Lana stared at her ceiling. Did she or did she not just set loose the apocalypse?

Okay three reasons why the end of humanity is not her fault.

1. They kinda did it to themselves in a way, the climate and all that?

2. She was asleep. Like full knockout. Like catching ZZZ's and could you really blame someone who's sleep? You can't consent while sleep, so you sure can't consent to killing humanity, so...innocent?

3. It was...Him.

Cursing me while I'm away, are you? Lana...you naughty girl.

She rolled her eyes. "You're still here? Go away. You've driving me psycho. Kept me away for 3 days straight, and tricked me into ending the world."

Worlds not over yet. I won't let it end until I've had you. I swear. Now, chin up dear. And clean this godsawful mess.

Lana just scoffed, closing her eyes, pulling the cover over her head. "You're not real."

She felt her foot being grab, something snatching her from under her cover. Her breath slipped from her lungs the strong claw around her foot nothing compared to the sight waiting for her.

There he was. His presence brought a chill. He glared down at her coldly.

"I didn't writhe in darkness for eons for you to tell me I'm not real, little girl. Mind your tongue or you will lose it."

Lana frowned. He was quick to violence, quick to threaten. A monster.

Hurtful. But accurate.

"You keep reading my mind. I want you to stop. Get out of my mind, get out of my house. And...if possible get out of the world."

He stared down at her. And then he turns his back. His hair is slicked back, and he'd changed into a sharp black suit.

For a moment...she thought he almost looked hurt.

"I cannot change what I am. And it is all I have ever and will ever be. My own mother thought I was a curse." He waves his hand with a sigh. "She was correct, of course, but it was still hurtful."

He sighs, turning around. "But never mind that. You called me. What did you want? To bring someone from the dead?"

I shake my head. "No I don't...I didn't do anything. I just...you just showed up one day."

He grins. "I just show—are you daft? I've been in the same cell for eons I could not show up if I was wine on papyrus, what—"

"—You dated yourself so hard right there. Papyrus? I'm sorry that's the most modern reference you could think of?" She chuckled. "What?"

He blinked. "I...is that no longer a? Well, linen then! Either way, I could not show up. You must've found me. Now I'm asking you, do you want your wish?"

Her wish? She didn't remember how she found him. What she was doing, or what she wished for. If she was honest, she couldn't remember much of anything. Other than the crushing weight of grief.

And how annoying her father was.

"Grief means loss. What did you lose, Lana?"

Lana stood. "I thought monsters couldn't enter unless you gave them permission."

"That, my dear is a vampire. I am not that."

"Then what are you?"

He said nothing. He stood at least 8 feet tall, his face the moonlight.

"You seek answers of me because you don't wish to ask questions of yourself. But at some point, Lady Lana you will have to face the you in the mirror you wish to conceal. When that happens...that is a fear that even I can't replicate."

And then he was gone. As always, nothing but a chill in his wake, an sense of unease, foreboding lurking in his place.