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On October 31, 2011, Degna McNeil was killed by Wisteria Stone. However, Degna was not permanently removed from the world. One week later... she wakes up. Death is Fleeting

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Author's Note: Well, look who's back! I'm calling this an Interquel of sorts. It covers the time from Degna's reawakening to slightly after The Waking Dream ends.

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November 7, 2011

My eyes opened slowly. I felt disoriented.

Where was I?

What happened to the party?

What happened to Kyle?

My eyes finished snapping open. I looked around. Strangely enough, I seemed to already be standing. What an odd way to go to sleep. But why wasn’t I in my room… or even at the house? I let in a sharp breath as everything suddenly came back to me.

I was dead. Wisteria… killed me. A sob lodged in my throat when I realized what must have become of Kyle. He belonged to Wisteria now. I couldn’t save him. I sank to the ground. I failed. He was one of us now… both blessed and cursed.

I slowly sunk down, trying desperately not to drown myself in my sorrows. It was over. All over. There was nothing I could do anymore.

But, I still had to try.

Just where was I, anyway? I stood back up again and looked around. It seemed to me like I was still in Ravencrest. If I was dead, what was I doing here? I sighed. Looks like there isn’t an afterlife after all.

But what did that make me?

I looked at my hand. It seemed strange. Whiter than usual. If I looked closely, it seemed like I could see right through it. Was I… a ghost? I shook. This was worse than death. I’m still in the world, but I can’t interact with anything. I felt more tears drift down my cheeks. Lifting a hand to feel them, I discovered that I no longer cried blood. I was still Degna, but my tears were a silvery liquid instead of blood red. I managed to giggle a little bit when I realized that I wouldn’t be ruining my outfits anymore.

Speaking of that, just what was I wearing? I gasped when I looked down and saw that I was still wearing the lace and silk confection that I wore for the party. I suddenly wanted to cover up and my clothing seemed to react to the thought, becoming a more ordinary skirt and top combo.

I briefly considered testing this strange ability a little more, but I realized that I was becoming distracted from my real dilemma. I was dead, Kyle belonged to Wisteria, and I needed to figure out where I was! I needed to get back to the house and see what was going on. Thankfully, it was the dead of night still, so there wouldn’t be much activity. I just needed to get my bearings and figure out which way it was actually in.

After a bit of looking around, I found that I was near the University campus. Using it as a landmark, I easily found my way home. With a small smile, I walked right into the front yard.

…Only to run straight into an invisible wall. Suddenly, something Jasmine said to me months ago flashed into my mind. There were wards around the house… and apparently they kept out ghosts. Regardless, I pounded my fists against the ward in a futile effort, almost breaking into tears again. I couldn’t even go back home! I froze in place when I saw the front door open. I reflexively stepped back as the raven black hair of Wisteria entered the yard. There was an intense scowl on her face, and I realized what had happened. Her wards had sensed my attempted intrusion into the house. She walked forward with purpose, stopping right in front of where I was standing. She stared right at me… but did nothing.

Could she see me?

The answer seemed to be a resounding “no” when she turned around and headed back toward the front door. She was interrupted by Carmilla coming out as well.

“What’s going on?” she demanded, “It’s not like you to leave the house so suddenly.”

“Someone, or something, attempted to break through the wards. I was merely investigating,” Wisteria said.

“Is that so?” Carmilla asked with a quizzical tone, “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

“That’s the problem,” Wisteria huffed. I knew it was risky, but I stepped forward and lightly tapped the ward. Wisteria turned around immediately. “There it is again. Show yourself!”

“Jumping at ghosts, are we, my queen?” Carmilla asked. “Surely it’s just a stray spirit. It can do nothing to harm us.”

Wisteria waved her arm theatrically. “It’s probably just your late daughter, trying to come home.”

Carmilla scowled. “If Degna has anything to do with this, she wouldn’t have waited a week to knock on our door.” Her tone was filled with venom. She truly didn’t approve of my death, and it elated me to see that my mother still loved me.

“I wouldn’t count that crafty bitch out just yet,” Wisteria started. Carmilla’s scowl deepened. I would be shaking in fear if that look were ever directed at me, but Wisteria stood fast. “If she is a lost soul, then materializing within our walls likely displaced her. She may have ‘woken up’ mere hours ago.”

Carmilla looked down. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Degna is gone, and she can’t interact with our world anymore.”

“Of course it doesn’t matter. You’ve already replaced her! The day she died, even! Is that how you show your undying love to your children?” Wisteria snarled.

“That wouldn’t have been necessary if you had chosen to leave Kyle to me,” Carmilla snapped.

“Oh, but your poor, sweet Degna was trying to help him escape when I caught her. She wouldn’t be a sister at all if I hadn’t converted her,” Wisteria claimed, a smile playing on her thin lips. It was the truth.

Carmilla crossed her arms, “There was no way she could have escaped with him,” she sighed, “Degna always did have a weakness for love…”

“I did you a favor, dear daughter. You were raising a Sympathizer, and you refused to see it.”

A Sympathizer? What did she mean by that?

“If it came to that, I would have dealt with it. Myself,” Carmilla said.

Wisteria started walking back toward the house again. “No matter. The girl is gone, although it seems I’ll never discover what it was you found so special about her.”

She walked right past Carmilla, but she stayed outside for just a little longer. She took a careful look in my direction, as if she were wondering if I was really there. I wanted to call out to her, but I knew that I wouldn’t be heard.

I couldn’t do anything except cry as she slowly turned around and followed her queen.

---V----V---

After I left the house that night, three things in the conversation I heard stuck out to me.

One, I “woke up” a week after being killed.

Two, Wisteria feared that I was becoming something she called a Sympathizer.

And three, Carmilla still loved me.

It was the third one that I held on to. It was what kept me rooted… and determined to find out why I was still here.

It probably saved my life when the sun came up the next morning. That was when the people came out. Gobs of people, walking and driving everywhere… and not a single one could see me. I had never felt more alone. More isolated. I couldn’t even find any other ghosts, like me. Maybe they all succumbed to insanity and started haunting a building. Or maybe we simply couldn’t see each other. I told myself that I wouldn’t go insane. I would keep my identity.

Of course, that’s what every ghost probably told themselves at first.

I tried not to dwell on it as I wandered the University campus, but it’s hard to avoid thinking when it’s the only thing you can do. Still, I tried to do something else. I was trying to find Kyle… or rather, the vampire I was sure he had become. I hoped that maybe I would run into her by staying around the University, perhaps by following my old schedule.

I needed to find him. To see that he was alive… even if he belonged to Wisteria, the woman who murdered me.

But days began to pass with no sign of who he was or who he had become. I watched the Sun and Moon rise and set several times, unable to sleep and unable to dream. I felt my desperation growing as the cycle occurred for the seventh time.

On my eighth day, I was growing to believe that I’d never see Kyle again. I’d never again see the only man I was able to love. I forlornly sat at a pair of benches in the middle of campus, contemplating my fate. Nobody could see me sitting there. Someone may even accidentally sit on me. I wouldn’t feel it at all.

But everything changed when a girl sat at the bench directly across from me. She was too beautiful to be anything but a vampire, and she was embracing the goth scene so wholeheartedly that I felt like crying all over again. She reminded me of Kyle. Something clicked about then, and I looked back at her. To my surprise, she was staring right at me. She wasn’t staring through me, like Wisteria did one week ago, she was staring at me. I gasped.

“You can see me!” I cried.

“Um, you’re sitting right across from me, you moron,” the girl huffed.

I didn’t care that she had just insulted me. She could see me! With a wide smile, I glided over to the other bench and sat next to her. “You can really see me?”

The girl sighed dramatically. “This game is boring me. Yes, I can see you. You’re sitting right next to me, invading my space now.”

I almost squealed with joy. I could actually talk with someone! I wasn’t alone! I tried to explain to her about how nobody could see me, but she was having none of it. I tried to convince her that she was special, but I was just annoying her. She shot up from her seat and prepared to leave. I went after her, reaching for her arm.

“You can’t go!” I cried, “I need you!”

I lunged forward. Maybe if she could see me, I could touch her. But, my hand and some of my body went right through her. When it happened, I touched something. I saw the girl visibly shiver. I realized then that I was sifting through her thoughts… and I discovered a horrible truth. It seemed that she had as well. She jumped backwards, and a single name left her lips.

“Degna?”

This girl was Kyle… and yet not Kyle. Kyle was inside this girl, but she was the one who ruled his body. It was an artificial personality, and I assumed that it had been created by Wisteria. I tried to reach out to Kyle himself when I touched her. Hopefully he heard me. I tried to talk to him, ask him what Wisteria had done, but the girl was still in control. She took a closer look at me, and gasped again.

“What the fuck are you!” she snarled, bearing her fangs in a wild hiss.

I didn’t budge an inch. “You have to listen to me! You’re not who you think you are. She did something to you… something wrong! Come with me, and maybe I can help!”

I reached for her again, but she recoiled backward. “Get the fuck away from me!” she screeched, running for her life. I could no longer move fast enough to follow her. Tears rolled down my cheeks again.

I had finally found Kyle… but he was imprisoned within this shell of a girl. But… I had a feeling that I could help him. When I touched the girl, I discovered something very important: I seemed to still have my power. I could still enter a consciousness and communicate with it. That wonderful word rang loudly within my head. I could communicate! With anybody!

I began to feel hope for the first time in days.

---V----V---

The next two days passed in a sort of haze. I tried desperately to find the girl that contained Kyle, but I couldn’t find her. Barring that, I tried to find my sisters, but I couldn’t catch them alone anywhere except for the house… where I couldn’t get to them.

Eventually, I found my way to the Guardian. “Kyle” would have to feed eventually, and I could ambush her here. If I could get her to come with me… get her alone… maybe I could reach into her mind and find the real Kyle.

It was a longshot, but I owed it to him.

My prospects brightened when I saw “her” walk in with Charlotte. Strange; I didn’t think that Charlotte was the type to associate with someone as mean spirited as this imposter. Perhaps something more was going on. I shifted my clothing to a cute black dress, similar to the one I gave Kyle the day I died, and watched the pair sit at the bar. Terrence Locke, the bartender, made sure to provide their tasteless drinks while I stood there and watched.

It was times like this where I truly hated being invisible to almost everybody. I was standing in the middle of a crowd, wincing as people danced around and through me. Sometimes, when I got upset enough, the people around would complain about a chill in the air. I tried not to do that as I waited for the vampire pair to separate. It became easier when I started to notice Carmilla watching the crowd around me. It seemed like she was watching Kyle at times, just as I was. I started to pay more attention when she stood up. She was scanning the room for someone to feed from. When her eyes locked onto a group of drunk students, I glided near them. She couldn’t possibly miss me when she walked up.

As the girl walked toward the drunk group, two other drunks started hitting on a waitress in front of me. I backed away a bit so that they wouldn’t pass through me. Despite that, the girl’s wandering eyes caught sight of me. She pulled a man aside, pointed directly at me, and asked if he could see me. He answered sarcastically, and she mesmered him away. I silently approached her as she watched the man walk away. When she turned around, she was unable to hide her surprise at suddenly seeing me there.

“They can’t see me,” I told her, “No one can… except for you.”

The girl huffed with a snarl. I really didn’t like her. “You’re still on about that?”

“You know it’s true,” I told her.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” she snapped, turning away. She began to walk toward the bathroom. It was clear that I wasn’t going to get her alone in any conventional way. I decided to try something risky.

“I know what you are!” I screamed as loud as I could. To her, it would seem like the entire room heard me. She turned around in shock. As she slowly realized that nobody had heard me, I smiled at her and glided right back to her face.

“What the fuck are you?” she demanded, stepping backwards in fear.

“You know what I am,” I told her.

“How do you know what I am?” she demanded.

I explained to her that I was a vampire too, and that Wisteria had screwed with her mind. I made another effort to call out to Kyle, but she just called me crazy. I grimaced. This wasn’t going to work. I would have to take her over in front of everybody if I was going to succeed in my crazy plan. I reached for her, but she reacted before I could reach her, dashing for the emergency exit. I went after her as fast as I could, but by the time I phased through the door, she was nowhere to be found. I cursed to myself. She’d never let me get near her now… not after that display. Regardless, I tried to look at both ends of the alley I was in, but I couldn’t see her.

Despondent, I just started walking away.

---V----V---

Eventually, by luck or fate, I found myself standing in front of the costume shop where I first met Kyle. I sank down on the bench next to the building, looking at the ground as tears started to escape down my cheeks. Everything was going wrong. I wanted, no, needed to help Kyle, but I wasn’t making any headway. I briefly considered going to Carmilla for help, but I knew that she’d be back at the house by now.

I just kept crying and feeling sorry for myself. When a pair of boots crossed my vision, I gave it no second thought… until they came back. The girl sat on the bench next to me and stared at me. She could see me? Was this Kyle? She certainly seemed to be acting different than usual. When she reached out to touch me, I didn’t feel like playing any of her games.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not here, you can’t see me, blah blah blah…”

Then she said something that truly surprised me.

“But I can see you… which is really fucked up because I’m pretty sure I watched you die.”

I looked up, tears streaming down my cheeks. “What did you say?”

“Ummm about the part where I saw you die or the fact that you appear to be a ghost now?”

“Kyle?” I asked, my voice croaking.

“Degna?”

I let out an ecstatic laugh. It was Kyle! I gushed at him, allowing him to tell me how he broke the hold of his “alter ego”, Katie. I told him that it was Wisteria who did it to him, and explained everything I knew about her and her feud with Carmilla. Judging from what I’d seen from them when they thought I wasn’t looking, neither of them were very happy with each other, and both were very capable of powerful things. I told Kyle that he should ally himself with Carmilla for what protection from Wisteria she could provide.

He didn’t like that my plan involved him going back to the house and acting like Katie. I walked with him to the house, making sure he knew everything there was to know about being a vampire on the way. When I could go no farther, I asked him to meet me at his old dorm tomorrow after he was done with classes.

Meanwhile, I needed to have a conversation with my Mother.

---V----V---

The next day came slowly, as they always did. Instead of aimlessly wandering about, I waited at the front of the grounds, being especially careful not to touch the wards. Carmilla left the house around noon, and I followed her. She eventually went into the Guardian, and I felt that it would be a perfect place to reveal myself to her. The place didn’t have many people at this time of day, and there were plenty of private rooms for us to talk at length. I doubted that she’d outwardly show surprise when I suddenly spoke in her head, too. After taking a deep breath that I really didn’t need, I went into her body. Instead of simply passing through her, I latched onto her consciousness, and recognized that my powers really were being put to use.

So I took the risk.

Mother? I asked. Carmilla stopped for a moment, and then continued walking toward the bar.

Degna? was all she asked back.

It’s me, I told her, can we talk?

Of course. I gather you have quite the story to tell me, she said.

Is now a good time to mention that you aren’t going insane? I asked in a slightly happier tone.

If anybody else were speaking to me in this manner, I might consider the prospect, she said, approaching Terrence.

“Something’s come up,” she told him, “I won’t be able to join you for lunch today.”

The man nodded his ascent and Carmilla continued to walk behind the bar, entering one of the back rooms. She sat down on the well used bed.

Are you still there? she asked me.

I’m with you, I told her.

How are you doing? she asked, with genuine concern.

I guess you could say I’ve been having an out of body experience of sorts. You don’t seem surprised to be hearing from me, I said.

I half expected this to happen, considering the nature of your power. However, I began to doubt it when over a week passed with no sign from you, she told me.

I think I was actually gone for a week before waking up as a ghost. Do you remember the night when something tried to get through the wards around the house?

Yes, she replied.

That was me, I told her.

So Wisteria was right… she mused.

I heard everything that night, I told her.

I suppose you have a couple of questions, then, she said matter-of-factly.

I mentally nodded. Is it true that you replaced me as quickly as Wisteria said you did?

You must understand that I need to keep our numbers up, lest Wisteria break our stalemate into outright war the second she believes that she will win.

Deep down, I understood, but it also revealed that Carmilla’s attitude toward her daughters wasn’t completely one of love. To an extent, we were also her tools, to be placed where we were most effective. I was too blind to see it before.

It’s getting chilly in here, love, she said.

Sorry, I said, calming down. Did you convert Ashley, then?

Yes, she said, her grasp on reality is as fragile as you said it was. Josephine is her mentor, and she seems to be keeping our new daughter rooted rather well.

I sighed. The situation must be desperate for her to have to resort to converting Ashley. There was something else I heard in that conversation, I continued, what is a Sympathizer?

Sympathizers are the name we’ve given to vampires to utterly reject their vampiric nature. They attempt to keep hold of their humanity in any way possible, and often refuse to drink blood. They usually have to be killed before they succumb to the bloodlust and expose us, Carmilla explained.

And Wisteria thought I was becoming one? I asked.

That is her excuse for killing you, yes, she confirmed, in reality, she did it because she saw you as a threat. She never found out exactly what you could do, but she still considered you dangerous enough to eliminate. The way you’ve transcended death like this exemplifies her fears.

Do you… think she was right? I asked.

No. I didn’t believe that you would go far enough to warrant such extreme measures. You retained much of your humanity, yes, but you also freely accepted your vampiric nature, she explained.

But it was my humanity that led me to try and save Kyle… I said.

Why did you do it?

I… I fell in love with him. There’s just something about him. Something special. Regardless of his wishes, I knew that he would be safer as a human than as one of us, I said.

He certainly has a strong will. He broke out of Wisteria’s spell last night. Did you have anything to do with that? she asked.

I don’t know. Maybe, I said, I’d like to say that I helped, but I’m not sure. We met before he came back last night. I told him that he should find you.

Fortunately, I found him first, Carmilla said.

I’m guessing that he’s now a mole in Wisteria’s camp? I asked.

Yes. I believe that she may be able to use her position to glean insight on the curse that binds us here. If it can be broken, my daughters can break from Delta Beta Zeta without conflict, she explained.

I’d like to help, if I can, I said.

It may be dangerous. Wisteria is powerful and unpredictable, she lectured me.

What can she do to me? She’s already killed me! I cried.

She’s already proven that she can detect you, Degna. We don’t know if she can do something to permanently displace you, she said.

I sighed. You’ve known her for your whole life, and there’s still so much you don’t know about her. We need to fix that.

I agree, was all she said.

I’ll figure out something, I said, and I still know it’s too dangerous to try and get inside her head.

I suppose that’s the best we can do for now. We all need to be careful, child. I’ve already lost one daughter to our queen. I’d hate to see that number grow.

If she kills another one of my sisters, then I will risk going into her head and doing something so quickly that not even she can react! I snarled. Carmilla started to shiver, and I quickly toned down my anger.

Don’t be a hero, Degna. You can’t do this alone, and defeating Wisteria won’t help us. It will start a war. A war we can’t win.

I’m sorry. It’s just that the thought of what she did to Kyle…

I know. I’ll give her as much protection as I can.

Thank you, Mother, I said, feeling hopeful.

We’ll just call it your dying wish, she said, Now, you never did answer me properly last time. How are you doing?

I grimaced. To be honest, I’m not doing very well. Nobody can see me or hear me, except for Kyle. I would probably be half insane by now if I hadn’t found him or discovered that I could still use my power. It’s nice to know that I’m not completely alone anymore.

I’m sure your sisters would love to hear that you haven’t truly left our world, she told me.

I think so too. Do you think you could keep this from them for a while? I’d like to give the news myself, I said.

Very well, she said.

Okay. Thank you. I’m going to have to go for now. I promised Kyle that I’d meet him at his old dorm today, and his classes are almost over, I explained.

Goodbye, Degna. I’m glad you’re still with us, Carmilla said.

Bye, Mother. I’m glad I was able to talk with you, I finally said, slipping from her head. She stood up herself once she realized that I wasn’t with her anymore.

As I walked toward the dorm where Kyle and I were to meet, I reflected on my situation. I was going to help Carmilla and her daughters stop Wisteria… but why? Obviously, revenge for her murdering me came to mind, but it was Kyle that my mind kept wandering to. I couldn’t save him from a fate as a vampire, but I could make it as easy on him as possible. I owed him that much. If there truly was a reason that I was still walking the Earth, I knew that Kyle had something to do with it. Our fates were linked, somehow, and I would do everything in my power to make sure he survived the coming trials.

With a smile, I approached our meeting place, ready to patiently wait for him to arrive.

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