Vampire Nightlife

Midnight.

Her name was not Midnight at all, but for a young child–she had actually liked the nickname the Vampire had given to her. But that wasn\'t the important thing as she raced into the Veiled Forest.

The small \'bunny\' was part of something bigger.

And she had duties that she had to fulfill.

***

"Hyah!" Lukas kicked a wall and watched it crumble into dust. The freedom of tearing down a house brick by brick was not lost upon him, but he wanted to check out his abilities.

"Do you think this is amusing?" Rhea raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. Like before, she was dressed in her beautiful white gown and was seated by her table, sipping tea. "It\'s not much of a challenge controlling your dream."

"Well, you\'re drinking worms and your hair is made of snakes." Lukas said.

Rhea\'s eyes widened and she quickly looked down at her teacup and then felt at her hair. To her amazement, it really was worms and her hair snakes even hissed at her in actuality.

She quickly waved a hand over her hair and returned it to normal, but she shot him a begrudged look of admiration.

"You… even manipulated me? Something that isn\'t part of your dreams?"

"Well, since you\'re part of my dream world, I figured that I could." Lukas cracked his knuckles and stretched idly. "Though, I have to admit–that was a lot harder than saying, imagine if I had an ice cream cone in my hand."

It appeared in his hand–a chocolate ice cream.

For a moment, Lukas wondered how Chaerin or even Lily might react to trying out ice cream. Did they have blood popsicles here or somewhere? He thought they\'d be amused.

"Careful, I can see the image of your girlfriends forming in another space of your head." Rhea crossed her arms. "But I… I never actually tried ice cream before. What is it like? The color reminds me of dung beetles."

"In what century or age did you get trapped in that crystal?" Lukas raised a brow, but then slapped a hand over his face. "Crap, you read my thoughts. That\'s not supposed to happen."

Rhea smirked slightly at him. "You need to work on keeping your thoughts to yourself. When I\'m in your dreams–it\'s still clear as day."

"Right, right, but that\'s why we\'re here. No matter how annoying this is…" Lukas glanced at his side and somehow, even in his dreams–the System chased him.

[Beginner\'s Mind of Fortitude]

One of the more subtle powers of a Vampire lends it the ability to shield and protect itself from mind, psychic and telepathic attacks of various nature.

[Basic Dream Control]

Creatures of the Night, Vampires have also learned how to tap into the mind of its victim and produce images, and ideas that could bring terror, send messages or create suggestions

"You… you really have gotten yourself involved in something, or individuals far beyond even what I can imagine or know." Rhea pursed her lips. "Humans have changed so much."

"And now you\'re even saying it like Drusilla." Luukas rubbed his forehead. "But can you help me filter through my dreams then. I recall seeing the End User License Agreement with a butterfly insignia and the letters… F and I. Have you ever seen anything like it before?"

"You could do it by yourself instead of relying on me." Rhea rested a hand on her hip.

"But you\'re the dream expert, so you\'ll do it faster. I mean, you have to prove yourself useful to me at least, right?"

"Fine. I think I remember that." Rhea snapped her fingers and the world around them suddenly shifted.

They were now in Lukas\' formerly human room and Lukas could even see how he was looking around at the world before. A sense of nostalgia seeped into him, although a question did pop into his head.

"I\'ve been here for more than a month… What happened to my human body? Will the apartment just find some kind of dead body there or something."

"Now\'s not the time. That\'s the insignia–but I don\'t recognize it." Rhea pursed her lips. "But… Do you know what\'s associated with butterflies?"

"Uh. No?"

"The Fae." Rhea said and tossed him a look. "Even I know that. How could you not know?"

"Sorry, the world\'s really not in the most tiptop shape from what I\'ve heard. Haven\'t seen any dragons, demons or these fae–so what? They\'re the ones who brought me here? For what reason?"

"Depending on the Court. The reasons could be from simple mischief and to something devious." Rhea shrugged. "Does this answer your question–"

"Lukaas?"

A voice roused him awake. Chaerin was leaning over him with a sheepish smile on her face, she had two blood bags in her hand and offered one up to him.

"You\'re up early." Lukas raised a brow but accepted the drink happily. He was still talking with Rhea from earlier, but didn\'t mind the intrusion.

"It\'s not exactly early, but we\'re just at the Veil Forest now." Chaerin explained and motioned out to the windows.

Lukas glanced to see nothing more but a thick mist enshrouding most of the path and the silhouettes of large trees that rose and covered them most like a canopy. The mist was so strong that even the sun didn\'t seem to pierce through.

"You\'ve been asleep for quite some time." Stacy pointed out. "Got us a little worried."

"If you see anything weird in your dreams, I recommend just strangling and punching whatever that\'s most odd." Alexei added.

"Ah, my bad. And uh, thanks?" Lukas shared a look with Chaerin who mostly gave him a shrug in response to Alexei\'s words. "But I\'m glad that the forest means that you don\'t have to worry about the sunlight that much."

"Yeah." Chaerin looked down slightly and bit her lip. "I\'m sorry that I haven\'t been much of a help, Lukas."

"No worries–"

The van suddenly made a large whrring sound and then stopped.