Ira

He stood as a dark silhouette against a backdrop of wild flames and billowing smoke. The smell of burning flesh hung heavy in the air as fire consumed the bodies piled at his feet. He watched as the fire runs flaming fingers over limbs and faces, eating the flesh and bone at its mercy. It was a greedy thing and covetous too, but it would die out soon enough. When it did, it would do its job of dispersing the essence it stole from the dead.

He tilted his head back to face the night sky and laughed. It was a sound edged with unrestrained exhilaration and abandon, of power and pain. The power poured from him in waves and dissipated across the earth in the jumping scattered way of lightning. When it was done, he was empty. His body was just a shell, no longer overflowing. Lightly panting, he slumped and let his head lull forward. It took several long moments before he straightened. Calm and relaxed, he stepped away from the human bonfire. Tugging up the collar of his long coat he turned as if to leave but stopped to look out into the night. Searching. Eyes as cold and lifeless as emeralds locked on something nearby. It was barely a shimmer, but he could feel its presence. A smirk formed on his lips making his otherwise handsome face seem almost cruel. When he spoke, it was with a mocking edge.

"Can I help you?"

Gasping I jerked from dream to reality.

He saw me. He saw me. He. Saw. Me.

The thought was an ongoing montage running on repeat in my head. I don't know how or why but for the first time someone in my dream had been aware of me. Not as another one of the participants I sometimes became trapped in but as me, or at least the part of me that watched.

I could still feel his eyes cutting into me sharp and unrelenting.

"Hello, earth to Ira."

Blinking I looked up remembering where I was. Autumn, Emma, and I sat at one of the tables in the diner for an after-school snack and study session. The other girls were staring at me, Emma's brows furrowed into a worried crease, and Autumn looking curious.

"What?"

"I asked," Emma said slowly "if you have a date."

"A date?"

"For the Ball?"

"oh" Right, the Ball. I didn't really care enough to go but had agreed to instead of disappointing Emma. I'd planned to just tag along since boys weren't exactly lining up to ask me out and thank my lucky stars for that. Boys meant a relationship, relationships meant attention; something I avoided at all costs. "No, nobody's asked me."

"River will take you if you want." Emma points out.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'd rather not have to deal with him for an entire night." Autumn gave a quiet snort of laughter, but I ignored her, adding, "Besides, I'm pretty sure he plans on asking Alysa."

"Plus," Autumn added just as her phone buzzed "it's the twenty-first-century, girls can ask guys out remember."

"And who exactly do you think I'd be asking?" I scoffed.

"Oh, I don't know" she hummed, tapping her pen in a raped tempo. "Maybe the hottie you've been daydreaming about all day."

I grimaced at her skewed assessment.

"I wasn't daydreaming." It came out as a mumble, but Autumn snorted loudly.

"Sure, you weren't, and Emma is totally still a v- ow" Autumn rubbed her leg and scowled at Emma who glared right back.

"May I remind you where we are!" Emma hissed. "This is my mom's diner"

"So? Nobody cares about your love life, Emma." With a roll of her eyes, Autumn focused on me "what I wanna know is who has Miss Mysterious off in LaLa land. You gonna tell us his name or do we have to guess?" She asked completely unabashed as she ignored her phone buzzing again.

"There's no name to give," I said automatically but was quick to add "and there's no 'him'. I just had a bad dream and it's been throwing me off."

"Mm... a 'bad dream' or a dream about a bad boy?" Autumn gave me a sly grin that was almost a reflection of her brothers.

An image of the man from last night's dream flashed through my mind. The inhuman darkness that lived inside him and the death wrought by his hands carved deeper into my brain each time I thought of him. Just remembering the feel of his eyes on me had panic wrapping icy fingers of fear around my throat, making my heart race for a moment before the numbness swept in to calm it.

"OH. MY. GOD." Emma gasped, "Your blushing! There is a guy!" sounding almost affronted she hissed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because there's nothing to tell," I sighed.

"Ya know... Virgins only say that when they don't wanna admit things get just as hot and heavy for them in dreamland as everybody else." Autumn's smile was distinctly knowing as if we shared some secret.

"Yeah, cause dreaming about someone killing people with their bare hands is so romantic" I deadpanned, forcing sarcastic humor to hide my seriousness.

I knew immediately, that it was the wrong thing to say.

Emma's eyes widened and Autumn's brows spiked up.

"Shit girl. And I thought I was kinky." Autumn's tone was light, and she didn't seem to notice the glance Emma threw her way before giving me a look that said in no uncertain terms, I was way too close to the truth. "It really is the quiet ones you have to watch out for."

"Hah," Emma's laugh was a tad forced, "Not everyone is a hoe like you, Autumn."

"Sure, they are, just nobody wants to admit it." Autumn countered, pointing a finger at her friend. "And that's a reformed hoe, thank you very much." She made a face when her phone buzzed three more times in rapid secession and finally pulled out the device.

"What is it?" Emma asked when her annoyance turned into a frown.

"River is going to be here soon to pick me up." She said starting to pack up her stuff.

"What! Can't you tell him to just wait another hour? We barely got anything done." Emma gripped, referring to the history notes we were supposed to be working on. Autumn shrugged and finished stuffing her books into her backpack just as a motorcycle revved into the parking lot standing to leave. "At least tell me you're still on for Friday."

"Yep," Waving goodbye over her shoulder, Autumn headed out "see you guys tomorrow"

That left me alone with Emma.

Leaning in, something between panic and anger making her hissed under her breath, she asked "What in the ever-loving hells was that!?"

"Nothing, like I said it was just one of the dreams."

"They're never just 'dreams' with you, I thought we weren't telling people about that shit? What's really going on and why the hell would say that to her."

I picked at the long sleeve of my shirt, debating how much to tell her.

"Ira, I swear, if you don't tell me the truth right now, I will bitch slap you."

"Fine," I sighed "It's just... this time the dream was different."

"How?"

"There this was this factory or something. And this guy, he came in and killed everyone. And then after he burned the bodies, he was just going to leave but then ... he saw me.

"Okay... that sounds just like all the other ones."

"No, I mean..." Emphasizing each word so she would understand I said. "he saw me."

"Oh" there was a long pause as she processed what I said. "I thought you said they couldn't do that"

"I didn't think they could."

She was quiet for a moment then "why could he see you if no one else has ever able been to before?"

Biting my lip, I stared down at my hands as if the answers would suddenly appear, remembering his hands and how they felt as they broke another's neck.

Warm, yet distantly cold.

In the end, I told her the truth.

"I don't know."