Ruby Ring

Chapter 11: ANOTHER ONE

JUSTIN

Justin immediately found himself inside a blue bedroom containing a crib. He walked over and peered inside, only to see a baby boy that possessed the same chestnut curly hair as he himself. He was sleeping peacefully, his limbs sprawled everywhere.

Suddenly, a crash. Justin's head turned, only to see nothing. He bolted outside, only to see John Morrison kneeling beside an unconscious man with brown hair. Next to him was an empty chalice. Justin screamed, but John paid no attention to him. Instead, he got up and sprinted to the door before proceeding to kick it down.

Justin dashed inside the house, only to see John inside the bedroom he was in earlier. The baby was still sleeping, but a woman with piercing emerald eyes was standing in front of the crib. John stabbed her in the chest, causing her to scream and fall to the ground like a rag doll. Justin felt the urge to barf.

John then reached inside the crib, but was startled by a gunshot. His father was standing in the doorway, aiming his gun at John.

"Freeze!" he called. "Don't move!"

John snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash.

---

Justin's eyes snapped open. He put his hands on his temples, trying to recollect his dream. What was that about? Why was John in his dream?

"Are you okay?" Daniella looked at Justin with worry in her eyes.

"I'm fine," Justin shook his head, but really, he wasn't fine. The dream seemed a little too...realistic for a dream. If not a dream, then what was it?

Justin's phone beeped, indicating he had a text message, this time from Lux.

Bad news, man. He texted.

What happened, Lux? Justin texted back.

It's Patrick. He's gone. The reply came almost immediately after Justin sent his text.

Not again. Where are you guys? Justin messaged.

We're at the Starbucks at Rest Stop 50. Meet us there. Where you at? Lux's newest text read.

We'll be there in five minutes. Justin replied.

"Is everything okay?" Daniella questioned as she drove on the highway.

"One of the members. He's gone." Justin shook his head. "The others are at the Starbucks at Rest Stop Fifty,"

"On it," Daniella nodded. Out of the corner of Justin's eye, he saw the sign for Rest Stop Fifty coming up.

"It's Rest Stop Fifty. We're here,"

"Alright," Daniella said as she proceeded to parallel park her car. Justin immediately opened the door and stretched. It felt great to stretch his legs after sitting for hours. After stretching, he and Daniella bolted inside the Starbucks, where everybody save Patrick were seated.

"Patrick disappeared? How'd that happen?" Justin sat down with them.

"He just said he was going to the bathroom and when I looked for him, we found blood on the floor and this," David put a sharp tooth on the table. It reminded Justin of the times he looked at his baby teeth right after they wiggled out of his mouth. He picked up the sharp tooth and examined it from all angles. The root was missing.

"That looks like a fang," Justin peered at the tooth.

"There can only be one conclusion. It's obvious," Lux put his hands on his hips. "It's gotta be the work of a vampire. Don't believe me? There was blood on the floor and this was on the floor,"

"I really have a bad feeling about this," Justin put his fingers on his temples. There was a pounding sensation in his head.

"What's up? You okay?" Jackie scurried over to where Justin was sitting.

"I had a strange dream," Justin mumbled.

"Really?"

"I was in a bedroom and saw John near some unconscious guy with an empty chalice. He burst into the house and stabbed a woman in the chest. Then my dad shows up and corners him. Then John vanished,"

"Interesting..." Lux gave Justin a penetrating gaze into his eyes. "It might be trying to tell you something, but alas, I do not specialize in dream interpretation,"

"I wish I knew what that meant," Justin shook his head. Justin was never into dream interpretation. He merely viewed them as nothing more than his imagination going haywire.

"There's more," Daniella interjected.

"What?" Madeleine raised her eyebrows.

"Justin and I saw a boy lying on the road with a vampire bite on his neck. We had to rush him to the hospital and he told us what happened that night. Before we left, he gave Justin and I crosses to wear around our necks. That provides us with vampire protection. Did you bring anything vampires are weak to, like a wooden stake?"

"A wooden stake? How's that gonna help us?" David questioned.

"A wooden stake through the heart is fatal," Lux answered. "Anybody got silver or garlic?"

"I have garlic," Jackie rummaged through her bag and pulled out a few cloves of garlic.

"There's an anti-vampire potion recipe in my book. It says we need garlic, two drops of red food coloring, water, and mint per potion,"

"Lux, you told me to bring those. I had no idea why, but now I get it," Jackie pulled out a mortar and pestle.

Lux then proceeded to give Jackie directions on how to make the anti-vampire potion. This took quite a while since there were four people who had no protection against vampires. By the time morning rolled around, the potions were ready.

"The book says to drink these under sunlight," Lux walked out with a bottle of the potion in his hand, along with David, Jackie, and Madeleine.

"You sure you know what you're doing?" David glared at Lux.

"Trust him. He's the supernatural buff here. He knows what he's doing," Madeleine said.

"On my count, we drink," Lux instructed. "One, two, three."

He, David, Jackie, and Madeleine synchronized their movements and chugged down the potion.

"How do you feel?" Justin queried.

"I feel...energized," Lux put his hands in his pockets. "Weird,"

"Same," David nodded. Jackie and Madeleine nodded in agreement.

"Alright, gang. We'll be off," Daniella got out her car keys. "Justin, we're going,"

"Gotcha," Justin followed Daniella to her car. Just when the others were out of earshot, Justin realized that he forgot to ask one very critical question. "Damn,"

"What's wrong?" Daniella drove onto the highway.

"I forgot to ask Lux how long the potion lasts. I really hope Jackie's got an unlimited supply of the ingredients, cuz I have a feeling it won't last as long as we want it to,"

"Relax, Justin. If the potion doesn't work, we can think up of another solution,"

"But don't we need iron? That's what Lux said,"

"It'll be hard to get ahold of iron," Daniella shook her head. Justin couldn't help lean back into his seat. The dream continued to linger in his mind. Justin tried to brush it off, believing that his mind went haywire, but that didn't help. Maybe Lux was onto something. What was it? Right then, Justin wanted to know, but in retrospect, he wished he hadn't.

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Author's Note: What do you think the dream means? Could it be trying to tell Justin something?