The Chronicles of Nia Cicida, Book 1: The Light at the End of the Tunnel [CHAPTER EIGHT ADDED]

Chapter 3- Creepy, Yet Affective Methods for Mind Reading

"The world is a vampire, sent to drain
Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flames
And what do I get, for my pain?
Betrayed desires, and a piece of the game."
Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Smashing Pumpkins

I burst through the door of my home, my eyes probably wide with fright. I had ran all the way from Natalee's house after I had seen what I called the 'Dark Man'. I couldn't even imagine how my face looked at the moment, for I was too frightened to even try. But I must have looked pretty scared, because by the look my father gave me when I walked through the door... Well...

"You look like you saw a ghost." He said in his usual gruff, quiet kind of voice. He was sitting at the counter table, sipping quietly at a steamy cup of coffee. I don't know how he drank the stuff without getting hyper like I would. When I would get my hands on that stuff, trust me, I'd get so hyper- I'd practically be bouncing off of the walls like a little rubber ball!

"Um... Yeah." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck and rocking back onto my heels awkwardly. "A cat jumped out at me. I got freaked out, so I ran all the way back." I half-lied. Hey, I actually did run back. But of course, there was no cat involved in that situation. But, the thing is- I'm a horrible liar. Three characteristics to show that I'm lying:

1.) I mumble when I talk

2.) I rock back onto my heels and back again for about thirty times

3.) I look down at my shoes

All of which I was doing, unfortunately.

"Hm." Hummed my father, one eyebrow slightly arching at me. He nodded slowly, seeming to buy what I was saying to him. "Alright, now. I guess that's reasonable enough." He muttered, jerking his thumb down the hall. "You can go to sleep, now. You must be tired." He nodded at me as I slowly began to make my way down the hall, stumbling for every few steps. I hadn't really realized how tired I was, until now, obviously.

"Oh, and, Nia?" He asked gruffly, glancing over his shoulder. I turned around, twirling a piece of blond hair around my index finger.

"Yeah Dad?" I asked, one eyebrow arching slightly.

"Happy birthday." He said, smiling. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

I couldn't help but smile at what he just said, and I replied, "Thanks." I nodded to him, and walked into my room, closing the door behind me, collapsing on top of my bed, and staring up at the ceiling while blowing some of my bangs out of my eyes.

For some reason, I felt extremely tired. My eyelids felt heavy, and I couldn't stop yawning. I rubbed my eyes, forcing them open as I quietly walked over to my window, closing the blinds. I kicked off my shoes, switching into 'zombie-mode' as I threw my clothes in the clothes basket, slowly putting on my pajamas, and throwing myself onto my mattress. I pulled the covers over my head, and turned off the lamp. I yawned, and closed my eyes, curling up onto my side and falling into a deep sleep.

But wait...

There was something extremely wrong with that picture. For one thing, I never sleep that deeply- I'm a very light sleeper. One little sound, and I'll wake up. That's why I barely get enough sleep; my house is old, and creaky. [More like creepy] It almost sounds like its breathing...

I soon found myself dreaming. But it wasn't like any of the other dreams that I had before. It was... blank. Literally.

It was all white, white walls, white floor. It seemed to go on forever and ever, because I couldn't see the end of the long hallway-type-thing. I twirled around, eyes darting from left to right, and back again. I walked forward a little, cupping my hands around my mouth. "Hello?" I called, my voice echoing about nine or eight times.

I turned around, only to find a boy now standing behind me. It took me by surprise, so I nearly jumped.

He had this creepy, almost scary, aura about him. He wore all black clothing, with a mischievous smile on his face. "Now, let's take a peek into your thoughts, shall we?" He placed a hand on the back of my neck.

When I tried to move, for some reason, I found that my body was frozen solid. I felt almost like a block of stone.

He stared at my face for a few moments, eyes narrowing. He placed his index finger under my chin, tilting my head to the side. And what happened next, I found completely scary, and painful.

He bit me. Right on the neck, too. And I'll tell you one thing; it hurt, like all heck.

My eyes widened, and I opened my mouth, preparing to scream. But the closest sound to a scream that came out of my mouth was a quiet squeak.

And then a previous memory flashed in front of my eyes. I found it rather amusing, but now, I didn't find it 'as funny' as I would have.

Lorin, one of my best friends since the second grade, was walking with me down the steps that led to the art room. Me and her were laughing hysterically, me trying to hang onto the railing without falling down the steps. "Wanna know what my mom told me in case a guy tries to kidnap me?" She asked, grinning mischievously. She had that little spark in her eyes, the kind that she always had- it was a natural thing.

I looked over at her, "What?" I asked.

"Alright, you grab your arm, and then you lay down- and you kick your legs where it hurts the most." She nodded, and then grinned when I began to laugh.

"Wow. That'll be the day, Lorin. That'll be the day." I said with a chuckle.

And really truly, I wished that I could have been able to do that right now. But my arms and entire body was frozen, almost like a block of stone.

Finally, he pulled back, the front of his hair slightly flattened, and blood on the corners of his mouth. His eyes widened, and he asked, "What are you?" He took his hand away from my neck, and when I thought I was going to fall back, he held out his hand, and I stopped in mid-fall.

He raised an eyebrow at me, inhaling quietly. He passed the back of his hand over his mouth, and said. "We will meet again."

And then I woke up.

Chapter 4- Crazy Scars and Short-Term Memory Loss

It doesn't hurt me.
You wanna feel how it feels?
You wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
You wanna hear about the deal I'm making?
Running Up That Hill, Placebo

I was awake now, but the pain that had just been centered on the side of my neck had disappeared. I sighed in relief; it was only another one of my strange-as-all-heck dreams. And to tell you all the truth, I've had some pretty weird dreams- being attacked by bees [and trust me, there was also pain in that one] drowning, being strangled to death by vines- yeah, lots of creepy stuff. Oh, and there was this one time when-

Alright, I'm getting to morbid with the dream-telling. But the point is, I have really weird dreams. But most of the time, I don't dream at all. I fall asleep, and then what feels like five seconds later, I wake up to my alarm clock blasting in my ear [thanks dad for putting it there]. So whenever I would have any dreams, they'd seem to drag on forever and ever. They all seemed very real, but then I would wake up, and the dream would be nothing but a faint memory. I forgot dreams very easily, but this one continued to play over and over in my mind.

I sat up a little, propping myself up onto my elbows, eyes scanning the room. It was still black as pitch outside, except for the momentary flashes of lightning. There must've been a power outage, because normally, at least one lonely little street lamp would be turned on. But tonight, it was all dark. I could only imagine how chaotic it must've been outside. I could already hear the rain pelting itself at my bedroom window.

I waited for a few moments, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. When I was sure that I could see clearly, I threw my legs over the side of my bed, letting them hang there for a few moments. I always had that paranoia that something would grab my ankles, and pull me under. But it was a silly thing to worry about.

I exhaled sharply, and hopped out of my bed, shivering when my bare feet made contact with the cold, wooden floor. As quietly as I could, I slipped on my sandals and quietly made my way into the kitchen to get something to drink. I had the worst luck; when I would get water and take it to my room, just in case I got thirsty, I never would. When I wouldn't take water to my room, I'd wake up in the middle of the night, thirsty as all heck.

I felt my way along cautiously, making sure not to stub my toe against the kitchen chairs as I quietly opened one of the cabinet doors, pulling out a plastic cup and filling it up with water. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand, and yawned.

Tomorrow was Friday, so I knew that I would need to go back to bed as soon as I possibly could. So quickly, and quietly, I tip-toed back into my room, quietly closing the door behind me. I crawled back into bed, and curled up on my side. I remembered my dream, and subconsciously held my hand to the side of my throat, just to make sure that I had only been dreaming. I felt something sticky and warm on the side of my neck, and my hand recoiled immediately.

My eyes bulged out, and I looked at my hand. There was a dark, sticky substance on it. I could already tell by the smell what it was; blood. I opened my mouth, preparing to let out a shriek, when a cold hand flew to my mouth, making my scream sound muffled.

"Sh!" The voice hissed. I tried tilting my head back a little, to see who was covering my mouth, but all I saw was darkness.

"Who are you?" I tried to scream, but my words came out distorted and muffled. I tried to bite the hand, but it suddenly disappeared, and was busy pulling my hair away from the wound.

"You're dreaming," The voice said, sounding extremely convincing. For a moment, I even considered myself to be asleep, but I dismissed the thought. And I'm guessing he saw the wound, because he made a disgusted sound, and muttered something under his breath. "You're bleeding." He said quietly. "Go back to sleep now, and when you wake up, you won't remember anything." He murmured, his voice quieting a little as he placed his thumb and index finger on my eyelids, gently pushing them closed. And from then on, I was out like a light.

I then woke up, again to the sound of both my alarm clock, and teeth-rattling sounds of thunder and lightning.

Chapter 5- Faraway Troubles in Faraway Places

"The Fish: Someone else should drive!
The Cat: Alright, you win. Concrete, you drive.
[gives Conrad the wheel]
Conrad: Are you serious?
The Cat: I don't know. A little voice inside of me is saying, "This is a bad idea." But I can barely hear that little voice, because an even louder little voice is screaming, "Let the twelve-year-old drive!" Now punch it!"
The Cat, The Fish, and Conrad, The Cat in the Hat [the movie]

And somewhere, on the other side of a country called America, in the state of New Jersey, a boy could be seen, pacing along one of the board walks. He was slightly short, standing at only 5"3, and he looked terribly skinny. His pale, skinny body was concealed by the long black trench coat that he was wearing.

In his white hand, he held a thin vile. In the vile was a dark, gooey looking kind of substance. He seemed to be waiting for something, perhaps even someone. He exhaled sharply, trying to calm himself down. He didn't want to draw any unwanted attention towards himself; for that was the last thing he needed at the moment. He stopped at the end of the wooden boardwalk, and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. He sighed quietly, staring out at the black waters.

He noticed some sort of glimmer, near the bottom of the pier, and sighed with relief. In a flash, he stood up, and quickly made his way down the steps, closer to where he saw the faint flash of silver light. He stopped as soon as he reached the bottom of the steps, and sat down at the very edge of the small platform. His eyes narrowed slightly, trying to find the source.

The boy sat there for a good five and a half minutes, and when his patience ran out, he grunted quietly. His hand disappeared into one of the pockets on the inside of his cloak, and he pulled out a small brown paper bag. He opened it, and sniffed slightly, recoiling immediately. "Yuck!" He said to himself. He rolled up his sleeve, and stuck his hand into the bag. He pulled out a silver sardine, and tossed it into the water.

"I'm not a dolphin, you could have just whistled." Came a slightly offended voice.

The boy, being taken by surprise, jumped slightly. His head snapped to the right, and he noticed a fair-skinned, red-haired girl there. She had her upper body on the small platform, the rest of her concealed by the water. She had both of her elbows propped up, her hands cupped under her chin. "Well then?" She asked, one eyebrow arching.

"I hear you're good at reading people's ancestry by the smell of their blood. Is this true, mermaid?" He asked, head tilting.

"My name's Nerin." Replied the fair-skinned girl. She shrugged her thin shoulders when she noticed that he didn't seem to care what her name was. "Well then?" She asked again, "Do you have the girl's blood or not, DreamWalker? I haven't got all night, sorry to disappoint you. It's hunting time for the sharks, and I need to leave- soon." She flicked her silver tail impatiently.

The boy hissed, exposing a pair of pearly white fangs. "It's Noah." he corrected, coming in close to her face, his eyes completely black.

The mermaid's eyebrows shot up, and she pushed herself away, "Alright, alright." She said, "Don't eat me, my blood would taste pretty close to that of a sardine to a vampire." She nodded quickly, eyes wide.

Noah smirked in amusement, and sat back, holding out a clear vile. She took it gently, and opened it. Cautiously, she sniffed it, and quickly pulled back, her nose scrunching up. "Ah, that's Demitria Jodine's daughter's blood. I met her once, nice lady." She nodded, handing him the vile, "But that's all I can pick up, sad to say."

"You can't pick up anything else? Nothing... supernatural?" Asked Noah.

"Nope, sorry to disappoint. I'd make haste, leave the country- your master will not be very happy that you did not complete the mission he sent you on." Warned Nerin.

"Fish-girl is right." Came a hissed voice, a shadow casting over the two. A pale white hand grabbed Noah by the scruff of the neck, pulling him off of the ground.

Nerin let out a terrified sounding screech, pushing herself away from the platform. She quickly disappeared under the black waters, her tail flicking salt water at the newcomer's face.

"You didn't complete my mission," Hissed the boy.

"I'm not afraid of you, Delaney!" Replied Noah, baring his fangs, and kicking his legs.

"You will be, you little runt." Delaney replied, about to strangle the boy-vampire, when another hand stopped him, slamming Delaney into a wall.

"Causing trouble again, are you?" Came a male's voice. He sounded about Noah's age, if not younger. He had large, clear blue eyes, and brownish colored hair, that was combed back neatly. Noah dropped to the ground, his hand going to his throat. He coughed, taking in a deep breath.

Delaney chuckled, not phased at all. "Ah, Dustin, my favorite little brother." His eyebrows shot up as he looked the boy over, "You look like something that came out of Beetlejuice." he laughed, seeming very amused.

"What would you ever do without me?" Dustin muttered, rolling his eyes as he released Delaney, helping Noah back onto his feet. "Noah is no longer in your debt, and whoever you're after-"

"Of course you know who I'm after, don't pretend you don't know." Corrected Delaney.

"-alright, then. The girl that you're after. You won't get her, you hear? There will be consequences." Said Dustin, eyes narrowing.

"Aw, little brother is going to play Protector to my little target. How sweet." Cooed Delaney, chuckling. "But, alas, I must bid you goodbye. We will see each other again, very soon." He chuckled darkly, and disappeared in a black cloud.

There was silence, and Noah finally spoke, "Do you think he will heed your warning?" He asked.

"Probably not." Replied Dustin, "But it's worth a try."