Okay, just want to say, fairly early on, I switch to first person. I've mentioned a few times how Amme wakes up screaming at night, and when it's in first person, it's her dreaming. I know I could have written it better, but I was too lazy to edit. This is me apologizing ahead of time, just in case you guys review to complain, or something like that. Hint, hint, hint.

Not saying you have to complain, though.

-

The sun had disappeared, so it wasn't nearly as hot out as it had been in the afternoon. The stars were sparkling and twinkling brightly as Amme walked home. But once she got into the forest, they disappeared, hidden by the branches and leaves. The ground was hard from the dry heat, and Amme shuddered at the thought of sleeping on it. The branch she usually slept on had broken off, and the others weren't nearly as comfortable.

Hi, Amme! Starlight jumped up onto the elf's shoulder.

"Hello, Starlight."

The cat licked Amme's forehead, which still had dried blood on it. What happened to you?

"I'm not sure. One moment, I was walking out of my dressing room, and the next, I'm on the ground with two stupid, crazy, human males over me."

If they did this, I'll tear them to bits. Starlight bared her tiny teeth and growled.

"I don't think the did." Amme rubbed her brow. "I'm…I need to sleep. I slept only eight hours last night."

Okay. Starlight hopped off her shoulder and landed lightly on the hard ground. Good night. I need to go hunting, so I'll see you in the morning.

Amme curled up catlike on the ground and closed her eyes. Next to her, Fate tore up the grass and chewed quietly. The wind blew lightly across the forest, and the horse stiffened, nostrils flared. But Amme didn't notice, because she was asleep.

-

I ran along the forest floor, my feet barely touching the ground. Ahead of me, I sensed my home was close, close, close, though I couldn't see it through the thick trees. I ran harder, trying to catch a glimpse, but there was just more trees. Suddenly, I sensed someone, or something, was following, following, following me.

I ran harder. I didn't know who they were, I didn't know what they wanted, I didn't know if they meant me harm or not, I just wanted to get away, away, away from them.

I ran harder, but my pursuer did as well. They went faster, faster, faster than me. I tried to scream, but I was running too hard; my lungs felt they were going to burst.

I ran harder, but not hard enough. My pursuer grabbed my arm with a cold, hard hand. I couldn't scream, I couldn't wretch my arm away; I could only run, run, run.

I ran harder, but my pursuer jerked me around. Violet eyes met mine. Once beautiful red hair hung down in tangles, stringy, coarse. Pale, yellowing skin stretched across bones, barely covering it. In some places, the bones shown, shown, shown through. Clothing hung off the frame, torn and dirty.

I ran harder, but my mother dragged along behind me. Her mouth was close to my ear, and she whispered, whispered, whispered, "Guard Emily, Amme. Don't let him get Emily."

I ran harder, harder, harder. She whispered over, and over, "Guard Emily. Don't let him get Emily. You let him get Emily. You failed Emily. You failed me, Amme."

I ran harder, finally able to scream. I wretched my arm from my mother, and ran harder, harder, harder. Violet eyes followed me, angry, cold, accusing. My mother haunted me; my sister haunted me. She followed me in the forest, in my dream forest.

I ran harder, but Emily followed, followed, followed. "Don't trust him, Amme! He will betray you, Amme!"

I ran harder, harder, harder, and she called louder, louder, louder, "Don't trust him! He will betray you! You trusted him! He betrayed you! It's all your fault, Amme! You failed me! You failed everyone!"

I ran harder, but I couldn't run from my mother, from my sister. They followed me, shouting, shouting, shouting.

I ran harder. I reached my home. My home, Ahsela. It was burning, burning, burning to the ground. Dead bodies of my mother, sister, father, friends, my people rose up and stared at me with accusing eyes. The forest floor became blood, the trees became blood, and my people came closer, eyes burning, arms outstretched, pointing. Pointing at me. My home continued to burn, burn, burn.

I ran harder, harder, harder, away from my home, abandoning my people. Far away, I could see an island, where the sea of blood did not touch. I ran towards it. A man stood in the center, looking my way. He looked familiar, though I could not recognize him.

I ran harder, harder, harder, towards the island, towards the man, away from my home, away from my people. My people screamed, screamed, screamed. My mother and my sister's voice stood out against the rest. They screamed curses at me, accusing me, insulting me.

I ran harder. The island was closer, closer, closer. The familiar, and yet unfamiliar man smiled at me, reaching out a hand. Behind me, the voices of my people faded slowly, slowly, slowly, until they were barely more than a whisper.

I ran harder, almost there, almost safe. I reached out my hand; I was close, close, close. I touched his hand, and he smiled wider. Then he disappeared. Along with the island, along with my safety.

I ran harder, but the sea of blood slowed me down. My home continued to burn, burn, burn, and my people continued to scream, scream, scream, and the blood continued to rise, rise, rise up. It was at my knees, at my waist, at my shoulders, at my neck.

I ran harder, but the blood weighed my down. The blood of my mother, the blood of my sister, the blood of my people, the blood of me. It weighed me down, down, down. It had risen above my head. And I was drowning, drowning, drowning, in a sea of blood.

And it was all my fault.

Amme woke up from her dreaming sweating and shaking all over.

"Well," said a cold voice. "Look at that! She wakes up just in time to go back to sleep!"

Amme flipped herself onto her feet. "Who the hell are you?"

The man tutted and the men behind him laughed. "Swearing isn't good, Amme."

The elf opened her mouth and then paused. "How do you know my name?" She asked slowly.

The man pushed his short brown hair back and smirked. "I know lots of things, Amme Eledhwen. That doesn't mean I'll share how I know them with you."

"Fine." She snapped. "Now, who the hell are you?"

"You asked me that already," the man said, lazily checking his fingernails.

"Because you didn't answer!"

"And I'm not going to. Not now, anyways." He stood up. The man was about the height as Amme, though considerably broader at the shoulders, obviously.

As if the standing had been a sign, three of the men came down upon the elf with daggers and ropes.

Amme jumped rapidly into the tree before leaping off again, landing on top of one of the men. He gasped in pain, and let go of his knife, which Amme immediately grabbed. Swinging herself around, she caught one of the other man's arms and, with the dagger, sliced his neck opened. Blood poured down onto the neck, blade, and Amme's hands.

The other men froze, and the leader let out an impressed whistle. "Well, Amme. You've got more guts than most people I kidnap."

"You WHAT?!" Amme shrieked, lunging at him.

Another man tried to step quickly in between them, but Amme slashed at him with the dagger, cutting him deeply across his chest.

An arm reached around to grab her. She slashed it off viciously before jerking around and stabbing the man in the heart.

"You know," the leader said conversationally as more and more men attacked Amme. "I almost got you only a few hours ago. Only some stupid, blond pretty-boy got in the way. Next time I see him, I think I'll kill him."

Amme had no chance to respond because she was too busy trying to free the dagger from someone's lungs.

"I notice someone healed the gash I gave you," he continued. "It couldn't have been the blond, he didn't look like he had enough magic to fill a teaspoon. But it wasn't healed with elf magic, either. I can tell. Who did it?"

Amme still couldn't respond; she hadn't freed the dagger, so she was crushing someone's skull with a tree.

"You know," he remarked. "If I were you, I wouldn't be putting up such a fight. You're horse did and, well, look what happened to it." He nodded at a dark shape on the ground.

Amme realized what the shape was and froze. Someone hit her on the back of her head with a makeshift club, and she collapsed, with Fate's dead body burned into her eyelids.

-

Erik stared blankly at the stage. He was sitting comfortably in box five, though he wasn't one hundred percent sure why he was there. He just needed to sit and think for a few moments, and that seemed like a good spot.

Laughing at Amme at their last meeting had probably not been the best idea. She had left very, very angry, and getting Amme angry had never been a good idea. Then again, she had already been so furious at him, it probably didn't make much of a difference. Idly, Erik wondered if he could turn that into an opera.

"Hey, human!"

Jerked out of his reverie, Erik scanned the empty audience seats until he saw Kevin Lonesomhel smirking up at him.

"Can I help you?" Erik asked, but not because he was being polite. The sooner he found out what the bloodsucker wanted, the faster said bloodsucker would leave.

In one fluid leap, Kevin was sitting on the railing of box five.

"So," he began, crossing his arms. "Where's the princess? Judging by the last time I saw you, I thought you two would be stuck at the hip."

"You seem like you're in a good mood," Erik commented, avoiding the question.

"I guess I am." Kevin allowed. "But you didn't answer."

Erik glowered at the vampire before replying, "I don't know. We…I mean, I…I mean, she…"

"When you feel like answering, please, tell me." Kevin rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, you two got into some huge fight, and now she's angry with you."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "Basically."

"Well, don't worry about it. The princess needs to blow off steam once in a while. She's done it at me plenty of times, but she always gets over herself."

"I'm not sure if she will," Erik whispered. "She was furious."

The vampire snorted. "What did you do, kill someone in front of her?"

Erik didn't respond. Kevin's dark blue eyes widened.

"You're joking! You actually killed someone in front of her? Even I know better than that, and I have to kill at least one person every two weeks just to survive!"

"Good for you!" Erik snapped.

Kevin shook his head. "Well, clearly you're going to have to simply wait until she cools off. That could take a while, though. If you try talking to her too soon, it'll only make things worse."

"Now you tell me," Erik muttered.

Before Kevin could reply, a black ball of fluff that was Starlight came out of nowhere and smacked him on the head. The vampire jerked away.

"What the…" he glared at the tiny kitten. "What, Starlight?"

Starlight jumped up and down and meowed frantically.

"What's she saying?" Erik asked.

"I don't know!" Kevin snarled. "I don't speak cat!"

"Great…"

The cat mewed loudly and more urgently.

"What is it, Starlight?" Kevin asked, exasperated. "Does it have something to do with the princess?"

To Erik's surprise, Starlight nodded. He leaned forward eagerly. "What about her?"

Starlight sat back on her hind legs and, raising her head up, she ran a claw across her neck.

"She's dead!" Erik shrieked, jumping up.

Starlight shook her head.

"She killed someone?" Kevin asked cautiously.

Again, Starlight shook her head.

The vampire took a deep, but unnecessary, breath. "Is this like Emily?"

To both men's horror, Starlight nodded and meowed.

This time, Kevin leapt up. "Where was she, Starlight?"

Her tail held high, Starlight turned and scampered out the door, the two men following.

-

The kitten lead them down the streets of Paris, people staring at the masked man in astonishment, and into the forest Erik remembered where Amme had slept. They went deeper and deeper until, at last, Kevin threw out his arm.

"What's that?"

Erik craned his neck. He couldn't see anything except trees. "What's what?"

"That," the vampire pointed. "That black shape there."

The Phantom's eyes strained, but he still didn't see it. Slowly, carefully, he stepped around Kevin's arm and towards whatever it was he wasn't seeing.

About ten feet, and he was able to make out the black shape. Another ten, and he recognized it as the body of a dead horse.

Starlight let out a mewl and jumped onto Fate's body, crying cat tears.

"She killed a lot of people," Erik observed, looking at the dead humans in the small clearing. Then, he realized Kevin was hanging back. "What's wrong?"

Something flashed in the vampire's dark blue eyes, and he twitched slightly. "There's…a lot of blood," he said finally.

"I can see that," Erik replied, slightly sarcastically.

"Human blood."

"I can see that, too." He rolled his eyes. "And you don't want to go near it because…?"

Kevin took a step back. "I haven't hunted in two weeks. I don't want to lose control."

"I don't want you too, either." Erik examined one body with a crushed skull. The tree next to it had a dent, so he assumed it had been crushed against that. "These people are already dead. I don't think they'll mind too much if you drink their blood."

Kevin's mouth twitched upward, and he walked slowly forward.

"They knocked her out over here," the Phantom said, nodding towards a small pool of blood that sparkled blue. "And dragged her over here." He stopped, a sudden lump in his throat as the situation sunk in. "How do you know these are the same people who…took Emily?"

Kevin dropped one of the bodies and wiped his mouth. "Well, none of these people were involved with Emily capture. All the scents are different." He smelled the air carefully. "Expect one. But it's not a human scent. I guessing it's the person who's responsible for all the murders."

Erik stepped back, and stared hard at the vampire. "How many murders have there been?"

"Let's see…you know Emily's. And there was their mother, Mary. She had been poisoned as well." Kevin bit his lip, thinking. "Emily's fiancée, Liam, was slashed with a dagger about…thirteen times? Mary's sister, Verya, had been burnt to death. Her husband, Limdur, and their infant daughter, Maerwen, had both been drowned. Mary's brother, Aurelius, was strangled. Their father, Istuion, was stabbed, and their mother, Sadronniel, was beheaded."

Erik's eyes widened in horror as the list continued.

"Calanon, Istuion's brother, was hung. His wife, Cara, was eaten by dragons. Their son and daughter, Rindell and Sanya, were both crushed by rocks. Rindell's wife, Nieriel, was poisoned, like Emily, and their daughter, Melda, has never been found." He paused. "Should I continue?"

Wordlessly, Erik shook his head.

"Oh, one more thing," Kevin sighed, and his hands tightened into fists. "All the women's bodies that've been found show evidence of rape. And that's what will happen to Amme."

Erik's head jerked up. "What? You mean, you're not going to do anything?"

"What's there to do?" Kevin threw his arms to the air. "Weren't you listening to my list? Don't you think we did everything we could for them? But they all were either found dead or dying, beyond any healing by even the most powerful sorcerer! And there were a lot more than one vampire, one human, and one cat looking! Amme's dead, and there's nothing we can do!"

"She's not dead, yet!" Erik whispered fiercely. "Not if I have a say."

"You may not get one," Kevin replied sadly.