In the week since her overnight stay at Isis’s home Sarah’s dreams had gotten more vivid and were starting to overlap with the waking world. Glimpses of forgotten memories in mirrors. Echo like sounds from long ago places. If she happened to drift off she would travel somewhere into her past lives, or so she assumed that was what she was experiencing. She had been packing for her fall break trip to Moscow when she sat down and rested her eyes. Of course, when she opened them next, she found her consciousness somewhere else. A flash brighter then the sun blinded her briefly and she shielded her eyes. When she blinked again the sky was black. The only light was the angry glow of on the top of a mountain, no a volcano.

She looked around herself and saw her father, no, not her father but whomever memories she was reliving. She had seen him before. They were on a boat… a ship of some kind something ancient. Further back were people. She could hear wailing and sobs above decks. Her, the man who she would call father for she had no other name for him, looked empty. As if this catastrophic event had no impact on him. He rubbed his beard before starting to pass out clothes dunked in a water barrel to the inhabitants of the ship. She could hear the people around her starting to choak and cough as ash began to fill the air. Sarah felt nothing. As if she had no need to breath. She felt a weight on her back and she glanced over her shoulder and a sword hung in a sheath across it.

The coughing of the people around her grew worse. Not knowing what else to do she rushed to her ancestor’s side and picked up two handfuls of moistened masks. She ran towards the stairs above deck and hesitated. What of the hateful sun? The thought made her freeze. Why should she fear the sun? She pushed past it and rushed above decks. Handing out masks, to the children first, then to the adults. The sun was no where to be seen. It was blocked by the black clouds of ash that filled the air. The people around her were dressed as if they were in an old movie about Rome. Everywhere Sarah looked she saw faces stained black with the ash, and eyes wide in terror. She pushed on and helped everywhere she could. Soon the ship passed out of the densest of ash clouds. As sun came in to sight Sarah felt her skin start to burn. Smoke started to rise from her clothes. She rushed below decks. Her father looked at her and shook his head slightly.

“You know better daughter.”

Sarah rubbed the red spots on her arms and nodded. The man bit his hand and held it out. Sarah bit her lip and tried to resist but it was too compelling. She grabbed his hand. As the blood passed her lips it was if she was eating from the table of the gods. Her body tingled and the wounds form the sun burns healed rapidly. He pulled his hand away. Sarah like any addict tried to hold on but her father was too strong. He shook his head at her again.

“It is as if you’ve never fed before daughter.”

Sarah licked her lips and blushed. She’d never been addicted to anything in her life but right now she would do anything to get even a drop of this man’s precious blood. After a few seconds the blinding hunger faded and became a dull ache. One she had been feeling this whole dream. Was this the man who turned Maria as well? Was this what Maria felt every minute of every day? Helen? Eyre? Isis? How did they stay sane? She ran her tongue along the bottom of the fangs. Then she started to notice other things about this new experience. Colors were more vivid. Sounds were crisper. She breathed in through her nose and was overwhelmed with the smell of the people around her. She smelled... fear. She looked up to the man who had fed her the blood. The father.

He was not pale. Not like Maria, or Eyre. More like Helen. He had unruly brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Not long at all. If anything, he reminded her of those pictures she’d seen of Jesus in church. She watched him tending to the humans around them and thought he might be one and the same.

Another thing she noticed was that Maria was nowhere to be seen. The memories of Rome she found herself in always seemed to feature her. She pondered how tall he must be as she looked up to him. Then realized that she was short, almost a foot shorter than her own body. She approached the man again and spoke.

“Where is Maria… Mariana?”

Her words may as well have been a sword through is heart as the expression his face turned to one of very deep sorrow. He looked her up and down.

“You will never forgive me will you?”

Sarah blinked at him. What had happened to their family? She knew this was the father. There was a mother. A woman who seemed to be the opposite of her own. Never raised her voice, never felt her bad about anything. Just pure parental love. Same with this man. He sat down this distance, or pain seemed to weigh heavily on him. His work tending the injured appeared to be complete as he could manage, and he looked up at her.

“You were right. Rome is too small for the both of us. Your presence is making the council uncomfortable after your threats, even these years later. When we arrive in Rome, you can do what you wish, but remember our agreement. You will never return to that village in Gaul.”

Sarah saw a deep sadness in the man’s eyes. She kneeled and wrapped her hands around his. If she were to analyze it later from the perspective of an adult, she may see a parallel between this woman’s relationship with her family and her own. For now, she just couldn’t resist trying to support him. Blood tears rolled down his cheeks as he looked at their intertwined hands. His eyes travelled from their hands up her arms and to her eyes.

“So, there is kindness left in your heart after all that has been said.”

Sarah wasn’t sure how to respond and she reached out and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. She heard bones crack and realized just how strong this woman had been. She released him quickly. Her hand went to her mouth. She started touching his shoulders which seemed to pop back into their sockets. He nodded to her.

“You are not in control of your abilities today.”

Sarah motioned towards the volcano that still spewed ash and pyroclastic flow. He nodded.

“You know my child, it is not angry Gods, just the Earth moving beneath our feet.”

Sarah quirked her head to the side. How would this man know such things in this time? She nodded. She was no geologist but she understood it to a point.

“If you knew why didn’t you warn anyone?”

He lowered his voice.

“It is not like you to care, child. I thought you had long since cast humans into the food category.”

Sarah blinked again. Who was this woman? In all the memories she’d seen her she had been kind. What had changed? Where did this rift come from? What hardened her heart. Another question was on her lips when she was pulled out of the dream.

Sarah rubbed her eyes. She felt Amee’s hand on her forearm. After some her other dreams it was almost electric as it brought half remembered dreams hours of pleasure to the front of her mind. Amee laughed.

“You could sleep threw an earthquake.”

Sarah blushed. It had nothing to do with her sleeping habits. Amee smirked.

“Dreaming of that hot son of the Russian President? He can slip into my dreams anytime.”

Sarah’s shade pink was almost red now. She hadn’t thought to deeply about the fact she was about to spend a week in a Russia staying in the same house as his son. The boy had been a favorite of teen girls worldwide since his father ran for office. Sarah shook her head.

“No!”

Amee pointed an accusing finger.

“Liar!”

Sarah’s hormones were all over the place. She was going through puberty at a rapid rate. She looked at the finger, tipped with black nail polish and followed it up the arm to the curve of Amee’s neck to her friends already perfect chest, then back up to her neck and the blood she knew flowed through the artery. Sarah felt something pierce her bottom lip. She squeaked and held her hand to her mouth. When she pulled it away she saw blood. Amee’s expression changed from one of amusement to concern immediately.

“Sarah, your teeth!”

Sarah’s hand went to her mouth and she felt them. A pair of fangs just like she’d had in the dream. She felt a familiar panic rising up in her but thanks to her meds, and the fact she’d been weened off the rest of her meds she pushed it down. Only a slight vibration could be felt in the room. She rushed to the bathroom hand over her mouth. When she looked in the mirror she could see a trickle of blood running down her chin from the left side of her lip. She’d put the fang through her lip entirely. She blinked as the injury closed immediately. She heard rushed slap of bare feet approaching. She glanced at the bathroom entrance. Amee rushed in dragging Maria.

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“Help her!”

Amee pointed at Sarah. Maria blinked slowly while stroking her crucifix. She approached Sarah and looked at her mouth.

“Yes, those are vampire fangs.”

Amee blinked at Maria.

“And?”

Maria frowned at Amee.

“And what Amee? I did not turn her. That is against the law, she is too young.”

“Fix her she is leaving for Russia in three hours!”

“I cannot. If she was turned she is dead.”

Amee pointed at both of them and threw her hands up.

“You both have heartbeats!”

Maria lifted her small pale hand and pointed at the window where sunlight was streaming in.

“Only in sunlight. I am sorry Sarah, you were just starting to develop how you wanted. Who did this to you?”

Sarah shook her head. Tears were starting to form at the corner of her eyes.

“No one…I just…”

Maria stroked her silver crucifix.

“We should tell Ms. Sheppard.”

Amee grabbed Maria as she turned to leave. Amee spoke quietly.

“No, we will do no such thing until we know what is going on! What if you did it in your sleep?”

Maria relented and stopped. She was in sunlight and bereft of her vampiric abilities she was no match for the fully charge cyborg. She looked up at Amee.

“I do not sleep. I have not since I can remember.”

Amee released her.

“What?”

“I do not sleep. It is impossible, no matter how much I try.”

Maria’s eyes drifted to Sarah who was still staring at the fangs in the mirror.

“It is not important. I would know if I drank any blood from Sarah, I did not. Nor did I lose any in the last day. Therefore it is impossible it could have been me.”

Sarah spoke suddenly.

“I need to see Isis.”

Maria’s fingers clutched onto her crucifix tightly.

“You cannot, she is dangerous. My sister’s journals were quite explicit in the threat she poses. Might I suggest an alternative theory?”

Both Sarah and Amee looked at Maria.

“If you had done all the ready you were provided for basic powers class. You would know that Life mages, and those who use life energy are often capable of molding their form to suit their needs. Perhaps Sarah has done this unconsciously, for some reason? Perhaps with all the danger she has been in she wanted to be more durable, stronger, and faster. Being around the Headmistress, Helen, and myself, may have inspired her to shift herself into a more vampire-like being.”

Amee shook her head.

“You think if Sarah could shape change like that, even self-consciously, she’d have let herself look like a really tall twelve year old boy?”

Sarah glared at Amee at first, then after a few moments reflection she shrugged and nodded. Maria’s lips pursed.

“Well it makes more sense then some vampire sneaking in here overnight and turning her while I was reading on the couch in the shared living area. Only Isis is older than me, and if Isis had turned her, her eyes would be gold.”

“How would you know that?”

Maria motioned to the common area.

“My sister kept very detailed journals on those she considered her enemies. Isis was on the list, along with those vampires she created. It is a trait of her bloodline.”

Sarah shook her head.

“Isis is not evil. She protected me, but… but she did something to me, I blacked out and ever since I’ve been having these dreams… memories.”

Maria’s eyebrow quirked and as her hand continued to stroke her crucifix.

“Memories?”

Sarah rubbed her face. When she looked back in the mirror her fangs had vanished but she still felt different. Like a leashed animal only held at bay by the sun.

“I don’t know.”

Amee was starting to look frustrated.

“Who cares about memories, she has vampire fangs!”

“Amee, please let her continue. This could be the root of the issue.”

Maria looked to Sarah.

“Please Sarah, this could help. Tell us what you see in these, memories.”

“I don’t know! Its just like I’m somewhere else. In bed with Amee…doing something between my legs. You and I sitting on a dock. The last one had this man in it, there was a volcano. I was a vampire I guess, I got burned by the sun, he fed me blood. I was strong… really, really, strong.”

Maria continued to stroke her crucifix, the shiny black nail polish on her pale fingers glinting in the sun. She nodded.

“What did this man look like?”

“He wasn’t tall, he wasn’t anything special, he looked like a clean cut Jesus or something.”

Maria’s lips moved as she spoke a name silently then she actually let the name be heard.

“Sextus. My biological father. Could the volcano have been the one at Pompeii?”

Sarah nodded.

“My sister had reference to that event in her journal. Her and my father fought. She left Rome shortly after they arrived and didn’t speak to him for centuries. I wonder if perhaps you read them? I know you understand Atlantean.”

Sarah shook her head. Maria nodded in response.

“I see. The source of these memories could have been Isis implanting them. Either way, this makes sense. You are about to make a journey somewhere new. You are perhaps feeling a bit anxious, or fearful. You had a dream about being a vampire and made yourself some semblance of one. So this is not permanent.”

Amee pointed at Sarah.

“Then fix her, can’t you just do that vampire mojo thing where you stare in her eyes and make her change back?”

Maria shook her head.

“No, without the medication she was taking when my niece was able to affect her before, she is quite resistant, if not immune. Sarah you will turn back to normal eventually.”

Sarah blinked at Maria. Amee was having none of that.

“Nonsense, what is she supposed to do now? She’s going to Russia!”

Maria looked at the pair of girls and spoke plainly.

“Do not bite anyone.”

Amee clenched her fists.

“What the hell kind of advice is that?”

“The same advice I give myself every morning.”

Sarah started nibbling on her freshly healed lip.

“But it’s a week, won’t I need blood? You drink at least one bag a day.”

Maria shook her head.

“I could go months without blood, but it is against school policy.”

Sarah shook her head.

“I almost bit Amee and it was only five minutes.”

Maria nodded.

“I will return.”

She wandered out of the bathroom leaving the other two girls alone. Amee blinked a few times and looked at Sarah.

“You almost bit me? And you’re having sex dreams about me?”

Sarah blushed again and her jaw clamped itself shut.

“You can’t just drop that bomb and then leave for Russia!”

Sarah shook her head.

“It wasn’t you, it was… older you!”

Sarah was saved from further interrogation by Maria appearing with her old worn pack. She pulled out three fist sized chunks of red crystal handing them to Sarah.

“These are blood crystals. If you hold it in your hand you can transfer the blood to yourself. Each has enough for one month of blood, if you do not hurt yourself or use any vampiric abilities. The more you do as a vampire, the more blood you use. So please, do not throw cars. Even if you can do so without triggering your monitor.”

Amee blinked.

“Wait, they cannot tell if you use your superpowers?”

Maria nodded.

“That is correct, but they are not superpowers. They are to us as breathing is to a human.”

Amee shook her head.

“Why don’t you use them all the time then?”

Maria quirked her head to the side.

“It is against the rules.”

Amee facepalmed. Her conversation with Sarah about the sex dreams apparently put on pause. She wrapped her arm around Maria’s shoulders and guided her towards the common area.

“So you’re telling me, you could make that bitch Porche lick the…”

Sarah lost track of the conversation as the pair walked around the corner of the bathroom. She put the bloodstones down and pulled the curtains closed over the frosted glass. She leaned on one of the sinks and looked in the mirror. She focused and her canines extended into fangs. If it was so disturbing, she’d even think they looked cute on her. She felt it now. That familiar hunger from the dream. She lifted up one of the stones and took her fill. The bright red turned to a faint pink. She felt her body react. Everything was suddenly more real. Scents, sights, smells. She could hear Amee trying to convince Maria to use her abilities to strike back at a bully of the trio. She could hear Amee’s heartbeat, Kerri’s, her new roommates. She felt powerful. In control. She felt like every single cell in her body was there waiting for her orders.

For someone who had spent her entire life feeling out of control it was addictive. Why would she ever want to give this up? There was a part of her that was always afraid. Afraid of what a boy or man might do to her when no one else was around. It had been made worse by the incident in the green house. Though with her memories erased she had not realized it. The block the Headmistress had placed on her evaporated. She remembered every little detail but in this new form, a huntress of the night. This new form that would have drained that man dry. The images she relived did nothing to her besides bring a sense of satisfaction. Her body had no reaction to the gore. No, that was a human reaction. This body, she was in absolute control of, she did not want to feel ill, so she did not.

Why did Maria not revel in this? How could she resist using these abilities? They were there waiting to be used. Not like Sarah’s normal bodies abilities. No these she could use at will. Her mind was clear as well. Whatever miswiring her human brain had it was meaningless in this vampiric form. She pushed herself up and grabbed the blood stones. She licked her fangs after looking at her silhouette in the mirror. The raging hormones that had beset her since the puberty blockers were removed were a thing of living flesh. As one of the undead she felt none of it.

Sarah left the bathroom and put the crystals in her carryon. She walked into the common area and leaned behind Amee. Any hesitation she had about pursuing what she’d seen in her dreams was no more as her lips touched Amee’s ear she nibbled, then whispered.

“Lets go get the bitch.”

Amee shuddered at the nibble it took a her a few seconds to react but she stood up suddenly. Almost leaping away from Sarah’s nibble. Maria was nowhere to be seen. Amee’s right arm crossed her belly and her left hand touched her ear as she looked at Sarah.

“What?”

“Porsche, let’s go make her lick a toilet seat.”