"No!" Vivian screamed, watching as the red-eyed creature tore into Penny's neck. Blood spilt on the concrete, rolling towards her and painting the ground below her. She could feel the hot, wetness on her palms, the red crawling up her arms and covering her in the same red. "No!"

Vivians eyes snapped open, sitting up in her bed as breath came in and out harshly. The dream was a haze in her brain as tears streamed down her face. Had she been crying? That was new. Wiping at her eyes, the woman moved to stand up, but froze. Standing in her doorway, toothbrush in mouth, was Ophelia.

"You good?" Ophelia asked, holding her toothbrush in one hand.

"Yeah." Vivian replied, wiping the tears that wouldn't stop coming. "Just a nightmare."

"You were screaming, Vivian." The other woman spoke, placing a hand on her hip. "That's a little more than just a nightmare."

Vivian waved her friend off as she stood from the bed. "I'm fine, really. You don't need to worry about me."

Ophelia blocks the doorway, not letting the black haired woman leave. "I always worry about you. This isn't the first morning I've heard something coming from your bedroom."

Vivian felt her cheeks grow hot. "They're just nightmares, Ophelia. Really it's nothing."

Ophelia didn't move. She stayed right where she stood, hand on hip and toothpaste covering her mouth. "Am I going to have to force you to talk to me?"

A groan escaped Vivian as she turned to go back into her bedroom. "Rinse your mouth out and I'll tell you about them."

"Be right back!" Ophelia got out quickly, moving from the doorway and presumably back to her own bedroom.

It was only a few moments later that both Ophelia and Vivian sat on her bed. There was a heavy silence as Ophelia waited for Vivian to speak. The black haired woman played with the necklace that sat at the base of her neck while she thought of how to begin. "I've been having nightmares about Penny's death."

"Penny?" Ophelia echoed the name, sitting up a little more. "She went missing though."

"I know." Vivian slouched as she spoke, holding a pillow in her lap. "But ever since she went missing, I've been seeing it."

"What do you see?"

Vivian explains her dreams, of how she's in the alley by the cafe, how there's a force holding her down and a red-eyed creature tearing into Penny's neck. She felt strange finally confessing her nightmares, feeling like she sounds crazy for having them in the first place. When she finished, they both sat there in silence for a moment, as if Ophelia was taking in all the information.

"That sounds horrifying." Ophelia finally said, letting out a breath. "I can see why you were screaming."

Vivian nods. "It is horrifying." An uneasiness settled in her stomach, having to talk about her nightmares aloud made them feel more real. "I can't explain them either."

"Do you remember closing that night?" Ophelia asked, playing with her fingers.

"Yeah." The night was a little foggy in her mind, but she remembered closing the cafe and walking home that night. She made Penny take the trash out on her way home, and then she finished her closing tasks inside before heading out herself. Vivian doesn't remember hearing anything or seeing anything strange. "I had to give a report to the police since I was the last person who saw her."

"That must have been fun." There was a clear tone of sarcasm in her words, which made Vivian laugh lightly. "Thank you for opening up to me."

"Thank you for making me." Vivian replies with a smile, feeling a little lighter after having the conversation with her friend. "Don't you have work this morning?"

Ophelia stood up from the bed. "Yes I do, I need to finish getting ready!"

Vivian was left alone in her bedroom, the black haired woman playing with the pendant of her necklace before finally getting out of bed. She did her morning routine, going on a jog before coming home and taking a shower. Vivian decided it was a good time to work on her graphic novel, given she didn't have to be at the cafe until later that afternoon. It was going to be her first closing shift since Penny's disappearance. Vivian usually does closing shifts, but after Penny went missing, she became fearful of the night and hadn't been scheduled for a closing shift since.

Her day went by smoothly, Vivian getting a couple more chapters drawn out before she had to start getting ready for work. When two o'clock rolled around, the black haired woman was clocked into the cafe. Time flew by and before she knew it she was alone in the cafe, doing her closing tasks. When it came time to take the garbage out, Vivian hesitated. Dread ran through her veins as she looked at the metal door leading to the alleyway beyond. Her nightmares played over in her head, and she couldn't move.

Taking in a deep breath, Vivian forced herself to move, one step and then another towards the door. She used an elbow to open it, and the cool November air instantly hit her. She was able to get the trash to the dumpster with no problem, and went back inside to finish her job. It was around nine at night when she finally left the cafe, locking it up and exiting through the alleyway door. There was that uneasiness in her stomach as she walked through the alley, beginning her trek home.

The feeling never left her as she moved through the streets, the clouds above blocking out the moonlight and making it feel just a little darker than usual. That only added to the uneasiness she felt in her stomach. Vivian kept her steps quick so as to make it home sooner rather than later.

As she passed by another alley, something in her brain screamed danger and she quickend her feet. Only, hands came out from the alleyway and grabbed her, throwing her deep into the alley. Vivian barely had any time to recover before whatever grabbed her was over her, hands pressing her down into the concrete. When she looked up at her attacker, she felt her blood run cold when piercing red eyes looked back down at her. A scream was trapped in her throat as her nightmares flashed across her eyes, the red-eyed creature ripping Penny apart.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The creature above her snarled, showing long, sharp fangs protruding from their mouth, dripping with red. Vivian did not want to assume what that was. She tried to scramble away from the red-eyed creature, but it followed her and pinned her to the ground with their hands. What felt like claws dug into her shoulders, making her gasp loudly as pain shot through her.

Vivian lifted her hands and pressed them against the creature's chest, stopping their descent. She watched with a horrified expression as the creature snapped its jaw, almost like some type of rabid animal. She could feel what she could only assume was blood drip on her face, warm and wet. She wanted to wipe it off, but it was impossible with her hands already keeping the red-eyed creature from descending on her.

Then the creature was gone, no longer holding her down. Vivian sat up, feeling the pain lingering in her shoulders. What she saw made her freeze. There was another figure in the alleyway now, holding the red-eyed creature by its neck. Her skin crawled as hazel eyes couldn't pull away from the image in front of her. The creature thrashed around, clawing at the figure that held them. Vivian flinched, the absolute rage that came from the creature startling. She felt like she was back in a nightmare, the alleyway and the red-eyed creature, but it wasn't a nightmare. This was real. It was all actually happening, and the sting in her shoulders confirmed that.

The figure moved quickly, Vivian not catching what just happened. She watches as the body of the creature falls to the ground, followed by their head. Vivian felt her stomach lurch as she looked at the decapitated creature. Then she looked up, right into another pair of red eyes.

Vivian scrambled to stand and run, having trouble as her body felt heavy. She turned and ran in the opposite direction of the figure, but in seconds he was standing in front of her, blocking her path. Stopping, panic moved through her like a storm, her fingers tingling and chest tight.

"Please, do not run." The man said, his voice pulling at something in her mind.

Vivian spun on her heel and turned back the way she came, launching herself into a sprint. She passed the body on the ground, trying not to notice how it seemed to glow faintly. But when she reached the other end of the alleyway, the figure was there again, blocking her path.

"What do you want?" Vivian yelled, feeling both panicked and frustrated by this force opposing her.

"I need you to calm down." The man said, his face covered by the shadow created by his hoodie. "I will not hurt you." Why did his voice sound so familiar?

His words didn't make her panic any less. "Y-You just killed someone!"

"I just saved your life."

Vivian stared at the man, unsure of how to process his words. Saved her life? Was that what the man had done? She had watched him rip the red-eyed creature's head off like it was nothing, and that terrified Vivian, it made her distrust the man. Yet, he seemed so calm, almost like he understood what was going on better than she did."What was that thing?"

"It does not matter." The man replied, taking a step towards her.

She immediately took a step back. "The hell do you mean it doesn't matter? What was that?"

"You need to calm down." He repeated himself, his words making the panic in her chest explode.

The woman turned once again and ran, wanting nothing more than to escape the situation she was in. Only a hand grabbed her arm, stopping her movements almost immediately. When she turned to look at the man, she could see under his hood, looking right into a pair of deep red eyes, almost crimson. They made her skin crawl as she stared up at the man and holy shit, she recognized that face. It was Kit, the ungodly attractive man from the cafe and the fair, but he had brown eyes at the time, why were they red now? It reminded her of her nightmares, of the red-eyed creatures killing Penny. "Let me go!" Vivian yelled, trying to pry her arm from his firm grasp.

"Calm down." Kit spoke in a tone that made Vivian freeze, compelling her panic to subide as a strange calm took her over. "I am sorry."

"What?" Vivian asked, unable to think past a fog that crept upon her brain.

"You will forget about everything tonight." Kit said in the same, strange tone. She felt her skin buzz, breath picking up from the slow it had set on. There was a flash of white light, so blinding that Vivian snapped her eyes closed. Her ears began to ring so loudly she tried covering them with her hands.

When the light began to fade and the ringing died down, Vivian hesitantly opened her eyes to see what was above her. And what was above her was the red-eyed man looking down at her with complete shock.

"What did you do?" Vivian asked, taking her hands away from her ears. "What was that?"

"Sleep." Kit spoke in that tone that made her insides churn. Tiredness hit her like a truck, causing her eyes to droop and breath to deepen.

"W-Wait..." Vivian tried to speak, but sleep overtook her and she collapsed, the man catching her before her body hit the ground. Almost no time passed between that and Vivian passing out.

✩

The woman fell limp into his arms, panic swelling behind his chest. It did not work. Kit knelt there frozen, the black haired woman sleeping peacefully in his grasp. Why did it not work? The man wracked his brain for an answer, but nothing came to him. It just didn't work. The mind wipe should have worked. It always did. So what happened?

Kit looked down to the woman in his arms. What did he do now? There was only one place he could think to take her.

"Viktor!" The man called out as he shoved open a set of glass doors. He stepped into the living room, the woman still in his grasp. The panic still swelled in his chest as his mind raced. "Viktor!"

"Why are you yelling in my house?" A voice says from his right, the man turning to watch as the person he was looking for walk into the room. Their eyes went wide and movement stopped when they finally looked at Kit. "Why do you have a human?" Their words were slow as they spoke.

"I need your help." Kit said, walking further into the apartment. "Please, Viktor."

"Why do you have a human?" Viktor repeated themself, standing perfectly still with a teacup in one hand and a silk bathrobe tied around their body.

"She was attacked by a rabid, but that is not the point." Kit moved to set the woman down on one of the couches. He made sure to be gentle as he took his arms away from her, cradling her head until it touched the pillow. "She resisted a mindwipe."

Kit watched as Viktor moved from where they stood, rounding the couch and coming to stand beside him. "Resisted a mindwipe?" They sounded just as shocked as Kit felt. "That's quite strange."

The man turned towards the other. "What should I do with her?"

"Bring her to Niccolo." Viktor said, nonchalantly taking a sip of their tea. "He's the one in charge of such matters."

Kit felt himself tense up at that answer, crossing arms over his body. "Can you try to do a mindwipe?"

Viktor sat down on one of the other couches, setting their tea town on the coffee table in the middle of all the couches. "I am not getting involved."

"What? Why not?" Kit moved around the couches to stand in front of Viktor. The panic he felt earlier was coming back to him. "I cannot bring her to Niccolo."

Viktor sat up in their seat. "What do you mean you cannot bring her to Niccolo?"

"Why are you not getting involved?" Kit countered.

The other huffed out a breath before speaking. "The last time I got involved in Niccolo's business, I got my ear chewed out. I won't get involved in anything until he tells me to." They sat back in their seat, crossing their arms over their chest. "You will just have to go to the estate."

Kit clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling the panic deepen. "What will he do with her?"

"I'm sure nothing terrible."