Melissa couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, and one look across the street said the whole reason why. Before her and Lucy was a school much like any other in the United States: Edmunds Elementary. Lack of lights and the fact there were no children screaming from the playground signaled that all had left its premises for the day. Perhaps a janitor was still inside but it was currently seven in the evening in winter; no janitor would be willing to stay that late, right? Neither the French girl or her trans friend could really tell.

They certainly hoped no one was around as it would make their job significantly harder than needed. That was to say nothing of the danger they would be in from Deam, if the nightmare even wanted an adult for feeding. Taking what she had learned from Vee into consideration, it was entirely possible he would see a janitor as too old. Deam would kidnap a child, and any adult that would try to get in his way would likely be killed if they saw him.

They couldn’t let that happen.

Eyeing Lucy, Melissa could tell she was as uncomfortable as her, possibly more so. The sight of her anger back at the dorm was shocking, mostly due to it being real. There were plenty of times where she had seen Lucy get made or upset, but the visible reaction was always over exaggerated. It wasn’t often when the outward appearance matched the inward feelings. However, this time it did match, and she could only think of one occasion when Lucy had been this angry.

It had been near the start of their first year at college. An exceptionally immature girl from another rather wealthy family had a problem with Lucy for two reasons. The first reason was for being adopted, and the second was for being originally coming to the USA as an illegal immigrant. Not stopping to think if it was a good idea or not, they had tried to either bully or instigate Lucy. They got the latter, and all it had taken was one word: slut. If Drew and herself hadn’t been present to physically hold her back, Melissa knew that Lucy would have broken at least one of the instigators arms or legs.

Thankfully all they got were some extremely harsh words. While they still talked badly of Lucy behind the French girl’s, it all remained out of her earshot. Then the incident had been reported to those in charge of Champlain, and they were promptly expelled. Not even their parents' money could get them to change their mind. Lucy had also apologized to Drew and her for her actions, which they had quickly told her weren’t needed. It had stayed the only time that Lucy had ever gotten truly enraged by something for the entire time she had known them.

At least, that had been the case until now.

“Are you sure you're in the right state of mind for this?” Melissa asked as she swallowed a bite of her granola bar. She hadn’t actually had dinner that day, so she was doing what little she could to sate her stomach.

“Honestly I don’t think I could be in a better mood to bring a fucker like that down,” Lucy replied, scowl plastered on her face. She closed her eyes as she continued to speak. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do anything stupid. It's just… I have a bone to pick with them.”

“Is it related to your life before adoption?” Melissa asked, inwardly berating herself for daring to be so direct. Lucy opened her eyes and looked her friend dead on, giving Melissa a bewildered look that immediately made them backtrack. “Forget I said that. That was wrong of me.”

“I can’t believe… I mean you are correct but...,” The French girl said, a slight measure of anxiety in her voice. She wanted so badly to berate Melissa, but she worried that such an action would jeopardize the chance they ever asked her out. The knowledge Melissa was just trying and failing to connect with her also made it hard. “Look, you aren’t wrong but… don’t bring it up right now. This isn’t the time, I really do not want to talk about it and I don’t know when I’ll be ready. What I told you last night is all you are getting.”

“Of course, and I apologize for overstepping,” Melissa said, looking away in shame. As soon as her eyes were no longer on Lucy, the French girl gave a goofy smile. “Still, I’m worried. There is a decent chance Deam won’t be as forgiving as Zarlaus was.”

“Yeah, and I’m prepared for that,” Lucy told her, raising her walking stick up in the air. “It ain’t a revolver or knife, but it did pretty well last night.”

Lucy let go of it for only a second, catching the upper part of her ‘weapon’ and allowing the bottom to give a satisfying tink against the concrete. Melissa looked at the stick she weld, wondering how it had stood up to everything it had. It was certainly strong and powerful, but at the same time it was still made of wood. She swore it would have cracked apart at some point, and that curiosity had turned to worry tonight. If it shattered apart for one reason or another, Lucy was in deep trouble.

If the worst happened, she wouldn’t have even gotten a chance to ask Lucy out.

With a shake of her head Melissa banished that thought to her subconscious. Taking another bite of her granola bar, she felt the wind move through her hair. She had no doubt it was freezing but, thanks to Vee, everyone that had headed out was given an ethereal shell of warmth to keep them safe. She had seen more than a few concerned looks from those in cars, including one all too friendly individual offering a ride, but after a time both Melissa and Lucy started to pay them no mind. It was a distraction for what they needed to be watching for.

As one girl looked, the other turned to their phone and opened the group chat. Holly had added Akane to it, the RA unceremoniously welcomed into the friend group against her own will. The main reason had actually been to make sure everyone could quickly text word to each other if something happened, but it was being used for other things too. Specifically, it had been by Drew, Akane, and herself to discuss soap operas and medical dramas. Lucy had no idea how the RA had slowly coerced her into watching Grey’s Anatomy, but it had happened.

The current conversation, however, was not on American television.

> Holly: “Hourly check. Anything so far?”

>

> Lucy: “Nope. No nightmares here at Edmunds.”

>

> Dragon: “Same here. Vee hasn’t picked up the scent of a nightmare either.”

>

> Akane: “And with us that is another strikeout. Three hours and nothing.”

>

> Drew: “Not good. It’s still early in the night right now but if this goes too late we may need to worry about him heading elsewhere in the city.”

>

> Holly: “It’s discouraging, yes, but a young child needs us out there. Don’t get too distracted.”

>

> Akane: “Ditto. Stay sharp team. We’ll have this bastard yet.”

Akane and Holly’s combined words helped lift Lucy’s hopes slightly. She stowed the phone in her pocket, a strong exhale of breath from her lungs escaping her as she kept her eyes forward. A hand tightened on her walking stick, scanning the area for anything that seemed wrong. All she got was the normal sound of cars zooming by, the rare footsteps of someone braving the cold, or the wind. Lucy did not see any indication of malevolent forces having infiltrated Melissa and Dragon’s home city. The start of the fourth hour of their stake out was proving much like the first three.

“You know the location of any of the other schools within Burlington?” She asked the trans girl to her side. “We might need to consider it if none of these work out.”

Melissa shook her head. “If you're right, I’m more than a little worried for whoever Deam grabs as a snack.”

It took all of Lucy’s will to hold down the anxiety within her. Melissa was right, and this was one of the few times she truly hoped one of her friends was wrong. The safety of a child was within her control, even if it was not as much as she would have liked. She didn’t want to fail when a chance to save someone from a similar fate presented itself to her.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Her eyes flicked over to a building for a moment, swearing she had seen something moved. When nothing presented itself she forced herself to calm down, realizing her nerves were getting the best of her. A piece of her returned to Melissa’s earlier question about her being ready, wondering if she had overestimated herself. That was immediately cut off by her entire body tensing up, allowing her anger to intensify instead of her fear. She couldn’t allow it to get in her way right now.

“Will we even be able to see him in this darkness?” Lucy whispered, looking up at the sky. “We don’t even have moonlight, and Zarlaus blended into everything so well.”

“We’ll be able to, because that is him right there,” Melissa said, eyes narrowing on a specific spot on the other side of the road.

Lucy looked to her crush, and then across the street to where they were looking. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched a girl, no older than ten, dressed in a onesie patterned with cartoon frogs stumble across the sidewalks. She was carrying a stuffed dalmation which, under normal circumstances, she knew Dragon would gush over if present. No figures that could be identified as a parent or guardian were around them, and Lucy it odd how they seemed to be swaying wildly with each step. It looked more like sleepwalking, which she was more than familiar with through Felix, her oldest brother.

The reason for it became clear as she looked closer at the barely visible figure present with the girl, each passing car doing its best to make seeing them as hard as possible. Lucy ground her teeth as she saw what looked like an exact replica of Zarlaus. They were walking backwards, heading facing the child and beckoning them with a digit. Without thinking, Lucy tried to rush across the street in an attempt to play hero, only being saved from walking right into a car’s path by Melissa. The trans girl tugged them back by grabbing her shirt and then forcing them to look her dead on.

“This isn’t the time for idiotic acts, Lu,” Melissa said. She looked back to Deam and his victim, and then to Lucy. “Tell the others where he is. I’ll trail him into the school.”

“But if we stop him right he–“

“Revealing ourselves will do more harm than good. If he gets away we will have to start this whole search over again,” Melissa continued, cutting off Lucy's argument. After a deep breath, she continued. “Lucy, trust me on this. You can follow me after you’ve calmed down and alerted our friends.”

Lucy glanced across the street to Deam, then to the ground in front of Melissa. Against what her mind wanted deep down, the French girl nodded in understanding. She felt Melissa let go of her, sighing as they took a step back. Personal space restored, Lucy tilted her head back up so she could look at her friend. Her anger had completely overtaken her expression again.

“Don’t get yourself killed, Melli,” Lucy requested, allowing a hint of vulnerability into her voice.

Melissa gave her a nod, and then rushed to the nearest crosswalk. As they disappeared into the night, Lucy took her phone out and unlocked it. For a brief moment, she considered ignoring Melissa’s wish and taking off after them. After a short battle with her mind, she came to a compromise. She started walking down the street towards where Melissa had headed, opening up the group chat. Steeling herself, she punched in the words she needed to say and sent the text.

> Lucy: “We found him. He is at Edmunds Elementary.”

----------------------------------------

Thanks to having to wait to cross the road, a decent amount of distance was put between Melissa and Deam. The lack of ability to find both him and the girl for a little bit was proof of that, and she was only thankful she knew where he was heading. As soon as she had reached the parking area for the school she crouched low to the ground. Deam opened the door with ease, meaning it had either not been locked or he had somehow unlocked it. She placed her bets on the latter; it felt like the more response thing to do.

As soon as the door closed behind them she ran out from behind the tree and over to the door. She reached out to grab the knob, then hesitated. Then hesitation turned into several seconds of waiting as she considered the option he was still in the school's main lobby. She felt bad, knowing a young girl was in trouble, but she had to minimize the risk of being seen by the general public. It led to a quarter of a minute sitting there, questioning if this was really the correct way to go about this situation, before finally opening the door.

The moment it closed behind her, Melissa was left in near complete darkness. The sound of footsteps to her right sent her in that direction, feeling with her hands to make sure she didn’t run into anything. She quietly mouthed the words used to summon her powers, willing her twin revolvers into existence as her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light. She didn’t summon her outfit just yet in order to keep noise to a minimum.

Further down the hallway she heard the sound of a door opening and closing. She picked up her pace as she rushed down, knowing that it likely meant Deam had found the spot he wanted to feed. It was only when she was met with classroom door after classroom door that she realized how difficult that would be. While there was glass showing inside the rooms she couldn’t make out what lay inside through the darkness of night. All she could see was the name of students littering the wall underneath said windows belonging to the room’s main class.

Melissa would have sworn had she not suddenly caught note of a familiar feeling. She de-summoned one of her revolvers and stuck a hand into the still air. It was like what she had felt the previous night after Zarlaus had melted into the floor. Before her, invisible to the eye and far lighter than what she had tried to touch the previous night. Another difference was that it didn’t retract to her attempt to touch it, but it refused to meld to her whim.

It was then she noticed how it took the form of trail rather than a random blob. It led behind her, back the way she had come, but also forward into a door farther down on the hallway’s left side. Melissa felt herself relax a little. Where sound had failed her, the powers of being a Magral Knight picked things up. She walked forward, keeping her hand on the mass of dream energy as if it was the railing on a stairway. She paid no notice to the fact she was subconsciously gathering it too, fully severing it at one place or another accidentally.

When she finally reached the door, she let go and summoned back her second revolver. She also summoned her outfit, the feeling of the armor catching her off guard for a second or two due to its weight. Melissa’s left hand reached for the door, her right moving her pointer finger over the trigger. She had meant to open it, but two unexpected things happened that caused her to hesitate just like back at the entrance.

The first was the lights in the hallway suddenly turning on. Her attention was taken away from her objective to see what had done it, but she saw nothing. The second came as a cacophony of sound came from the room she was standing in front of. Her attentioned turned to it, and Melissa’s eyes quickly widened in fear at the sight of Deam trying to catch his young victim. Whatever spell he had used to bring her here had clearly been cut off.

Leaving the explanation of the lights turning on to Lucy entering the building, Melissa got to work saving a young girl from a horrid fate. She aimed one revolver through the window, charging a shot. She hated to shatter the glass, but she could just repair it later when business was taken care of. The movement and flying of chairs and tables on the other side made it difficult to line up a shot, especially given the worry of the nightmare’s victim getting caught in the crossfire.

Each opportunity she saw had been taken away too quickly, either by an object getting in her way or the child being too close. Despite knowing Deam’s plans for the child, she couldn’t bring herself to aim for his head. Her aim stayed on either his limbs or center. After a minute most of the commotion died down, Deam managing to grab his target and force her to the floor. The child screamed as he loomed over her, the term “predator” feeling correct in two separate ways.

Melissa knew she couldn’t hesitate anymore; she had to take the shot.

The sound of the revolver going off was quickly drowned out by shattered glass. She shielded her eyes as soon as she fired to keep the glass out, feeling nothing scrape her skin. She had gotten lucky there, but luck had nothing to do with Deam’s shout of pain. As soon as she deemed it safe, her arm fell away from her face. She could see that her shot had put a decent hole in his left hind leg, but it hadn’t been enough to send him backwards. It had made him aware of her presence, however.

“Step away from her Deam,” Melissa said, pointing both revolvers in his direction. The girl, who had turned to cover her face in fear, lowered her arms just enough to see the Magral Knight. “You might get to live for a couple moments longer if you do.”

“You! You must be the dreamer Vee found. The one it gave the pin to,” He snarled. Though his statement was obvious, the venom he spoke with was what caught Melissa’s attention. “Come to try and play the hero, little knight.”

“The name is Melissa Rogers, and I’m not here to try and play any role,” She stated both fingers now over the trigger. The girl under Deam tried to scramble away as they spoke – the main reason Melissa had struck conversation – be the nightmare had to merely place a limb in her stomach to keep her from escaping. “Now do as I said and we might be able to figure out a way for all to leave happy and alive.”

Deam scoffed at her attempts to fool him. He knew damn well what he was doing, and also knew that a knight would allow him to live. He had attempted to feed off a dreamer from the realm of reality, and was seen as a threat. He never thought to consider that Melissa – so scared to kill another sapient creature no matter how evil they were – was telling the truth. All he gave her for her fruitless efforts was a false look of contemplation, turning to his meal and then to the knight.

“Ha! Like I give a damn what you try and do to me,” Deam said. Melissa, pained as she was to do it, tried to fire her revolvers right then in there. Except, in her subconscious fear of killing something, she hadn’t noticed till that moment she had taken her fingers off the trigger. “I am within my home, with my favorite meal! I shall not waste such a savory opportunity!”

As his last words left his mouth, Deam faced the child. He opened his maw, both Melissa and the child’s eyes widening in fear at what was coming. Melissa tried to force her pointer finger onto the trigger, but it once again failed to move. A scream escaped as the child made one last desperate attempt to escape, but it was to no avail.

Deams mouth closed down on the girl’s chest, screams turning to silence as the latter’s body froze up.