A line is crossed

[Author's warning: this chapter involves an incident of unsettling ****. The incident happens "off screen". Reader discretion advised.]

[Francesca's POV]

Francesca finds herself back in the foggy wood. She wanders between the crooked black trees. It's so cold. She is barefoot. The moon is absent tonight. It is dark, but she sees a flickering light in the distance. Francesca walks towards the light.

After some time, she comes to the same clearing. A roaring campfire casts flickering shadows on the bare trees. Francesca kneels by the fire warning herself. Her teeth chatter.

Francesca hears a muffled moaning sound behind her. She slowly stands, turning. Francesca sees her mother and sister, their skin snowy white, their fangs large and intimidating. Between them is a naked human girl. Francesca's mother, Maria, stands behind the girl holding her arms. She smiles at Julia over the girl's shoulder, her fangs pronounced. Julia stands in front, her hand clasped over the girl's mouth, laughing. She uses a fingernail to scratch the girl's breast as the girl squirms. A line of blood seeps down over the girl's breast.

Simultaneously, the vampiresses strike, biting viciously into either side of the girl's neck. The human girl moans into Julia's palm as the vampiresses drink her. Francesca wants to look away, but can't draw her eyes away from the scene.

Julia withdraws her fangs, and turns to Francesca and smiles, blood streaking her chin. "Francesca ... Come feed with us" she says seductively.

Francesca finds herself stepping forward tentatively. She feels an a sudden pain in her mouth. With her tongue, she feels sharp fangs sprouting from her upper jaw. Francesca can smell the girl's blood. It is intoxicating.

Francesca stands in front of the dazed human. The girl's head is slumped backwards exposing her throat. Francesca sees the bite marks on either side of her neck as blood drops drops down her neck to her shoulders and breasts.

"Give in to your hunger" Maria coos, "they are ours to devour".

Francesca bites into the girl's throat. Warm blood washes across her tongue and down her throat. It's incredible. She feels a warmth coursing through her, a heady euphoria.

Julia steps behind Francesca to kiss her shoulder. "You're a killer now, just like us" she whispers.

Francesca awakens suddenly, her sheets damp with sweat. Her heart is pounding. She leans over the edge of the bed, worrying that she'll be sick. She mulls the dream over in her mind, only remembering fragmented images. Her fangs. Feeding from the girl. Julia kissing her neck. Francesca is disgusted.

She looks at the clock: 9:04 pm. I slept late... They'll be out hunting by now she thinks.

It's been several nights since Maria was reborn. Julia thinks back to a conversation she had had on a previous night with her mother.

"Francesca, you don't understand what your missing. The thrill of the hunt. Feeding. I've never felt more alive than when I drink these girls with your sister. It's electrifying" Francesca's mother had said.

"It's wrong Mom, and you know that it's wrong" Francesca has said angrily.

"It's not wrong... It doesn't feel wrong. It feels so good" Maria had answered. "There is no shame, no guilt, no anxiety. Only the pleasure of the kill" Maria said, reaching out to cup Francesca's cheek.
"Let me share this gift with you, Francesca. Let me take away your sadness" Maria had pleaded.

Francesca has revisited the conversation in her mind several times since. Do I want to be turned? she wondered before rejecting the thought completely. I'm not a monster ... Like them.

Francesca gets out of bed, and heads downstairs. She needs to feed the captive girls.

Carrying a tray of food and water, she heads to the quiet basement. Reaching the bottom step of the stairs, she screams, and drops the tray. The plates and cups clatter to the cement floor loudly. Francesca falls to her knees, her hand covering her mouth.

Slumped against the basement wall is the body of a child, no more than 11 or 12 years old. Telltale puncture wounds adorn the neck.

Francesca sobs in horror, her face in her hands.

After a few minutes, Francesca looks up, clear eyed. She feels all of her trepidation melt away. Her feeble vacillation of the past few weeks is burned away in a supernova of righteous anger.

I've equivocated for far too long. There is only one choice. They need to be destroyed.