Chapter VI

Dean is shaking me. His voice is far away, like a long lost whisper. My body is numb. I don't feel my legs, or arms, or body. My eyes are out of focus. I feel myself talking, but I don't hear myself. I know there are words in my mouth, but I don't know what I'm saying. My throat hurts and it isn't because of blood. I'm not moving my lips; I'm screaming, over and over again. Dean keeps shaking me. I come back to my senses. I stop.

"Alice, what's wrong? What happened?" He places his hands on my arms and I'm shaking. My whole body is trembling. I try to talk, but can't get the words out. I look at my wrist where I feel a burning pain. There they are, the three red fingers are burned on my skin. I tremble even more. I feel my eyes watering and I can't stop myself from sobbing. Dean holds me tight trying to calm me down. I bury my head in his chest. This is comfortable, soothing. His sweet cologne rubs on me. I try to immerse myself in his smell to forget what just happened, but it's not enough. The vision comes back to my head over and over again.

Dean lets' go of me and runs to the bathroom. I hear the water flowing into the bathtub. He comes back and removes my clothes until I'm just left in my bra and panties. Gently, Dean helps me up and into the tub. The water is hot and isn't until that moment that I realize that I'm cold all over. That's why I'm shaking uncontrollably. He sits on the edge of the tub and caresses my hair. I keep my eyes open looking at him, fearing that if I looked away the horrible vision will come back again. I refrain from looking at my wrist, but I feel with extreme pain the mark that was left in me.

"Your eyes are pure white, Al. Can you tell me what happened? What's wrong? Can you talk?" His hand touches my hair slowly, comforting me. I was too in shock to answer any of his questions.

I just move my head from side to side. I hear the door of my room open and the next thing I know Mia is next to me too. I look at her and then blackness enveloped me.

*****

I wake up from the feeling of being too warm. I spread my arms and hands and can feel the warm bedsheets. I'm lying down on my bed. I don't remember going to bed. I think I can see tiny shiny stars on the ceiling of my room, but I'm not sure.

"You're back," Mia says. She is sitting at the end of the bed with Dean. They are both looking at me with concerned eyes. When Mia sees my puzzled face she explains to me what happened.

"You have been unconscious for a few hours. This is the result of being psychically connected with another person. This is as much I have gathered and understood from Dean's explanation of your odd behavior. You were having a vision, such a powerful one that it has left marks on you." I look at my wrist where it no longer burns. It has a white gauze band around it. "I applied some healing balms and wrapped it to prevent infection. They are nasty wound marks. I know about the visions because I took the liberty to see your memories. That's the only way that I could know what was going on since you were unconscious and Dean had told me that you couldn't talk. I hope that you are somewhat better now." Her eyes looked at me hopefully. I nodded as I sat down on the bed, my fluffy pillows supporting my back. How many powers this girl have?

"Can you stop it? Can you stop the visions?" Were the first words out of my mouth. I didn't want this. I don't want to be connected with another person or whatever that was. A sad smile crossed her face. I knew she couldn't do anything.

"Once you are psychically connected to someone it cannot be broken. Not from outside forces. Just the people in the connection can do that and I fear that it won't be you since you knew nothing about it." My eyes water and my heart races.

"Then someone is hunting me, isn't it?" I say.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I'm so sorry." She lowers her eyes and grabs my hand.

"What is hunting me, Mia? Give it to me straight." Dean is still at the end of the bed silent, watching us with fearful eyes.

"I don't know what or who might be hunting you in that vision, but I do know of others that will want to take you." She paused and squeezed my hand.

"They are called Deamhans. They are a breed of...deamons. They feast upon the living. They are the ones killing outside. They are the murderers, Alice. That's what you saw back in Chicago. I assume they are after you. They claim the Blessed for themselves or they drained their blood. They turn them into one of them. But I sense that their interest in you is quite different. You are different, Al. Half-vampire, half Blessed. You are a coveted price among them and so much more."

I am petrified. I'm being hunted by a hoard of daemons-Deamhans-and also by another thing or a person. This cannot be happening to me. Just weeks ago I was a normal school girl and now my life has been turned upside down with strangeness.

"How do you know what is a Deamhan?" asked Dean. Mia turns her head towards him. "They disguised themselves into looking like us, like morphing, but when they are hunting their true self comes to the surface. They have no white in their eyes, just pure evil blackness. Their fingernails are long and pointed to rip throats open for them to feed, and their skins become as white as ice. Plus some of them have a peculiar rotten smell."

Mia turned her full body towards him. A deep frown covered her forehead. "Why do you ask, Dean? What have you seen?"

Dean was remembering something. I was in his head without knowing it and was seeing what he saw, live, and in vivid colors. He was out on the school grounds. He was with one of our Astronomy classmates. They were making out at the bottom of a tree when he heard a noise. They both turned and saw Megan. She was dressed in black, her hair up away from her face, and her eyes black as coal. Dean's buddy got scared and ran. Dean was left alone with her. She was hardly recognizable. She came close to him and grabbed his face with one of her hands. Her nails were abnormally long. She didn't look like a high school girl anymore.

"You tell me what Alice Thompson is. I know she is different, I have been watching her carefully and that hasn't escaped my eyes. I want to know what she is. She has caused me already too much trouble with Chris and my life. Not even the humans I hang out with want to do anything with me. Nothing. Since she talked back at me. No one does that. I want her, and the people in town are not satisfying me anymore or Britney." Britney, Megan's little puppy dog. Short hair and deep brown eyes. Popular just for hanging out with her. Well, doing anything that Megan commands her to do. Anything that Megan wants, she does. Of course, she had to be involved in this too.

Dean wasn't going to say a thing. Her eyes filled with rage. Megan's hand wrapped in Dean's neck and pulled him close. Their noses were almost touching. She pulled him in to then push him back with inhuman force. Dean landed hard against the tree.

I'm looking at Dean now, no longer in his head. His face shows discomfort. "You felt like a bug; a nasty bug inside my head." He said.

"How did you know I was...never mind. Right, the pain." He nodded. He told Mia what happened between Megan and him sparing me from having to talk. I'm still a little woozy. She looks at me, fear, and despair in her eyes.

"This is worse than I thought. They are already here." Mia declares.