Weeks had passed since that incident, days in which Lissa had been nothing but confused as to what she saw. A part of her wondered if the figure that she saw had been there originally, when the crash happened but every time she tried to remember, it hurt.

Lissa had begun to attend school, human school and while she was wildly unprepared for the day system, she adapted to the classes soon enough, most of the things that the teachers were covering, she'd learned the basics off, and with a little studying at home, Lissa was able to keep herself up to date with every course.

Kate had also taken Lissa shopping for what she needed, and despite wanting to use compulsion to buy everything, Lissa was thankful that she had her family's credit card. She avoided buying things she did not utterly need, but a phone and a computer were needed for day-to-day life in the human world.

George had come by the apartment for a small catch-up and met Lissa, before giving her some sleeping meds prescription, and telling her that the meds would help her sleep without any nightmares, or with minimal nightmares.

Lissa had also been thrown for a loop when Kate would be nice and helpful one day, only to give her the cold shoulder and barely utter two words in her direction. She wondered if the problem was because she was used to being surrounded by people, even if she didn't truly like the company of the people.

"You aren't going crazy, Kate is playing hot potato with you."Jeremy would often have to soothe Lissa's non-verbal worries, "She's testing if you are worth opening up to." Lissa would look at Jeremy with uncertainty which would make him remark "Don't worry, her bite is much worse than her bark, and if need be, George taught us how to clean a wound."

Despite Kate's ever-changing attitude, she calmed down when Lissa began to grow quiet and become even more of a recluse.

It was a Friday afternoon, in early February, when the two girls arrived at the apartment complex, Lissa following after Kate with a slow pace that contrasted her usual rushed one, which Kate had noticed was due to her desire to be inside the apartment before sun fully set.

Kate stopped mid-step, the sun still shining over the buildings, but the orange hues in the sky indicated that it was starting to set early. And because Lissa had been so lost in her mind, she crashed into Kate's back.

"Wha-?" Lissa questioned confused as she lifted her head to look at Kate, her pale and model-like features contorting into ones that displayed her confusion.

"What are your religious beliefs?" Kate asked, turning to face Lissa, their eyes nearly locking.

"I- I was baptized, why?" Lissa replied, confused and stepping back from Kate. Her jade eyes watched as Kate nodded and reached for Lissa's wrist, pulling her in the opposite direction of their building, and back toward the road.

Panic filled Lissa, her eyes flashing back to the building over her shoulder, she didn't know where Kate was taking her, but she'd noticed, while Kate stopped, that the sun was setting, and the fear that had been instilled in her since she was young was resurfacing.

Kate led Lissa to a church, that was 5 blocks down to the left of the apartment complexes, then 2 blocks right from that intersection. And not once did Kate tell Lissa where they were going, but at the sight of the church, Lissa's body relaxed.

It didn't hold the gothic and antique look that Lissa was used to, but it gave her the same warmth and sensation of safety as the one that Lissa was used to attend.

The inside was modern, and human, but the glass panes that let the light in were made of mismatched glass, in intricate designs.

Kate instantly dumped a finger in holy water and blessed herself while curtsying at the large cross at the front of the aisle between the benches. And as soon as she stopped gawking at the modern church, Lissa copied Kate's actions, having been released from Kate's grip.

Kate slowly walked, from the other side, next to the walls, to a bench and sat down in one of the middle benches, slipping her backpack off before kneeling on the wooden bar before her bench and locking her hands in a praying motion, pressing her forehead against them.

Lissa was ever so slightly shocked, she knew that humans were religious, she knew that while their species shared many religions, hers prayed mostly to saints, especially Saint Vladimir.

Slowly Lissa kneeled next to Kate and placed her hand in the same motion before closing her eyes.

Silence surrounded the two, as they kneeled alone in the church, each of the girls praying for the late families, for the saint and the god to keep them safe, praying for their own safety and for protection on them.

Kate was the first to sit back on the bench, blessing herself before looking at Lissa, despite only being able to see the side of her face, Kate noticed that tears fell down Lissa's face, she could also tell that she was pressing her hands in a praying position tightly.

Kate couldn't help but wonder what it was that Lissa was praying for, she knew, from their brief conversation that her mother had passed, but she knew nothing of the rest of her family. But she could tell from the nightmares that she'd accidentally witnessed that they were most likely deceased.

At the thought of the crash that she'd witnessed, Kate flexed her fingers, annoyed by the stiffness that had grown in them. She hadn't meant to invade Lissa's dream, but as many things in her life, entering other people's dreams was not an action she made voluntarily, nor consciously.

Lissa slowly sat back on the bench, her eyes fixed on the cross at the front of the room, her cheeks wet with fallen tears and her hands still clasped, but resting on her lap. Kate softly pulled a pack of tissues from the pocket of her coat and handed Lissa one, locking her forest green eyes on the cross as well.

Lissa grabbed the tissue and cleaned her face, not saying any words other than a simple and quiet "Thank you." to which Kate replied with a low hum.

Kate hadn't been the only person observing the other the past few weeks that Lissa had moved in, Lissa, due to her weariness, also observed Kate and her mannerisms. Lissa had noticed that Kate wore loose pants both out and at home and that Jeremy asked if she was alright every time they heard a firetruck siren afar, she noticed that every time she got overwhelmed she cursed in either Turkish or Russian, although mostly Turkish, she noticed that most times when out of the apartment and especially in school, Kate was always wearing some type of gloves, like the leather ones that she was wearing right then.

Lissa noticed that Kate loved being in the kitchen cooking, she noticed that when working on school work or in the kitchen she would absentmindedly hum a tune, she noticed, in the few times that she pulled an all-nighter because of her fear, that Kate either had nightmares or pulled all-nighters in the living room.

She also noticed that Kate did not rest until the door was locked and blocked by the bookcase.

"Who did you lose?" Lissa questioned, her voice shaky and low, her hands clutching the tissue.

"My family." Kate replied, being open and honest for the first time since Lissa moved in with her and Jeremy, "My mother, my twin and my aunt, in a housefire." Lissa turned her head to the side, realizing that they were both orphans and that they'd been praying for the same thing.

While looking at Kate, she noticed the way that Kate clenched her jaw, as if she was preventing herself from saying anything else.

"I prayed for my family too." Lissa confessed, watching as Kate nodded, sympathetic pain and comfort etching on her face, though Lissa could only see the profile. "They died in a car crash. Drunk driver."

"Protection gone wrong." Kate replied, as slowly giving into the opening that the two had created between them.

"Protection from whom?" Lissa questioned, frowning, she knew that there were very few things that humans needed protection from, especially protection that involved fire.

"Beings with red eyes." Kate whispered, her words barely audible in the church, barely audible to Lissa, but simultaneously deafening.

And as Lissa's jade eyes widened, the feared word slipped from her lips. "Strigoi..."

Kate knew those words with a literal burning hatred, a burning fear, and despite having noticed that Lissa did not look completely human, the fact that Lissa knew who she was referring to, caused Kate to turn to her with frightful realization in her eyes.

Sometimes Fate worked in mysterious ways,
and it would seem that bringing two broken girls
from the same world together
was the road it decided to take in order to heal them.