It started off the same every single time without fail. Lyla would stand in front of her house staring at it with dubiety.
The sky was painted with an over cast, tinted murky gray.. It reminded her of a filter from a photo editing software.
Discolored fall leaves fell to the oddly colored grass, the unnatural colors floated on and about giving an eery look to the scene.
The gentle breeze blew her hair over her face as she walked up the steps of her childhood home.
Every muscle within her tensed as she felt the reoccurring helplessness as her body moved forward against her will, conforming her into a prisoner of her own mind.
She felt the jaws of panic clamp her lungs together, making the air wheeze out of her throat.
"Not again.. please not again.." she repeated over and over again in her head like a mantra. This dream had haunted her most nights when she was staying with Rick, since she has been at the campus this is the first time it's made an appearance.
She wanted to curl her hands into her mother's white night gown and breath in her familiar scent that she associated with as safety.
The smell of blossoming jasmine and fresh strawberries. She wanted it to fill her senses and hold her together like glue.
To forget everything that's happened and dismiss it as a taunting nightmare that she had finally awakened up from. But she couldn't stop the scene from pressing forward, time moving slower than the pace of a snail. She gritted her teeth and braced herself for the agony.
As if on cue her mother turned around with her lips curled in a motherly smile, and on cue the same disgusting monster proceeded to make his appearance.
He always started off as a black raging smoke forming out of thin air directly behind her. Not ordinary smoke, it was alive as it swirled maliciously with a deadly force. And it was accompanied with a dense sickening energy that flooded through the room with is doom.
Shards of ice splintered through her veins at the sight of him.
As if on command the dark hooded figure shaped out of the black vapor. His face was one she would never forget.
His teeth were the color of hematite and looked like thorns in his mouth, cutting into his lips each time his jaw moved, tearing his thin flesh. A black gooey substance dripped from the corners of his lips to his chin.
His eyes were a deep maroon color that thirsted for the blood of the innocent.
The smell, oh God the smell was gut wrenching.
It reeked of rancid decay and tainted copper.
He leered at Lyla and even the sound of his breath sounded demented. It was like a rattled hiss of corruption each time he inhaled and exhaled.
Her stomach curled when the monster caressed her mother's cheek with the back of his hand. She wanted to rip the creature's hands off, pour gasoline on to them and set them on fire just to watch as pieces of him burned to rubble.
She heaved when the black drool clung to Rebekah's neck and dripped down like corn syrup.
He raised his eyes to Lyla's with a murderous grin. His sickly green tinted skin looked frail, like if he had smiled just a little wider his face would crack like peeling paint.
With his free hand a small shiny object flashed in the florescent lighting. A flicker of gleaming metal.
"No.." Lyla breathed in horror. This was the part that made her stomach fill with dread and her lungs crush against one another. It made her whole body burn with hatred.
The creature placed the sharp knife against her Mother's throat, dragging the tip faintly across her neck.
Lyla gritted her teeth so hard she almost thought her teeth would crack in a million pieces, just like her heart.
She felt like a fly caught in a spiders web, thrashing against its powerful strands in hopes of escaping. But was an inevitable fate, she only had to endure it just a few moments longer. No matter how soul shattering it was, it would pass.
The sickest part of the situation was that her mother still wore a smile, beckoning her forward. She had no inkling of the tragedy extending behind her.
Without warning he ripped the knife across her throat cutting through her skin like butter in one quick movement.
The blood slowly streamed from the gaping wound drenching the white night gown she wore; staining it scarlet. She fell to her knees then flopped down on to her face.
Lyla felt a sob rise in her throat, a warped strangled sound rushed out of her mouth and she slung her hand over her lips to hide the dreaded pain that coursed through her.
The hooded figure sneered at her response. His sharp red eyes narrowed at her and with a wicked smile he growled a menacing promise.
"Your next!"
Lyla shot up out of her bed. Her hair latched to her face that was soaked with sweat and tears. She was gasping for air frantically and her body trembled.
She lowered her head into her hands and sighed.
Jesse's eyes ripped open. His body was saturated in perspiration. The ends of his hair clung to his slick forehead and he felt overwhelmed by the agony striking through his being like spears.
He looked down to his nearly healed wound on his stomach, but that wasn't the cause of the pain. Then suddenly he felt his lungs dive into his stomach.
It was her, it was Lyla.
Frantic, he leaped out of bed and threw on his gear, moving with such quickness that it wouldn't have been seen by mere human eyes.
He tore his window open and dropped to the dying fall grass. Not pausing for a single second, he sprinted toward her room.
He stuck his feet in the crevices on the building, using the ridges of the trim around the window to climb.
His heart was pounding viciously against his rib cage, pleading to be set free from it's cell.
Her curtains were drawn back and he could see a glimmer of light from a lamp on her bedside table.
The sight of her made him feel unsteady, he gripped the window frame harder, turning his knuckles a bleached wheat color.
Her auburn waves hung down her back like a silk curtain. She was wearing a black satin camisole and in her arms was a pillow. She was clutching on to it as if it could save her life.
Streaks of liquid trailed down her cheeks, and jesse felt his heart split in two.
Seeing her like that was worse than the gashes in his stomach, it was worse than knives carving out his eyes, it was worse than seeing the world painted in blood.
But he let his breath even, slowing drawing in and out until his heart held a steady rhythm.
She was ok. She wasn't hurt. At least not physically.
He had this undeniable urge to console her, but that wouldn't be wise.
She turned her head toward the window and Jesse let himself drop off of the building. Lingering around her window at night wasn't smart either. He pressed his back in to the wall and sighed.
He's becoming more and more reckless where she's concerned.
The weekend had come and gone and aside from the nightmares that Lyla had been having, she was buzzing with excitement.
Her, Miles and Dee shared a seat at the far back corner of the bus.
While Dee and Miles argued about which modern day pop singer was the best, Lyla was trying to ignore the fact that she could see the top of Jesse's dark head of hair from where they sat.
"How long will it take to get there?" Lyla asked, her voice did a poor job of disguising her enthusiasm.
"Ah, probably fifteen minutes." Miles shrugged.
Dee had busied herself, becoming completely oblivious to their conversation.
She had drug her earphones out of the pocket of her flannel shirt and pressed them into her ears, putting the volume of her ipod at it's full capacity.
"Alright my kiddies." Ms. Montez said, addressing the bus full of students.
"You know how this works. Gather in groups of two, and in an hour we will all meet at the food court for lunch."
Miles threw up a peace sign toward the girls as he joined a group of his friends. Lyla and Dee waved farewell then ventured into the large shopping mall together.
"So where do we go first?" Lyla said. She felt like a ball of energy, a feeling she wasn't very acquainted with.
Dee grinned, tugging her toward a clothing store.
An hour later Dee was covered in shopping bags and Lyla only had two. They waltz toward the food court, giggling with their arms interlinked.
"Could you save me a seat? I have to go to the restroom." Lyla asked Dee who was already nabbing two chairs out from under a nearby table.
She raised her brows as if to say she already had it covered.
Lyla was washing her hands in the bathroom sink when she felt this strange unnerving feeling at the base of her spine. It exploded with shards of ice that ran through her veins like the blood that fed her organs.
She looked up and felt a scream rise in her throat.
In the mirror behind her was the same gruesome creature that haunted her dreams.
Black drool ran down his neck like blood, and his hematite colored teeth were sharp and set in a sadistic smile that made his face look paper thin.
She spun around, prepared to start throwing fists in every direction. She was positive that at least one of her attempts would be successful, But instead an explosion of relief poured out of her mouth in the form of a breath.
It was only her imagination that decided to play a cruel trick on her.
She splashed some water on her face then dabbed it dry with a paper towel. Collecting herself that had spilled on to the dirty floor of the public restroom.
As Lyla exited she saw a familiar figure strode past her toward the outlet of the mall in the corner of her eye.
Jesse was wearing ripped jeans with a white v-neck shirt. His hands were covered by his frequently worn fingerless gloves.
She was curios why he seemed to wear them all the time. Was his hands always chilled? Or perhaps he had some scars he wished to remain invisible.
She knew she didn't technically see that it was Jesse, but she could feel it in the way that her body responded to his presence.
She picked up her pace and followed him out of the door, but when she was outside she found herself standing alone.
He was already gone, and he left no trace of himself in sight.
On the way back to the campus Lyla noticed that Jesse didn't return.
She didn't want to tell Ms. Montez, Jesse and her seemed to have a stressful relationship as is, she didn't want to cause any more unnecessary tension.
She felt a twinge of uneasiness fill her gut with worry. How would he get back to the campus if the whole class was already leaving?
She prayed he had some sort of trick up his sleeves.
As the students off loaded themselves from the bus, Lyla was astounded to see Jesse had already made it back to the campus.
He was standing beside the wrought iron fence, just a few feet before the entrance.
She tried to figure out what looked different about him. His hair was always disheveled in a sexy wild kind of way, his clothes were the same.. but then it smacked her in the face like a bright neon sign.
There was a dried patch of blood on the corner of his chin and a dark bruise clung to his cheek, just beneath his cheek bone.
What was he up to? He didn't seem the type to participate in illegal fights.
He cut his eyes in to her and she jerked her head in the other direction . Her cheeks filled with heat and tinted with red.
Just as she walked passed him, Stacy kicked her pink heeled foot out In front of her, tripping her.
Gravity crushed against her body like the tide of the ocean trying to pull her under its current.
Before she fell flat on her face a blistering hot hand closed around her arm, pulling her up.
Lyla quickly looked to her arm. She expected to see her sleeve burst into flames, a patch of scorching heat stinging her skin like she had just been attacked by a sander, but there was only a hand attached to a well defined forearm.
Lyla opened her mouth to say thank you but then shut it just as she saw Jesse's expression.
His eyes were like silver glaciers with flecks of white dancing inside of them like glitter.
He narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. He ripped his hand back as if she had viciously bitten him.
A look of pain, confusion and frustration flashed over his handsome features like a shadow of despair.
He pivoted and immediately raced away.
Leaving her dangling once again from a cliff.
"There's a reason I wanted the both of you to come." Jesse said. He was leaning against the wall of his bedroom, wearing his black baseball cap that blended in to his hair.
He rubbed the nape of his neck and huffed. His eyes were unfocused and his head was throbbing like the propellers of a helicopter.
He felt like he was in a memory of a distant dream. One that he has visited thousands of years ago. Only if that were possible. In order to dream you had to sleep.
He touched Lyla. There was no going back, thing were about to get extremely messy. He couldn't have his friends in the crossfire of his war.
"What's going on?"
Ash shot him a look of uncertainty. He was perched on the cheap desk that the school provided for each student. He could feel it's surface bend in the center from his weight.
"I think you guys should head back to Louisiana. This isn't just a fight about demons anymore. This is something else."
He pinched the bridge of his nose, lowering his eyes to the dark stain beneath his feet.
"Circumstances have changed. This is about my lineage, it isn't just a rise in darkness."
Ash furrowed his brows. He caught his lip ring between his teeth and began twisting it around as he considered what Jesse was saying.
"What exactly has changed?" Ky said. He was sitting on the edge of Jesse's bed with his hands clasped and his eyes trained in Jesse.
"I've told you about my people. I've told you about Lord Oric. This fight is between him and I. I'm afraid bloodshed is inevitable."
Ash crossed his arms, a twist of cynicism on his lips.
"So, you want to keep all the fun to yourself." He baited.
Jesse rewarded his response with a tight-lipped smile.
"Just until it comes to a head."
Ash nodded and Ky followed suit.
Ash clasped his hand in Jesse's pulling him into a forceful one armed hug.
"Call us when you need us my brother."
Jesse patted his back with equal exertion. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he enjoyed their company. They had become family, they risked their lives with him in countless grim situations.
"Good luck mate." Ky murmured.
Ash shot him a wink and then they both vanished just as soon as they had appeared two months ago.
He wondered what tale Regina would tell about their absence. Then again, people didn't really seem to notice them in the first place.