Atlanta, Georgia, Sol 3 7:37 2016 Common Era

"Come." silvery sheet white hands reached toward me. I ran away, much faster than I'd normally run. That was when I was met with a group of black clad, silver masked people. All of their eyes were blood red and they bore into mine. They glided across the black surface, their hands reached out towards me.

"You will come." they all said in unison. I wanted to run but I was frozen in place. I looked down to see black tendrils of shadows snaking up my legs and reaching my waist. I tried smacking them away but each time a tendril will nip at my hands or curl around my wrist like a bracelet. They finally tightened my arms together. I struggled but they would keep on tightening until I felt them dig into my skin.

The white skin people were finally inches from me. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt several hands on me.

I opened my mouth to scream as I was burnt to a crisp in a fiery inferno.

I woke up, flailing in my sheets. My skin tingled and felt sore. I gently put my hand on my other arm. Nothing. Not a sign of any burn marks or scabs. I look down at my skin, inspecting them to be sure. I sighed before I got out of my bed to go to the bathroom across the hall.

I silently showered, trying to decipher what my dream was about. These nightmares were frequent. They always happened nearly every night. Each nightmare was different, but it was always the same thing. People that had a vampire complexion, blood red eyes, and always wore black clothing. Not to mention their faces were hidden behind silver beaked masks which reminded me of plague doctors and waltz for some reason. In nearly all of those nightmares, the leather clad woman with gold eyes from that encounter three years ago would appear. Other people would show up a couple times, but I couldn't remember them clearly. Most of them were victims of those masked creatures. All of them had burst into ashes when they made skin contact with them. Those ashes would start to swirl, like a dust devil and reform into one of the mask people. Then, they would always chase me into a wall, cliff, et cetera.

Exasperated, I sighed. I switched off the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. I glanced at myself in the mirror. I froze. I squinted at the mirror, trying to make out why my blurry image was slightly different. I wiped away the moisture on the mirror. My eyes widened until they were bugged out. My reflection was the same but I could make out two faint reflections with it. I closed my right eye, experimenting. My reflection was now like those masked people, except I didn't have a mask. My skin was sheet white and my garnet red eyes stared back at me. My lips were rose red and pursed in a frown. A faint pink marking was on my left cheek. As I inspected it, the marking was a burn mark and it resembled a... Dragon? Or a rose... But the marking was very faint. I decided to close my left eye. My reflection changed into myself, except my teeth looked almost lupin. My eyes were a shade of lavender with gold specks in them. I inspected my eyes further. I noticed that my eye reflection reflected some thing very different. In my eye reflection was a wolf. The wolf held that same lavender gold speckled eyes. Its fur was a light sandy brown with some red tones to it. The same color of my hair. The wolf seemed to see me and it almost smiled at me. I flinched back from the mirror. I blinked several times. When I stared at the mirror again, it was just me. Not a single trace of those faint images. I tried closing both of my eyes but I couldn't see those images anymore. Odd...

I shook my head, getting rid of the thought of the reflections. I must be seeing things, especially after those nightmares. I changed into a black tunic with silver embroidered flowers on it and light colored jeans. I tied my hair back in a ponytail before I quickly headed out. I raced down the stairs and continued half-running to the base of the stairs. I stuffed my swim wear into my pack, since swim meet was today. I slung my pack over my shoulder and I went into the kitchen. I was empty, except for the bright purples and reds as well as apple green colours that adorned the walls. The table was shiny and oak wood with intricate designs carved into it. The counters were smooth marble. I sighed. Mum was at work early again, most likely trying to make progress on her research on antimatter. I grabbed a chair from the table and used it as a stepping stool for me to reach the high cabinet. I opened it and I reached in to get a box of Poptarts. Poptarts became one of my main obsessions in America. I grabbed a pack of two quickly before shutting the cabinet. I stepped down and dragged that chair back before I popped the Poptarts into the toaster. I waited a moment before they jumped up, steaming hot. I grabbed two sheets of paper towels and carefully lifted them out of the toaster. I pocketed them bore and ran to the base of the stairs again. I pushed the slab of light coloured wood and it slid open. I hurried in, following the faint blue light of computers and other machines. I giggled a bit at the memory when I first entered here. The look on Dad's face was priceless when I caught him using a laser to heat up his cup Ramen Noodle. After that, Dad and I always preformed experiments daily or he would teach me about space science and physics. And mathematics, too. Mum never knew about this but she was proud when I became teacher's pet in math and science.

"Good morning, Dad. See ya." I quickly kissed Dad on the cheek while he worked on his computer. I turned around to leave when Dad spun around on his office chair and ruffled my hair.

"Have a great day, sweetheart." Dad smiled at me. I left quickly, sliding the wooden door close behind me. I quickly exited the house and walked a block before I met Cammie.

"Hey, Jessa!" Cammie waved wildly at me from several meters away from me. She nicknamed me Jessa shortly after she learned my middle name, Jessique.

"Hello, Cam." I smiled. After months of being friends with her, I shortened her nickname to just Cam.

"What's up? You look a little... Well, freaked." Cammie looked me up an down, frowning.

"Ah, I just had a little scare this morning."

"Another nightmare, right?"

"Yep." I popped the 'p.' I purposely avoided what I saw in the mirror.

"Whatsit about?" Cammie fell into step with me as we walked to school.

"Crazy vampires with masks burning me to death with their touch of death." I said casually.

"Same old, yea?" I nodded to answer. We talked very little on our way to school, since it was a just about a two to three minute walk.

"See ya after school." we bid our farewells before separating to head to our home rooms.

When I entered class, I suddenly froze. The air around me was freezing and a dripping sense of dread shook my spine. I slowly turned my head to the right. We had a substitute today. Great.

"Hi." the girl that I sat next to greeted.

"Morning, Amy." I replied, hanging my pack on my chair. I couldn't help but glance at the substitute suspiciously. The substitute teacher was a very tall man, at least six foot. He was sickly pale but his muscles seemed healthier than any man on earth. What unnerved me was his eyes. His eyes was a shade of brown that looked like dried blood. Every time I glanced at him, he would meet my gaze with cold and... Well, craziness. I awkwardly turned in the other direction, away from the substitute.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Castelle," the substitute said in a high pitched voice that resembled nails against the black board as he wrote his name in big swooping letters of cursive with a pink Expo marker. "And I will be teaching you kids today."

Although his statement was addressed to the whole class, he was looking at me with a big creepy grin on his face. I shuddered immediately. Was that fangs? Mr. Castelle's smile quickly dissipated, leaving me wonder if he had fangs or not.

Mr. Castelle was simply boring. And irritating with his parrot voice and all. Everyone in class winced every time a syllable exited his mouth and hardly paid attention to him, since everything he taught was everything we bloody know.

I zoned out for a long time. For a moment, I took in my surroundings. I frowned. Everything was frozen. No one blinked or tapped on the tables. I saw that Amy was frozen in mid twirling with her fiery red hair. Her light grey eyes held the bored gaze as she stared at the wall. She didn't blink. I looked up to see Mr. Castelle. Instead of being frozen, he held my gaze, grinning like a mad man. My eyes widened at the sight of his canines growing longer and sharper. His teeth became a hue of light blue. His brown eyes increased in saturation and contrast, becoming a shade of stark red eyes.

"Well, well, well," Mr. Castelle tutted. Dark grey scales started to grow all over his body. His face elongated into what was similar to a snake's face. A blood red tongue flicked in the air, a hissing sound coming with it. The bottom half of his body turned into a snake's tail. The only human thing about him was that he still had two arms... And silver hair on his chest. Onyx claws protruded from his fingers, dripping with venom. I jumped out of my chair, backing away quickly. Mr. Castelle- that monster- looked like a creature that just jumped out of Egyptian or Greek mythology. "Isn't it the little Andromeda Key?"

I screamed, "Get the bloody hell away from me! Help!"

The monster cackle a throaty yet high pitched bone chilling laugh. "No one will hear you, ssssssweet heart. I got thissss ssschool and block in a time lock. You sssshall not esssscape. Prepare to be crussssshed and have your blood drained. Masssssterssss will be happy..."

I didn't hesitate then. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me out of the room. I heard the monster crash into the wall behind me. I sped up, purposefully making twist and turns into the halls. I ran in a zigzag motion, getting the results I wanted. The monster crashed into the walls destroying them. After a while, I heard a loud hiss of pain from it. I was finally a long way ahead of it. I sped to the doors. I tried opening them, but they didn't budge. Panic began to set in. I started punching and kicking the doors, crying. I Punched the door one last time, with all my might.

The doors immediately shattered. I stood there for a second, staring at what I did with astonishment. I shook my head and took off. I glanced back to see the snake thing several meters behind me. It had caught up. I sped up, panting like a wild cat after a long run. I dived behind a fairly thick tree.

Several leaves showered me when I heard an ear piercing crack ring through the air. I looked at the trunk, seeing a crack in it. Hopefully, the impact knocked out that snake man.

I breathed hard, terrified. I carefully peeked around the tree. I saw a heap of blue scales that looked quite a bit bruised. I stared at its head. There was a dark purple bruise on its forehead. Green blood oozed from it, from the deep indentations of the bark. I immediately turned away, breathing hard again. My muscles were burning, screeching with pain every time I moved. I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths.

"Hello, dearie. You will pay for that, Key girl." a voice hissed above me. My eyes flew open to see that snake man towering over me, stopping the bleeding from the bark shaped gash with his scaly hand. He raised his free hand, ready to slice me open with his claws. I let out a blood curdling scream, shielding myself with my arms.

"Hello, sweetie." a female British voice said from behind the snake. Before it could turn around, a violet wave engulfed it. The snake man screamed before bursting into flames then ashes.

I put my arms down, seeing who it was. It was the same gold eyed woman. I blinked as she blew away the smoke from her green and silver gun before slipping it back into her holster. She smiled at me before walking over. She held her hand out to me.

"You alright?" she asked.

All I could do was nod before I took her hand. She helped me up.

"That must've been quite a scare for you. It's not everyday that you meet a Labebantamor."

"A what?" I stared at her, confused.

"A Labebantamor, Dani. It's a snake like alien with arms and some hair. Comes in a variety of colors. From the fiery but gloomy planet Ignecaligo in the binary star system Morte." she rolled her gold eyes as if that information was widely known.

"Wait. How'd you know my name?" I stepped back, mistrusting the person in front of me.

"Oh, I've known your name for a long time. You Dad told me."

I frowned at that. "And... Who're you?"

She just grinned at me, looking wolf like. "I'm Miss Greene. I'm goin' to be your substitute, Danielle Jessique Turner."

Hello! Thanks for viewing this guys. Please review, I will be eternally grateful! I'd like to hear what you think of this chapter.