Kaylani fumbled with her passcode as she tried to unlock her door with shaky hands,
Her entire body was soaking wet, drenched by the rain, however the visible tremors running through her body had less to do with the cold and more to do with terror,
Finally, Kaylani heard the click of her security system and barrelled into her apartment, locking the door firmly behind her.
Kaylani tossed her bag to the ground and ran all the way up to her room on unsteady footing, shutting her door firmly behind her and leaning her weight against it.
Kaylani panted, struggling to catch her breath as the horrifying memories of what she had just witnessed flashed through her mind,
Glimpses of sharp glinting fangs dripping dark red blood and that pungent metallic smell of blood,
Kaylani shook her head frantically as she slid down her door till she was sitting, she began timing her breathing in a bid to calm her heart and stop the tremors going through her body.
In her state of panic, Kaylani could hardly think straight and so she knew she needed to get herself to calm down before she spiralled into a full blown panic attack.
"Easy Lani...easy... you're home now, you're safe." Kaylani assured herself in a quiet tone as her breath slowly stabilized and her trembling eased slightly.
It took Kaylani a few more moments before she was able to regain a reasonable level of calm.
"I need to call Damon...or summer... or Dad, anyone." Kaylani stuttered quietly as she patted her coat pockets in search of her phone.
When Kaylani did not find it, she recalled she had tossed her bag somewhere downstairs.
Kaylani gathered her wits, reminding herself that she was not one of those damsels in distress that were completely helpless after a scare.
Kaylani then unlocked her room door and headed back down the stairs stealthily,
"Am I sneaking around my own house right now?" Kaylani wondered in annoyance as she ran a hand through her hair and stood up straight, now descending her staircase with confident strides.
Kaylani's eyes scanned her living room and landed on her bag on a couch, she headed towards it and searched through it for her phone, to no avail.
Kaylani frowned slightly before it struck her that she had just gotten off a call with Damon, her phone was still grasped in her hands when she had met the horrifying sight.
Kaylani figured she must have tossed it somewhere in her panic, she definitely did not recall storing it away somewhere safe after such a scare.
"Damn it!" Kaylani groaned in frustration, she was already so exhausted from work and then her car had stopped halfway home, leaving her to walk back under a downpour.
And then she just had to go through that alleyway and come across such an impossible situation and now she had even lost her phone and stood here soaking wet and still yet to shake off the bone chilling fear she felt.
Kaylani sighed heavily as she tossed her bag aside, she did not even try using her house phone, with how heavily it was raining at the moment, Kaylani doubted it would have any signal.
And then beyond that Kaylani thought, if she did get to reach any of the people she intended to call, what was she even going to say to them? How was she going to explain her panic or describe what she had witnessed?
How did she even tell anyone that she had run into a vampire sucking the blood dry from a pitiful man while walking home from work? How did one say such words without sounding crazy?
Just thinking about it herself, it was already too absurd for Kaylani to comprehend even when she was the very one who had witnessed the event with her own eyes.
To have seen an actual vampire in the streets of the Evercrest City, an actual creature of myth that they told tales about in novels and yet Kaylani had seen one with her own eyes.
Who would believe such a fairy tale? Even Kaylani herself did not believe it, she was more willing to believe all of this was just a crazy dream due to having a stressful and a horribly bad day.
'Yes... just a bad day, I was too exhausted and was seeing things. The alleyway was dark, who knows if it was only a couple making out? My mind must be playing tricks on me due to lack of sleep.' Kaylani assured herself, shaking off her silliness as she headed back up to her room,
Kaylani knew she had left her iPad and her laptop at the hospital but she figured she would have a backup for either one of those devices somewhere in her apartment if Summer had not already snagged it,
After a good night's rest, Kaylani decided she would call up someone to check up on her car and take it to be worked on, then she would go out to get a replacement for her phone before anyone got worried from being unable to reach her.
Kaylani was relieved this was at least a weekend and she had the following week off, that way she didn't have to worry about any urgent call ups from the hospital.
Kaylani headed into her bathroom, shedding off her drenched clothing and tossing them into the washing machine.
Kaylani then pampered herself with a steaming hot bath to combat the cold that had seeped into her body due to staying in drenched clothing for too long.
Once she stepped out of the bath, she dried herself and took a time to completely dry her hair as damp hair always resulted in a cold for her.
Once she was done and dressed warmly, she headed back out to her room, passing a glance at her open window.
For some reason, Kaylani felt uneasy about it and headed over to it, shutting the blinds.
Kaylani then headed straight to bed, hoping to awaken the next morning and realize today had just been a very bad dream...