The streets of Ruby Creek are dead quiet. It doesn't help that the fog has stuck around and it's billowing off the roads and rooftops like a smoldering fire. His car rumbles to life with the sounds of rock music pumping through the speakers. He's quiet as he checks his mirrors.

With a finger I draw a line over the frame of the door. There's a DeJa'Vu feeling sitting like a lump in my chest. Ignoring the sensation, I focus on him. His hands grip tight on the wheel causing his knuckles to pale, his eyes searching in every direction as we drive down the street.

"Shit."

His foot hits the brakes a little too fast and furious making the tires squeal in a painful eardrum shattering way. I pull my attention from his tight jawed face to the front of the car. Standing in the beaming headlights is one of them. Red eyes and all. As the car jerks to a stop, I place my hand on the dashboard, and stare out at the eyes watching me.

The female presses her hands hard on the hood with a thud. Her lips tug into a sinister grin, showing off pearly white fangs.

"Close your eyes."

My head snaps in his direction at the same time he looks at me. Crunching metal and grinding rings in my ear. I listen to him, close my eyes, and grip the spinel in my necklace tight. The engine revs and I can't help the cringe or the sob when flesh hits the car and bounces.

My shoulders tense and I tuck my chin into my chest. He picks up speed. Within seconds we stop again, this time he cuts the engine. Our heavy breathing falls in sync, as the sounds around us settle into an eerie quiet. My seatbelt clicks open, and I'm pulled into his grasp.

I'm trying to put on a brave face, but it's so hard right now. I'm not the heroine in a novel who starts her journey weak and then twenty pages in can kick a nightwalker's ass. I'm just me, Nore Mcguire, writing teacher at Ruby Creek High. I love cats, writing, and reading smutty romance novels, I'm not cut out for this shit.

A thud crashes against the car door, the window shatters, exploding glass falls inward. Jaime hovers over me, protecting me from the burst.

Someone - no something grabs hold of me. A manic scream bursts from my mouth. I try to fight it, holding onto Jaimie with everything I've got, but my fingers are slipping from my grip on his leather jacket.

"Use the necklace!" His voice is loud enough to carry over the deafening growls in my ear.

"How?"

"I'm sorry, I promise to fix it."

As my body tugs further away, he reaches over, grabs the cocoon surrounded gem and pulls the piece off. He doesn't let go of it but makes a motion as if he were stabbing it into their arm. A sound between a hiss and a pop makes me jump, but the grasp is loosened. Squeezing my eyes tight, I lunge at Jaime.

"Let's get inside."

He releases me, then rushes around the front of the car, maneuvering over crunched glass. I'm confused, where did the thing go? My arms sting with tiny cuts, as he helps me get out of the car. We step up to a small bungalow with a porch, and then into darkness. He slams the door shut behind us. His breathing heavy on the back of my neck. A light flips on revealing a large open mudroom. It's void of decoration, just plain simple and gray walls throughout.

In the light he gazes over my cuts, his thumb gently pushing at the skin to check for shards. His hands are in my hair, checking for glass at a frantic pace.

"Are you alright?" He asks, slipping the spinel back into my hand. Wrapping his hand around mine.

Lifting my chin, I meet his gaze. It's hard to pull away, but he does first, reaching for my hand and pulling me along with him. We pass through a kitchen which has a stairway to a basement. There's not much down here except his washer, dryer, and some packed boxes. The concrete floors and slab walls make it cold and dreary.

"My dad left this for me. While we were going through your parents journals it hit me. I've kept it sealed up since, but I think - I think my dad was the friend."

I observe him as he rips open the old, dented cardboard box. He pulls out some random articles of clothing, and some other small trinkets, then finally a letter. There's no name, only a blank envelope sealed with a red sticker. He tears into the envelope pulling out an old letter, the paper yellowed with age.

"Dear Jaime,

If you're reading this, it means things are bad, and I'm dead. I hope you found the ring. The ring is how you can help. You should take this ring back to Ruby Creek. It's where you were born, where I spent my childhood. Billy MCguire, my best friend, recently lost his life, along with his wife. They left behind their daughter, Nore. She and her grandma have the other half of this gem. It's not a task I wish either of you to take, but it would break the curse, and the ones who walk in the daylight will cease to exist.

Taking on this task means one thing, one of you will die. The power of this gem is so strong that it will take a life to break the curse. It's the only way. The only way to save the town. Billy and Jane, his wife, could not complete the task, they panicked, and now, this is the only way. Stay safe, son."

There's a ringing in my ear that almost knocks me to my ass. I unfold my hand and stare at the gem. A teardrop hits the corner of it. My phone jolts me out of my head, and I reach into my back pocket to pull it out.

"Oh, thank god, it's Trish."

"Hey, Trish."

Heavy breathing on the other end makes me think she's in danger. There are muffled voices in the background, and screams.

"Trish, where are you?"

"I - I went to your house to tell you about Marie. I knocked."

Marie? Oh no, don't tell me... wait, she said my house - GRANDMA! I've only been gone for less than fifteen minutes. My heart sinks into my stomach.

"And when no one answered, I walked around back. I - the ambulance is coming-"

My eyes strain as they roll back, and my body sinks down. Weakness won't win this battle, maybe I should be the one to sacrifice myself. Strong arms scoop me up again.

"It's my grandma. And Marie too."

With one arm tight around me, he grabs onto the phone with his other. His voice is all jumbled, but I hear Trish's name a few times, then questions about grandma and Marie. He doesn't talk long, and when he finally hangs up, he turns his full attention to me.

"Come on. Let's figure this gem thing out. There's got to be a better way. I'm sure one of us doesn't have to..."

"NO!" I yell-cry. "NO! If we wait any longer more people will die. Let me sacrifice myself."

"Stop being ridiculous, Nore. We'll do more research and find out how we can save both of our lives."

"My parents were the ones who were supposed to put an end to this mess. Instead, they ended up dead anyway because neither would let each other sacrifice their lives. I may have been young, but my dad was as stubborn as they come. It's my responsibility to take them down. We just have to figure out how."

Well-fuck I guess I am the badass heroine. Insert an eye roll here. What is even happening right now? Frustrated, I tug at the ends of my hair, wishing this would all go away.

"Do you want to go be with your grandma?"

"Is she alive?" I ask, dully.

He sucks in a deep breath, pauses, then shakes his head.

"Then she would want me to do this. She gave me the necklace last night, and I have to believe it's for a reason, like she knew this would happen."

I wipe my eyes with the back of my trembling hand, but it doesn't feel like enough, so I use my entire arm.

"I have to. For grandma, for Marie, Mr. Garver, and - and - Gena. All those that died because my parents couldn't step up and fix this. I might be weak, but I'm not going to stand here and let it take your life. You and your dad should not have been dragged into this mess. It's my parents, they dragged your family into this, and for that I am so sorry."

The tears dry, but the heaviness of fear and sadness sit like a two-ton elephant over me. My body quakes like I'm drowning in a freezing cold river. The ice that's been running through my veins is so cold, my limbs almost feel frost bitten.

With ease he pulls off his jacket, draping it over me. As he does something falls out onto the floor. It's light and floats gently down before landing beside my boot. The mask. It's... I glance up at him.

"It was you!"

"What was me?"

"Last night. You - you're the one who kissed me."

He doesn't say anything but does make an attempt to close the small unoccupied space between us. I only look up with my eyes, nothing else. I'm afraid to use my whole body because my heart can't take anymore death and heartbreak. I enjoyed kissing him, I enjoyed when he touched me. I even kind of like when he catches me. It's stupid, but even with the influx in deaths since he arrived with the other half of the gem, there's a desire there. If things were different, under other circumstances maybe this could have been something, but now with everything, I can't be distracted. I have to do what my parents were supposed to do. They fell in love, got married, and because they were selfish, they couldn't see past love.

As if he were reading my mind, his hand cups the back of my head and our lips crash together. While his one hand steadies my head the other hugs my hip burying me further into his arms, where it is almost safe and warm - maybe too safe.

We moan together into each other's lips, and every part of me craves him. It's wild how a simple touch and some built up grief and anger can turn you into a monster too. When his mouth opens to me, his hands grip my lower half lifting me into his arms. Kissing him numbs the pain, and the world around us. But if one of us is going to take the sacrifice, it's best we stop this game and focus on our task at hand.

I pry myself from his grip, and he wants more. He'd probably take me up to his bedroom right now if I let him, but I won't do that. I won't let it go any further. One of us, ME, is about to risk their life for this town, for each other, and for our family. He reaches for me when I land on my feet, but I back away.

"We shouldn't."

I refuse to look at him, I already know there's pain in his tearful gaze.

"Is there anything else in the box? Maybe something that tells us how to fix this?"

He lowers his head in a nod, and then retreats to the box on the floor. In the stillness of the night, we go through every item in the box, until we find a ripped page out of a book. The Curse of The Spinel. The same book I'd gotten from the library, the one with the missing page.