Amalia slumped a bit, her hand settling on her hip. She was obviously looking for Ren. She didn't know, then, though they all had to suspect that something was going on. Rey couldn't even remember where his phone had ended up. She seemed irritated, but she didn't seem surprised.

"Something's different," She murmured, her eyes narrowing. Rey couldn't get over how lovely she was, and how she felt like such a small beetle next to her. "Please don't tell me that idiot was dumb enough to turn you,"

"No," Rey said in response, her voice quiet.

"What's wrong?" Amalia asked, her voice quiet and tenuous.

"He's dead," She said, barely able to get the words out.

Amalia was silent for a few long moments, staring at her curiously before she spoke again.

"I doubt that," She finally said. "Ren is a bit hard to kill,"

"I killed him,"

"Oh," She mouthed out, rather than really speaking the word. "Why?"

"It's a long story,"

Rey was expecting that she was going to get angry. She didn't. Her face seemed thoughtful, she was mulling over something before she released a puff of air and threw herself down on the couch. She patted the spot next to her without looking back at Rey. She seemed to have an air of 'you'd better explain it to me, then'. Rey was still afraid of her, even with whatever new abilities she'd been graced with, but she moved forward slowly and took a seat beside her.

Rey explained it as best as she could. Amalia was good at schooling her features not to have any sort of reaction, and Rey didn't have the benefit of having some sort of strange bond with her. She looked away once Rey was done relaying the story before slamming her hands onto the couch and using them to push herself up. She disappeared for a moment, and Rey was expecting she'd show up with a weapon or something, but instead, Amalia returned with an expensive looking bottle of wine. Rey looked at her carefully.

"What? Seems like you could use a drink. I could,"

Rey watched as she set a couple of wine glasses down in front of them. She uncorked it with one, long nail, and Rey watched with surprise and a sort of confused admiration. What a skill to have. She poured out a bit for each of them.

"Do you know Snoke?" Rey asked.

"Yup," Amalia said in response, swallowing back a bit of her wine. It didn't give her red wine teeth, miraculously.

"And?"

"We all hoped he was dead," She said, swishing her wine about in the deep bellied glass. "He's been sort of a plague since the beginning times," She said, taking another sip.

"I thought you'd be angry,"

"Oh, I am," She said, softly. "But it seems as if we have bigger problems now,"

"What do you mean?"

"Without Ren, every thing will be chaos," She said. "Especially if Snoke intends to take over, like you mentioned,"

"Everyone will just let that happen?"

"Yes," Amalia said. "Unless you step up,"

"What do you mean?"

"You're the one that killed him. Snoke is just taking credit for it. My guess is he turned you in the hope that he'll have control over you,"

"Is that how this works?"

"Sadly, yes," She took another sip. "Some of us have the benefit of having dead sires, or ancient sires that have been sleeping forever,"

"How will he control me?"

"Blood calls to blood," She said, as if it were the most simple fact. "You won't be able to deny him,"

"Shit," She muttered.

"He might have even been thinking you wouldn't make it through the process. It kills most,"

"I think, for some reason, he was hoping I would make it," She said, quietly. "I seem to have some sort of...um...value, to him,"

"Lucky you," Amalia said, taking another drink. "Listen, I don't like you," She admitted. "Fairly sure you don't like me...but without Ren you're going to be lost. I can help you, if only because I don't want to see what happens when Snoke takes over,"

"You're not angry I killed him?"

"Sounds like you didn't feel you had much of a choice,"

"What should I do then?"

"It would be better if your friend thought you were dead," Amalia said with a thoughtful look. "But maybe not," She tapped her elegant finger against her elegant chin. "I think you should go on living exactly like you have been. At least for the time,"

"My apartment is destroyed, all of my belongings are mostly gone,"

"I can help with that,"

"Why should I keep living as if nothing happened?"

"If Snoke believes you don't remember, it might buy some time. He'll be distracted with whatever it is he's got planned. I can do some snooping that you might not be able to do to see what I can find out,"

"I think he's done what he had planned,"

"Well, yeah," She said, evenly. "But I'm curious as to why he decided to let you live. There has to be a reason for it,"

"What about Ren?"

"Ren's Ren," She shrugged. "I doubt it was enough to take him out. Maybe you had to believe it for it to work on Snoke,"

"But it was a ceremonial blade and everything,"

Amalia laughed.

"I can see Snoke hasn't lost his affinity for drama, and wild fairy stories,"

They spent the rest of the night talking. Rey decided not to tell her about how she didn't seem to possess the allergy to sunlight that her counterparts did. She also decided not to tell her that she'd been able to do some weird stuff before she got turned. Rey felt more at ease around her, though she did get blunter the drunker she got. Rey found that even if they were vampires, they were still quite able to drink too much wine. Amalia seemed to know where Snoke would go, but she wanted to do some sniffing around first. Rey said she would stay in the apartment, in the small chance that Ren wasn't dead and he came back.

Rey felt in her heart it wouldn't happen, even if she really wanted to believe it would.

Time seemed to slow down after that. Rey kept expecting that Snoke would come back, or that something awful would make itself apparent after that terrible, bloody night, but she allowed herself to get comfortable. She stayed in Ren's apartment, though each night her hope became less and less that he would return. Eventually, she went back to school. She had a lot of catch up to do, and she had heard from Finn and Poe. It seemed like the night had never happened, at least not to them. She wondered if Phasma had had something to do with that. It explained why she woke up in that compound by herself.

She didn't say anything about any of it. She was able to keep up with her human facade pretty easily, considering that she could still go out into the sunlight. Every Friday night, Amalia ended up on the couch somehow. Rey would wake up on Saturday morning to find the black out curtains pulled with the beautiful woman passed out on the couch. She began to realize that her struggle with alcohol was more than just a struggle. They took up an uneasy friendship. They were careful not to talk about Ren, especially as time marched on. It became clearer to the both of them that he might not be coming back. She fed very rarely, only when it was completely necessary. Amalia noted on how little she needed.

She let herself grow comfortable. It seemed she had yet to learn her lesson about that, but it was difficult not to do that.

She had been sleeping in Ren's bed, though she had taken down his photographs at some point, hiding them away. Even if he'd never showed them to her, they were painful to look at. It was easy for Rey to convince herself that things were normal during the day, but it was difficult at night. She missed his presence, even if she had only really spent a couple of nights with him. That night, she woke up with a voice in her head. It wasn't Ren's.

She recognized it, but it was as if a part of her brain was shut off to recognizing it. It whispered nefarious things into the corners of her mind, until it became so strong and painful it was difficult to overcome. She had to make it stop. She got out of bed, sitting straight up as if her body was no longer hers. Stumbling towards the door like a puppet on strings, she opened the door and swung it open with a slam. Unfortunately, it was one such night where Amalia had ended up curled up on the couch.

Rey shambled into the kitchen and grabbed the biggest, sharpest kitchen knife. She found Amalia on the couch. Thankfully, the woman was alert, even if she was drunk, and her eyes opened just before Rey managed to swipe into her flesh. It would probably heal, but Amalia jumped out of the way of Rey's strangely jarred swiping.

"Rey!" She shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"I don't know," She said, though her arm swung out and she tossed the knife. Amalia managed to dodge it, but Rey only grabbed a heavy item that might have been good for bludgeoning.

"Stop it!" Amalia shouted, throwing items at her in an attempt to stave her off. Rey kept on, Amalia dodging each time. Once, Rey caught her, drawing blood, but she managed to roll off before more damage was done.

"Rey, think about Ren!" Amalia finally shouted.

Hearing his name immediately called him to mind, which was like a cold bucket of water to her face. She dropped her item, all malice having gone out of her. She shuddered, falling down like a baby deer. All of her energy had been expended and she hadn't even realized it. Amalia sighed, blowing her hair out of her face. Her make-up was smudged on the side where her face had been pressed into the couch.

"What in the hell was that?"

"I don't know," Rey gasped. "It was like something else was in control of me,"

"Oh," Amalia said quietly. "Shit," She cursed, moving over to kick the heavy object away from Rey. She leaned down in front of her. "Snoke?"

"It sounded like him,"

"Shit!" She said, standing up. She was probably going to get more booze. Rey was right, though this time Amalia didn't even bother with a glass. She wondered how much of a dent she'd put into Ren's wine stash.

She drank a few long gulps right out of the bottle, sitting down on the floor.

"Good thing alcohol can't kill you," Rey grumbled.

"Nope, but you can," She said in return, offering up the bottle. Rey declined. "This is bad news,"

"It's the only kind I seem to get," Rey pouted.

"Oh, shut up," Amalia said. "We'll figure it out. I've been sniffing around and I know where he is, and I know how we might be able to get into the tower without notice,"

"The tower?"

"Yeah," Amalia said. "It's where all the vampire royalty hang out. Thoroughly creepy place," She said, taking another swig. "You'll love it,"

"How are we going to get in?"

"A party,"

"Oh, great," Rey finally took the bottle and took a swig.

Rey didn't really know what they were going to do if they found Snoke. Amalia didn't seem to know either, but they both agreed they should go to see what information they could find out. Maybe they had been mourning Ren, but it seemed as if Snoke wasn't just going to go away. Rey began to hear him more often in the following days. Each time she thought of Ren, he pulled back, but it seemed like that might only be a temporary fix. And how long would she be able to recall him? She was sure bits and pieces of his memory would begin to fade, eventually.

There were nights when the immediacy of his memory made her weep, and she felt conflicted. She had thought she wanted it to fade, as all it caused now was pain. Still, he seemed to be the only way to keep her new vampire overlord at bay.

The night that the event came on them, Rey found the dressiest thing she could scrounge up out of her closet and went out into the living room to find Amalia standing there in a floor length gown that had shimmering crystals glued all over it. She looked like a princess, and when she got a good look at Rey, she pulled a face.

"You can't go like that," She said, enunciating the last word with displeasure.

"I don't have any floor length gowns," She said, irritated.

"Ugh," Amalia groaned out. "I had a feeling you'd dress like you're homeless," Amalia said. "I put a few dresses in the guest room," She motioned before digging into her glittering clutch for her cell phone, which was currently ringing.

Rey didn't have a chance to argue with her, as she picked up her phone and answered it. She went into the guest room to find a few plastic clad dresses. They still had their tags on them. Rey looked at each one before deciding on a black dress that was missing most of it's back. There were tiered strands of glittering chains strung across the opening in the back. It felt chilly on her bare back when she put it on. She grabbed a pair of shoes, finding it funny that she and the woman were the same size, shoe wise. Amalia was way too tall for these dresses to be hers, but Rey realized she might have been wrong about that.

When Rey finished dressing, she came out and looked at the vampire.

"It's a start," She conceded. "Come here,"

Amalia yanked her hair into a shiny twist that sat at the nape of her neck, and did her make up in a fashion that made her almost totally unrecognizable. Rey wondered if that was the point.

When Amalia lead her out to the car, she'd only just began to get the hang of the high heels, as they were higher than what she was used to. She paused, realizing that there was someone in the back seat. The man was gagged and bound, and Rey looked at Amalia with alarm, turning and staring her down.

"What? We have to bring a gift," Amalia said, pushing her shiny hair out of her face and sliding into the car as if it was normal.

"Gross," Rey said, under her breath.

The party was one that Rey was immediately on edge with. The building was huge, and dark, and there were rooms that were full of writhing bodies and death. Amalia seemed at home, and it made Rey wonder how she had ever come to terms with being a vampire. She lost track of the bound man as soon as they got through the doors, and she realized she didn't have much hope of finding him again. The place was like a funhouse, meant to disorient and bedazzle. Amalia whispered something about seeing what she could find out from her fellows, and she left Rey alone. The woman didn't seem to be worried for her safety. Rey found herself strangely serene about it, herself.

She had come to realize she might no longer be defenseless. She was faster, more agile, and certainly more in tune with her movements than she had been. The power she'd had trouble calling on before was there, resting right beneath the surface - ready to be brought forth at any moment. She wasn't sure what would happen if it was called upon, but she had to hope that it wouldn't be too surprising.

There was a grand ball room, full of dancers, swinging lights and more alcohol than she was sure was humanly possible to consume. There were other substances too, and there were humans who seemed oblivious that they'd been invited into a den of iniquity that housed wolves. Vampires were predators, after all. Rey didn't find herself swept into the dark allure of it all, in fact, most of it made her wish that she was still human. It did, however, present her with an opportunity to slip away unnoticed.

She saw nothing of Snoke, and felt nothing of his presence. She wondered if the evening would be a bust. However, she was sure that she could find something interesting here.

She caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her vision. The pull was strong, and she turned to try and get a full look at whatever or whoever it was. She missed it, but caught a glimpse of a tall man making his way up a winding, glittering staircase. Maybe it was her desperation that made her follow what was surely a total stranger up the stairs, but she found herself rushing up the stairs after him. The shoes she borrowed from Amalia slowed her down, so when she reached the top of the stairs she was met with nothing but an empty hallway. She looked down each way, but there was no one there.

"I am going crazy," She muttered, to herself.

She followed her instinct anyway, trying to move as quietly as possible down the hall way. The doors were closed, but she heard plenty of activity going on behind them. She loathed vampires, she realized. She loathed the fact that she now appeared to be one. She wanted to burn this place off of the map - blot it out like it was a nasty zit to be popped. She kept walking, feeling the whispering at the edge of her mind growing stronger and more potent. She realized this might have been a trick of Snoke's, but it didn't stop her from continuing on. Even just an image, an illusion of him would feed some part of her aching heart, wouldn't it?

The place was like a maze, and she moved down the hallways realizing she might have lost him, and had been lead up here only to run into the new face of her nightmares. She found a door standing ajar. The further she got from the party, the quieter the building got. She stopped in front of the door, quietly pushing it open. He stood across the mirrored floor. Rey was forced to look up, finding that the ceiling was lit up with twinkling lights. It was so realistic that Rey wondered if she was looking at the sky itself.

His hands were in his pockets. She realized it could be no one else but him, from head to toe it was Ren as she remembered him, in his expensive suit with a glittering watch at his wrist. His dark hair was perfectly waved, the low light of the room make it look as if it shimmered. She took a few careful steps forward. She thought that once she reached him, he would disappear. He turned.

There was no denying it, then. It was Ren. His face was strangely open, almost boyish. He was looking at her so hopefully it nearly caused her to cry aloud.

"Ren," She whispered out, the tears rolling down her face quite freely now.

She reached out, her fingertips grasping the lapels of his coat. She was sure he would disappear as she reached for him, but he didn't. She felt his hands slide along her bare elbows, and they stood there staring at one another as if they were both having an extremely vivid dream. When he reached up and brushed the tears from her cheeks, she felt there was no way that it wasn't real.

"Asshole," She said, tears in her eyes. "What are you doing here?" She finally asked. If he'd been alive all this time, why hadn't he come home? "I thought you were dead," It came out in a sob.

"I thought you were dead," He responded, his brows dropping in confusion.

She had to wonder at what Snoke was playing at. She wasn't sure this was someone who was just made to look like him. She found herself yanking at his tie, pulling it loose and away from the collar of his shirt. She unbuttoned it feverishly, and anyone who came on them might think she was after something else. Her fingertips pulled the fabric away, revealing the planes of his chest. She saw it then, the puncture where she'd stabbed him. It was black and still healing, but there could be no doubt that it was the wound she'd inflicted on him.

He was watching her, bemused.

"You're different," He said, as if there was no danger at all.

"I'm a vampire, idiot," She muttered, though she couldn't help but step forward and wrap her arms around him.

"Rey," He said simply, into her ear. "I need you to listen to me,"

"What?" She sniffed, pulling her head back. She realized she was loosing her grasp on him. He was slipping away like smoke.

"I don't have much time," He paused, becoming something more of a ghost. "You have to get out of here," He was urgent. "I'm here, but not here. The closer you get to Snoke the harder it's going to be to keep him out of your head,"

"Ren," She muttered, trying something, anything to keep him from disappearing. "Ren!"

"You have to find a way to break the connection between you," He said, his voice echoing.

"How?" She shouted, as if it might bring him back.

He was gone.

Rey shot up, not even aware she'd been asleep. She saw Amalia and a few others peering into her face. Her head was pounding, and she heard the vague and familiar whispers receding. She reached out to where the pain radiated from and found that she was bleeding. The wound seemed to be healing itself apace, but it hurt like hell. There were tears rolling down her face, and she was sure she could smell Ren's faint scent still in the air.

"Are you alright?" Amalia asked, leaning down ever further to help her into an upright position. "You passed out," She fanned her. "I heard the yelling from the other room,"

"I don't...know," She said, rubbing at her head.

"Let's get out of here," Amalia said quietly, using her pure vampire strength to help Rey up. "Snoke's not here,"

"Did you find anything out?"

"Yeah, a few things, but we should go," Rey looked around, realizing there was a whole group of glowing eyed vampires gathered around them. "I think we've worn out our welcome," Amalia paused, letting Rey use her as a crutch. "And even I'm not stupid enough to try and take on a whole room full of horny vampires," She whispered.

Rey laughed, weakly.

aww man i tried not to do the dream trope. i really did. also rey and amalia are now wine friends. i hate the jealous girl trope, so i turned it on its heyud. also, would any of you lovely people be interested in beta-reading for me? send me a pm y'all