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  “Are you sure?” August looked at her suspiciously. She rolled her eyes, than nodded. “Then why are you making those weird noises?”

  “What? I didn’t make – Stop!” she almost screamed, as they were about to pass a small two-storied brown house.

  He stopped the car, pushing the brake as hard as he could. With a chortle, the car stopped.

  August turned at Erina. “What happened?”

  The redhead smiled, pointing at the small house in the left curve, “Home”

  He looked behind her, getting a better view of the house Erina had been living in for the last four years. “It’s looks comfy” He remarked.

  Erina nodded, “It isn’t Trump Tower, but it’s cosy” she told him, looking over at the small red scaled roof. It was comfy and it was perfect. That was also her first thought when her supervisor brought her here. When she first saw this place. It just screamed ‘Home’ to her. Erina sighed. She misses home.

  She turned at August smiling, “You know you should stay”

  His eyebrows narrowed together, it only made her smile again. “Why?”

  “So that if I come back after five minutes running and screaming. You can get the hell out of here. With me of course.” He raised an eyebrow, a smile peeking in, “Don’t you think it will sound a little weird if you run away with a stranger?” She smirked back, shrugging “I don’t think so. There is a lot weird stuff happening” the smile falls from his lips. I think I hit a nerve – she thought. “But anything to get away from them” she joked pointing at the house, “But seriously keep the car running”

  August just nodded.

  The conversation died somewhere there and Erina didn’t bring it up again. It was her time to go home and get her fill of yelling. She fixed her ponytail and then walked out of the car. Turning back when she was at the stairs, August gave her a thumbs up.

  Standing in front of the door, Erina was a little relaxed and anxious at the same time. She was glad to be back. But she didn’t want them to yell at her. She frowned as she knocked in the door. It was 3 in the afternoon. Lynette or Lucy were both supposed to be out. But Lynette’s car was still in the parking lot. This meant Erina had scared her so bad that Lyenatte probably had to stay off work to search for her.

  God, this is gonna suck – she moaned, her head thrown back.

  The redhead knocked again. Nothing happened. So she knocked again. And again. And then again.

  “That’s weird” she mumbled as the gruesome feeling in the pit of her stomach worsened. She turned to look at August. He was looking at her and their eyes meet.

  “Do you a key?” He asked getting out of the car. Erina nodded, quickly diving into her satchel, bringing out her extra key. She put the key into its hole. Her hands were shaking. She already knew something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones. She just didn’t know what it was. The lock opened with a familiar click. She turned back, August was near the stairs. “Go” he motioned her in.

  The redhead took a deep breath and swung open the door. The whole place was quiet; not in a good way. But the one that made you have goosebumps, sent shivers down your spine. She took some steps toward the living room and the stairs. The entire house was dark with the curtains still in place. Slowly, Erina switched on the lights. The whole house brightened up at once. She took a quick look of her surroundings. Everything was still in its place.

  She walked to the kitchen first. She could feel August walking behind her. She turned to the right of the island, to turn on the light. Instead she saw dead. Her blood turned in to ice as she watches. Her knees gave in; Erina fell to the ground. The view in front of her made her heart stop.

  “No” was she could all mumble.

  * * *

  Chapter Six

  Past &Prank

  * * *

  She kept looking at her. Her head spinning. She wanted to scream and call August for help, but she couldn’t, she just couldn’t find her own voice. It was as if all the words in the world were suddenly dead, gone, vanished. So she stared at her from the floor wordlessly as she lay there limply in the kitchen floor, in her own pool of blood and she looked so pale and weak and static and fragile.

  How long has she been here – like this?

  Her mind spun as she tried to grip onto something for support but she couldn’t find anything. Images flashes in front of her eyes. Her heart starting beating into a overdrive. No!, she tried to scream but no noise came. She tried to look away but her gaze seem to freeze there. She forced herself to shut her eyes. The world started spinning violently.

  Suddenly, the world stopped spinning. Erina opened her eyes. The calmness that surrounded her was familiar. Bile rises in her stomach but she still forced her eyes stay to open.

  * * *

  She was in front of her old house. The old swing set swung on its own in the front yard. Her father’s car in its place. It was Sunday after all. Her favorite day of the week.

  She smiles, knocking on the door. No one answered. She knocked harder this time. The wooden door cricks open. She tilts her head, her small pig tail following. She took the newspaper in hand from the front of the door and walks inside.

  The house was quite like never before. Her green eyes scoured the living room, the kitchen but her parents were nowhere to be found.

  “Mommy!” she called as she walked around the house, her teddy bear – the one her father brought for her on her second birthday – dragging with her. She pokes her head inside of her room. Sometime her parents would sleep here if she wasn’t home. But today they weren’t. “Daddy! This isn’t funny” she whined. But that’s how they always played hide and seek. played. And they never come out until she finds them.

  But she doesn’t like being alone.

  She then went to her parent’s room. She knocked. Mommy always said, never to come inside without knocking and she always listens to mommy. So she knocked again and again. But no-one opened the door. “I’m coming in” she called, twisting the cold door knob.

  “Here you are” she sighed in relief, a big smile on her face.

  Her mother was in the bed and daddy was doing something in the wardrobe, she couldn’t see what as the door was blocking her view. She went to her mother. “Mommy?” she asked, touching her. The older woman was so cold, so white. Her dark hair in a bun.

  She went on her tippy toes and that’s when she noticed the red color in the bed. She touched it. It was wet and sticky and it smelled bad. Her nose wrinkled as she cleaned her fingers on her purple nightgown.

  It was coming out of her mother. She touched to shake her but the woman fell limply in the bed.

  “Daddy!” she looked at her father “why isn’t mommy moving?” she asked but he didn’t answer.

  She ran towards him but before she could reach him she slipped in something wet and sticky. She fell, face down. It was red. Her heart beating as the unknown fear gripped her. She looked up at her father. He was leaning on to the drawers in the inside. His mouth opens as well as his eyes. The bright green eyes – that she inherited from him – were now dull and lifeless.

  She stood up, slipping a few times in between but she manages to get on her feet and out of the room. And then she screamed.

  * * *

  “Red, breathe” August said. She jerked up; her eyes snapped open as if someone had slapped her in the face. She looked up at him and blinked. “You OK?” he asked, concerned.

  She looks away from him, back to Lynette. No, she was not OK.

  “You think you can sit?” he asked, it was only then she realized that she was on his lap. She scrambled, trying to get up. “It’s OK, relax” he slowly, pushing her of him. Erina stared at him as August bent down, taking Lynette’s wrist in his hand. She watched from her place, breath stuck in her throat as he looked for any sign of life in her.

  There was pause in time.

  August sat on the floor with Lynette’s hand flopped onto the floor, motionlessly. Lynette lying there like she was dead and Erina
staring at them, silently begging her to do something, anything than being still and silent. August turned over to her and smiled. Erina choked on a breath. Her hand pressed quickly up to her mouth so that she could lessen the sound of her sobs, but it was useless.

  Erina almost crawled toward the blonde, tears flooding down her cheeks. Slowly she moved Lynette’s honey blonde hair from her forehead. She gently touched her cheek. She was so cold.

  “She’s cold” Erina told August, her voice lost and broken.

  He placed his hand on her shoulder, gently squeezing it. “She lost blood and she’s been lying here for a long time, that’s why.” she nodded, turning to look at Lynette. “Erina” she looks back at him, “I’m gonna place her on the couch and then call the police. I want you to bring some blankets for her. Please?” Erina nods, her hands still shaking.

  August stood, taking Lynette’s body in his arms. The redhead stood too, gripping onto his jacket for support. He said nothing.

  Few steps in August stopped, and looked at her. “Erina, where's your sister?”

  She was felt like a punch had hit her in the stomach, knocking her air out of. She let go of him and sprinted toward Lucy’s room, stumbling a few times and stabbing her toes into the stairs as she tried to get up quickly. But it didn’t stop her.

  Bursting through the door, the one thing she noticed was that it was empty. A few pieces of clothes were scattered on the bed along with some books, but everything else looked the same. “Lu-Lucy” she called, her voice shaking. But the young blonde was nowhere. She checked the bathroom next. No, not there. Erina went to her room then, knowing very well that Lucy never comes to that room.

  But maybe last night was an exception.

  There everything was also just how she had left the other day. No-one had been here. Her hand went through her red hair, tugging it. “Lucy” she cried, leaning on to the closet door.

  There was too much thing happening at once. Too much.

  She closed her eyes, trying to even out her breath. Lucy was missing. Lynette dying

  “Red, the cops are coming” August yelled from the downstairs.

  “O-OK” she called back. She was about to leave, when something caught her eyes. She froze. Slowly Erina turned back, licking her lips as she made way to her bedside table. On top of it was a note, being held down by the alarm clock. Her hands shook as she tried to grab it.

  Everything that had happens for the past 24 hour, playing inside of her head in a loop. And now she doesn’t know what to believe or not.

  In a plain black page the words were written in red. And she knew instantly where he got that red from. But it doesn’t mattered, because what was written in it, that made all the sense in the world to her.

  Found you

  It said nothing else except the two words.

  Yet it says so much.

  Erina stumbled backwards, gripping the edge of the bed. Her body was shaking so badly that she couldn’t even grip the bed stand properly. Her head felt light, her stomach twisted.

  I think I’m gonna be sick – the moment the thought ran through her mind, she dashed to bathroom closing the door behind her.

  Everything that she eaten in the last 15 hours came out. She heaved until nothing came.

  She stood up wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, flushing the toilet with another one. While rinsing her mouth, she looked up in the mirror.

  Her hair was a red mess. Her eyes sunk back. Cheek flushed with tear lines in them. But what got her attention most was the new skin in her neck. She touched it slowly; it was smoother than the rest of the skin around her and it was the same place where she thought she was bitten by that vampire.

  She laughed humorlessly at her own reflection. She was being so stupid.

  “Erina!” August calls, stopping her thoughts. “I found your sister. She’s at her friends”

  She sighed in relief, looking at herself one last time she walked out of there. Her fingers trailing the edge of the note that pokes out of her jeans pocket. “Okay” She yelled back, surprised to see her voice not cracking.

  She was half way down, when it something else clicked in her brain.

  Erina then realized that she had never, ever told August about Lucy. She never told him that she had a sister. She never told him how many people lived in this house. So how did he know that Lucy was missing? Why did he tell her to look for Lucy?

  New panic swept in her, making her feel dread. She looked down; August was standing there next to the door, phone in his ear. He turned then looked up at her. She breathed in, her shoulders squared up.

  “Call you later” he said before disconnecting it.

  “Where's Lucy?” Erina asked.

  “She's at some friend’s house.” Erina opened her mouth to ask how he knew, but he was already answering it. “The answering machine was beeping. So I listened. She was calling from someone named Allie’s house. She's gonna be there to do some study.” The red head nodded, she knew Allie – she was Lucy’s best friend. “I don’t think she knows, about this”

  * * *

  The police came a little while later. Single patrol car and an ambulance just behind it. Lynette was placed in the ambulance, the paramedics checking on her. One of them looked familiar – the paramedic, like she had seen him somewhere else. But she couldn’t place where. Her mind still felt rather fuzzy.

  She sighed, leaning against the door watching. One of the cops walked toward her.

  “Erina Scarlet?” he asked his blond moustache twitching as he talked.

  Erina nodded her head.

  “How did this happen?”

  “I don’t know” she told him the truth. She didn’t know. She didn’t want to know. “I wasn’t home. When I came, the door was locked. I opened with my spare key. The whole place was silent and dark” she involuntarily wrapped her arms around herself, her breathing sped up, her voice was lost. “Lynette was in the kitchen. August checked her pulse and then he called you guys”

  He nodded, writing it all down in a yellow pad. “How do you know August Drucker?”

  “I-I don’t know him, much”

  He again nodded. “Where were you today? You've missed school and I heard that you never came home last night?” She frowned at him, “I passed out in the road. August Drucker took me in his home. I didn’t wake up until today noon. Then I came here”

  He looked at her skeptically, a brow rising. She didn’t blame him. Even she didn’t believe that story herself. How could she ask anyone else to believe it?

  “So you never knew August until today?”

  “No”

  “For a total stranger” his eyes shifted toward August, who was talking with another officer. Erina too looked. August instantly turned looked at her and smiled. Erina turned away looking back at the cop in front of her. “he’s helping ya’ lot” he observed. Erina shrugged. The cop didn’t ask anything after that.

  * * *

  Nothing was stolen, the house was locked from inside and the paramedic said that – no, he thinks that she might have fallen and hit a vein and might be by the sharp corner of the kitchen island and somehow to bust it open. But then the blood clotted just in time, or she would have bleed to death.

  There was a lot of chances and luck in it. Erina didn’t believed it. She never was lucky, nor the people with her.

  * * *

  The police left sooner than Erina expected them to leave. She wanted to follow them and Lynette. But she had something that needed to be done. So she stayed, they gave her some looks but didn’t question it. August closed the door, turning to her.

  “Who are you?”

  Erina’s question caught him off guard, his face drained its color making him look pale. That was an easy indication.

  “What?” he tried to smile, “I’m August. I thought we did this in the morning.”

  Shaking her head, Erina smiled and August gulped. He was right. She did ask the wrong question. “Let me rephrase it. What are yo
u?”

  This time however things happened a little differently. He didn’t go pale like before. Well, he couldn’t get paler then he already was. But his jaw clenched and his eyes darkened. His hands turned into fists as if he was trying to control himself and then he smiled. It was so fake that even a blind could see it from a mile away.

  “What that’s supposed to mean?” his fingers brushed past his jeans.

  “It means what the hell are you?” She walked toward him, stopping a few steps away. She gave her finest glare, but August still didn’t back down or answered. “Fine” she folded her hands over her chest, his eyes monitoring her movement. “Tell me…what in the hell happened last night?” He opened his mouth but she already knew what he was gonna say. She held her hand stopping him. “Don’t you dare try to lie to me, again. I know your lying face. I want see you tell the truth now.”

  He growled. It’s wasn’t how she growled. No, it was more animalistic, more real more scary. Erina stumbled back a few steps but he was already there, grabbing her forearm in his hand. His blue eyes were now in a weird shade of blueish grey. He growled again, his grip on her tightening.