Blade woke early the next morning. He crept out of the bed slowly, making sure that he didn't wake Megan in the process. He eased the door open and exited the room, slowly shutting it behind him. He began his usual routine; Shower, shave, clean change of underpants, again, making sure he didn't wake Megan. He checked his watch. 6:30 in the morning. He knew it would still be another couple of hours before either Slash or Megan woke up. He slowly made his way downstairs and into the kitchen. He sat up at the table, head in his hands, thinking about the dreams that had been plaguing his mind for the past few days. After a short while, he lifted his head back up.

"I need a walk." he said out loud. "Yeah, a walk will do me good."

He was halfway out the back door, until a high pitched voice stopped him dead in his tracks..

"Dad?"

He turned around, and noticed his son Slash standing in the archway that connected the kitchen with the living area. He was not that much shorter than Blade, and wore the same toned bodily physique, except his face. He had his mothers features, same mis-matched eyes, same nose, same dimpled cheeks, but his spines bore the same blue marking that Blade's had.

"Hey buddy." Blade smiled, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. "Happy Birthday."

Slash smiled back, but his smile slowly diminished.

"What were you and Mom talking about last night?"

Blade looked taken back, but tried to mask it.

"Talking? We weren't talking." Slash just gave him a stern look.

"Dad, I may have Mom's good looks, but I definitely have your hearing. Besides, I was up early this morning 'cause I was so excited about today."

Blade knew he was beaten.

"OK, you win." Blade closed the door and sat down at the table. Slash followed his lead. "We were just discussing my bad sleeping pattern is all."

"Well, did you try back-tracking to when it first started? Maybe then you can figure out how to stop it then."

Blade thought carefully for a moment. "Well, I guess it started a few days ago. I was tidying up the house a little bit for your Mom. Then about midday, she came back with a few presents for... you..." That must have been it... Blade thought, casting his mind back. Megan had shown him all the presents that she had gotten Slash for his birthday, including what looked like a large ornamental ring.

The ring was engraved with what looked like hieroglyphics,, which was something that had always interested Slash. He loved to try and decode things, and had recently taken to learning how to read ancient languages. When Blade saw the ring, his stomach immediately turned. He could sense that something wasn't right about it, but he had just passed it off as indigestion. Now, he realized that his gut instinct was right all along.

"Dad? Da-ad. Hello! Anyone there?" Slash waved his hand in front of Blade's face, snapping him back into reality.

Blade immediately stood up and gestured for Slash to stay put. He ran back up the stairs quickly and barged into his bedroom, instantly waking Megan,.

"Blade!" she shouted, "What the hell-"

"Where's the ring?" Blade cut across her. "Quickly, the ring!"

"What ring?"

"The ring for Slash's birthday! The ornamental one?"

"I put it back in it's box in the closet." Megan said, pointing at the foot of the closet. "I was going to wrap it later. Why, what's the matter?"

Blade quickly darted toward the closet and rummaged around for the box. These dreams end now... he thought.

He ripped the box open and took out the ring. He stared at it's markings. Even now, they were giving him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"He have to take this to Slash now." he said.

"What?" Megan questioned. "But I thought we were going to give him his presents after we had given him the cake?"

"There's no time for that!" Blade raised his voice unintentionally. "This thing is evil!" Megan just scoffed at him.

"Blade, don't be so ridiculous-"

"I AM NOT BEING RIDICULOUS! THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS THING!" he shouted at her. He needed this ring looked at right now. The sickly feeling in his stomach was beginning to worsen for each minute that he held the ring.

Megan was extremely taken back. Blade had never raised his voice to her before. She now knew that there was definitely something wrong.

"Blade...please." She slid out of bed slowly and walked over to him, taking his shaky hands into her own equally shaking hands. She look deeply into his eyes and spoke so softly, that it was almost unheard. "There's something wrong with you, and you need to tell me now."

Blade looked back into her eyes. They were swimming with tears of worry for him. If there was anything that he couldn't stand in this world, it was his beautiful wife, crying before him.

I have to tell her... he thought. It's not fair to keep it from her any longer...

"Sit down Megan..." Blade pointed towards the bed, Megan immediately obeyed and sat right at the edge. He positioned himself next to her an took her hands, staring deeply into her shining eyes. "I think it's about time that I told you something I should have told you a long time ago..."