The world was eerily silent as I slowly looked around. The street was cluttered with abandoned cars yet I saw no signs of their owners. I saw no sign of any life at all, almost as though I was the only person in the entire world.

I felt afraid though I couldn’t say exactly why. I knew that there was something bad nearby, something that I should run away from. There was an almost overwhelming sense of deja-vu at the same time which seemed to say that it would be pointless. That the end was inevitable.

Suddenly, a deafening roar filled the air and I snapped around to see a green skinned monster standing on top of one of the cars. His arms were long curved blade which he sliced through the metal of the car. Then he slowly turned his attention to me.

“Look out,” Dom called out, standing in the street in front of me though it had been empty of anyone just a moment earlier.

A tiny part of my mind wondered how Dom could possibly be here. A vague memory stirred and reminded me that Dom was dead, telling me that this was just a dream. The awareness of this being a dream stirred and grew, making me blink in realization. I looked down at myself and was startled to see that I was still an angel…that I was still Monica. I remembered now that when this had happened before, I’d still been Jarrod.

“This is a dream,” I said aloud, though that knowledge only made this feel a little less terrifying.

Then, almost as though my denying the reality of this situation had made it angry, the demon jumped at Dom, impaling him from behind for the second time. I cried out in horror, once again getting caught up in the emotions of this and almost forgetting that this was just a dream.

“Jarrod,” Dom gasped as he collapsed to his knees. “Help me… Save me…”

“Dom,” I cried out.

A moment later, the expression on Dom’s face changed to one of rage and he got back to his feet. Dom’s features began to stretch until he looked like a twisted version of himself…a demon version of himself. Then almost as one, the demon and the demonized Dom both came at me.

“Look out Monica,” a familiar voice cried out, just a moment before a black armored figure appeared in front of me, shooting both Dom and the demon. Once they hit the ground and vanished, she turned to me and asked, “Are you okay, sis?”

“I think so,” I said, staring at Nicole in relief.

Nicole suddenly screamed and fell to the ground with her upper and lower half falling in different directions. I stared in horror at her, seeing that she’d been cut completely in half.

“Nicole,” I cried out, dropping to my knees beside her and desperately hoping I could put her back together. Part of me knew that this was impossible, but I was operating off dream logic and was somehow certain I could do it if I got enough string to stitch her back into place.

While I was holding Nicole’s body, the world began to swirl and shift around me until I realized that I was somewhere else, inside a building. And I wasn’t holding Nicole but a middle-aged woman I’d never seen before. She looked a lot like an angel, but older and wearing some kind of lab coat. I didn’t recognize the woman, but I still found myself crying over her body as she was obviously dead.

“Come on,” a young woman with thick glasses exclaimed, grabbing me and helping me to my feet. As with the dead woman, I was sure that I’d never seen her before. Then once I was standing again, I took another look at this woman and was startled to see that she’d changed. She was now an angel, though she still wore the glasses. “We have to get out of here…”

Before my companion could even finish what she was saying, a loud growl filled the room. I snapped around and saw a man standing in the doorway, though he could hardly be called a man. His clothes were torn off, revealing a lean and muscular body that was slightly scaly. His fingernails were long and clawed, his eyes were yellow, and his open mouth was full of sharp teeth. And of course, there was an expression of pure malice on his face. The demon snarled and jumped straight at me.

I screamed and bolted upright in bed, gasping for breath as my whole body trembled. Ever since I’d gotten caught up in that demon attack, I’d suffered several nightmares, but none were as powerful as this one. Or as weird.

“Damn,” I gasped, rubbing my temples as I sat up and hung my feet over the edge of my bed.

After I’d calmed down a bit, I thought about why I was having this nightmare now. I suspected that it was probably because I’d been training so much lately, all so I could go out and help fight demons. I was still terrified of demons so my subconscious was probably just trying to tell me what my conscious mind already knew…that it was a very bad idea.

“Too bad subconscious,” I told myself with a sigh. “I’m not backing out now.”

Since I was already wide awake, I slipped on my sweats and a pair of slippers then made my way to the kitchen for something to snack on. I had barely arrived there when I heard someone else coming down the hallway.

“I take it you couldn’t sleep either,” Rebecca said.

“Nightmare,” I responded with a shake of my head.

“Same here,” Rebecca told me with a sigh. “I was dreaming about the incident…”

I nodded at that, knowing that when Rebecca talked about ‘THE incident’, there was only one she meant. It was the day of the first demon outbreak, the day that haunted her own dreams the same way Dom’s death did mine.

“I was dreaming of my mom’s death,” Rebecca added quietly.

I remembered the last part of my nightmare and gasped at that. Rebecca gave me an odd look, then went to the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of fruit flavored vodka. She didn’t say a word as she poured two glasses and handed one to me.

After taking a sip of her drink, Rebecca said, “You had the same dream…didn’t you?”

“How?” I blurted out in surprise.

Rebecca was silent for a moment, then she asked “You’ve heard about how twins share a link? That sometimes one knows when something has happened to the other?”

I nodded at that, frowning thoughtfully before saying, “And we’re basically twins…”

“Even closer,” Rebecca added, giving me a wry smile. “But it’s not like we can read each other’s minds or anything. Trust me, we spent a lot of time trying to see if we could. Instead, it’s more like we sometimes get in synch while dreaming. It doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes if two of us are having similar dreams at the same time, our dreams connect.”

“So, I somehow saw your dream,” I mused, still a bit stunned by this.

“And I saw yours,” Rebecca agreed. “It was like I was you, trying to patch Nicole back up.”

“But how is that even possible?” I asked. “I know we’re physically identical, but this is a bit much.”

“Lisa had a theory,” Rebecca explained. “Our brain structures and are identical and she believed that when we were asleep and our mental defenses were down, our minds would sometimes resonate and synchronize, allowing us to share our dreams. It doesn’t happen often, and when it does, it’s because we’re in the same mental and emotional state…having the same kind of dreams.” She paused at that, suddenly looking embarrassed. “It usually only happens with nightmares and…wet dreams.”

I groaned at that and took a long drink of my vodka, not liking the idea of sharing my most personal dreams with anyone else, even my sisters. Rebecca was still blushing as she gave me a knowing look and took another sip of her drink.

“There is one more thing,” Rebecca told me, still looking a little self-conscious. “I don’t know of its true, but Lisa always thought that while we’re dreaming, our subconscious minds touch each other more than we realize. She thought that was part of why we feel so close to each other.” She chuckled weakly at that and then sighed with a sad expression. “Lisa always had a theory about everything.”

“I wish I could have met her,” I told Rebecca quietly.

Rebecca smiled faintly and said, “I think she would have liked you.”

The two of us sat in silence for several minutes before someone else came down the hall. “You wouldn’t believe the nightmare I had,” Nicole announced as she walked into the kitchen. “I dreamed I was cut in half…” Then she paused to look at Rebecca and then me. She stared at the bottle of vodka that was still sitting out and sighed. “Or maybe you would.”

Rebecca poured her a glass as well, then the three of us just sat there for another minute. I couldn’t help but wondering when Dani was going to come down the hall as well, though admittedly, I hadn’t seen her in my dreams. From what Rebecca said, if she wasn’t sharing our dreams that probably meant that she had just been dreaming of something else instead. At least someone was having a good sleep.

Suddenly, an alarm began going off, making me jump in surprise. I immediately recognized the demon alarm, though this was the first time since I’d been here that it had gone off in the middle of the night. Nicole and Rebecca immediately ran down the hall and I hesitated only a moment before going after them.

I went to my room and gave myself my daily shot of medication before putting on my black Angel Squad uniform. After running a brush through my hair a few times, I went out and joined with the others. Even Dani was already up and dressed, looking grim but ready to face demons.

“You’re not ready for this yet,” Nicole exclaimed when she saw me. She gave me a worried look, “Monica…”

“I’m going too,” I insisted firmly, giving Nicole and Rebecca hard looks to show that I was too determined to back down. “I’m not going to just stay here and worrying about you guys when I can be there watching your backs.”

“We had less training than she does when we first started,” Dani pointed out grimly. “I think she’s as ready as she’s going to be.”

“All right,” Rebecca said, giving me a wary look. “But you have to promise to listen to us and be careful. We don’t want to lose you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” I assured her.

There was a long pause as the four of us looked at each other, or more accurately, as my sisters all looked at me and I took turns looking back and forth between them. I knew that what I’d just asked to walk into was probably just as bad as the nightmare I’d woken up from a short time ago, but that didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to back out now when my sisters might need me. Then without a spoken word, Rebecca nodded and we all turned and left so we could find out what this new mission was.