Yukari's head drooped, but she was determined to not go to sleep, and so she fought against the fog in her mind and focused on the list she made. Various causes for her nightmares were written down there. She had discounted stress - there was nothing especially pressing in her life right now other than the dreams - and crossed out illness, because she certainly wasn't sick. What did that leave? A list of possible supernatural causes.

This couldn't be, she figured, a dream-eating baku, for she still had her hopes and dreams, and furthermore, she hadn't done anything (or at least, she hoped she hadn't done anything) to attract the attention of one. She wasn't a werewolf, for there were counseling programs for that kind of thing, and Yukari had ran through the checklist of symptoms without spotting a single one that matched.

Maybe they were just dreams, Yukari thought, hoped. Maybe she had read too many horror novels, that was all.

But it wasn't, it couldn't be. Her eyes slowly roved over to the newspapers stacked haphazardly on her desk, articles circled in bright blood red. Murders that coincided with her dreams. Murders, and...

Yukari fought down the bile that rose in her throat. A dream, she told herself, a dream, but if it was truly a dream, then why did she always wake up tasting blood?

How long could a person live without sleep, Yukari wondered, because she never wanted to sleep again.

-o-o-o-

When Miku next saw Lily, it was in a study room at a library with a huge book of folklore. The blonde haired girl was studying it with an intensity that bordered on ferocious. Miku hesitated before walking over.

"Working on homework?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Lily gave her a look. "Does this look like homework to you?"

"Could be," Miku sat down next to her and started to root through her bag for her notebook and textbook. "I'm doing homework. We have that big problem set-"

"Already done," Lily said, returning her attention to the book. "I don't have time to think about school right now."

Miku winced. "What? School is so important." She huffed out a sigh before opening up her textbook. "You're obsessed."

Lily coughed quietly into her elbow before returning her attention to the book. At this distance, Miku could see that her friend was sniffling a little, and Miku drew back. "Wait, are you sick?"

Lily gave her another look before coughing again, more violently this time. "What do you think? There's a bug spreading."

"I didn't know dhampirs could get sick."

"Well, congratulations, you learned something new. Now look at this," Lily pointed her finger at an entry. "Let's consolidate what we know. There've been these murders at night, violent ones. No knife wounds, it seems to be from teeth."

Miku shuddered. "Yeah, so?"

"I think we're dealing with these...'when-dye-go' things."

Miku craned her head over to look. There was a grotesque image of an emaciated, gaunt, bestial human, lips tattered and bloody as it feasted upon a dead corpse's entrails, tall, twisted antlers growing from its head. "Are you serious? Something like that? If a monster like that showed up on the streets, the Seraphim would get it right away."

"Don't look at the picture, just read the entry," Lily snapped.

Miku did so. Often seen in winter, the wendigo was a malevolent, cannibalistic spirit that possessed humans in dreams, though they were rare, more often seen in the northern United States and Canada than anywhere else in the world. Though they constantly ate, their hunger would never be satisfied, and a wendigo spirit would often bring with them sickness to better aid their hunts. Given enough time, humans would begin transforming into wendigoes themselves, and once they hit that point of no return, the human in them would be gone, replaced by the beast. Miku furrowed her eyebrows. Such a thing was so monstrous she could hardly imagine it actually existing in every day life.

"It's winter," said Lily. "There's a bug spreading, and there's been these cannibalistic murders that occur at night."

Miku shook her head. "But on the entry, it says that they're seen in America. This is Japan!"

Lily shrugged. "Spirits can travel any distance they want. It doesn't matter where. Anyways, I think this is what we're dealing with."

Miku groaned and stared up at the ceiling, tapping her pencil against her graph paper. "You know, I just came here to do math homework." Still, Lily's theory, awful as it may seem, did make some sense. It could just as easily all be coincidence though, and Luka herself said it was nothing.

But what if Luka was wrong? It wasn't as though the vampire was omnipresent. She could have missed something. Judging from how old the book seemed, the wendigo could be some long-forgotten spirit, recently returned from who knows where. If that was the case, then Luka probably wouldn't know anything about it...

"How do people stop it?" Miku asked. "Can we just flush it out like a genie? It's a spirit, isn't it? You can't just...kill it."

Lily frowned as she flipped through the entry. "Yeah. Well, technically, it's half beast and half spirit. It takes on corporeal form at night, but that is also when it's at its most dangerous."

"Wait, if it becomes corporeal at night, how does it possess people? Does it...leave its body somewhere?"

"No, once it happens upon a human host, it becomes a spirit again. Essentially, what the wendigo does is this," Lily pointed her finger at a paragraph of text. "During the day, it 'sleeps' - it leaves its victim and its spirit spreads out, untraceable, in the air. At night, it becomes corporeal and stealthy. Since it's partially a phantom, it can melt through walls, enter homes, and enter people. It needs a body - a sleeping or otherwise unconscious one - and feeds with it, spreading nodes in the possessed body until the body and the spirit become one and the possessed becomes a rampaging, cannibalistic, permanently hungry, permanently awake wendigo. Once it dies, however, it releases not one but two spirits, thus spreading the infection."

Miku blinked as she tried to process all that. "So...how do we stop it?"

"Apparently, silver works..."

Miku sighed. "Silver works for everything."

-o-o-o-

"Alright, fledgling, go scout out these places," Gumi said, pointing at three marked locations of the map. "These are probably where the wendigo's possessing people, based on the activity on the map, Go check 'em out."

Luka took the map and raised her eyebrows. "Just me? Alone?"

"Oh, are you lonely?" Gumi teased. "I'd love to keep you company, but I have to meet with a Seraphim today."

Luka frowned and looked at the map again. "What're you meeting a Seraphim for?"

Gumi shrugged. "The easier the humans are on us, the more power we get over the city. Luka, you're a Karnstein now, you should know this. We have to use what advantages we have. So, I have a few Seraphim willing to look the other way, for now. Makes things easier on us."

Luka could see why Gumi was so distrustful of the overall prowess of the Seraphim, if she was apparently manipulating some of them. "Uh, right. Anyways, that's not the issue. One Luka, three places? The wendigo could slip into any one of the houses while I'm not there. Where is everyone?"

Gumi heaved a sigh. "Big House meeting today. It's stupid, I need to get some sense into Sonika's head. We have a big issue here and she's just calling more house meetings. As if debating is going to magically solve the problem."

"Why aren't we invited to the meeting?"

"Uh, let me see, well," Gumi ticked reasons off her fingers, "one, I'm the second in command after Sonika, so I am exempt from three House meetings a year. Taking this one off because I have to keep our relationship with some of the Seraphim congenial, and I need to get you on this job. Second, you're a brand new fledgling, and not only that, you literally just joined House Karnstein. You're going to have to prove yourself before you can take part in any of those meetings, newbie."

"And I prove myself by standing around outside?"

"You prove yourself by helping the family. Now," Gumi checked her watch, more for show than for anything else, "time's a-tickin'. Ten hours before sunrise. Don't want to get burned up, unless you happen to have more time incense."

"Yeah, no," Luka mumbled. She did, but she didn't especially want Gumi to know that. If the green-haired vampire got a whiff of exactly how much time incense Luka had, it would lead to a lot of questions that Luka didn't want to answer. "Go have fun with your Seraphim or whatever."

Gumi smirked. "That, I will do."

-o-o-o-

Luka sighed as she leaned against the fence, staring up at the moon. She checked her watch. She had been waiting in front of Yukari's house for hours, and there was no wendigo in sight. Still, she remembered Miku's worries, and decided to be especially alert about this house. If nothing happened tonight, Luka could safely cross Yukari's place off the list, and Miku would have nothing to worry about. Luka breathed in a deep breath and waited.

"Excuse me," said a voice, and, surprised, Luka turned her head. Standing before her was...Luka racked her memory...Yukari, right, Miku's friend. What was she doing awake at this hour? "Who are you?"

Luka frowned at her and turned away. "None of your business, human. Go back inside."

"Wait," Yukari said, reaching out to grab Luka's sleeve. In the moonlight, Luka could see that she looked terrible, hair mussed, deep bruised eyebags. She looked like she needed sleep, badly. "I can't sleep."

Yukari sounded delirious, and Luka could smell the fear rolling off of her in waves, though there was none towards Luka. It was a mute, aimless fear, a fear afraid of something big and dark and unknown.

"Go back inside," said Luka. "You'll worry your friends."

Yukari shook her head. "You don't understand. I was watching you, you know. From my window. You've been here for hours, since midnight. Why? Why are you here? Do you know what's happening to me?"

Luka took a deep breath and turned to face Yukari fully. The girl was shaking. "Look...go to sleep, okay?"

"I can't!" Yukari shouted, so loud and suddenly Luka took a step back. "I can't sleep! If I do, I get these dreams. They're horrible, I kill people in them. And I wake up tasting blood. You're a vampire, aren't you? Don't you know about these things? Why else would you be at my house?"

Luka looked around to see if Yukari had awoken anyone. Nothing. She lowered her voice. "Okay. Okay, calm down." Gently she placed her hands on Yukari's thin shoulders, hesitated. The girl was a nervous wreck. How long had she stayed awake? That was a one-way road to delirium. Give it enough time, and her consciousness would leave and she would end up possessed by the wendigo anyways. A meaningless, irrational protest, like humans do. "Do you know about the murders?"

Yukari nodded. "Of course...the newspapers, it's all over them. I go to sleep and someone dies." Yukari looked up at her house, silent and dark. "Do you want to come in?"

Luka laughed. "Your parents fine with you inviting a vampire inside?"

Yukari stared at her. "They're asleep. They don't have to know. You seem like you know things. My friends are worried...I..." Yukari dug in her pockets and produced a small cellphone, complete with a phone charm of a black rabbit. "Well, a lot of them are sick at home right now, but...but I don't want my friends to worry anymore." Almost absentmindedly, she added, "Lily is worried the most, but she worries a lot anyways."

Yes, from what Luka could see, Lily did seem like the worrying type. The more Yukari talked, the more Luka's certainty grew. This had to be it. Everything matched. The dreams, the frightened behavior - a girl wouldn't deprive herself of sleep out of fear for bad dreams without a very good reason. Might as well spill, Luka figured. "Okay. Have you heard about wendigoes?"

"No," said Yukari. She shivered and looked up at the moon. "Do you want to go inside? It's cold."

Luka had hardly noticed it. "Oh...I suppose it is. Very well then."

"You can come in," said Yukari as she stepped her way back up to the front door. Luka exhaled as she felt the oppressiveness of the house recede, now that she had been fully invited. She walked into the house, quietly, and Yukari closed the door behind her. Luka glanced around. Yukari's home was clean and neat, everything in proper order. There was a television set in the living room, a couch, stacks of DVDs. Yukari slowly made her way up the stairs like a drunkard, her balance out of whack due to her own sleep deprivation.

Luka silently followed after her, eyes flicking around as she automatically catalogued the contents of her home. A normal family, a normal household, a normal daughter. Nothing that would indicate anything out of the ordinary; Yukari was merely a victim of chance.

"Here's my room," said Yukari, unnecessarily, opening a door decorated with purple stars and paper cut-outs in the shape of rabbits. Luka walked inside.

The first thing she noticed were the stacks of newspaper scattered all over Yukari's desk, articles circled in red. The second thing she noticed were cans and cans of extra-strength caffeinated drinks. The third thing she noticed was a large list tacked onto the wall, titled 'Bad Dream Causes', and a line of crossed off possibilities.

Yukari wasn't just scared, Luka saw; she was terrified. The girl moved over to her bed, sat down on it heavily, and stared out the window. From that view, she could see the whole street. No wonder she went outside to meet Luka. Luka looked around for places to sit. The desk chair was overflowing with cans, but there was a large lilac bean bag chair in the corner that Luka decided to sit on. By her feet were books; she picked them up and examined them. Light novels and supernatural romances. Out of curiosity, Luka opened one and skimmed through it. It was a rather salacious novel, full of gushing descriptions of a aristocratic, devilishly handsome vampire playboy named Byron.

"Nice book," said Luka.

Yukari looked over, seemingly too sleepy to care. "Oh...yeah. It was okay."

Luka set the book aside. "You really need to sleep."

Yukari bit her lip and looked outside. "I...I can't. I have to stay awake."

"You're doing more harm than good," said Luka. "Humans can't survive without sleep for too long." She got up and crossed over to the window. "What you are most likely suffering from is possession by a wendigo spirit. It takes corporeal form at night, usually favors one victim..." Luka trailed off. Come to think of it, how far along was Yukari in her possession? Luka looked at the girl. The most obvious sign of it would be nubs of bone on her head, stunted beginnings of wendigo antlers. "Hold on a moment." Luka reached out and put her hand on Yukari's head. There they were - small, barely detectable, but there - protrusions where there shouldn't be protrusions. It wasn't too late yet, but a few more nights...there wasn't much time left.

"What is it?" Yukari asked.

Luka drew her hand away. "You should go to sleep," she said. "I'll keep a look out for the wendigo."

Yukari hesitated. "But..."

"You need to sleep," said Luka, harshly, before softening her voice. "Please. Don't worry your friends even more."

Yukari stared down at her hands. "You'll...protect me?"

Luka nodded.

"Okay," said Yukari, and with a thump she fell on her bed, too exhausted to stay up any longer.

The wendigo must have sensed that, Luka thought, thanks to the nodes of possession it spread in Yukari. It would be coming soon. Luka looked at the digital clock by Yukari's sleeping head. It was half past three in the morning.

Fifteen minutes later, Luka saw it - a rotting skeleton, rips of illusory skin flapping from its bones, tell-tale antlers spouting from its head. Its eyes were set deep within its sockets, glowing a faint yellow in the night. Luka patted herself for weapons. She had none. Yukari's room was also devoid of silver save for the useless cross necklace, standard issue Seraphim junk given to every kid when they turned ten. As if that thing could repel anything stronger than a starving imp.

The window, Luka saw, was tightly locked, a combination lock crudely looped around the handle. Obviously a measure intended to keep the spirit out, but wendigos could pass through walls anyways. Luka cursed. Such a device only hindered her. Yukari's room didn't exactly have much area to fight in, and Luka couldn't be too loud either, otherwise she would wake Yukari's parents. Though Luka had been discovered in her fair share of bedrooms in her years of unlife, this was something completely different.

The wendigo spirit slid in through the wall. The first thing Luka saw her its antlers, then the white dome of its head. Luka sprang into action. She grabbed the wendigo by its horns and tried the obvious way - pushing it out of the wall.

The spirit seemed surprised by Luka's presence, though it hesitated only a second before driving itself fully inside, with so much strength Luka lost grip of its antlers. The wendigo raised its yellow eyes to meet hers. It was crouching, giant, so huge its antlers scraped the ceiling of Yukari's room. It had been, Luka saw, well-fed. Its face was a skull, grinning in an eternal smile, flakes of skin hanging from its teeth. White spirit trails emanated from it, tendrils that wriggled towards the sleeping Yukari.

Luka took stock of her surroundings.

Breaking the window, she figured, would be better than breaking the wall.

She lunged forward at the wendigo, pushing it off the bed. It landed to the floor with a resounding crash. Yukari's brows only knitted a little in consternation as she slept. Luka didn't have time to listen for parents; the wendigo was getting up. Luka could see its heart of ice through its ragged and rotted skin, pumping steadily, rivulets of liquid seeping out from it, evaporating into white spirit-trails that tainted the air. It was positioned before the window.

Luka didn't wait. She ran forward, tackled the beast. It lost its ponderous balance. It solidified, perhaps sensing that it wanted to cause as much mayhem as possible, and its antlers crashed through the windows with a ear-splitting screech. Shards of glass flew. The wendigo and Luka landed on the pavement outside. Luka's fingers scrabbled against rotting folds of flesh. She slipped - a hand shot inbetween the gaps in the wendigo's ribcage. The area around its heart was so cold, a human would suffer frostbite in less than a second.

The beast snorted and grunted, writhing on the ground. The sun was rising. The coldness seeped away, the body underneath Luka dissolving into the air. It had survived, it was resuming its spirit form, and there was nothing Luka could do about it.

By the time the sun had risen fully in the sky, the wendigo had disappeared. Luka staggered to her feet and squinted up at Yukari's room. The window was completely smashed to pieces.

Luka's heart sank. Hopefully Yukari had a good excuse.