Inspired me finding this picture and deciding it was high time I started writing with extra weird characters. I hope this can tide you over until I get the other prompt thing done.

OH also there will be references to illegal drug use. Just stuff like 'did he do something or something'. And obviously vampires-

Weeeee trigger warning your welcome

Dream held his breath as the dark...thing swooped past the hollow tree he was hiding in.

His soul pounded in his chest.

Never in his entire life had he been so terrified.

His hunter made a low growling sound.

"Come out, come out," it hissed. Its voice was gravelly, like it hadn't spoken in centuries. Sadly, Dream could relate.

"It'll only hurt for a moment," it promised. It sounded hungry, and it reminded Dream of that one time he'd accidentally teleported into Horror's AU when he was having what he apparently called a 'hollow day'. Basically he was constantly ravenous. Much more than usual. It was terrifying.

Dream swallowed hard and prayed it didn't...sense him. Smell? See? Magically detect?

But the thing came back into his view and stopped. It turned its head, and the light of the moon reflected off something small and white poking out of it's mouth.

Dream sharply inhaled, then clamped his hand over his mouth. But the thing had heard him.

It turned to face him, its red eyes piecing through the darkness.

It grinned unnervingly, then flew at him.

_______________________________

"...Hey, Ink?"

Ink turned to Blue, and shook his skull. His friend didn't have to say anything.

Dream had gone out alone to look at some weird readings in an AU, and he still wasn't back.

"Its...It's been almost a day, Ink," Blue said, his voice becoming more anxious. "What if something happened to him?"

Ink sighed. "Dream knows how to take care of himself, Blue. I'm sure he's fine."

"But-"

"If he doesn't get back soon, we'll go look for him," Ink promised. "But I'm sure he'll be back any min-"

The door to their house suddenly burst open.

"I...I'm sorry I took so long. To get back."

Ink and Blue immediately rushed over to their friend, full of relief, but stopped.

Something was wrong.

"D-DREAM?" Blue asked. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"

Dream's cape was dirty and torn at the bottom. Some of the belts on his outfit were missing, and they appeared to have been cut or snapped judging by the slashes on his boots and gloves. He had some scrapes on his skull, too; some looked like he'd been whipped by branches, and others looked like he'd been attacked by some kind of animal.

To top all that and his apparent exhaustion off, his starry eyelgiths were...very noticeably tinted red.

But he stumbled inside, and closed the door behind him. "Y-yeah...I'm just tired. I ran into...something."

"An angry tree?" Ink suggested. Blue let out a small giggle, but Dream barely even reacted. "No," was all he said. There was barely any emotion in it.

"If you guys don't mind," he said, heading towards his room, "I'm going to...bed..."

But his legs gave out under him, and he collapsed. When he hit the floor, he was already snoring.

Ink and Blue glanced at each other. There was no reason for Dream to be so exhausted, even if he'd been up since yesterday. Still, like the good friends they were, they carried him to his bed and covered him up.

Dream didn't wake up until nine. At night. More than twelve hours later.

When he did, he looked almost like his usual, cheerful self minus his physical appearance that still resembled an angry tree's scratching post and the red stars.

Although the fact that he was wide awake and full of energy at this time of night was...odd.

"You feeling any better?" Ink asked him when he saw Dream wander into the kitchen.

"Loads!" Dream called cheerfully. "But now I'm hungry."

After a moment shuffling around in the fridge, Dream pulled out something that made both Ink and Blue do a double-take.

"Dream...?"

Dream turned, looking at them questioningly as he held the container of leftover medium rare steak from two days ago.

"Hmm?"

Ink and Blue glanced at each other, then shrugged. It's not like he wasn't allowed to eat what he wanted. "NOTHING," Blue assured him. "YOU JUST DON'T USUALLY EAT MEAT."

Dream blinked. "I...don't?"

Blue furrowed his bone brow. "ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE FEELING ALRIGHT?"

Dream shook his head dismissively. "Yeah. I think my skull's still a little fuzzy from sleeping too long."

But he pulled out a plate and served himself some leftover steak anyway. He didn't bother to warm it up, either; he ate it cold like some kind of animal. Ew.

He seemed happy, though. He also didn't seem to care that it was more rare than medium; especially strange. He was always talking about how eating raw meat was bad for you. Yet he was contentedly chewing on it, watching Blue and Ink turn off their Mario Party game and put everything away.

"Are you guys going to bed?" He asked, sounded incredulous and confused.

"YEAH," Blue said, yawning. "ITS LIKE NINE THIRTY, AND THAT'S PAST MY BEDTIME." He was only mostly kidding.

Dream shrugged, looking down at his now empty plate. "I don't think I could sleep any longer," he said. "But I'll see what I can do to keep busy. Did I miss any chores?"

"Well," Ink yawned, "We didn't do the dishes. And I think there are still some clean ones in the dishwasher from last time."

"Okay! Goodnight, Ink. Goodnight, Blue."

"Goodnight, Dream."

"DON'T STAY UP TOO LATE, OKAY?"

"I won't!"

With that, both of their doors clicked closed.

Dream stood, and served himself more steak. It was good, he couldn't help it.

When he was satisfied, he put his plate and fork in the sink, washed his hands, and started to unload the dishwasher, quietly humming a familiar song.

"Done!" Dream whispered to himself. He'd even dried the dishes he'd washed by hand and put them away. Now what?

I guess I could see if the bathroom needs to be cleaned, he thought. He was in a cleaning mood.

He opened the cupboard under the sink, and pulled out the bleach-free, off-brand Clorox wipes and Windex. (They don't have Bleach because of Ink. The chances of him forgetting that ammonia and bleach don't mix are too high to risk it.) Then he went inside the bathroom, and turned on the light.

He hissed at the harsh light, wondering why he hadn't noticed before. It hurt his eyes.

Still, he pushed that aside and started cleaning. He waited to do the mirror until he was done with every other surface. Once he had, he threw away the cleaning wipes and picked up the Windex.

...Only to drop it in surprise.

Where was his reflection?!

Had Ink pranked him again? Was it just a painting of the bathroom made to look like a mirror?

But, there were the dirty wipes in the trash, and the Windex bottle had a reflection as well.

He pressed his hand against the glass. It felt like a cold mirror.

But surely it couldn't be. Surely it was a joke. How could he not have a reflection?

Unless...

Unless he hadn't gotten lucky, as he thought he had.

Unless he really had been bitten by that...that thing in the woods.

Oh dear.

Oh no.

Ink groaned and rolled out of bed. He checked his digital clock, which read 7:11 AM. Hooray.

He groaned again and stood, then sat back on the bed. Reaching for his sash of vials, he took out the yellow one and carefully took a sip.

Ah! Much better. Motivation, wooo!

He got ready to face the day and walked out of his room.

"Dream?" He called. "You still up?"

Dream popped up from the couch where he'd been reading something. "Yeah," he said. He sounded tired, but only a little. Basically how he sounded when he'd been doing housework all day and was probably going to do more before he went to bed.

"WERE YOU UP ALL NIGHT?" Blue asked chidingly, walking out of his own room and going into the kitchen.

Dream chuckled nervously. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd keep myself busy."

He'd apparently cleaned the whole house, and found time to not only read a book but clean himself up. His cape was still torn and the bottom of it seemed to have been permanently stained grey or bleached by something, but there were new belts in place of the missing ones and his scrapes were gone.

Blue sighed, and Ink shook his skull. Typical Dream.

Dream wanted to tell them. Tell them about what happened. He really did. But where would he start? He kept quiet.

"ANYWAY, WHAT DO YOU GUYS WANT FOR BREAKFAST? WE CAN DO PANCAKES, EGGS, SOME SAUSAGE-"

Dream perked up. "I'd like some sausages!" He exclaimed. He then said, "Uh, p-please?"

Blue shrugged. "SURE. IS THIS SUDDEN MEAT CRAVING GOING TO BE A REGULAR THING OR IS FLEETING?"

Dream blinked. Ink suddenly covered his mouth and snickered. "Cravings? Is there a reason for these cravings, Dream?"

Blue's skull jerked up and he glared at Ink. "INK, NO. YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT."

"You should've phrased it differently," Ink said between snickers.

"WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?"

"Why don't you like my jokes?"

"You're both idiots," Dream declared. At least some things never change.

After breakfast, Ink suggested they go to the Doodle Sphere to look out for any suspicious activity by the Bad Sanses.

Dream and Blue agreed, although Blue wasn't sure about Dream since he'd been up all night. "I'm fine Blue," Dream insisted. "Really."

"WELL...ALRIGHT."

And with that, they left.

Two days earlier

Nightmare's castle

Nightmare was suddenly in pain.

He wasn't sure why.

He had been eating dinner when it felt like something sharp-or two somethings sharp-pierced the bones in his left hand.

It happened so suddenly, he almost dropped his fork.

Why did it feel like venom was coursing through him?

It was almost agonizing.

"B-boss?" Horror asked, reluctant to get near in case Nightmare lashed out. Smart, especially when literally nothing had touched him.

"I- I'm fine," he hissed.

And really he was. The pain was soon gone.

What worried him was what could've happened to Dream that was so bad he was getting backlash.

And why did he suddenly have a cold feeling in his soul?

Present

Dream's head shot up from the Uno game they were playing. "I sense a-"

"DREAM, PLEASE DON'T SAY IT."

"Don't say what?"

"THAT 'D' WORD I KNOW YOU WERE THINKING. DON'T ENABLE INK'S TERRIBLE JOKES. PLEASE."

"...Disturbe- oh."

"DREAM!"

"A disturbance in the Force?"

Blue threw his cards at a grinning Ink. "STARS DAMMIT, INK!"

Dream laughed, but another wave of negativity ruined the moment for him. "Come on guys. We need to go."

The other two got up, Blue still glowering sourly at Ink, and Ink still snickering. They followed Dream into a generic Underswap copy, immediately hearing the sounds of insane skeletons antagonizing/murdering someone. They ran towards it.

Nightmare was actually hoping Dream would show up for once. The pain in his hand was gone, but he'd been feeling increasingly sick. He didn't know why, or what happened. He just knew that something was wrong, and he couldn't help but be worried. After all, whatever it was was affecting him too.

He hadn't told his minions this, however. He just told them to make as big a ruckus they could, and they were happy to oblige. Especially in such a happy place.

He was hiding in the shadows, watching his minions slowly kill Papyrus in front of Sans. Killer, while usually preferring not to kill the Papyri himself, was currently in what he called his 'extremely murdery mood', so Horror was keeping the AU's judge from helping his bro while the other three taunted and fought the 'Great' Papyrus. Sans's negative emotions were fueling NIghtmare, which was good, but surely Dream had to show up soon?

Soon enough, he sensed two balls of positivity and one empty husk enter the AU.

But the stronger of the two positive ones, Dream. His magic signature was...wrong. Cold. Twisted. But it was still positive, and it was still Dream's.

Nightmare masked his growing anxiety with annoyance; emotionally and visible.

"Well, looked who decided to show up and ruin our fun."

His minions turned to where the Star Sanses had come running up.

Nightmare was about to initiate the fight but-

"...Why are your eyes red."

Dust, who was squinting at Dream like he wasn't sure he was seeing right, spoke what was on everyone's mind.

Ink and Blue glanced at each other, and Nightmare sensed their worry, but despite his lack of reaction, he also sensed that Dream was utterly confused.

"Let those two go," he commanded.

Nightmare grinned. "You say that like you think we'll listen to you."

And the fight began.

Dream was moving much faster than he usually did. Almost unnaturally fast. He wasn't teleporting, either; all Nightmare saw was a flash of yellow right before Dream appeared behind him. His starry red eye lights were hard with anger.

But Nightmare was not interested in fighting today.

He wanted to know what was wrong with Dream, and he wasn't above knocking him out if it came to it.

He managed to rip both gloves off Dream's hands, yet there didn't appear to be anything wrong with either of them.

Nightmare was getting impatient. What the hell had happened to Dream? He was honestly starting to think that somebody-himself or someone else-had given him a heroine injection or something, but he wasn't going to be satisfied until he found out for himself.

Dream leapt at him with his knives, and Nightmare seized opportunity. He grabbed Dream by his wrist using his tentacles, and quickly inspected them. Dream struggled, and Nightmare sensed his panic.

He didn't want his dear brother to learn something.

How frickin' sad.

But, up close, it didn't take long for Nightmare to find the source of their pain.

Two identical, perfect puncture wounds. They looked recent, yet they'd already healed over. They looked infected, with either meant that Dream had gotten HIV from an unclean needle (Nightmare didn't see Dream as the type to get his first ever shot of illegal drugs from some place that shady), or he'd been bitten by some kind of animal with rabies.

Neither sounded right, but one was more plausible than the other.

"What's this, Dream?" Nightmare asked. That set something off in Dream. He summoned his bow-which he never did in such close range-and screeched, "LET GO!"

He fired an arrow.

Which such power, the action sent them both flying.

Nightmare managed to ground himself with his tentacles despite the pain in his gut, but Dream wasn't so lucky.

His skull was slammed hard against a nearby tree, and he crumple to the ground. 

The fighting stopped.

"DREAM!" Blue yelled. He and Ink started to run over to their friend, but they stopped in their tracks.

Dream was moving.

"N-no way," Ink whispered, "There's no w-way he could've survived that."

Yet, Dream staggered to his feet, one hand on the tree for support, and the other on his skull.

When he looked up, and opened his eye sockets, everyone watched in confusion and fear as his eye lights shrank, thinned, and morphed into slits like a snake's pupils.

Nightmare sensed all emotions leave the guardians of light. Only anger, and a dark hungering.

And it was pointed at him.

Dream vanished. But the yellow streak across his vision made him turn in time to see Dream leaping at him, arms stretched as if to tackle him, his fangs bared in a snarl.

Wait, fangs?!?

"What the fu-"

In his moment of distraction, Nightmare didn't move out of the way completely. Dream caught on of his tentacles, and he hissed as he dug his bare fingers into the slime. His eye lights were fixed on Nightmare.

Nightmare tried to shake him off, but his grip was like steel. He steadily hung on, even as Nightmare tried to use another tentacle to peel him off.

It took the other four to do so, yet once Dream finally released him he ran at him again. He no longer acted like a monster; only some sort of wild animal. His voice had changed too, somehow; it used to be high-pitched for a grown man, but now it was deep and menacing.

"Dream, what the hell?!?" Ink yelled. He ran forward, and tried to grab his friend, but Dream hissed and swiped at him. Ink stumbled back, clutching his face where Dream had scratched him. "A-Ah-! That hurts-!"

Nightmare was filled with the others' fear and other negative emotions, yet it wasn't helping at all.

He fought off his brother for a little while longer, but eventually Nightmare found Dream angrily clinging to his back. His fingers felt like talons, scratching at his spine, his fangs gleaming in the corner of his vision-

"DREAM!"

Somebody pulled the...thing that was his brother off his back, and they both fell to the ground.

It was Ink; he'd used his pink paint to bind him and push him off in one swipe. Blue was the one who had yelled. "DREAM, PLEASE CALM DOWN!"

Dream only hissed at them, baring his fangs.

And this time, everyone saw them.

Everyone save Nightmare backed away.

"What the f***," Killer growled.

"'M pretty sure those are new...?" Horror questioned.

"Y-yeah," Ink stammered, still holding a hand to his face where marrow was starting to leak through. "Definitely weren't there a few days ago."

"D...Dream?" Cross asked. "Are you, uh...still there?"

Dream responded by hissing louder.

Nightmare was still on the ground, trying to convince himself that the pain wasn't getting worse. Not only did his spine hurt where Dream had decided to use him as a scratching post, but his hand hurt. It corresponded with the bite mark on Dream's hand.

"What," he groaned, propping himself up, "The f*** did he get bit by?"

Ink and Blue's heads snapped towards him. "Come again?" Ink asked.

Nightmare forced himself to sit up. "He-" he hissed in pain, "He has punctures on his hand. Something bit him. What was it?"

Blue swallowed. "I-INK? WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE AU HE WENT TO CHECK OUT?"

Ink's hand slowly lowered from his face. His eye lights lost all color.

"...TwilightTale. It was...it was based on vampires."

Everyone turned back to Dream.

It suddenly made sense.

The pain that he'd felt in his hand had been from the initial bite. The feeling of poison was the 'curse'. And the throbbing pain he felt now, was probably the thing helping to fuel Dream's current...state of mind.

"He ate that entire steak by himself," Ink muttered to himself. "And...He hasn't touched any kind of plant food since he got back."

"Are you telling me," Nightmare growled, "That you didn't go to an AU like TwilightTale with him?"

"Why do you care?" Blue asked scornfully. "You're trying to kill him." His voice was much quieter than usual.

Nightmare glowered. "I care when I'm getting backlash, and when he tried to shred me. I care when-"

The sound of chains snapping made everyone turn to Dream.

He was still angry, and hungry. And he was breaking through Ink's chains.

Ink cursed. "Great. He's got super strength now. At the most inconvenient time possible."

"Is there any convenient time, really?" Cross sighed, gripping his knife and preparing to fight.

"WHAT IF WE TRIED TO KNOCK HIM OUT AGAIN?" Blue suggested. "MAYBE WE COULD..."

"Knock some sense into him?" Killer suggested, raising his knife.

"Eyyyyyy!" Ink shot him finger guns. Killer ignored him.

"That would be really stupid," Dust stated. "Let's do it."

Instead of waiting, Dust used his blue magic to pick up Dream and ram his skull into the ground.

A sickening crack echoed through the trees.

It was silent for a moment.

"Oh shit I killed him." Dust didn't sound very sorry.

"UgghHHGhghghghhhhghg my HeAD..."

Dream slowly sat up, clutching his skull and groaning in pain. "What happened...? Why am I in chains?"

His eye lights were still red, but they were stars again. Ink and Blue ran forward and crushed him in a hug. "G-Guys, please, that hurts-"

They let go immediately, but the relief radiating off of them was enough for Dream to understand that they'd been worried. "RIGHT! DON'T HIT YOUR HEAD EVER AGAIN!" Blue announced.

"You realize that if he gets hungry enough it'll probably happen again?" Nightmare pointed out. "Also, what the hell? How did that even work?"

Dust shrugged.

"How did what work?" Dream asked. "What did you do? Wait, what happened to your back?!"

"Dream," Ink announced, "you have some explaining to do when we get back."

"But-"

"And you thought I was the monster," Nightmare snorted. Blue glared at him. "What? At least I'm not out of control like he is."

Dream's face went slack. "I...I'm what...?" Horror slowly rose onto his features, and he looked down at his hands. They were covered in goop and blood. "Oh stars...what did I do?" Nightmare sensed panic rise in his brother.

Ink made the chains around Dream dissipate back into paint, and helped up his friend. "Wh-What happened?" Dream stammered. He was truly panicking now. "Did I-"

"Dream," Blue said quietly, "It's okay. The only one who got hurt is Nightmare, and he's fine."

Dream's eye lights found the wound he'd left on Nightmare's back. He looked like he was going to be sick. His knees shook, his face full of horror at his own actions.

"Come on," Ink said, unusually gentle for him, "let's go home."

But Dream pulled his arm out of his friend's grasp and back away from them. "N-no," he said weakly. "No, I c-can't. What if-What if it happens again?"

Blue stepped towards him but Dream flinched back. "S-stay back!" Dream yelped. His eye lights were small and scared. Nightmare could feel it.

His brother was still a goody-goody and didn't want to hurt anyone. God damn it.

"Dream," Ink said firmly, "It won't happen again. Calm down."

"You don't know that!"

Ink sighed. "I know you. And I know that you will do everything you can to make sure it doesn't happen again. So calm the heck down, and come back with us."

Dream hesitated. "B-but what if-"

"You forget that I can make literally anything with my paint."

Dream swallowed. His was still terrified, and everyone could see it, but he let Blue approach him and give him a hug.

Nightmare wanted to get up and leave as well, but the pain in his back was getting worse.

He recalled reading once that vampire scratches were somewhat like bites, in that you'll gain some of the habits but not completely turn into one. Looks like he and Ink were both going to have some problems.

This was beginning to sound a lot like a werewolf story, actually.

"Come on," Blue muttered to his friend. "Let's go home. We can sort this out when we get there, okay?"

"Okay..."

Ink walked over to them, painted a portal in the ground, and jumped in. Blue and Dream soon followed.

There was silence.

Then, Nightmare tried to move.

"OwwwwwwWWWWWWWWWWW-"

His teammates jumped. Cross even let out a small scream.

"You're all chickens," Nightmare grumbled under his breath as he tried to stand.

The agony.

"Fricken' Dream," he hissed through gritted teeth, "The one time I show some kinda concern for the little shit, he tries to kill me."

"Guess he interpreted your last argument literally," Killer suggested. "I mean, you did say 'bite me'."

Everyone groaned. "Shut up and open a portal," Nightmare huffed.

"Ink, why are you giving me pills."

"Not those kinds of pills, Dream. It's like a super-condensed blood thingie. It should help if you're out and get hungry."

"...I'm not sure if I should be flattered your doing this for me or offended that you think I need it, but thanks."

"You're welcome!"

"SO SHOULD I START MAKING RARE STEAKS MORE OFTEN?"

"Please?!?"

"MWEH HEH HEH~"

"Jeez, Blue, you're happier about that than he is."

"I LIKE STEAK TOO!"

"So long as it's not, like, a wooden stake."

"INK!"

Dream sighed, but he was smiling.

He'd get through this.

They'd get through this.

...Step one being heal from the concussion he'd gotten.