A THOUSAND NIGHTMARES

IVA squinted at the car window, the golden sun felt warm on her face. She looked down at her feet, her clothes were smudged with sand and debris. She turned over as she tried to understand where she was, she identified that she was splayed in the back of the jeep. Her hands didn’t hurt when she moved but she had been certain she broke them back at the bar.

Iva looked around as she questioned how she got into the truck, and how she had survived. She remembered tossing everything in her pocket across the room, she had tossed out her keys and the bills in her pocket, the gesture was to help the werewolf to get rid of the handcuffs. It was the only thing she could think of at that moment and she wasn’t sure if he would make it in time. He did and he had saved her, the other miracle she couldn’t make a solution for was how she had sustained no injuries and broken bones.

'Dimitri…Vampires...' Iva spoke lost in thoughts, she shut her eyes hurriedly to ward off the fear she felt creep in, she could deny it all she want but she wanted Devin here with her, her heart pounded at the fact she was in a mysterious city with no strength against them, strange beast, she was beginning to have nightmares, for one she had started to see her father more often in her dreams besides that, there was the fear of being eaten.

She groggily pulled herself up to a sitting position and stared outside the car window. The white-haired werewolf stood outside in a black fitted t-shirt and grey compact pants. Black ankle boots clad his feet, he held a road map in one hand, and on his other hand, he held a mobile.

His eyebrows furrowed as he studied the map, Yi hovered around him casting dark shadows on his skin. The field was covered with sunflowers and far beyond where he stood was a gas station. He stared at her from beneath his bangs and back at the map.

She wondered why he hadn’t left her, he didn’t have the cuffs on him anymore, and she couldn’t think of any reason he’d stay with her.

She moved towards the car door and pulled it open. Almost immediately, she felt a sharp sting at her shoulder and her hand flew over to grab her arm. Iva’s eyes blacked out at the second and feeling a bit light-headed, her head lolled forward causing her to fall out of the vehicle. She moaned in pain and tried to pull herself up, she was faint.

“You should be resting, the drug took a toll on you” The beast walked towards her, Yi bringing up the rear with loud squawking, The beast stood over her partly blocking the sun which seemed to disappear by the moment.

“How long was I out?” she croaked and cleared her throat, Her hand went beneath her jaw, the gesture that her mouth was dry. She swallowed for moisture, she felt as though she had become a desert, her body had never felt this dehydrated before. “What drug?” she questioned, brows furrowed and eyes squinting waiting for his response.

“It’s a healing potion” He responded and casually placed the map into his pocket while ignoring her eyes, he knew Iva would be curious about everything that had happened while she’d been out but he wasn’t ready for another round of questioning. “If you feel thirsty, there’s a bottle of water in there” he pointed to a brown bag that sat in between the two front seats. Iva wondered what time it was, she had destroyed her watch earlier, during the fight, and hadn’t gotten the opportunity to charge her phone. She needed to pull a call through to the station down in Vingerton.

She stared at the beast for a few seconds before reaching into the bag.

“Are you some sort of Alchemist?”

“No” he replied and casually brushed his bangs away from his face revealing a strange tattoo on his forehead.

“What is that?” she twisted the bottle cover, the plastic cover coming free from the bottle as a result of the pressure.

“None of your business”

“Where are we?”

“Sunflower soil”

“What an obvious name” she rolled her eyes and stared at the yellow flowers that were scattered across the field beautifully. “So why are we here? What happened?”

The beast’s reaction showed he was pretty annoyed by her questions “To help you recover, you almost died and you’ve been out almost the entire day” She took out a burger from the bag and bit into it, she wanted to ask ‘who is Gus? Who is Dimitri? Did those people know something about Devin?’ she turned over to him and noticed he was already staring at her.

“I have a question for you” The werewolf stared at her a bit before he continued “I earlier told you I’ll help you find your partner, you have been questioning me about matters that shouldn’t be in your knowledge, you are human and you’re an officer for Vingerton…why are you here?” His dead tone gave nothing of his intentions after he had his answer.

“I-“ a bit taken off guard before clearing her throat for a response “I’m Iva-Lois Riegel, detective of District 42 of Vingerton” She stared at her burger and heaved a sigh “I and my partner Devin Paul Bieler were sent here to investigate the murder of three of Vingerton city citizens” The beast folded his arm and leaned casually by the trunk.

“ I heard a group in the Court has several relations with these murders as each victim had recent transactions with them. We currently have a Vingerton citizen who is under surveillance, we have inside information that she is the next target. She is some big shot and we can’t afford to lose her. Devin and I were sent to figure out what was going on…if I knew that there was more to this story, I probably would have requested for backup…”

The beast scuffed at her, the reaction was mocking her for her original self-confidence, her mind flashed back to how she had almost died, how she was practically useless and unfit to fight in this strange world, her ego was given a heavy punch in the face and she bit off a curse.

“I admit I understand nothing of this world, My partner is missing and you are my only hope in finding him or my way around this city” she pointed at the pants pocket that held the map “My dad had told me so much about a mysterious city with all mythical creatures leaving together in harmony, probably an old childhood folktale. It’s called the Court’s Arcana… there’s nothing peaceful about this place”

“Who’s your dad?” He finally uttered, his face hardened and his brows furrowed.

“Detective Lake Riegel…, he was sent on a mission 5 years ago and never came back. The only thing I have that is his is the pendant he gave me before he left” she reached into her sweater and pulled out a medallion “I’ve told you everything I can, I can’t afford to lose anyone else, now where’s Dev…” she looked at the beast, he was looking at her almost lifeless, his pupils pitch-black including his sclera. At the sight, the blood drained from her face.