Chapter 3:

Veronica awoke with sweat now pouring down her, still screaming. She was unable to stop. It was almost like she no longer owned her own voice.

At last she forced her hand over her mouth which instantly cut off the screams of the Slayer. The eerie silence that followed was almost as traumatic as the vision of herself turning to ashes. And yet it was only a dream, right? Then why did she feel so cold all of a sudden? Shaking a little, Veronica forced herself out of the bed and walked towards the mirror that lay face up on her dresser.

The face staring back at her did not match her own image of herself. It was pale, almost mirroring that of her enemy, Vampires' pale faces. It was almost like she was one herself. Even her eyes seemed to take a strange turn, hollow and cold, uncaring…yet she did care. Didn't she? Now all she could do was look on and question everything around her; nothing was the same.

"I'm losing my mind." Veronica's voice scared her as she spoke those words. Her voice sounded almost glad, like it was about time she had started…why did she suddenly feel like two very different people, one good, one darker and scary?

"Come now, you must know what fate looks like."

Her clone's words echoed in her head as the door swung open. Alexander ran in, carrying a brass poker as weapon, breathing rather hard as his eyes quickly searched the room for the cause of the screams. When he realized that there was nothing there he turned to her.

"Sorry it took so long…" He paused for a breath. "…This place…bigger…than" another breath "…I…I…Thought…Got lost…on the way…Whathappenhereanyway?" The last part he managed to choke out, making it sound as though it were one word.

As he spoke he was holding both his sides, looking rather pathetic, Veronica noted, but still he was surprisingly always there when she truly needed him. He treated her with respect, made her out to be a Heroine when she wasn't. Veronica realized he was waiting for her to respond to his question.

"I'm fine," she said slowly, glancing to see if he believed her. "Just a really bad dream."

Alexander paused before saying anything. He, of course, did not believe that she was fine, hadn't been for quite some time. He sighed, but let it pass.

"Why don't you come downstairs and have some tea? Make you feel better." Alexander couldn't help but give a small smile, encouraging her to come with him.

Veronica paused before nodding and slowly followed him out the door." Sometimes he really could be a nice guy," she thought.

~~*~~

From the rooftop where only glass and sky surrounded him, Joshua watched the scene play out. It was rather interesting watching the Slayer fall victim to Cyril's nightmares and visions of truth. He hadn't expected the Slayer to go down so easily.

"Maybe what they say is true: the Slayers really all do have deathwishes"

Joshua had seen enough to know that the dream did in fact plague her and taint her soul. After those visions she wouldn't be the same again. He could already feel and even see the change those dreams had caused her. All this fuss over a simple, yet very dark set of dreams. He'd have to thank Paris for agreeing to help them and pulling this off so quickly.

"Dreams will be the death of you, Slayer. Just wait and see." His now ever-so-trademark-like fanged smile was on his face.

~~*~~

Still as Night, Veronica thought as she watched over the still Graveyard. She was perched of the roof of one of the many high crypts. The Victorian Era marked a time when death and morning were taken a little too far, almost as if people enjoyed and waited for death, the fancy, over the top. Almost too much to bear. Graveyards were proof of that.

Veronica was rather disappointed that no Vamps had come out to play, if was the only thing she could think of to take her mind off what had happen only hours before…that dream, I thought I was going to die of sheer fear

Veronica shivered slightly, before jumping off her perch. She landed neatly next to Alex who, predictably, had his nose in a book, still trying to find out the secrets of the known world most likely. He seemed to have ignored what had happened back at the manor, rather more to give her time to think it over than actually not caring. But she knew he knew something,

He did care, maybe a little too much…

"Not a Vampire in sight" Veronica said through gritted teeth. Tonight just wasn't her night

No reply.

"I'm going to take a look around. Maybe someone or something's near by"

He only waved her off as she set out of the Graveyard's entrance.

~~*~~

The Riders wore hoods that covered their faces…if they had any that is.

Each was on a black horse. They were thirteen in total and all covered in black, making it hard to tell if they were really there or just part of the Night's background.

One of the black riders, the biggest, the Leader, held a glass orb that was blood red and seemed to give off a power all its own. He was aiming it at a girl.

The girl had long black hair with a strand of lace tied in it. She wore skirts of blue and white. The girl showed no fear as she waited for the final blow that would end her life…The impact never came as, the leader of the black riders was knocked from behind and off his horse. Veronica stood where he had fallen.

The other riders turned to make short work of her but the girl wiggled free and mouthed something, and only seconds later did a blast of energy shoot from her hand and freeze two of the riders heading towards Veronica.

Veronica looked a little stunned, but decided to leave those kinds of question for later. Veronica ran as one of the riders headed towards her. She circled back towards the Entryway of the Graveyard and bent an iron bar of the frame of the double-gated doors to use as a weapon.

Grabbing the bar, she swung at the oncoming attacker and knocked it off its horse. Then Veronica followed with a few punches to the fallen rider, surprised that it seemed not to work. The rider, in fact, was taking the time of her little attack to recover from the fall, ignoring her attempts to finish it off.

Veronica realized this wasn't going to be all that easy. She noticed the fallen rider's horse still standing around, not sure if to help its master or not. Veronica decided to play it safe. She ran up to the horse and mounted it, riding it back the where the fight had began and in one quick motion grabbed the girl and rode off with her, the black riders following fast behind.

~~*~~

Emma peered around the banister at the top of the main stairs trying to eavesdrop on Serena's conversation with Serena's friend, Anna, or supposed friend would be more like it.

Emma didn't like Anna. She meant trouble unknown to Serena. of course. but Emma was here to save the day! "Who needs Veronica" Emma quietly moved closer to the banister and listened.

"So Serena I heard your other sister was back in town. Ws that true?" Anna questioned

"Yes, she is." Serena looked rather uncomfortable with the mention of Veronica ,but tried to pretend she didn't care. Not a very good try, however, something Anna seemed to notice but decided against acting on.

"I see…I" Anna slowed, trying to think of a new topic." Listen, you didn't happen to hear about the ballet that's coming to town later on this weekend, did you? John bought some tickets and all, and I was wondering if you would like to go. There are enough for everyone, even Veronica…"

"Oh Anna, I'd love to go but these tickets must have cost you a fortune and a half…I-I"

"Think nothing of it, I wouldn't have it any other way," Anna smiled brightly.

Emma looked horrified at the thought of leaving the house to go see that mess.

"The Ballet, huh? …What type of evil could be lurking in this house as the form of Anna. Maybe I should talk to Alex about her…Speaking of Alex, where is he? I haven't seen him since he and Veron' went to Graveyard. Hmmm."

Alex ran through the Graveyard at top speed, trying to weave through the many grave markers as a small group of the Black Riders chased him. Alex, in a moment's decision, dived into an open crypt and hurried to close of the opening, with only seconds left before the Black Riders would be on him. Alex strained with the weight of the crypt's door. He looked up to see the Black Riders closing in on the space between them and the door. Just when he thought he finally had it, Alex slipped and fall backward completely losing hold of the door and out of time.

Thinking the worst, Alexander watched as the Black Riders closed in …And then surprisingly, they started to circle the crypt never moving to close to the entrance, before hurriedly riding off in the opposite direction. Clearly something about this area scared them and Alex for sure didn't want find out what that was.

But unfortunately he didn't seem to have a choice. The silhouette of Joshua behind him would make sure of that.

~~*~~

Veronica slowed the horse before dismounting and grabbing the reins and carefully moving through the forest before them. The girl from before sat quietly on the horse; almost as if she was waiting for something or someone. Veronica sighed. She couldn't help but be a bit uneasy. First Cyril and now Black Riders. With so little time remaining, Veronica didn't think she had the strength even as a Slayer to carry on.

"Thank…you…." Mumbled the girl

Veronica, who was looking ahead at a gap in the woods, almost missed the comment.

"Welcome."

"You're that thing they call a Slayer, aren't you?"

Now this surprised Veronica.

"Yes"

Very few individuals knew of the "real world" that everyone on this planet lives on and most would be surprise to learn they're reality was the fake and the true one was home to Demons, Vampires, Witches, Evil creatures and so forth…

My World…And those few that do, most of them had some place in this world. I have to wonder exactly what role this girl was going to play…

She looked sideways at the girl. Something was off here; something was very off. However, for now it was best to keep her talking.

"What's your name?"

"Veronica, Yours?"

"Paris"

"Oh."

A pause of about 10 seconds passed before:

"You ever believe that dreams tell the future?"

"What?" Okay, now, this was just getting weird.

"You know, like fate…"

Compete silence followed those words. Veronica turned and let go of the horse, now, for some reasoning fearing this girl more than the Black Riders – wherever there were. Paris smiled sweetly.

Too Sweetly

And continued.

"Because if you were to ask me I think that they do…always"

"Charming Theory you got there, Paige –"

"- Paris"

"Right, I'm sorry it was my mistake." Words spoken without any sorry-ness in them at all.

There was now no friendliness in the conversation. Everything that was spoken underlined a deeper and more sinister meaning. Veronica was regretting saving this girl ,though why she didn't know, but the words: Fate and Dream stuck out and made her sure the topic of this convocation wasn't an accident

"Look, if you don't want to talk about dream I suppose we could talk about something else in the meantime"

"We could. You know I want to talk about Cyril. Let's talk about Cyril, okay with you?"

"Cyril? That's a name I'm not –"

"Cut it out with the fakeness. I know you know something about him. I also know you know about the dreams too. "

"And what makes you think all of that?"

"Lucky guess…"

"I see…well my lucky guess, as you say, would be that the Slayer should run from this or otherwise face the problems that are raised later on"

"Tell me something I don't know, in fact how about right now"

All before last few words were spoken, Veronica had Paris pinned to a nearby tree, making sure to push extra hard…

"I'm only going to say this one more time, What…Do…You…Know? …That simple."

"Look, look all I know is what is…is what…The Black Riders!!! Let Go!!! Off me they're coming this way!"

Veronica turned, caught off guard, and immediately regretted it. Paris raised her hand and a glowing ball of sparks flew from it and knocked Veronica into a nearby tree, which snapped under the weight of the impact. Paris then took the horse and, mounting, fled the scene, no Black Riders in sight.

A/N: I'm just going to stop and leave it there, it truly depends of the reviews if I'm going to start this up again, just cause I'm not truly sure if I like what I have so far, something I can be my own worst critic, hope you enjoyed at last. ^__^