrying. Her hair, it wasn't blond anymore and her eyes, the ocean blue color was gone. Then it hit her, the dream she had. Her hair and eyes, their color was the exact same as his was.

"Oh god, no, no I need some air." she begged as she stumbled towards the doors.

No, it couldn't had been real, it just couldn't have been. Monsters, they were only made up to scare children. As she grabbed the handle and opened it up though everything she knew vanished in one fell swoop. They weren't stories, trolls, goblins, everything else, they were real and there they were, walking down the dirt road like it was just an ordinary day for them. Back and forth she moved as the beasts pushed her out of their way with their massive bodies. How could she comprehend such a revelation?

"They're real, they're real, they're reeeeeeeal!" she squeaked as her body trembled.

How could she comprehend such things when all her life she had been told that there wasn't a monster under her bed or in her closet, they were and they had been watching. As she backed up towards the door though she ran into something solid.

"Oh you finally woke up."

That voice, it was so familiar, was it? That tied back white hair, those red eyes that burned with the fire within him, and those sharp fangs, it was him. The same guy that had been annoying her for the past six months and the one who saved her skin.

"Are you OK? You looked a little spooked, like you've seen a ghost."

She owed him for keeping her out of the gullet of that beast, but screw that she needed to find a way out of the third world city and get back to her own world.

"I~I need to go."

But before she could even start running he appeared in front of her.

"OK look princess up there in the human world you may have all the freedom you want but now you're just like us."

"Let me pass, I need to get back! I'm not one of you!" she pleaded as she tried to run the other way.

"Oh so close but wrong, see your hair? Your eyes? Does your body feel a bit weird, like it's changed? Good, you're going to need that."

Nothing made sense anymore as she stood before him.

"You changed me? Why, why would you do that? I don't want to be one of you, I just want to graduate and become a surgeon. Why did you take that away?"

"Uh hm maybe because you were impaled against a wall. But hey if you no longer want to live as a monster just go find another to kill you. Go on, go out there and see what happens."

"You're telling me to kill myself?"

"I'm giving you a choice, either you return to your life above and get killed off by other rouges or you stay down here and let me help you. You saw that bastard that attacked you? You think that's bad cupcake? There's more out there and if you can't defend yourself then they'll eat you alive, alive and screaming! They don't care if you cry for mercy they'll bite your fucking head off to shut you up."

It was all too much as she collapsed to her knees. She was trapped, trapped in the stink hole until something good decided to happen. If what he told her was true then she couldn't leave, becoming a surgeon, like her mentor, and helping people. The moment was interrupted however when she felt her stomach grumble.

"I guess I would be hungry too if I got impaled like that." he said in response as he pricked his finger.

And without any say so he shoved his bleeding thumb into her mouth so that his blood could quench her thirst.

"You'll be perfectly fine. You'll see, we do much more good than harm. Just stay calm, stick with me, and one day you may live up on the surface again."

And that's where the story ended.

"Geez, so he turned you into a vampire because you were almost killed by a rouge?"

"Yeah and let me tell you what the next three years wasn't easy. I took a bit of time but I eventually learned to curb my apatite for blood. He along with Salena also taught me how to fight against other monsters with our friend Frank being the punching bag."

"Hm..."

"What's wrong?" asked Eva.

"I don't know if I can do this. If Nightmare is making his return like Vlad said then how will I fight? I'm just a beginner and I barely know any magic. How am I suppose to fight someone like that?"

"Well when I started training with Salena the first thing she told me was to just let the flow. Just let it flow, don't hold back anymore. You'll see, you've got instincts sweetie but you've got to let them loose. And plus you still got my son to help you." she replied as she picked up the empty plate and glasses.

Outside of the nearest window she could see him as he and Locke fought. In the beginning she thought he was just a jerk who didn't really care about her but seeing how much he had gone through to protect her from harm. The thug, the factory, even if he didn't want to admit it she and the others knew that he really cared about her not just as a partner but as a friend.

"Can I get you anything else?" asked Eva.

"Uh no, I'm good but thanks." she replied as her head turned back towards

Hopefully she hadn't seen her flushed cheeks.