And if I Die Before I Wake...

I stood motionless for a few minutes before taking two steps back. I turned on my heel and raced away.

I guess school would have to wait until tomorrow.

When I got home the things I had ordered were waiting for me. I put everything inside and began unloaded the equipment.

When I was done the old room looked like a professional karate training center.
"That was easy." I sighed.

I thought over the strange encounter in the alley and all the cryptic messages.
The thing that caught most of my attention was:
"I know who you are after. By name, by place, by act."

It could mean two things.
1. He knows where my now-vampire mom is and what she's doing.
or
2. He knows the monster that killed my family.
It's possible that he knew my mother. But to know everything about her would mean she was very near.

And if he knew the killer he would have to be high in status in the vampire world. For only a strong monster could've taken out my whole fmaily that quickly and I doubt it would be in the public eye very much.

Then an unlikely, but also likely thought hit me.

He would know both of those things if HE were the killer. He would know where my mom was and of course he would know where the monster was, if he was it.
I was suddenly eager for school the next day.

I picked up a stack of blankets and fell onto the couch.
I reached up turned off the light quickly.

The next morning I woke up and got ready for school with the usual weapons strapped up my leg.

When I arrived at school I went against my impulse to murder and instead approached the vial creature.

"Are you going to kill me now?" he asked with a strangely comfident smile.
I ignored him and got right to the point.

"Are you the one tht killed my family?"