* Trigger Warning - Mild gore *

"Erika, are you okay?"Johnathan swiped the back of his hand across his forehead and adjusted his glasses. Damp patches outlined the sweat marks under his armpits. "You spaced out for a second there."

I heard Johnathan, but it was like a thick blanket clouded my vision, seeing the blurry outline of his body.

Mystical energy crept over, bringing a frosty feel to the air. There was a change within the room; the air had become dry and stale, different from the usual Shadowbrook mugginess. I became aware of a presence lingering in the room. It took me several glances to wonder how Ethan was standing near the bookcase, trailing his finger along the spines of the books. "Ethan?"

"You can see me?" Ethan looked puzzled with a book in his hand. "I thought I was dead."

From calling his name, Johnathan's head whipped round. His voice was flat and sombre. "Erika, he's gone."

"I can see him." Walking to where Ethan stood, I prodded him on the shoulder with one finger. "And I can feel him. How is this possible?"

He had died not long ago, and Johnathan checked that there was no pulse.

"Erika, I know it's hard to accept, but Ethan isn't here anymore. He's gone to a better place." He rested his hand on my shoulder, gently tugging me away from the bookcase and from the nonsense spurting out my mouth. "Look, he is right where we put him." Pointing me towards the body lying on the settee still covered with a throw.

Ethan grabbed my hand, resting it against his cheek. "I can feel you." His eyes trailed to the hidden corpse on the settee—his body. Dropping my hand, he backed away, frowning. "I am dead, though. Aren't I? Johnathan's right. He can't see me because I'm not alive."

"Perhaps you're stuck on the other side, and that's how we can communicate." Technically, I was still on the other side, not having seen anybody else besides Arksna.

If people are stuck on the other side when they die, then where are the others?

"If what you're saying is true, how can we help him?" Johnathan scratched his brow, perching on the armrest of the settee. "There are implications for you coming back. I'm sure the same goes for Ethan, too."

He had a point. There were consequences for coming back, but my mum always said there was a loophole. A solution for every problem.

"If I switch places with Edwina, I can try and find a way to bring Ethan back with me." Glancing back and forth between Ethan and Johnathan, we were in two different worlds connected by one person.

"And how do you think you'll do that? Edwina spent over two hundred years on the other side," Johnathan replied.

"What a killjoy." Ethan rolled his eyes, slumping against the bookshelf. 

I opened my mouth to say something when a thunderous boom echoed down the hallway, walls vibrating with their calls. They were getting closer, and it sounded like there were more than three.

Slinging the duffel bag over his shoulder, he grabbed the crossbow and hesitated before handing me a simple handgun. "Shoot, reload and make sure the safety is off."

Great pep talk.

The gun was the perfect match as it fitted the shape of my petite hands. Glad it wasn't another bag of silver nitrate powder. Flexing my fingers around the mould of the gun, I held it in midair.

Johnathan went first, jogging down the corridor with me following close behind. The scratches on the nape of my neck burned profusely, worse than before. My steps slowed, and the aim of my gun faltered, alarming Johnathan.

"Erika, keep up," he whispered, glancing a quick look over his shoulder.

Edging towards the wall, we followed the noise down the abandoned halls. They had been here, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. Old oil paintings of portraits—I assumed of important vampires—had fist marks through the middle.

Somebody clearly dislikes vampires.

All the office windows had been smashed with blinds draping from the panels. One vampire was wrapped in one of the blinds, hanging midway like a sushi roll. A stake through the heart.

Nadine's emblem came into view on one of the walls, written in fresh blood as droplets dripped down like melted wax.

"I don't think this is all Alani and Edwina's doing. What happens if there's a traitor among the vampires? Or worse, a rogue." I dodged the streaks of blood on the floor, careful not to leave footprints.

Johnathan indicated with his crossbow to the foyer of the training pit below. Fiona had mentioned that they had a training session earlier. That was probably the place where the mayhem all kicked off.

Alani's voice bounced off the walls, drifting up the grand staircase. Johnathan inched closer and hid behind one of the pillars. I followed, clinging onto the railings, and peeked below.

A clan of vampires hissed and snarled, fighting against Alani's magical restraints. Since I was on the other side, her magic wasn't invisible as before. It took on a pale colour, semi-transparent.

She had control over one vampire, squirming along the floor. A shrill escaped his lips as the vampire clawed at the marbled floor. Carmine patches developed in the vampire's bleached hair, reminding me of the toys that changed colour once dipped in water. He puffed his cheeks as his veins stood out against his albino complexion. Black veins bulged on his neck and across his temples like fractured glass.

"Who knew giving a vampire a brain aneurysm could be fun?" Enveloped in a black cloak, Alani looked superior. The ends of her long whispery hair poked through, sweeping past her waist.

"Fό." She simpered, emphasising her crow's feet. "Shvi." Wielding the achromatic magic from her palms, she was a Goddess dictating her rights, and all we could do was sit and watch the madness unfold. "Va."

My muscles stiffened with each descending number. Johnathan hadn't fired his crossbow, waiting for the right moment, but maybe he thought he was outnumbered by the vampires.

Will they even be on our side? Vampires like to stand together, apart from rogues that do their own thing.

"Ndav." Her silver irises lit up as the countdown came to an end. "Nib."

The vampire's eyes protruded, and blood trickled from his eye sockets, pooling from his ears. His body detonated, springing pieces of flesh and limbs through the air like damage from a grenade.

Covered in blood and chunks of the vampire's organs, the other vampires snarled, gnashing their fangs.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Alani sang, projecting her voice with her hands. "I know you're listening, Nadine."

The room fell silent for Nadine's arrival, hopeful I would find answers to my father's whereabouts.

Johnathan smeared the blood from his glasses, nodding towards me. I edged back, afraid Alani would see me.

"If you want to play this the hard way, bring it on." She directed her magic in the air, free-flowing around her as the glass dome above imploded, sprinkling shards of glass.

A/N

Word Count: 1,190

Translations are:-

Fό = Five

Shvi = Four

Va = Three

Ndav = Two

Nib = One

Will Nadine finally make her grand appearance?

Ethan is dead, well semi-dead, but will he make it back?

Have a fangtastic day!

(㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)