March, 2019

"Don't you regret casting that spell, Marli... It was my decision," I responded immediately as words of contrition exited her mouth.

"Your decision... my action. I should have consulted an elder. And I should have told you the dead stay dead."

Unable to help myself, I whispered back, "But he's not really dead. Whether you made me see him or not, he'd still be there watching me. And now that we communicate... or rather, now that we fight about everything... at least I know what he wants... and what I need to do to get him to move on."

The mattress protested as she rolled onto her side. I could feel her russet gaze burning into my face, but I stayed steadfast, eyes searching the ceiling.

"He's not going to move on if you don't."

"That's why I'm going out every night!" I whined.

"One night stands aren't—"

"Ugh! You both are cut from the same cloth."

"Is that what happened this morning?"

I casted her a hesitant glance—but not without checking if he was still sitting where I last saw him at my desk chair.

And he was. Watching. Worrying. Wary.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean... What caused the panic attack, Ol?"

"Who says I had a panic attack?" I responded, already on the defensive. Every conversation felt like a fight these days... whether with Marli, my mum, or him.

But she just deadpanned at me. Marli knew the symptoms too well... I didn't just lock myself in my room today for no reason. And... they were coming almost daily. Which was why Ben disappeared for a few days, convinced he was the trigger. "He's disappointed in me."

"I'm not disappointed," he quickly said, calling my attention to him again.

Ever so slowly, he rose from the chair and crossed the room, stopping only once he had reached the other side of me. Laying down, he took my left while Marli still lay on my right, keeping watch of me. For some reason, she always knew when I was talking to him these days, even if she couldn't see or hear him. Even if she still could never judge exactly his proximity to me.

"You always seem disappointed," I admitted.

"That's not what I feel. I just... I feel bad. I feel like there's nothing I can do to help you feel better because this journey is your own now."

"You don't need to feel bad, Ben," I whispered. "I'm the one who put you in harm's way. If I never—"

"For the millionth time, it wasn't your fault, Olivia. I knew what I was getting into."

And so we jumped on the familiar carousel. "But—"

"It wasn't your fault." He reached out to touch me, but, as usual, I never felt it. Maybe his ghostly hand stroked my face, but all I felt in its place was emptiness. A never ending pit of nothing for the memory of the boy who lay before me. "And once you accept that, I'm sure I will move on. Once you confront all the demons of your past that you've taken into yourself, then finally our connection will disappear."

My bottom lip began to quiver though. "But then you're gone forever."

His face contorted in agony as he reached for me again, evidently desperate to comfort me, but not able to. Though, in his place, Marli's silent arms gripped me, pulling me into her as she tried to hold the remaining parts of me together. She didn't say a word though. She let Ben continue to do that.

"You and I both know what you have to do for me to go..."

I shook my head. "I don't want to."

"There's so much you still don't know about me... about us... About what happened with you and Lukas—"

"It's in the past."

"But it's obviously not. Otherwise you wouldn't be this cut up about it. You wouldn't still be flinching when you hear his name or mourning the loss of him more than me!"

His words, while truthful, were like knives in my heart. Even with the bond gone... Why did I still miss Lukas? "I'm fine."

"Olivia!" he snapped, rage and remorse tainting every essence of him that hovered here. "I know you have so many questions you don't have answers to. And, while I could try to fill the gaps, I don't know everything myself. You and I know there's unfinished business left in England, and only once you confront it will you find peace."

"The bond is gone, Ben! I don't have unfinished business with him. Lukas and I were nothing and never will be—"

"Bullshit."

"Even in death you can't withhold from being jealous of him."

"I'm not fucking jealous, Olivia." At once, he sat upright, seeming to be at his end with me.

"Oh yeah? Then why won't you believe me when I say he and I had noth—"

"But you did have something. You were together before we met."

"How many times do I have to tell you that the memories that he wiped from my mind have no place in all of this?"

"If they had no place, then our bond would have worked properly. You would have only looked at—"

"You told me when we cemented it that I'd still be able to love others."

"Yes... but never as much as me."

"Are you saying—"

"That you loved him more?"

I went quiet, unable to say anything back, wary of what he had surmised and was about to hit me with.

And, in my silence, he knew what he had to throw at me. "He is the one who you're still mourning over."

"It's because I can see you, Ben," I said.

"How long are you going to lie to yourself?"

"How long are you going to make mountains out of molehills when—"

"Olivia... please just go back and talk to him again."

"I refuse to."

As Ben opened his mouth to retort though, my door suddenly flew open.

"Ollie, Marli, I—" Mum's words caught in her throat as she looked at us.

Marli's arms were still holding me to her, my face, washed in tears, coloured with anger, was facing Ben.

"Sorry," mum mumbled, taking a step backwards. "I don't mean to interrupt."

At once, Marli dropped me as I shimmied away. "You're not interrupting anything mum," I mumbled. "She was just comforting me."

"Yes... of course." Though her tone suggested otherwise.

Nonetheless, as I sat up wiping the remaining wetness from my face, eventually I took a deep breath and said, "What's up?'

A sense of alarm sparked on her face as she straightened, evidently remembering what she had barged in for. "You have to see what's on the news right now."

At once, she spun on her heel and raced out of the room.

After sharing a wary glance, Marli and I got to our feet and followed her out.

"Girls!" mum called when we didn't come after there fast enough.

"Yeah, yeah. Patience woman," I said back.

But once I had rounded the corner and the TV came into view, my heart stopped.

A news reporter, standing in front of run down brick architecture and familiar lampposts and street signage spoke to the camera with an unignorable heading displayed beneath.

'Dracula' Strikes Again: Serial Killer Still on London Streets as Another Body Is Found

My heart began to pound in my chest as all noise other than the TV drowned out.

Even Ben had gone still beside me as we listened to the details.

"... Police claim that this body, like many of the others popping up around London, was exsanguinated, meaning it was drained of blood. While crime experts assume this is part of the killer's signature trait, medical experts are still scratching their heads at explaining exactly how the killer is doing this. Reasons that have stumped medical professionals include the two puncture holes—mimicking that of a snake, or as the killer's nickname suggests, a vampire—often found in the corpses' bodies at high-flow blood points, the lack of any other violence to the bodies, the lack of signs of struggle from the people, and finally the lack of blood surrounding the scene. Police say that either the murderer is somehow siphoning the blood into bags or actually drinking from the humans. However, medical experts state that this would be highly harmful to the killer to ingest such amounts of blood. Ultimately, police and medical experts are still working together to identify exactly who the killer is and how to catch them. For now, the city council is applying a 10pm curfew on London city centre districts to keep residents safe."

The camera flashed to the other reporters' horrified faces in the newsroom. Collecting themselves quickly, one asked, "Have you heard much on the theory that there's more than one killer, Lucy?"

The screen flashed back to the reporter in London. "While nothing has been confirmed just yet, the idea that there's more than one killer is still on the cards. Of course, as we know from previous cases, the killer leaves no traces of evidence on the scene or even in the body. However, given that last week's case saw two bodies turn up around the same time on opposite sides of London, it was deemed impossible that they were killed by the same person. Now, what police are trying to distinguish is whether it's a pair or group of people working together, or if some other person decided to mimic Dracula's style."

The reporters continued to go back and forth until an announcement from the Royal family cut off the news report.

And, with that, mum switched off the TV.

"I'm so glad you're home," mum breathed. "To think how terrified you'd be to be out walking those streets at night now."

Lips pressed together, I held back all comments I wanted to throw back at her about how a vampire—if that's what it was—could never hurt me. But the fact that the details of this case didn't add up had me stunned into complete silence, unable to even spin a lie.

Marli, however, still had her wits about her. Quickly spewing out, "Absolutely mad, isn't it, Nora. But good thing Ollie is safe at home with us. Will be interesting to keep tabs on it and hope they find them." Then Marli's hand gripped at my arm. "Anyway, we are going to go to Alligator Creek now."

Brows pulling together, mum glanced between the two of us. "What's with you both always—"

"It's amazing exercise, and this time of day is perfect weather."

Mum glanced at the small temperature gauge on the wall, clearly displaying it was still 30 degrees out.

Noticing, Marli said, "The wind is lovely there."

With a sigh, mum eventually said, "Very well. Just make sure you apply sunscreen. You won't want to have skin cancer being peeled out of you every week once you're my age."

"Yes, of course."

So, reluctantly, Marli pushed me off to the bathroom, slathered me in the white liquid—because I was still numb from what I had heard—and popped a hat on my head.

Grabbing my shoes from the entryway, she continued to tug me outside and to her car.

Neither of us said anything the whole drive over.

And neither of us disturbed the silence of the air as we marched up to the hill.

But the moment we were alone—

"A vampire?" Marli exclaimed. "I don't get it. They are normally much more calculated than this to let reporters pick it up. Unless they want people to know and be scared."

Shaking my head, I finally turned to look at her. "Marli... It's impossible that it was a vampire."

"They're exsanguinated, Ollie. Were you listening?"

But I shook my head again. "No. It's not. They want people to think it is, but—"

"Why would anyone want that?"

"Maybe they've met a vampire before? Or maybe it's another mutant with a grudge against them, trying to start a witch hunt?"

"No mutant would do that. Exposing vampires exposes all of us. Humans will then become cautious of any abnormality."

"Well... I have as much of a clue about who or what is doing it as you do. But if there's one thing I'm certain about, it's not a vampire."

"And what makes you think that, huh?" She crossed her arms over her chest, looking at me in anger... probably thinking, This girl is so in love with them that she can't even acknowledge their wrongdoings.

But it wasn't that.

I did know how to spot a twisted vampire when I saw one.

Heck, I killed one.

Which was why I said to her, "Because vampires don't have fangs, Marli."

Dun, dun, DUUUUUUUN!

Whatever will Olivia decide to do?